Browse Articles
Discover research articles across all indexed journals
Breast cancer screening practices during a multifaceted crisis: Data from Lebanon
Public health efforts towards breast cancer (BC) prevention have been largely absent from healthcare planning in modern-day Lebanon. Mammography screening campaigns have been present since 2002, but their implementation has been inconsistent in terms of pricing, locations, and the centers involved. In 2020, Lebanon was caught in the whirlwind of the Covid pandemic while facing a brewing economic crisis and a direct hit to the capital’s center of commerce. The impact of the complex situation created by these crises on BC screening remains to be identified, given the high prevalence of BC and the survival benefits provided by early diagnosis. Therefore, we assessed BC screening practices of 400 women aged 35–75 with no prior history of BC from the Lebanese population between January and June 2023. One tenth of participants halted mammography screening, while more than half of participants had continued or improved their BC screening practices after 2020. Women with an unfavorable attitude towards general health check-ups and single participants were more vulnerable to experience change in their BC screenings. Contrarily, women with relatives affected by BC and those financially stable to cover basic needs and more had higher proclivities to undergo BC screening. In this vein, future campaigns should nurture a culture that promotes general health check-ups while still offering financial support. These campaigns should be clearly advertised and communicated to the general public, especially in terms of cost and centers involved. Additional studies are needed to elucidate the determinants that can influence the attitude towards general health check-ups.
Association of ventricular arrhythmias with lamotrigine: an observational cohort study
Factors underlying international doctoral students’ English academic writing abilities
The ability to write academic texts in English requires both knowledge of academic writing conventions and expertise in academic discourse to address the needs and expectations of the target academic audience in respective disciplines (Hyland, 2018). This study investigates the relationship between non-native English-speaking doctoral students’ English academic writing abilities and various factors, including their English literacy background, research knowledge, ability to read and critically evaluate academic texts, coping with emotional challenges such as stress and anxiety, as well as feedback and motivation. A total of 255 international doctoral students, speaking 49 different first languages, participated in the study. Data were collected via a survey with items presented on a 1–6 Likert scale following Dörnyei and Dewaele (2022). The analysis revealed the significant impact of English literacy background, initial academic writing abilities, and research knowledge on students’ self-assessment of academic writing skills and research competence at the outset of their doctoral studies. While prior experience in academic writing proved beneficial, it did not always translate into significant improvements in current writing abilities or research knowledge at later stages. Feedback from advisors and doctoral research course instructors emerged as vital components in supporting academic reading and motivation throughout their doctoral journey. However, the quality of peer feedback appeared to have less impact on students’ academic performance and psychological state. Overall, these findings underscore the complexity of factors influencing academic writing and research competence among NNES doctoral students, suggesting the importance of tailored support and interventions to enhance their scholarly development.
Soliton solutions to the generalized derivative nonlinear Schrödinger equation under the effect of multiplicative white noise and conformable derivative
Intermittent pneumatic compression therapy as a preventive measure for venous thromboembolism after total hip arthroplasty: A systematic review
Background Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a significant and avoidable complication that may occur after total hip arthroplasty (THA). Various mechanical and chemical prophylactic measures may mitigate this elevated risk of death and functional impairment. Consequently, early prevention of VTE is essential via the identification of related risk factors. Methods A search was performed using the databases of PubMed, ScienceDirect, PEDro, and Cochrane Library to get papers from 2004 to 2024 in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in English that included at least one group undergoing intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) treatment as a prophylactic intervention after total hip arthroplasty (THA) were included. This systematic review has been registered in PROSPERO. The quality evaluation of the included studies was conducted using the PEDro scale and the Cochrane risk of bias instrument. Result We selected 12 studies from a total of 733 based on predetermined criteria. A total of 2,352 patients of both genders underwent total hip arthroplasty, comprising 1,294 patients in the experimental group and 1,058 patients in the control group across the included studies. The results indicate that the combination of IPC and pharmaceutical agents was the most effective treatment for reducing VTE risk in patients who underwent THA. Conclusion IPC therapy is very effective in avoiding VTE, particularly when used in combination with pharmacological therapies after THA surgery. The best ways to lower the risk of VTE are to use both IPC and anticoagulants together. However, IPC alone may lower the risk of VTE compared to not using any prevention at all. In general, IPC is a crucial component of comprehensive VTE prevention strategies in THA.
