The world is in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health measures that can reduce the risk of infection and death in addition to quarantines are desperately needed. This article reviews the roles of vitamin D in reducing risk of respiratory tract infections, knowledge about the epidemiology of influenza and COVID-19, and how vitamin D supplementation might be a useful measure to reduce risk. Through several mechanisms, vitamin D can reduce risk of infections. Those mechanisms include inducing cathelicidins and defensins that can lower viral replication rates and reducing concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines that produce the inflammation that injures the lining of the lungs, leading to pneumonia, as well as increase concentrations of anti-inflammatory cytokines. Several observational studies and clinical trials reported that vitamin D supplementation reduced risk of influenza, whereas others did not. Evidence supporting the role of vitamin D in reducing risk of COVID-19 includes that the outbreak occurred in winter, a time when 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations are lowest; that the number of cases in the Southern Hemisphere near the end of summer are low; that vitamin D deficiency has been found to contribute to acute respiratory distress syndrome, and that case-fatality rates increase with age and with chronic disease comorbidity, both of which are associated with lower 25(OH)D concentration. To reduce risk of infection, it is recommended that people at risk of influenza and/or COVID-19 consider taking 10,000 IU/d of vitamin D₃ for a few weeks to rapidly raise 25(OH)D concentrations, followed by 5000 IU/d. The goal should be to raise 25(OH)D concentrations above 40–60 ng/ml (100–150 nmol/l). For treatment of people who become infected with COVID-19, higher vitamin D₃ doses might be useful. Randomized controlled trials and large population studies should be conducted to evaluate these recommendations.

Abstract: A primary action of vitamin D is regulation of gene transcription. Many cell types possess genes that make antimicrobial peptides (AMPS) (endogenous antibiotics), recently discovered to be regulated by vitamin D. Two examples are cathelicidin and beta defensins, both bioactive against many different bacteria, fungi, mycobacteria, parasites and viruses. The signal transduction pathway is triggered by sensing microorganisms via cell surface receptors, causing intracellular production of calcitriol (1,25(OH)2D) and vitamin D receptors, leading to upregulation of AMP production. Serum 25(OH)D concentrations required to sustain adequate AMP production to eradicate infections are unknown. Vitamin D3 is photosynthesized in skin in amounts ranging from 10,000 (250 mcg) to 25,000 (625 mcg) International Units (IU) from 7-dehydrocholesterol after whole-body exposure to one minimal erythemal dose (MED) of ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation, and is impacted by many factors including geographic localities, seasonal changes and skin pigmentation. We and others have reported extended daily oral dosing with these amounts of vitamin D3 safe. We routinely observe serum 25(OH)D concentrations below 20ng/ml on new admissions, which have been reported insufficient to sustain AMP production. In contrast serum 25(OH)D concentrations above 100ng/ml have been reported after serial UVB treatments for psoriasis. Little vitamin D naturally occurs in food, and insufficient sun exposure may be causing worldwide deficiency. We review evidence suggesting that higher daily intakes of vitamin D3 than the currently recommended 600 (15 mcg) IU/day may be necessary to sustain AMP production in the face of an overwhelming infection, particularly in non-Hispanic blacks, a high risk population suffering the worst outcomes from COVID-19. We propose that increased vitamin D supplementation could provide a safe and cost-effective way to protect all populations from infections, in particular those from pandemic COVID-19.

Public health practices including handwashing and vaccinations help reduce the spread and impact of infections. Nevertheless, the global burden of infection is high, and additional measures are necessary. Acute respiratory tract infections, for example, are responsible for approximately 2.65 million deaths per year. The role nutrition plays in supporting the immune system is well-established. A wealth of mechanistic and clinical data show that vitamins, including vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, E, and folate; trace elements, including zinc, iron, selenium, magnesium, and copper; and the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid play important and complementary roles in supporting the immune system. Inadequate intake and status of these nutrients are widespread, leading to a decrease in resistance to infections and as a consequence an increase in disease burden. Against this background the following conclusions are made: 1) Supplementation with the above micronutrients and omega-3 fatty acids is a safe, effective, and low-cost strategy to help support optimal immune function; 2) Supplementation above the RDA, but within recommended upper safety limits, for specific nutrients such as vitamins C and D is warranted; and 3) Public health officials are encouraged to include nutritional strategies in their recommendations to improve public health.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a new virus which causes respiratory illness. Older adults and people who have previous chronic medical conditions are at higher risk for more serious complications from COVID-19.Hypovitaminosis D is attributed to the increased risk of lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) as well as diabetes, Cardiovascular event and associated comorbidities, which are the main causes of severe clinical problem in COVID-19 patients. Considering the protective role of vitamin D through modulating the innate and adaptive immune system as well as inhibition of Renin Angiotensin System (RAS), vitamin D supplementation might boost the immune system of COVID-19 patients and reduce severity of the disease in vitamin D deficient individuals.

COVID-19 has emerged as deadly pandemic worldwide with no vaccine or suitable antiviral drugs to prevent or cure the disease. Because of the time-consuming process to develop new vaccines or antiviral agents, there has been a growing interest in repurposing some existing drugs to combat SARS-CoV-2. Vitamin D is known to be protective against acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), pneumonia and cytokine storm. Recently it has been used as a repurposed drug for the treatment of H5N1 virus-induced lung injury. Circumstantial evidences indicate that people with low level of vitamin D are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2. Although, vitamin D was suggested to interfere with viral replication, its interaction with any SARS-CoV-2 protein is unexplored yet. Beside this, ivermectin, a well-known anti-parasitic agent, exhibits potent anti-viral activities in vitro against viruses such as HIV-1 and dengue. Very recently, ivermectin has been found to reduce viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. We have analyzed available structures of SARS-CoV-2 proteins to identify probable binding partner(s) of vitamin D and ivermectin through knowledge-based docking studies and figured out possible implication of their binding in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our observations suggest that the non-structural protein nsp7 possesses a potential site to house 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (VDY) or the active form of Vitamin D, calcitrol. Binding of vitamin D with nsp7 likely to hamper the formation of nsp7-nsp8 complex which is required to bind with RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP), nsp12 for optimal function. On the other hand, potential binding site of ivermectin has been identified in the S2 subunit of trimeric spike(S) glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2. We propose that deeply inserted mode of ivermectin binding at three inter-subunit junctions may restrict large scale conformational changes of S2 helices which is necessary for efficient fusion of viral and host membrane. Our study, therefore, opens up avenues for further investigations to consider vitamin D and ivermectin as potential drugs against SARS-CoV-2.

Abstract: COVID-19 in 2020 brought challenges to the Brazilian public health system with an emerging virus with respiratory contagion called SARS-CoV-2. There are few studies in Brazil and in some countries, on the increased incidence of certain viral respiratory infections, includ-ing H1N1 and coronavirus and their association with low levels of vitamin D, zinc and iron. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that the deficit of vitamin D, zinc and iron has an impact on the infectious process of patients with COVID-19 and to establish new forms of prevention for the worsening of COVID-19 in the human body. Data were collected from medical records and test results from patients being followed up during the treatment period for COVID-19. Patients with low blood levels of vitamin D, zinc and iron during the treatment period of COVID-19 had a higher percentage of worsening and complications requiring hospitalization in intensive care beds. The ingestion of vitamin D, zinc and iron in the treatment period of patients with COVID-19 in addition to being an immunological protector against SARS-CoV-2 and alleviating the process of worsening the disease can also act as a biomarker in cases of this disease.

Space-time evolution is briefly explained by using the 3-dimensional quantized space model (TQSM) based on the 4-dimensional (4-D) Euclidean space. The energy (mass), charges and absolute time are newly defined based on the 4-D Euclidean space. The photons and gravitons are understood as the 2-D space fluctuations along the space axes and 1-D time fluctuations along the time axis, respectively. This indicates that the electromagnetic (EM) and gravitational (G) waves can be unified into the so called gravityelectromagnetic (GEM) wave which has both space and time fluctuations. The photon with zero force fields is the 2EM wave because an EM wave corresponds to a charged fermion. The dark matter bosons, weak force bosons, strong force bosons are the 1-D time fluctuations which can be expressed by the G waves. This indicates that all five forces are unified by the GEM wave. It is called as the super unification theory in the present work. And the force carrying bosons and mesons are, for the first time, proposed as the possible candidates of the magnetic monopoles like the fermions and baryons are the electric monopoles. The signs of the magnetic charges quantized as q_m=cq are newly defined. The big bang is understood by the space-time evolution of the 4-D Euclidean space but not by the sudden 4-D Minkowski space-time creation. The big bang process created the matter universe with the positive energy and the partner anti-matter universe with the negative energy from the CPT symmetry.

Origins of the time, mass, electric charges and magnetic monopoles are explained. The energies, electric charges and magnetic charges of the particles are defined as E = cDtDV and |q| = cDt = E/DV, and |q_m| = c²Dt, respectively, for the 3-D quantized spaces warped along the time axis direction of ct in the 4-D Euclidean space. The energy (or mass) and charges (or electric charges and magnetic charges) are the vectors along the time axis of ct in the 4-D Euclidean space. This new concept is closely connected to the wave function of the quantum mechanics. The electric charges, magnetic charges and energies have the property of the space direction independence. Magnetic monopoles (charges) are the force carrying bosons with the inside electric field time loop. Electric monopoles are the elementary fermions. Photon space fluctuations are explained with the quantized magnetic charges.

Space-time evolution of our universe is explained by using the 3-dimensional quantized space model (TQSM) based on the 4-dimensional (4-D) Euclidean space. The energy (E = cDtDV), charges and energy density (|q| = r = cDt) and absolute time (ct) are newly defined based on the 4-D Euclidean space. The photon flat space with the constant energy density of r = cDt_q is proposed as the dark energy (DE). The dark energy is separated into the n DE and photon DE which create the new photon spaces with the constant energy density of r = cDt_q. The v DE is from the n pair production by the CPT symmetry and the photon DE is from the photon space pair production by the T symmetry. The vacuum energy crisis and Hubble’s constant puzzle are explained by the photon space with the n DE and photon DE. The big bang and inflation of the primary black hole is connected to the accelerated space expansion and big collapse of the photon space through the universe evolution. The big bang from the nothing is the pair production of the matter universe with the positive energy and the partner anti-matter universe with the negative energy from the CPT symmetry. Our universe is the matter universe with the negative charges of electric charge (EC), lepton charge (LC) and color charge (CC). This first universe is made of dark matter -, lepton -, and quark - primary black holes with the huge negative charges which cause the Coulomb repulsive forces much bigger than the gravitational forces. The huge Coulomb forces induce the inflation of the primary black holes, that decay to the super-massive black holes and particles.

This work focuses on expressing the TSP with Time Windows (TSPTW for short) as a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) problem. The time windows impose time constraints that a feasible solution must satisfy. These take the form of inequality constraints, which are known to be particularly difficult to articulate within the QUBO framework. This is, we believe, the first time this major obstacle is overcome and the TSPTW is cast in the QUBO formulation. We have every reason to anticipate that this development will lead to the actual execution of small scale TSPTW instances on the D-Wave platform.

The recent outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a major threat to human health and the global economy. In addition to the development of vaccines there is an urgent need for preventive and therapeutic strategies towards severe COVID-19. Key to this would be a better understanding of the molecular mechanismsoiuuuu affected by SARS-COV-2. To address this, we performed a systems biology approach by integrating available RNA-seq datasets from post-mortem lung tissue of COVID-19 patients and cell culture models infected with SARS-COV-2, Respiratory Syncytial virus or influenza virus. We identified two gene-expression modules that are commonly regulated by the three viral diseases and one that is specific to COVID-19. All 3 gene-expression modules represent key inflammatory processes. We identified several proteins within these networks that can be targeted by FDA approved drugs. Key examples are TNF, NFkB, INTERLEUKIN-1 and ALOX5 signaling pathways. Our data also suggest that Vitamin D supplementation and a ketogenic diet should be further analyzed as preventive strategies. In conclusion, our data highlights the potential of transcriptomics to unravel the pathological processes related to COVID-19 and guide the initiation of clinical trials.

Causative agent of the viral pneumonia outbreak in the World identified as SARS-CoV2 leads to a severe respiratory illness like SARS and MERS. The pathogen spreading has turned into a pandemic dissemination and increased the mortality rate. Therefore, useful information is urgently necessary for effective control of the disease. Our study shows the existence of unvarying sequence with no mutation, including ORF1ab regions in 134 high-quality filtered genome sequences of SARS-CoV2 downloaded from the GISAID database. We have detected this sequence stability by using MAUVE analysis and pairwise alignment with Global Needleman Wunsch algorithm for each two different sequences, reciprocally. They also confirmed all these results were also with the Clustal W analysis. The first 6500 bp including ORF1ab region is an unvarying sequence. According to the highest TM-score of predicted protein structure analysis, the results showed it is very similar to spike protein of feline infectious peritonitis virus strain UU4 (PDB 6JX7) depending on amino acid sequences encoded by this unvarying region, and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine is the ligand of this protein. These results have confirmed that N-acetyl-D-glucosamine could play an important role in controlling of SARS-CoV-2. Also, our molecular docking analysis data supports a strong protein-ligand interaction of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine with spike receptor-binding domain bound with ACE2 (PDB 6M0J) and RNA-binding domain of nucleocapsid phosphoprotein (PDB 6WKP) from SARS CoV-2. Therefore, binding of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine to these proteins could inhibit SARS CoV-2’s replication. In the present work, we have suggested providing a repurposing compound for further in vitro and in vivo studies and new insights for ongoing clinical treatments as a new strategy to control of SARS-CoV-2 infections.

