Many people in the USA have lost their lives or become addicted to opioids via prescription opioids given for chronic pain. The chronic pain epidemic has emerged due to a convergence of factors, including the medicalization of pain as well as injuries happening in the workplace, in the home, or during recreation. Opioid prescriptions rose precipitously from the late 1990’s through to approximately 2020, and despite public awareness, still are increasing. This review examines literature on integrative approaches to chronic pain as delineated by pain type. The review is organized by the most common causes of chronic pain, and randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses and systematic reviews are extracted for each cause of chronic pain. Several promising interventions may alleviate chronic pain of some causes, and some interventions may work across pain causes. Lowering inflammation through dietary or lifestyle regimens may be a general way of reducing pain. Pain can be alleviated through several adjunctive and integrative treatment approaches, which may serve to lower the need for opioid medication.

The aging populations observed across numerous countries worldwide necessitate a thorough exploration of interventions aimed at promoting healthy aging. As individuals age, they undergo significant physiological changes that impact their functional capacity and often necessitate increased reliance on external support systems. Enhancing the autonomy and well-being of elderly individuals emerges as a critical imperative, serving not only individual interests but also broader societal goals. This review investigates various interventions designed to optimize the health and independence of aging populations, offering insights into effective strategies for promoting healthy aging and mitigating the societal burdens associated with an aging demographic.

Antidepressants are among the most used medications in the US, with significant deleterious effects on people’s well-being. At any given time, depression impacts approximately 1 in 10 Americans, causing wide and broad societal costs. Interest is developing for non-pharmacological treatments and preventative measures. We summarize the literature on non-invasive dietary and lifestyle approaches for treating depression, including recent work with the psychedelic treatment of depression. This review aims to inform future research and treatment programs for depression. This review provides an evidentiary summary of integrative therapeutic approaches for depression.

On the 9th March 2020, the first patient with COVID-19 was admitted to ICU in the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, Wales. We prospectively recorded the rate of ICU admissions of 52 patients with COVID-19 over 60 days, focusing on the epidemiology of ethnicity and deprivation. Patients were 65% (34 of 52) male and had a median (IQR) age of 55 (48-62) years. Prevalent comorbidities included obesity (52%); diabetes (33%), and asthma (23%). COVID-19 hospital and ICU inpatient numbers peaked on days 23 and 39, respectively – a lag of 16 days. The ICU mortality rate was 33% (17 of 52). Black, Asian and Minority Ethnics (BAME) population represented 35% of ICU COVID-19 admissions (18 of 52) and 35% of deaths (6 of 17). Within the BAME group, 72% (13 of 18) were found to reside in geographical areas representing the 20% most deprived in Wales, versus 27% of Caucasians (9 of 33). Less than 5% of the population within the hospital catchment area are of BAME descent, yet they represent a disproportionately high proportion of patients with ICU admission and mortality suffering from COVID-19. The interplay between ethnicity and deprivation, which is complex, may be a factor in our findings. This in turn could be related to an increased prevalence of co-morbidities; higher community exposure; or genetic polymorphisms.

Background and Objectives: Most individuals infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms of COVID-19, which usually resolve after few days. Regardless of symptoms, infected people can transmit the virus to others especially on the first days of infection. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is used to confirm SARS-CoV-2 infection; some individuals show persistent PCR-positivity after recovering from COVID-19. In this study, 12 individuals who showed persistence of COVID-19 symptoms and of SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positivity were followed-up. Methods: nasopharyngeal samples were collected for SARS-CoV-2 detection by RT-qPCR; clinical and epidemiological data were analyzed. Results: that persistence of SARS-CoV-2 PCR positivity was associated with duration of symptoms (r_s 0.81338), which varied between one and 49 days, with 75% of the individuals reporting symptoms for more than two weeks; 83.33% of cases remained positive after two weeks of onset of symptoms, despite decreases in viral load. Conclusion: neither RT-qPCR test nor a symptom-based approach alone are sufficient to evaluate discontinuation of patient isolation; other factors such as viral loads and symptom severity should also be considered. Additional studies are needed to understand how RT-PCR-positivity is related to symptoms and the risk of viral transmission, and to better support isolation guidelines.

Verminosis causes great damage to the producer, with reduced milk production and decreased development of young animals. The use of bioproducts are an alternative to control worms. This study evaluated the effects of oral administration of one commercial formulations, based on the fungus Duddingtonia flagrans (Bioverm®) and experimental formulations D. flagrans associated with Pochonia chlamydosporia, on the control of worms in naturally infected cattle on February pasture to October 2021. Eighteen Holstein x Zebu cattle were divided into groups of six animals (group 1 Bioverm®, group 2 Association and control), separated into paddocks naturally infected with helminth larvae (L3). The parasite load was by means of fecal samples and pasture collection to determine L3 infestation. The study demonstrated low recovery of L3 in the pasture due to low rainfall during the experiment. The EPG was lower in groups 1 and 2 compared to the control in April, May and July, while in March the values were lower only in treatment 1 compared to the control. Individual or combined administration of fungal products reduced the presence of eggs and larvae in pastures at certain months of the year, indicating their effectiveness in the strategic control of gastrointestinal parasites in cattle.

This study aimed to delineate the longitudinal antibody responses to the Pfizer- BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (BNT162b2) within the Ugandan subset of the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) demographic, filling a significant gap in global datasets. We enrolled 48 participants, collecting 320 specimens over 12 months after vaccination. A validated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to quantify SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG, IgM, and IgA concentrations (ng/ml) and optical densities (ODs). Statistical analyses included box plots, diverging bar graphs, and the Wilcoxon test with Bonferroni correction. We showed a robust SIgG response within 14 days of the primary vaccine dose, consistent with global data. Remarkably, we observed no significant surge in S-IgG levels following the booster, contrasting trends other global populations. The S-IgM response was transient, and predominantly established thresholds, reflecting its typical early emergence and subsequent decline. S-IgA increased initially but declined six months post-vaccination, in line with the temporal dynamics of mucosal immunity. Eleven breakthrough infections occurred; however, all were asymptomatic, indicating a protective effect from the vaccination regardless of the participants' initial S-IgG serostatus. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine elicited strong S-IgG responses in the SSA demographic. However, antibody dynamics distinctly differed from global data highlight the significance of region-specific research and the necessity for customized vaccination strategies.

The Covid-19 pandemic has influenced the style of work of many people. However, it remains a question to what extent it has influenced the work of outdoor workers like forestry workers. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the level of professional burnout among forest-ry workers, as a lack of burnout symptoms is a dimension of well-being at work. The Oldenburg Burnout Inventory was administered to 42 respondents. Both subscales of the inventory were reliable: Cronbach’s alpha was 0.806 for disengagement and 0.865 for exhaustion. The mean number of overtime hours was 10.13 hours per month. The mean disengagement score of 2.24 was lower than the reference value of 2.25, but the mean exhaustion score of 2.33 was high-er than the reference value of 2.1. Age correlated significantly with stage of work, as did exhaustion with stage of work, and over-time hours with disengagement. The average forestry officer had no symptoms of disengagement and slight symptoms of exhaustion. These results suggest that being in the forest can help prevent burnout. Overtime work and a heavy workload appear to threaten forestry workers’ well-being, as they can cause exhaustion and lower commitment.

This paper presents a design and performance analysis of a 10-element 5G massive MIMO antenna array for sub-6GHz mobile handsets, specifically for LTE bands 42 (3400-3600 MHz), 43 (3600-3800 MHz), 48/49 (3550-3700 MHz) applications. The proposed antenna array consists of 10 closely spaced linearly polarized inverted-F antennas with a compact size of 20 × 9 mm2 of a single element. The proposed antenna array provides high gain, high efficiency, and low correlation between the antenna elements, which results in improved channel capacity, increased data rate, and enhanced signal quality. The performance of the antenna array is evaluated in terms of the radiation pattern, gain, efficiency, and correlation coefficient. The simulation and measured results show that the proposed antenna array achieves an approximate peak gain of 3.1 dBi at the resonance frequency, a total efficiency of 65 %, and a low correlation coefficient of 0.06 between the antenna elements. Therefore, the proposed 5G massive MIMO antenna array is a promising candidate for sub-6 GHz mobile handsets, particularly for LTE bands 42/43/48/49 applications.

Sustainability is a concept shrouded in abstraction. While we have definitions in existence, it is often difficult to explain the concept itself. The current definition of ‘sustainable development’ was given by the Brundtland Commission’s report in 1987. The Earth Summit at Rio in 1992 gave us Agenda 21, an action plan to achieve sustainable development. Now in the 21^st century, philosophers, academicians, and researchers across the globe are paving the way for a new understanding of the term ‘sustainability’, its contextual nature, and its relation to humans, politics, and ecology. This article investigates the origins of the term ‘sustainability’, its derivatives, and the concept of sustainable development. A semantical analysis is carried out to understand the differences between ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’. Next, the development of the three pillars of sustainability and the application of these concepts in the field of architecture and design is also investigated.

Hepatitis B virus reactivation (HBVr) is a well described result of immunosuppressive therapy initiation in a variety of diseases with dose and duration of treatment being the main factors determining the probability for reactivation. Such cases have been described also in Covid-19 patients treated with immunosuppressive therapies. Nevertheless, there have also been reported cases of Covid-19 infection that led to HBVr with no concurrent immunosuppressive therapy or any other described cause. In accordance with that observation, we present a patient followed for a period spanning 20 years with HBeAg negative chronic HBV infection and non-detectable HBV DNA who after a mild Covid-19 infection treated only with low dose and short duration inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), developed elevated AST and ALT as well as elevated HBV DNA levels. During the diagnostic workout other etiologies of abnormal liver biochemistries were excluded and thus the diagnosis of HBV reactivation was established and treated with entecavir. Since other causes of reactivation were excluded, and ICS dose and duration was found baring only a very low risk (<1%) for HBVr, Covid-19 infection could be considered the most probable cause of reactivation.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of Clostridium perfringens in stool samples and swabs collected from wild mammals in the Amazon biome. Sixty-five faecal and swab samples were collected in situ and ex situ from 16 species and three genera of wild mammals, some of which were in good health and some of which had diarrhoea. After pre-enrichment, the samples were plated on selective agar for C. perfringens. Characteristic colonies were subjected to multiplex PCR for the detection of genes encoding the main C. perfringens toxins (alpha, beta, epsilon, and iota toxin and enterotoxin). Among the 65 samples, 40 (61.5%) were positive for the gene encoding the alpha toxin and were classified as type A. Faecal samples were more than four times more likely to be positive for C. perfringens than were swab samples. No other toxinotypes were found. The findings of this study suggest that C. perfringens type A is commonly found as a commensal in mammal species of the Amazon biome. This seems to be the first study to identify C. perfringens type A in species such as B. variegatus (common ground sloth), C. didactylus (two-toed sloth), P. flavus (Jupará), T. tetradactyla (anteater), S. collinsi (squirrel monkey), S. niger (black marmoset), and S. apella (Guyana capuchin) and in the genus Didelphis sp. (opossum).

