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Atmospheric deposition of microplastics in urban, rural, forest environments: A case study of Thulamela Local Municipality
Microplastic (MP) pollution, a pressing environmental issue globally, has received considerable attention in marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments. However, studies on the deposition of airborne MPs, particularly in Southern African regions, have received less attention. As such, the current study aimed at investigating the atmospheric deposition of MPs across three different environments, namely urban, rural and forest in the Thulamela Local Municipality, Limpopo, South Africa. We hypothesised that MP deposition will exhibit significant differences between different environments, with the urban environment having the highest MP deposition fluxes due to the dense population in the area and high human activities. The study results showed that MP deposition fluxes varied significantly across the environments, ranging from 90.51 ± 15.19 – 355.64 ± 47.65 particles/m2/day, with an overall average of 211.87 ± 31.44 particles/m2/day. The highest deposition was recorded in urban environment, while the lowest was observed in the forested environment. The overall deposited MPs were mainly transparent fibres and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Furthermore, MP deposition found in the forest environment demonstrated a strong positive correlation with rainfall, suggesting that rainfall events play a significant role in the transporting and deposition of MP. The study further shed light on the possible fate of urban and rural atmospheric deposition, which has implications for pristine environments, indicating the transport and potential ecological impacts of MP pollution even in less populated and isolated environments.
Lip and oral cavity cancer in Iran from 1990 to 2019 based on the global burden of disease study
Abstract The global burden of disease (GBD) provides valid and reliable assessments of the burden of various diseases. The present study aimed to evaluate the trends of incidence, mortality, and morbidity of lips and oral cavity cancers (LOCC) in Iran from 1990 to 2019 according to GBD 2019 data. Indicators including prevalence, incidence, death, years of life lost (YLL), years lived with disability (YLD), disability adjusted life years (DALY), and mortality-to-incidence ratio (MIR) for two genders and three age groups including 15–49 years, 50–69 years, and 70 + years in Iran were extracted from GBD 2019/calculated. The annual percentage changes of different indicators were analyzed. A joinpoint regression analysis was used to examine the pattern of changes. LOCC incidence in Iran has increased during the studied period, in both genders and all age groups. The average annual percent change (AAPC) of incidence increase was much higher in women (1.36) than in men (0.007), while the highest growth was observed in middle-aged women from 2010 to 2015 (6.9). The general trend (AAPC (Confidence interval (CI)) of YLL in total patients (-0.20 (-0.23, -0.17)), and DALY in total patients (-0.17 (-0.21, -0.14)) had a significant decrease. However, YLL in women (0.48 (0.44, 0.50)) and DALY in women (0.51 (0.48, 0.54)) significantly increased. Moreover, MIR has been declining during the studied period except for the time range of 2002 to 2010, in each of the two sexes (-0.46 in men and − 0.64 in women) and both together (-0.53). A declining trend of YLL/DALY/MIR, and an improvement in screening/diagnosis/treatment/patient care of LOCC in Iran has happened that still needs to be improved. Due to the increase in incidence/mortality/morbidity of LOCC in Iranian women, risk factors exposure and disease screening should be followed seriously.
