Most of the damage to Vleg cars was caused by material fatigue. The objectives of the fatigue analysis on Xenia 2011 car wheels with the Finite Element Method using Solidworks are: 1) Knowing the fatigue analysis process on car wheels, 2) Knowing the results of the fatigue analysis on car wheels. The research method used is the Finite Element Method (FEM) method; the re-search steps include model data retrieval from the Wheel code, 3D model creation process, static simulation process according to SAE J 328 standard, mesh variations, fatigue simulation, and finally, standardization of results fatigue simulation regarding the SAE J 328 standard. The re-sults of the fatigue analysis on the Xenia 2011 car wheels obtained an age of 1000,000 cycles when compared with the minimum average of SAE J 328 of 600,000 cycles, this product design is clas-sified as a high cycle, which means it will experience a prolonged failure, and this design has a maximum alternating stress value of 627.4702 MPa, a strain of 0.007105, a displacement of 7.148 mm and a SOF of 0.087890 with a load factor used of 2.5, so overall this Xenia car can be loaded with a load of 1775 kg, if it is more than that, then Wheels will experience cracking.

The Lin28B gene is involved in the initiation of puberty, but its regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to study the regulatory mechanism of the Lin28B promoter by cloning the Lin28B proximal promoter for bioinformatics analysis. Next, a series of deletion vectors were constructed based on the bioinformatics analysis results for dual-fluorescein activity detection. The transcriptional regulation mechanism of the Lin28B promoter region was analyzed by detecting mutations in transcription factor-binding sites and overexpression of transcription factors. The dual-luciferase assay showed that the Lin28B promoter region -837 to -338 bp had the highest transcriptional activity, and the transcriptional activity of the Lin28B transcriptional regulatory region decreased significantly after Egr1 and SP1 mutations. Overexpression of the Egr1 transcription factor significantly enhanced the transcription of Lin28B, and the results indicated that Egr1 and SP1 play an important role in regulating Lin28B. These results provide a theoretical basis for further research on the transcriptional regulation of sheep Lin28B during puberty initiation.

Akebia trifoliata is an economically important self-incompatible fruit tree in the family Lardiza-balaceae. Asexual propagation is the main strategy used to maintain excellent agronomic traits. However, the generation of adventitious roots during asexual propagation is very difficult. To study the important role of the WUSCHEL-related homeobox (WOX) transcription factor in fruit and adventitious root growth and development, we characterized this transcription factor family in the whole genome of A. trifoliata. A total of 10 AktWOXs were identified, with the fol-lowing characteristics: length (657~11328 bp), exon number (2~5), isoelectric point (5.65~9.03), amino acid number (176~361 AA), and molecular weight (20.500~40.173 kDa). 10 AktWOXs were classified into modern (6), intermediate (2), and ancient clades (2) and that all AktWOXs had undergone strong purifying selection during evolution. The expression profile of AktWOXs dur-ing A. trifoliata fruit development and adventitious root formation indicated that AktWOXs are widely involved in the development of the three fruit tissues, flesh, seeds and rind, and play an important role in the regulation of adventitious root development. Overall, this is the first study to identify and characterize the WOX family in A. trifoliata and will be helpful for further re-search on A. trifoliata fruit development and adventitious root formation.

Colostrum is a natural product, issued by both mammals and humans in first week of lactation. Among different species, donkey colostrum is considered as having, besides a valuable composition in nutrients and immune factors, an outstanding similitude with human colostrum. In this context, and taking into account the scarcity of available data concerning the interaction between climate factors and colostrum quality, a trial was conducted aiming to identify the possible influence of environmental factors on donkey colostrum nutritional traits. A stock of 16 jennies from 2 farms located in the County of Cluj, during a 7 days postpartum period was analyzed. During experimental period the daily temperature, humidity, and wind velocity data were collected. Strong positive correlations may be reported between fat and lactose, and fat and protein respectively, while moderate to strong correlation is emphasized between lactose and protein content of donkey colostrum. Testing the influence of environmental temperature, relative humidity, and wind velocity influence upon nutritional content of donkey colostrum, results the neglectable influence of the wind velocity, the negative influence of the heat stress upon all studied colostrum components, and complex influence of relative humidity, which has positive influence on fat and lactose increase when it increases, while its increase has negative influence on protein content of donkey colostrum.

Aim: To analysis the relationship between healthy adults right ventricular diameter (RVD) and geographical factors. Location: China’s 22 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. Methods: Using correlation analysis the relationship between RVD and nine geographic factors, build predictive models by factor analysis. Results: There is significant correlation between RVD and geographical factors, and the annual average temperature is most relevant geographical factors, a predictive model was built by factor analysis: Ŷ = 19.46 + 0.0007072X1 + 0.001034X2 -0.05412X3 -0.001405X4 -0.0006351X5 + 0.02903X6 + 0.01243X7 -0.01033X8 + 0.03816X9 ± 0.63. Then using Kriging interpolation interpolate the geographical distribution of Chinese healthy adult right ventricular diameter reference value in ArcGIS software. Main Conclusion: If geographic factors can be derived in anywhere of China, RVD can be calculated by the model, you can also get RVD from geographical distribution.

The feed-forward loop (FFL) is an important and basic network motif to understand specific biological functions. Cyclic-AMP (cAMP) receptor protein (CRP), a transcription factor (TF), mediates catabolite repression and regulates more than 400 genes in response to changes in intracellular concentrations of cAMP in Escherichia coli. CRP participates in some FFLs like araBAD and araFGH operons and adapt to fluctuating environmental nutrients thus enhancing the survivability of E. coli. Although computational simulations have been used to explore the potential functionality of FFLs, a comprehensive study of the functions of all structural types based on in vivo data is lacking. Also, the regulatory role of CRP-mediated feed-forward loops (CRP-FFLs) remain unclear to date. Using EcoCyc and RegulonDB, we identified 393 CRP-FFLs in the E. coli. Dose-response genomic microarray of E. coli revealed dynamic gene expression of each target gene of CRP-FFLs in response to a range of cAMP dosages. All eight types of FFLs were present in CRP regulon with various expression patterns of each CRP-FFL, that were further divided into five functional groups. Microarray and reported regulatory relationships identified 202 CRP-FFLs which were directly regulated by CRP in these eight types of FFLs. Interestingly, 30% (147/482) of genes were directly regulated by CRP and CRP-regulated TFs, indicating that these CRP-regulated genes were also regulated by other CRP-regulated TFs responding to environmental signals through CRP-FFLs. Furthermore, we applied gene ontology annotation to reveal the biological functions of CRP-FFLs.

The features of a class of cubic curves with a shape factor are analyzed by means of the theory of envelope and topological mapping. The effects of the shape factor on the cubic curves are made clear. Necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for the curve to have one or two inflection points, a loop or a cusp, or to be locally or globally convex. Those conditions are completely characterized by the relative position of the edge vectors of the control polygon and the shape factor. The results are summarized in a shape diagram, which is useful when the cubic parametric curves are used for geometric modeling. Furthermore we discussed the influences of the shape factor on the shape diagram and the ability for adjusting the shape of the curve.

Sweetpotato is an important miscellaneous grain crop in China, which is threatened by a variety of diseases and insect pests in the process of cultivation and production. sweetpotato stem rot is one of the common sweetpotato diseases, which seriously affects the yield and quality of sweetpotato. However, there are few studies on the mechanism of resistance to stem rot in sweetpotato. In this study, transcriptome sequencing analysis was carried out on the samples at different stages (T1, T2, T3) of stem rot pathogen infecting Xushu 48, and 44839 (T1-VS-T2), 81436 (T1-VS-T2) and 61932 (T2-VS-T3) differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained. The DEGs were mainly concentrated in Alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism (ko00250), Carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms (ko00710) and Amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism (ko00520) and some candidate genes related to plant pathogen infection, such as receptor-like protein kinase (RLK5, RLK7), LRR receptor-like serine/threonine-protein kinase (SERK1), bHLH137, ERF9, MYB73 and NAC053, were screened. The results of this study provide genetic resources for the research on stem rot resistance of sweetpotato and provide theoretical basis for sweetpotato resistance breeding.

Growth-regulating factor (GRF) is a plant-specific transcription factor family, which is involved in nearly all of the central developmental processes in plants. However, little is known about GRF family genes in cultivated sunflower. In this study, 17 GRF genes were identified and characterized from sunflower genome. Their gene structures, conserved motifs, chromosomal distributions and phylogenetic relationships were analyzed. The expression patterns of these genes were detected in various tissues of sunflower inbred line SK02R, which revealed that the 10 seed-specific GRF genes may play important roles during seed development in sunflower. Additionally, transcripts changes of the GRFs under two major abiotic stresses and phytohormones showed that most of the detected GRFs were reduced significantly by GA3 treatment, and other treatments(ABA, NaCl and PEG6000) differently regulated various sunflower growth-regulating factors at different time points. MiR396 target analysis indicated that there may exist a complicated homeostasis between miR396 and its targets GRF and WRKY transcription factor genes in cultivated sunflower. The phylogenetic and expression analyses of the GRF gene family in sunflower would be useful for further cloning and function exploration of the HaGRF genes.

bZIP transcription factors, basic leucine zipper, play significant roles in plants’ growth and development processes, as well as in response to biological and abiotic stress. Hypericum perforatum is one of the world's top three best-selling herbal medicines, mainly used to treat depression. However, there is no systematic identification or functional analysis of the bZIP gene family in H. perforatum. In this study, 79 HpbZIP genes were identified. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the HpbZIP gene family was divided into ten groups, designated A-I, and S. The physicochemical properties, gene structures, protein conserved motifs, and Gene Ontology enrichments of all HpbZIPs were systematically analyzed. The expression patterns of all genes in different tissues of H. perforatum (root, stem, leaf, and flower) were analyzed by qRT-PCR, revealing the different expression patterns of HpbZIP under abiotic stresses. HpbZIP69 protein is localized in the nucleus. According to the results of the yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) assays, HpbZIP69 can bind to the HpASMT2 (N-Acetylserotonin O-methyltransferase) gene promoter ( G-box cis-element ) to activate its activity. Overexpressing HpbZIP69 transgenic Arabidopsis lines enhanced tolerance to drought. The content of MDA and H2O2 content was significantly decreased, and the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) was considerably increased under the drought stress. These results may aid in additional functional studies of HpbZIP transcription factors and cultivating drought-resistant medicinal plants.

The sustainable management of public hospitals is usually threatened by long-period operating deficit, especially during the pandemic of COVID-19. This study aims at quantitatively decomposing the historical changes in the annual operating costs of public hospitals in Japan to identify the main driving forces responsible for a worsening imbalance between operating costs and income over the past two decades. A dataset of the annual operating costs of public hospitals in Japan is compiled, in which influencing factors are redefined to make the data amenable to the application of a decomposition method referred to as the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI). Using the LMDI method, the contribution of each influencing factor to the changes in public hospital operating costs was quantitatively determined. The results indicate an overall positive effect arising out of the national reform of public hospitals that aimed to reduce the operating costs of these institutions, but the rapid increase in the prices of medicines in recent years made a major contribution to the increasing operating costs. The pandemic reveals a damage on public hospitals’ financial balance but the city-wide lockdown offset part of the increased medical expense. Both long-term and short-term pricing policies are required for the sustainable management of public hospitals.

Obesity has become a rising global health problem affecting adults’ quality of life. The objective of this study was to describe the prevalence of obesity in Indonesian adults based on the cluster of islands. The study was also aimed to identify the risk factors of obesity in each island cluster. This study analysed secondary data of Indonesian Basic Health Research 2018. Our data for analysis comprised 688,638 adults (>=15 years) randomly selected using proportionate to population size throughout Indonesia. We included 20 variables for sociodemographic and obesity-related risk factors for analysis. Obese status was defined using Body Mass Index (BMI) >= 27.5 kg/m2. Our current study defined seven major islands cluster as the unit analysis consisting of 34 provinces in Indonesia. Descriptive analysis was conducted to determine the characteristics of the population and to calculate the prevalence of obesity within provinces in each of the island’s clusters. Multivariate logistic regression analyses to calculate odds ratios (ORs) was performed using R version 3.6.3. The study results showed that all island clusters had at least one province with an obesity prevalence of more than 20%. Six out of twenty variables, comprising four diet factors (consumption of sweet food, high-salt food, meat food, and carbonated drinks) and two other factors (mental health disorders and smoking behaviour), varied across the island clusters. In conclusion, there was a variation of obesity prevalence of the provinces within and between island clusters. Variation of risk factors raised in each cluster island suggested the government rethink and reframe the intervention to address obesity.

In this paper we provide a highly selected review and synthesis on some of the recent and notable contribution to research in portfolio analysis. A unique perspective on this development in the literature is offered in this paper by judiciously identifying a few sample eigenvalues adjustment patterns in a portfolio that leads to an improvement in the out-of-sample portfolio Sharpe ratio when the population covariance matrix admits a high-dimensional factor model. These patterns unveil a key insight into a portfolio performance improvement and shed an important light on the effectiveness of a few recently introduced ”robust to estimation errors” covariance matrix estimation approaches, which were not originally designed with the goal to improve the out-of-sample portfolio performance.