Here we will electrically-quantum model the neutron and proton as a three-phase alternating current electric generator, for this, we will use the theory of three-phase electric generators and vector or phasor diagrams. We will use this model to hypothesize how the quarks that form neutrons and protons with a combined mass of 10 MeV/c², can generate, through quarks-antiquarks-gluon interactions, a mass of 939.56 MeV/c² for the neutron and a mass of 938.27 MeV/c² for the proton. Using quantum mechanics and the theory of the generalization of the Boltzmann constant in curved space-time we will calculate the number of quarks-antiquarks-gluons and gravitons inside a neutron. We will also analyse βˉ decay using vector diagrams, we will calculate the tension of the string T₀ and the length of the string ℓs between quarks-antiquark and finally, we will model a black hole using a neutron equivalent model. In version 2 of this article, we will update the vector diagrams of the βˉ decay and theoretically calculate the energy of the W⁻ boson, the Z⁰ boson, and the Θ angle, Θ = arc cos (W⁻/Z⁰). We will demonstrate, through vector diagrams, that quarks-antiquarks-gluon interactions are the cause of the origin of the W⁻ boson and the Z⁰ boson. We will also demonstrate how the fine structure constant α originates. It is important to make clear, in future updates, we will describe the relationship that exists between the theory described in this paper and the Isospin theory, flavour and colour theory

Less aligned emphasis has been given to the COVID-19 infodemic coordinating with the COVID-19 outbreak. Global profusion of tangled monikers and hashtags has found their ways in daily communication and contributed to backlash against Chinese. Official naming efforts against infodemic should be meet with a fair share of identification. Based on brief critical reviews on previous multifarious naming practices, we punctuate heuristic introspection in scientific conventions and sociocultural paradigms. Infodemiological analysis promises to articulate that people around the globe are divided in their favor stigmatized monikers in the public and scientific communities because of perceptual bias. There is no positive correlation between the degree of infection in their territories and collective perceptual bias to COVID-19. The official portfolio “COVID-19” and “SARS-CoV-2” has not become de facto standard usages, but full-fledged official names are excepted to duly contribute to the resilience of negative perceptual bias and collective behavioral propensities.

Pathological cleavage of collagen type II (Col2) and generation of Col2 neoepitopes can be good molecular markers of progression of osteoarthritis (OA). One of such potential biomarkers is collagen type II neoepitope C2C. The aim of this study was to correlate the degree of articular cartilage damage in OA patients with C2C expression in histological samples of tissues removed during total knee replacement. Cartilage samples were obtained from 27 patients aged from 55 to 66. In each patient medial and lateral tibia plateau samples were analyzed according to the OARSI histopathology grading system. C2C expression was evaluated on histological slides by semi-quantitative analysis using ImageJ Fiji software. Spearman´s rank correlation analysis showed significant positive correlation (rho=0.289, P=0.0356) between the histological grade of tissue damage and the percentage of C2C staining. In addition, highly significant positive correlation (rho=0.388, P=0.0041) was found between osteoarthritis score (combining the histological grade of damage with the OA macroscopic stage) and the percentage of C2C staining in the samples. The C2C expression was found in all the regions of the articular cartilage (i.e. the superficial zone, mid zone, deep zone and tidemark area and the zone of calcified cartilage). Our study suggests that local expression of C2C correlates with the cartilage damage in the knee affected by OA. This further assures that C2C can be a perspective marker for evaluation of pathological processes in OA course and OA clinical trials.

The present study aimed to determine the genetic diversity of isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) from presumed drug resistant tuberculosis patients from several states of Brazil. The isolates had been submitted to conventional drug susceptibility testing for first- and second-line drugs. Multidrug-resistant (MDR-TB) (54.8%) was the most frequent phenotypic resistance profile, in addition to an important high frequency of pre-extensively resistant (p-XDR-TB) (9.2%). Using whole-genome sequencing (WGS), we characterized 298 Mtb isolates from Brazil. Besides analysis of genotype distribution and possible correlations between molecular and clinical data, we determined the performance of an in-house WGS pipeline with other online pipelines for Mtb lineages and drug resistance profile definition. Sub-lineage 4.3 (52%) was the most frequent genotype and the genomic approach revealed a p-XDR-TB level of 22.5%. We detected 20 novel mutations in three resistance genes, and six of these were observed in eight phenotypically resistant isolates. Cluster analysis of 170 isolates showed that 43.5% of the TB patients belonged to 24 genomic clusters, suggesting considerable ongoing transmission of DR-TB, including two interstate transmissions. The in-house WGS pipeline showed the best overall performance in drug-resistance prediction, presenting the best accuracy values to five of nine drugs tested. Significant associations were observed between suffering from fatal disease and genotypic p-XDR-TB (p = 0.03) and either phenotypic (p = 0.006) and genotypic (p = 0.0007) ethambutol resistance. The use of WGS analysis improved our understanding of the population structure of MTBC in Brazil, genetic and clinical data correlations and demonstrating its utility for surveillance efforts for spread of DR-TB, hopefully helping to avoid the emergence of even more resistant strains and to reduce TB incidence and mortality rates.

Background Augmented reality (AR) in surgery can offer an enhanced view of reality through the superimposition of computer-generated digital images on the real environment. It allows surgeons to integrate image visualisation, improving operative efficiency, surgical outcomes, surgical training and patient education. This review aims to evaluate the current status of augmented reality in surgery, surgical training and potential future applications. Methods We performed a non-systematic review of available literature from January 2005 to August 2021 by searching PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane library using a combination of terms “augmented reality”, “virtual reality”, “surgery”, “simulation” and “training”. Articles considered for this review were identified by relevant search criteria including title, keywords, abstract, and full-text. Conclusions AR technologies present an exciting new trend with multiple potential applications in surgery. Intraoperative AR systems have shown promise in specialties involving fine movement of organs during surgical procedures, including Neurosurgery, Ears, Nose and Throat and Orthopaedic Surgery. AR has also exhibited the potential to enhance surgical training and improve knowledge acquisition; it can foster international collaborations via telesurgery and telepresence. In the near future, AR will likely work in symbiosis with surgeons, serving as a complex computer-human coalition which can improve patient outcomes, patient education and surgical training.

Ensuring precise electric locomotive stopping is pivotal for achieving intelligent and unmanned auxiliary transportation systems. Currently, human drivers' expertise plays a central role in the stopping process, posing challenges for automation and cargo location accuracy, particularly in coal mining. This paper focuses on achieving accurate electric locomotive stopping under diverse conditions by utilizing permanent magnet synchronous motor-driven locomotives. This technique introduces a novel stopping control method that combines a fuzzy Proportional-Integral-Derivative (F-PID) controller and a vector control model for permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM). After this, we design the F-PID using the PMSM technique based on the new fuzzy rules for each sub-system. In the end, extensive simulations and real-world experiments are conducted on an electric locomotive stopping test bed, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control method. From the simulation results, it confirming that the ability to achieve precise stopping under various working conditions.

Introduction. Grilling more and more sophisticated dishes is often a popular activity. Marshmallows are confectionery products popular among children and teenagers worldwide. They are available in many supermarkets ready to be grilled. As such, grilled marshmallows can be a source of exposure to harmful compounds, including carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Method. PAHs analysis in marshmallows grilled under different conditions included the dilution stage with deionized water and liquid-liquid extraction with cyclohexane and solid- phase extraction (SPE on silica gel columns). PAH fractions were initially analyzed via planar chromatography (HPTLC-high performance thin layer chromatography) and PAH concentrations were determined via GC-MS/MS (gas chromatography with a tandem mass detector) using the selective reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. This study on the consumption of grilled marshmallows was conducted among approximately 300 children and adolescents. Results. The preliminary results of HPTLC and GC-MS/MS analysis indicated that “raw” marshmallows did not contain PAHs. However, the obtained data suggested a high exposure of young people to carcinogenic PAHs from grilled marshmallows. Carcinogenic BaP was determined in all samples and constituted, on average, 36% of total PAH4. Conclusions. The profile of PAH concentrations in the extracts isolated from various grilled types of marshmallows was very similar (r 2 > 0.8), regardless of the grilling method. Compared to the white sugar confection, the higher concentrations of PAHs were determined in multicolored marshmallows. The lack of social awareness about the exposure to carcinogenic substances is alarming.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented challenge to healthcare and the available solutions are unsatisfactory. Classical homeopathy may have a role to play in alleviating this burden. Covid cases treated with homeopathy was curated with the intention to provide basic information for further studies. The results are promising although far from being definitive. 367 patients considered were for statistical analysis, the mean age of the participants was 42.75 years, and males and females were 166 and 201 respectively. The mean follow-up period was 6.5 (SD 5.3) days, with a median of 1 homeopathic remedy used per case. 192 patients were diagnosed by RT–PCR, 111 by the WHO clinical criteria and 64 via retrospective antibodies. According to the WHO criteria, 255 were confirmed cases, 61 were probable cases, and 51 were suspected cases. It was seen that 73.8% of covid patients improved under homeopathic treatment, even those among severe disease 78.6%. Correlational analyses showed that presence of fever was associated with more likelihood of improvement and increasing age and a greater number of homeopathic remedies required in a case were associated negatively with improvement. However, it was seen that severe cases were more likely to improve under homeopathic treatment.

The G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) Smoothened (Smo) is a central signal transducer of the Hedgehog (Hh) pathway which has been linked to diverse forms of tumours. Stimulated by advancements in structural and functional characterisation, the Smo receptor has been recognised as an important therapeutic target in Hh-driven cancers, and several Smo inhibitors have now been approved for cancer therapy. This receptor is also known to be an oncoprotein itself and its gain-of-function variants have been associated with skin, brain, and liver cancers. According to the COSMIC database, oncogenic mutations of Smo have been identified in various other tumours, although their oncogenic effect remains unknown in these tissues. Drug resistance is a common challenge in cancer therapies targeting Smo, and data analysis shows that healthy individuals also harbour resistance mutations. Based on the importance of Smo in cancer progression and the high incidence of resistance towards Smo inhibitors, this review suggests that detection of Smo variants through tumour profiling could lead to increased precision and improved outcomes of anti-cancer treatments.

Movement disorders encompass a diverse group of neurological conditions characterized by abnormal voluntary or involuntary movements. These disorders can be classified broadly into hyperkinetic and hypokinetic disorders. Excessive, involuntary movements, including tremors, dystonia, chorea, and myoclonus characterize hyperkinetic disorders. Tremors are rhythmic, involuntary movements occurring at rest or during movement. Dystonia involves sustained muscle contractions, leading to twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures. Chorea manifests as brief, irregular, involuntary movements that flow from one body part to another. Myoclonus consists of sudden, brief muscle contractions, either spontaneous or in response to a stimulus. Hypokinetic disorders are characterized by a lack of movement or difficulty initiating movement, as seen in Parkinson's disease and Parkinsonism. Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological disorder that primarily affects movement, causing tremors, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination. Parkinsonism refers to a group of disorders with similar symptoms to Parkinson's disease but with different underlying causes. Diagnosing movement disorders involves a thorough clinical evaluation, including a detailed medical history and physical examination. Neuroimaging studies such as MRI, CT scans, and functional imaging techniques may be used to assess brain structure and function. Additionally, laboratory tests, including genetic testing and biochemical markers, can help diagnose certain movement disorders.

Secondary movement disorders (SMDs) represent a heterogeneous group of neurological conditions characterized by abnormal, involuntary movements resulting from various underlying causes. This comprehensive review aims to thoroughly understand SMDs, including their epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, diagnostic approach, and management strategies. SMDs encompass a spectrum of movement abnormalities, including dystonia, chorea, athetosis, myoclonus, tics, and tremors. They can arise from a multitude of etiologies, such as drug-induced effects, post-infectious processes, metabolic disturbances, and structural brain lesions. The epidemiology of SMDs varies depending on the underlying cause, with some conditions being more prevalent in specific populations or age groups. Understanding the pathophysiology of SMDs is crucial for accurate diagnosis and targeted management. Diagnosing SMDs requires a comprehensive approach, including a detailed history, physical examination, laboratory investigations, neuroimaging studies, and sometimes electrophysiological studies. Management of SMDs is multifaceted and may involve pharmacological, non-pharmacological, and surgical interventions. Individualized treatment plans are essential, considering the underlying cause, severity of symptoms, and patient preferences. Emerging concepts in the field of SMDs include advancements in genetic research, identification of biomarkers, and development of novel therapeutic approaches. There is a growing focus on patient-centered care and improving the quality of life for individuals with SMDs. In conclusion, SMDs pose diagnostic and therapeutic challenges, requiring a multidisciplinary approach for optimal management. Continued research and collaboration are essential for advancing our understanding and treatment of these complex disorders.

