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Microwave synthesized and laser activated hyaluronic/polyacrylate/basil seed cloud seeding glaciogenic/hygroscopic nanocomposite
Clinical experience of genome-wide non-invasive prenatal testing as a first-tier screening test in a cohort of 59,771 pregnancies
Objective Genome-wide non-invasive prenatal testing (GW-NIPT) for prenatal screening has been widely implemented. However, the related clinical data is still insufficient. Here, we evaluated the clinical performance of GW-NIPT as a first-tier screening test for detecting fetal aneuploidy and copy number variation (CNV). Methods The study included 59,877 pregnant women who underwent GW-NIPT at Shenzhen Baoan Women’s and Children’s Hospital, China, from November 2017 to May 2021. NIPT was performed on the BGISEQ-500 platform. Fetal karyotype analysis, chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) and fluorescence in situ hybridization were used for invasive diagnostic procedures, and postnatal outcomes were collected. Results Among 59,877 pregnant women who underwent GW-NIPT, 59,771 were successfully tested. Of these, 499 (0.83%) were identified with 504 high-risk fetal chromosomal abnormalities, including 5 cases each carrying two distinct abnormalities. Follow-up analysis demonstrated that GW-NIPT sensitivity exceeded 97% for fetal aneuploidies and was 63.6% for CNV (≥5 Mb). The positive predictive values for T21, T18, T13, sex chromosome aneuploidy, rare autosomal aneuploidy, and CNV (≥5 Mb) were calculated as 83.1%, 25.8%, 10.3%, 51.9%, 2.0%, and 33.9%, respectively. For confirmed fetal mosaicism, the detection rate of NIPT was 70.6%, which was consistent with that of CMA (70.6%). Conclusions GW-NIPT has high sensitivity in screening fetal aneuploidy and moderate clinical utility in detecting CNV and fetal mosaicism, demonstrating that GW-NIPT holds significant application value in current and future prenatal screening procedures.
Beet root carbon dots cellulose sulfate film as a novel naked eye pH sensor for chromium and bacterial detection in tomatoes
Abstract This study presents the development and characterization of a novel nitrogen doped carbon dots cellulose sulfate-carboxymethyl cellulose composite film (N–CDs-CS-CMC) for multifunctional applications in tomato packaging and sensing. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed a significant enhancement in polarity (29.19 Debye) and a reduced energy gap (0.019 eV) for the composite compared to CS-CMC, indicating improved molecular interactions and enhanced charge transfer. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed a surface with smaller, more uniform pores (11.93–25.45 μm), increasing surface area and enhancing sensing capabilities. The N–CDs-CS-CMC film exhibited potent antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans, with inhibition zones of 20, 22, and 19 mm, respectively, and demonstrated distinct fluorescence patterns upon bacterial interaction, enabling pathogen-specific detection. Incorporating beetroot (BR) within N–CDs preparation method rendered the film pH-responsive, showing color changes from brown/reddish in alkaline to yellow in acidic environments. Tomatoes wrapped with the N–CDs-CS-CMC film exhibited a 10-day shelf life, compared to 4 days for CS-CMC. Furthermore, the film underwent rapid decolorization to yellow and increased tomato translucency upon exposure to chromium, indicating its potential for heavy metal detection. These results demonstrate the N–CDs-CS-CMC film’s efficacy as a multifunctional material for enhanced food packaging, integrating antimicrobial properties, bacterial and chromium sensing, and pH monitoring for improved food safety and quality.
An integrated model of threshold-based scaling and fractional admission controlling to improve resource utilization efficiency in 5G core networks
User Plane Function (UPF) is considered a bridge between User Equipment (UE) and Data Networks (DN) in the 5G core network. A UPF instance can manage multiple Packet Data Unit (PDU) sessions, and there are usually various UPF instances deployed to serve PDU session requests. One requirement is utilizing system resources effectively while ensuring stable system performance. Specifically, the need to optimize unused UPF instances to reduce system costs. The paper proposes a fractional admission controlling (FAC) mechanism and integrates it with a Markov chain-based analytical model for threshold-based scaling for UPF instances (called TSUPF-FAC), in which two additional thresholds are added to control UPF instances globally in order to optimize resource utilization. A threshold-based scaling and fractional admission controlling (TS-FAC) algorithm is developed and implemented in Kubernetes-based Open5GS. The simulation results show a similarity between the analytical and experimental results, in which the analytical model helps to determine the admission thresholds for the best performance of TSUPF-FAC, as measured by metrics such as the number of idle UPF instances and system utilization.