Quality of routine health and nutrition data in Ethiopia: A systematic review
Background High-quality data are vital for informed decision-making, enhancing population health, and achieving comprehensive insights. However, there is limited understanding of the consistency and reliability of routine Health Management Information System (HMIS) including nutrition data across diverse regions in Ethiopia. This study systematically reviewed the existing literature to address these knowledge gaps. Methods We systematically searched PubMed, HINARI, and Google Scholar for studies published from 2015 onwards to assess HMIS, including nutrition data quality in Ethiopia. The evaluations focused on completeness, consistency, and timeliness metrics defined by the WHO. We included diverse regional studies without indicator restrictions, prioritized data quality metrics as primary outcomes, and explored qualitative reasons for poor data quality as secondary outcomes. Results Of the 1790 papers screened, 25 met the inclusion criteria. The completeness of reporting varied widely among studies (50%–100%), with only 21% (4 out of 19) exceeding 90%. The consistency ranged from 38.9% to 90.5%, with only 6% of studies reporting internal consistency above 90%. Other consistency issues included lack of external consistency, indicator discrepancies, and outliers. Timeliness ranged from 41.9% to 93.7%, with 54% of studies reporting below 80%. In addition to the lack of studies addressing nutrition data, the quality was no better than other components of HMIS. The major factors contributing to poor data quality were human resource shortages, insufficient capacity building, behavioural influences, and infrastructural deficits. Conclusion The HMIS including nutrition data in Ethiopia, exhibited deficiencies in completeness, consistency, and timeliness, which were largely, attributed to capacity and resource constraints. Interventions should prioritize resource allocation, staff training, supervision, and feedback mechanisms to enhance data quality, thereby improving decision-making processes and population health outcomes.
A clinical trial of curcumin effect in comparison to metronidazole on the treatment of bacterial vaginosis
Assessing the potential for fall armyworm exchanges between the two American continents across the Mexico-Central America land bridge
The fall armyworm is a major agricultural pest of corn and multiple other crops. A native of the Western Hemisphere it is now a global concern after its discovery in Africa in 2016 and subsequent infestations in Asia and Australia. A defining characteristic of fall armyworm is its capacity for long distance migration, first documented for populations in North America and assumed to occur elsewhere. This trait increases the risk that phenotypes harmful to agriculture, such as pesticide resistance, that arise in one location can rapidly disseminate to even geographically distant populations. This study examines the extent to which the Mexico-Central America land bridge serves as a pathway for gene flow between the fall armyworm from the two American continents. The work builds on previous surveys in Mexico that suggest possible geographical or meteorological barriers limiting mass population movements. Fall armyworm collections from Mexico were analyzed for patterns of genetic variation and these were correlated with modeling of climate suitability, the locations of major corn production, and wind-dependent dispersal projections. Significant but transient genetic structure was found in Mexico consistent with climate suitability and air transport projections that support localized dispersal behavior rather than long-distance movements. The results indicate the movement of fall armyworm through Mexico does not involve migratory movements of mass populations as observed in the United States. This suggests that the exchange of fall armyworm between the two Americas across the Central America land bridge is limited in scope and frequency.
A novel curdlan based desiccant coated heat exchanger for efficient dehumidification
Motivated reasoning in the field: polarization of prose, precedent, and policy in U.S. Circuit Courts, 1891–2013
This study explores politically motivated reasoning among U.S. Circuit Court judges over the past 120 years, examining their writing style and use of previous case citations in judicial opinions. Employing natural language processing and supervised machine learning, we scrutinize how judges’ language choices and legal citations reflect partisan slant. Our findings reveal a consistent, albeit modest, polarization in citation practices. More notably, there is a significant increase in polarization within the textual content of opinions, indicating a stronger presence of motivated reasoning in their prose. We also examine the impact of heightened scrutiny on judicial reasoning. On divided panels and as midterm elections draw near, judges show an increase in dissent votes while decreasing in polarization in both writing and citation practices. Furthermore, our study explores polarization dynamics among judges who are potential candidates for Supreme Court promotion. We observe that judges on the shortlist for Supreme Court vacancies demonstrate greater polarization in their selection of precedents.“I pay very little attention to legal rules, statutes, constitutional provisions ... The first thing you do is ask yourself — forget about the law — what is a sensible resolution of this dispute? ... See if a recent Supreme Court precedent or some other legal obstacle stood in the way of ruling in favor of that sensible resolution. ... When you have a Supreme Court case or something similar, they’re often extremely easy to get around.” (An Exit Interview with Richard Posner, The New York Times, Sep. 11, 2017).