Drug-induced movement disorders (DIMDs) are a group of neurological conditions caused by the use of certain medications. These disorders can significantly impact a person's quality of life and are essential to recognize and manage. This article provides an overview of the causes, symptoms, and treatment of DIMDs. DIMDs can manifest in various forms, including parkinsonism, tardive dyskinesia, dystonia, and akathisia. They are most commonly associated with medications such as neuroleptics, antidepressants, antipsychotics, antiemetics, and anticonvulsants. Risk factors for developing DIMDs include age, genetics, duration of medication use, and dose of medication. Symptoms of DIMDs can range from mild to severe and may include tremors, rigidity, bradykinesia, and involuntary movements. These symptoms can significantly impact a person's ability to perform daily activities and lead to social isolation and decreased quality of life. DIMD diagnoses are based on clinical evaluation, including a thorough medical history and physical examination. Imaging studies such as MRI or CT scans may also be used to rule out other possible causes of symptoms. Treatment of DIMDs involves the withdrawal of the offending medication if possible. Pharmacological treatments such as anticholinergic drugs, benzodiazepines, and dopamine agonists may also be used to manage symptoms. Non-pharmacological treatments such as physical, occupational, and speech therapy can also be beneficial. DIMDs are necessary neurological conditions that can significantly impact a person's quality of life. Early recognition and management of these disorders are essential for optimizing outcomes. Further research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms of DIMDs better and to develop more effective treatments.

The concerning worldwide increase of obesity and chronic metabolic diseases such as T2D, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular disease motivates further investigations into preventive and alternative therapeutic approaches. Over the past decade, there is growing evidence that the formation and activation of thermogenic adipocytes (brown and beige) may serve as therapy to treat obesity and its associated diseases owing to its capacity to increase energy expenditure and to modulate circulating lipids and glucose levels. Thus, understanding the molecular mechanism of brown and beige adipocytes formation and activation will facilitate the development of strategies to combat metabolic disorders. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of pathways and players involved in the development of brown and beige fat as well as the role of thermogenic adipocytes in energy homeostasis and metabolism. Also, we discuss the alterations in brown and beige adipose tissue function during obesity and, explore the therapeutic potential of thermogenic activation to treat metabolic syndrome.

We provide a summary of various epidemiological parameters related to COVID-19 such as incubation period, serial interval and other parameters. Understanding these parameters is important for developing prevention strategies. SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted by droplets and close contact, but there is evidence of airborne transmission. Aerosol-generating procedures have been identified as one of the specific risk factors for healthcare workers. Super-spreading events refer to situations where a small number of individuals cause the majority of infections. The basic reproductive number (R0) and the spread parameter (k) are used to characterise the transmissibility of the disease. Estimated values for R0 range from 2 to 3 and the estimated value for k is 0.1.The duration of infectiousness depends on viral load and shedding. Viral load varies according to factors such as clinical spectrum, type of variant and vaccination status. The relationship between viral load and infectivity is not fully understood.With regard to the frequency of symptoms and signs of COVID-19, fever, cough, fatigue and dyspnoea are common. The prevalence of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction (OGD) varies between studies and countries. Age and comorbidities are factors associated with olfactory dysfunction.Estimates of the proportion of asymptomatic patients range from 6% to 96%. Asymptomatic transmission is considered likely and is important for control measures.We reviewed the quantitative semiology of COVID-19 is reported on sensitivity, specificity and likelihood ratios of signs.Finally, we also review risk factors for COVID-19 (including health care workers), co-infections, and epidemiology of variants..

The COVID-19 pandemic which have affected every part of the world have been deemed a public health concern and classified as a pandemic. The government imposing travel bans and quarantine measures have been found to be effective in preventing and reducing the spread of COVID-19. A reduction in physical activity and increase in the consumption of unhealthy foods have been observed to be some of the major implications of quarantine. Adequate physical activity and increased access to healthy foods would help in improving the psychological wellbeing of individuals thereby preventing the development of cardiovascular diseases.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created huge damage to society and brought panics around the world. Such panics can be ascribed to the seemingly deceptive features of the COVID-19: compared to other deadly viral outspreads, it has medium transmission and mortality rates. As a result, the severity of the causative coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was deeply underestimated by the society at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. Based on this, in this review, we define the viruses with features similar to those of SARS-CoV-2 as the Panic Zone viruses. To contain those viruses, accurate and fast diagnosis followed by effective isolation and treatment of patients are pivotal at the early stage of virus breakouts. This is especially true when there is no cure or vaccine available for a transmissible disease, which is the case for current COVID-19 pandemic. As of January 2021, more than two hundred kits for the COVID-19 diagnosis on the market are surveyed in this review, while emerging sensing techniques for SARS-CoV-2 are also discussed. It is of critical importance to rationally use these kits for the efficient management and control of the Panic Zone viruses. Therefore, we discuss guidelines to select diagnostic kits at different outbreak stages of the Panic Zone viruses, SARS-CoV-2 in particular. While it is of utmost importance to use nucleic acid-based detection kits with low false negativity (high sensitivity) at the early stage of an outbreak, the low false positivity (high specificity) gains its importance at later stages of the outbreak. When a society is set to reopen from the lock-down stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, it becomes critical to have antibody based immunoassay kits with high specificity to identify people who can safely return to the society after their recovery of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Given that the emergence of mutant viruses at the beginning of 2021 has complicated current battle against the COVID-19, we also discussed approaches and guidelines to detect viral mutants in the middle of the second wave of the pandemic that started at the end of 2020. Finally, since a massive attack from a viral pandemic requires a massive defense from the whole society, we urge both government and private sectors to research and develop more affordable and reliable point-of-care testing (POCT) kits, which can be used massively by the general public (and therefore called as massive POCT) to contain Panic Zone viruses in future.

Ensuring the accuracy of wind power prediction is paramount for the reliable and stable operation of power systems. This study introduces a novel approach aimed at enhancing the precision of wind power prediction through the development of a multiscale hybrid model. This model integrates advanced methodologies including Improved Intrinsic Mode Function with Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise (ICEEMDAN), Permutation Entropy(PE), Least Squares Support Vector Regression (LSSVR), Regularized Extreme Learning Machine(RELM), Multi-head Attention (MHA), and Bidirectional Gated Recurrent Unit (BiGRU). Firstly, the ICEEMDAN technique is employed to decompose the non-stationary raw wind power data into multiple relatively stable sub-modes, while concurrently utilizing PE to assess the complexity of each sub-mode. Secondly, the dataset is reconstituted into three distinct components: high-frequency, mid-frequency, and low-frequency, to alleviate data complexity. Following this, the LSSVR, RELM, and MHA-BiGRU models are individually applied to predict the high, mid,and low-frequency components, respectively. Thirdly, the parameters of the low-frequency prediction model are optimized utilizing the Dung Betele Optimizer(DBO) algorithm. Ultimately, the predicted results of each component are aggregated to derive the final prediction. Empirical findings illustrate the exceptional predictive performance of the multiscale hybrid model incorporating LSSVR, RELM,and MHA-BiGRU. In comparison to other benchmark models, the proposed model exhibits a reduction in Root Mean Square Error(RMSE) values of over 10%, conclusively affirming its superior predictive accuracy.

To better understand farmers’ refusal and corresponding negative emotions to pay agricultural water fee under current policy in rural China, this paper applies mental accounting, a behavioral economics framework, to explore how the governmental policies of reform of rural taxes and fees, direct agricultural subsidy programs and agricultural water fee individually influence farmers’ decisions in paying agricultural water fee. Using fieldwork data from 577 farmers and 20 water managers in Sichuan, we explore farmers’ information processing regarding paying agricultural water fee via three sequential mental accounting processes, with the associated underlying principles and measures behind each process. We find that the information processing in three mental accounting scenarios related to the agricultural water fee elucidates farmers’ observed behaviors in rural China. Generally, in the three mental accounting scenarios, two conditional intuitive expectations and nine conditional intuitive preferences are formed, however, the conditions of those expectations or preferences cannot be matched with the facts due to the reform of rural taxes and fees, the direct agricultural subsidy programs and the internal attributes of agricultural water fee, which interpret those negative behaviors in rural China. Additionally, this paper offers a view into how previous policies create negative psychological externalities (such as farmers’ psychological dependence on the government) through mental accounting to negatively influence agents’ subsequent decision making; it highlights the significance of underlying mental factors and information processing of negative behaviors in policymaking for managing or conserving common pool resources.

Water management can improve the quality of valuable ecosystem services but can be costly to implement and the management costs are covered by national taxes collected by water users. Based on 30 valuation studies of water quality improvement from the Environmental Valuation Information System (EVIS) database provided by Korea Environment Institute (KEI), a meta-regression analysis was employed to measure the benefits that major river basins provided to the society. We compare these benefits to the costs, namely River Management Funds (RMFs) which are financial resources to support a variety of projects for managing and improving upstream water quality. Based on benefit-cost comparison, this study evaluates the efficiency of water resource management in South Korea. This study also provides policy options that are helpful to maintain the sustainability of water resource by improving the planning and performance of water management in the long run.

Arc sensors have been used in seam tracking and widely studied since the 80s; commercial arc sensing products for T and V shaped grooves have been developed. However, it is difficult to use these arc sensors in narrow gap welding because arc stability and sensing accuracy are not satisfactory. Pulse gas melting arc welding (P-GMAW) has been successfully applied in narrow gap welding and all position welding processes, so it is worthwhile to research P-GMAW arc sensing technology. In this paper, we derived a linear mathematical P-GMAW model for arc sensing, and the assumptions for the model are verified through experiments and finite element methods. Finally, the linear characteristics of the mathematical model were investigated. In torch height changing experiments, uphill experiments, and groove angle changing experiments the P-GMAW arc signals all satisfied the linear rules. In addition, the faster the welding speed, the higher the arc signal sensitivities; the smaller the groove angle, the greater the arc sensitivities. The arc signal variation rate needs to be modified according to the welding power, groove angles, and swing or rotate speed.

Not in the history of transmissible illnesses has there been an infection as strongly associated with acute cerebrovascular disease as the novel human coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. While the risk of stroke has known associations with other viral infections, such as influenza and human immunodeficiency virus, the risk of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke related to SARS-CoV-2 is unprecedented. Furthermore, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has so profoundly impacted psychosocial behaviors and modern medical care that we have witnessed shifts in epidemiology and have adapted our treatment practices to reduce transmission, address delayed diagnoses, and mitigate gaps in health care. In this narrative review, we summarize the history and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cerebrovascular disease, and lessons learned regarding the management of patients as we endure this period of human history.

Extraversion, a Big Five personality trait, has been identified as a significant factor in COVID-19 positive coping—yet, relevant research is conflicting. Studies have not situated the influence of extraversion within a geographical and historical context. Thus, a sound base is lacking for assessing when opposing results regarding extraversion and COVID-19 positive coping are likely to result. Furthermore, extraversion with respect to COVID-19 coping has not been considered concerning other-directed learning in contrast to self-directed learning. To establish a sufficiently sound base, an examination of the range of high-ranking Google Scholar results on extraversion and COVID-19 coping from different countries during the pandemic’s various waves—pre and post vaccine introduction—is undertaken. The same are then considered for insights into public opinion. Following, extraversion is compared with other-directed learning and differentiated from self-directed learning. An understanding is thus presented for assessing when extraversion will necessarily be an effective personality trait for COVID-19 positive coping and when it will not. Extraversion’s effect will be found inherently inconsistent for identifying COVID-19 positive coping as a result, because of its dependence on other-directed learning. The conclusion: COVID-19 positive coping stability is contingent on personal values that guide self-directed learning, rather than other-directed extraversion.

CoVID-19 is a multi-symptomatic disease which has made a global impact due to its ability to spread rapidly, and its relatively high mortality rate. Beyond the heroic efforts to develop vaccines, which we will not discuss, the response of scientists and clinicians to this complex problem has reflected the need to detect CoVID-19 rapidly, to diagnose patients likely to show adverse symptoms, and to treat severe and critical CoVID-19. Here we aim to encapsulate these varied and sometimes conflicting approaches and the resulting data in terms of chemistry and biology. In the process we highlight emerging concepts, and potential future applications that may arise out of this immense effort.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is shaking the foundations of public health governance all over the world. Researchers are challenged by informing and supporting authorities on acquired knowledge and practical implications. This commentary applies established theories of risk perception research to COVID-19 and reflects on the role of risk perceptions in these unprecedented times. Moreover, it calls for utilizing the knowledge on risk perception to improve health risk communication, build trust and contribute to a collaborating governance.

