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Simulation analysis of radiometer effect and outgassing based on molecular particle source perturbation

Optimal aspiration pressure of suction pump for oocyte retrieval in infertile patients undergoing in vitro fertilization

Background The oocyte retrieval is a critical step in assisted reproductive technologies, including in vitro fertilization and fertility preservation. Despite evolving techniques, the optimal aspiration pressure during retrieval remains debatable, with limited in vivo human studies. Existing studies, primarily in vitro and on animals, suggest that inappropriate aspiration pressures can impair oocyte quality. This study aims to compares the effects of two different aspiration pressures, 120mmHg and 150mmHg, on oocyte recovery, damage, and subsequent embryo development and pregnancy outcomes in infertile women undergoing transvaginal ultrasound-guided oocyte retrieval. Methods and findings This retrospective study analyzed data from 891 women at Seoul National University Hospital between May 2018 and August 2023. A total of 400 cycles were included, with 202 at 120 mmHg and 198 at 150 mmHg aspiration pressures. The primary outcomes were the number of retrieved, matured, fractured oocytes, embryos, and good-grade embryos. Pregnancy outcomes were evaluated by comparing the clinical pregnancy rates and live birth rates. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the relationship between aspiration pressure, clinical pregnancy, and live birth rates. There was statistically significant difference in the number of retrieved oocytes and mature oocytes between the 120 mmHg group and the 150 mmHg group (6.3±5.2 vs. 7.7±6.7, p = 0.018; 4.4±3.7 vs. 5.6±5.3, p = 0.011). The number of embryos and good grade embryos also differed significantly (3.3±3.1 vs. 4.2±3.9, p = 0.011; 1.0±1.6 vs. 1.5±2.6, p = 0.031). However, there were no significant differences in clinical pregnancy and live birth rates between the two groups in multivariate logistic regression analysis (adjusted OR = 0.725, p = 0.519; adjusted OR = 0.370, p = 0.170). Conclusions Increasing the aspiration pressure to 150mmHg led to a higher yield of oocytes and embryos than 120mmHg, without any negative impact on oocyte quality or live birth rates. These findings provide valuable insights for clinical decision-making in infertility treatments, suggesting that 150mmHg may be a more effective pressure for oocyte retrieval in in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.

Dual-task-related gait patterns as possible marker of precocious and subclinical cognitive alterations in Parkinson disease

Classification of CT scan and X-ray dataset based on deep learning and particle swarm optimization

In 2019, the novel coronavirus swept the world, exposing the monitoring and early warning problems of the medical system. Computer-aided diagnosis models based on deep learning have good universality and can well alleviate these problems. However, traditional image processing methods may lead to high false positive rates, which is unacceptable in disease monitoring and early warning. This paper proposes a low false positive rate disease detection method based on COVID-19 lung images and establishes a two-stage optimization model. In the first stage, the model is trained using classical gradient descent, and relevant features are extracted; in the second stage, an objective function that minimizes the false positive rate is constructed to obtain a network model with high accuracy and low false positive rate. Therefore, the proposed method has the potential to effectively classify medical images. The proposed model was verified using a public COVID-19 radiology dataset and a public COVID-19 lung CT scan dataset. The results show that the model has made significant progress, with the false positive rate reduced to 11.3% and 7.5%, and the area under the ROC curve increased to 92.8% and 97.01%.

Utilizing large-scale human mobility data to identify determinants of physical activity

Intellectual capital, digital transformation and firms’ financial performance: Evidence from ecological protection and environmental governance industry in China

As the pace of enterprise digital transformation accelerates, intellectual capital (IC) has become a core driving force of gaining market competitive advantages and enhancing value creation capabilities. The paper aims to investigate the impact of IC and its components on financial performance of Chinese ecological protection and environmental governance companies during 2018–2021. In addition, the moderating effect of digital transformation between them is examined. IC is measured by the modified value added intellectual coefficient (MVAIC) model, and the measurement of digital transformation is based on text mining. The results suggest that IC can improve firm financial performance, especially during COVID-19. Physical capital, human capital (HC), and relational capital (RC) positively affect financial performance, while structural and innovation capitals have no significant impact. In addition, digital transformation strengthens the positive relationship between IC and its two elements (HC and RC) and financial performance. Heterogeneous analysis finds that the relationship between RC and innovation capital and financial performance is positive before COVID-19, and it is not significant during COVID-19. For highly leveraged companies, structural capital negatively affects financial performance, and RC has a positive impact. These impacts are not significant for low leveraged companies. This paper provides some new insights for managers who seek new ways to improve firm performance in the process of digital transformation.

