Browse Articles
Discover research articles across all indexed journals
Larval surveys reveal breeding site preferences of malaria vector Anopheles spp. in Zanzibar City
In Zanzibar City - the capital of the Zanzibar archipelago in Tanzania - the incidence of malaria has decreased over the past few decades due to standardized treatment protocols and public health interventions targeting adult mosquitoes. However, the incidence remains between 1–2%, and case numbers have increased over the past few years because of a continued influx of Plasmodium spp. from other malaria-endemic areas (including mainland Tanzania). Larviciding is a powerful tool to target mosquito populations and reduce the incidence of malaria. However, larvicidal strategies rely on knowledge of the breeding patterns of malaria vector mosquitoes. In Zanzibar City, no larval surveys have been done in the last few years. Our aim was to characterize Anopheles spp. breeding sites in Zanzibar City during the rainy season. We first conducted systematic larval surveys across 16 semi-permanent/permanent water bodies and 30 temporary water bodies. Then, we used principal component analysis and logistic regression to model the effects of physical/chemical parameters and rainfall on Anopheles presence. We found that Anopheles spp. prefer concrete, semi-permanent breeding sites with high levels of dissolved oxygen but are also found in natural sites after heavy rains. Our logistic regression model successfully predicted the presence of Anopheles larvae, achieving a positive predictive power of 65.7% and a negative predictive power of 88.8%. The data from our study suggest that Anopheles spp. have not yet adapted to more polluted breeding sites in Zanzibar City (as they have in some mainland locations). These results can inform targeted larvicidal strategies in Zanzibar City.
Research on dynamic modeling and control strategy of motor driven operating mechanism for 126 kV high voltage vacuum circuit breaker
Analysis of proposed carbon capture projects in the US power sector and co-location with environmental justice communities
In recent years, there has been a proliferation of new federal investments and policy support for “carbon management” technologies, such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), as a strategy to mitigate the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). The equity implications of deploying these technologies–particularly their impacts on low-income communities and communities of color, or environmental justice (EJ) communities–have been understudied. A prominent example of this is seen in the US power sector, where CCS has been proposed as a means to mitigate the carbon dioxide emissions of fossil fuel-fired power plants, one of the major sources of GHGs in the country. EJ community leaders alongside some environmental organizations and researchers have voiced deep concerns about how CCS may exacerbate environmental injustice, given that it is itself input-intensive and can prolong the life of polluting fossil fuel infrastructure, which is disproportionately sited in low-income communities and communities of color. To begin to fill the gap in analyses of the equity implications of carbon management, we conducted a spatial analysis of CCS projects proposed for the power sector and their co-location with EJ communities. Compiling a proposed project list from four CCS databases, we found that 33 of the 35 projects were located in EJ communities, and that additionally, 423 of the 497 (or 85%) EJ census block groups located within three miles of at least one proposed project currently face heightened environmental stress. These results illustrate both the feasibility and the necessity of analyzing the co-location of proposed CCS buildout in EJ communities, and add to the nascent body of literature evaluating the impacts of carbon management technologies such as CCS on these communities.
High bandwidth performance of newly designed multimode W-type microstructured plastic optical fibers with graded-index core distribution
Multi-class rice seed recognition based on deep space and channel residual network combined with double attention mechanism
Accurately recognizing rice seed varieties poses significant challenges due to their diverse morphological characteristics and complex classification requirements. Traditional image recognition methods often struggle with both accuracy and efficiency in this context. To address these limitations, this study proposes the Deep Space and Channel Residual Network with Double Attention Mechanism (RSCD-Net) to enhance the recognition accuracy of 36 rice seed varieties. The core innovation of RSCD-Net is the introduction of the Space and Channel Feature Extraction Residual Block (SCR-Block), which improves inter-class differentiation while minimizing redundant features, thereby optimizing computational efficiency. The RSCD-Net architecture consists of 16 layers of SCR-Blocks, structured into four convolutional stages with 3, 4, 6, and 3 units, respectively. Additionally, a Double Attention Mechanism (A2Net) is incorporated to enhance the network’s global receptive field, improving its capacity to distinguish subtle variations among seed types. Experimental results on a self-collected dataset demonstrate that RSCD-Net achieves an average accuracy of 81.94%, surpassing the baseline model by 4.16%. Compared with state-of-the-art models such as InceptionResNetV2, ConvNeXt, MobileNetV3, and Swin Transformer, RSCD Net has improved by 1.17%, 3%, 24.72%, and 13.22%, respectively, showcasing its superior performance. These findings confirm that RSCD-Net provides an effective and efficient solution for rice seed classification, offering a promising reference for addressing similar fine-grained recognition challenges in agricultural applications.