COVID-19 has affected 210 countries around the world, killed more than 240,000 and infected more than 3.4 million. Bangladesh, a South Asian low-middle-income economy, has experienced a demographic and epidemiological transition with rapid urbanization and a gradual increase in life expectancy. It is the seventh most populous country in the world and population of the country is expected to be nearly double by 2050. The increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases in Bangladesh can be attributable to rapid urbanization and nearly 50% of all slum dwellers of the country live in Dhaka division. In 2017, National Rapid Response Team of IEDCR investigated 26 incidents of disease outbreak. The joint survey of the Power and Participation Research Centre and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development reveals that per capita daily income of urban slum and rural poor drops by 80% due to present countrywide shutdown enforced by the government to halt the spread of Covid-19. 40%-50% of these population took loans to meet the daily expenses.

Covid-19 is often related to hyperinflammation that drives lung or multi-organ injury. The immunopathological mechanisms that cause excessive inflammation following SARS-Cov-2 infection are under investigation while different approaches to limit hyperinflammation in affected patients are being proposed. Here, a computational protein-protein interaction network approach was used on recently available data to identify possible Covid-19 inflammatory mechanisms and bioactive genes. First, network analysis of putative SARS-Cov-2 cellular receptors and their directly associated proteins, led to the mining of a robust neutrophil response signature and multiple relevant inflammatory genes. Second, analysis of RNA-seq datasets of lung epithelial cells infected with SARS-Cov-2 revealed that infected cells specifically expressed neutrophil-attracting chemokines, further supporting the likely role of neutrophils in Covid-19 inflammation. Third, analysis of RNA-seq datasets of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from Covid-19 patients, identified neutrophil-specific genes and chemokines. Different immunoregulatory and neutrophil-relevant molecules mined here such as, TNFR, IL8, CXCR1, CXCR2, ADAM10, GPR84, MME-neprilysin, ANPEP and LAP3 are druggable and might be therapeutic targets in efforts to limit SARS-Cov-2 inflammation in severe clinical cases. The role of neutrophils in Covid-19 needs to be studied further.

In the past decades, several new diseases have emerged in new geographical areas, with pathogens including Ebola, Zika, Nipah, and coronaviruses (CoVs). Recently, a new type of viral infection has emerged in Wuhan City, China, and initial genomic sequencing data of this virus does not match with previously sequenced CoVs, suggesting a novel CoV strain (2019-nCoV), which has now been termed as severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Although Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is suspected to originate from an animal host (zoonotic origin) followed by human-to-human transmission, the possibility of other routes such as food-borne transmission should not be ruled out. Compared to diseases caused by previously known human CoVs, COVID-19 shows less severe pathogenesis but higher transmission competence, as is evident from the continuously increasing number of confirmed cases globally. Compared to other emerging viruses such as Ebola virus, avian H7N9, SARS-CoV, or MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 has shown relatively low pathogenicity and moderate transmissibility. Codon usage studies suggest that this novel virus may have been transferred from an animal source such as bats. Early diagnosis by real-time PCR and next-generation sequencing has facilitated the identification of the pathogen at an early stage. Since, no antiviral drug or vaccine exists to treat or prevent SARS-CoV-2, potential therapeutic strategies that are currently being evaluated predominantly stem from previous experience with treating SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and other emerging viral diseases. In this review, we address epidemiological, diagnostic, clinical, and therapeutic aspects, including perspectives of vaccines and preventive measures that have already been globally recommended.

Research on fall and movement detection with wearable devices has witnessed promising growth. However, there are few publicly available datasets, all recorded with smartphones, that prevent authors to evenly compare their new proposals. Here, we present a dataset of falls and activities of daily living (ADL) acquired with a self-developed device composed of two types of accelerometer and one gyroscope. It consists of 19 ADL and 15 fall types performed by 23 young adults, 15 ADL types performed by 14 healthy and independent participants over 62 years old, and data from one participant of 60 years old that performed all ADL and falls. These activities were selected based on a survey and a literature analysis. We test the dataset with widely used feature extraction and a simple to implement threshold based classification, achieving up to 96~\% of accuracy in fall detection. An individual activity analysis demonstrates that most errors coincide in a few number of activities where algorithms could be focused on. Finally, validation tests with elderly people significantly reduced the fall detection performance of the tested features. This validates findings of other authors and encourages to develop new strategies with this new dataset as benchmark.

A The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of different endodontic irrigants and adhesive systems on resin bond strength of fiber post cementation. 144 single-rooted, unrestored human teeth were endodontically treated and randomly divided into 12 groups according to 4 endodontic irrigants (distilled water as control; EDTA 17%; NaOCl 5%; clorhexidine 2%) and 3 different adhesive/resin cement systems (etch-and-rinse: ortofosforic acid, Parabond® A+B/Paracore®; self-etch: ParaBond® Non-Rinse Conditioner, Parabond® A+B /Paracore®; Universal: ClearfilTM Universal Bond/ ClearfilTM DC Core Plus). 48 h after post cementation ten teeth from each group were cross sectioned into 3 discs (cervical, middle and apical regions). 30 specimens of each group (n=30) were submitted to push-out test at a crosshead speed of 1 mm/min. The remaining 2 teeth of each group were sectioned in the same manner and the resin-dentin interface was evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results were statistically analyzed with the ANOVA and Tukey’s test (< 0,01). The adhesive protocols and post space region showed no significant effect on bond strength (> 0.01). The combination of NaOCl 5% and ClearfilTM Universal Bond reduced the adhesive strength (< 0.01). The NaOCl 5%, in relation with other irrigants, significantly decreased the push-out bond strength.

Our previous study has found the anti-tumor activity of oleandrin in osteosarcoma cells in vitro, but the signal transduction process of cell apoptosis induced by oleandrin is uncertain, which is explored in this study. Fluorescence staining and flow cytometry (FCM) was performed to detect the cell apoptosis, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). Caspase-3 activity was detected using a commercial kit. The protein expression of cytoplasmic cytochrome c, mitochondrial cytochrome c, bcl-2, bax, caspase-9, Fas, FasL, caspase-8 and caspase-3 was detected using western blot. A pan-caspase inhibitor, z-VAD-fmk, was applied to block the apoptotic pathway and the apoptosis status were re-tested. We found that oleandrin significantly induced the increased apoptosis of U2OS cells. Meanwhile, the intracellular ROS was elevated, but the MMP decreased. The cytochrome c in mitochondria was notably decreased but increased in cytoplasm. The caspase-3 activity was also enhanced with the increase of drug concentration and treatment time. Oleandrin also down-regulated the level of bcl-2, but remarkably up-regulated the expression of bax, cleaved caspase-9, Fas, FasL, cleaved caspase-8 and cleaved caspase-3. Furthermore, the pre-treatment with z-VAD-fmk almost completely reverted the oleandrin-induced apoptosis. The results suggested that oleandrin induces the apoptosis of osteosarcoma cells via mitochondrial- and death receptor-dependent pathways.

More than 3 years have passed since the emergence of COVID-19. On May 8, 2023, COVID-19 in Japan was downgraded to Category 5 by the Infectious Disease Control Law. In Japan, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, cases of infection and deaths from severe disease were few compared with those of Western countries. However, in the medical field, screening for COVID-19 was given top priority, resulting in confusion and proving disadvantageous for many patients, also the overreaction to COVID-19 as the most important issue in society can be attributed largely to statements by infectious disease experts. In addition, the mRNA vaccine emerged in 2021, and most of the population was vaccinated up to two times within a short period of less than 1 year because infectious disease experts strongly promoted vaccination. After 2022, when vaccination progressed, and the Omicron strain, which is an attenuated strain, became the mainstay of the SARS-CoV-2, the number of severe cases of COVID-19 decreased significantly; however, the number of infected people increased dramatically instead. A significant portion of the population is thought to have hybrid immunity due to vaccination plus natural infection and maintains high antibody titers. Henceforth, additional vaccination should be given preferentially to those who will benefit most from it. Conversely, measures against COVID-19 caused serious damage to the economy and society. Policies that not only address countermeasures against infection, but also those that encompass the economy and society as a whole are necessary.

Azithromycin has been shown to have a clinical efficacy against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2); ivermectin has also demonstrated a remarkable experimental efficacy with a potential to be used for Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Further, BCG vaccination is being considered for clinical trials aiming to test its potential for lowering COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. This article illustrates some structural and functional relationships that may gather these drugs and the author, basing on a combined pathophysiological and pharmacological approach, recommends the FDA-approved antidiarrhea drug; nitazoxanide, which has been previously suggested but unfortunately ignored, to be tested in combination with azithromycin for their potential activity against SARS CoV-2 soonest. The author recommends testing their combined administration as early during the clinical course of COVID-19 as possible. Further, basing on the same represented concept, the author recommends more trials for interferons to be tested against SARS CoV-2 especially in severe and critical cases.

Conductive hydrogels combine the properties of both hydrogels and electrical conductivity, making them soft, flexible, and biocompatible. These properties enable them to conform to irregular surfaces, stretch and bend without losing their electrical conductivity, and interface with biological systems. Conductive hydrogels can be utilized as conductive traces, electrodes, or as a matrix for flexible electronics. Exciting applications in sensors, tissue engineering and human-machine interaction have been demonstrated worldwide. This review comprehensively covers the progress in this field, focusing on several main aspects: functional materials, performance improvement strategies, and wearable applications in human-related areas. Furthermore, the major approaches and challenges for improving their mechanical properties, conductivity, and long-term stability are systematically summarized.

Background: Children suffering from COVID-19 constitute about 10% of the entire population infected with the virus. In most of them, we observe asymptomatic or mild course; however, about 1% of affected children require a stay in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) due to the severe life-threatening course. The risk of respiratory failure, as in adults, is associated with the coexistence of concomitant diseases. The aim of our study was to analyze patients admitted to PICUs due to severe course of SARS-CoV-19 infection. Methods: A retrospective multi-center study, the analysis covered all children with a confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection, who were admitted to PICUs, in the period from November 2020 to August 2021. We studied epidemiological and laboratory parameters, and the endpoint – survival or death. Results: The study analyzed 45 patients (0.075% of all children hospitalized in Poland due to COVID-19 at that time). Mortality calculated in the entire study group was 40% (n=18). Statistically significant differences between the compared groups (survived and died) concerned the parameters of the respiratory system, Lung Injury Score and Pediatric Sequential Organ Failure Assessment . A significant correlation between disease severity and the patient's prognosis was shown by the liver function parameter AST (p=0.028). Analyzing patients requiring mechanical ventilation and assuming survival as the primary outcome, a significantly higher oxygen index on the first day of hospitalization, lower pSOFA scores and lower AST levels (p: 0.007; 0.043; 0.020; 0.005; 0.039, respectively) were found. Conclusions: As in adults, children with comorbidities are most frequently at risk of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. Increasing symptoms of respiratory failure, the need for mechanical ventilation and persistently high values of aspartate aminotransferase are indicators of poor prognosis.