A useful and increasingly common additive manufacturing (AM) process is the selective laser melting (SLM) or direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) process. SLM/DMLS can produce full-density metal parts from difficult materials, but it tends to suffer from severe residual stresses introduced during processing. This limits the usefulness and applicability of the process, particularly in the fabrication of parts with delicate overhanging and protruding features. The purpose of this study was to examine the current insight and progress made toward understanding and eliminating the problem in overhanging and protruding structures. To accomplish this, a survey of literature was undertaken, focusing on process modeling (general, heat transfer, stress and distortion, and material models), direct process control (input and environmental control, hardware-in-the-loop monitoring, parameter optimization, and post-processing), experiment development (methods for evaluation, optical and mechanical process monitoring, imaging, and design-of-experiments), support structure optimization, and overhang feature design; approximately 140 published works were examined. The major findings of this study were that a small minority of the literature on SLM/DMLS deals explicitly with the overhanging stress problem, but some fundamental work has been done on the problem. Implications, needs, and potential future research directions are discussed in-depth in light of the present review.

The exceptional increase in molecular DNA sequence data in open repositories is mirrored by an ever-growing interest among evolutionary biologists to harvest and use those data for phylogenetic inference. Many quality issues, however, are known and the sheer amount and complexity of data available can pose considerable barriers to their usefulness. A key issue in this domain is the high frequency of sequence mislabelling encountered when searching for suitable sequences for phylogenetic analysis. These issues include the incorrect identification of sequenced species, non-standardised and ambiguous sequence annotation, and the inadvertent addition of paralogous sequences by users, among others. Taken together, these issues likely add considerable noise, error or bias to phylogenetic inference, a risk that is likely to increase with the size of phylogenies or the molecular datasets used to generate them. Here we present a software package, phylotaR, that bypasses the above issues by using instead an alignment search tool to identify orthologous sequences. Our package builds on the framework of its predecessor, PhyLoTa, by providing a modular pipeline for identifying overlapping sequence clusters using up-to-date GenBank data and providing new features, improvements and tools. We demonstrate our pipeline’s effectiveness by presenting trees generated from phylotaR clusters for two large taxonomic clades: palms and primates. Given the versatility of this package, we hope that it will become a standard tool for any research aiming to use GenBank data for phylogenetic analysis.

Space-time evolution is briefly explained by using the 3-dimensional quantized space model (TQSM) based on the 4-dimensional (4-D) Euclidean space. The energy (E=cDtDV), charges (|q|= cDt) and absolute time (ct) are newly defined based on the 4-D Euclidean space. The big bang is understood by the space-time evolution of the 4-D Euclidean space but not by the sudden 4-D Minkowski space-time creation. The big bang process created the matter universe with the positive energy and the partner anti-matter universe with the negative energy from the CPT symmetry. Our universe is the matter universe with the negative charges of electric charge (EC), lepton charge (LC) and color charge (CC). This first universe is made of three dark matter -, lepton -, and quark - primary black holes with the huge negative charges which cause the Coulomb repulsive forces much bigger than the gravitational forces. The huge Coulomb forces induce the inflation of the primary black holes, that decay to the super-massive black holes. The dark matter super-massive black holes surrounded by the normal matters and dark matters make the galaxies and galaxy clusters. The spiral arms of galaxies are closely related to the decay of the 3-D charged normal matter black holes to the 1-D charged normal matter black holes. The elementary leptons and quarks are created by the decay of the normal matter charged black holes, that is caused by the Coulomb forces much stronger than the gravitational forces. The Coulomb forces are very weak with the very small Coulomb constants (k₁(EC) = k_dd(EC) ) for the dark matters and very strong with the very big Coulomb constants (k₂(EC) = k_nn(EC)) for the normal matters because of the non-communication of the photons between the dark matters and normal matters. The photons are charge dependent and mass independent. But the dark matters and normal matters have the similar and very weak gravitational forces because of the communication of the gravitons between the dark matters and normal matters. The gravitons are charge independent and mass dependent. Note that the three kinds of charges (EC, LC and CC) and one kind of mass (m) exist in our matter universe. The dark matters, leptons and quarks have the charge configurations of (EC), (EC,LC) and (EC,LC,CC), respectively. Partial masses of elementary fermions are calculated, and the proton spin crisis is explained. The charged black holes are not the singularities.

Treatment with calcitriol, the hormonal form of vitamin D, has shown beneficial effects in ex-perimental models of acute lung injury. In this study we aimed to analyze the associations be-tween calcitriol supplementation and the risk of SARS-CoV2 infection or COVID-19 mortality. Individuals ≥18 years old living in Catalonia and supplemented with calcitriol from April 2019 to February 2020 were compared with propensity score matched controls. Outcome variables were SARS-CoV2 infection, severe COVID-19 and COVID-19 mortality. Associations between calcitriol supplementation and outcome variables were analyzed using multivariable Cox proportional regression. A total of 8076 patients were identified as being on calcitriol treatment. Advanced chronic kidney disease and hypoparathyroidism were the most frequent reasons for calcitriol supplementation in our population. Calcitriol use was associated with reduced risk of SARS-CoV2 infection (HR 0.78 [CI 95% 0.64-0.94], p=0.010), reduced risk of severe COVID-19 and reduced COVID-19 mortality (HR 0.57 (CI 95% 0.41-0.80), p=0.001) in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease. In addition, an inverse association between mean daily calcitriol dose and COVID-19 severity or mortality was observed in treated patients, independently of renal function. Our findings point out that patients with advanced chronic kidney disease could benefit from calcitriol supplementation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The cause of sarcoidosis is unknown, and vitamin D is contraindicated to treat the condition. We therefore ask what causes sarcoidosis and why vitamin D can be dangerous for those so afflicted. We propose a contrary hypothesis: sarcoidosis is a physiological process of defense against cancer that requires the substrate vitamin D. We tested this hypothesis, finding many case reports involving sarcoidosis and cancer—further cases of cancer mimicry by sarcoidosis. Several reports describe spontaneous healing of cancer in the presence of sarcoidosis. In the context of the granulomas of sarcoidosis, monocytes are the site of vitamin D release. Furthermore, active vitamin D can control cancer cells by using the vitamin D receptors of the nucleus. That granulomas consistently do not caseate is explained as a confrontation with human molecules and the cancer cells’ complete absorption. The striking fact that granulomas of sarcoidosis mostly lack cancerous cells is interpreted as a result of a well-functioning sarcoidosis process. We view the typical sarcoidosis monocytic synthesis of active vitamin D as a successful defense against cancer: a theory we call the “endogenous program organizing cancer apoptosis” (EPOCA).

The absolute time and relative time are defined in terms of the 4-D Euclidean space. Our universe is the 3-D x₁x₂x₃ quantized photon space which follows the absolute time simultaneity when the universe moves along the absolute time axis of ct. The length expansion of Dx = gDx₀ is derived under the condition of the absolute time (ct) simultaneity. From the similarity between this length expansion of Dx = gDx₀ and the energy increasing of E = gE₀, it is assumed that the energy is proportional to the particle size of Dx. The extension of this assumption to the 4-D Euclidean space gives the new definition that the particle energy (E) is the 4-D volume. Then, the particle mass energy is defined as E= mc² = cDtDV = gE₀. The masses of the elementary particles are originated from the 4-D warped volume of the photon space because the particle is the warped photon space with the velocity of v < c. Therefore, the Higgs boson concept in the standard model (SM) is not needed in the present 3-D quantized space model (TQSM). The scalar boson with the spin of zero, photon with the spin of 1 and graviton with the spin of 2 are the two-boson states. Therefore, the observed Higgs boson is reinterpreted as the two-boson state of the scalar boson with the spin of zero. The cosmic muon observation and twin paradox are explained by using the absolute time and relative time. The relative time is the observed time in the twin paradox and cosmic muon observation. In the twin paradox, a person who travels the long distance is more aged than a person on the earth in terms of the relative time ages because of the space and time conversion effect (STCE effect) of the moving space distance (x). But twins are in the same ages in terms of the absolute time without STCE effect. The fast-moving cosmic muon has the expanded half-life from the time expansion of the relative time. Also, the quantum entanglement and Pauli exclusion principle are explained. The quantum base of the photon space line connects two entangled particles. Two particles and quantum base system is fluctuated along the absolute time axis by the time clicking when one particle is measured. Another particle is instantly selected by the time clicking. This is called as the quantum entanglement. The photons which are the flat photon space with the constant speed of c along the space axis and absolute time axis have the 4-D photon velocity of c_eff = 2^0.5 c. Total 10-D Euclidean space including three 3-D quantized spaces and one absolute time axis is required for the electric charges (EC), lepton charges (CC) and color charges (CC) of the elementary particles. The 3-D photon space is very stiff along the absolute time (ct) axis and very soft along the space axes. The Coulomb force through the photons (2EM waves) of the space fluctuations is much stronger than the Gravitational force through the gravitons (G waves) of the time fluctuations between two electrons.

The aim of this work is to compare two softwares (MAUD and TOPAS) based on the Rietveld algorithm and to test the concept of tolerance factor using the dissolution at high temperature of yttrium into BaTiO₃. In general, both softwares give up different values of the crystalline parameters however the trends are similar in most cases but the analysis of the strain and crystallite size in the BaTiO₃ crystals suggests that, in this particular case, MAUD offered results more consistent with the expected behavior. Using the crystalline parameters calculated by Rietveld, the tolerance factor values were obtained and these data suggest even better stability in the crystalline structure than that expected using theoretical parameters. Tolerance factor concept also indicates that Ti⁴⁺ should be preferred.

This paper proposed three-dimensional numerical simulation method by coupling of electrostatic and fluid fields to evaluating the performance of electrical sensor in the concentration measurement of gas/solid two-phase flow. Compared with the static numerical simulation, this real-time dynamic 3-D simulation method can research on a designed capacitance sensor combining the dynamic characteristics of the two-phase flows for concentration measurement. Several fluid-electrostatic models of transmission pipes with different sensor structures are built. Under different test positions and different particle concentrations, the flow characteristics and the corresponding electric signals can be obtained, and the correlation coefficient between the concentration values and the capacitance values are used for performance evaluation of the sensors. The effects of flow regimes on concentration measurement are also been investigated in this paper. To validate the results of simulation, an experimental platform with horizontal straight pipe for phase volume concentration measurement of solid/air two-phase flow is built, and the experimental results agree well with simulation conclusions. The simulation and test results show that the coupling models can give constructive reference opinions for the sensor design and collection of installation position in different transmission pipelines, which are very important for the practical process of pneumatic conveying system.

Mankind faces a coronavirus pandemic originating from a seafood market in Wuhan, China since December 2019. The pathogen was named novel coronavirus (n-CoV) and bats are the identified key reservoir. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) quickly spread over China across the globe, turned into a pandemic with exponentially increasing numbers of cases and significant mortality rate. China reacted with lockdowns and strict control measurements to prevent spreading the virus. The treatment of severe cases was hampered by lack of specific vaccines. Vaccine-development and production is a painstaking process and can only be enforced by international cooperation. Different supportive treatment options surfaced due to combinations of antiviral agents with antibiotic drugs. Elderly, male, immune-suppressed patients with co-morbidities showed a high mortality rate. Health literacy, strong immune system, adequate serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations and healthy life style choices can support fast recovery. Antibiotic resistance needs to be addressed by development of new generation antimicrobials against nosocomial infections in preparation for future outbreaks. Plant-biosynthesis of nanomaterials and antiseptics may help in prevention and recovery rate. Prevalence of COVID-19 maybe inversely related to BCG vaccination, endemicity of malaria, humidy and temperature but directly with latitude. Recommendations to prevent the spread of COVID-19 should be followed strictly.

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 epidemic model that incorporates 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. Also, 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 ensure the social and economic stability.

Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) affects human respiratory function causing COVID-19 disease. Safe natural products with potential antiviral phytochemicals with benefits to control high-altitude sickness could be adopted as adjunct therapy for COVID-19. The red petals of Rhododendron arboreum, commonly available and consumed in the Himalayan region may have phytochemicals with potential antiviral properties against COVID-19 targets.Purpose: This study was aimed to profile the secondary metabolites of R. arboreum petals, to assess their absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination (ADME) properties and evaluate their antiviral potential by docking against COVID-19 targets such as SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^pro PDB ID: 6LU7) and Human Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor (PDB ID: 1R4L) that mediates the viral replication and entry into the host respectively.Methods: The phytochemicals of R. arboreum petals were mainly profiled using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) and ¹H-NMR. In addition, the phytochemicals reported from the literature were tabulated. The ADME properties of the phytochemicals were predicted using SwissADME tool. Molecular docking simulation of the phytochemicals against SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^pro PDB ID: 6LU7) and Human Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor (PDB ID: 1R4L) were carried out using PyRx.Results: R. arboreum petals were found to be rich in appreciable proportions of secondary metabolites such as Quinic acid, 3-Caffeoyl-quinic acid, 5-O-Coumaroyl-D-quinic acid, 5-O-Feruloylquinic acid, 2,4-Quinolinediamine, Coumaric acid, Caffeic acid, Epicatechin, Catechin, 3-Hydroxybenzoic acid, Shikimic acid, Protocatechuic acid, Epicatechin gallate, Quercetin, Quercetin-O-pentoside, Quercetin-O-rhamnoside, Kaempferol-O-pentoside and Kaempferol. Several of these phytochemicals were reported to exhibit inhibitory activities against a range of viruses. From the molecular docking studies, 5-O-Feruloylquinic acid, 3-Caffeoyl-quinic acid, 5-O-Coumaroyl-D-quinic acid, Epicatechin and Catechin showed strong binding affinity with SARS-CoV-2 M^pro and human ACE2 receptor.Conclusion: This report showed that R. arboreum petals are rich in several antiviral phytochemicals that also docked against SARS-CoV-2 M^Pro and Human ACE2 receptor. This is the first report highlighting R. arboreum petals as a reservoir of antiviral phytochemicals with potential for synergetic activities. The outcomes merit further in vitro, in vivo and clinical studies on R. arboreum phytochemicals to develop natural formulations against COVID-19 disease for therapeutic benefits.