The phenotypic and genetic spectrum of AKT3-related neurodevelopmental condition
Migrative armadillo optimization enabled a one-dimensional quantum convolutional neural network for supply chain demand forecasting
Demand forecasting is a quite challenging task, which is sensitive to several factors such as endogenous and exogenous parameters. In the context of supply chain management, demand forecasting aids to optimize the resources effectively. In recent years, numerous methods were developed for Supply Chain (SC) demand forecasting, which posed several limitations related to inadequate handling of dynamic time series patterns and data requirement problems. Thus, this research proposes a Migrative Armadillo Optimization-enabled one-dimensional Quantum convolutional neural network (MiA + 1D-QNN) for effective demand forecasting. The Migrative Armadillo Optimization (MAO) algorithm effectively optimizes the hyperparameters of the model. Specifically, the 1D-QNN approach offers exponential speed in the forecasting tasks as well as provides accurate prediction. Furthermore, the K-nearest Neighbor imputation technique fills the missing values, which preserves the data integrity as well as reliability. The experimental outcomes attained using the proposed model achieved a correlation of 0.929, Mean Square Error (MSE) of 7.34, Mean Absolute Error of 1.76, and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 2.71 for the supply chain analysis dataset. For DataCo smart SC for big data analysis dataset, the MiA + 1D-QNN model achieved the correlation of 0.957, Mean Square Error (MSE) of 6.00, Mean Absolute Error of 1.62, and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 2.45.
Ratio of water to cement and supplementary cementitious materials on mechanical and impact resistance properties of reactive powder concrete
Abstract Reactive powder concrete (RPC) is a novel high-performance building material widely used in large-scale engineering structures due to its superior mechanical properties and durability. However, structural failure can still occur under dynamic load impacts. Therefore, optimizing the mechanical properties and impact resistance of RPC remains a critical issue for enhancing its engineering applications. In this study, the mechanical properties and impact resistance of RPC were investigated by adjusting the water-cement ratio and incorporating supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), such as fly ash microspheres (FAM) and silica fume (SF). The effects of these adjustments on water absorption, strength, and impact resistance were assessed. Three water-cement ratios (0.16, 0.18, and 0.20) and various proportions of FAM and SF were selected to evaluate water absorption, compressive strength, bending strength, and impact resistance. The results indicated that reducing the water-cement ratio enhanced the densification of the concrete, reduced water absorption, and improved both compressive and bending strength. Specifically, when the water-cement ratio was 0.16 and FAM and SF were synergistically incorporated, the compressive strength reached 134.4 MPa, the bending strength reached 16.86 MPa, and the impact resistance was 22,838.4 J. Impact test results revealed that combining a low water-cement ratio with an appropriate amount of SCMs effectively increased energy absorption capacity and significantly slowed crack propagation. Analysis based on the Weibull distribution model demonstrated a more pronounced probability distribution of the number of impacts, suggesting that the optimization measures improved the impact resistance of RPC.
A randomized controlled trial of a compassion-centered spiritual health intervention to improve hospital inpatient outcomes
Background Inpatient medical settings lack evidence-based spiritually integrated interventions to address patient care needs within a pluralistic religious landscape. To address this gap, CCSH™ (Compassion-Centered Spiritual Health) was developed to leverage the skillsets of healthcare chaplains to improve patient outcomes through spiritual consultation. Here, we report the results of a randomized, wait-list controlled, pre-registered (NCT03529812) study that evaluated the impact of CCSH on patient-reported depression and explored putative mediators of CCSH’s effects. Method Chaplain residents were randomized to be trained in CCSH as part of their clinical pastoral education (CPE) residency in the fall (n = 8) or spring semester (n = 8). After fall training, all residents provided spiritual consultations with hospitalized patients (n = 119; n = 54 seen by CCSH-trained chaplains). Those not yet trained to deliver CCSH provided a traditional consult. Patients’ pre-consult distress was measured using the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Distress Thermometer, and post-consult depression was measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Consults were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, and we conducted linguistic analyses using LIWC 2015 software to quantify chaplain linguistic behavior. Results Patients seen by CCSH-trained chaplains had lower post-consult depression scores (M = 4.10, SD = 5.04) than patients who were seen by wait-listed chaplains (M = 6.12, SD = 5.08), after adjusting for pre-consult distress (p = .048). There was also a significant relationship between post-consult depression and chaplain LIWC clout scores (r = -0.24, p = .017), a linguistic measure thought to reflect the expressive confidence and other-oriented focus of the speaker. An exploratory mediation model revealed an indirect effect of CCSH on patient depression through chaplain clout language b = -0.11 (90% CI, -.257, -.003). Implications These data suggest that CCSH decreases patient depression among inpatients, in part due to CCSH-trained chaplains’ use of more inclusive, confident, and other-oriented language. We connect these findings with current understandings of effective clinical linguistic behavior and reflect on what this work may mean for integrated spiritual health care.