With the advancement of urbanization in China, effective control of pollutant emissions and air quality have become important goals in current environmental management. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), as a precursor of tropospheric ozone and fine particulate matter, plays a significant role in atmospheric chemistry research and air pollution control. However, the uneven ground monitoring stations and low temporal resolution of polar-orbiting satellites set challenges for accurately assessing near-surface NO2. To address this issue, a spatiotemporal refined NO2 retrieval model was established for China using the geostationary satellite Himawari-8. The spatiotemporal characteristics of NO2 were analyzed and its contribution factors were explored. Firstly, seven Himawari-8 channels sensitive to NO2 were selected by using the forward feature selection based on information entropy. Subsequently, a 2DCNN-LSTM network model was constructed, incorporating the selected channels and meteorological variables as retrieval factors to estimate hourly NO2 in China from March 2018 to February 2020 (with a resolution of 0.05°, per hour). The performance evaluation demonstrated that the full-channel 2DCNN-LSTM model had good fitting capability and robustness (R2=0.74, RMSE=10.93), and further improvements were achieved after channel selection (R2=0.87, RMSE=6.84). The 10-fold cross-validation results indicated that the R2 between retrieval and measured values was above 0.85, the MAE was within 5.60, and the RMSE was within 7.90. R2 varied between 0.85 and 0.90, showing better validation at mid-day (R2=0.89) and in spring and fall transition seasons (R2 =0.88 and R2 =0.90). To investigate the cooperative effect of meteorological factors and other air pollutants on NO2, statistical methods (Beta coefficients) were used to test the factor interpretability. Meteorological factors as well as other pollutants were analyzed. From a statistical perspective, PM2.5, Boundary Layer Height, and O3 were found to have the largest impacts on near-surface NO2, with each standard deviation change in these factors leading to 0.28, 0.24, and 0.23 in standard deviations of near-surface NO2, respectively. Findings of the study contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the spatiotemporal distribution of NO2 and provide a scientific basis for formulating targeted air pollution policies.

In recent years, Chinese manufacturing enterprises compete to chase the wave of "digital revolution", digital empowerment has become an important strategic path of technological reform for many manufacturing enterprises. Based on the micro data of listed companies, this paper investigates the impact of digital transformation of Chinese listed companies on the quality of their export products. It is found that digital transformation can significantly improve the quality of enterprises' export products. After a series of robustness tests, this conclusion is still valid, and there are two ways to improve innovation performance and total factor productivity. The export product quality enhancement effect of enterprise digital transformation also has the heterogeneity of ownership, region and industry. In the further study, this paper also examines the impact of digital transformation on the internal salary gap of enterprises, and finds that digital transformation may increase the internal salary gap of enterprises, and form a "masking effect" on the quality of export products. To a certain extent, this paper deepens the understanding of the study of enterprise digital transformation on the quality of export products and its differences, and provides certain guidance for enterprises to implement the strategy of digital transformation.

The driving force behind adopting the idea of ​​sustainable development are producers and retailers. Unfortunately, when preparing their product range for consumers, many of them still only pay attention to the size of the customers’ earnings, how often they shop and how much they buy when shopping. In consumer segmentation, sustainable values ​​that consumers apply when making their purchasing decisions are rarely taken into account. The aim of this article is to show that values ​​such as environmental protection, the ethical behaviour of producers, fair trade or maximising the utility function of consumption are so important in the purchasing process in the coffee market that they can be used as segmentation variables. The Polish coffee market was selected to carry out segmentation taking into account the consumers' sustainable values. The main source of the article is the results of a standardized online survey conducted on a nationwide sample of 800 coffee consumers in July 2018. Multi-dimensional analyses such as extrapolative factor analysis (EFA) and cluster analysis (CA) were used to describe the obtained results. As a result, six segments of coffee consumers were identified and described: “responsible, aspiring to be connoisseurs”, “loyal coffee enthusiasts”, “pragmatic users”, “coffee laypersons”, “sophisticated connoisseurs”, “consumerists, connoisseurs, but not at any price”. Among the identified segments, the sustainable consumption values ​​most often mentioned refer to "responsible, aspiring to be connoisseurs", and the least often - ”consumerists, connoisseurs, but not at any price”. The conclusions presented in the last part of the article may be used by manufacturing and trade enterprises, operating on the coffee market, in order to respond to the identified needs and expectations of consumers and by governmental and social organisations so as to determine the directions of pro-ecological education of consumers.

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is the most cultivated forage legume around the world. Under a variety of growing conditions, forage yield in alfalfa is stymied by biotic and abiotic stresses including heat, salt, drought, and disease. Given the sessile nature of plants, they use strategies such as differential gene expression to respond to environmental cues. Transcription factors control the expression of genes that contribute to or enable tolerance and survival during periods of stress. Basic-leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors have been demonstrated to play a critical role in regulating plant growth and development as well as mediate the responses to abiotic stress in several species, including Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, Lotus japonicus, and Medicago truncatula. However, there is little information about bZIP transcription factors in cultivated alfalfa. In the present study, 237 bZIP genes were identified in alfalfa from publicly available sequencing data. Multiple sequence alignments showed the presence of intact bZIP motifs in the identified sequences. Based on previous phylogenetic analyses in Arabidopsis thaliana, alfalfa bZIPs were similarly divided and fell into 10 groups. The physicochemical properties, motif analysis, and phylogenetic study of the alfalfa bZIPs revealed high specificity within groups. The differential expression of alfalfa bZIPs in a suite of tissues indicates that particular bZIP genes are specifically expressed at different developmental stages in alfalfa. Similarly, expression analysis in response to ABA, cold, drought, and salt stresses, indicates that a subset of bZIP genes are also differentially expressed and likely play a role in abiotic stress signaling and/or tolerance. These expression patterns were further verified by qRT-PCR. However, further functional characterization of bZIP transcription factors in alfalfa will help illuminate the role they play in stress tolerance mechanisms in legumes and facilitate the molecular breeding of stress tolerance in alfalfa.

The air side thermal hydraulic performance of multi-louvered aluminium fin heat exchangers is investigated. A detailed study was performed to analyse the thermal performance of air over a wide range of Reynolds number i.e. from 30 to 250. Air-side heat transfer coefficient and air pressure drop were calculated and validated over the mentioned band of Reynolds numbers. Critical Reynolds number was determined numerically and the variation in flow physics along with the thermal and hydraulic performance of microchannel heat exchanger associated with R_cri has been reported. Moreover, a parametric study of the multi-louvered aluminium fin heat exchangers was also performed for 36 heat exchanger configurations with the louver angles (19-31°), fin pitches (1.0, 1.2, 1.4 mm) and flow depths (16, 20, 24 mm); and the geometric configuration exhibiting the highest thermal performance was reported. The air-side heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop results for different geometrical configurations were presented in terms of Colburn j factor and Fanning friction factor f, as a function of Reynolds number based on louver pitch.

This article discusses the outcomes of a quantitative analysis of the competitiveness of grain and its recycling in the countries-members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) through econometric panel data models. The analysis is based on the data of public authorities’ statistics of the countries-members of the EEU, as well as the United Nations Comtrade Database which is a repository of official international trade statistics. The results of the analysis allow to assess the level of competitiveness of produced agro-food products in the countries-members of the EEU and determine the extent to which various factors affect it. The research conclusions can be used to develop and adjust the agreed with the agro-food policy in the EEU.

The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor family is the second-largest transcription factor in plants. Members of this family are involved in the process of growth and development, secondary metabolic biosynthesis, signal transduction, and plant resistance. Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum is a critical woody plant with higher ornamental and economic values, which used as ornamental architecture and traditional Chinese herbal medicine plant. However, the bHLH transcription factor in the L. chinense var. rubrum (Loropetalum chinense var. Rubrum) have yet to be systematically demonstrated, and their role in anthocyanin biosynthesis remains secret. Here, we identified 165 potential LcbHLHs genes by two methods, and they were unequally distributed on chromosomes 1 to 12 of the L. chinense genome. Based on a phylogenetic comparison with proteins from Arabidopsis, these bHLH proteins were categorized into 21 subfamilies. Most LcbHLHs in a given subfamily had similar gene structures and conserved motifs. The gene ontology annotation and cis-elements predicted that the LcbHLHs had many molecular functions and were involved in plant growth processes, including flavonoid and anthocyanin biosynthetic processes, etc. Transcriptomic analysis revealed different expression patterns among different tissues and cultivars in L. chinense. Many LcbHLHs were expressed in leaves, and only a few genes were highly expressed in flowers. Six LcbHLH genes differentially expressed between species and periods in color variation, which may play a key role in anthocyanin synthesis. These further functional predictions of LcbHLHs were established by quantitative real-time PCR analysis and protein-protein interaction network. This study identified the six potential bHLH genes related to anthocyanin in L. chinense and created a solid framework for future research on the function and evolution of bHLHs.

Georgia is ranked fifth highest among states for rates of HIV diagnosis. About 4% of persons living with HIV infection in the United States reside in Georgia, and almost 19% of these people do not know their HIV status. The present study examined the trends and associated factors of HIV testing among adults in Georgia between 2010 and 2014 by analyzing data of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). A total of 30,791 persons aged ≥18 years were identified who responded to the question “Have you ever been tested for HIV?” Overall, there were 11,543 respondents who had been tested for HIV, with a decrease in percentage from 49.4% in 2010 to 43.7% in 2014 (p<0.001). Factors associated with HIV testing were being black (p<0.001), being younger than 55 years (p<0.001), single (p=0.02), attaining education level above high school (P<0.001), engaging in HIV high-risk behaviors (p<0.001), and not having healthcare coverage (p=0.03). Overall in Georgia, there has been a decline in the temporal trend of HIV testing, and more than half of adults have never been tested for HIV. For reducing HIV transmission in Georgia, enhancing access and utilization of HIV testing should be a public health priority.

Based on stochastic frontier analysis and translog input distance function, this paper examines the total factor energy efficiency of China’s industry using input-output data of 30 sub-industries from 2002 to 2014, and decomposes the changes in estimated total factor energy efficiency into the effects of technical change, technical efficiency change, scale efficiency change and input-mix effect. The results show that during this period the total factor energy efficiency in China’s industry grows annually at a rate of 3.63%, technical change, technical efficiency change and input-mix effect contribute positively to the change in total factor energy efficiency, while scale efficiency change contributes negatively to it.

Anastomosing rivers are wetland systems with multiple channels, and there are many constraints limiting in-situ observations of their hydrodynamics. Therefore, there are few reports on the hydrodynamic data of such rivers. In order to obtain the hydrodynamic parameters of the river channels without hydrological observations in the anastomosing rivers, this study proposes an expression method namely expression of channel morphological parameters (ECMP) for hydrodynamic calculations. The calculation formula of the ECMP method based on the shape factor, scale factor, and gradient factor of the flow cross-section as independent variables. This method can be used to calculate the average velocity, discharge, specific stream power, gross stream power and other hydrodynamic parameters of the flow cross-section at different water levels, only requiring the measurement of morphological parameters such as the average depth, width-depth ratio, and gradient of the flow (channel) cross-section. The applicability of the ECMP method was verified using measured hydrological data. The results show that the ECMP method is a practical calculation method with high computational accuracy and convenient application for calculating river hydrodynamic parameters. It has great application value in study on fluvial geomorphology and hydrodynamics, as well as in the reconstruction of ancient river hydrology and hydrodynamics.

Purpose: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) affects patients’ quality of life and health. Magnesium (Mg) is an essential mineral and a potent antioxidant. Mg deficiency can worsen oxidative stress caused by sleep deprivation or disorders. The impact of OSA on serum Mg levels and its health consequences remain unclear. Methods: This study systematically reviewed clinical studies investigating the serum Mg levels of OSA patients and the potential relationships with other biomarkers.Results: Six articles were included for qualitative synthesis; five were used in quantitative analysis. Two out of four studies that compared OSA patients to healthy controls found them to have significantly lower serum Mg levels. Our meta-analysis with three studies shows that patients with OSA had significantly lower serum Mg with an effect size of -1.22 (95% CI: -2.24, -0.21). However, the mean serum Mg level of OSA patients (n=251) pooled from five studies (1.90 mg/dL, 95% CI: 1.77, 2.04) does not differ significantly from the normal range. OSA severity appears to affect serum Mg negatively. Serum Mg levels generally improve after treatment, coincide with the improvement of OSA severity. Low serum Mg levels correlate with worsening of cardiovascular risk biomarkers of C-reactive protein, ischaemia-modified albumin, and carotid intima-media thickness. The serum Mg levels also potentially correlate with biomarkers for lipid profile, glucose metabolism, calcium and heavy metals. Conclusions: Sleep deprivation appears to deplete Mg levels of OSA patients, making them at risk of Mg deficiency, which potentially increases systemic inflammation and the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

Since financial institutions faced to fatal scenario like subprime mortgage crisis and COVID-19, the factor-based asset allocation methodology is noticed. Asset-only approach which make to consider restrictive risk volatility as individual assets had limitation of macro factor risk. For instance, an institution which allocated assets by asset-only approach cannot deal with the inflation crisis. We review the problem of the traditional modern portfolio approach that is used by Korean financial institutions. For reasonable investment of institution, we notice improved factor-based allocation approach. The first result of this paper is that Mean-variance approach as considered only return of asset recorded lower performance than multi factor-based portfolio in macro factor crisis. Second, we notice allocation model which can minimize probability passing the liability risk exposed macro factors to investment risk exposed macro factors. There are three steps in multi-macro factor-based asset allocation approach: discovering macro factors and mapping asset classes to individual macro factor. Second, define liability account and mapping as considering income and pay out of institution. Third, minimize correlation of fac-tor-based asset risk with liability volatility. Furthermore, using covariance return of assets to allocate makes Pareto improvement and supports to break Home-bias problems.