Recent studies have demonstrated a relationship between poor vitamin D status and respiratory infections and diarrhea among young children. Acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) and diarrhea are among the two most important causes of death in under-5 children. In this analysis, we examine the extent to which vitamin-D deficiency (<10 ng/ml) predicts these outcomes using data from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of daily folic acid and/ or vitamin B12 supplementation for six months in 6 to 30 months old children conducted in Delhi, India. Of the 960 subjects who had vitamin-D concentrations measured, 331(34.5%) were vitamin-D deficient. We found, after controlling for relevant potential confounders (age, sex, breastfeeding status, wasting, stunting, underweight, anemia status at base line and season), the risk of ALRI was significantly higher among vitamin-D deficient (OR 1.26; 95% CI: 1.03 to 1.55) compared to vitamin-D-replete children in the six months follow-up period. Vitamin-D status was not significantly associated with episodes of diarrhea and clinical pneumonia. The extent of causal relationship of vitamin-D status and ALRI needs to be explored in further studies.

The aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable questionnaire to assess vitamin D-related knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) in Iranian adults who may be at increased risk of vitamin D deficiency. This study was conducted on 527 subjects, aged ≥20 years from Public health care centers in Tehran, Iran. Based on results of literature review and in-depth interviews, the 38-item vitamin D-related KAP questionnaire with four subscale was developed: 1) general knowledge; 2) nutritional knowledge; 3) attitudes; 4) behaviors. Validity of the developed vitamin D-KAP questionnaire was assessed, utilizing face, content, and construct validity methods. Internal consistency was calculated to assess reliability of the current developed questionnaire. A total of 572 (54.1% female) adults, aged 30.2±7.9 years, participated in the study. All items were perceived as relevant and comprehendible by participants. Content validity was confirmed by the panel of experts. The internal consistency, as measured by Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, exceeded the minimum reliability standard of 0.60 for four subscales. The EFA suggested a four-factor construct and the results of the CFA indicated acceptable fit indices for the proposed model. No ceiling effects were observed except for general knowledge (1.2%). Floor effects detected were 0, 1.1, 2.4, and 8.7% for practice, attitude, general knowledge, and nutrition knowledge, respectively. General knowledge had the highest score (79.59±14.52) and nutrition knowledge, the lowest score (42.58±20.40) among the four sub-scales. Results confirm the initial validity and reliability of the vitamin D-related knowledge, attitude and practice questionnaire. Further investigations in different urban and rural population are recommended.

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the most prominent pathological microvascular complications in diabetes. A series of studies reported that vitamin D deficiency was associated with increased prevalence of retinopathy in diabetic patients but the results were inconsistent. In this study we focused on evaluating the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and DR by conducting a meta-analysis of observational studies. Methods: Systematic computerized searches were performed in PubMed, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Library for relevant original articles till November 20, 2016. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) with corresponding confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to assess the associated value of vitamin D deficiency to the risk of DR. 9 studies including 6332 participants were subjected to final analysis. Results: The results indicated that vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of DR (OR = 1.57, 95% CI 1.32-1.87) with a little heterogeneity (I2 = 23%). In addition, the subgroup analysis demonstrated that there were obvious heterogeneities in T2DM (I2 = 47.8%). Sensitivity analysis showed that the results were relatively stable and reliable. Conclusion: our meta-analysis demonstrated that vitamin D deficiency could increase the risk of DR.

A literature review was conducted to summarize the frequency of the D-allele of the angiotensin-converting enzyme-1 in all countries with available data. Using an ecological study design limited to high income countries, we found that the country-level frequency of the D-allele was associated with increased COVID-19 incidence and mortality.

The InSAR technique measures the displacement of an indicator using SAR image interference. The technique of interfering two SAR images among InSAR techniques is called Differential InSAR (D-InSAR). In the process of D-InSAR, the filtering technique is used in the Unwrapped Mask, usually using the GoldStein method. However, since the Goldstein method removes the noise on the path, it is difficult to derive the displacement value in the agricultural area where the relative coherence is low. In Korea, more than 50% of the whole country consists of mountainous regions and agricultural regions, so it is difficult to use the Goldstein technique polysynthetically. In this study, we set the test-bed for the urban area and the agricultural area based on Coherence, and introduce Goldstein and Boxcar Filter, one of the Goldstein and LSM techniques. Through this process, we want to draw the conclusion which is displacement values ​​in the agricultural area.

We investigate entropy generation in unsteady three-dimensional axisymmetric MHD nanofluid flow over a non-linearly stretching sheet. The flow is subject to thermal radiation and a chemical reaction. The conservation equations were solved using the spectral quasi-linearization method. The novelty of the work is in the study of entropy generation in three-dimensional axisymmetric MHD nanofluid and the choice of the spectral quasilinearization method as the solution method. The effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis are also taken into account when the nanofluid particle volume fraction on the boundary in passively controlled. The results show that as the Hartman number increases, both the Nusselt number and the Sherwood number decrease whereas the skin friction increases. It is further shown that an increase in the thermal radiation parameter corresponds to a decrease in the Nusselt number. Moreover, entropy generation increases with the physical parameters.

This paper describes the first results of an Image Recognition Based Location (IRBL) for mobile application focusing on the procedure to generate a Database of range images (RGB-D). In an indoor environment, to estimate the camera position and orientation, a prior spatial knowledge of the surrounding is needed. In order to achieve this objective a complete 3D survey of two different environment (Bangbae metro station of Seoul and E.T.R.I. building in Daejeon – Republic of Korea) was performed using LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) instrument and the obtained scans were processed in order to obtain a spatial model of the environments. From this, two databases of reference images were generated using a specific software realized by the Geomatics group of Politecnico di Torino (ScanToRGBDImage). This tool allow to generate synthetically different RGB-D images) centered in the each scan position in the environment. Later, the external parameters (X, Y, Z, ω, φ, κ) and the range information extracted from the DB images retrieved, are used as reference information for pose estimation of a set of acquired mobile pictures in the IRBL procedure. In this paper the survey operations, the approach for generating the RGB-D images and the IRB strategy are reported. Finally the analysis of the results and the validation test are described.

Multi-stakeholder based construction projects are subject to various risk factors due to dynamic business environments. These risks affect project activities which indirectly impact construction costs, resulting in delays and poor building quality. So, managing these project risks requires suitable risk mitigation strategies to evaluate and analyse their severity. Hence, risk evaluation and assessment of construction projects is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. In present real-life problems, evaluation of project risks is often uncertain and even incomplete, and the prevailing methodologies fail to handle such situations. To address the problem, this paper extends the analytical network process (ANP) methodology in the D number domain to handle three types of ambiguous evaluations, viz. complete, uncertain, and incomplete, and assesses the weight of risk criteria. The D number based approach overcomes the deficiencies of the exclusiveness hypothesis and completeness constraint of Dempster-Shafer (D-S) theory. Here, preference ratings of the decision matrix for each decision-maker are determined using a D number extended consistent fuzzy preference relation (D-CFPR). An extended multi-attributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC) method in D number is then developed to rank and select the best alternative risk response strategy. Finally, an illustrative example from construction sector is presented to check the feasibility of the proposed approach. For checking the reliability of alternative ranking, a comparative analysis is performed with different MCDM approaches (D-COPRAS, D-ARAS, D-MABAC, and D-TOPSIS). Based on different criteria weights, a sensitivity analysis of obtained ranking of the hybrid D-ANP-MABAC model is performed for verify the robustness of the proposed method.

Since it was proposed, the Robot Operating System (ROS) has fostered solutions for various problems in robotics in the form of ROS packages. One of these problems is Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), a problem solved by computing the robot pose and a map of its environment of operation at the same time. The increasingly availability of robot kits ready to be programmed and also of RGB-D sensors often pose the question of which SLAM package should be used given the application requirements. When the SLAM subsystem must deliver estimates for robot navigation, as is the case of applications involving autonomous navigation, this question is even more relevant. This work introduces an experimental analysis of GMapping and RTAB-Map, two ROS compatible SLAM packages, regarding their SLAM accuracy, quality of produced maps and use of produced maps in navigation tasks. Our analysis aims ground robots equipped with RGB-D sensors for indoor environments and is supported by experiments conducted on datasets from simulation, benchmarks and from our own robot.

MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) radar provides much more flexibility than the traditional radar for its ability to realize far more observation channels than the actual number of T/R (transmit and receive) elements. Designing the array of MIMO imaging radar, the commonly used virtual array theory generally assumes that all elements are placed on the same line. However, due to the physical size of the antennas and coupling effect between T/R elements, a certain height difference between T/R arrays is essential, resulting in the defocusing of edge points of the scene. On the other hand, the virtual array theory implies far-field approximation, leading to inevitable high grating lobes in the imaging result of near-field edge points of the scene observed by common MIMO array. To tackle these problems, this paper derives the relationship between target’s PSF (point spread function) and pattern of T/R arrays, by which the design criterion of near-field imaging MIMO array is presented. Firstly, the proper height between T/R arrays is designed to focus the near-field edge points well. Secondly, the far-field array is modified to suppress the grating lobes in the near-field area. Finally, the validity of the proposed methods is verified by simulations and an experiment.

Radar altimetry provides valuable measurements to characterize the state and the evolution of the Antartica and Greenland ice sheet cover. Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) has the potential capacity of complementing the dedicated radar altimeters incrementing the temporal and spatial resolution of the surface height measurements. In this work we perform an study of the Greenland ice sheet using data obtained by the GNSS-R instrument aboard the British TechDemoSat-1 (TDS-1) satellite mission, designed primarily to provide sea state information, like sea surface roughness or wind, but not altimetric products. The data has been analyzed with altimetric methodologies, already proved in aircraft based experiments, to extract signal delay observables to be used to infer the topography of the Greenland cover. The penetration depth of the GNSS signals into ice has also considered. The topographic signal obtained is consistent with those obtained with other passive or active microwave sensors. The main conclusion derived from this work is that GNSS-R also provides valuable measurements of the ice sheet cover and, as taken at a variety of geometries and at least two frequency bands, they prospect different depths into the ice. They have thus potential to complement our understanding of the ice firn and its evolution.

Neuroinflammation, defined as inflammatory reactions mediated by cytokines, chemokines, reactive oxygen species, and secondary messengers in the central nervous system (CNS) including the brain and spinal cord is the basis of many neurological disorders. Recently, erythropoietin (EPO) has been considered and studied as a modulator of neuroinflammation. On this article minireview of pathophysiology of neuroinflammation and the neuroprotective effects of EPO is discussed and a case of subacute huge subdural hematoma with double mydriasis operated urgently, treated with low daily dose (vs high dose once or twice a month in the literature) of EPO and recovered fully and discharged home with good consciousness is reported. In addition, the probable unfavorable outcome of erythropoietin administration in patients with neuroinflammation in COVID-19 is considered.

Under the guidance of our previous achievements, and in order to extend this small molecular library. In current work, other 21 novel structures of thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidines containing isoxazole-moiety (1a-1u) were firstly synthesized and the cytotoxicity to A549, HCT116 and MCF-7 cell lines was evaluated using the MTT method. The results showed that most target compounds exhibited good to excellent cytotoxicity to A549, HCT116 and MCF-7 cell lines, especially 6-Methyl-4-{[3-(4-chlorophenyl)-isoxazol-5-yl-]-methoxy-}-thieno[2,3-d]-pyrimidine (1e) exhibited a broad-spectrum and the most potent cytotoxicity to A549, HCT116 and MCF-7 cell lines (IC50s: 2.79, 6.69 and 4.21×10^-3 μM, respectively) as compared with the reference drug gefitinib (IC50s: 17.90, 21.55 and 20.68 μM, respectively). 1e can be seen as the best drug candidates for development of anticancer drugs.