Association between triglyceride glucose body mass index and 1 year all cause mortality in stage 4 CKM syndrome patients
Evaluation of the 22G Franseen needle and 22G Lancet needle for endoscopic ultrasonography-guided tissue acquisition sampling in solid pancreatic lesions: Propensity score weighting
Background and Aim Advantages of endoscopic ultrasonography-guided tissue acquisition (EUS-TA) using a Lancet and Franseen needles have been evaluated and compared. However, little is known about the performance of each needle in diagnostic methods such as cytology and histology or the amount of blood contamination associated with each needle. This study aimed to compare the diagnostic yield and amount of blood contamination between two needles in patients with solid pancreatic lesions. Methods We collected data of consecutive patients who underwent first time EUS-TA of solid pancreatic lesions at Osaka Metropolitan University between Jan 2006 and Jan 2021 from the electronic medical records. We compared the main outcomes (histological diagnostic accuracy) between the Lancet and Franseen needle groups. The amounts of core tissue and blood contamination were evaluated using a scoring system. This retrospective comparative study was conducted at a single center. Results A total of 315 patients were divided into the Lancet (n = 200) and Franseen needle group (n = 115). The histological sensitivity and histological diagnostic accuracy of the Franseen needle was higher than that of Lancet needle (82.4% vs. 59.8%, respectively; odds ratio [OR], 2.29; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.21–4.35; p = 0.011). Multivariate analysis using inverse probability of treat weighting method revealed that the diagnostic performance of the Franseen needle was the significantly higher than the Lancet needle (OR, 2.74; 95% CI, 1.31–5.74; p = 0.007). The core tissue score of 4 was achieved in 53.3% of the Franseen group and 3.3% of the Lancet group (p < 0.001), while high blood contamination was observed in 53.3% and 40%, respectively (p = 0.089). Conclusion The histological accuracy and the amount of tissue by the Franseen needle are higher than those of the Lancet needle. Franseen needle could achieve high histological diagnostic accuracy even with the same blood contamination rate as that in Lancet needle.
New insight into teratogenic effects of (S)-thalidomide in zebrafish embryos growing inside the chorion and subjected to electric pulses
Abstract Studies of (S)-thalidomide were conducted on zebrafish embryos subjected to electroporation processes using a square wave pulse generator. The results showed that the electroporation increases the absorption of (S)-thalidomide through the chorion into the growing embryos, which was confirmed by increased thalidomide levels in the embryo bodies at different hours post-treatments using differential pulse voltammetry and controlled-growth mercury drop electrode techniques. (S)-thalidomide administered by electroporation produced structural body deformations in zebrafish embryos as showed by scanning electron microscopy studies. Detailed transmission electron microscopy analysis evidenced multiple deposits of the outer layer and translucencies in the chorion structure, which was also pronounced on the mitochondrial membranes. The results confirmed the spontaneous conversion of the (S)-thalidomide enantiomer to the (R)-enantiomer in embryos exposed to the (S)-thalidomide only and subjected to electroporation pulses. The electroporation was found as a promising method to increase the uptake of (S)-thalidomide in the developmental studies on early zebrafish embryos growing in the chorion.
A criterion for assessing obstacle-induced environmental complexity in multi-robot coverage exploration
In many applications, such as coverage exploration and search and rescue missions, accurately assessing environmental complexity is valuable for performance evaluation and algorithm adjustments. Despite this, in the context of multi-robot systems, quantifying environmental complexity caused by obstacles when using autonomous ground robots presents significant challenges. This research proposes a criterion for measuring environments’ obstacle-induced complexity in the context of autonomous multi-robot coverage exploration. The criterion rates the environment’s complexity numerically, where 0 denotes obstacle-free setups, and the value increases with obstacle-related effects, reaching a maximum of 1, representing the highest measurable complexity for the criterion. The proposed criterion is independent of robot hardware specifications and algorithm-specific aspects. Furthermore, it is independent of the environment’s size and the ratio of the area occupied by obstacles, enabling comparisons across various environments. Statistical analysis shows the metric performs well both on average and in single-case comparisons.