Differential brain volume between obese and underweight cognitively normal older adults with frailty in the JPSC-AD
Anxiolysis for laceration repair in children: study protocol for an open-label multicenter adaptive trial (ALICE)
Background Lacerations are the most common traumatic reason for children to visit an emergency department (ED), accounting for almost half of all procedures performed. Children experience considerable distress during laceration repair, despite routine application of local anesthetic. Pharmacologic anxiolysis may mitigate the negative practice of forcefully restraining a child, however, evidence for the most effective agent is lacking. We aim to determine the most effective anxiolytic agent for laceration repair in children. Methods This is a multicentre, phase III, three-arm, adaptive, randomized, open-label, trial. We will include children 2–12 years with a single laceration requiring suture repair in the ED. Participants will be randomized to receive intranasal dexmedetomidine (IND) 3 mcg/kg, intranasal midazolam (INM) 0.4 mg/kg, or inhaled 50% nitrous oxide (N2O). The primary outcome is the weighted mean anxiolysis score using the Observational Scale of Behavioral Distress – Revised (OSBD-R) from initial positioning to tying of the last suture. Secondary outcomes include need for additional anxiolytic, need for physical restraint, adverse events (AEs), and delayed maladaptive behaviors. The primary analysis will be conducted by intention-to-treat. Results will report posterior means, standard deviations (SDs), and 95% high density posterior credible intervals for Total Distress Score on the OSBD-R. We will rank interventions based on the probability that an intervention is superior (Pbest) and the Surface Area Under the Cumulative Ranking Curve (SUCRA) to indicate relative anxiolytic efficacy. The mean difference in Total Distress Score and secondary outcomes will be estimated using Bayesian models. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval will be obtained from institutional review boards of the participating sites. Informed consent will be obtained from guardians of all participants in addition to assent from all participants. Study data will be submitted for publication. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT05383495
Strength of artificially frozen sand with low confining pressure under a three-dimensional stress path
Modified Couple Stress Theory for nonlinear primary resonance of FG-GPLRC cylindrical shells in thermal environment
A modified couple stress theory (MCST)-based microshell model for functionally graded graphene platelets reinforced composite (FG-GPLRC) is proposed for the first time to investigate the nonlinear forced vibration behavior of reinforced microshells subjected to extreme temperatures. To achieve this, the effective elastic modulus is derived using the modified Halpin–Tsai model, while the rule of mixtures is applied for density, Poisson’s ratio, and thermal expansion coefficients. The first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and von Karman strains are considered, and nonlinear governing partial differential equations (PDEs) are derived using Hamilton’s principle, which accounts for size effects and initial stresses induced by the thermal environment. The Galerkin method, coupled with the multiple timescale method (MSM), is employed to solve the PDEs and obtain the nonlinear frequency-amplitude curve for primary resonance. The accuracy of the method is validated by comparison with previous research. The study examines the influence of GPL weight fraction, thickness distribution, temperature variations, geometric ratios, and material length scale parameters on the amplitude-frequency curves of nanocomposite cylindrical microshells. The results show that increasing the GPL content and the material length scale parameter leads to higher resonance frequencies. Additionally, while the small-scale parameter amplifies nonlinearity, an increase in the GPL content, especially near the inner and outer surfaces of the shell, reduces the nonlinearity of the reinforced composite. These findings provide valuable benchmarks for evaluating the performance of alternative methods.