Background: The morbidity of myocardial infarction is keeping raise in this decade. Because of high safety and operability , percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI) has been used to conquer this disease for more than 20 years.An important complication of PCI is contrast induced nephropathy(CIN), which raises our attention. Previously, we started a study to explore the correlation between acute kidney injury and myonecrosis after scheduled percutaneous coronary intervention. Our study showed that the rate of CI-AKI in patients with post-procedural myocardial injury and undergoing elective PCI was higher than that in patients free of injury. Methods: In this study,forty male rats were randomly divided into four groups: control group (n=8), CM group (n=12), AMI group (n=8) and AMI+CM group (n=12), then velocity of renal artery blood flow (VRABF), computer tomography (CT), serum creatinine(Scr), reactive oxidative species (ROS), periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) and TUNEL were used to estimate the injury of kidney. We analyzed 327 non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome subjects undertaking elective PCI. Serum levels of creatinine (SCr) and the eGFR before coronary angiography, and 24–72 h after contrast administration were recorded to assess the renal function. Results: The data showed that VRABF was lower in AMI+CM group than CM group from 0 minute to 24h and CT number in cortex was higher in AMI+CM group than CM group at 4-hour. As well as the level of Scr in AMI+CM group displayed a significantly increase at 24-hour compared with CM group. The histopathologic scores and percentage of tubular cell apoptosis were higher in AMI+CM group at 24-hour. In 327 patients, we found that CI-AKI occurred more often in subjects with post-procedural myonecrosis (PMN) than in those without PMN (20.8% versus 5.8%, respectively, P=0.001). Conclusion: Compared to the elective patient, the injury of CIN exhibited a higher severity in AMI patient.

This paper proposes a method to utilize weather and land cover models to generate future environmental scenarios, and presents the watershed models to simulate the hydrological impact on watershed-scale hydrology. The Weather Generator model and General Circulation Model were applied to produce rainfall and local temperature under different climate conditions, and the Conservation and Land Use and its Effects model was incorporated to simulate future land cover variability. The circumstances of future climate and land cover changes were used as inputs to drive the HEC-HMS rainfall runoff model for obtaining surface runoff in a mountainous area. The WASH123D model was then utilized for the entire watershed simulation. Modeling results were then examined to discuss hydrological impacts on three different time periods: near future (2020-2039), future (2050-2069), and distant future (2080-2099). The Fengshan Creek basin in northern Taiwan was selected as study site. Simulations results indicated that the influence of climate change revealed more relevant effects when compared to local land cover changes. The ground water levels tended to diminish as the land cover area changed. In addition, both river and groundwater levels reveal that it is drier in dry season and wetter in wet season in future.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of healthcare workers (HCWs) infected with COVID-19 have lost their lives worldwide. At the early stage of the epidemic, when COVID-19 was still not considered as a pandemic, a large number of Chinese HCWs were infected. Officials reported that more than 3,000 HCWs in Hubei contracted the virus at the early stage of the outbreak due to limited knowledge of the virus. Following reports of overloaded local hospitals, more than 42,000 medical staff, including those from the military, were dispatched to Hubei from across the country. At the peak of the fight, one in 10 intensive care medics in China were working in Wuhan. During fighting against COVID-19 in China, although a large number of HCWs were infected by SARS-CoV-2 in the early stages of the epidemic, the timely adoption of measures indicated that, a faster rate of diagnosis could be achieved, patients were isolated in-time, HCWs’ safety was prioritized, training on basic protective knowledge and unified management of HCWs was strengthened, and effective protective measures were implemented. This resulted in the accomplishment of zero SARS-CoV-2 infection among the 42,632 members of the national medical teams sent to Hubei, and the number of COVID-19 cases among HCWs in local hospitals also significantly decreased, thereby indicating that hospital-acquired infections of SARS-CoV-2 among HCWs are fully preventable.

The proliferation of physiological sensors opens new opportunities to explore interactions, conduct experiments and evaluate the user experience with continuous monitoring of bodily functions. Commercial devices, however, can be costly or limit access to raw waveform data, while low-cost sensors are efforts-intensive to setup. To address these challenges, we introduce PhysioKit, an open-source, low-cost physiological computing toolkit. PhysioKit consists of (i) a sensor and hardware layer that can be configured in a modular manner per research needs, (ii) a software application layer that enables data acquisition, real-time visualization and machine learning (ML)-enabled signal quality assessment. This also supports basic visual biofeedback configurations and synchronized acquisition for co-located or remote multi-user settings. In a validation study for photo-plethysmography (PPG) sensor with 15 participants, PhysioKit shows strong agreement with research-grade PPG sensors. Furthermore, we report usability survey results from 10 micro-project teams (44 individual members in total) who use PhysioKit for 4-6 weeks, providing insights into its use cases and research benefits. We conclude by discussing extensibility and potential impact of the toolkit on the research community.

To elucidate the cellular immune response to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among children, we assessed cellular immunity in 8 children post-vaccination for COVID-19 and 11 children after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, using the T-SPOT®.COVID assay for both the spike (S) and nucleocapsid (N) proteins. In the vaccinated group, the T-SPOT®.COVID assay for the S protein yielded positive results in all eight children. In contrast, in the post-infection group, the assay for the N protein was positive in 5 of 11 children, with 3 of these 5 children requiring hospital admission, including 2 who needed mechanical ventilation. Therefore, the T-SPOT®.COVID assay is valuable for assessing cellular immunity against COVID-19, and most children infected with COVID-19 may not develop such immunity unless the disease severity is significant.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the global pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 virus (SARS-CoV-2) infection, has caused millions of infections and fatalities worldwide. Extensive SARS-CoV-2 research has been conducted to develop therapeutic drugs and prophylactic vaccines, and even though some drugs have been approved to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection, treatment efficacy remains limited. Therefore, preventive vaccination has been implemented on a global scale and represents the primary approach to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Approved vaccines vary in composition, although vaccine design has been based on either the key viral structural (spike) protein or viral components carrying this protein. Therefore, mutations of the virus, particularly mutations in the S protein, severely compromise effectiveness of current vaccines and the ability to control COVID-19 infection. This review begins by describing the SARS-CoV-2 viral composition, mechanism of infection, role of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, host defense responses against infection and the most common vaccine designs. Next, this review summarizes the common mutations of SARS-CoV-2 and how these mutations change viral properties, confer immune escape and influence vaccine efficacy. Finally, this review discusses global strategies that have been employed to mitigate the decreases in vaccine efficacy encountered against new variants.

Body mass index has been studied as one of the factors that negatively influences COVID-19. In this work we intend to analyze this influence. A representative sample of the population of Beira Interior was used (around 2%), to which immunity research and a socio-demographic survey were carried out. It was found that obesity influences the vaccination rate, and all other variables analyzed were not influenced by the body mass index.

Patients with underlying health conditions are at risk for a poor outcome from Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Using machine reasoning by the sci.AI system, we investigated the pathobiochemistry of this observation to generate therapeutic guidelines. Facts were extracted and linked from publications available in nlm.nih.gov and Europe PMC to form the dataset which was validated by medical experts. Previously we described how preexisting chronic inflammation renders the acute inflammatory response to Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) excessive translating the SARS-CoV-2 infection into the clinical COVID-19 syndrome. Herein we focus on therapeutic interventions that mitigate the immune response. In essence, from bench to bedside, as depicted in the Graphical Abstract, the clinical management of COVID-19 should aim at: A. Control of excessive oxidant production. B. Neutralization of excessive oxidants. C. Upregulation of nitric oxide (NO) production.

Pneumonia is a leading cause of death worldwide, and one of the most significant approaches to diagnose pneumonia is Chest X-ray (CXR) since it was used in clinical scenes. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been widely used in computer vision community. Along with the development of CNNs, we want to make use of CNNs to recognize CXR of people who get pneumonia and make classification. It is important, especially during epidemic period. In this paper, we present a new type of residual learning framework, PEPX-Resnet, which makes use of a type of lightweight residual, and apply this network to CXR dataset. The result shows that PEPX-Resnet is easier to optimize and can have better results, especially for COVID-19 cases. PEPX-Resnet could reach higher accuracy, f1 score and some other evaluations for CXR dataset.

The most severe threat that the Covid-19 pandemic poses to the global economy is the need to choose between human lives and livelihoods. Bangladesh must assess the implications of such impacts on Bangladesh's macro-financial scenario to maintain the economy's current high growth trajectory. The paper outlines the major Covid-19 shock wave transmission channels to the four major sectors of the Bangladesh economy. Authorities around the world have taken every precaution possible to halt the spread of the pandemic. An aggregate transmission framework that includes these four sectors is required to contain the impact of Covid-19 can propagate through these sectors and eventually impact macro-financial stability.

In the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, if a preventive restriction (PR), intended to arrest the transmission of the virus, is effective we expect a decrease in the rate of transmission. If an effective PR is lifted or relaxed, the rate may show some increase. We test this expectation in the history of PR imposition and relaxation in all countries based on available public database. We found marginal or no negative correlation between standing stringency index of PR and change in slope of the local curve. A change in stringency index was significantly negatively correlated with change in slope, but change in stringency of PRs could explain only 6.1 percent of the variance in rates of transmission. The distribution of slope changes after imposing versus after relaxing PRs was highly overlapping with only a tail consisting of 4.5 % PR impositions being clearly non-overlapping with PR relaxation. Non-parametrically, only 9.4% of PR impositions were associated with a reduction in the slope above the expectation of a null hypothesis. In brief, globally, preventive restrictions have played a very small role in the pandemic process over the one year period. This feedback needs to be considered in making policy for disease prevention in the further course of the pandemic as well as in any future threats of respiratory disease epidemics.

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) worldwide pandemic in 2020. In response, most countries in the world implemented lockdowns, restricting their population’s movements, work, education, gatherings, and general activities in attempt to ‘flatten the curve’ of COVID-19 cases. The public health goal of lockdowns was to save the population from COVID-19 cases and deaths, and to prevent overwhelming health care systems with COVID-19 patients. In this narrative review I explain why I changed my mind about supporting lockdowns. First, I explain how the initial modeling predictions induced fear and crowd-effects [i.e., groupthink]. Second, I summarize important information that has emerged relevant to the modeling, including about infection fatality rate, high-risk groups, herd immunity thresholds, and exit strategies. Third, I describe how reality started sinking in, with information on significant collateral damage due to the response to the pandemic, and information placing the number of deaths in context and perspective. Fourth, I present a cost-benefit analysis of the response to COVID-19 that finds lockdowns are far more harmful to public health than COVID-19 can be. Controversies and objections about the main points made are considered and addressed. I close with some suggestions for moving forward.

Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) provide active and authentic scientific involvement to tens of thousands of students each year. Through this process, CUREs offer the benefits of increased learning outcomes, improved equity, and increased retention in STEM. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, research and teaching labs have limited capacity. Some universities are closed for in-person learning altogether, and others are likely to face emergency shut-downs throughout the year. In this setting, the inability to conduct experiments limits a core aspect of CUREs. Without experimentation as a basis for student engagement, interest, and broader relevance, true course-based research this year becomes a major challenge. We suggest that this limitation provides a moment to enhance CUREs with research-enriching learning activities that are obtainable while away from the bench. In this essay we outline a variety of these student-centered activities and review their benefits in terms of student interest, learning, and equity. While useful during emergency teaching transitions during COVID-19, we make the case that these new evidence-based practices for CUREs will also be helpful for the enrichment of research-based learning beyond the current crisis.

COVID-19, previously known as “2019 novel coronavirus”, is a newly discovered virus which causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, similar to corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which has spread widely through human to human contact and was declared a pandemic by the WHO in March 2020. To cope with this pandemic many countries have adopted nationwide lockdowns which restrict nonessential activities and encourage their populations to avoid public transport, work from hone wherever possible, and to maintain social distancing at all times. While the severity of these shutdowns has varied with country, large geographic regions of the world (including China, India, Iran, Italy, Spain, and the USA) have all been severely affected, not just in the loss of human life, but also in terms of the financial impacts the lockdowns will have on their countries future prosperityIt was previously reported that a number of environmental factors, including humidity and temperature, played an important role in development and spread of the SARS-Corona Virus infection with the virus retaining viability for over 5 days at temperatures between 22–25^oC and relative humidity (RH) of 40–50%. Whereas, elevated temperatures and higher RH (38^oC, and >95% RH) decreased virus viability (Kroumpouzos et al., 2020). The spread of COVID-19 started in low temperature areas of China, with major outbreaks subsequently occurring in Iran, Japan, Northern Italy and South Korea. These new virus epicenters all had similar temperature and latitude, along the 30-50^◦N” zone. Subsequently, the virus was spread to regions of elevated temperature, such as India, the Middle East and Thailand, due to international travel (Kroumpouzos et al., 2020).The aim of this study was to consider the environmental impact of COVID-19, including water pollution. The paper is divided into four sections. In the first section the current literature related to COVID-19 is reviewed. In the second section a recent update on COVID-19 globally is presented, followed by a descriptive impact on the environment in the third section and finally in the fourth section the COVID-19 related worldwide environmental impact is discussed. Since COVID-19 is a currently an active pandemic with no end in sight, while constructive conclusions can only be made on the limited data currently, which may be prone to high errors. However, these conclusions may provide some preliminary suggestions for assisting in assessing spreading patterns of COVID-19 across the globe, and may be of long-term significances with respect to assessing the environmental impact of lockdown policies due to COVID-19 worldwide.