Performance validation of global MPPT for efficient power extraction through PV system under complex partial shading effects
Ovulatory and anovulatory cycle phase influences on QT interval dynamics during the menstrual cycle
Background Ovarian hormones affect cardiovascular health yet few sufficient-sized studies with reliable ovulatory documentation have assessed the QTc-hormonal relationship. This study investigated QTc changes across ovulatory and anovulatory menstrual cycle phases. Methods This prospective cohort investigation, a cardiac sub-study of the Menstruation and Ovulation Study 2 (MOS2), involved 62 healthy, regularly menstruating community-dwelling women during spontaneous menstrual cycles. Electrocardiographic recordings were obtained within-woman during different cycle phases: mid-follicular for all, and luteal (ovulatory) or premenstrual (anovulatory), documented by the validated Quantitative Basal Temperature© method. Fridericia’s formula rate-corrected the QT interval (QTc). A subsequent meta-analysis was conducted, pooling data from three additional studies to evaluate ovulatory follicular-luteal phase QTc changes. Results In the 26 ovulatory cycles, QTc minimally decreased from the mid-follicular to the luteal phases (383.0 ± 12.8 vs 382.6 ± 12.8 msec, P = .859). QTc in the 36 anovulatory cycles tended to increase from mid-follicular to premenstrual phases (381.7 ± 13.1 vs 385.0 ± 16.1 msec, P = .166). The meta-analysis in ovulatory cycles yielded a random-effects weighted mean QTc shortening of 1.67 msec (P = .53) in the luteal vs the follicular phase, aligning with our cohort data. Conclusion In confirmed ovulatory cycles, QTc changes were minimal, showing no meaningful luteal phase QTc shortening. QTc changes in anovulatory cycles were also insignificant, with a small QTc prolongation likely due to longer estradiol exposure not counterbalanced by progesterone. Under normal physiological conditions, QTc changes during the menstrual cycle are trivial, and menstrual status does not need to be considered when interpreting the QT interval.
Impact of the new round of Hukou system reforms on rural household development resilience in China
Assessing compliance to reporting mandates in glioblastoma-related clinical trials
Introduction Accurate and timely reporting of scientific knowledge is crucial to clinical research ethics. ClinicalTrials.gov allows researchers to register trials and report results to the public and scientific community. Despite FDA reporting mandates, compliance with the required 12-month window remains low. Given glioblastoma’s (GBM) aggressive nature, timely reporting is especially important for advancing research and benefiting patients. This study aimed to assess GBM trial reporting rates on ClinicalTrials.gov and identify factors related to non-compliance. Methods We utilized a previously published algorithm to identify studies on ClinicalTrials.gov likely mandated to report. We obtained the titles, status, results, phases, funding type, intervention type, study design and type, location, and all available trial dates. Kaplan-Meier analysis evaluated reporting times, and Cox regression models identified factors associated with reporting within five years. Results We identified 255 GBM-related trials likely mandated to report. 13% reported results within the 12-month deadline, while 82.7% reported within five years. Factors significantly associated with lower reporting rates at five years were biological interventions (HR 0.61, 95% CI: 0.37–1.00, p = 0.049), Phase 1–2 trials (HR 0.65, 95% CI: 0.46–0.91, p = 0.014), and studies with quadruple masking (HR 0.19, 95% CI: 0.04–0.93, p = 0.040). Conclusion For GBM-related trials, noncompliance with reporting mandates remains a major issue. Reporting within 12 months was only 13%. No factors influenced reporting by 12 months, but multiple factors influenced five-year reporting. Further research is needed to understand these associations and create targeted incentives to increase transparency through timely reporting of GBM-related trials.
Experimental study of cerebral edema and expression of VEGF and AQP4 in the penumbra area of rat brain trauma
Work-related musculoskeletal disorder and its associated factors among bank workers in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Introduction Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are among the major global public health problems and contributors to disability and workers’ absence in occupational areas which certainly disrupts work productivity and expected results. In Ethiopia, different studies investigated work-related musculoskeletal disorders. However, the findings were not consistent and conclusive enough, and there is no nationwide data representing this growing public health concern. This in turn hinders the efforts of intervention activities. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence of and factors associated with work-related musculoskeletal disorder among bank workers in Ethiopia. Methods To retrieve all the relevant studies, international databases such as PubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL, LIVIVO, African Journals Online, African Index Medicus (AIM), HINARI, Science Direct, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar, and Google were used. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guideline was followed for this study. The extracted data were analyzed using STATA 17 software. The heterogeneity of the included studies was determined by the Higgs I2 statistics. With a 95% confidence interval, this meta-analysis with the random-effects model was carried out to determine the pooled prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorder. Result In this meta-analysis, eight articles in total with 3399 study participants were included. The overall pooled prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorder was 57.41% (95%; CI: 38.87%, 75.95%; I2 = 99.4%; P = 0.000). Gender, job stress, physical activity, and work experience were found to be factors significantly associated with work-related musculoskeletal disorder. Conclusion A high prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorder among bank workers in Ethiopia was recorded. This underscores the importance of implementing effective intervention measures such as job rotation, job enrichment, extended breaks, mitigating negative social factors, and establishing physical exercise facilities to address the underlying issues.