Many causal factors to marine traffic accidents (MTA) influence each other and have associated effects. It is necessary to quantify the correlation path mode of these factors to improve accident prevention measures and their effects. In the application of human factors to the accident mechanisms, the complex structural chains on causes to MTA systems were analyzed combining the Human Failure Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) with theoretical Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). First, the accident causation model was established as a human error analysis classification in sight of MTA, and the constituent elements of the causes of accident was conducted. Second, a hypothetical model of Human factors classification was proposed applying the practice of the structural model. Third, with the data resource from ship accident cases, this hypothetical model was discussed and simulated, and as a result the relationship path dependency mode between the latent independent variable of the accident was quantitatively analyzed based on the observed dependent variable of human behaviors. Application examples show that relationships in HFACS are verified and in line with the path developing mode, and resource management factors have a pronounced influence and a strong relevance to the causal chain of the accidents. Appropriate algorithms for the theoretical model can be used to numerically understand the safety performance of marine traffic systems under different parameters through mathematical analysis. Hierarchical assumptions in the HFACS model are quantitatively verified.

Curcumin is a natural dietary polyphenol which that possesses potent anti-aging and neuroprotective properties through various mechanisms and signaling pathways. This study aimed to investigate the effect of curcumin on factors involved in neurogenesis and angiogenesis in the aged brain. Old female Wistar rats were divided into three equal groups (n=7): control, sham, and curcumin (received curcumin, i.p., 30 mg/kg and 5 days/week for 8 weeks) rats. Curcumin treatment caused a significant increase in the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and anti-apoptotic protein BCl-2 in the brains of aging rats but no significant effect on anti-apoptotic Bax protein. Additionally, curcumin attenuated brain lipid peroxidation and decreased transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1). These results suggested that curcumin possesses neuroprotective effects against brain aging, which were mediated by improvment in neurogenesis and angiogenesis. Also, curcumin could alleviate brain aging which may be due to attenuating oxidative stress, inhibiting apoptosis and down-regulating TGF-β1, which in turn enhances VEGF and BDNF. Therefore, curcumin has potential therapeutic value in the treatment of neurological apoptosis, neurogenesis and angiogenesis changes caused by brain aging.

Urban form is associated with both socio-economic and urban physical properties. This study explores the differences among urban forms in the Seoul Metropolitan Region with a comparison between census-based socioeconomic variables and landscape metrics computed from remotely sensed data. To accomplish this, factor analysis and multi-dimensional scaling were used with the selected variables and metrics. When all of the measures are considered together, four types of cities and towns emerged: 1) exurban-fragmented high growth, 2) exurban-fragmented low growth, 3) compact-extensive urban core and 4) sub-urban compact-high growth. The results indicate that the fusion of knowledge of the physical urban layout and that of socio-economic characteristics is beneficial for a better understanding of urban spatial patterns. However, there remain challenges in delineating each urbanized area and with indicator selection for comparing urban form across cities and towns.

At the molecular level, response to an external factor or an internal condition causes reprogramming of temporal and spatial transcription. When an organism undergoes physiological and/or morphological changes, several signaling pathways are activated simultaneously. Examples of such complex reactions are the response to temperature changes, dehydration, various biologically active substances, and others. Synergistic action of multiple pathways greatly complicates the experimental study of the molecular genetic mechanisms of the organism's reactions. As a result, a significant part of the regulatory ensemble in such complex reactions remains unidentified. We developed metaRE, an R package for the systematic search for cis-regulatory elements enriched in the promoters of the genes significantly changed their transcription in a complex reaction. metaRE mines multiple expression profiling datasets generated to test the same organism's response and identifies simple and composite cis-regulatory elements systematically associated with differential expression of genes. Here we showed metaRE performance for identification of cold stress-responsive cis-regulatory code in Arabidopsis thaliana. MetaRE identified potential binding sites for known as well as unknown cold response regulators. Software with source files, documentation, and example data files are freely available online at the repository (https://github.com/cheburechko/MetaRE).

(1) Background: Metastasis is a complex process in which the primary cancer cells spread to a distant organ or organs, creating a secondary tumour location, which in many patients leads to treatment failure and death. The aim of the present study was to assess the association of endothelial markers (i.e., sP-selectin, sE-selectin and von Willebrand factor) with the leptin-to-adiponectin ratio (LAR) and to perform an analysis of the predictive value on the survival of patients with luminal A and B invasive breast cancer (IBrC). (2) Methods: The trial included 70 previously untreated women with a median age of 54.5 years and a median tumour size of 1.5 cm. The concentrations of pre- and post-treatment endothelial markers, leptin, and adiponectin were evaluated with specific ELISA kits. The median duration of follow-up was 68.5 months (interquartile range (IQR) = 59–72 months) with a recurrence rate of 15.71%. (3) Results: Regardless of the treatment pattern, endothelial marker concentrations and the LAR increased after treatment. The follow-up showed a significantly higher relapse rate in patients with IBrC who had higher pre-treatment sP-selectin and post-treatment LAR levels. A post-treatment LAR of 0.83 ng/mL with a sensitivity of 88.9% and specificity of 57.9% was established as the optimal cut-off value for distinguishing patients with or without disease recurrence. Additionally, a higher risk of breast cancer relapse was associated with a lower post-treatment sP-selectin concentration. (4) Conclusions: Our results showed mainly that pre-treatment sP-selectin levels and post-treatment LAR may have a value as prognostic indicators and may contribute to predicting the future outcome in patients with early-stage IBrC.

The Apetala2/ethylene response factor superfamily refers to a group of transcription factors that share a conserved AP2 DNA binding domain. These factors have been found to have different roles in plant responses to both biotic and abiotic stresses. Samples of hexaploid wheat, tetraploid pasta (or durum wheat), and diploid wheat progenitors were selected. The 29 dehydration-responsive element binding transcription factors in these samples were downloaded from NCBI GenBank for six different countries: Iran, China, Italy, France, Afghanistan, and Azerbaijan. The AP2 domain sequences were identified from the dehydration-responsive element binding transcription factors using PROSITE, ProDom, and SMART software. Next, all sequences were aligned using Multalin and Jalview software. The aligned sequences were then analyzed to identify amino acid locations, types, and frequencies. The multiple alignments showed that approximately 76% of the amino acid residues in the AP2 domains are conserved. According to the amino acid analysis, alanine, serine, and glutamic acid are the most abundant amino acids found in three motifs. The performed phylogenetic analysis illustrates the role of geographical effects on the transcription factor sequences of bread wheat in the Middle East. Significant differences were found between Iranian and Chinese transcription factor sequences. Moreover, genetic variation was observed in the transcription factors of Italian sequences found in pasta and wheat progenitors. Motif structures play a critical role in the domain organization of wheat proteins to enhance the characteristics of assorted metabolic pathways. The structure of the AP2 domain was analyzed by several programs, I-TASSER for instance, to identify the α-helix, β-sheets, and the regions of some significant amino acids in the 3-D model.

The research sought to investigate the long term characteristics of wind in the Kisii region (elevation 1710m above sea level, 0.68^oS, 34.79^o E). Wind speeds were analyzed and characterized on short term (per month for a year) and then simulated for long term (ten years) measured hourly series data of daily wind speeds at a height of 10m. The analysis included daily wind data which was grouped into discrete data and then calculated to represent; the mean wind speed, diurnal variations, daily variations as well as the monthly variations. The wind speed frequency distribution at the height 10 m was found to be 2.9ms^-1 with a standard deviation of 1.5. Based on the two month’s data that was extracted from the AcuRite 01024 Wireless Weather Stations with 5-in-1 Weather Sensor experiments set at three sites in the region, averages of wind speeds at hub heights of 10m and 13m were calculated and found to be 1.7m/s, 2.0m/s for Ikobe station, 2.4m/s, 2.8m/s for Kisii University stations, and 1.3m/s, 1.6m/s for Nyamecheo station respectively. Then extrapolation was done to determine average wind speeds at heights (20m, 30m, 50m, and 70m) which were found to be 85.55W/m², 181.75W/m², 470.4W/m² and 879.9W/m² respectively. The wind speed data was used statistically to model a Weibull probability density function and used to determine the power density for Kisii region.

We are using the book “Towards Quantum Gravity with an article by Claus Kiefer as to a quantum gravity interpretation of the density matrix in the early universe. The density matrix we are using is a one loop approximation, with inflaton value and potential terms, like V(phi) using the Padmanabhan values one can expect if the scale factor is a ~ a(Initial) times t ^ gamma , from early times . In doing so, we isolate out presuming a very small initial time step candidates initial time values which are from a polynomial for time values due to the Kiefer Density value.

Objective: To analyze the relation between alterations in the growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) axis during the first 6 months of life and weight in children born in the Lower Middle São Francisco region. Methods: This is an analytical cohort, with a quantitative approach and a translational perspective. Thirty children with low and normal birth weight were initially identified in a hospital and reapproached at 3 and 6 months of age. Birth weight and alterations in GH/IGF-1 curves at birth, third month, and sixth month of life. Results: Weight gain during the 6 months of follow-up in newborns with low birth weight was greater compared to newborns with normal birth weight. All children who were born with low birth weight had an altered GH/IGF-1 curve at birth (p = 0.002). Most newborns with low birth weight maintained the alteration in the GH/IGF-1 curve at the third month of life (p = 0.027). Regarding the GH/IGF-1 curve at the sixth month, alteration persisted in greater proportion among children with low birth weight. Conclusion: Alterations in insulin resistance markers, demonstrated by increased GH without a proportional increase in IGF-1, were observed to be significant in children with low birth weight, with greater adiposity in this group, which may increase the risk of metabolic diseases in later life.

For more than half a century, Manfred Deistler has been contributing to the construction of the rigorous theoretical foundations of the statistical analysis of time series and more general stochastic processes. Half a century of unremitting activity is not easily summarized in a few pages. In this short note, we chose to concentrate on a relatively little-known aspect of Manfred's contribution which nevertheless had quite an impact on the development of one of the most powerful tools of contemporary time series and econometrics: dynamic factor models.

A via ferrata (from the German “klettersteig”, hereinafter VF) is a sports route located on forest and mountains vertical rock walls equipped with steps, chains, artificial dams, bridges and other fixed elements and which have a steel cable (safety cable) all the way along allowing users to secure their progress and avoid possible falls [1]. This article aims to analyse the state of the art of the VF sector in Spain, especially in terms of the regulations of obligatory compliance, in addition to defining the basic characteristics of the installations to ensure that these are safe for users, providing a previously non-existent summary of the most important recommendations regardless of the country where they are installed.

Soil erosion due to soil erosion is an important ecological impact factor. In order to further explore the impact and contribution of soil and water conservation measures on sand production and transport in the watershed, and also to provide a reference for soil erosion control, soil and water conservation and ecological environmental protection in the Yellow River Basin. In this paper, based on the measured data from the Henan Soil and Water Conservation Observatory in the Yellow River Basin, we select appropriate equations for quantifying soil erosion factor to calculate the rainfall erosion, topography, soil, vegetation and soil conservation measures in the basin, and then analyse the changes in soil erosion factor and the actual benefits of soil conservation measures in the basin. The results show that there is an increasing trend in the rainfall erosion force factor R in the Yellow River Basin; Soil erosion can be K value made the vertical loess > yellow clunamon soil, the overall change shows a decreasing trend, indicating that erosion control has produced results and that attention should be paid to erosion control in the lithosol region in the future; Since the slope lengths of the runoff plots are laid out consistently with the same LS values for both topographic factors, soil erosion is severely increased when the slope exceeds 20°. The C value of natural vegetation is small, while the C value of bare land is large. The authorities should continue to promote the return of farmland to forests and grasses and pay attention to the self-regulation and restoration of ecosystems; There is an overall decreasing trend in the P value of the soil and water conservation measures factor, the soil and water conservation measures have been effective in providing good protection.

Abstract: In this study, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was conducted to validate the CFD model with experimental data from Zimparov et.al (2012), which investigates the heat transfer performance in a spirally corrugated tube that has a twisted tape inserted. The heat transfer was then compared to a simple corrugated tube without the twisted tape and to a smooth tube with no corrugations and no twisted tape. This simulation is compared with a previous experimental study conducted by (Zimparov et al. 2012), which focuses on tubes with a height-to-diameter ratio e/Di > 0.04 and small relative pitches of the twisted tape, H/Di. The largest improvement was noticed in the tube with e/Di= 0.057 and ridge pitch-to-height ratio p/e=6.77 with a twisted tape of H/Di= 4.7. This tube is labeled 5035. Tube 5035 was found to have the most significant enhancement, hence the focus of the CFD simulation will be on this tube, and the simulation will range for Reynolds numbers, 3.5 x 103 < Re < 5.0 x 104. The focus of this simulation is the evaluation of heat transfer and friction factors; a metric was used to obtain an empirical representation of the tube’s performance. Keywords: Spirally corrugated tube; Twisted tape; Heat transfer enhancement; Friction factor; Nusselt number; Computational fluid dynamics (CFD); Star CCM+

The Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) are two widely used scales to measure resilience. Although both scales seek to assess an individual’s ability to recover from and adapt to disruptions or stressful events, they may capture different aspects of resilience. While the CD-RISC focuses on resources that can help individuals recover from and adapt to disruptions or stressful events, the BRS directly measures one’s ability to bounce back or be resilient. The aim of this study is to empirically examine the differences between the CD-RISC and the BRS. Two samples (n = 202, 246) consisting of undergraduate students from Taiwan were used. The results of confirmatory factor analysis show that the CD-RISC and the BRS are highly correlated but still distinct. The results of regression analyses show that the CD-RISC and the BRS have unique predictive effects on depression and life satisfaction. The research findings suggest that the CD-RISC and the BRS capture different aspects of resilience. For future research on resilience, researchers should pay attention to the differences between these scales and choose the one that most closely fits their research purpose.