These three syndromes - long covid (LC), postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) - have many symptoms in common. The common denominator remains elusive. The blood brain barrier (BBB) has been a barrier not only to microbes and toxins but also to understanding pathogenetic links. There are several areas within the brain that have no BBB. These are known as circumventricular organs (CVOs) and their location relative to CNS nuclei that direct autonomic and neuroendocrine functions is provocative in the quest for pathogenesis. In addition the majority afflicted with LC and ME/CFS appear to be those with two MTHFR polymorphisms, present in over 50% of Americans. These polymorphisms elevate homocysteine. When homocysteine is combined with CVOs, the fog of POTS and its paradox are lifted. POTS may represent the intersection of LC and ME/CFS in those with the MTHFR gene (hypermethylation or 677TT). The gut microbiomes of LC and ME/CFS, deficient in butyrates, GABA, and diversity, are then linked with MTHFR genotype 677TT. Reactivation of neurotropic EBV and VZV, due to loss of surveillance by CD4+/CD8+ T cells, is seen as secondary. The oxidative stress generated by homocysteine, loss of glutathione, low fiber diet, and persistent chronic inflammation exhaust available mitochondria and, assisted by BKN and estrogen, exacerbate all the elements of these post viral fatigue syndromes.

Increased construction activities in Australia have led to the generation of a massive volume of construction and demolition (C&D) waste annually. Management of this volume of waste requires an effective waste framework. The literature reported that the current Australian waste framework does not meet expectations and needs immediate improvements. This study was therefore conducted to seek the key C&D stakeholders' opinion about various issues identified in this waste stream. The specific objectives of this study are identification of the main barriers to effective C&D waste management, the impact of current regulations and opportunities to enhance the current C&D waste management system. A survey was conducted in 2019 to capture the stakeholders' perception. 132 participants from various industries and government agencies based in various Australian jurisdictions took part in the survey. The key results showed that the main barriers towards an effective management system are "overregulation, tough acceptance criteria, and increased testing requirements", "lack of local market" and "culture, poor education and low acceptance". Furthermore, a low number of participants indicated that the current legislation encourages waste recovery activities. The main areas of improvements included "providing a guideline that determines the accepted level of contamination for reusing C&D waste”, "preparation of guidelines on requirements of using recycled C&D materials in different industries" and "setting target for reduction, reusing, and recycling C&D waste". The results can inform policy development and be used as evidence for a broader discussion to solve lasting issues in C&D waste management.

The synthesis and structure of the 4,4′-dipyridyl N,N′-donor ligand with a central thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole (tztz) unit, named Dptztz is presented. With the linker Dptztz and isophthalate (benzene-1,3-dicarboxylate, 1,3-BDC²⁻) the mixed-linker, two-dimensional coordination network [Zn(1,3-BDC)Dptztz]·DMF could be obtained (DMF = dimethylformamide), which belongs to the class of coordination polymers with interdigitated structures (CIDs). The incorporated DMF solvent molecules can be removed through solvent exchange and evacuation such that the supramolecular 3D packing of the 2D networks retains porosity for CO₂ adsorption in activated [Zn(1,3-BDC)Dptztz]. The first sorption study of a tztz-functionalized porous metal-organic framework material yields a BET surface of 417 m²/g from CO₂ adsorption. The heat of adsorption for CO₂ exhibits a relative maximum with 27.7 kJ/mol at adsorbed CO₂ of about 4 cm³/g STP which is interpreted as a gate-opening effect.

(1) Background: AI technology has been deeply applied to online shopping platform to provide more accurate and personalized services for consumers. It is of great significance to study the different functional experience of AI for consumers to improve the current application status of AI technology.(2)Method: Based on the "S-O-R" model, this study divided the AI technology expe-rienced by the consumers of online shopping platform into accuracy, insight and interaction experience. Takes the perceived value as the mediating variable from the prospect of perceived utility value and perceived hedonic value. This article use empirical research method to analyze the effect of three dimensions of online shopping AI experience to research the internal influence mechanism of consumers purchase intention. (3) Results:① The accuracy, insight and interaction experience of AI marketing technology have a significant positive impact on consumers' per-ceived utility value and hedonic value respectively; ②Both of the perceived utility value and perceived hedonic value obtained by AI technology experience can promote the formation of consumers' purchase intention; ③ The perceived hedonic value was better than perceived utility value to promote the consumers' purchase intention; ④The results of multi group analysis show that some younger and less experiences consumers groups prefer the pleasure experience such as shopping desire stimulation, shopping process relaxation and pleasure that AI marketing brought. However, utilitarian value cannot promote this kind of consumers' purchase intention. (4) Con-clusions: Perceived utility value and perceived hedonic value can be the intermediary between AI technology and consumers' purchase intention.

GNSS have been widely used in navigation, positioning and timing. Nowadays, the multipath errors previously considered detrimental may be re-utilized for the remote sensing of geophysical parameters (soil moisture, vegetation and snow depth), e.g. GPS- Multipath Reflectometry (GPS-MR). In this paper, a new element describing bistatic scattering properties of vegetation is incorporated into the traditional GPS-MR model. This new element is the first-order radiative transfer equation model. The new forward GPS multipath simulator is able to explicitly link the vegetation parameters with GPS multipath observables (signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR), code pseudorange and carrier phase observables). The trunk layer and its corresponding scattering mechanisms are ignored since GPS-MR is not suitable for high forest monitoring due to the coherence of direct and reflected signals. Based on this new model linking the GPS observables (SNR, phase and pseudorange) with detailed vegetation parameters, the developed simulator can present how the GPS signals (L1 and L2 carrier frequencies, C/A, P(Y) and L2C modulations) are transmitted (scattered and absorbed) through vegetation medium and received by GPS receivers. Simulation results show that wheat will decrease the amplitudes of GPS multipath observables, if we increase the vegetation moisture contents or the scatters sizes (stem or leaf), the amplitudes of GPS multipath observables (SNR, phase and code) decrease. Although the Specular-Ground component dominates the total specular scattering, vegetation covered ground soil moisture has almost no effects on the final multipath signatures. Our simulated results are consistent with published results for environmental parameter detections with GPS-MR.

This study describes the development of an automated bag valve mask (BVM) compression system, which, during acute shortages and supply chain disruptions can serve as a temporary emergency ventilator. The resuscitation system is based on the Arduino controller with a real-time operating system installed on a largely RepRap 3-D printable parametric component-based structure. The cost of the system is under $170, which makes it affordable for replication by makers around the world. The device provides a controlled breathing mode with tidal volumes from 100 to 800 milliliters, breathing rates from 5 to 40 breaths/minute, and inspiratory-to-expiratory ratio from 1:1 to 1:4. The system is designed for reliability and scalability of measurement circuits through the use of the serial peripheral interface and has the ability to connect additional hardware due to the object-oriented algorithmic approach. Experimental results demonstrate repeatability and accuracy exceeding human capabilities in BVM-based manual ventilation. Future work is necessary to further develop and test the system to make it acceptable for deployment outside of emergencies in clinical environments, however, the nature of the design is such that desired features are relatively easy to add with the test using protocols and parametric design files provided.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2), coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-induced infection is strongly associated with various coagulopathies that may result in either bleeding and thrombocytopenia or hypercoagulation and thrombosis. Thrombotic and bleeding or thrombotic pathologies are significant accompaniments to acute respiratory syndrome and lung complications in COVID-19. Thrombotic events and bleeding, often occurs in subjects with weak multiple risk factors and co-morbidities. Of particular interest are the various circulating inflammatory coagulation biomarkers involved directly in clotting, with specific focus on fibrin(ogen), D-dimer, P-selectin and von Willebrand Factor (vWF). Central to activity of these biomarkers are their receptors and signaling pathways on endothelial cells, platelets and erythrocytes. In this review, we discuss vascular implications of COVID-19, and relate this to circulating biomarker, endothelial, erythrocyte and platelet dysfunction. During the progression of the disease, these markers may either be within healthy levels, upregulated or eventually depleted. Most significant is that patients need to be treated early in the disease progression, when high levels of vWF, P-selectin and fibrinogen are present with still low levels of D-dimer. Progression to vWF and fibrinogen depletion with high D-dimer levels and even higher P-selectin levels, followed by the cytokine storm, will be indicative of a poor prognosis. We conclude by looking at point-of-care devises and methodologies in COVID-19 management and suggest that a personalized medicine approach should be considered in the treatment of patients.

The impact of nutrition on immunity is an intense area of research. Malnutrition is linked to a higher risk of microbial infections, while severe infections usually lead to a nutritional imbalance in affected patients. The nutritional status has an impact on the severity of the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 infection. Studies conducted on small numbers of patients have shown the benefits of maintaining optimal vitamin (B12 and D) and mineral (zinc and magnesium) balance in reducing the intensity of COVID-19. Although consuming a balanced diet with a healthy lifestyle is always desirable, the importance of such practice is even more meaningful during the COVID-19 pandemic. Keeping an optimal balance of vitamins and minerals through healthy dietary habits helps to maintain a robust immune system that is essential to combat invading microbial pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2.

Corona loss generated from conductors is one of the important design factors on ac transmission lines. Based on helical charge simulation method, the 3-D corona loss calculation model considering the conductors’ outer strands in the corona cage is established. With regard to 2-D corona-loss calculation method, the calculation model proposed in this paper can take the electric field strength’s nonuniformity along the axial direction of stranded conductor into consideration, furthermore, it can also calculate the corona loss when the conductor has sag. The calculation results of the LGJ-300/40 and LGJ-400/35 in the small corona cage well coincide with the measurement results, which indicates that the corona-loss calculation model is appropriate. In addition, the corona loss of the bundle conductors 4 × LGJ720 with sag in UHV corona cage is also analyzed.

Background & Aims: The covid19 is a world changing challenge. Furthermore, this disease challenges our capacities to change our point of view in the domain of infectiology, immunology and global public health. Many trials try some drug such as antiviral (lopinavir, remdesivir) interferon, and the chloroquine. Unfortunately, all approach is not really convincing at this time. We are proposing another approach on this issue. In infectiology there are two protagonists : the host and its immune system versus pathogens and its virulence. Our approach focuses on an intervention on the host’s immune system and how stimulate and modulate its reactions. Methods: We searched on PubMed and Google Scholar databases for French and English-language studies, without a limit of date of publications, for randomized clinical trials, meta-analyses, reviews, systematic reviews, observational studies, case report. We performed a review on the field of immunology enhancements by nutrients use. Results: We identified groups of vitamins (D and C), oligo-elements (magnesium, zinc, selenium) and nutrition advice which enhance immune system response. Indeed, these supplements have some proved properties in modulating and stimulating the immune system. For example, a recent study demonstrates that vitamin D deficiency is linked with the severity of covid19. Majority of the population has a deficiency in these elements. According to this, we propose a therapeutic protocol using these elements to reach an efficient therapy against covid19 by enhancing host’s immune system. Conclusion: Due to this serious pandemic, any solutions must not be disregarded. The nutrition way is an entire part of the solution.

Abstract: In order to accelerate deployment of distributed recycling by providing low-cost feed stocks of granulated post-consumer waste plastic, this study analyzes an open source waste plastic granulator system. It is designed, built and tested for its ability to convert post-consumer waste, 3-D printed products and waste into polymer feedstock for recyclebots of fused particle/granule printers. The technical specifications of the device are quantified in terms of power consumption (380 to 404W for PET and PLA, respectively) and particle size distribution. The open source device can be fabricated for less than USD$2000 in materials. The experimentally-measured power use is only a minor contribution to the overall embodied energy of distributed recycling of waste plastic. The resultant plastic particle size distributions were found to be appropriate for use in both recyclebots and direct material extrusion 3-D printers. Simple retrofits are shown to reduce sound levels during operation by 4dB-5dB for the vacuum. These results indicate that the open source waste plastic granulator is an appropriate technology for community, library, makespace, fab lab or small business-based distributed recycling.

Background & Objectives: The global pandemic caused by novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has claimed several lives worldwide. With the virus gathering rapid spread, the world has witnessed increasing number of confirmed cases and mortality rate, India is not far behind with approximately 37,000 affected individuals as on May 2, 2020. The ongoing pandemic has raised several questions which need to be answered by analysis of transmission of the infection. The data has been collected on daily basis from WHO and other sites. We have represented the data collated graphically using statistical packages, R and other online softwares. The present study provides a holistic overview of the spread of COVID-19 infection in India. Methods: Real-time data query was done based on daily observations using publicly available data from reference websites for COVID-19 and other government official reports for the period (15^th February, 2020 to April 28^th, 2020). Statistical analysis was performed to draw important inferences regarding COVID-19 trend in India. Results: A decrease in growth rate of cases due to COVID-19 in India post lockdown and improvement in recovery rate during the month of April was identified. The case fatality rate was estimated to be 3.22% of the total reported cases. State-wise analysis revealed a deteriorating situation in states of Maharashtra and Gujarat among others as cases continued to increase rapidly there. A positive linear correlation between the number of deaths and total cases and exponential relation between population density and number of cases reported per square km was established. Interpretation & Conclusions: Despite early preventive measures taken up by the Government of India, the increasing number of cases in India is a concern. This study compiles state-wise and district-wise data to report the daily confirmed cases, case fatalities and strategies adopted in the form of case studies. Understanding the transmission spread of SARS-CoV-2 in a diverse and populated country like India will be crucial in assessing the effectiveness of control policies towards the spread of COVID-19 infection.