Effectiveness of antibiotic-impregnated bone cement in treating postoperative infections after femoral shaft fracture treatment with intramedullary nailing
Professional identity and its relationships with AI readiness and interprofessional collaboration
Background In contemporary healthcare practices, the convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and interprofessional collaboration represents a transformative era marked by unprecedented opportunities and challenges. The introduction of AI technologies is assumed to lead to changes in the nature of interprofessional collaboration that require revisiting the already established professional identity; however, research is lacking in the area. Objective To examine professional identity and its relationships with AI readiness domains and interprofessional collaboration components. Methods A multisite cross-sectional research design was used to recruit 512 participants from different healthcare professions in Jordan between November 14th, 2023, and February 13th, 2024. The Medical Artificial Intelligence Readiness Scale and the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale were used in data collection. Data analysis included descriptive, correlation, and comparative analyses. Results Professional identity significantly and positively correlated with artificial intelligence readiness total and subscale scores with ρ ranging from 0.37 to 0.47 (p < .01). In addition, professional identity significantly correlated with interprofessional teamwork and collaboration (ρ=0.79, p < .01) and the roles and responsibilities components of interprofessional collaboration (ρ=0.37, p < .01). Professional identity was significantly higher among male participants and participants with experience of five years or higher. Conclusion The study sets the grounding roles to develop the healthcare workforce’s professional identity within the dynamic healthcare environment in the age of artificial intelligence and interprofessional collaboration. The study highlights areas of development for healthcare managers and practitioners, such as AI interprofessional collaboration-based training, targeting both artificial intelligence domains and interprofessional collaboration components while preserving a positive professional identity.
Dietary wet fermented Brewer’s grains modulate hepatic metabolism in pullets
First-line durvalumab therapy alone or in combination with tremelimumab for metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: A cost-effectiveness analysis
Objective In patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC), the KESTREL study evaluated durvalumab with or without tremelimumab, as well as the EXTREME regimen (platinum, 5-fluorouracil, and cetuximab). In the first-line treatment of R/M HNSCC, no data are available regarding the cost-effectiveness of these immunotherapeutic agents. Based on third-party payers’ perspectives in the United States, we compared durvalumab and tremelimumab in this setting. Methods The projected costs and outcomes over a 12-year period were calculated using a three-state partitioned survival model with an annual discount of 3%. Long-term extrapolation of KESTREL was used to model progression-free and overall survival. Life-years, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs), incremental net monetary benefits (INMBs), and incremental net health benefits (INHBs) were calculated. The uncertainty and stability of the model were examined using one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. Results In the overall population, EXTREME was dominant compared to durvalumab plus tremelimumab (Durva-Treme). Compared to durvalumab monotherapy (Durva-mono), EXTREME resulted in an increase of 0.037 life-years and 0.012 QALYs, as well as an increase in cost of $85,420 per patient. The corresponding ICER was $7,310,878/QALY, and the INHB and INMB values were negative at a willingness to pay threshold of $150,000/QALY. Furthermore, Durva-mono dominated EXTREME or Durva-Treme in patients with high PD-L1 expression. When compared with EXTREME, Durva-Treme had an ICER of $560,406/QALY. Durva-Treme was unlikely to be cost-effective. The HRs for OS, PFS, and drug costs (cetuximab, tremelimumab, and durvalumab) were most sensitive to the model. The results of the sensitivity analyses were similar, suggesting the robustness of the findings. Conclusions Durva-mono is a cost-effective treatment strategy for patients with R/M HNSCC, particularly in patients with high PD-L1 expression, compared with EXTREME or Durva-Treme. Cetuximab cost reduction may benefit the EXTREME regimen economically. Nevertheless, Durva-Treme provided fewer survival gains at substantial additional costs; therefore, it is unlikely to be a cost-effective option.