Electrical load forecasting in power systems based on quantum computing using time series-based quantum artificial intelligence
The transformation pathways and optimization of conditions for preparation minor ginsenosides from Panax notoginseng root by the fungus Aspergillus tubingensis
Minor ginsenosides exhibit enhanced pharmacological effects in comparison to the major ginsenosides. However, the natural content of minor ginsenosides in plants is typically insufficient to satisfy clinical demand. Therefore, we investigated the biotransformation of the major ginsenosides in Panax notoginseng to minor ginsenosides by the fungus Aspergillus tubingensis. The transformation products were analyzed using TLC, HPLC, and LC-MS techniques to propose the biotransformation pathways of major ginsenosides. A. tubingensis was found to transform the main ginsenosides into 15 minor ginsenosides, inculding (R/S)-Rg3, Rk1, Rg5, F2, (R/S)-Rh1, Rk3, Rh4, (R/S)-Rg2, F4, Rg6 and (R/S)-R2. The transformation reactions encompassed isomerization, hydrolysis and dehydration. We have also optimized the reaction temperature and pH for the crude enzyme extracted from this fungus, which has a molecular weight of 66 kDa. Based on our current knowledge, this transformative characteristic of A. tubingensis was initially documented for the concurrent transformation of PPD and PPT type saponins in P. notoginseng. This method of preparing minor saponins will be valuable for the development of P. notoginseng as a traditional medicinal material.
Real time NL UPD estimation method based on a sliding time window
Modulating effects of mycotoxin and oxidized oil on intestinal microbiota in broiler chickens
Climatic change and increased use of alternative sources of feed ingredients could influence poultry production. Mycotoxin and oxidized oil are two contaminations that may occur in chicken feed as a result of climate change and use of alternative feed ingredients, and these factors may have differential and potentially additive effects on birds’ intestinal microbiota. The study objective was to determine the main effects of corn, oil quality, and their interaction on ileal content, ileal scrapings, cecal content, and whole cecum (content and tissue) microbiota in broiler chickens. Broiler chickens were raised for 21 days post-hatch and fed diet made with regular or mycotoxin-contaminated corn (7,959 ppb of deoxynivalenol, 2.1 ppm of aflatoxin, 23,200 ppb of fumonisin, and 1,403 ppb of zearalenone), and regular or oxidized (148 meq/kg) oil. Bacterial genomic DNA was extracted and sequenced targeting the variable (V3-V4) region of the 16S gene. The bioinformatic and statistical analysis of the microbiota data showed mycotoxin and mycotoxin by oxidized oil interaction increased the richness and evenness in the ileal content and only evenness in the cecal content. Mycotoxin and mycotoxin by oxidized oil interaction also increased beta diversity based on the variability in microbial community in the ileal content while increasing the abundance of bacterial taxa, including Streptomyces and Escherichia-Shigella, and predicted pathways related to RNA and DNA synthesis (Mycothiol and pyrimidine deoxyribonucleotides synthesis) and redox regulation (ergothioneine biosynthesis) in ileal content and pathways related to glycol metabolism and degradation and amino acids degradation were increased in the cecal content. Streptomyces has been associated with mycotoxin detoxication, and its increase could reduce the negative effects of mycotoxins contrary to Escherichia-Shigella, which has been negatively correlated with weight gain in chickens. These results show that mycotoxin alone and its combination with oxidized oil affect bacterial diversity and abundance mostly in the ileum content and predicted metabolic pathways across intestinal sections.