Aiming at the damage detection and continuous monitoring of high efficiency composite structure, the method of carbon nano sensor embeded in the 3-D braided composite material specimen was put forward and the method of damage location for 3-D braided composite material was described. In this paper, the mechanical and electrical characteristics of carbon nano-fiber were analyzed. Considering the massive data of the health monitoring of composite processing, to ensure that the system has good real-time performance, quaternary matrix Singular Value Decomposition algorithm is proposed to simplify data and improve the efficiency of the algorithm. The existence of injury is determined and the damage location is calculated by comparing with key features of healthy specimen. Experimental results prove the method is feasible and effective.

The influence and importance of research and development (R&D) for business sustainability have gained increasing interests, especially in the high-tech sector. However, the efforts of R&D might cause complex and mixed impacts on the financial results considering the associated expenses. Thus, this study aims to examine how R&D efforts may influence business to improve its financial performance considering the dual objectives: the gross and the net profitability. This research integrated a rough-set-based soft computing technique and multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods to explore this complex and yet valuable issue. A group of public listed companies from Taiwan, all in the semiconductor sector, was analyzed as a case study. Initially, more than 30 variables were considered, and the adopted soft computing technique retrieved 14 core attributes—for the dual profitability objectives—to form the evaluation model. The importance of R&D for pursuing superior financial prospects is confirmed, and the empirical case demonstrates how to guide an individual company to plan for improvements to achieve its long-term sustainability by this hybrid approach.

Structure-based design and synthesis of two biphenyl-N-acyl-β-D-glucopyranosylamine derivatives as well as their assessment as inhibitors of human liver glycogen phosphorylase (hlGPa, a pharmaceutical target for type 2 diabetes) is presented. X-ray crystallography revealed the importance of structural water molecules and that the inhibitory efficacy correlates with the degree of disturbance caused by the inhibitor binding to a loop crucial for the catalytic mechanism. The in silico derived models of the binding mode generated during the design process corresponded very well with the crystallographic data.

The crux of the paper is to present a detailed analysis of COVID-19 data which is available on global basis. This analysis is performed using some specific package of R software. It provides various insights from the data and help to understand the current status of this pandemic in India so that effective measures can be formulated by policymakers. These insights include global summary of this disease, growth rate of this pandemic and performance of SIR model for the given global data. The analysis has been presented in different tables and graphs to understand the outputs of the problem in a more detailed point of view.

Collisions of low energy electrons with molecules are important for understanding many aspects of the environment and technologies. Understanding the processes that occur in these types of collisions can give insights into plasma etching processes, edge effects in fusion plasmas, radiation damage to biological tissues and more. A radical update of the previous expert system for computing observables relevant to these processes, Quantemol-N, is presented. The new Quantemol Electron Collision (QEC) expert system simplifyies the user experience, improving reliability and implements new features. The QEC GUI interfaces the Molpro quantum chemistry package for molecular target setups and to the sophisticated UKRmol+ codes to generate accurate and reliable cross-sections. These include elastic cross-sections, super elastic cross-sections between excited states, electron impact dissociation, scattering reaction rates, dissociative electron attachment, differential cross-sections, momentum transfer cross-sections, ionization cross sections and high energy electron scattering cross-sections. With this new interface we will be implementing dissociative recombination estimations, vibrational excitations for neutrals and ions, and effective core potentials in the near future.

The noble metals palladium and silver find use in many high performance applications, and their alloys (PdAg), known for more than sixty years, are industrially important, finding use in many fields including hydrogen purification and separation, numerous facets of catalysis, and in fuel cells. In recent years, interest in these materials has grown significantly, particularly in energy generating applications and due to their performance as solid-state chemical sensors for a range of small molecules. PdAg thin films can be prepared using traditional physical methods such as cold rolling, or more modern and controllable chemical or physical deposition techniques such as electrodeposition or chemical vapour deposition. Despite the wide-reaching uses of PdAg, several recent advancements in materials preparation, such as additive manufacturing, better known as 3-D printing, remain unexplored for this material due to the differing chemistries of the two elements. In this review, we explore the manufacturing methods commonly employed for the preparation of PdAg thin films, the common and niche applications of these materials, and opportunities for the future development of these two aspects, with an emphasis on how preparation of thin films can utilise additive manufacturing approaches.

Vitamin D, sunshine and UVB phototherapy were first reported in the early 1900s to control psoriasis, cure rickets and cure tuberculosis (TB). Vitamin D also controlled asthma and rheumatoid arthritis with intakes ranging from 60,000 to 600,000 International Units (IU)/day. In the 1980s interest in treating psoriasis with vitamin D rekindled. Since 1985 four different oral forms of vitamin D (D2, D3, 1-hydroxyvitaminD3 (1(OH)D3) and 1,25-dihydroxyvitaminD3 (calcitriol)) and several topical formulations have been reported safe and effective treatments for psoriasis—as has UVB phototherapy and sunshine. In this review we show that many pre-treatment serum 25(OH)D concentrations fall within the current range of normal, while many post-treatment concentrations fall outside the upper limit of this normal (100 ng/ml). Yet, psoriasis patients showed significant clinical improvement without complications using these treatments. Current estimates of vitamin D sufficiency appear to underestimate serum 25(OH)D concentrations required for optimal health in psoriasis patients, while concentrations associated with adverse events appear to be much higher than current estimates of safe serum 25(OH)D concentrations. Based on these observations, the therapeutic index for vitamin D needs to be reexamined in the treatment of psoriasis and other diseases strongly linked to vitamin D deficiency, including COVID-19 infections, which may also improve safely with sufficient vitamin D intake or UVB exposure.

Access to nasopharyngeal swabs for sampling remain a bottleneck in some regions for COVID-19 testing. This study develops a distributed manufacturing solution using only an open source manufacturing tool chain consisting of two types of open source 3-D printing and batch UV curing, and provides a parametric fully free design of a nasopharyngeal swab. The swab was designed using parametric OpenSCAD in two components (a head with engineered break point and various handles), which has several advantages: i) minimizing print time on relatively slow SLA printers, ii) enabling the use of smaller print volume open source SLA printers, iii) reducing the amount of relatively expensive UV resin, and iv) enabling production of handle on more accessible material extrusion 3-D printers. A modular open source UV LED box was designed, fabricated for $45 and tested for batch curing. Swabs can be fabricated for $0.06-$0.12/swab. The results of the mechanical validation tests showed that the swabs could withstand greater forces than would be expected in normal clinical use. The swabs were also able to absorb a significant amounts of synthetic mucus materials and passed abrasion and handling tests. The results show the open source swab are promising candidates for clinical trials.

Research with deuterium-depleted water (DDW) in the last two decades proved that deuterium/hydrogen ratio has a key role in cell cycle regulation and cellular metabolism. The present study aimed to investigate the possible effect of deuterium-depleted organic compounds (DDOC) alone and in combination with DDW on cancer growth in two in vivo mouse models. To produce DDOC, drinking water of laying hens was replaced with DDW (25 ppm) for 6 weeks, resulting in 60 ppm D level in dried egg yolk that was used as deuterium-depleted food additive. In one model, 4T1, a cell line with high metastatic capacity to the lung, was inoculated in the mice’s mammary pad. After three weeks of treatment with DDW and/or DDOC, the tumor volume in the lungs was smaller in all treated groups vs. controls with natural D level. Tumor growth and survival in mice transplanted with MCF-7 breast cancer cell line showed that the anticancer effect of DDW was enhanced by food containing the deuterium-depleted yolk. The study confirmed the importance of D/H ratio not only in consumed water but also in metabolic water produced by the mitochondria while oxidizing nutrient molecules. This is in line with the concept that initiation of cell growth requires the cells to generate a higher D/H ratio, but DDW, DDOC, or the naturally low-D lipids in a ketogenic diet, have significant effect on tumor growth by preventing the cells from raising D/H ratio to the threshold.

Waste orange peel represents a heavy burden for the orange juice industry, estimated in several million tons per year worldwide; nevertheless, this by-product is endowed with valuable bioactive compounds, such as pectin, polyphenols and terpenes. The potential value of the waste orange peel has stimulated the search for extraction processes, alternative or complementary to landfilling or to the integral energy conversion. This study introduces controlled hydrodynamic cavitation processes, as a new route to the integral valorization of this by-product, based on simple equipment, speed, effectiveness and efficiency, scalability, and compliance with green extraction principles. Waste orange peel, in batches of several kg, was processed in more than 100 L of water, absent any other raw materials, in a device comprising a Venturi-shaped cavitation reactor. The extractions of pectin, endowed with a very low degree of esterification, polyphenols (flavanones and hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives), and terpenes (mainly d-limonene) were effective and fast (high yield, few min of process time), as well as the biomethane generation potential of the process residues was effectively exploited. The achieved results proved the viability of the proposed route to the integral valorization of waste orange peel, though wide margins exist for further improvements.

Vitamin D is a nutrient with anti-inflammatory properties whose role is currently being evaluated in COVID-19. Although studies are conflicting, they seem to suggest a role for vitamin D in reducing disease susceptibility but not in improving clinical outcome. In order to understand why vitamin D does not seem to have much effect on decreasing disease severity, it is essential to appreciate pulmonary vitamin D metabolism. To reach the pulmonary compartment, vascular endothelial cells would need to take up vitamin D from the blood stream, but they lack vitamin D receptor (VDR) and the activating enzyme CYP27B1. Endothelialitis – an important disease manifestation of COVID-19 – is therefore not expected to be directly affected by vitamin D. Bronchial epithelial cells are usually among the first to be infected with SARS-CoV-2. They do express both VDR and CYP27B1, but circulating vitamin D may not reach bronchial epithelial cells without transportation from the blood stream through the blood vessel wall. Inhalation therapy with vitamin D has therefore been suggested as an alternative for oral administration to bypass endothelial cells and efficaciously target bronchial epithelium. In conclusion, based on the principles of pulmonary vitamin D metabolism, it is not expected that vitamin D administration has a significant effect on COVID-19 severity. Vitamin D is more likely to reduce SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility, but reaching the airways with oral supplementation will be difficult and vitamin D inhalation therapy should be considered.

Long-term nutritional studies in subjects undergoing bariatric surgery that have assessed weight regain and nutritional deficiencies are few. In this study, we report data 8 years after surgery on weight loss, use of dietary supplements and deficit of micronutrients in a cohort of patients from five centres in central and northern Italy. The study group consisted of 52 subjects (age: 38.1±10.6 yrs, 42 females): 16 patients had Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), 25 patients sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) and 11 subjects adjustable gastric banding (AGB). All three bariatric procedures led to sustained weight loss: average percentage excess weight loss, defined as weight loss divided by excess weight based on ideal body weight was 60.6%±32.3. 80.7% of subjects (72.7%, AGB; 76%, SG; 93.7%, RYGB) reported at least one nutritional deficiency: iron (F 64.3% vs. M 30%), vitamin B12 (F 16.6% vs. M 10%), calcium (F 33.3% vs. M 0%) and vitamin D (F 38.1% vs. M 60%). Average weight loss was constant in RYGB and SG subjects from the third year after surgery. Long-term nutritional deficiencies were greater than the general population among men for iron and among women for vitamin B12.

Three different fields intersect in search of an understanding of the point-of-origin of modern-age diseases: 1) D-amino acids and their role under stress conditions; 2) evolutionary origin of the mitochondrion organelle in the eukaryotic cell; and 3) gut microbiota and human healthHere it is first suggested that D-amino acids function as universal signaling agents, after having evolved as prokaryotic communication, part of an organic communication process that governs the basic activities of all the cells and coordinates cell action.Mitochondria (symbiotic prokaryotic organelles), are creative source of D-amino acids as signaling agents in the central nervous system and in the neuroendocrine systems.Amino acids racemases catalyzes the conversion between the L-enantiomers ( protein building blocks) into D-enantiomers (signaling agents).It is suggested that hectic modern life may affect human health by causing stress to the gut microbiota. These affected, gut microbiota then secrete D-amino acids that enter the blood stream, as signaling agents, causing communication errors in the central nervous system, and in the neuroendocrine systems due to excessive quantity of D-amino acids.Treating gut microbiota with inhibitors of amino acids racemases or finding D-amino acid scavengers may be used in developing novel therapeutic strategies for diseases related to the central nervous system and neuroendocrine systems caused by stressed gut microbiota.

Vitamin D has previously been quantified in some plants and algae, particularly in leaves of the Solanaceae family. We measured the vitamin D content of Australian native food plants and Australian-grown edible seaweed. Using liquid chromatography with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry, 13 samples (including leaf, fruit and seed) were analysed in duplicate for vitamin D₂, vitamin D₃, 25-hydroxyvitamin D₂ and 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃. Five samples contained vitamin D₂: raw wattleseed (Acacia victoriae) (0.03 µg/100 g dry weight (DW)); fresh and dried lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) leaves (0.03 and 0.24 µg/100 g DW, respectively); dried leaves and berries of Tasmanian mountain pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata) (0.67 and 0.05 µg/100 g DW, respectively). Fresh kombu (Lessonia corrugata) contained vitamin D₃ (0.01 µg/100 g DW). Detected amounts were low; however, it is possible that exposure to ultraviolet radiation may increase the vitamin D content of plants and algae if vitamin D precursors are present.