To verify the concept of the metasurfaced reverberation chamber (MRC) which was proposed. This paper reports on measurements in the reverberation chamber (RC) performance by using a 1-bit random coding metasurfaced stirrer. The measurement results are validated and compared with that from two mechanical stirrers (horizontal stirrer and vertical stirrer). Figures of merit such as quality factor (Q factor), number of samples, standard deviation, angle autocorrelation, average K-factor, total scattering cross section (TSCS) and the enhanced back scattering coefficient (eb) are presented. Results indicate the feasibility of the MRC technique in the operation frequency of the RC. And it is possible to enlarge the test volume of the RC by using the 1-bit random coding metasurface stirrer.

This systematic review followed the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement to synthesizes the existing literature with a goal to review current conceptual frameworks of mental health of forced migrants for further practice research priorities in social work. The search was done between January 2015 to January 2021. As a result, 29 studies met inclusion criteria. Medicalizing mental health issues by relying solely on the effectiveness of medicine was a controversial risk factor that negatively affected the daily life activities of refugees and reduced their willingness for seeking professional mental health services. Empowering vulnerable minorities by giving them back their power and agency to be able to speak for themselves and raise voices of trauma and recovery was the missing protective factor for sustainable mental health practice. The benefits of group-based interventions are highlighted in which communities and individuals address mental health issues as well as isolation through building collective identities and support networks. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) can add more strength to any kind of mental health intervention. Finally, the benefits of applying ecological perspective for the mental health of refugees, and its implications for a sustainable intercultural practice are discussed. Social workers in this model are the representatives of at-risk groups, thus need more agency and creativity in reflecting client’s concrete needs.

The Rybczynski theorem describes the trade effect within production analyses between factor endowments and outputs. The Stolper-Samuelson theorem focuses on cost analyses between factor reward and commodity price. This paper examines the trade effect of changes of factor endowments on prices, based on general equilibrium. The study shows that changes of factor endowments cause domestic output changes (the Rybczynski effect), which affect output prices and factor prices (the Stolper-Samuelson effect). It is like a chain of effects that the Rybczynski’s trade effect triggers the Stolper-Samuelson’s trade effect. The analysis of this paper shows that a small increase of a factor endowment of any country rewards another factor and the commodity using the latter factor intensively. It displays a tuneful circle. Trade brings a well-balanced development to the world.

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy and second only to lung cancer in terms of mortality in women. Despite the incredible progress made in this field, the metastatic breast cancer leaves a poor prognosis. In an era of personalized medicine, there is an urgent need for a better knowledge of the biology leading to the disease, which can lead to the design of always more accurate drugs against patients’ specific molecular aberrations. Among one of the actionable targets is the Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor (FGFR) pathway, triggered by specific ligands. The FGFRs/FGFs axis offers interesting molecular targets to be pursued in clinical development. This mini-review will focus on the current knowledge of the FGFRs mutations leading to tumour formation and summarizes the state-of-the-art of therapeutic strategies for targeted treatments against the FGFRs/FGFs axis in the context of BC.

CD44 glycoprotein is ubiqutously present and situated at the extracellular surface of cell. Its role as an adhesion recptor was modified depending upon the state of post addition of glycomoeties under varied microenvironment. Many alternative spliced variants of CD44 were expressed by human cells depending upon the attainment during mutifunctional signal disposition. The function of splice factors, and hnRNPA family (Heterogenous ribonucleoproteins A) were dicussed in context to CD44 alternative variants. Glioma cell cline U87 MG were used in this study to search more about the affect of hnRNPA1 and hnRNPA2/B1 knockdown in CD44 V6 and CD44V10 expression. We found in preliminary study that splice factor knock down reduces the alternative splice variants of CD44 such as V6 & V10. Therefore, potential of this study to elaborate further the mechanism in vivo model, to validate the alternative spliced variant in context to interaction with extracellular microenvironment.

Glutathione (GSH) is an antioxidant that our cells utilize to prevent damage done by reactive oxygen species, free radicals, peroxides, lipid peroxides, and heavy metals [1]. Due to its immune role in tuberculosis (TB), GSH is hypothesized to play an important part in the immune response against M. tb. Furthermore, one of the hallmark structures of TB is granuloma formation, which involves many types of immune cells. T cells specifically are a major component and are involved in the release of cytokines and activation of macrophages. GSH acts as an important function in macrophages, natural killer cells, and T cells in modulating their activation, their metabolism, the proper cytokine release, the proper redox activity, and free radical levels. For more susceptible patients with HIV and Type 2 Diabetes, the demand for higher GSH levels is increased. This review compiles reports demonstrating the benefits of GSH in improving the immune cell responses against M. tb infection and the use of GSH as adjunctive therapy for TB.

Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), one of the prevalent branches of operations research, aims to design mathematical and computational tools for selecting the best alternative among several choices with respect to specific criteria. In the cloud, MCDA based online brokers uses customer specified criteria to rank different service providers. However, subjected to limited domain knowledge, the customer may exclude relevant or include irrelevant criterion, which could result in suboptimal ranking of service providers. To deal with such misspecification, this research proposes a model, which uses notion of factor analysis from the domain of unsupervised machine learning. The model is evaluated using two quality-of-service (QoS) based datasets. The first dataset i.e., feedback from customers, was compiled using leading review websites such as Cloud Hosting Reviews, Best Cloud Computing Providers, and Cloud Storage Reviews and Ratings. The second dataset i.e., feedback from servers, was generated from cloud brokerage architecture that was emulated using high performance computing (HPC) cluster at University of Luxembourg (HPC @ Uni.lu). The simulation runs in a stable cloud environment i.e. when uncertainty is low, shows that online broker (equipped with the proposed model) produces optimized ranking of service providers as compared to other brokers. This is due the fact that proposed model assigns priorities to criteria objectively (using machine learning) rather than using priorities based on subjective judgments of the customer. This research will benefit potential cloud customers that view insufficient domain knowledge as a limiting factor for acquisition of web services in the cloud.

Precipitation gauges are critical for measuring precipitation rates at regional and global scales and are often used to calibrate precipitation rates estimated from other instruments such as satellites. However, precipitation measured at the gauges is affected by gauge-undercatch that is often larger for solid precipitation. In the present work, two popular gauge-undercatch correction factors are assessed: one utilizes a dynamic correction model and is used in the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) Monitoring product and the other one employs a fixed climatology and is used in the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) product. How much the choice of correction factors can impact the total estimate of precipitation was quantified over land at seasonal, annual, regional, and global scales. The correction factors are also compared as a function of the environmental variables used in their development, among those are near-surface air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, elevation, and precipitation intensity. Results show that correction factors can increase the annual precipitation rate based on the gauges by ~9.5 % over the global land (excluding Antarctica), although this amount can vary from ~6.3% (in boreal summer) to more than 10% (in boreal winter), depending on the season and the method used for gauge-undercatch correction. Annual variations of correction factors can also be large, so the use of the fixed climatology correction factors requires caution. Given their magnitudes and differences, selection of appropriate correction factors can have important implications in refining the water and energy budget calculations.

Central adiposity is one of the significant determinants of obesity-related hypertension risk, which may arise due to the abdominal fat depot's pathogenic inflammatory nature. Pro-inflammatory cytokines and adipokines up-regulation through nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) activation in adipose tissue has been considered an essential function in the pathogenesis of obesity-related hypertension. This study aimed to ascertain the NF-κB inhibitor (SN50) effect on TNF-α and angiotensinogen (AGT) secretion and expression in mediating the anti-inflammatory effect through its impact on NF-κB activity in humans adipose tissue. Primary human adipocytes were isolated from 20 subjects among 10 overweight and 10 obese with and without hypertension and treated with 10ng/ml LPS in the presence and absence of NF-κB inhibitor, SN50 (50μg/ml). TNF-α secretion and NF-κB p65 activity were detected in supernatants extracted from cultured cells treated and untreated with LPS (10ng/ml) and SN50 (50μg/ml) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The western blot technique detected the protein of NF-κB p65 and AGT. Gene expression of TNF-α and AGT was detected in cells and performed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Treatment of AbdSc adipocytes with LPS (10ng/ml) caused a significant increase in NF-κB p65 among overweight and obese subjects with and without hypertension (P= 0.001) at 24 hours incubation. In contrast, SN50-NF-κB inhibitor causes a reduction of NF-κB p65 in overweight (P= <0.001) and obese subjects with and without hypertension (P= 0.001) at 24 hours incubation. Treatment of AbdSc adipocytes with 10ng/ml LPS caused a significant increase in TNF-α secretion in overweight and obese subjects at all-time points (P= <0.001), whereas SN50 leads to a decrease in TNF-α secretion at 3 and 12 hours incubation. Treatment of AbdSc adipocytes with LPS (10ng/ml) caused increased TNF-α and AGT gene expression twofold compared with untreated cells, whereas, in the presence of SN50, it reduces mRNA AGT levels in both groups. Taken together, these adipokines with NF-κB activation may represent essential biomarkers to evaluate hypertension risk and to provide insight into the pathogenesis of obesity-related hypertension.

The continuous development in the field of industrial automation and electric mobility has led to the need for more efficient electrical machines with high power density. The improvement of electrical machines slot filling factors is one of the measures to satisfy these requirements. In recent years, this topic has aroused greater interest in the industrial sector, since the evolution of the winding technological manufacturing processes allows an economically sustainable realization of ordered winding arrangements, rather than random ones. Moreover, the manufacture of electrical machines windings must be preceded by an accurate design phase in which it is possible to evaluate the maximum slot filling factor obtainable for a given wire shape and for its dimensions. For this purpose, this paper presents an algorithmic approach for the evaluation of maximum slot filling factors in electrical machines under ideal geometric premise. In particular, this algorithm has a greater degree of flexibility with respect to the algorithm approaches found in the literature, since the study has been extended to round, rectangular and hexagonal wire sections. Furthermore, the slot filling factor calculation was carried out both for standard and non-standard slots. The algorithmic approach proposed can be considered as an additional useful tool for the fast design of electrical machine windings.

Zinc, an essential trace mineral, plays a crucial role in over 300 enzymes that are vital for major metabolic pathways. Zinc deficiency can cause various symptoms and sometimes lead to serious conditions, especially after surgery. Therefore, recognising the prevalence and predictors of zinc deficiency before surgery is essential for preventing associated symptoms. Although zinc deficiency is linked to several diseases, its association with orthopaedic disorders remains unclear. This retrospective study aimed to explore the prevalence and predictors of zinc deficiency in orthopaedic inpatients prior to surgery. This retrospective case-control study aimed to investigate the prevalence and predictors of zinc deficiency in orthopaedic inpatients. Patients admitted to the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Teikyo University Chiba Medical Center between 15 February 2022 and 31 August 2022 were included. The case-control design categorised patients into zinc deficiency (case) and non-deficiency (control) groups based on serum zinc concentrations (< 60 µg/dL). The data retrieved from the centre’s database included demographics, comorbidities, reasons for hospitalisation, fracture details, medication use, and laboratory values. Statistical tests included Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables and a two-sample t-test for continuous vari-ables. To identify factors associated with zinc deficiency, multivariate analysis ( backward stepwise regression model) was performed for items that were significantly different from the univariate analysis. A total of 156 orthopaedic patients were included in this study. Forty-seven patients (30.1%) had a zinc deficiency. The fracture rate was significantly higher in the case group than in the control group (68.1 % vs. 33.9 %; p < 0.001); spinal disease was significantly less common in the case group than in the control group (2.1 % vs. 31.2 %; p < 0.001); and OA was significantly less common in the case group than in the control group (8.5 % vs. 22.9 %; p = 0.04). The case group had signif-icantly higher rates of fragility and hip and pelvic fractures than did the control group. Spinal disease was less common in the case group than in the control group. Laboratory findings revealed significantly lower mean serum zinc (46.2 µg/dL) in the case group than in the control group (76.3 µg/dL), accompanied by lower albumin and haemoglobin concentrations. Hypoalbuminemia and anaemia were more prevalent in the case group than in the control group. Multivariate logistic regression identified age ≥ 60, anaemia, hip fracture, and hypoalbuminaemia as independent predictive factors for zinc deficiency, while spinal disease was associated with decreased risk. This study identified zinc deficiency in 30.1% of orthopaedic inpatients based on serum zinc concen-trations. Furthermore, age ≥ 60, anaemia, hip fracture, and hypoalbuminaemia were determined as independent predictive factors for zinc deficiency.

IT auditing quality has been defined by results obtained in the process. Meanwhile, multiple studies have been done to enhance it therefore, it continues to be a topic interest and research so it is worth mentioning that its quality relies on trained competent auditors and experts able to develop a process correctly, adapting to clients and to manage auditing inherent risks According to results from the IT audit, low quality and security levels have been identified in terms of the human, technical and contextual factors, affecting audit quality. The objective of this investigation is to identify metrics and to determine their own corresponding factor applying an exploratory type of research. In order to achieve such aim, a targeted survey was designed and implemented at the Institute of Internal Auditors of Ecuador since they have the knowledge and expertise in the field. A factor analysis statistics technique was applied to data gathered to verify that it relates to the identified factors as dimensions are reduced, thus the most impacting metrics may assess the quality of IT audits. Analysis results yielded a mean score for each one of the assessed metrics, concluding that the technical factor is the most significative since it relates roles and task performance during the auditing process as well as control proce-dures. Finally, most auditing quality-related issues are mainly the outcome of an inferior management auditing process, therefore it is crucial that collegiate groups and professionals in the field validate the auditing process.