Perception of Families and Caregivers of Patients with Substance Use Disorder in the Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Analysis
Author Correction: Evaluating the COVID‑19 vaccination program in Japan, 2021 using the counterfactual reproduction number
Implementation of oral health evidence-based practices in early care education settings across the U.S. during different COVID-19 periods
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted oral health practices in early care education (ECE) centers. This study describes the implementation of oral health evidence-based practices (EBP) in ECE centers enrolled in the web-based Go NAPSACC program pre-, during-, and post-COVID-19 stay-at-home (SAH) orders. This repeated cross-sectional study analyzed retroactive data from three types of programs (n = 1,490), that participated in Go NAPSACC oral health modules between January 2017 and April 2024: Head Start (n = 154), family child care home (FCCH; n = 540), and center-based (n = 796). Programs that did not use the Oral Health module (n = 10,425) and had duplicate registrations (n = 91) were excluded. The analysis focused on EBP total score and percentage of EBP met scores. We found significant differences in oral health EBP total and EBP met scores between program type (p < 0.001). Head Start programs had statistically significant higher EBP total percentage scores (81.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 78.5, 85.2; p < 0.0001) than FCCH programs (69.5, 95% CI = 67.1, 71.8; p < 0.0001), and center-based programs (59.5, 95% CI = 57.3, 61.7). Similarly, Head Start programs had higher EBP met scores (62.0, 95% CI = 57.7, 66.3; p < 0.0001), than FCCH programs (49.7, 95% CI = 46.7, 52.7; p < 0.0001), and center-based programs (36.9, 95% CI = 34.1, 39.8). We observed no statistically significant differences among programs based on SAH order period for neither EBP total scores (period, p = 0.761; interaction between program type and period, p = 0.788) nor EBP met scores (period, p = 0.178; interaction between program type and SAH order period, p = 0.293). These findings suggest that ECE programs struggle to meet oral health EBP across the three study periods, and the observed differences across program type was not explained by SAH orders.
A Prospective Study to Assess the Profile and Outcome of Acute Paraquat Poisoning in a Tertiary Care Hospital of West Bengal
Factors associated with shock-refractory prehospital cardiac arrest
Tasmanian devil whale optimization (TDWO) is introduced for secure video transmission in 5G networks
With the extensive growth of the web as well as cellular networks, secure multimedia transmission through cellular networks is needed. Currently, fifth-generation (5G) cellular networks are utilized to perform secure multimedia transmission. Numerous studies have been conducted to design efficient resource allocation approaches for secure video transmission in 5G cellular networks. However, this approach does not offer complete video security related to security against dynamic eavesdroppers or patent defilements. Thus, a resource allocation algorithm named Tasmanian devil whale optimization (TDWO) is introduced for secure video transmission in 5G networks. Here, the recorded educational videos are considered and are transmitted over 5G network transmission resources initially. The resources in 5G networks are allocated via the TDWO model by considering fitness parameters such as the data rate, achievable data rate, and quality of experience (QoE). Here, the deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) model is deployed for the prediction of the QoE in resource allocation. Moreover, extensive experiments are performed to identify the resource allocation performance of the designed TDWO model. The experimental results prove that the TDWO resource allocation algorithm yields significant experimental outcomes, with throughput, bit error rate (BER), QoE and fitness values of 25.557 Mbps, 0.021, 18.332 and 0.013, respectively.