COVID-19 disease, caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus, is a potentially fatal disease that represents a serious public health and economic problem worldwide. The SARS-CoV2 virus infects the lower respiratory tract and can cause pneumonia in humans. ARDS is the leading cause of death in COVID-19 disease. One of the main characteristics of ARDS is the cytokine storm, an uncontrolled systemic inflammatory response resulting from the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines and growth factors, by immune cells. The other important aspect of the disease is represented by the involvement of the vascular organ that undergoes endothelitis. Hyperinflammation and endothelitis contribute in various ways to trigger coagulation disorders with diffuse micro thrombotic and thromboembolic phenomena. Lastly, multiple organ failure may occur (MOF). Since so far there is no approved treatment, there is an urgent need to reposition known treatments, considered safe, to be included in trials. Naturally produced interferons represent the body's first line of defense against viruses. Pharmacological forms, obtained by means of genetic recombination techniques, have long been approved and used to treat numerous pathologies. Interferons are divided into three families, within which some subfamilies are distinguishable. Only IFN-II comprises a single isoform which has completely different aspects and functions. The IFN I and III, however, each comprise different subfamilies (17 subfamilies the IFN-I and 4 subfamilies the IFN-III), share many aspects, representing the body's first antiviral response, but play different roles. The use of IFNs has been studied in two severe hCoV (Human Coronavirus) diseases, closely related to COVID-19 disease, such as SARS and MERS. Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies have been conducted, often in combination with other antivirals. The results have been controversial. The positive results in vitro and in experimental animals were often not replicable in humans. The possible positioning of these molecules in the right window of therapeutic opportunity requires that the complex dialogue between IFN, inflammasome, cytokines, pro-inflammatory chemokines, growth factors and barrier function be shed light.

Today, we are all threatened by an unprecedented pandemic: COVID-19. How different is it from other coronaviruses? Will it be attenuated or become more virulent? Which animals may be its original host? In this study, we analyzed 377 publicly available complete genome sequences for the COVID-19 virus, the previously known flu-causing coronaviruses (HCov-229E, HCov-OC43, HCov-NL63 and HCov-HKU1) and the lethal, pathogenic P3/P4 viruses, SARS, MERS, Victoria, Lassa, Yamagata, Ebola, and Dengue. We found strong similarities between the current circulating COVID-19 and SARS and MERS, as well as COVID-19 in rhinolophines and pangolins. On the contrary, COVID-19 shares little similarity with the flu-causing coronaviruses and the other P3/P4 viruses. Strikingly, we observed divergence of COVID-19 strains isolated from human hosts has steadily increased from December 2019 to March 2020, suggesting COVID-19 is actively evolving in human hosts. From all existing human COVID-19 genome sequences, we calculated the first common model that represents the shared sequences of the human COVID-19 strains, which provides important information for vaccine and antibody development. Geographic and time-course analysis of the evolutionary trees of the human COVID-19 reveals possibly heterogeneous evolutional paths among strains from 21 countries. This finding has important implications to the management of COVID-19 and the development of vaccines.

Covid-19 disease is caused by SARS Cov-2 virus. Despite its high transmissibility, the CFR (Case Fatality Rate) of COVID-19 seems to be lower than the SARS (9,5%) and MERS (34,4%) ones⁹³ , but higher than the influenza one (0-1%)^94,95 . The disease is asymptomatic or paucisymptomatic in most of the patients, although in few cases it can be characterized by serious complications. The main causes of hospitalization in intensive care are represented by ALI (Acute Lung Injury), ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome), cardiovascular problems and coagulopathies (diffuse thrombosis, microthrombosis, embolisms, myocarditis, arrhytmias, heart failure, stroke)^96-98, acute nephropathy^99,100 and encephalopathies¹⁰¹. The virus presence in the vascular wall can cause endotheliitis, which triggers the process of diffuse coagulation that can lead to a worsening of the systemic inflammation. The exaggerated inflammatory response seems to be connected with the development of ARDS, MOF (Multiple Organ Failure) and coagulopathies^102-107.

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic in a developing country like Bangladesh is enormous. A research conducted by South Asian network of Economic Modelling predicted that the pandemic could double the poverty. But it is not that only the socioeconomic condition is dropping in Bangladesh, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic is manifold. The poor condition of Bangladesh's health sector has also been exposed due to the pandemic. People are not getting proper treatment due to lack of isolation beds, oxygen, ICU etc. The health sector of Bangladesh is not much developed and now with this pandemic it has become impossible to provide treatment facility for all the patients. Education sector, which is the backbone of a country,has also been greatly affected by the pandemic. We know that different types of cultural occasions are an inherited tradition of Bangladesh, COVID-19 have not even spared these traditions, all the cultural programes and festivals have been cancelled due to this pandemic.In this paper, our aim is to present the present status of all these sectors.

The novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) is a contagious acute respiratory infectious disease whose causative agent has been demonstrated to be a novel virus of the coronavirus family, SARSCoV-2. A recent pre-print study has showed a heme attack on the 1-beta chain of hemoglobin by COVID19. Beta-thalassemia results of a default in the hemoglobin beta- chain synthesis. 1,5% global population are heterozygotes for this disease. In this study, by a multiple linear regression, we have analyzed the evolution of COVID-19 infection in three Italian regions (Puglia, Sardinia, Sicilia) with different beta-thalassemic prevalences, in order to search a link. The results have showed that betathalassemic heterozygote population prevalence is correlated to immunity against COVID-19, by a regression. This paper is only for academic discussion, the hypotheses and conclusions needs to be confirmed by further research .

The recent pandemic has greatly stressed supply chains, treatment modalities, and medical resources. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) has been used for a wide range of applications in biomedical engineering due to its many components including electrons, charged particles, reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive nitrogen species (RNS), free radicals, ultraviolet (UV) photons, molecules, electromagnetic fields, physical forces, and electric fields. In this manuscript, we develop CAP devices for COVID-19. Our manuscript indicates the advantages of highlydeployable CAP devices for both sanitation and treatment, without the need for supply chains of special consumables such as hand sanitizers and the like. We hope that this timely research will help engage the broader community of engineers that wish to help the medical community with this pandemic and to prevent and treat future outbreaks.

OBJECTIVE: Recent worldwide outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of respiratory coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is a current, ongoing life-threatening crisis and international public health emergency. The early diagnosis and management of the disease remains a major challenge. In this review, we aim to summarize the updated epidemiology, causes, clinical manifestation and diagnosis, as well as prevention and control of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A broad search of the literature was performed in “PubMed” “Medline” “Web of knowledge”, and “Google Scholar” World Health Organization-WHO” using the keywords “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus”, “2019-nCoV”, “COVID-19, “SARS”, “SARS-CoV-2” “Epidemiology” “Transmission” “Pathogenesis” “Clinical Characteristics”. We reviewed and documented the information obtained from literature on epidemiology, pathogenesis and clinical appearances of SARS-CoV-2 infection.RESULTS: The global cases of COVID-19 as of April 2, 2020 have risen to more than 900,000 and morbidity has reached more than 47,000. The incidence rate for COVID-19 has been predicted to be higher than the previous outbreaks of other coronavirus family members, including those of SARS-CoV and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV). The main clinical presentation of SARS-CoV-2 infection ranges from asymptomatic stages to severe lower respiratory infection in the form of pneumonia. Most of the patients also presented with fever, cough, sore throat, headache, fatigue, myalgia and breathlessness.Individuals at higher risk for severe illness include elderly people and patients with a weakened immune system or that are suffering from a underlying chronic medical condition like hypertension, diabetes, cancer, respiratory illness or cardiovascular diseases.CONCLUSIONS: SARS-Cov-2 has emerged as a worldwide threat, currently affecting 170 countries and territories across the globe. There is still much to be understood regarding SARS-CoV-2 about its virology, epidemiology and clinical management strategies; this knowledge will be essential to both manage the current pandemic and to conceive comprehensive measures to prevent such outbreaks in the future.

Novel Coronavirus infection mediated pandemic started in China in December 2019 and is still killing 1000s of people throughout the world. The second most populous country, India too is fighting against this infectious disease. The country is taking effective measures to curb the pandemic by exerting extensive campaigning on sanitation and strict social distancing measures to quell the explosion of the infection rate. The future of the COVID-19 infections in India still remain unpredictable, so precautionary methods need to be continued until the growth rate of new cases drop below one.

An outbreak caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, in December 2019. Up to March 2, 2020, at least 80180 cases have been reported. Most of the patients had a history of visiting Hubei Province or contacting with people who had ever stayed in or passed by Hubei Province, or exposed to symptoms. Some patients got infected only from asymptomatic contacts. This study aimed to report the epidemic features and lab identification of a patient confirmed with COVID-19 infection only from asymptomatic contact.

During the 2008 financial crisis, central banks (such as the Fed) adopted quantitative easing (QE) policy to stimulate their economies and overcome severe economic and financial recessions. However, apart from stimulating the economy by issuing a substantial amount of currency to purchase long-term bonds and suppress interest rates, QE policy also contributed to a boom in the real estate and construction sectors. Therefore, this study employs Data Envelopment Analysis to measure the business performance (BP) of construction companies and explores the impact of QE policy on the BP of construction companies between 2004 and 2015 using ordinary least squares regression. Also, we examine the moderating role of debt ratio on the relationship. Focused on publicly listed construction companies in Taiwan, this research reveals three encouraging find-ings. Firstly, QE policy indeed enhanced the BP of Taiwanese construction companies. Secondly, the performance improvement of construction companies due to QE policy shows a time-diminishing trend, suggesting the importance of seizing the initial policy benefits of QE implementation. Lastly, construction companies with appropriate financial leverage may exhibit better BP. These findings can provide valuable insights for relevant government entities and de-cision-makers in the industry for policy and investment decisions.

Intelligent fault diagnosis techniques have replaced the time-consuming and unreliable human analysis, increasing the efficiency of fault diagnosis. Deep learning model can improve the accuracy of intelligent fault diagnosis with the help of its multilayer nonlinear mapping ability. This paper has proposed a novel method named Deep Convolutional Neural Networks with Wide First-layer Kernels (WDCNN). The proposed method uses raw vibration signals as input (data augmentation is used to generate more inputs), and uses the wide kernels in first convolutional layer for extracting feature and suppressing high frequency noise. Small convolutional kernels in the preceding layers are used for multilayer nonlinear mapping. AdaBN is implemented to improve the domain adaptation ability of the model. The proposed model addresses the problem that currently, the accuracy of CNN applied to fault diagnosis is not very high. WDCNN can not only achieve 100% classification accuracy on normal signals, but also outperform state of the art DNN model which is based on frequency features under different working load and noisy environment.