Designing motion representations for the problem of 3D human action recognition from skeleton sequences is an important yet challenging task. An effective representation should be robust to noise, invariant to viewpoint changes and result in a good performance with low-computational demand. Two main challenges in this task include how to efficiently represent spatio-temporal patterns of skeletal movements and how to learn their discriminative features for classification task. This paper presents a novel skeleton-based representation and a deep learning framework for 3D action recognition using RGB-D sensors. We propose to build an action map called SPMF (Skeleton Posture-Motion Feature), which is a compact image representation built from skeleton poses and their motions. An Adaptive Histogram Equalization (AHE) algorithm is then applied on the SPMF to enhance their local patterns and form an enhanced action map, namely Enhanced-SPMF. For learning and classification tasks, we exploit Deep Convolutional Neural Networks based on the DenseNet architecture to learn directly an end-to-end mapping between input skeleton sequences and their action labels via the Enhanced-SPMFs. The proposed method is evaluated on four challenging benchmark datasets, including both individual actions, interactions, multiview and large-scale datasets. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms previous state-of-the-art approaches on all benchmark tasks, whilst requiring low computational time for training and inference.

The role of vitamin D in the prevention and treatment of non-skeletal health issues has received significant media and research attention in recent years. Costs associated with clinical management of low vitamin D (LVD) have increased exponentially. However, no clear evidence supports vitamin D screening to improve health outcomes. Authoritative bodies and professional societies recommend against population-wide vitamin D screening in community-dwelling adults who are asymptomatic or at low risk of LVD. In order to assess patterns of physician management of LVD in this conflicting environment, we conducted a scoping review of three electronic databases and gray literature. Thirty-eight records met inclusion criteria and were summarized in an evidence table. Results from seven countries showed a consistent increase in vitamin D lab tests and related costs. Many vitamin D testing patterns reflected screening rather than targeted testing for individuals at high risk of vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency. Interventions aimed at managing inappropriate clinical practices related to LVD were effective in the short term. Variability and controversy were pervasive in many aspects of vitamin D management, shining light on physician practices in the face of uncertainty. Future research is needed is needed to inform better clinical guidelines and to assess implementation practices that encourage evidence-based management of LVD in adult populations.

Obesity in children is associated with vitamin D (VD) deficiency and cardiometabolic abnormalities. To analyze the effects of VD supplementation in adolescents with obesity enrolled in a weight-loss program. Adolescents with obesity (n=26) and with normal weight (n=23; controls) were matched for age, sex, and puberty stage. The obesity group followed a 3-month weight-loss program that combined a reduced caloric intake with interval training physical activity and during which they received or not VD supplementation (4000 IU/d) (n=13/group; random assignation). The anthropometric parameters (BMI z-score, fat mass); serum levels of 25(OH)D, calcium and parathyroid hormone (PTH), cardiometabolic factors (triglycerides, HDL, and LDL cholesterol), fasting glucose and insulin, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance index; diastolic, systolic and mean blood pressure, and inflammatory status (C-reactive protein, CRP) were measured at baseline and at the end of the 3-month program. At baseline, 25(OH)D concentration was lower and VD insufficiency (25(OH)D levels <50 nmol/L) rate was higher (73% vs 22%) in the obesity than in the normal-weight group. All cardiometabolic factors were altered in the obesity compared with the normal-weight group. After the 3-month weight-loss program, 25(OH)D levels was >50 nmol in all adolescents with obesity, but only in 46% of normal-weight adolescents. Moreover, the weight-loss program improved the cardiometabolic factors, inflammatory status (CRP) and physical performance, but VD supplementation did not have any additional effect. Analysis only of the adolescents with obesity and VD deficiency (25(OH)D <50 nmol/L) at baseline showed a significant correlation between the change in PTH and CRP (p=0.02) in the supplemented obesity group, while the increase in 25(OH)D only tended to be correlated with CRP decrease. Vitamin D supplementation could reduce VD insufficiency in adolescent with obesity, but does not have any additional effect on cardiometabolic factors when combined with a weight-loss program.

To assist firefighters and other first responders to use their existing equipment for respiration during the COVID-19 pandemic without using single-use, low-supply, masks, this study outlines an open source kit to convert a 3M-manufactured Scott Safety self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) into a powered air-purifying particulate respirator (PAPR). The open source PAPR can be fabricated with a low-cost 3-D printer and widely available components for less than $150, replacing commercial conversion kits saving 85% or full-fledged proprietary PAPRs saving over 90%. The parametric designs allow for adaptation to other core components and can be custom fit specifically to fire-fighter equipment, including their suspenders. The open source PAPR has controllable air flow and its design enables breathing even if the fan is disconnected or if the battery dies. The open source PAPR was tested for air flow as a function of battery life and was found to meet NIOSH air flow requirements for 4 hours, which is 300% over expected regular use.

Object detection is one of the most critical tasks in the field of Computer vision. This task comprises identifying and localizing an object in the image. Architectural floor plans represent the layout of buildings and apartments. The floor plans consist of walls, windows, stairs, and other furniture objects. While recognizing floor plan objects is straightforward for humans, automatically processing floor plans and recognizing objects is a challenging problem. In this work, we investigate the performance of the recently introduced Cascade Mask R-CNN network to solve object detection in floor plan images. Furthermore, we experimentally establish that deformable convolution works better than conventional convolutions in the proposed framework. Identifying objects in floor plan images is also challenging due to the variety of floor plans and different objects. We faced a problem in training our network because of the lack of publicly available datasets. Currently, available public datasets do not have enough images to train deep neural networks efficiently. We introduce SFPI, a novel synthetic floor plan dataset consisting of 10000 images to address this issue. Our proposed method conveniently surpasses the previous state-of-the-art results on the SESYD dataset and sets impressive baseline results on the proposed SFPI dataset. The dataset can be downloaded from SFPI Dataset Link. We believe that the novel dataset enables the researcher to enhance the research in this domain further.

Lichen secondary metabolites are generally considered as repellent compounds for lichen feeders. Nevertheless, if the only food available consists in lichens rich in secondary metabolites, lichenophages such as Notodiscus hookeri, a gastropod native from the Possession Island, seem able to implement strategies to overcome the toxicity of these metabolites. Thus, the balance between phagostimulant nutrients and deterrent metabolites appears to play a key role in their feeding preferences. To further understand lichen-gastropod interactions, we studied the feeding behavior of Notodiscus hookeri fed exclusively with Usnea taylori, a lichen rich in usnic acid and arabitol. Snail feeding choice experiments with intact lichens vs acetone-rinsed lichens were carried out to study the influence of secondary metabolites. Simultaneously, usnic acid and arabitol were quantified and localized within the lichen thallus using HPLC-DAD-MS and in situ imaging by mass spectrometry to assess whether their spatial distribution induce preferential snail grazing. Then, no-choice feeding experiments were devised using usnic acid and arabitol embedded in artificial diet, separately or together. This case study demonstrated that the nutritional activity of N. hookerii was governed by the chemical quality of the food and primarily by nutrient availability (arabitol), despite the presence of deterrent metabolites (usnic acid).

The leading cause of illness in aging is a group known as Noncommunicable Diseases. There should be some meeting points that modify the cells homeostasis and impaired the cell physiology developing different diseases. Quantum physics studied the atomic and subatomic particles and revolutionized the reality perception with paradoxical and weird concepts. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle established that it is not possible to determine the two characteristic properties of particles with accuracy. Subatomic particles have a wave-particle duality. Two subatomic particles are entangled, something happening over here can have an instantaneous effect over there, no matter how far away there are. All these concepts have tried to apply to biology and life sciences, quantum biology is behind photosynthesis, mitochondrial respiration, enzyme activity, the sense of smell, animal migration, heredity's fidelity, and consciousness. We can apply all these concepts to diseases pathogeny. So, we describe quantum phenomena in oxidative stress, calcification, signal transduction, vitamin D production and cancer mutations. Aging diseases also could be explained by applying quantum physics concepts. It is a new, hard to believe, and an incredible path to be built, but we need to open the treatment options to our patients with new perspectives.

Thermal sterilization is generally avoided for 3-D printed components because of the relatively low deformation temperatures for common thermoplastics used for material extrusion-based additive manufacturing. 3-D printing materials required for high-temperature heat sterilizable components for COVID-19 and other applications demands 3-D printers with heated beds, hot ends that can reach higher temperatures than polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) hot ends and heated chambers to avoid part warping and delamination. There are several high temperature printers on the market, but their high costs make them inaccessible for full home-based distributed manufacturing required during pandemic lockdowns. To allow for all these requirements to be met for under $1,000, the Cerberus – an open source three-headed self-replicating rapid prototyper (RepRap) was designed and tested with the following capabilities: i) 200^oC-capable heated bed, ii) 500^oC-capabel hot end, iii) isolated heated chamber with 1kW space heater core and iv) mains voltage chamber and bed heating for rapid start. The Cereberus successfully prints polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) and polyetherimide (PEI, ULTEM) with tensile strengths of 77.5 and 80.5 MPa, respectively. As a case study, open source face masks were 3-D printed in PEKK and shown not to warp upon widely home-accessible oven-based sterilization.

Scoring targets in shooting sports is a crucial and time-consuming task that relies on manually counting bullet holes. This paper introduced an automatic score detection model using object detection techniques. The performance of seven models belonging to two different architectural setups was compared. Models like YOLOv8n, YOLOv8s, YOLOv8m, RetinaNet-50, and RetinaNet-101 are single-shot detectors, while Faster RCNN-50 and Faster RCNN-101 belong to the two-shot detectors category. The dataset was manually captured from the shooting range and expanded by generating more versatile data using Python code. Before the dataset was trained to develop models, it was resized (640x640) and augmented using Roboflow API. The trained models were then assessed on the test dataset, and their performance was compared using matrices like mAP50, mAP50-90, precision, and recall. The results showed that YOLOv8 models can detect multiple objects with good confidence scores. Among all, YOLOv8m performed the best with the highest mAP50 value of 96.7%, followed by the performance of YOLOv8s with the mAP50 value of 96.5%. It is suggested that if the system is to be implemented in a real-time environment, YOLOv8s is a better choice since it took significantly less inference time (2.3ms) than YOLOv8m (5.7ms) and yet generated the competitive mAP50.

Specific proteolytic cleavages turn on, modify, or turn off the activity of vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs). Proteolysis is most prominent among the lymph­angiogenic VEGF-C and VEGF-D, which are synthesized as precursors that need to undergo enzymatic removal of their C- and N-terminal propeptides before they can activate their receptors. The activating cleavage of VEGF-C is mediated by at least five different proteases: plasmin, ADAMTS3, prostate-specific antigen, cathepsin D, and thrombin. All of these proteases except for ADAMTS3 can also activate VEGF-D. Processing by different proteases results in distinct forms of the "mature" growth factors, which differ in affinity and receptor activation potential. The “default” VEGF-C-activating enzyme ADAMTS3 does not activate VEGF-D and therefore, VEGF-C and VEGF-D do function in different contexts. VEGF-C itself is also regulated in different contexts by different proteases. During embryonic development, ADAMTS3 activates VEGF-C. In contrast, thrombin and plasmin likely activate VEGF-C/-D during tissue injury-induced lymphangiogenesis, and PSA and cathepsin D perhaps during tumor-associated pathological lymphangio­genesis. Additionally, cathepsin D from saliva might activate latent VEGF-C/-D upon wound licking, thereby accelerating healing. Similar to tyrosine kinase receptors and VEGFs themselves, these activating proteases could be targeted to modulate angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis in relevant diseases.

Background: According to newly published studies, patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) have significantly lower serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D 25(OH)D levels than those without the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Vitamin D insufficiency may be a predictor of poor prognosis in COVID-19 patients. Vitamin D supplementation is related to improved clinical outcomes in terms of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and death, particularly in individuals with moderate-to-severe forms of COVID-19 requiring hospitalization. Materials and methods: This placebo-controlled five-day study was performed on 100 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with vitamin D insufficiency randomized into two groups. Vitamin D in the form of a sublingual sprayable microemulsion (LYL love your life® sunD3 LYLmicro™) was given three times daily after breakfast, lunch, and dinner (daily dose 12,000 IU) to 52 patients with blood vitamin D levels below 30 ng/ml. 48 patients in the control group received a placebo spray in the same daily regiment. Results: We observed a statistically significant increase by 8.6 ng/ml in median vitamin D level after five days of high-dose vitamin D3 spray therapy. 90.2% of subjects reached normal serum levels of vitamin D. There was a strong correlation between changes in vitamin D and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in individuals with moderately severe disease (p<0.05), while mild and severe cases showed no statistical significance comparing case and control groups. There were no statistically significant changes in ferritin and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels. Conclusions: In this study, we demonstrated the possibility to rapidly increase circulating levels of vitamin D just in 5 days of high-dose intervention and found a statistically significant decrease of CRP levels in patients with moderately severe COVID-19. We were not able to detect statistically significant changes in ferritin and IL-6 levels during the 5-day vitamin D intervention.

Kinect is a device that has been widely used in many areas since it was released in 2010. Kinect SDK was announced in 2011 and used in many other areas than its original purpose, which was a controller for gaming. In particular, it has been used by a number of artists in digital media art since it is inexpensive and has a fast recognition rate. However, there is a problem. Kinect create 3D coordinates with a single 2D RGB image for x, y value - single depth image for z value. And this creates a significant limitation on the installation for interactivity of media art. Because the Cartesian XY coordinate and the spherical Z coordinate system are used in combination, depth error depending on the distance is generated, which makes real-time rotation recognition and coordinate correction difficult above coordinate system. This paper proposes a real-time calibration method of Kinect recognition range expansion for useful application in the digital media art area. The proposed method can recognize the viewer accurately by calibrating a coordinate in any direction in front of the viewer. 3,400 datasets witch acquire from experiment were measured as five stances: the 1m attention stance, 1m hands-up stance, 2m attention stance, 2m hands-up stance, and 2m hands-half-up stance, which were taken and recorded every 0.5 sec. The experimental results showed that the accuracy rate was improved about 11.5% compared with front measurement data according to Kinect reference installation method.