Background: Dengue incidence has grown dramatically around the world in recent years. It transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. Many factors contributed to the vector densities such as environmental and sociological factors. Objective: This study is aimed at determining the environmental and sociological factors contributing to dengue cases. Methods: The study used questionnaire survey involving 379 respondent with dengue history. Result: The study showed that there is significant association between the time departs to work and mobility of respondents (95%CI = 2.779 and 5.594, p < 0.0001). Similarly, there is significant association between the time of arrival to work and mobility of respondents (95%CI = 1.617 and 2.155, p < 0.0001). Moreover, the type of housing and the surrounding vegetation were the environmental factors that showed significant values; p = 0.023, and p = 0.017. Conclusion: The study indicated the factors contributed are patient who lived in independent houses and the time of mobility patient.

Energy homeostasis is crucial for cell fate since all cellular activities are strongly dependent on the balance between catabolic and anabolic pathways. In particular, metabolic and energetic modulation has been reported in cancer cells long time ago, but have been neglected for a long time. Instead, during the past 20 years a recovery of the study of cancer metabolism has led to better consider metabolic alterations in tumors. Cancer cells must adapt their metabolism to meet the energetic and biosynthetic demands that accompany rapid growth of the primary tumor and colonization of distinct metastatic sites. They are largely dependent on aerobic glycolysis for their energy production and also are associated with increased fatty acid synthesis and increased rates of glutamine utilization. Emerging evidence has shown that therapeutic resistance to cancer treatment may arise due to deregulation in glucose metabolism, fatty acid synthesis, and glutamine utilization. Cancer cells exhibit a series of metabolic alterations induced by mutations leading to gain-of-function of oncogenes and loss-of-function of tumor suppressor genes that include increased glucose consumption, reduced mitochondrial respiration, increased reactive oxygen species generation and cell death resistance, all of which responsible for cancer progression. Cholesterol metabolism is also altered in cancer cells and supports uncontrolled cell growth. In this context, we review the roles of PPARs transcription factors, master regulators of cellular energetic metabolism, in the control and deregulation of energetic homeostasis observed in cancer. We highlight the different contribution of the different PPAR isotypes in different cancers and the differential control of their transcription in the different cancer cells.

The first FDA-approved drugs were small, chemically-manufactured and highly active molecules with possible off-target effects. After this first successful wave of small drugs, biotechnology allowed the development of protein-based medicines such as antibodies. Conventional antibodies bind a specific protein and are becoming increasingly important in the therapeutic landscape. A very prominent class of biologicals are the anti-TNF drugs that are applied in several inflammatory diseases that are characterized by dysregulated TNF levels. Marketing of TNF inhibitors revolutionized the treatment of diseases such as Crohn’s disease. However, these inhibitors also have undesired effects, some of them directly associated with the inherent nature of this drug class such as immunogenicity, whereas others are linked with their mechanism of action. Recently, researchers tried to design innovative drugs with reduced side effects aiming to make them more effective and safer. Molecules with more specificity e.g. that target one specific TNF format or receptor, or that neutralize the TNF signaling pathway in specific cells, are generated. Alternatively, TNF-directed biologicals without the typical antibody structure are manufactured. Here, we review the complications related to the use of conventional TNF inhibitors, together with the anti-TNF alternatives and the different (neurodegenerative) diseases that might benefit from selective approaches.

Poly(2,6-dimethyl phenyl oxide) (PPO) is known for its low dissipation factor. To achieve insulating materials with low dissipation factor for high-frequency communication application, a monomer-type benzoxazine (P-APPO) and a main-chain-type benzoxazine (BPA-APPO) were prepared from an amine end-capped oligo (2,6-dimethyl phenylene oxide) (APPO). The APPO was prepared from a nucleophilic substitution of a phenol-end capped oligo (2,6-dimethyl phenylene oxide) (a commercial product, SA 90) with fluoronitrobenzene, and followed by catalytic hydrogenation. After self-curing or curing with a dicyclopentadiene-phenol epoxy (HP 7200), thermosets with high-T_g and low-dissipation factor can be achieved. Furthermore, the resulting epoxy thermosets show better thermal and dielectric properties than those of epoxy thermoset cured from its precursor SA90, demonstrating it is a successful modification in simultaneously enhancing the thermal and dielectric properties.

Banana (Musa spp.) is an important crop to the economies of many developing countries. In the north of Argentina, a sub-tropical region, banana plants grow in a suboptimal environment that limits yield because only one harvest per year is achieved. The objective of this work was to characterize the agroecological aptitude of Formosa, Argentina, for banana production, through the behavior of three varieties of international use: Willians, Jafa and Gran Enano, evaluated during five consecutive campaigns. The three-way data analysis technique called Multiple Factor Analysis (MFA) was used for evaluating varieties’ performances across cycles of production. The results allowed inferring the existence of genotype x environment (GEI) interaction, corroborated by two-way factorial ANOVA. In order to determine how this suboptimal environment affects the development of each genotype of this perennial crop, Dual Multiple Factor Analysis (DMFA) was applied to jointly analyze the correlation structure among traits contributing to the performance of each variety at each campaign. The correlation structures between variables were different in each population and varied among campaigns. All traits showed a great variation across years and genotypes, the fruit peel thickness being the most discrepant throughout the campaigns. However, Formosa appeared as a promising subtropical agroecological environment to produce banana because varieties’ performances were acceptable for large scale production systems. In addition to evaluating the adequate aptitude for cultivating banana in Formosa considering the significant effect of GEI, this research makes a methodological contribution by proposing the use of three-way data analysis MFA and DMFA in Agronomy Science.

This study aimed to assess the presence of metal contamination in the sediments of the Narmada River by considering seasonal variations. In this context, samples were gathered from six stations along the river in 2021–22. To assess the various metals including Li, Na, Mg, Al, Ca, Fe, Cu, Zn, Co, and Ni by utilizing ICP-MS. Sediment contamination was assessed by utilizing indices like contamination factor (CF), pollution load index (PLI), geo-accumulation factor (Igeo), and enrichment factor (EF). The observed order of metals concentration revealed that metals Fe>Al>Mg>Ca>Na>Cu>Zn>Co>Ni>Li. The seasonal variation reveals metals Al, Fe, Cu, Zn, and Ni exhibit the highest concentrations during the monsoon and metals Li and Co, the highest concentration in the post-monsoon, while metals Na, Mg, and Ca, exhibit their peak concentration during the pre-monsoon. The findings from CF, PLI, Igeo, and EF indicate that there were low to moderate contaminations, metal pollution exists, uncontaminated to moderate contaminations, and minor enrichment. The cluster analysis revealed the source of contamination was anthropogenic, marine, and fertilizer activities. Additionally, Correlation matrix was employed to establish connections between metals. The findings of this research are to understand the metal contamination and potential carcinogenicity in the sediment of Narmada River.

This study investigated the neuroprotective effects of methyl 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate (MDHB) against t-butylhydroperoxide(TBHP) induced oxidative damage in SH-SY5Y (human neuroblastoma cells) and the underlying mechanisms. SH-SY5Y were cultured in DMEM+10% FBS for 24 hours and pretreated with different concentrations of MDHB or N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) for 4 hours prior to the addition of 40 μM TBHP for 24 hours. Cell viability was analyzed using the methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays. An annexin V-FITC assay was used to detect cell apoptosis rate. The 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFH-DA) assay was used to determine intracellular ROS levels. The activities of antioxidative enzymes (GSH-Px and SOD) were measured using commercially available kits. The oxidative DNA damage marker 8-OHdG was detected using ELISA. Western blotting was used to determine the expression of Bcl-2, Bax, caspase 3, p-Akt and Akt proteins in treated SH-SY5Y cells. Our results showed that MDHB is an effective neuroprotective compound that can mitigate oxidative stress and inhibit apoptosis in SH-SY5Y cells

The introduction of anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies against Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is of high importance. However, even though treated patients show very little amyloid pathology, there is only a modest effect on the rate of cognitive decline. Although this effect possibly can increase over time, there is still a need for alternative treatments that will improve the cognitive function in patients with AD. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to characterize the triazinetrione ACD856, a novel pan-Trk positive allosteric modulator, in multiple models to address its neuroprotective and potential disease modifying effects. The pharmacological effect of ACD856 was tested in recombinant cell lines, primary cortical neurons or animals. We demonstrate that ACD856 enhanced NGF-induced neurite outgrowth, increased the levels of the pre-synaptic protein SNAP25 in PC12 cells and increased the degree of phosphorylated TrkB in SH-SY5Y cells. In primary cortical neurons, ACD856 led to increased levels of phospho-ERK1/2, showed neuroprotective effect against amyloid-beta or energy-deprivation induced neurotoxicity, and increased the levels of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Consequently, administration of ACD856 resulted in a significant increase of BDNF in the brains of 21-months old mice. Furthermore, repeated administration of ACD856 resulted in a sustained anti-depressant effect which lasted up to seven days, suggesting effects that go beyond merely symptomatic effects. In conclusion, the results confirm ACD856 as a cognitive enhancer, but more importantly, they provide substantial in vitro and in vivo evidence of neuroprotective and long-term effects that contribute to neurotrophic support and increased neuroplasticity. Presumably, the described effects of ACD856 may improve cognition, increase resilience, and promote neurorestorative processes, thereby leading to a healthier brain in patients with AD.

Cellular oxidation is responsive to external and internal stimulation and is generated via signal molecules in defense mechanisms through networks of cell proliferation, differentiation, intracellular detoxification, bacterial infection, and immune reactions. Oxidative stress is not necessarily harmful per se; it depends on the balance between oxidation and antioxidation cascades, which are induced according to stimuli and can maintain oxygen homeostasis. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are generated during influenza virus (IV) infection have critical effects on both the virus and host cells. In this review, we outline the link between viral infection and ROS production, using IV as an example. We introduce the current state of knowledge on the molecular relationship between cellular oxidation mediated by ROS production and various effects of IV infection. We also summarize the potential anti-IV agents that act by targeting oxidative stress.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the most common cause of movement disorder characterized by the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. It is increasingly recognized as a complex group of disorders presenting widely heterogenous symptoms and pathology. Except for the rare monogenic forms, the majority of the PD cases result from an interaction between multiple genetic and environmental risk factors. The search for these risk factors and the development of preclinical animal models are in progress hand in hand, providing mechanistic insights into the pathogenesis of PD. This review summarizes the studies that capitalize on modeling sporadic (i.e. non-familial) PD using Drosophila melanogaster and discuss their methodology, new findings and future perspective.

Background: Currently, completed suicide, suicide ideation, suicide behavior, and suicide attempts are major public health problems worldwide. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is one of the most common mental disorders associated with an increased risk of suicide. Since the relationship between suicide and cholesterol levels is still controversial, in this study, we explore the association between SNPs rs754203 and rs4900442 of CYP46A1 with suicide risk in Mexican patients with major depressive disorder. Methods: We evaluated 188 unrelated suicide completers and compared them to 144 non-suicidal individuals (controls) and 126 MDD patients. Genotypes were analyzed using the Real Time-polymerase chain reaction method and two allele-specific probes to detect specific SNP targets. A chi-square test was used to identify a possible risk genotype or allele type for suicide. Results: Statistical analysis showed significant differences between completed suicide and controls in their allelic and genotypic frequencies in rs754203 SNP. The genotype G/G of CYP46A1 rs754203 was significantly associated with suicide. Also, the G allele was associated with an increased risk of suicide (OR= 1.370, 95% CI= 1.002-1.873). No differences in either genotype distribution or allele frequencies of CYP46A1 rs4900442 were observed. Conclusions: The results of the current study report the first association between G allele carriers (A/G + G/G) of rs754203 and increased risk for suicide, especially in males.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an index system for measuring the compliance of high-rise residential buildings with fire requirements and also to develop an index system for measuring the fire response efficiency, which is linked to the index of compliance with fire requirements. The higher the compliance rate, the greater the chance of a successful response. The two systems de-pend on the automation of the firefighting system management processes using the techniques of the fourth industrial revolution and developed based on the consultation of subject matter experts in the field. The main elements of the indexes were identified, which were based mainly on several variables, including the fire administrative system, the firefighting system, the residents, the loca-tion of the high-rise residential buildings from the fire extinguishing station, and the height of the high-rise residential building. The two systems can contribute to improving emergency prepared-ness in high-rise residential buildings in the Emirate of Sharjah and are also considered as a measurement index for compliance with fire requirements in the Emirate of Sharjah.

Every year around 800 000 people commit suicide, this represents one death every 40 seconds. In the search for possible biological biomarkers associated with suicide and/or psychiatric disorders, serum cholesterol levels have been extensively explored. Several studies have indicated that cholesterol and associated proteins, especially apolipoproteins (Apos), may play an important role in the diagnosis, prognosis, and susceptibility of suicide. Here, we describe the current knowledge and findings in the relationship between apolipoproteins and suicide.