A thorough analysis and comparison of the fatty acid profiles of stipe and blade from Laminaria hyperborea, a kelp species found in the northern Atlantic, is presented. Lipids were extracted and fractionated into neutral lipids, free fatty acids and polar lipids, then derivatized to fatty acid methyl esters prior to GC-MS analysis. A total of 42 fatty acids were identified and quantified, including the n-3 fatty acids α-linolenic acid, stearidonic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid. An n-6/n-3 ratio of 0.8:1 was found in blade and 3.5:1 in stipe, respectively. The ratios vary between the lipid fractions within stipe and blade, with the lowest ratio in the polar lipid fraction of blade. The fatty acid amounts are higher in blade than in stipe, and the highest amounts of n-3 fatty acids are found within the neutral lipid fractions. The amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids are 3.4 times higher in blade than stipe. This study highlights the compositional differences between the lipid fractions of stipe and blade from L. hyperborea. The amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids, compared to saturated- and monounsaturated fatty acids, as well as the n-6/n-3-ratio, is known to influence human health. In the pharmaceutical, food, and feed industries this can be of importance for production and sale of different health products. Additionally, lipids are today among the unused by products of alginate production, exploiting this material for commercial interest should give both economical and environmental benefits.

In this paper, a method of charging lead acid battery with solar power by flyback converter is proposed. The basic system consists of a buffer circuit, auxiliary power circuit, control circuit, voltage feedback circuit and current feedback circuit. The system is capable of monitoring battery voltage and the current, charging the coupling inductor and automatic control of output duty cycle, overcharging and over-discharging protection. The experiment proves that the charging efficiency is improved by about 83% at full load.

Image stitching is a crucial aspect of image processing. However, factors like perspective and environment often lead to irregular shapes in stitched images. Cropping or completion methods typically result in substantial loss of information. This paper proposes a method for rectifying irregularly images into rectangles using deformable meshes and residual networks. The method utilizes a convolutional neural network to quantify rigid structures of images. Choosing the most suitable mesh structure based on the extraction results, offering options such as triangular, rectangular, and hexagonal. Subsequently, the irregularly image, predefined mesh structure, and predicted mesh structure are input into a wide residual neural network for regression. The loss function comprises local and global, aimed at minimizing the loss of image information within the mesh and global target. This method not only significantly reduces information loss during rectification but also adapting to different images with various rigid structures. Validation on the DIR-D dataset shows this method outperforms state-of-the-art methods in image rectification.

Land use and cover change (LUCC) is an important method to investigate the causes of global environment change. We utilized the emergy ecological footprint (EEF) model to construct a land-use change model to be used as a systematic measuring tool for monitoring sustainable development trends. In particular, we estimated the eco-security of the Cing-jing region as a case study so that responsible agencies can use it to maintain a balance between ecological preservation and tourism development. The results indicated the following: First, the ecological environment of the Cing-jing region satisfied the safety standard in 2008–2014; however, the related indices increased considerably. Second, the grey model predicted a decrease in 2015–2024 ecological carrying capacities of Cing-jing and a large increase in capita EFs, resulting in a larger ecological deficit and higher EFI. The eco-security from 2015–2024 was higher compared to 7 years ago and is predicted to reach the Grade 2 intermediate level in 2022; thus the Cing-jing region is gradually becoming ecologically unsustainable. Strengths of our study included the use of EEF theory in a quantitative analysis of slope lands for the effective evaluation of ecological security. Finally, we expanded our research to include ecological security issues.

In this study, the separation conditions of UHPLC-QTOF-MS and the extraction conditions of QuEChERS were optimized. The analytical process for determining Broflanilide residues in different soil types was successfully established and applied to its adsorption, desorption and leaching in soil. Broflanilide was extracted from soil with acetonitrile as extraction solvent, and purified with 50 mg PSA + 150 mg MgSO4. The modified UHPLC-QTOF-MS method was used for determination. In different types of soil, the average recovery of Broflanilide was 87.7% -94.38%, and the RSD was lower than 7.6%. In the analysis and determination of the adsorption, desorption and leaching properties in four soils, the RSD was less than 9.2%, showing good stability and can be applied to the analysis and determination of the residue of Broflanilide in different soils.

In a one price economy, the Fundamental Theorem of Asset Pricing (FTAP) establishes that no-arbitrage is equivalent to the existence of an equivalent martingale measure. Such an equivalent measure can be derived as the normal unit vector of the hyperplane that separates the attainable gain subspace and the convex cone representing arbitrage opportunities. However, in two-price financial models (where there is a bid-ask price spread), the set of attainable gains is not a subspace anymore. We use convex optimization, and the conic property of this region to characterize the “No-Arbitrage” principle in financial models with the bid-ask price spread present. This characterization will lead us to the generation of a set of price factor random variables. Under such a set, we can find the lower and upper bounds (supper-hedging and sub-hedging bounds) for the price of any future cash flow. We will show that for any given cash flow, for which the price is outside the above range, we can build a trading strategy that provides one with an arbitrage opportunity. We will generalize this structure to any two-price finite-period financial model.

Microwave absorbers with lightweight, good stability and high efficiency have attracted much attention for their applications in many contemporary fields. In this work, the 3D porous (Ni@NO-C)n/NO-C composite absorber was prepared by a wet chemistry method with Ni chains and melamine as precursors, in which NO-C (N,O-doped carbon) encapsulated Ni particles are homogenously dispersed in the 3D porous networks of NO-C in the form of (Ni@NO-C)n chains. The special microstructure of the as-prepared material is proved to be benefit for the improvement of its microwave adsorption performance. The as-synthesized (Ni@NO-C)n/NO-C composite ab-sorber exhibited an effective absorption bandwidth of 4.1 GHz and an extremely large reflection loss of -72.3 dB. The excellent microwave absorbing performances can be ascribed to the coopera-tive consequence of dielectric loss and magnetic loss along with the balance between attenuation capability and impedance match.

The study investigated the changes that occurred in the Mexican power sector pre-, during, and post-COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions on energy sustainability goals. The study is based on the variability of the installed capacity, consumption, generation, and demand of the National Electric System (SEN), covering the period from 2017 to 2021. The data were collected from the Development of the National Electric System (PRODESEN), the Ministry of Energy, the National Energy Balance, and the government's official website. The results indicated that in-stalled capacity and generation increased by 22.83% and 27.86%, respectively, despite the pan-demic. This growth was attributed to clean energy, mainly photovoltaic solar and wind sources. Another finding is that the gross domestic product (GDP), consumption, and demand were seri-ously affected by COVID-19. They had a fall of 8.2%, 2.2%, and 4.4%, respectively, which trans-lates into a significant economic lag and a slowdown in energy self-sufficiency and the Mexican Energy Transition (TEM). Moreover, the objective of generating 35% and 40% of electrical ener-gy through clean energy will be achieved by 2031 and 2035, instead of 2021 and 2035, respec-tively.

AbstractBackground: The World Health Organization (WHO) said the situation in India was a "devastating reminder" of what the coronavirus could do. COVID-19 cases suddenly spiked across India. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said that one of the major reasons for the spike in coronavirus cases was people not following COVID-appropriate behaviour. The Union minister noted that the sudden rise in cases is largely or maybe event-driven comprising local body elections, grand weddings, and farmers' protest. These events may cause asymptomatic covid-19 carriers to spread wide covid-19 to others. Malaysia is also facing a surge in Covid-19 may due to the spread of covid-19 by asymptomatic covid-19 carriers. Therefore, it is important to develop an application that can publicize information on asymptomatic covid-19 carriers. The purpose of this application is to provide sufficient information and scientific research evidence to ensure that prevention strategies for asymptomatic covid-19 carriers must be implemented. The app is also open to anyone who uses it to educate others so that information can be shared more quickly to prevent other countries from becoming "Second India or Malaysia".Method: The homepage of the app shows that asymptomatic covid-19 carriers may have a lower viral load, the same viral load, or a higher viral load than symptomatic covid-19 carriers. When the user app is pressed by each category, they will see sufficient information and scientifically based research evidence about each category. These apps also show the evidence that on January 13, 2021 - Malaysian Health Department Director Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah instructs test Only those Close Contacts With Symptoms and The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has urged the Health Ministry to urgently improve the management of mild Covid-19 cases and revert to its policy of testing all close contacts. In addition, These apps also show App raise public awareness of the importance of COVID-19 vaccination(version 4) [Peter Chew, 2021] can intuitively see that countries with high vaccination rates can solve the problem of asymptomatic transmission of covid-19 carriers.Result: This application displays sufficient information and scientifically based research evidence to prove asymptomatic covid-19 carriers are the main key to the outbreak of covid-19. Some countries are using covid-19 symptom prevention strategies. They are only testing the symptomatic closed contact of covid-19 patients, because they may think that asymptomatic covid-19 carrier is just a low viral load and a low transmission rate, which is wrong. Some asymptomatic covid-19 carriers of covid-19 have high viral loads. The accumulation of asymptomatic covid-19 carriers with high viral load is the main cause of the covid-19 outbreak. Conclusion: Three apps have been developed to educate the public about the importance of asymptomatic covid-19 carriers. The asymptomatic covid-19 carrier education app (1) will provide sufficient information and scientific research evidence to educate citizens of any country to ensure that preventive strategies must be implemented for asymptomatic carriers to prevent the country’s Covid-19 outbreak. App, Game Base Learning to Prevent Infection from COVID-19 (version 3) [Peter Chew, 2020 ]. The app allows anyone to intuitively see that when the second wave covid-19 arrives, the accumulation of a large number of asymptomatic carriers in some countries has led to the high infection rate of covid-19. This is what is happening in India now. App raise public awareness of the importance of COVID-19 vaccination(version 4) can intuitively see that countries with high vaccination rates can solve the problem of asymptomatic transmission of covid-19 carriers. This is what is happening in Israel now.

Despite the fact that COVID-19 treatment and management are now considerably regulated, SARS-CoV-2 is still one of the leading causes of death in 2022. The availability of COVID-19 vaccines, FDA-approved antivirals, and monoclonal antibodies in low-income countries still poses an issue to be addressed. Natural products, particularly traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) and medicinal plant extracts (or their active component) have challenged the dominance of drug repurposing and synthetic compound libraries in COVID-19 therapeutics. Abundant resources and excellent antiviral performance make natural products a relatively cheap and easily available alternative for COVID-19 therapeutics. Here, we deliberately review the anti-SARS-CoV-2 mechanisms of the natural products, their potency (pharmacological profiles), and application strategies for COVID-19 intervention. In light of their advantages, this review is intended to acknowledge the potential of natural products as COVID-19 therapeutic candidates.

COVID-19 affects many organs in our body, including the heart and lungs. COVID-19 cases that require hospitalization often exhibit pulmonary hypertension (PH) due to changes in the lung microvasculature in which the blood vessels become stiff, damaged, or narrow, causing increased pulmonary arterial pressure. This review examines the hypothesis that PH can lead to right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) as a long-lasting aftereffect of COVID-19. Recent studies have shown that significant percentages of hospitalized patients develop right ventricular hypertension and right ventricular dilatation (RVD), which may lead to right ventricular failure and death. Despite recommendations for echocardiogram reports to include right ventricular wall thickness to assess RVH, few published reports have reported this parameter. Relevant studies on animal models of PH in which the timing of PH can be precisely controlled suggest that one to three weeks of PH can cause RVH. Thus, according to the hypothesis proposed here COVID-19 patients who have long-lasting severe disease (e.g., needed to be on a ventilator for one or more weeks) accompanied by PH and RVD may develop RVH as a long-lasting sequela outlasting the infection itself. Echocardiogram studies of recovered COVID-19 patients may determine whether oft-reported cardiovascular sequelae include RVH.

The COVID-19 crisis has emphasized the importance of digital transformation of SMEs and has served as an accelerator. Digital transformation empowers SMEs to rethink the way they make decisions and apply technology in meaningful and sustainable ways. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of digital transformation, fostered by COVID-19, and its potential contribution to the sustainability of SMEs. This paper examines a new conceptual framework designed on resource-based theory perspectives by using a survey data of 246 SMEs in Latvia and employing mediation analysis. The main findings of the study are that digital orientation and digital capability have direct positive effects on digital transformation; higher levels of digital orientation and capability, mediated by digital transformation, lead to higher revenue; as well as a more sophisticated business model in the case of digital orientation. Even if we cannot confirm that higher digital capability, mediated by digital transformation, leads to a more sophisticated business model, we found statistically significant direct effects from digital capability to digital transformation and from digital transformation to business model. These findings can be useful for policymakers, managers and practitioners to clarify how digital orientation, digital capability intermediated through digital transformation affect sustainability of SMEs.