Author Response: The Advantage of Early and Progressive Rehabilitation over Conventional Physiotherapy in Noninvasive Ventilation Patients Must Be Confirmed by Appropriate Studies
Optimizing phosphorus released in calcareous soil amended with bone char and bone ash using response surface methodology and desirability function
Abstract This study evaluated the optimization of phosphorus (P) released in calcareous soil-amended with bone ash (BA) and bone char (BC) compared to phosphate rock (PR) and single superphosphate (SSP) using a central composite design and desirability function. Incubation experiment was conducted (≃30 °C) to investigate the effects of P-levels (PL, 1000–4000 mg P/kg soil) and incubation time (14–90 days) on available-P, soluble-P, -Ca²⁺, -Mg²⁺, and soil-pH. Wetting and drying cycles were applied using distilled water (DW) and acidified water (AW). Results revealed a significant increase in soil phosphorus availability and solubility over time, particularly at higher PL. AW was more effective than DW in increasing available-P and soluble-P, -Ca²⁺, and -Mg²⁺, while reducing soil-pH and incubation time. Regardless of SSP behavior due to its high solubility, maximum amounts of available-P in BA-, BC-, and PR-amended soil for DW application were 40.92, 31.53, and 16.74 mg/kg at 40.6, 55.8, and 14 days, respectively, with PL of 3850 mg/kg for BA and 4000 mg/kg for BC and PR. For soluble-P, maximum amounts were 3.1, 2.62, and 0.85 mg/kg with AW application after incubation times of 36.8, 63.4, and 90 days, respectively, which were higher than DW application. BA-amended soil with DW and AW applications exhibited optimal responses for available and soluble phosphorus, higher than BC-amendment. PL and incubation time interactions were pronounced in enhancing the studied parameters. The study concluded that AW, simulating rhizosphere acidification, significantly optimized P-release and related parameters compared to DW. This perspective requires further research for broader applications, especially for its applications in large-scale agricultural systems. Generally, BA and BC redistributed the phosphorus solubility and availability in soil, subsequently enhancing soil fertility and sustainability as an eco-friendly phosphate fertilizer.
Correction: Individual differences in associative/semantic priming: Spreading of activation in semantic memory and epistemically unwarranted beliefs
Is ChatGPT a Reliable Auxiliary Tool in Basic Life Support Training and Education? A Cross-sectional Study
Intravenous lidocaine enhances the efficacy of ondansetron and dexamethasone in postoperative vomiting prophylaxis among high-risk children
Correction: The role of renal and liver function in clinical ctDNA testing
Blood Product Transfusion in Adult Intensive Care Unit: An Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine Position Paper
Lymph node transcriptomic profiles suggest susceptibility to bleomycin-induced pulmonary toxicity in classic hodgkin lymphoma
English validation of the Multidimensional Scale of Motives for Postponing Parenthood (MSMPP-18-EN): Factorial structure, psychometric properties, and correlates
Introduction While the literature on deferred parenthood is rich in analyses of this topic from a sociological and medical point of view, psychological research is in the minority. The analysis also shows that there are no questionnaires to measure motives for postponing parenthood. This gap is filled by the Multidimensional Scale of Motives for Postponing Parenthood (MSMPP-18) which assesses the motivational forces that may lead to the decision to postpone parenthood. Given that most studies and articles on deferred parenthood are reported in English, the two main goals of Studies 1–3 reported in the present research were to: 1) validate the original Polish version of the MSMPP-18 into English; 2) confirm its convergent validity. Methods The original version of the MSMPP-18 was translated into English by two independent psychologists fluent in academic English using a traditional forward-backward translation technique. The factorial structure of the MSMPP-18-EN and its psychometric characteristics were verified through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The criterion validity of the scale was examined using the correlation between the motives for postponing parenthood and a nomological set of variables in Studies 1–3 (total N = 664; n1 = 247; n2 = 239; n3 = 178). Results The CFA statistics provided empirical evidence that the MSMPP-18-EN has good fit indices across Studies 1–3, both for the first-order model and the second-order model. The research confirmed that the English-language version of the scale reveals factors analogous to the original scale: 1) feeling of uncertainty and incompetence; 2) self-focus; 3) parenthood as a burden; 4) fear of change; 5) financial security concerns; and 6) worry about a child’s future. The values of Cronbach’s alpha (Studies 1–3: 0.75–0.95; 0.68–0.93; 0.77–0.93), McDonald’s Omega (Studies 1–3: 0.76–0.96; 0.73–0.93; 0.79–0.93), and CR (Studies 1–3: 0.89–0.97; 0.80–0.99; 0.78–0.99) displayed good internal reliability. Data from Studies 1–3 also showed that procrastination, future anxiety, need for closure, negative emotions toward God, and family disfunction positively and significantly correlated with motives for delayed parenthood and its overall score. On the other hand, motives of postponed parenthood were negatively and significantly correlated with psychological capital, social support, positive emotions toward God, life satisfaction, self-efficacy, and self-regulation. Conclusions The presented validation of what is probably the first scale measuring the motives for deferred parenthood allows us to assume that the MSMPP-18-EN tool in the English version meets the theoretical and empirical criteria of a good questionnaire.