Salmonella enterica serovar Newport bacteriophage 7-11 shares 41 homologous ORFs with Escherichia coli phage phiEco32 and both phages encode a protein similar to bacterial RNA polymerase promoter specificity  subunit. Here, we investigated the temporal pattern of 7-11 gene expression during the infection and compared it to the previously determined transcription strategy of phiEco32. Using primer extension and in vitro transcription assays we identified eight promoters recognized by host RNA polymerase holoenzyme containing 7-11  subunit SaPh711_gp47. These promoters are characterized by a bipartite consensus GTAAtg-(16)-aCTA and are located upstream of late phage genes. While dissimilar from single-element middle and late promoters of phiEco32 recognized by holoenzyme formed by the phi32_gp36  factor, the 7-11 late promoters are located at genome positions similar to those of phiEco32 middle and late promoters. Two early 7-11 promoters are recognized by RNA polymerase holoenzyme containing host primary σ70 factor. Unlike the case of phiEco32, no shut off of σ70-dependent transcription is observed during 7-11 infection and there are no middle promoters. These differences can be explained by the fact that phage 7-11 does not encode a homologue of phi32_gp79, an inhibitor of host and early phage transcription and an activator of transcription by the phi32_gp36-holoenzyme.

The article discusses the issues related to the safety of transport of dangerous goods by road. Research on accidents in transport unambiguously points to the human factor, which is most responsible for causing the accident. Determining the causes of driver unreliability in the hu-man-vehicle-environment system requires thorough research. Unfortunately, in this case, experimental research with human involvement is limited in scope. This leaves modeling and simulation of the behavior of the human factor, i.e., the driver transporting dangerous goods. The human being, due to its complexity, is a challenging element to parameterize. The literature presents various attempts to model human actions. In their work, the authors used heuristic methods, specifically fuzzy set techniques, to build a human factor model. In these models, human actions were specified using a verbal or linguistic description. The specificity of fuzzy sets allows to "naturally" limit the "precision" in describing human behavior. The model was built based on the author's questionnaire and expert research, based on which individual features were selected. Then, the traits were assigned appropriate states. The output parameter of the model is λL - the intensity of human error. The obtained values of the intensity of the accident caused by the driver's error were implemented into the author's method of risk assessment. They constituted one of the factors determining the probability of an accident in the transport of dangerous goods, which allowed to determine the optimal route of transport of these goods characterized by the lowest risk of an undesirable event on the route. The article presents the model's assumptions, structure, and features included in the model, which have the most significant influence on shaping the intensity of human error. The results of the simulation studies showed a diversified effect of the analyzed characteristics on the driver's efficiency.

We are using information from a paper deriving a Lorentz-violating energy-momentum relation entailing an exact mo_mentum cutof as stated by G. Salesi . Salesi in his work allegedly defines Pre Planckian physics, whereas we restrict our given application to GW generation and DE formation in the first 10^-39s to 10^-33s or so seconds in the early universe. This procedure is inacted due to an earlier work whereas referees exhibited puzzlement as to the physical mechanism for release of Gravitons in the very early universe. The calculation is meant to be complementary to work done in the Book “Dark Energy” by M. Li, X-D. Li, and Y. Wang, and also a calculation for Black hole destruction as outlined by Karen Freeze, et. al. The GW generation will be when there is sufficient early universe density so as to break apart Relic Black holes but we claim that this destruction is directly linked to a Lorentz violating energy-momentum G. Salesi derived, which we adopt, with a mass m added in the G. Salesi energy momentum results proportional to a tiny graviton mass, times the number of gravitons in the first 10^-43 seconds

Annually, millions of people (including children) across the world face minor to severe impact from natural or human-induced disasters. Diverse models have been conceptualized and adopted at global scale to increase resiliency of children from disasters focusing on preparedness, response and recover. As children spend most of their lives at school or at home, this paper discusses on factors contributing towards improving or degrading resiliency of children from disasters. Giving low priority to institutional resilience, this paper highlights the behavioral aspects of children which becomes their strength on demonstrating appropriate practices to mitigate disaster risks on self at school, home and community. While doing so, attributes from Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior has been linked with the components of resilience to explain the causative factors. Adopting desk review, this paper describes behavioral attributes of children and emphasizes on need of having multi-dimensional framework to enhance resiliency of children.

A technique devised some years ago permits to study a theory in a regime of strong perturbations. This translate into a gradient expansion that, at the leading order, can recover the BKL solution. We solve exactly the leading order equations in a spherical symmetric case and we show that the 4-velocity in such a case is multiplied by an exponential warp factor when the perturbation is properly applied. This factor is always greater than one. We will give a closed form solution of this factor for a simple case. Some numerical examples are also given.

Ageing may be characterized by progressive loss of cognitive function as well as decrease in physical activities, in addition to change in appearance. Previously, we reported that intracerebroventricular transplantation of a human neural stem cell (NSC) line (F3) over-expressing choline acetyltransferase (F3.ChAT) gene, an enzyme responsible for acetylcholine synthesis, markedly improved cognitive function and physical activity of aged animals by enhancing acetylcholine and growth factors (GFs) and neurotrophic factors (NFs). In the present study, 10-month-old F344 rats were intravenously transplanted with F3 or F3.ChAT NSCs (1 x 106 cells) once a month to 21st month of age when the cumulative mortality reached 20%, and physical activity and learning/memory function were investigated, in addition to the analyses of brain acetylcholine concentration, and cholinergic and dopaminergic system restoration. Neuroprotective and neuroregenerative activities of stem cells were also confirmed by analyzing oxidative damages, neuronal skeletal protein, angiogenesis, brain and muscle weights, and proliferating host stem cells. Stem cells markedly improved both the cognitive (passive avoidance and water-maze performances) and physical (locomotor and rota-rod activities) functions, in parallel with the elevation of acetylcholine levels in cerebrospinal fluid and in muscles, in which F3.ChAT cells were superior to F3 parental cells. Stem cell transplantation down-regulated CCL11, leading to restoration of microtubule-associated protein 2 as well as functional markers of cholinergic and dopaminergic systems, and preserved brain and muscular capillaries, recovering muscle mass. In addition, stem cells enhanced antioxidative capacity, attenuating oxidative damage of multiple organs including muscles and the brain. The results indicate that NSCs over-expressing ChAT gene improve cognitive function and physical activity of ageing animals by protecting and recovering functions of multiple organs including cholinergic and dopaminergic systems as well as muscles from oxidative injuries through secretion of acetylcholine and GFs/NFs, increased antioxidant elements, and enhanced blood flow.

Chloracne is the major skin symptom caused by dioxin intoxication. Dioxin activates the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR)–cytochrome p450 1A1 (CYP1A1) system, generates oxidative stress, and induces hyperkeratinization of keratinocytes and sebocytes leading to chloracne. Nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor-2 (NRF2) is a master switch inducing expression of various antioxidative enzymes such as heme oxygenase-1. Cinnamaldehyde is an antioxidant phytochemical that inhibits AHR–CYP1A1 signaling and activates the NRF2–antioxidative axis. The cinnamaldehyde-containing Kampo herbal medicine Keishibukuryogan is capable of improving chloracne in Yusho patients who are highly contaminated with dioxin. Agents with dual functions in promoting AHR–CYP1A1 inhibition and NRF2 activation may be useful in managing dioxin-related health hazards.

Ral-interacting protein 76 (RLIP76) is a potential factor with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the corpus luteum and tumor angiogenesis. RLIP76, VEGF, and hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) are proteins that activate angiogenic functions in tumor and endothelial cells. RLIP76 is a main factor in tumor growth, and VEGF is a major endothelial cell protein for angiogenesis. Also, RLIP76 regulates a small GTPase (R-Ras, oncogene) in cell survival, spreading, and migration. HIF-1 is important in the corpus luteum, tumor angiogenesis, and tumor growth. VEGF and HIF-1 regulate the angiogenic function of RLIP76, and RLIP76 controls vascular growth in endothelial and tumor cells. RLIP76, R-Ras, VEGF, and HIF-1 may be useful in the research of corpus luteum and cancer therapy and the study of mechanisms of tumor angiogenesis. This review will help to elucidate the roles of RLIP76/R-Ras and VEGF via HIF-1 in corpus luteum and tumor angiogenesis, tumorigenesis, and the specific regulation of RLIP76 in luteal, tumor, and endothelial cells. Thus, we reviewed the angiogenesis of the corpus luteum and tumor in the ovarian and tumor microenvironment.

The present study aimed to analyze novel mechanisms underlying Nrf2-mediated anti-apoptosis in periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) in the periodontitis oxidative microenvironment. We created an oxidative stress model with H2O2-treated PDLSCs. Herein, we used real-time PCR, western blotting, TUNEL staining, fluorogenic assay and transfer genetics to confirm the degree of oxidative stress and apoptosis as well as the Nrf2 function. Surprisingly, we demonstrated that with up-regulated ROS and MDA levels, the effect of oxidative stress was obvious under H2O2 treatment. Anti-oxidative molecules were changed after the H2O2 exposure, whereby the anti-oxidative signaling of Nrf2 was activated with the increase of its downstream effectors, HO-1, NQO1 and γ-GCS. Additionally, the apoptosis levels gradually increased with oxidative stress and changes in the caspase-9, caspase-3, Bax and c-Fos levels, but not with caspase-8 and down-regulated Bcl-2. The enhanced antioxidant effect could not resist the occurrence of apoptosis. Furthermore, Nrf2 overexpression effectively improved the anti-oxidative levels and increased cell proliferation. At the same time, overexpression effectively restrained TUNEL staining and decreased the molecular levels of caspase-9, caspase-3, et al, but not that of caspase-8. By contrast, silencing the expression Nrf2 levels had the opposite effect. Collectively, Nrf2 alleviates PDLSCs via its effects on anti-oxidative and anti-intrinsic apoptosis by the activation of anti-oxidative enzymes.

Our previous studies showed that in patients with brain diseases neurotrophic factors in lacrimal fluid (LF) may change more prominently than in blood serum (BS). Since glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is involved in control of neuronal networks in epileptic brain, we aimed to assess GDNF levels in LF and BS as well as BDNF, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical and inflammation indices in BS of patients with focal epilepsy (PWFE), epilepsy and comorbid depression (PWFE+MDD) compared with major depressive disorder (PWMDD) and healthy controls (HC). GDNF levels in BS were similar in patients and HC and higher in PWFE taking valproates. GDNF levels in LF were significantly lower in all patient groups compared to controls, and independent of drugs used. LF and BS GDNF concentrations positively correlated in HC, but not patient groups. BDNF level was lower in BS of patients compared with HC and higher in PWFE+MDD taking valproates. Logistic regression models demonstrated that GDNF decrease in LF may be an important predictor of focal epilepsy. Probability of focal epilepsy can be evaluated using GDNF in LF and BDNF in BS; MDD - GDNF in LF, cortisol and TNF-α in BS; epilepsy with MDD - GDNF in LF, TNF-α and BDNF in BS.

Inflammatory processes play major roles in carcinogenesis and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) derived from non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). But there are no therapies for NASH related HCC, especially focusing on these critical steps. Previous studies reported that farnesyltransferase inhibitors (FTIs) have anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects. However, the influence of FTIs on NASH-related HCC has not been elucidated. In HCC cell lines, HepG2, Hep3B, and Huh-7, we confirmed expression of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α, an accelerator of tumor aggressiveness and the inflammatory response. We established NASH-related HCC models under inflammation and free fatty acid burden and confirmed that HIF-1α expression was increased under both conditions. Tipifarnib, which is an FTI, strongly suppressed increased HIF-1α, inhibited cell proliferation, and induced apoptosis. Simultaneously, intracellular interleukin-6 as an inflammation marker was increased under both conditions and significantly suppressed by tipifarnib. Additionally, tipifarnib suppressed expression of phosphorylated nuclear factor-κB and transforming growth factor-β. Finally, in a NASH-related HCC mouse model burdened with diethylnitrosamine and a high fat diet, tipifarnib significantly reduced tumor nodule formation in association with decreased serum interleukin-6. In conclusion, tipifarnib has anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory effects in a NASH-related HCC model and may be a promising new agent to treat this disease.

This paper undertakes an in-depth exploration of a primary strategy aimed at mitigating the volumetric risk in wind power generation within Greece, which originates from the variability of wind speeds. The proposed strategy hinges on portfolio theory, serving as the foundation for creating diverse generation portfolios, thus facilitating the strategic distribution of available capacity across space. Optimization techniques and quadratic programming are harnessed to derive the minimum variance portfolio along with alternative optimal allocation plans. In parallel, Factor Analysis techniques are deployed to discern prevalent sources of variability that exert influence on wind generation dynamics within Greece. Our assessment encompasses an appraisal of the diversification efficacy inherent in an array of distinct portfolios. This analysis is conducted through the application of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) techniques. Furthermore, we expound upon key spatiotemporal attributes characterizing the Greek landscape, elucidating their potential contributions to the site-selection process.