Here, we review findings and trends in sleep research in 2020-2021 demonstrating how COVID-19 and sleep disorders can induce the BBB leakage via neuroinflammation, which might contribute to the 'coronasomnia' phenomenon. The new studies suggest that the controlling of sleep hygiene and quality should be incorporated into the rehabilitation of COVID-19 patients. We also discuss perspective strategies for prevention of COVID-19-related BBB disorders. We demonstrate that sleep might be a novel biomarker of the BBB leakage and the analysis of sleep EEG patterns can be a breakthrough non-invasive technology for diagnosis of the COVID-19-caused BBB disruption.

COVID-19 breakout calls for immediate research explorations. The objective of this study is to perform a bibliometric analysis of all COVID-19-related publications in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) in the early stage of the outbreak. Analysis parameters include performances of authors, institutes, and countries as well as distributions of Web of Science categories, journals, languages, and types of publications. Results show that 32% of total papers were published as editorial materials and an overwhelming production from Chinese research institutes. An association of research indexes with the number of cases was also found.

The Saudi government has undertaken rapid and swift actions, such as suspending Omrah and holding international flights. Such affirmative actions enhanced citizens and residents’ confidence in the government officials’ ability to fight the pandemic. However, there are more than 361,178 reported cases of Covid-19 with 6131 deaths as of December 22, 202. As nurses are the largest component of the health care workforce in Saudi Arabia, it is important that they are trained and have the skills and resources to adapt, whether on the frontline of a crisis or in a clinical environment. Nurses play a key function in fulfilling the needs of medical treatment by being the most important part of the health care delivery system.

Culture, gender and religion are closely linked each other’s, profoundly affect the role of each person within the Society, and also affect the ability to access to the health resources. We are now living a worldwide crisis due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. In order to appropriately tackle it, an alliance between science, politics and citizens is needed. In this article, we summarize current evidences of how religions can represent, on one hand, a risk moment for spreading the virus (in relation with overcrowded events), on the other, a precious opportunity to engage people, and in particular minorities, in fighting the pandemic. To win this fight, we need a multicultural approach that takes into account every aspect of human life, and among these religion, which influences so much culture, everyday life and well-being.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2) is the virus that caused COVID-19 around the world. The disease starts off as a flu-like symptom and then eventually spreads in the human body.Infections are easily transmitted from human to human which makes it more severe among individuals. SARS-CoV-2 virus is in the same family of viruses SARS and MERS.As of today, there is no approved vaccine that can cure COVID-19. However, potential treatments showing promising improvement results among affected COVID-19 patients. In this review, the effectiveness of the current treatments for COVID-19 has been explored.

Susceptible, infective, recovered, and hospitalized/isolated individuals are placed on the cells of a nxn square lattice, where each cell is occupied by a single individual or is vacant. At discrete time units (typically one day each) all susceptibles and infectives execute a random movement and when a coincidence of the two types occurs the susceptible is converted to infective status according to some probability. Infectives are labelled by the number of days since originally infected. At each time increment the age label of the infectives is increased by one unit. When the label reaches a number like 15 or 20 days the susceptibles recover with some probability or become isolated/hospitalized. Upon reaching some age the latter types either recover or die. Probabilities for the movements and conversions from one status to another are implemented by random numbergeneration. Simulations were carried out to investigate the effect of several probability and age parameters, the size of population (proportional to nxn) and density (related to fraction of occupied cells), and the size of the movements. Mid-term gradual conversion of susceptibles to isolated was explored as intervention policy.

The quarantine imposed as the response to the COVID 19 pandemic has been related to an increase in cases of thromboembolism in Non-COVID19 patients .We report the case of a patient with pulmonary thromboembolism without usual triggering causes during the quarantine period, related to a previously undiagnosed hypercoagulable condition.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is now a global pandemic caused by the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Unlike other known coronaviruses, such as the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), SARS-CoV-2 reveals new clinical, immunological, and pathologic features. The lymphocyte depletion, macrophage and neutrophil hyperactivation, cytokine dysregulation, thrombophilia, delayed antiviral response, and immune exhaustion are key immunological findings linked to the clinical progression of this disease. Understanding and identifying the underlying immunological basis of COVID-19 is crucial to designing effective therapies. Here, we provide an overview of immunopathogenesis driven by SARS-CoV-2 after its interactions with the immune system.

The emergence of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in marked as the highest pathogenic coronavirus that has crossed from the hosts to the human population in the twenty-first century. The spreading of COVID-19 in different chinese cities and around the world is travel-related viral spread with the unprecedented nosocomial outbreaks. It has also shown with high case-fatality rates, indeed to urgent prophylactic and therapeutic settings. Scientific advancements of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic allowed for rapid progress to understand the epidemiology and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2. This review highlights the the genomic structure of SARS-CoV-2 with the proposed roles of genotype and phenotype of SARS-CoV-2 in pathogenesis and discuss recent results supporting treatment strategies of COVID-19 with a special focus on how these new insights may facilitate rational development of SARS-CoV-2 for targeted therapies in the future.

COVID-19 was identified in Wuhan, China in in December 2019, and rapidly spread worldwide, being declared global pandemic one month later on 30 January 2020. Since its emergence, COVID-19 has raised global concerns associated with drastic measures that were never adopted in any previous outbreak, to contain the situation as early as possible. The 2019 novel corona virus (2019-nCoV) or SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent of COVID-19. 2019-nCoV genetic sequence was rapidly identified within few days since the first reported cases and RT-PCR kits became available for COVID-19 diagnosis. However, RT-PCR diagnosis carries a risk of false-negative results, therefore additional serologic test are needed. The most important approach in the battle against COVID-19 is rapid diagnosis of suspicious cases, timely therapeutic intervention and isolation to avoid community spread. In this review, we summarize the clinical scenario that raises suspicion of COVID-19 and available laboratory diagnostics.

The emergence of novel SARS-CoV-2 virus in China in December 2019 has turned into a global pandemic through continued spread beyond borders. This review was aimed to extract up-to-date information on the evolution, transmission, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of COVID-19 to fight against this common enemy. PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar were the sources of literature; whereas CDC, WHO and Worldometer provided updated information. Bats served as the reservoirs of this virus while pangolin is believed as an intermediate host to transmit the virus to humans. Direct human-to-human and indirect transmissions were involved. Major clinical manifestations included fever, cough, fatigue, sputum production and shortness of breath. Chest radiographs mostly showed bilateral ground-glass opacities. Aged patients and patients with comorbidities had higher case fatality ratios. Critical cases were vulnerable to develop pneumonia, multi-organ failure and deaths. Overall situation in China has improved substantially. The European region and region of the Americas were the worst hit out of six WHO global regions. PCR based methods are used for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Severe/critical cases essentially require supportive or intensive cares. Avoiding exposure to COVID-19 is the best way to prevent the disease. Thus, this review provides a snapshot on COVID-19.

The fast spread of COVID-19 constitutes a worldwide challenge to the public health, educational, and trade systems, affecting the overall wellbeing of human societies. The high transmission and mortality rates of this virus, and the unavailability of a vaccine or treatment, resulted in the decision of multiple governments to enact measures of social distancing. Thus, it is of general interest to consider the validity of the proposal for keeping a social distancing of at least 2 m from other persons to avoid the spread of COVID-19. The exposure to the bioaerosol can result in the deposition of the pathogen in the respiratory tract of the host causing disease and an immunological response. In the atmospheric context, the work evaluates the effect of aerodynamic diameter (size) of particles in carrying RNA copies of the novel coronavirus. A SARS-CoV-2 carrier person talking, sneezing, or coughing at distance of 2 m can still provide a pathogenic bioaerosol load with submicron particles that remain viable in air for up to 3 hours for exposure of healthy persons near and far from the source in a stagnant environment. The deposited bioaerosol creates contaminated surfaces, which if touched can act as a path to introduce the pathogen by mouth, nose, or eyes and cause disease.

Background: Early-stage interventions in a potential pandemic are important tounderstand as they can make the difference between runaway exponential growththat is hard to turn back and stopping the spread before it gets that far. COVID-19 is an interesting case study because there have been very different outcomesin different localities. These variations are best studied after the fact if precisionis the goal; while a pandemic is still unfolding less precise analysis is of value inattempting to guide localities in the early stages to learn lessons of those that pre-ceded them. Methods: I examine three factors that could differentiate strategy: asymptomaticspread, differences in use of the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) tuberculosis vac-cine and cloth face masks.Results:Differences in disease progression as well as the possibility of alternativestrategies to prevent COVID-19 from entering the runaway phase or damping itdown later can be elucidated by a study of asymptomatic infection. A study todemonstrate not only what fraction are asymptomatic but how contagious they arewill also inform policy on universal mask wearing. Conclusions: While a COVID-19 outbreak is at a level that makes accurate trace-and test possible, investigation of asymptomatic transmission is viable and shouldbe attempted to enhance understanding of spread and variability in the disease aswell as policy options for slowing the spread.

Several outbreak prediction models for COVID-19 are being used by officials around the world to make informed-decisions and enforce relevant control measures. Among the standard models for COVID-19 global pandemic prediction, simple epidemiological and statistical models have received more attention by authorities, and they are popular in the media. Due to a high level of uncertainty and lack of essential data, standard models have shown low accuracy for long-term prediction. Although the literature includes several attempts to address this issue, the essential generalization and robustness abilities of existing models need to be improved. This paper presents a comparative analysis of machine learning and soft computing models to predict the COVID-19 outbreak. Among a wide range of machine learning models investigated, two models showed promising results (i.e., multi-layered perceptron, MLP, and adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system, ANFIS). Based on the results reported here, and due to the highly complex nature of the COVID-19 outbreak and variation in its behavior from nation-to-nation, this study suggests machine learning as an effective tool to model the outbreak.

In the promptness of the COVID-19 outbreak, it would be very important to observe and estimate the pattern of diseases to reduce the contagious infection. To study this effect, we developed a COVID-19 analytical epidemic framework that combines with isolation and lockdown effect by incorporating five various groups of individuals. Then we analyze the model by evaluating the equilibrium points and analyzing their stability as well as determining the basic reproduction number. The extensive numerical simulations show the dynamics of a different group of the population over time. Thus, our findings based on the sensitivity analysis and the reproduction number highlight the role of outbreak of the virus that can be useful to avoid a massive collapse in Bangladesh and rest of the world. The outcome of this study concludes that outbreak will be in control which ensures the social and economic stability.

The current outbreak of the novel coronavirus also known as COVID-19 was declared as a public health emergency by the WHO where over a million people have been affected by the disease with over 50000 deaths till date. Social distancing is a method to minimize crowd interactions and prevent the spread of disease within groups of people. This is a common practice which has been carried out over generations to minimize the spread of virus by limiting its reproduction rate (R0) among communities. The article focuses on how social distancing has been used to deal previous pandemics globally and the issues that needs to be addressed to tackle the COVID-19 threat.

Observe the synergistic effect and dose-effect relationship of Trimethoprim (TMP) on bactericidal activity with Flos Lonicerae in vitro. Microamount chessboard dilution method was conducted to determine the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Trimethoprim, Flos Lonicerae, as well as the combination of Trimethoprim and Flos Lonicerae separately against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli in vitro and Salmonella. The pour plate count method was used to determine the combined bactericidal activity of Flos Lonicerae combined with Different concentrations TMP. The results showed that the MIC values of the combination of Flos Lonicerae with TMP was much less than the MIC values of the independent use of Flos Lonicerae or TMP, The FIC values of the combination of Flos Lonicerae with TMP were between 0.5 and 1, there was additive effect between them. The bactericidal rates were fitted with least square method, the 95% confidence intervals of the optimal blending quantity about the combination of Flos Lonicerae with TMP on the test organisms were 231μg·mL^-1-249μg·mL^-1, 237μg·mL^-1-259μg·mL^-1, and 235 -259μg·mL^-1