Due to its properties, such as high superficial area, high porosity, tensile strength and elevated adsorption capacity, the bacterial cellulose (BC) can be applied in different fields. The present study aimed to evaluate, through a central composite rotatable design (CCRD), the effects of the agitation rate and inoculum dose on the diameter of BC spheres from Komagataeibacter hansenii, cultivated in environments containing mannitol as a carbon source at 30 ºC of temperature. The only statistically significant factor (p < 0.05) was found to be the agitation rate for a 95% confidence level, with a negative linear effect. CCRD study showed that the sphere diameter decreases when the agitation rate increases at any inoculum dosage. However, to a given agitation, the sphere size initially decreases and then increases with the increase of the inoculum dose. Increases in the agitation rate also led to an increase in the sphere number at a constant inoculum dosage. The results contribute to explain the controverted results found in the literature about the influence of these two parameters. From the optimization of the processing parameters via CCRD, the selection of the most adequate parameter values to obtain spherical BC of the desired diameter can be achieved.

Background and Purpose: Descending projections from neurons in the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) make synapses within the superficial dorsal horn of the spinal cord that are involved in acute nociception and the development of chronic pain and itch. In addition, this projection plays an important role in mediating the analgesic effects of opioids. However, our knowledge about the spinal synaptic targets of RVM projections and their modulation by opioids is lacking. Experimental Approach: We used ex vivo optogenetic stimulation of RVM descending fibres and whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from superficial dorsal horn (SDH) neurons to identify the target neurons and to investigate their descending synaptic inputs. Key Results: We demonstrate that SDH neurons are targeted by descending GABA/glycine inhibitory inputs from the RVM, although glycinergic inputs predominate. These SDH neurons had diverse morphological and electrical properties. This inhibitory synapse was presynaptically suppressed by the kappa opioid receptor agonist U69593. By contrast, the mu-opioid receptor agonist DAMGO inhibited only a subset of RVM-SDH synapses, acting both pre- and postsynaptically, while the delta-opioid receptor agonist deltorphin II had little effect. Conclusion and Implications: Developing reliable and effective alternatives to opioid analgesics requires a detailed, mechanistic understanding of how opioids interact with nociceptive circuits. This study selectively and systematically characterises the synaptic connections between RVM projection neurons and their SDH targets to advance our knowledge of how this descending projection is organised and modulated. In addition, it improves our understanding of how opioids alter spinal pathways involved in the sensations of pain and itch.

Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Stress and Antireflux Diet Adherence of Patients with Laryngopharyngeal Reflux: Our Experience on 32 patients.

INTRODUCTION: The variability in symptomatic evolution of vertiginous crisis in Ménière’s disease (MD) is just one more fact that indicates the great heterogeneity attributed to MD. Recently, these variations and differences between patients are being defined by different subtypes of MD. OBJECTIVES: We have defined subtypes of MD based on the evolution of vertigo crisis in the first 10 years of the disease, in addition to defining the natural history of Unilateral MD (UMD) in our environment. DESIGN: A longitudinal descriptive study of patients with UMD was carried out. In a subgroup of patients followed from the onset of the disease, three subtypes or models of UMD were defined according to the individual review and our experience according to the vertiginous crisis suffered the first 10 years of the disease. In these models a differential behavior has been studied attending to different variables analyzed. RESULTS: Data were collected from 327 patients with UMD, of which 87 were followed from the onset of the disease. In this subgroup, patients were grouped in 3 models. Model No. 3 was associated with a worse auditory prognosis, a greater number of Tumarkin crisis, the need for surgery, and a more frequent mononymptomatic debut. Model No. 1 presented a lower hearing loss compared to the rest of the models. CONCLUSION: Several studies tried to define subtypes of MD. In our study we have defined 3 models of behavior in UMD based on the number of crisis suffered, which present a differential behavior according to different aspects.

The objective of this study is to analyze the dynamics of malaria transmission and show how relapse affects malaria infected people using a stochastic model, particularly a simple SIRS model. A stochastic model with the Markov property describes the dynamics of malaria and human population in terms of stochastic equations. It is carried out by estimating the malaria relapse rate and the reproduction number. In this work, we used certain assumptions and presenting the SIRS model, implemented on Python language with their transition diagrams. The population dynamics are modelled by the SIRS model, which assumes only a plasmodium vivax malaria in which pseudo recovered persons can recover and return to the susceptible class or relapse and become infectious again. The results suggest that SIRS model is effective model for studying malaria transmission model with relapse and the reproduction number, R_0 >1, implying an epidemic. Reproduction number and infective population are increasing with respect to the relapse rate and the study area is under the influence of malaria transmission; and experiences the probability of an outbreak. Subject: Infectious Disease, Global Health, Health Informatics and Statistical and Computational Physics Key words: SIRS model, relapse rate, stochastic model, basic reproduction number, Markov chain, epidemic.