: Background: Cartilage harvest and transplantation is a common surgery using costal, auricular, and septal cartilage for craniofacial reconstruction. However, absorption and warping of the cartilage grafts can occur due to inflammatory factors associated with wound healing. Transcriptional factor nuclear factor κB (NFκB) is activated by cytokines, such as interleukin-1 (IL-1), and plays a central role in the transactivation of this inflammatory cytokine gene. Inhibition of NFκB may have anti-inflammatory effects. The aim of this study was to explore the potential of an NFκB decoy oligodeoxynucleotide (Decoy) as a chondroprotective agent. Materials and Methods: Evaluation of safe and efficacious concentrations of Decoy were assessed using rabbit nasal septal chondrocytes (rNSCh) and assays for cytotoxicity, proteoglycan (PG) synthesis, and PG turnover. The efficacious concentration of Decoy determined from the rNSCh was then applied to human nasal septal cartilage (hNSC) in vitro and analyzed for PG turnover, the level of inflammatory markers, and catabolic enzymes in explant-conditioned culture medium. Results: Over the range of Decoy conditions and concentrations, no inhibition of PG synthesis or cytotoxicity was observed. Decoy at 10 μM effectively inhibited PG degradation in the hNSC explant, prolonging PG half-life 63% and decreasing matrix metalloprotease 3 (MMP3) by 70.7% (P = 0.027). Conclusions: Decoy may be a novel chondroprotective therapeutic agent in cartilage transplantation due to its ability to inhibit cartilage degradation due to inflammation cytokines.

This article presents a new design of supporting tethers through the concept of force distribution. The transmitted force applied on tethers will be distributed on the new tether design area resulting in low acoustic energy transferred to anchor boundaries and stored energy enhancement. This technique achieves an anchor quality factor of 175,000 compared to 58,000 obtained from con-ventional tether design representing 3-fold enhancement. Also, the unloaded quality factor of the proposed design improved from 23,750 to 27,442 representing 1.2-fold improvements.

Residential satisfaction with post-disaster housing is crucial for the success and sustainability of a resettlement project. However, little attention has been given to this aspect in the permanent houses developed after the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. To bridge this gap, the study examined factors affecting residential satisfaction among poor displaced households resettled in the Panipokhari Integrated Settlement of Nepal. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey, interviews, and field observation. Internal consistency and reliability were assessed using Cronbach's Alpha test, while satisfaction was measured by mean satisfaction scores. The relative importance index ranked the factors, and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient analyzed their relationship with overall residential satisfaction. The study identified several crucial fac-tors influencing residential satisfaction, including the design and layout of the house, space for modification, provision of a kitchen garden and cattle shed, thermal comfort, completeness of the house, provision of a hearth, and spaces for rituals and cultural events. These findings shed light on the resettlement decisions of affected populations and provide valuable insights for policymakers, implementers, and researchers aiming for successful and sustainable resettlement outcomes.

In order to sustain the marine environment relationship between the environmental factors and marine biota must be investigated. This study aims to study such a correlation in the adjacent waters of Nan Wan Bay, Kenting, Taiwan, and to explore the covariance of environmental factors on marine life (whether they enhance or diminish it). To achieve these objectives, factor analysis was used to identify potential latent variables that could affect the water quality of the adjacent waters, including phytoplankton (quantity), zooplankton (quantity), and fish (quantity and species). These potential variables were named based on the results of past studies and related literature. Finally, a structural equation model (SEM) was constructed to establish a marine ecological model among the potential variables. The factor analysis results revealed that nutrients, upwelling, and primary productivity are the primary factors affecting the environmental changes in the adjacent waters of Nan Wan Bay. The comprehensive SEM showed that nutrients and primary productivity significantly impact plankton. Path analysis indicated that primary productivity has the highest direct effect on the phytoplankton cluster. However, the upwelling has a low significance in its effect on phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish clusters. Compared to the results of past related studies, the SEM proposed in this study can reflect a considerable degree of change in the waters.

Dendritic Mesoporous Organosilica Nanoparticles (DMON) are a new class of biodegradable nanoparticles suitable for biomolecules delivery. In order to escape from the endosomes-lysosomes and to deliver biomolecules in the cytoplasm of cells, we studied photochemical internalization (PCI) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) of DMON. We added photosensitizers in the framework of DMON. DMON were also loaded with siRNA or FVIII factor protein. We made four formulations with four different photosensitizers, The photosensitizers allowed to perform imaging of DMON in cancer cells, but the presence of the tetrasulfide bond in the framework of DMON quenched the formation of singlet oxygen. Fortunately one formulation allowed to efficiently deliver proapoptotic siRNA in MCF-7 cancer cells leading to 31% of cancer cell death, without irradiation. For FVIII protein, it was loaded in two formulations with drug loading capacities (DLC) up to 25%. In conclusion DMON are versatile nanoparticles which allowed to load siRNA and to deliver it in cancer cells, and to load FVIII protein with good DLC. Due to the presence of tetrasulfide, it was not possible to perform PDT and PCI.

Deep-learning-based speech enhancement techniques have been recently grown in interest, since their impressive performance can potentially benefit a wide variety of digital voice communication systems. However, such performance has been evaluated mostly in offline audio processing scenarios (i.e. feeding the model, in one go, a complete audio recording, which may extend several seconds). It is of great interest to evaluate and characterize the current state-of-the-art in applications that process audio online (i.e. feeding the model a sequence of segments of audio data, concatenating the results at the output end). Although evaluations and comparisons between speech enhancement techniques have been carried out before, as far as the author knows, the work presented here is the first that evaluates the performance of such techniques in relation to their online applicability. Meaning, this work measures how the output signal-to-interference ratio (as a separation metric), the response time and memory usage (as online metrics) are impacted by the input length (the size of audio segments), in addition to the amount of noise, amount and number of interferences, and amount of reverberation. Three popular models were evaluated, given their availability on public repositories and online viability: MetricGAN+, Spectral Feature Mapping with Mimic Loss, and Demucs-Denoiser. The characterization was carried out using a systematic evaluation protocol based on the Speechbrain framework. Several intuitions are presented and discussed, and some recommendations for future work are proposed.

Computation of Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) is a challenging task. Especially, on computational machines/embedded systems where resources are limited. The importance of Fourier Transform (FT) cannot be denied in the field of signal processing. This paper proposes a technique that can compute Discrete Fourier Transforms for a matrice or vector with the help of matrix multiplication. Moreover, this paper discusses the trivial methods used for computation of DFT along with methods based on matrix multiplication used to compute discrete Fourier Transform in addition to the shortcomings. The proposed method can help in the calculation of a Discrete Fourier Transformation matrix by truncation of values from the proposed generic method which can help in computing DFT of varying lengths of vectors. On legacy computing machines and programming environments, having support for matrix multiplication, the proposed methodology can be implemented.

Introduction: This study aimed to validate the psychometric properties of the German eHealth Impact Questionnaire (eHIQ-G), which is divided into two independently administered and scored parts. Methods: 162 people with MS browsed one of two possible websites containing information on MS and completed an online survey. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha and structural validity by Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Construct validity was examined by assessing correlations with the eHealth Literacy Questionnaire and the General Self-Efficacy Scale. Moreover, the mean difference of the eHIQ-G score between the two websites was investigated. Results: Cronbach’s alpha for the eHIQ-G subscales ranged from .833 to .885. The eHIQ-G part 1 achieved acceptable levels of goodness-of-fit indices, whereas the fit for the eHIQ-G part 2 was poor and likewise for the alternative modified models. The correlations with the reference instruments were 0.08 – 0.62 and as expected. Older age was related with lower eHIQ-G part 1 score, whereas no significant effect was found for education. Although not significant, the website ‘AMSEL’ reached higher mean scores on eHIQ part 2. Conclusion: The eHIQ-G has good internal consistency, and sufficient structural and construct validity. It will facilitate the measurement of the impact of websites providing health information.

Background: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is one of the leading causes of death in newborns, however, little is understood of which patients can be treated medically or require surgery. The purpose of our study is to analyze the associated factors of surgically treated patients compared to patients requiring only medical treatment. Methods: Patients diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis over a period of 14 years in a single children’s hospital were retrospectively enrolled. Demographics and clinical data patients were collected and analyzed. Results: A total of 189 patients with NEC were included. Surgically treated patients had a lower gestational age (P = .018), body weight at birth (P = .034), and percentage of exclusive breast milk feeding (P= .001). They had increased comorbidity with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) (P = .005), number of days of antibiotic use (P = .014), and length of hospital stay (P = .000). In multivariate logistic analysis, a lower percentage of exclusive breast milk feeding (OR = 0.366, 95% CI: 0.164-0.817) and a longer hospital stay (OR = 1.010, 95% CI: 1.001- 1.019) was associated with surgical NEC. Conclusion: Comparing medical and surgical NEC, a significantly lower percentage of surgical NEC patients were exclusively fed breast milk and their hospital stays were longer.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of two antiglaucoma procedures, namely trabeculectomy and Ex-PRESS mini-shunt insertion on the biomechanical properties of the cornea. This is a prospective study. Thirty patients (30 eyes) were included in the study. Nineteen eyes had an Ex-PRESS shunt inserted (Group 1) and 11 had trabeculectomy (Group 2). The examination time points for both groups were 1 to 3 weeks preoperatively and at month 1, 6 and 12 postoperatively. Corneal biomechanical properties [corneal hysteresis (CH) corneal resistance factor (CRF)] were measured with the Ocular Response Analyzer. In group 1, CH was significantly increased at 6 and 12 months compared to baseline values. Corneal hysteresis was also higher at 1 month postoperatively but this increase did not reach statistical significance. In group 2, the CH was significantly increased at all time points compared to the preoperative values. CRF decreased at all time points postoperatively compared to the preoperative values in both groups. The difference (preoperative values to postoperative values at all time points) of the CH and CRF between the two groups was also compared and no significant differences were detected between the two surgical techniques. Trabeculectomy and the EX-PRESS mini-shunt insertion alter significantly the corneal biomechanical properties as a result of the surgical trauma and the presence of the shunt in the corneal periphery. When compared between them they affect the corneal biomechanical properties in a similar way.

To solve the problem of the origin of homochirality of living systems and life itself, it is necessary to rethink the conceptual foundations of physics dialectically. The review shows how this can be done within the framework of the paradigm of energoforms, which sets the principles of construction and mathematical formalization of the Heraclitus primary element of matter. The algorithm for modeling energoforms and structures of elementary particles was created based on the laws of dialectics, electromagnetic induction and the rules of quantum physics. The algorithm allowed to calculate the parameters of chiral structures of neutron, proton, electron, neutrino and photon in the ground and excited states, as well as the parameters of more than one hundred nuclei. As an adequate solution to the problems of neutrino physics and the nature of the universal chiral factor, we hypothesized the instability of the low-energy solar neutrino and the biogenicity of its decay products – chiral energoforms. The hypothesis was based on correlations of seasonal and daily variations of solar neutrino flux, optical activity of aqueous solutions of sugars and metabolism of plants and animals. In humans, chiral morphofunctional features that limit homeostasis and the rhythm of energy-informational connections of the brain with the external environment were revealed. It was shown that the mechanism of sensitivity of living matter to the action of chiral factor is based on the ability to self-organization of its cooperative water-containing systems consisting of spin homogeneous chiral elements.

Levels of trace element pollution in surface soil can be estimated using soil analyses and leaching tests. These methods may reveal different results due to the effect of soil properties, such as grain size and mineral composition, on elemental availability. Therefore, this study advocates an alternative method for monitoring and assessment of trace element pollution in surface soil using terricolous fruticose lichens. Lichens growing at abandoned mine sites and unpolluted areas in southwest Japan and their substrata were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to clarify the relationships between Cu, Zn, As, and Pb concentrations in lichens and soils, including their absorption properties. Concentrations of these elements in the lichens were positively correlated with those in the soils regardless of lichen species, location, habitat, or conditions of soils. The analyzed lichens had neither competitive nor antagonistic properties in their elemental absorption, which made them good biomonitors of trace element pollution in surface soil. The distribution maps of average Cu, Zn, As, and Pb concentrations at each sampling region detected almost all of the Cu, Zn, and As pollution of the soils. Therefore, lichens could be used in practical applications to monitor Cu, Zn, and As pollution in surface soils.

To screen and validate immunosuppressive factors in luminal- and basal-like breast cancer cell lines and tissue samples associated with malignant phenotypes. The mRNA microarray datasets, GSE40057 and GSE1561, were downloaded and remodelled. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. Enrichment analyses performed and the online resources, GOBO and Kaplan-Meier Plotter, were employed to screen for immunosuppressive factors associated with breast cancer malignant phenotypes. qRT-PCR and western blot were used to validate the expression of CD274 and IL8 in cell lines and immunohistochemical detected the MIF and VEGFA on tissue microarrays. The results showed that CD274 and IL8 were both upregulated in basal-like cell lines. That MIF expression was dramatically increased in patients with breast cancer metastases (p<0.05) and that VEGFA expression positively correlates with breast cancer pathologic grade (p<0.05).During the formation and development of breast cancer, immune-related genes are always activated, and immunosuppressive factors CD274, IL8, MIF and VEGFA are upregulated. Such molecules could be used as biomarkers for breast cancer prognosis. However, because individual immune-related factors can play several biological roles, the mechanistic relationship between immunosuppressive factors and breast cancer malignant phenotypes and the feasibility of their application as drug targets require further investigation.