Exogenous LEA proteins expression enhances cold tolerance in mammalian cells by reducing oxidative stress

Abstract Understanding the molecular mechanisms that confer cold resistance in mammalian cells might be relevant for advancing medical applications. This study aimed to exploit the protective function of Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) proteins, known to provide resistance to low temperatures in extremophiles and plants, by their exogenous expression in mammalian cells, and compare their effects with the well characterized antioxidant, vitamin E. Remarkably, the expression of LEA proteins in mammalian cells exerted cold-protective effect similar to Vitamin E. LEA proteins preserved cell viability during cold stress and ensured a normal metabolic activity after warming. Their protective action was due to the mitigation of cold-induced mitochondrial stress and the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading in turn to enhanced cytoskeleton stability and decreased DNA damage. Our studies showed that plant-derived LEA proteins exhibit remarkable cold protection effects in mammalian cells through their potent antioxidant properties, which was found comparable to Vitamin E.

Estimation of stationary and non-stationary moving average processes in the correlation domain

This paper introduces a novel approach for the offline estimation of stationary moving average processes, further extending it to efficient online estimation of non-stationary processes. The novelty lies in a unique technique to solve the autocorrelation function matching problem leveraging that the autocorrelation function of a colored noise is equal to the autocorrelation function of the coefficients of the moving average process. This enables the derivation of a system of nonlinear equations to be solved for estimating the model parameters. Unlike conventional methods, this approach uses the Newton-Raphson and Levenberg–Marquardt algorithms to efficiently find the solution. A key finding is the demonstration of multiple symmetrical solutions and the provision of necessary conditions for solution feasibility. In the non-stationary case, the estimation complexity is notably reduced, resulting in a triangular system of linear equations solvable by backward substitution. For online parameter estimation of non-stationary processes, a new recursive formula is introduced to update the sample autocorrelation function, integrating exponential forgetting of older samples to enable parameter adaptation. Numerical experiments confirm the method’s effectiveness and evaluate its performance compared to existing techniques.

Who is American? A comprehensive analysis of the American = White/Foreign = Asian stereotype (2007–2023)

Perceived stress and coping strategies used by undergraduate dental students: An observational study

Studies around the world have reported that dental students experience higher stress compared to medical students. Prolonged and high perceived stress can be of a significant concern as it affects the personal, psychological, and professional well-being of the student, affecting quality of life. The aim of the study was to describe the perceived stress and coping strategies that undergraduate students at dental schools of Lahore, Pakistan employ. This observational study was conducted in year 2023 to report perceived stress and coping strategies among 720 undergraduate dental students of Lahore using modified Dental Environment Stress (DES) and brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE) questionnaires. Categorical variables such as sex, year of study (year 1 till 4), and responses to DES stress domains, stress-related items, COPE domains, and COPE-related items were computed into frequencies and percentages. Mean item scores of stress domains, stress-related items, COPE domains, and COPE-related items were presented with standard deviations (SD). Groups wise comparisons were done using Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis H tests. P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The majority of the undergraduate dental students perceived moderate amount of stress. Item “overload feeling due to huge syllabus” had the highest mean stress score (3.49±0.76) and “language barrier” had the lowest mean stress score (1.75±0.92). Female students had higher mean stress scores than the male students in all of the DES domains. Mean stress scores were higher in year 4 students for “workload”, “self-efficacy beliefs”, “faculty and administration”, “clinical training”, and “social stresses” compared to other years. “Religion” was the highest- and “denial” was the lowest-ranked coping strategies. Female students employed “active coping”, “positive reframing”, “religion”, “venting”, “self-blame”, “denial”, and “behavioral disengagement” coping strategies more than males. Moreover, final year dental students used “instrumental support”, “humor”, “self-blame”, “denial”, and “behavioral disengagement” coping strategies more than year 1 and 2 students. Sex and year of study can influence the degree of perceived stress and choice of coping strategies employed to overcome stressful situations. For the emotional, psychological, and professional well-being of undergraduate students, institutions must provide a nurturing and positive learning environment implementing strategies for stress prevention and management.