A document by Ozlem Ozkan Kuscu. Click on the document to view its contents.

In this paper, we consider the following Schr\”{o}dinger-Kirchhoff equation $$ -\left(a+b \di_{\R^N} |\nabla u|^2 \ d x \right)\Delta u+V(x)u=f(x,u), \ \hbox{in}\ \mathbb{R}^N, $$ where $N\geq 3$, $a$ and $b$ are positive parameters. Under suitable assumptions on $V$ and $f$ which is linearly bounded at infinity, the existence of ground state solutions and their asymptotic behavior as $b\to 0$ are established via variational methods. The nonexistence of nontrivial solutions is also obtained for large $b$.

Arrhythmia is an irregular hertbeat which leads to severe heart complications and it is the most common action of Cardio Vascular Diseases. India represents 31% of global deaths and need for accurate diagnosis and monitoring of Arrhythmia has not been addressed. In view, we developed a novel device Vigo Holter (VSH) that is connected to cloud and IoT based platform designed as an easy wearable for the patient. It records continuous ECG and HR to predict the changes in the heart. Compared a Vigo Holter against the traditional holter monitoring in 51 volunteers for 24 hrs with asymptomatic and symptomatic subjects. We evaluated patient compliance, analyzable signal time interval to arrhythmia detection, and diagnostic yield. In total 51 participants we found 46 reports with equivalent result where as the conditions (Second Degree Mobitz Type I block, First Degree AV block, IVCD and SVT episodes) identified by VSH . Importantly, ECG wave quality in reports with differences is same in both recordings and the total diagnostic yield was 39%. Total Noise in Traditional Holter was 1301 minutes whereas in Vigo Holter was 990 minutes. Total Analyzable time in Vigo Holter was 99.3% whereas in Traditional Holter was 90.22%. VSH reports clearly explained that no lead detachments and noise resultant from the wire entanglements leading to low noise and highly analyzable time. We demonstrated that VSH is very much needed and useful for people and doctors to detect arrythmia with highest accuracy and to avoid physical interaction with the patient during COVID-19

Bees are exposed to various stressors, including pesticides and lack of flowering resources. Despite potential interactions between these stressors, the impacts of pesticides on bees are generally assumed to be consistent across bee-attractive crops, and regulatory risk assessments of pesticides neglect interactions with flowering resources. We assessed the interactive impacts of the globally used azoxystrobin-based fungicide Amistar and three types of flowering resources (purple tansy, buckwheat, and a floral mix) on Bombus terrestris colonies in a full-factorial semi-field experiment with 39 large flight cages. Fungicide exposure through purple tansy monocultures reduced population (colony) growth, production of males, and adult worker body mass, while Amistar had no impact on colonies in buckwheat or floral mix cages. Furthermore, buckwheat monocultures hampered survival and fecundity irrespective of fungicide exposure. This shows that flowering resources modulate pesticide impacts and that B. terrestris requires access to complementary flowers to gain both fitness and fungicide tolerance.

Abstract Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) add a significant clinical and economic burden to the healthcare system of a country. Reporting ADRs is the cornerstone of detecting uncommon ADRs once the drugs are on the market. In many countries, ADR reporting is regulated by national regulatory bodies and various methods are employed to report ADRs. Direct reporting by healthcare professionals has been adopted by many developed and developing countries. We present an overview of the different approaches of ADR reporting systems worldwide and their evolution over time.

The exponential recursive trees model several kinds of networks. At each step of growing of these trees, each node attracts a new node with probability $p$, or fails to do with probability $1-p$. Here, we investigate the number of protected nodes, total path length of protected nodes, and a mean study of the protected node profile of such trees.