In this paper a dynamic relationship between the CO2 emissions in Finland, Norway and Sweden is presented. With the help of a VAR(2) model, and using the Granger terminology, it is shown that the emissions in Finland are affecting those in Norway and Sweden. Other aspects of this dynamic relationship are presented as well.

Blackcurrant leaf chlorosis associated virus (BCLCaV) was detected recently by next-generation sequencing (NGS) and proposed as a new and distinct species in the genus Idaeovirus. Genomic components of BCLCaV that were detected and confirmed include: 1) RNA-1 that is monocistronic and encodes the replicase complex; 2) a bicistronic RNA-2 that encodes a movement protein (MP) and the coat protein (CP) of the virus, with open reading frames (ORF) that overlap by a single adenine (A) nucleotide (nt) representing the third position of an opal stop codon of the MP ORF2a and the first position of the start codon of the CP ORF2b; 3) a subgenomic form of RNA-2 (RNA-3) that contains ORF2b; and 4) a concatenated form of RNA-2 that consists of a complementary and inverted RNA-3 conjoined to the full-length RNA-2. Analysis of NGS-derived paired-end reads revealed the existence of bridge reads encompassing the 3’-terminus and 5’-terminus of RNA-2 or RNA-3 of BCLCaV. The full RNA-2 or RNA-3 could be amplified using outward facing or abutting primers; also RNA-2/RNA-3 could be detected even after three consecutive RNase R enzyme treatments with denaturation at 95 ^oC preceding each digestion. Evidence was obtained indicating that there are circular forms of BCLCaV RNA-2 and RNA-3.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are very frequent in women and can be caused by a range of pathogens. High recurrence rates and increasing antibiotic resistance of uropathogens make UTIs a severe public health problem. d-mannose is a monosaccharide that can inhibit bacterial adhesion to the urothelium after oral intake. Several clinical studies have shown the efficacy of d-mannose in the prevention of recurrent UTI; these also provided limited evidence for the efficacy of d-mannose in acute therapy. A recent prospective, non-interventional study in female patients with acute cystitis reported good success rates for treatment with d-mannose. Here we present data from a post-hoc analysis of this study to compare the cure rate of d-mannose monotherapy with that of antibiotics. The results show that d-mannose is a promising alternative to antibiotics in the treatment of acute uncomplicated UTIs in women.

C-type lectin CD209/DC-SIGN and CD209L/L-SIGN proteins are distinct cell adhesion and pathogen recognition receptors that mediate cellular interactions and recognize a wide range of pathogens including, viruses such as SARS, SARS-CoV-2, bacteria, fungi and parasites. Pathogens exploit CD209L family proteins to promote infection and evade the immune recognition system. CD209L and CD209 are widely expressed in SARS-CoV-2 target organs and can contribute to infection and pathogenesis. CD209L family receptors are highly susceptible to alternative splicing and genomic polymorphism, which may influence virus tropism and transmission in vivo. The carbohydrate-recognition domain (CRD) and the neck/repeat region represent the key features of CD209L family proteins that are also central to facilitating cellular ligand interactions and pathogen recognition. While, the neck/repeat region is involved in oligomeric dimerization, the CRD recognizes the mannose containing structures present on specific glycoproteins such as those found on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Considering the role of CD209L and related proteins in diverse pathogen recognition, this review article discusses the recent advances in the cellular and biochemical characterization of CD209 and CD209L and their roles in viral uptake, which has important implications in understanding the host-pathogen interaction, the viral pathobiology and driving vaccine development of SARS-CoV-2.

Vitamin D (VD) is a pro-hormone essential for life in higher animals. It is present in few types of foods and is produced endogenously in the skin by a photochemical reaction. The final step of VD activation occurs in the kidneys involving a second hydroxylation reaction to generate the biologically active metabolite 1,25(OH)₂-VD. Extrarenal 1α-hydroxylation has also been described to have an important role in autocrine and paracrine signaling. Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) has been in the spotlight as a major public health-care issue with an estimated prevalence of more than a billion people worldwide. Among individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD), VDD prevalence has been reported to be as high as 80%. Classically VD plays a pivotal role in calcium and phosphorus homeostasis. Nevertheless, there is a growing body of evidence supporting the importance of VD in many vital nonskeletal biological processes such as endothelial function, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system modulation, redox balance and innate and adaptive immunity. In individuals with CKD, VDD has been associated with albuminuria, faster progression of kidney disease and increased all-cause mortality. Recent guidelines support VD supplementation in CKD based on extrapolation from cohorts conducted in the general population. In this review, we discuss new insights on the multifactorial pathophysiology of VDD in CKD as well as how it may negatively modulate different organs and systems. We also critically review the latest evidence and controversies of VD monitoring and supplementation in CKD patients.

In this study, regression analyses were used to find a relationship between the rain gauge rainfall rate R and radar reflectivity Z for the urban catchment of the Służewiecki Stream in Warsaw, Poland. Rainfall totals for 18 events which were measured at two rainfall stations were used for these analyses. Various methods for determining calculational values of radar reflectivity in reference to specific rainfall cells with 1-km resolution within an event duration were applied. The influence of each of these methods on the Z-R relationship was analyzed. The correction coefficient for data from the SRI (Surface Rainfall Intensity) product was established, in which the values of rainfall rate are calculated based on parameters a and b determined by Marshall and Palmer. Relatively good agreement between measured and estimated rainfall totals for the analyzed events was obtained using the Z-R relationships as well as the correction coefficient determined in this study. Rainfall depths estimated from radar data for two selected events were used to simulate flow hydrographs in the catchment using the SWMM (Storm Water Management Model) hydrodynamic model. Different scenarios were applied to investigate the stream response to changes in rainfall depths, in which the data both for 2 existing as well as 64 virtual rain gauges assigned to appropriate rainfall cells in the catchment were included.

We propose an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal-based algorithm to estimate the respiratory rate is a significant informative indicator of physiological state of a patient. The consecutive ECG signals reflect the information about the respiration because inhalation and exhalation make transthoracic impedance vary. The proposed algorithm extracts the respiration-related signal by finding out the commonality between the frequency and amplitude features in the ECG pulse train. The respiration rate can be calculated from the principle components after the procedure of the singular spectrum analysis. We achieved 1.7569 breaths per min of root-mean-squared error and 1.7517 of standard deviation with a 32-seconds signal window of the Capnobase dataset, which gives notable improvement compared with the conventional Autoregressive model based estimation methods.

In this paper, we address the problem of car detection from aerial images using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). This problem presents additional challenges as compared to car (or any object) detection from ground images because features of vehicles from aerial images are more difficult to discern. To investigate this issue, we assess the performance of two state-of-the-art CNN algorithms, namely Faster R-CNN, which is the most popular region-based algorithm, and YOLOv3, which is known to be the fastest detection algorithm. We analyze two datasets with different characteristics to check the impact of various factors, such as UAV’s altitude, camera resolution, and object size. The objective of this work is to conduct a robust comparison between these two cutting-edge algorithms. By using a variety of metrics, we show that none of the two algorithms outperforms the other in all cases.

Context: COVID-19 pandemic and the Lockdown implemented as a measure to contain the virus spread has taken a toll over the psychological well-being of the people especially the young adults, the confinement along with the environment of a highly infectious pandemic around the induvial are put under great stress.Aims: The current study aims to assess the psychological impact and perceived stress due to COVID-19 lockdown in Young Adult population of India.Settings and Design: It is a cross sectional, observational study.Methods and Material: The survey was conducted using Google forms involving snowball sampling technique which obtained 267 responses in total. (IES-R) and (PSS) scales were used for the study.Statistical analysis used: Descriptive analysis were performed on the sociodemographic parameters and the comparison of means were done by Chi-square test in SPSS Statistic 21.0 (IBM SPSS Statistics, New York, United States). Results: The mean IES-R and PSS scores obtained for the population in this study was 25.64±18.95 and 18.27±6.10 respectively. Out of the 267 respondents in total 61.4% (n=164) of them were males. Maximum of the respondents 62.54%(n=167) belonged to the age group of 18-23 with mean age being 23.14± 2.913. 92.5% of the respondents were unmarried and only 26.6% belonged to the rural part of India. Females, younger individuals were found to have higher IES-R and PSS scores. Conclusions: There is significant psychological burden and stress on the young Indian population with females and younger individuals particularly students are the most vulnerable population.

Global wind observations are fundamental for studying weather and climate dynamics. Most wind measurements come from atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) by tracking the displacement of cloud or water vapor features. These AMVs generally rely on thermal infrared (IR) techniques for their height assignments, which are subject to large uncertainties in the presence of weak or reversed vertical temperature gradients around the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and with tropopause folding. Stereo imaging can overcome the height assignment problem using geometric parallax for feature height determination. In this study we develop a stereo 3D-Wind algorithm to simultaneously retrieve AMV and height from geostationary (GEO) and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite imagery and apply it to collocated Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) and Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) imagery. The new algorithm improves AMV and height relative to products from GOES or MISR alone, with an estimated accuracy of <0.5 m/s in AMV and <200 m in height with 2.2 km sampling. The algorithm can be generalized to other LEO-GEO or GEO-GEO combinations for greater spatiotemporal coverage. The technique demonstrated with MISR and GOES has important implications for future high-quality AMV observations, for which a low-cost constellation of CubeSats can play a vital role.

At present, the world is at the peak of production of traditional fossil fuels. Much of the resources that humanity has been consuming (oil, coal and natural gas) are coming to an end. The human being faces a future that must necessarily go through a paradigm shift, which includes a progressive movement towards increasingly less polluting and energetically viable resources. In this sense, nanotechnology has a transcendental role in this change. For decades, new materials capable of being used in energy processes have been synthesized that undoubtedly will be the cornerstone of the future development of the planet. In this review, we report on the current progress in the synthesis and use of one-dimensional (1D) nanostructured materials (specifically nanowires, nanofibers, nanotubes and nanorods), with compositions based on oxides, nitrides, or metals, for applications related to energy. Due to its extraordinary surface-volume relationship, tunable thermal and transport properties, and its high surface area, these 1D nanostructures have become fundamental elements for the development of energy processes. The most relevant 1D nanomaterials, their different synthesis procedures, and useful methods for assembling 1D nanostructures in functional devices will be presented. Applications in relevant topics such as optoelectronic and photochemical devices, hydrogen production or energy storage, among others, will be discussed. The present review concludes with a forecast on the directions towards which future research could be directed on this class of nanostructured materials.

In this article we have presented a new perception of herd immunity threshold (HIT) which considers that only a “band of population” are susceptible to any pathogenic infection. This is termed as the “effective herd immunity threshold” (EHIT) and the progression of the disease (caused by this pathogenic infection) is mainly determined by this EHIT value. We have argued here that this EHIT value (considering the immunity band picture in the population) will be substantially lower than the estimated canonical HIT values obtained from various existing models. We propose that the actual prediction of the disease progression should now be calculated using the EHIT values.

Background: A Few preclinical studies have shown that Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is linked to gut microbiome dysbiosis and chronic inflammation. This pilot study was designed to look at the gut microbiome composition in KOA patients and normal individuals with or without vitamin D deficiency (VDD, serum vitamin D <30 ng/ml). Methods: This pilot study was conducted prospectively in 24 participants. The faecal samples of all the participants were taken for DNA extraction. The V3-V4 region of 16s rRNA was amplified and the library was prepared and sequenced on the Illumina Miseq platform. Results: The mean (±SD) age was 45.5 (±10.2) years with no defined co-morbidities. Of 447 total Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs), a differential abundance of 16 nominally significant OTUs between the groups were observed. Linear discriminate analysis (LEfSe) revealed a significant difference in bacteria among the study groups. Pseudobutyrivibrio and Odoribacter were specific for VDD while Parabacteroides, Butyricimonas, and Gordonibacter were abundant in the KOA_VDD group and Peptococcus, Intestimonas, Delftia, and Oribacterium were abundant in the KOA group. About 80% of bacterial species were common among different groups and hence labeled as core bacterial species. However, the core microbiome of KOA and VDD groups were not seen in the KOA_VDD group, suggesting that these bacterial groups were affected by the interaction of the KOA and VDD factors. Conclusion: Parabacteroides, Butyricimonas, Pseudobutyrivibrio, Odoribacter, and Gordonibacter are the predominant bacteria in vitamin D deficient patients with or without KOA. Together these results indicate an association between the gut microbiome, vitamin D, and knee osteoarthritis.