Tissue regeneration is an essential requirement for wound healing and recovery of organs’ dysfunction. It has been demonstrated that wound healing can be facilitated by activating paracrine signaling mediated by exosomes secreted from stem cells, since exosomes deliver many functional molecules including growth factors (GFs) and neurotrophic factors (NFs) effective for tissue regeneration. In this study, an exosome-rich conditioned medium (ERCM) was collected from human amniotic membrane stem cells (AMSCs) by cultivating the cells under a low oxygen tension (2% O2 and 5% CO2). The contents of GFs and NFs including keratinocyte growth factor, epidermal growth factor, fibroblast growth factor 1, transforming growth factor-β, and vascular endothelial growth factor responsible for skin regeneration were much higher (10-30 folds) in the ERCM than in normal conditioned medium. In was found that CM-DiI-labeled exosomes readily entered keratinocytes and fibroblasts, and that ERCM not only facilitated the proliferation of keratinocytes in normal condition, but also protected against H2O2 cytotoxicity in a concentration-dependent manner. In cell-migration assay, the scratch wound in keratinocyte culture dish was rapidly closed by treatment with ERCM. Such wound-healing effects of ERCM were confirmed in a rat whole skin-excision model: i.e., the wound closure was significantly accelerated by topical application of ERCM solution (4 x 109 exosome particles/100 μL) at 4-day intervals. In the wounded skin, the deposition of collagens was enhanced by treatment with ERCM, which was supported by the increased production of collagen-1 and collagen-3. The results indicate that ERCM from AMSCs containing a large amount of GFs and NFs improve wound healing through tissue regeneration not only by facilitating keratinocyte proliferation for skin repair, but also activating fibroblasts for extracellular matrix production.

Vascular calcification (VC) is associated with increased cardiovascular risks in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors, like empagliflozin, can improve cardiovascular and renal outcomes. We assessed the expression of Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor (Nrf2), and heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) in inorganic phosphate–induced VC in mouse VSMCs to investigate the mechanisms underlying empagliflozin’s therapeutic effects. We evaluated biochemical parameters, mean artery pressure (MAP), pulse wave velocity (PWV), transcutaneous glomerular filtration rate (GFR), and histology in an in vivo mouse model with VC induced by an oral high-phosphorus diet following a 5/6 nephrectomy in ApoE−/− mice. Compared to the control group, empagliflozin-treated mice showed significant reductions in blood glucose, MAP, PWV, and calcification, as well as increased calcium and GFR levels. Empagliflozin inhibited osteogenic trans-differentiation by decreasing inflammatory cytokine expression and increasing AMPK, Nrf2, and HO-1 levels. Empagliflozin mitigates high phosphate–induced calcification in mouse VSMCs through the Nrf2/HO-1 anti-inflammatory pathway by activating AMPK. Animal experiments suggested that empagliflozin reduces VC in CKD ApoE−/− mice on a high-phosphate diet.

A simple approach to enable water-management agencies employing free data to achieve the goal of using a single set of predictive equations for water-quality retrievals with satisfactory accuracy is proposed. Multiple regression-derived equations based on surface reflectance, band ratios, and environmental factors as predictor variables for concentrations of Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Nitrogen (TN), and Total Phosphorus (TP) were derived using a hybrid forward-selection method that considers Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) in the forward-selection process. Landsat TM, ETM+, and OLI/TIRS images were jointly utilized with environmental factors, such as wind speed and water surface temperature, to derive the single set of equations. The coefficients of determination of the best-fitting resultant equations varied from 0.62 to 0.79. Among all chosen predictor variables, ratio of reflectance of visible red (Band 3 for Landsat TM and ETM+, or Band 4 for Landsat OLI/TIRS) to visible blue (Band 1 for Landsat TM and ETM+, or Band 2 for Landsat OLI/TIRS) has a strong influence on the predictive power for TSS retrieval. Environmental factors including wind speed, remote sensing-derived water surface temperature, solar altitude, and time difference (in days) between the image acquisition and water sampling were found important in water-quality parameter estimation.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to identify the incidence of early mechanical failure in the first post-surgical year in patients who had undergone spinal surgery, and to assess the related risk factors. METHODS: Retrospective observational study of a prognostic cohort was conducted at an orthopaedic hospital, examining all patients with spine degenerative disease who consecutively underwent arthrodesis surgery between March 2018 and March 2019. The incidence of postoperative mechanical failure during the first year was calculated as primary outcome; the time between the date of the implant surgery and diagnosis of the mechanical failure was calculated as secondary outcome. RESULTS: A total of 237 patients were identified for statistical analysis. The median age of the group of patients was 47 years (IQR of 44), and 66.6% were female. The incidence of mechanical failure in the first postoperative year was 5.1% overall with 12 events and the median time between surgery and the need for revision surgery was 5 months (IQR=7.75). ASA score (OR= 2,39; p=0.134), duration of the surgical procedure (OR=1,27; p=0,006) and inability to walk at discharge (OR=7,86; p=0,072) were independent risk of factor associated with the mechanical failure. CONCLUSION: Higher ASA score and longer duration of surgery are risk factors for mechanical failure in the first year in patients who had undergone spinal surgery and must be carefully considered when planning spinal surgery. During hospitalization, recovery of ambulation must be encouraged to prevent mechanical failure. All these factors are useful in identifying patients with a closer follow-up is needed.

The high-quality development of the industrial software industry is of strategic significance to enhancing the core competitiveness of the manufacturing industry and promoting the high-quality development of China's industrial economy. By integrating the "capital- technology-environment-human" production factor theory and configuration perspective, this paper constructs a comprehensive analysis framework that drives the total factor productivity (TFP) of the industrial software industry. It uses 40 typical industrial software firms as case samples and uses fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) was used to empirically explore the influencing factors and complex mechanisms that achieve high-quality development of the industrial software industry. It is found that: (1) a single industrial factor is hardly a necessary condition to drive industrial software industry; (2) there are four paths to achieve high TFP, which are summarized as "technology-human-environment" balanced driving type, "capital-human-environment" balanced driving type, "technology-capital" dual driving type, and "capital" single driving type. There are four driving mechanisms. There are also four not-high TFP configurations with asymmetric characteristics; (3) under certain conditions, the combination of capital factors, capital factors, environmental factors and human factors can drive TFP in a "all roads lead to Rome". In this process, the government's attention plays a more universal role. The study not only expands the application scenarios of fsQCA, but also provides decision guidelines for the practice of strategic emerging industrialization represented by industrial software industry.

The inclusion of scientific journals in prestigious indexers is often associated with higher citation rates; journals included in such indexers are significantly more acknowledged than those that are not included in them. This phenomenon refers to the Matthew effect on journal citations, according to which, journals in exclusive rankings tend to be increasingly cited. This paper shows the opposite: that the inclusion of journals in local indexers ruled by inclusive logic reduces the Matthew effect on journal citations, since it enables them to be equally exposed. Thus, we based our arguments on the comparison of 68 Brazilian journals before and after they were indexed in the Scientific Periodicals Electronic Library (Spell), which ranks journals in the Brazilian management field based on local citations. Citation impact indicators and iGini (a new individual inequality analysis measure) were used to show that the inclusion of journals in Spell has increased their impact factor and decreased their citation inequality rates. In addition, the results indicated that the effect between ranking and inequality has declined after journals were included in Spell; this outcome indicates that the database has reduced the Matthew effect on journal citations.

Definitive surgical resection is the preferred treatment for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Research into genetic alterations, including epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation, in early stage NSCLC remains insufficient. Here, we investigated the prevalence of genetic alterations in early-stage NSCLC and the association between EGFR mutation and recurrence after complete resection. Between January 2019 and December 2021, 659 patients with NSCLC who underwent curative surgical resection at a single regional cancer center were recruited. We compared the clinical and pathological data between the recurrence and non-recurrence groups. Multivariate logistic regression was used to predict the risk factors for recurrence. Among the 659 enrolled cases, the most common histology was adenocarcinoma (74.5%), followed by squamous cell carcinoma (21.7%). The prevalence of EGFR mutation was 43% (194/451). Among them, L858R point mutation and exon 19 deletion was 52.3% and 42%, respectively. ALK rearrangement was found at 5.7% (26/453), and ROS1 fusion was found at 1.6% (7/441). The recurrence rate of the entire population was 19.7%. In multivariate analysis, the presence of EGFR mutation, stage II or III (vs. stage I), and pathologic subtype (presence of solid type) were associated with recurrence. Among the recurred group, 86.5% of the patients with EGFR mutation experienced distant recurrence compared to only 66.7% of wild-type (p = 0.016), with no significant difference in median disease-free survival (p = 0.983). In conclusion, the prevalence of EGFR mutation, ALK rearrangement, and ROS1 fusion was 43.0%, 5.7%, and 1.6%, respectively in patients with early-stage NSCLC who underwent curative resection. Along with stage II/III and solid pathologic subtype, EGFR mutation was an independent risk factor for recurrence. In the recurrence group, the rate of distant metastasis was higher in patients with EGFR mutation than in those with wild-type.

Based upon a radically new approach, this paper describes a 2-box absolute flow model that calculates the CO₂ transfer between the atmosphere and a terrestrial / ocean mixing reservoir. Given the inputs of anthropogenic fossil fuel emissions (CO2ff), atmospheric CO₂ mixing-ratio and nuclear weapons bomb yields, the model calculates atmospheric d¹³C and Δ¹⁴C time-series, with the level of agreement for d¹³C being to within ± 0.05 ‰, for Δ¹⁴C to within ± 3‰, spanning 200 years. The model contains only seven internal parameters which are varied to optimize the fit. Yet according to conventional wisdom, this model should not work. It is commonly held that the ¹³C and ¹⁴C isotopic forms of carbon bypass seawater carbonate chemistry, resulting in very different absorption properties (Revelle factor) as compared to ¹²C. This study rejects this assumption, and uses the same residence time and reservoir mixing properties for all isotopes. The paper includes an analysis justifying why the isotopic bypass of the Revelle factor is not significant. The study describes the use of the model to track CO2ff takeup using two separate measures, a) the amount of molecular CO2ff remaining in the atmosphere and b) the amount of atmospheric growth attributable to CO2ff, thereby resolving discrepancies in published values.

Veterinary antibiotics (VAs) have been indiscriminately used in animal feed for the past five decades to increase and ensure profits with negligible environmental considerations. The VAs amoxicillin (AMX), chlortetracycline (CTC), and oxytetracycline (OTC), which can be unintentionally introduced by irrigation water during rice cultivation, were evaluated for their phytotoxic effects, absorption-translocation into plants, and soil residues using a randomized complete block design. It was found that exposure to VAs can severely affect the photosynthetic pathway of rice plants. The uptake and translocation of VAs by rice plants varied significantly. CTC and OTC translocated more easily than AMX, a member of the β-lactam class, which accumulated at the lowest concentration compared to CTC and OTC across all treatments. Rice yield was about 4.3 - 5.7% lower in the experimental plots that received fifty-fold the background levels of VAs compared to the control. The findings indicate that these widely used veterinary antibiotics can hamper crop production, leave residues in the soil, and constitute a risk to human health if introduced into the agro-ecosystem unintentionally.

In their natural environment, bacteria are exposed to various stresses. The stress-response sigma factor SigB of gram-positive Bacillus subtilis is the best-characterized example. Unlike Bacillus subtilis, the gram-positive bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) contains nine SigB homologues (SigBFGHIKLMN) with a major role in differentiation and response to osmotic stress. We previously constructed a two-plasmid system to identify promoters recognized by these sigma factors. Interestingly, almost all identified promoters were recognized by two or more SigB homologues. However, no specific sequences characteristic for these recognition groups were found. To examine this cross-recognition in vivo in S. coelicolor A3 (2), one of these promoters was cho-sen, which drives the expression of the sporulation-specific gene ssgB. The ssgBp promoter was inserted into a luciferase reporter plasmid and conjugated to S. coelicolor M145 and nine mutant strains containing deleted individual sigB homologous genes. Luciferase reporter activity indi-cated differential activity of this promoter in these mutant strains, suggesting overlapping pro-moter recognition by these SigB homologues. To determine which nucleotides in the ̶ 10 re-gion are responsible for the selection of a specific SigB homologue, several mutant promoters with altered last three nucleotides in this region were prepared and tested in the two-plasmid system. Some mutant promoters were specifically recognized by some SigB homologues. Mutant promoters were inserted into a luciferase reporter plasmid and conjugated to S. coelicolor A3(2) and these nine mutant strains. Luciferase reporter activity indicated differential activity of these ssgBp mutant promoters, indicating overlapping promoter recognition by these SigB homologues in S. coelicolor A3(2).

Background: Plasma levels of von Willebrand factor (VWF) are significantly elevated in patients with COVID-19. However, the dynamic changes and prognostic value of this biomarker in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 are not determined. Methods: 124 patients infected with SARS-CoV2 were prospectively recruited for the study. Serial blood samples were obtained at the time of admission (D1), 3-4 days following standard of care treatments (D2), and 1-2 days prior to discharge or death (D3). Plasma VWF antigen, ADAMTS13 antigen and activity, as well as the ratio of VWF/ADAMTS13 were determined, followed by statistical analyses. Results:While admission plasma levels of VWF in COVID-19 patients were significantly elevated, no statistical significance was detected among patients of different disease severity. Plasma ADAMTS13 activity, but not its antigen levels, were significantly lower in patients with severe or critical COVID-19 compared with other groups. Interestingly, the ratios of plasma VWF antigen to ADAMTS13 antigen were significantly higher in patients with severe or critical COVID-19 than in those with mild to moderate disease. More importantly, plasma levels of VWF and VWF/ADAMTS13 ratios were persistently elevated in patients with COVID-19 during hospitalization. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazard regression analysis revealed that an increased plasma VWF or ratio of VWF/ADAMTS13 at D2 and D3 associated with an increased mortality rate. Conclusions: Persistent endotheliopathy, marked by an elevated level of plasma VWF or an increased VWF/ADAMTS13 ratio, is present in all hospitalized patients following SARS-CoV2 infection and strongly associated with mortality.