ABSTRACT The rose-grain aphid Metopolophium dirhodum (Walker) and the greenbug Schizaphis graminum (Rondani) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), are two destructive aphid pests for cereals worldwide. Some studies have examined the biological and ecological characteristics of these two aphid species, however, the lack of genomic data limits in-depth studies of these two organisms. Here, we present the chromosome-level genome assemblies of M. dirhodum and S. graminum using PacBio long HiFi reads and Hi-C technology. The final genome assembly for M. dirhodum is 447.8 Mb, with 98.50% of the assembled sequences anchored to nine chromosomes. The contig and scaffold N50 values are 7.82 Mb and 37.54 Mb, respectively. A total of 18,003 protein-coding genes were predicted, of which 92.05% were functionally annotated. The final genome assembly for S. graminum is 476.1 Mb, with 99.08% of the assembled sequences anchored to six chromosomes. The contig and scaffold N50 values are 21.59 Mb and 99.65 Mb, respectively. A total of 24,368 protein-coding genes were predicted, of which 94.21% were functionally annotated. Comparative transcriptomic analyses identified a number of genes that might be related to wing dimorphism in M. dirhodum, including the insulin receptor, insulin receptor substrate, forkhead box protein O (Foxo), and ecdysone receptor. These results may provide important references for understanding the ecology, genetics, and evolution of these two organisms or even other aphid insects.

Polyploidy, or whole genome duplication (WGD) is widely regarded as key innovation promoting species diversification in plants. However, the hypothesis still remains controversial. Here, we tested the hypothesis by analyzing the association between polyploidy and the diversification of Araceae. Using 1081 single/low copy orthologous clusters from 90 transcriptome datasets, we generated a new time-calibrated phylogeny of Araceae. Based on Ks and gene tree methods, the special WGD event (abbreviation: ψ) was shared by the True Araceae clade, and not shared by Proto-Araceae and the lemnoids clade. By Analyses of time-dependent and trait-dependent diversification models, our results verified that the ψ WGD event was strongly associated with increases of net diversification rates of the True Araceae clade, but did not promote the diversification rates of Proto-Araceae and the lemnoids clade. Finally, functional enrichments analyses revealed that some genes in related to various binding, receptor and channel activity, DNA repair and cellular response to stress, such as heat shock protein, ABC transporter, Glycosyl hydrolase, RING finger, Pectin acetylesterase, Cytochrome P450 and Oxidative-stress-responsive kinase have experienced the expansions in the True Araceae clade. The expansions of these genes may contribute to the adaptation to the harsh tropical environment in the True Araceae clade. In summary, our results reconstructed the phylotranscriptomic framework of Araceae, revealed the diversification history of Araceae, and suggested that WGD may not act as the determining factor but the “Storage Cisterns” for species diversification.

Intra-operative discovery of left atrial appendage (LAA) thrombus on transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) poses a dilemma. While LAA thrombi are classically managed medically, leaving a thrombus in a patient undoubtedly increases the risk for life-altering stroke. Additionally, medical management with anticoagulation increases risk for hemorrhagic complications. Direct appendage incision and thrombus extraction under TEE guidance followed by appendage clip closure provides a simple, elegant solution to this complex problem.

Lung cells damage caused by inhalation of silica and silicon crystals leads to Silicosis. Retinoic acid is a mitogen in the development of lung organs and exerts pleiotropic effects on immune reactions. How retinoic acid signaling engaged in Silicosis remains unknown. We report here that retinoic acid signaling in dendritic cells was activated in silicosis lesions. SiO2 activates the retinoic acid signaling by provoking ferroptosis. Ferroptosis trigger a downstream “retinoic acid inflammation” characterized by upregulating cGAS-STING signaling genes and inflammasome associated IL-1βand IL-1α. However, knockdown of retinoic acid receptor α slightly mitigates ferroptosis-induced cell death. Inhibition of ferroptosis in mice relieves silica-induced lung inflammation and fibrosis. This cellular retinoic acid response may act as a cytosolic adjuvant to promote extended and upgraded inflammation. Our work unveils a mechanism by which retinoic acid reaction integrates cGAS-STING and inflammasome signaling to sustain silica-induced inflammation.

Introduction: Statins are one of the most commonly used drugs for prevention of atherosclerosis and ischemic hearth disease. Statins have an antibacterial effect against oral pathogens, especially against Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Porphyromonas gingivalis. Studies on animals which we analyzed in this article show that statins promote angiogenesis and osteoblast differentiation, as well they induce bone metabolism ,stimulates and improves better osseointegration way of titanium implants. Materials and methods: PubMed, Cochrane Central and Web of Science database search was performed for animal studies on statin effects on dental osseointegration. Results : Fifteen studies performed on laboratory animals were identified where statins were applied systemically, locally, orally, subcutaneously or intraosseously. Titan implants of different diameters were placed in tibia and femur of animals. Conclusion: Statins improved osseointegration and enhanced contact of implant surface with the newly formed bone, as well as significantly increased the volume of newly formed bone in lab animals.