Deep learning based rapid X-ray fluorescence signal extraction and image reconstruction for preclinical benchtop X-ray fluorescence computed tomography applications
Abstract Recent research advances have resulted in an experimental benchtop X-ray fluorescence computed tomography (XFCT) system that likely meets the imaging dose/scan time constraints for benchtop XFCT imaging of live mice injected with gold nanoparticles (GNPs). For routine in vivo benchtop XFCT imaging, however, additional challenges, most notably the need for rapid/near-real-time handling of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) signal extraction and XFCT image reconstruction, must be successfully addressed. Here we propose a novel end-to-end deep learning (DL) framework that integrates a one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1D CNN) for rapid XRF signal extraction with a U-Net model for XFCT image reconstruction. We trained the models using a comprehensive dataset including experimentally-acquired and augmented XRF/scatter photon spectra from various GNP concentrations and imaging scenarios, including phantom and synthetic mouse models. The DL framework demonstrated exceptional performance in both tasks. The 1D CNN achieved a high coefficient-of-determination (R² > 0.9885) and a low mean-absolute-error (MAE < 0.6248) in XRF signal extraction. The U-Net model achieved an average structural-similarity-index-measure (SSIM) of 0.9791 and a peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) of 39.11 in XFCT image reconstruction, closely matching ground truth images. Notably, the DL approach (vs. the conventional approach) reduced the total post-processing time per slice from approximately 6 min to just 1.25 s.
Verification and application of deep learning models in daily sports activities of teenagers
With the development of smart wearable devices and deep learning (DL) technology, the monitoring and analysis of daily sports activities of teenagers face new opportunities. At present, traditional CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) models are mostly used for recognition in daily sports activities. It is difficult to capture the temporal relationship between action sequences, and the ability to express important features is weak, resulting in poor recognition accuracy. This paper took badminton as the object, based on the VGG16 (Visual Geometry Group 16) model, and adopted the advantages of the bidirectional learning time series information of the BiLSTM (Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory) model and the channel and regional feature representation of the CBAM (Convolutional Block Attention Module) module to verify and apply the recognition of badminton movements in daily sports for teenagers. The study first built and optimized the baseline model VGG16, removed the last three fully connected layers, and used VGG16 to extract the deep features of each frame of video image and output feature maps. The CBAM module was then embedded after the last convolutional layer of the VGG16 network, and the feature maps optimized by CBAM were flattened into a time series input vector. Finally, the BiLSTM model is introduced, and the CBAM and BiLSTM are connected in a cascade manner to capture the information of the previous and next dependencies in the video frame sequence and output the action classification results of badminton. The experiment is based on the badminton training dataset in the public dataset Roboflow to explore the action recognition performance in badminton in daily sports activities of teenagers. Experimental results show that the recognition accuracy of the VGG16-BiLSTM-CBAM model has reached 0.98, which is 0.08 higher than the benchmark model VGG16, and F1 has reached 0.96. Experimental results show that combined with the DL model VGG19 and the sequential model BiLSTM, the attention CBAM module can significantly improve the performance of action recognition in youth badminton, promote the safe conduct of sports activities, and provide a good reference for incorrect postures.
Publisher Correction: Tick salivary proteins metalloprotease and allergen-like p23 are associated with response to glycan α-Gal and mycobacterium infection
Clustering pattern of dwarf galaxies not predicted by models of cosmic structure formation
Assessing the impact of environmental laws and technological advancements on carbon dioxide mitigation in China’s mining industry
The present research examines the relationship between China’s mineral extraction-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and factors such as the legislative law, openness, green economic growth, FDI, technology innovation, and green patent from 1989 to 2020. Depending on statistics from the China Statistical Yearbook as well as other global databases, it finds the legislative law and openness contribute to sustainable mineral extracting in China. The efficacies of legislative laws can demonstrate by the substantial decreases in CO2 that occur in response to a one percent rise in these variables. Reducing carbon dioxide emissions is another positive association with the green growth index. The absence of green patents, innovation (patent applications), and foreign direct investment (FDI) unexpectedly reveals consequences on the environment. Improving the long-term sustainability of China’s mineral extracting sector should be a priority for policymakers. To achieve this, we need to reinforce legal frameworks, encourage green economic growth (GEG), integrate foreign direct investment (FDI) with sustainable methods, incentivised green innovations and promote the import of green technology.