The 3D reconstruction method using RGB-D camera has a good balance in hardware cost, point cloud quality and automation. However, due to the limitation of inherent structure and imaging principle, the acquired point cloud has problems such as a lot of noise and difficult registration. This paper proposes a three-dimensional reconstruction method using Azure Kinect to solve these inherent problems. Shoot color map, depth map and near-infrared image of the target from six perspectives by Azure Kinect sensor. Multiply the 8-bit infrared image binarization with the general RGB-D image alignment result provided by Microsoft to remove ghost images and most of the background noise. In order to filter the floating point and outlier noise of the point cloud, a neighborhood maximum filtering method is proposed to filter out the abrupt points in the depth map. The floating points in the point cloud are removed before generating the point cloud, and then using the through filter filters out outlier noise. Aiming at the shortcomings of the classic ICP algorithm, an improved method is proposed. By continuously reducing the size of the down-sampling grid and the distance threshold between the corresponding points, the point clouds of each view are continuously registered three times, until get the complete color point cloud. A large number of experimental results on rape plants show that the point cloud accuracy obtained by this method is 0.739mm, a complete scan time is 338.4 seconds, and the color reduction is high. Compared with a laser scanner, the proposed method has considerable reconstruction accuracy and a significantly ahead of the reconstruction speed, but the hardware cost is much lower and it is easy to automate the scanning system. This research shows a low-cost, high-precision 3D reconstruction technology, which has the potential to be widely used for non-destructive measurement of crop phenotype.

This paper introduces an application of R programming language for geostatistical data processing with a case study of the Mariana Trench, Pacific Ocean. The formation of the Mariana Trench, the deepest among all hadal oceanic depth trenches, is caused by complex and diverse geomorphic factors affecting its development. Mariana Trench crosses four tectonic plates: Mariana, Caroline, Pacific and Philippine. The impact of the geographic location and geological factors on its geomorphology has been studied by methods of statistical analysis and data visualization using R libraries. The methodology includes following steps. Firstly, vector thematic data were processed in QGIS: tectonics, bathymetry, geomorphology and geology. Secondly, 25 cross-section profiles were drawn across the trench. The length of each profile is 1000-km. The attribute information has been derived from each profile and stored in a table containing coordinates, depths and thematic information. Finally, this table was processed by methods of the statistical analysis on R. The programming codes and graphical results are presented. The results include geospatial comparative analysis and estimated effects of the data distribution by tectonic plates: slope angle, igneous volcanic areas and depths. The innovativeness of this paper consists in a cross-disciplinary approach combining GIS, statistical analysis and R programming.

Barriers to inventing electronic devices involve challenges of iterating electronic designs due to long lead times for professional circuit board milling or high-costs of commercial milling machines. To overcome these barriers this study provides open source (OS) designs for a low-cost circuit milling machine. First, design modifications for mechanical and electrical sub-systems of the OS D3D Robotics prototyping system are provided. Next, Copper Carve, an OS custom graphical user interface, is developed to enable circuit board milling by implementing backlash and substrate distortion compensation. The performance of the OS D3D circuit mill is then quantified and validated for: positional accuracy, cut quality, feature accuracy and distortion compensation. Finally, the return on investment is calculated for inventors using it. The results show by properly compensating for motion inaccuracies with Copper Carve, the machine achieves a motion resolution of 10 microns, which is more than adequate for most circuit designs. The mill is at least five times less expensive than all commercial alternatives and the material costs of the D3D mill are repaid from fabricating 20-43 boards. The results show that the OS circuit mill is of high-enough quality to enable rapid invention and distributed manufacturing of complex products containing custom electronics.

Centrifuges are commonly required devices in medical diagnostics facilities as well as scientific laboratories. Although there are commercial and open source centrifuges, costs of the former and required electricity to operate the latter, limit accessibility in resource-constrained settings. There is a need for low-cost, human-powered, verified and reliable lab-scale centrifuge. This study provides the designs for a low-cost 100% 3-D printed centrifuge, which can be fabricated on any low-cost RepRap-class fused filament fabrication (FFF) or fused particle fabrication (FPF)-based 3-D printer. In addition, validation procedures are provided using a web camera and free and open source software. This paper provides the complete open source plans including instructions for fabrication and operation for a hand-powered centrifuge. This study successfully tested and validated the instrument, which can be operated anywhere in the world with no electricity inputs obtaining a radial velocity of over 1750rpm and over 50N of relative centrifugal force. Using commercial filament the instrument costs about US$25, which is less than half of all commercially available systems; however, the costs can be dropped further using recycled plastics on open source systems for over 99% savings. The results are discussed in the contexts of resource-constrained medical and scientific facilities.

If environmental exposures are shown to cause an adverse health outcome, reducing exposure should reduce the disease risk. Links between exposures and outcomes are typically based on ‘associations’ derived from observational studies, and causality may not be clear. Randomised controlled trials to ‘prove’ causality are often not feasible or ethical. Here the history of evidence that tobacco smoking causes lung cancer – in observational studies – is compared to that of low sun exposure and/or low vitamin D status as causal risk factors for the autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis. Evidence derives from in vitro and animal studies, as well as ecological, case-control and cohort studies, in order of increasing strength. For smoking and lung cancer, the associations are strong, consistent, and biologically plausible – the evidence is coherent or ‘in harmony’. For low sun exposure/vitamin D as risk factors for MS, the evidence is weaker, with smaller effect sizes, but coherent across a range of sources of evidence, and biologically plausible. The association is less direct – smoking is directly toxic and carcinogenic to the lung, but sun exposure/vitamin D modulate the immune system, which in turn may reduce the risk of immune attack on self-proteins in the central nervous system. Opinion about whether there is sufficient evidence to conclude that low sun exposure/vitamin D increase the risk of multiple sclerosis, is divided. General public health advice to receive sufficient sun exposure to avoid vitamin D deficiency (<50nmol/L) should also ensure any benefits for multiple sclerosis.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a cholestatic liver disorder frequently associated with ulcerative colitis (UC). Patients with PSC and UC have higher risk of colorectal neoplasia than patients with UC without PSC. Oncogenic properties of micro RNA 346 (miR-346) have been recently reported. In this study we investigated expressions of miR-346 and its two target genes i.e. the receptor of vitamin D (VDR) and the tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), which are known to modulate carcinogenesis. Biopsies from ascending and sigmoid colon were obtained from patients with PSC with and without UC, patients with UC and healthy controls. MiR-346 expression was increased in ascending but not sigmoid colon of patients with PSC and UC when compared to other analyzed groups (p<0.001 for all). In patients with UC an exceptionally low colonic expression of miRNA-346 was accompanied by the increase in VDR expression, and the extensive upregulation of TNF-α gene which protein product is known to be cytotoxic to tumor cells at high concentration. In summary, a substantial upregulation of miRNA-346 in ascending colon of patients with PSC and UC may be responsible for the inhibition of VDR and TNF-α signaling -pathway which may result in an inadequate suppression of neoplasia.

Environmental studies, metabolic research, and state of the art neurobiology point towards the reduced amount of natural day and sunlight exposure of the developing child’s organism as the consequence of increasingly long hours spent indoors online as the single unifying source of a whole set of health risks identified worldwide, as is made clear in this review of the current literature. Over exposure to digital environments, from abuse to addiction, now concerns even the youngest (ages 0 to 2), and triggers, as argued on the basis of clear examples herein, a chain of interdependent negative and potentially long-term metabolic changes. This leads to a deregulation of the serotonin and dopamine neurotransmitter pathways in the developing brain, currently associated with online activity abuse and/or internet addiction, and akin to that found in severe substance abuse syndromes. A general functional working model is proposed under the light of evidence brought to the forefront in this review.

G-quadruplexes are noncanonical nucleic acid structures formed from stacked guanine tetrads. They are frequently used as building blocks and functional elements in fields such as synthetic biology and also thought to play widespread biological roles. G-quadruplexes are often studied as monomers but can also form a variety of higher-order structures. This increases the structural and functional diversity of G-quadruplexes, and recent evidence suggests that it could also be biologically important. In this review we describe the types of multimeric topologies adopted by G-quadruplexes and highlight what is known about their sequence requirements. We also summarize the limited information available about potential biological roles of multimeric G-quadruplexes and suggest new approaches that could facilitate future studies of these structures.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal0 tract (GIT), including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), which differ in the location and lesion extensions. Both diseases are associated with microbiota dysbiosis, with a reduced population of butyrate-producing species, abnormal inflammatory response, and micronutrient deficiency (e. g. vitamin D hypovitaminosis). Vitamin D (VitD) is involved in immune cell differentiation, gut microbiota modulation, gene transcription, and barrier integrity. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) regulates the biological actions of the active VitD (1α, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3), and is involved in the genetic, environmental, immune, and microbial aspects of IBD. VitD deficiency is correlated with disease activity and its administration targeting a concentration of 30 ng/mL may have the potential to reduce disease activity. Moreover, VDR regulates functions of T cells and Paneth cells and modulates release of antimicrobial peptides in gut microbiota-host interactions. Meanwhile, beneficial microbial metabolites, e.g. butyrate, upregulate the VDR signaling. In this review, we summarize the clinical progress and mechanism studies on VitD /VDR related to gut microbiota modulation in IBD. We also discuss epigenetics in IBD and the probiotic regulation of VDR. Furthermore, we discuss the existing challenges and future directions. There is a lack of well-designed clinical trials exploring the appropriate dose and the influence of gender, age, ethnicity, genetics, microbiome, and metabolic disorders in IBD subtypes. To move forward, we need well-designed therapeutic studies to examine whether enhanced vitamin D will restore functions of VDR and microbiome in inhibiting chronic inflammation.

This study aims to test empirical research on the effect of financial resource ability, research and development (R &amp; D) on innovation orientation and competitive position. This study also examines the critical mediating role of innovation orientation and competitive position to achieving new products performance (NPP). This study used a quantitative research approach by comparing data from service industry and manufacture industry in Indonesia included in Indonesian-State-Ownership companies. The analysis unit in this study used middle managers and top managers who responsible for managing divisions within the Indonesian-State-Ownership companies. The number of respondents studied in this study was 287 sample. The purposive sampling technique was used in taking the research sample. This study indicated that financial resources abilities, research and development (R &amp; D) abilities positive effect on innovation orientation and competitive position. This study also testing the importance role of innovation orientation and a competitive position to enhancing new products performance (NPP).

Solid tumor cells have an altered metabolism that can protect them from cytotoxic lymphocytes. The antidiabetic drug metformin modifies tumor cell metabolism and several clinical trials are testing its effectiveness for the treatment of solid cancers. The use of metformin in hematologic cancers has received much less attention, although allogeneic cytotoxic lymphocytes are very effective against these tumors. We show here that metformin induces expression of Natural Killer G2-D (NKG2D) ligands (NKG2DL) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), a ligand of the lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1 (LFA-1). This leads to enhance sensitivity to cytotoxic lymphocytes. Overexpression of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family members decrease both metformin effects. The sensitization to activated cytotoxic lymphocytes is mainly mediated by the increase on ICAM-1 levels, which favors cytotoxic lymphocytes binding to tumor cells. Finally, metformin decreases the growth of human hematological tumor cells in xenograft models, mainly in presence of monoclonal antibodies that recognize tumor antigens. Our results suggest that metformin could improve cytotoxic lymphocyte-mediated therapy.

This study aimed to examine the vitamin D status of professional volleyball athletes and to determine its correlation with shoulder muscle strength. We finally included 52 healthy male professional volleyball players (23.2 ± 4.5 years), who were categorized by vitamin D status (<20 ng/mL: deficiency, 20-30 ng/mL: insufficiency, and >30 ng/mL: sufficiency). We examined the strength of the internal rotator (IR) and external rotator (ER) muscles of the shoulder by using isokinetic dynamometer. Fourteen players (26.9%) had vitamin D deficiency, 24 players (46.2%) were vitamin D insufficient, and 14 players (26.9%) were vitamin D sufficient. There was no significant correlation between the vitamin D level and shoulder muscle strength at 60°/s (IR, r = 0.159, p = 0.26; ER, r = 0.245, p = 0.08), and at 180°/s (IR, r = - 0.093, p = 0.51; ER, r = - 0.037, p = 0.79). Moreover, the isokinetic shoulder strengths were not significantly different across the three groups in all settings. In conclusion, vitamin D insufficiency was common in elite volleyball players. Though not being associated with isokinetic muscle weakness, vitamin D should be regularly monitored and supplemented in young elite athletes, considering its importance on musculoskeletal health.

Though Moracin D derived from Morus alba was known to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities, the underlying antitumor mechanism of Moracin D was never unveiled so far. Thus, in the recent study, the apoptotic mechanism of Moracin D was elucidated in breast cancer cells. Herein, Moracin D exerted significant cytotoxicity in MDA-MB231 and MCF7 cells. Also, Moracin D increased sub G1 population, cleaved poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and attenuated the expression of pro-cysteine aspartyl-specific protease (procaspase 3), c-Myc, cyclin D1, B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2),and X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) in MDA-MB231 cells. Of note, Moracin D reduced expression of Forkhead box M1 (FOXM1), β-catenin, Wnt3a, and upregulated glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK 3β) on Tyr216 along with disturbed binding of FOXM1 with β-catenin in MDA-MB-231 cells. Conversely, GSK3β inhibitor SB216763 reversed the apoptotic ability of Moracin D to reduce expression of FOXM1, β-catenin, pro-caspase3 and pro-PARP in MDA-MB-231 cells. Overall, these findings provide novel insight that Moracin D inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis via suppression of Wnt3a/FOXM1/β-catenin signaling and activation of caspase and GSK3β