Abstract Background: Childhood leukemia with musculoskeletal (MSK) involvement mimics various conditions, which consequently leads to diagnostic delays. The clinical implication of MSK involvement in this disease on survival outcomes is inconclusive. This study aimed to compare characteristics and survival outcomes between MSK and non-MSK involvement in childhood leukemia. Methods: The medical records of children newly diagnosed with acute leukemia aged under 15 years were retrospectively reviewed. Two-to-one nearest-neighbor propensity score-matching was performed to obtain matched groups with and without MSK involvement. The Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were then used to assess the effect of MSK involvement on survival outcomes. Results: Of 1042 childhood leukemia cases, 81 (7.8%) children had MSK involvement at initial presentation. MSK involvement was more likely in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia than acute myeloid leukemia (p <0.05). Hematologic abnormalities were less frequent in the MSK involvement group (p <0.05). The absence of peripheral blast cells was significantly higher in the MSK involvement group (17.3% vs 9.6%, p = 0.04). Normal complete blood counts with absence of peripheral blast cells were found 2.5% of the children with MSK involvement. By propensity score-matching for comparable risk groups of children with and without MSK involvement, the 5-year overall survival was not significantly different (48.2% vs 57.4%, respectively, p = 0.22), nor was event-free survival (43.3% vs 51.8%, respectively, p = 0.31). Conclusion: Childhood leukemia with MSK involvement had the characteristics of minimal or absent hematologic abnormalities and peripheral blast counts.

In this paper, in order to investigate a Gronwall inequality with statedependence, another auxiliary map-type Gronwall inequality is discussed by modifying the technique of sequential monotonization on functions into the one on maps. Then we employ the state-dependent Gronwall inequality to give the estimate and boundedness of solutions for a functional differential equation with state-dependence. Finally, we exhibit a concrete example of bounded solutions as application.

Exploring the diversity and formation mechanism of under-ground bud banks is essential for understanding population regeneration and community succession. However, there are few studies on the response of bud bank size and composition to different degradation gradients in alpine meadows. In view of this, we investigated the size and composition of bud bank under four degradation gradients (non-degraded:ND, lightly degraded:LD, moderately degraded:MD, and heavily degraded:HD) on a typical alpine meadow in Tibet, China, and analyzed the influence of soil physical and chemical properties on the correlation of bud bank types. Our results show that in ND meadows, rhizome buds dominate, in LD meadows, tiller buds account for a larger proportion, and in MD meadows, root-sprouting buds dominate. The total bud bank density decreases as the degradation gradient increases. The density of cyperaceae buds decreased with the degree of degradation. The density of leguminosae was insignificant in each degradation gradient. The density of gramineae and weeds were dominant in LD and MD meadows, respectively. Rhizome bud density was significantly positively correlated with soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), NH+ 4- N, and NO- 3 - N (P < 0.001 for all), soil water content (SWC), total phosphorus (TP) and available phosphorus (AP) (P < 0.01), and negatively correlated with pH (P < 0.001). Tiller bud was significantly positively correlated with SWC and TP(P < 0.05). Root-sprouting buds are only significantly negatively correlated with TP(P < 0.05). Therefore, our research shows that rhizome buds are more important in ND meadow habitats, tiller buds are more important in LD meadow habitats, and root-sprouting buds are more important in MD meadows. In addition, rhizome buds have been proved to be suitable for survival in a weak acid environment.

In this paper, we establish a new (p,q)-integral identity using twice (p,q)-differentiable convex functions. Then, we use this result to derive some new post-quantum Ostrowski-type integral inequalities for twice (p,q)-differentiable convex functions. The newly established results are also proven to generalize some existing results in the area of integral inequalities of already published ones.