First evidence of spinal arthropathy and congenital block of the cervical vertebrae in Temnospondyli
Experimental study on foaming characteristics and microstructure of self-expanding polymer grouting material under low-temperature conditions
Polymer grouting materials, due to their self expansion properties, have been widely used in repair engineering involving hydraulic structures and have become a new type of building material. The foaming characteristics of polymer grouting materials under low-temperature conditions directly influence their repair effectiveness in cold areas. In this study, a grouting test of the free expansion of the polymer grouting material in the vertical direction and a mold grouting test with all four sides constrained were performed under different low-temperature conditions. The structure and morphology of foam cells under different low-temperature conditions were examined via scanning electron microscopy. The test results indicated that as the temperature decreased, the volume of the foam gradually exhibited a cold shrinkage effect, and the surface temperature gradually decreased. For every 1°C decrease in temperature, the foaming volume decreases by an average of 40 cm3, and the surface temperature decreases by an average of 1.7°C. According to the foaming rate, the foaming process was divided into three stages: fast, slow, and stable foaming. Additionally, the internal temperature stress generated during the foaming process was a key factor that caused the foam to bulge outward. Under the condition where all four sides were constrained, the density of the foam formed gradually decreased as the temperature decreased. The foam cell was spherical. As the temperature decreased, the cell morphology became blurred, and the number of incomplete cell structures between the gaps increased. The research results will provide a reference for the polymer repair projects of hydraulic structures in cold regions.
Functional connectivity of the nucleus accumbens predicts clinical course in medication adherent and non-adherent adult ADHD
Abstract Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that persists into adulthood, contributing to a negative trajectory characterized by worsening symptoms, impaired daily functioning, and reduced quality of life over time. We studied seed-based functional connectivity (FC) as a predictive tool for ADHD’s clinical course. We conducted a longitudinal follow-up of 54 adult ADHD patients who underwent functionale magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). All patients received stimulant treatment during an initial run-in period. After an average of three years, only subjective responders adhered to treatment (n = 34), whereas non-adherent discontinued (n = 20). We reassessed patients to (1) evaluate the prediction of individual outcome by baseline fMRI and (2) to investigate differences in prediction by baseline fMRI according to long-term treatment vs. discontinuation. We investigated the relationship between nucleus accumbens’ (NAc) FC and symptom development. Reduced FC of the NAc to the default mode network (DMN) associated with higher initial symptom burden, whereas improvement correlated with reduced FC between the NAc and the salience network (SN). In contrast, higher NAc FC to the SN associated with better outcomes in patients receiving long-term treatment, while lower NAc FC to SN was associated with a positive prognosis in non-adherent patients. This work highlights the potential of dopaminergic FC as a prognostic factor in ADHD and the role of the NAc in its prognosis.
Trump wants to put humans on Mars — here’s what scientists think
Multivariate analyses of Aurignacian and Gravettian personal ornaments support cultural continuity in the Early Upper Palaeolithic
Traditionally, lithic artefacts have served as the principal proxy for the definition of archaeological cultures in the Upper Paleolithic. However, the culture-historical framework in use, constructed unsystematically and shaped by regional research traditions, features a number of widely acknowledged drawbacks. Here we use personal ornaments to explore the nature of Early Upper Paleolithic cultural entities and establish to what extent they represent distinct or evolving cultural adaptations. We present an analysis of an updated georeferenced dataset composed of personal ornaments coming from two key successive Upper Paleolithic technocomplexes, the Aurignacian (42–34,000 years ago) and the Gravettian (34–24,000 years ago). Using a range of multivariate statistics, we demonstrate that, at both European and regional scales, people belonging to these technocomplexes wore similar personal ornaments, though fully-shaped personal ornaments appear more different between technocomplexes. We additionally show that the variability of the Aurignacian ornaments suggests more fragmented cultural clusters compared to the Gravettian, implying more extensive symbolic networks in the latter. Despite a long-standing consensus based on other archaeological proxies, which emphasises the dissimilarity between these cultural entities, our results demonstrate the complex nature of Upper Paleolithic cultures which are characterised by discontinuities in economic and technical systems and continuity in the culturalisation of the body.