Construction of an evaluation indicator system for the integrated development of sports, culture and tourism based on tourist perceptions

A safe-enhanced fully closed-loop artificial pancreas controller based on deep reinforcement learning

Patients with type 1 diabetes and their physicians have long desired a fully closed-loop artificial pancreas (AP) system that can alleviate the burden of blood glucose regulation. Although deep reinforcement learning (DRL) methods theoretically enable adaptive insulin dosing control, they face numerous challenges, including safety and training efficiency, which have hindered their clinical application. This paper proposes a safe and efficient adaptive insulin delivery controller based on DRL. It employed ten tricks to enhance the proximal policy optimization (PPO) algorithm, improving training efficiency. Additionally, a dual safety mechanism of ’proactive guidance + reactive correction’ was introduced to reduce the risks of hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia and to prevent emergencies. Performance evaluations in the Simglucose simulator demonstrate that the proposed controller achieved an 87.45% time in range (TIR) median, superior to baseline methods, with a lower incidence of hypoglycemia, notably eliminating severe hypoglycemia and treatment failures. These encouraging results indicate that the DRL-based fully closed-loop AP controller has taken an essential step toward clinical implementation.

Study on spatial correlation and driving factors of industrial carbon emission in the Hefei metropolitan area based on SNA-QAP method

Implementing psychosocial interventions for teachers’ mental health: Protocol for integrating scoping review with teachers lived experiences in LMICs

Introduction Teachers are pivotal in shaping educational environments and student development but face significant occupational stress and high rates of mental problems. Despite the availability of various psychosocial interventions, comprehensive evidence of their effectiveness and implementation is limited for this occupational group, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This mixed methods study aims to conduct a scoping review of characteristics, effectiveness, and implementation outcomes of psychosocial interventions for teachers’ mental health and mental problems, integrating these with teachers’ lived experiences to inform the implementation of mental health interventions in LMICs. Methods The study combines a scoping review with insights from an advisory group of teaching professionals with relevant lived experiences (PWLEs). The review will focus on examining psychosocial interventions studies promoting mental health or addressing mental problems among grade 1–12 school teachers of all genders, ages and contexts, except those working in specialized settings, such as special education centers, or disaster- or crisis-stricken zones. Intervention studies exclusively focusing on physical health or job-related outcomes will be excluded. Using pre-defined search terms, quantitative and qualitative research studies, including unpublished literature, will be searched across multiple databases. Titles and abstracts of identified studies will be screened against inclusion criteria, and the potentially relevant sources will be retrieved in full. Data will be extracted using a data extraction sheet developed for the study covering variables related to participant characteristics, intervention characteristics, study context, effectiveness and implementation outcomes. A purposively selected sample of 10 PWLEs will form the study advisory group and participate in four online workshop-group discussions. The meetings will include a presentation of the scoping review findings, followed by discussions on the relevance of these intervention packages for LMICs, adaptations needed to make them acceptable among school teachers and feasible for delivery in low-resourced settings like India. The synthesis of the data will employ narrative and thematic approaches to generate actionable insights for implementing psychosocial interventions in LMICs. Discussion This study will provide comprehensive evidence on the characteristics and outcomes of psychosocial interventions for teachers’ mental health and mental problems. By integrating insights from teachers with relevant lived experiences, the study will provide practical guidelines for adapting and implementing psychosocial interventions among school teachers in LMICs. Trial registration Review registration number: Open Science Framework, doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/GF59J.