Background: Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare genomic disorder. The phenotype heterogeneity depends on the genotype. Critical genes mutant like CCNO had severe respiratory disease, while limited data are available until now. Case presentation: We presented a patient with neonatal respiratory distress at birth, and had cough with wheeze for 8 years as flows. According to clinical and imaging findings, screenings of PCD related genes showed compound heterozygous mutation of CCNO. We also overviewed the literature of CCNO-related PCD and compared to our patient. A total of 43 patients from 30 families were enrolled. Approximately 57.1% (24/42) of individuals were born in the consanguineous marriage family. Most patients developed onset symptoms at neonate, accounted for 85.3%. Recurrent respiratory tract infection (83.3%), neonatal respiratory distress (69.0%), and sinusitis/rhinorrhea (50.0%) were major manifestations, the subsequents were chronic cough 15/42(35.7%), and recurrent otitis media (28.6%); hear losing, infertility, congenital heart defects and hydrocephalus were rare, but heterotaxy was never seen. Bronchiectasis was the most common radiologic findings, while the patient in our study presented with special findings of diffuses small nodular in both lungs like diffuse pan-bronchiolitis (DPB). Thirteen different CCNO variants were identified with most located in exon 1 (79.1%, 34/43). Our participant was identified previously reported c.263_267dupAGCCC and c.258_262dupGGCCC mutation from her mother and father respectively. Conclusion: CCNO variants are rare in PCD patients, but it causes more severe phenotypes than the other genes. Neonatal respiratory distress is common, and diffuse bronchiolitis could be the radiologic feature of CCNO-related PCD.

Background: Pericardial cyst is a common lesion of the mediastinum. Most of them are located outside the pericardial space, such as in the diaphragmatic angle. However, Intrapericardial cyst is exceedingly rare, especially in symptomatic cases, which usually require surgical resection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report on minimally surgery for Intrapericardial cyst. Aim: To Provide a new idea for minimally invasive surgical treatment of intrapericardial cysts. Materials and Methods and Results: A 55-year-old women who has progressive chest pain and palpitations symptomatic and diagnosed with intrapericardial cyst, and her clinical symptoms were significantly alleviated after resected by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery（VATS）. Conclusion: Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery which is a feasible surgical method can greatly reduce surgical trauma and accelerate postoperative recovery and can achieve an excellent therapeutic effect.

Objective: To compare the safety between conization alone and hysterectomy for patients with adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) of the cervix. Design: A cohort study of AIS patients during 2007-2021. Setting: Women’s Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. Population: A total of 453 AIS patients diagnosed by conization who underwent cervical conizations only (n=153) or conization followed by hysterectomy(n=300). Methods: The clinicopathological and follow-up data were reviewed. Univariate analysis was examined by chi-square test and multivariate analysis was performed by logistic regression analysis. Main outcome measure: The rates of residual disease in specimens of hysterectomy and repeated conization were compared between positive and negative margin of conization. And the rates of recurrence were compared between patients treated by conization(s) alone and hysterectomy. The factors influencing residual disease and recurrence were assessed, respectively. Results: Among 310 specimens of hysterectomy or repeated conization, the rates of residual disease were 50.56% (45/89) for positive margin and 2.26% (5/221) for negative margin, with a significant difference (p=0.000). Totally 4 patients recurred as vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia（VAIN）in those treated by hysterectomy and 1 recurred as cervical squamous intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) in those treated by conization(s) alone. The rates of recurrence were 0.65% (1/153) for conization(s) alone and 1.33 % (4/300) for hysterectomy, with no significant difference (p=0.431). Hysterectomy was a factor influencing neither residual disease nor recurrence. Conclusions: Conization is an effective and safe option for patients with AIS of the cervix, provided the margin is negative. Keywords: adenocarcinoma in situ, conization, hysterectomy, margins.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of cervical pessary and vaginal progesterone in improving long-term developmental outcomes of children born to women with twin pregnancies and mid-trimester short cervical length (CL). Design: Randomized controlled trial (RCT). Setting: My Duc hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, VietNam. Population: Children born to women in an RCT comparing cervical pessary and progesterone (NCT02623881). Methods: At or after 2 years of age, their parents completed a validated Vietnamese version of Ages & Stages Third Edition Questionnaires (ASQ-3) and Red flag questionnaire. Main Outcome Measures: Mean ASQ-3 scores, red flag signs, and the composite outcome of perinatal death or survival with any abnormal ASQ-3 score. Results: In original RCT, we randomized 300 women to pessary (n=150) or progesterone (n=150). After counting the number of perinatal death and lost to follow-up, in pessary group, 116 (82.8%) parents of 229 children returned the questionnaire versus 118 (82.5%) parents of 232 children in progesterone group. Mean ASQ-3 scores of the five skills, as well as red flag signs, did not differ significantly between the two groups. However, the percentage of children having died or having abnormal ASQ-3 scores in fine motor was significantly lower in the progesterone group (1.7% vs 6.1%, P=0.01). In an exploratory analysis, there were no significant differences in the composite outcome of perinatal death or survival with any abnormal ASQ-3. Conclusions: Cervical pessary and progesterone have a comparable effect on developmental outcomes in ≥24 months of children born to women with twin pregnancies and short CL.