Novel AI-powered computational method using tensor decomposition for identification of common optimal bin sizes when integrating multiple Hi-C datasets
Anticryptosporidial action mechanisms of Launaea spinosa extracts in Cryptosporidium parvum experimentally infected mice in relation to its UHPLC-MS metabolite profile and biochemometric tools
Background Cryptosporidium parvum, a leading cause of diarrhea, is responsible for millions of food and waterborne illnesses in humans and animals worldwide. Launaea spinosa (Asteraceae family) is a common herb found in the desert of the Mediterranean region, encompassing the peninsula of Sinai. Traditionally, it has been utilized for managing gastrointestinal issues and inflammation. Methods and findings The present study aimed to assess Launaea spinosa (LS) extracts viz. ethyl acetate (LS-EtOAc), ethanol (LS-EtOH), and n-butanol (LS-BuOH), of different polarities against C. parvum in experimentally infected mice based on immunological, biochemical, histo- and immunohistochemical assays. Extracts were characterized via UHPLC-ESI-LIT-Orbitrap-MS and metabolite profiles were subjected to correlation modeling with bioactivities via supervised Partial Least Square (PLS) to identify active agents. Most L. spinosa extracts reduced fecal C. parvum oocyst count and mucosal burden (P < 0.05) than untreated infected mice, with LS-BuOH (200 mg/kg) exerting the highest reduction percentage (97%). These extracts increased immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels in infected and treated mice at all examined days post treatment. Also, the highest Interferon-Gamma (IFN-γ) and Interleukin-15 (IL-15) levels were obtained after 10 days of post inoculation (dPI), which were restored to a healthy state after 21 days, concurrent with a decrease in Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-α) (P < 0.001). The increased liver enzyme (alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase) levels with infection were likewise reduced with extract administration. The LS extracts caused a significant increase in antioxidant glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase (P < 0.001). Examination of colon tissue revealed that infected-treated mice with LS extracts exhibited a reduction in the expression of cleaved caspase-3, damage score, and degenerative changes. Metabolite profiling of different L. spinosa extracts led to the identification of 86 components, primarily phenolic acids, flavonoids, triterpenoid saponins, and fatty acids, with the first report of sulfated triterpenoid saponins in Launaea genus. PLS regression analysis revealed that bioeffects were significantly positioned close to LS-BuOH extract (R2: 0.9) mostly attributed to triterpenoid saponins and flavonoid glycosides. Conclusions This study demonstrated potential anti-cryptosporidial effects of LS extracts, especially LS-BuOH, suggesting its potential for inclusion in future nutraceuticals aimed at C. parvum treatment.
Visualization of the local dipole moment at the Si(111) surface using DFT calculations
Acute psychological stress does not influence joint position reproduction performance in the elbow joint
Background Proprioceptive accuracy is an important aspect of motor functioning thus understanding how the stress response affects it can broaden our knowledge about the effects of stress on motor performance. There has been published only one quasi-experimental study on this topic to date, reporting a negative association between stress and proprioceptive accuracy. The aim of the present study was to explore whether the stress response influences proprioceptive accuracy in a randomized and controlled experimental setting. Method Participants (Mage = 20.4 yrs, SDage = 1.91 yrs) were randomly assigned to a stress (n = 29) and a control (n = 28) group. Psychological stress was induced via an online quiz involving time pressure and instant feedback on performance. Participants’ perceived (state anxiety) and physiological (heart rate, heart rate variability, skin conductance level) stress response and proprioceptive accuracy (the active and passive version of the Joint Position Reproduction test for the elbow joint) were measured before and after the experimental manipulation. Results The quiz substantially increased only participants’ perceived stress however, proprioceptive accuracy was not impacted by the experimental manipulation. Conclusion Perceived stress does not impact proprioceptive accuracy.