Efficacy of malic and tartaric acid in mitigation of cadmium stress in Spinacia oleracea L. via modulations in physiological and biochemical attributes

An evolutionary game theory analysis on the environmental impact of discharging Fukushima’s nuclear wastewater: International stakeholders and strategic dynamics

On August 24, 2023, Japan controversially decided to discharge nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean, initiating intense domestic and global debates. This study employs a mixed-method approach, integrating quantitative evolutionary game theory and qualitative data analysis to explore the strategic dynamics among Japan, other nations, and the Japan Fisheries Association regarding this decision. The data includes international environmental reports and economic statistics, served as the basis for simulating decision-making processes under various legal, economic, and environmental pressures. The evolutionary game theory model is used to predict and analyze three evolutionarily stable strategies (ESS), detailing the transition from the initiation to cessation of wastewater discharge. These strategies highlight the necessity for international cooperation, rigorous scientific research, public education, and effective wastewater treatment methods. This study aims to provide both a theoretical framework and practical guidance to foster a global consensus on nuclear wastewater management, which is vital for marine conservation and sustainable development.

Multi scale multi attention network for blood vessel segmentation in fundus images

More on mobility and sedentism: Changes in adaptation from Upper Paleolithic to Incipient Jomon, Tanegashima Island, southern Japan

Sedentism is an adaptive alternative in human societies which is often associated with the emergence of complex societies in the Holocene. To elucidate the factors and processes of the emergence of sedentary societies, continuous accumulation of case studies based on robust evidence from across the world is required. Given abundant archaeological and geological evidence from the late Pleistocene to early Holocene, Tanegashima Island, situated in the southern Japanese Archipelago of the northwestern Pacific Rim, has significant potential to unravel factors and processes of sedentism. Our study evaluates long-term change in hunter-gatherer mobility on Tanegashima Island from the Upper Paleolithic to Incipient Jomon (ca.36,000–12,800 cal BP). Based on Bayesian age modelling, we performed diachronic analyses on lithic toolkit structure, lithic reduction technology, lithic raw material composition, and occupation intensity. The results illustrate that settlement-subsistence strategies on Tanegashima primarily correspond to the change in environmental conditions, mainly food resources, and foragers increased their degrees of sedentism when abundant forest existed. More important is that highly stable sedentism, which is not observed until the Incipient Jomon, depends not only on such a productive environment, but also on the increase in population size. High occupation intensity during the Incipient Jomon on the island is likely attributed to an influx of people from Kyushu proper. Although the relationship between cause and effect of these factors is still to be clarified in future work, our study provides insights on the fundamental causes of sedentism in the temperate forest of the late Pleistocene.

Factors associated with post-traumatic stress symptoms in healthcare providers after performance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a mixed-methods study

Comparison of behind-the-ear vs. off-the-ear speech processors in cochlear implants: A systematic review and narrative synthesis

Background Cochlear implants (CI) with off-the-ear (OTE) and behind-the-ear (BTE) speech processors differ in user experience and audiological performance, impacting speech perception, comfort, and satisfaction. Objectives This systematic review explores audiological outcomes (speech perception in quiet and noise) and non-audiological factors (device handling, comfort, cosmetics, overall satisfaction) of OTE and BTE speech processors in CI recipients. Methods We conducted a systematic review following PRISMA-S guidelines, examining Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. Data encompassed recipient characteristics, processor usage, speech perception, and non-audiological factors. Studies were assessed for quality and risk of bias by using Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Results Nine studies involving 204 CI recipients, with a mean age of 49.01 years and 6.62 years of processor use, were included. Audiological results indicated comparable performance in quiet environments, with a slight preference for OTE in noisy conditions. For non-audiological factors, OTE processors excelled in comfort, handling, and aesthetics, leading to higher satisfaction. More data on medical complications and long-term implications is needed. Conclusion OTE processors may offer comparable performance to BTE processors in certain conditions, though not universally across all audiological outcomes. Interpretation depends on settings, processor generation, and testing paradigms. However, non-audiological factors might favour OTE. Understanding current literature may guide professionals in selecting suitable processors for CI recipients.