After a long-standing debate, African elephants, listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red list of Threatened Species, are now considered by the IUCN as two distinct species: savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) and forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), the latter being severely threatened by forest loss, fragmentation and degradation due to agriculture expansion, as well as by the illegal ivory trade. Although the two species have different habitat preferences, their range overlaps in some ecotones; despite an ancient separation between these two species, hybrids have been reported in four locations. The main area of hybridization known today is located on the DRC-Uganda border, but remains understudied. Using 15 microsatellites, we aimed to investigate this hybridization zone by determining the species and hybrid status of 177 fecal samples collected in the area of Sebitoli, at the extreme North of Kibale National Park. Surprisingly for a forest area, no pure forest elephants were detected. Out of the 91 individuals sampled a very large proportion (81.3%) were hybrid individuals mainly from a second generation or more. Only 18.7% of pure savannah elephants were detected, all originating from the DRC-Uganda border. Further analyses are necessary to assess the age of this hybridization zone. Our results emphasize that hybrids and savannah elephants can successfully range in forested area. They also show that forest elephants are rare even in their native habitat. The proposed amendment of IUCN regarding the African elephant taxonomy may help to better conserve the threatened forest elephant.

In this paper we consider the discrete heat equation with a certain non-uniform space interval which is related to q-addition appearing in the non-extensive entropy theory. By taking the continuous limit, we obtain the q-deformed heat equation. Similarly, we obtain the solution of the q-deformed difiusion equation.

This paper explicitly expresses all form of necessary and sufficient conditions for the decomposition of any kind of fourth-order linear time-varying system as a commutative pairs of third and first-order systems. Regarding the non-zero initial conditions, additional requirements are derived in order to satisfy the decomposition processed. Further, explicit formulas for reducing a fourth-order linear time-varying system into its third and first-order commutative pairs are derived and solved. The method points out the effect of disturbance and sensitivity on the systems. The results are illustrated by solving some examples.

This paper is about the conformable fractional delay equations. We offer a conformable delay perturbation of matrix exponential function to give the representation of solutions for linear nonhomogeneous conformable fractional delay differential equations. Lastly, the existence and uniqueness of solutions and Ulam-Hyers stability of the equations are proved.

Topology has enormous applications on fuzzy set. An attention can be brought to the mathematicians about these topological applications on fuzzy set by this article. In this research, first we have classified the fuzzy sets and topological spaces, and then we have made relation between elements of them. For expediency, with mathematical view few basic definitions about crisp set and fuzzy set have been recalled. Then we have discussed about topological spaces. Finally, in the last section, the fuzzy topological spaces which is our main object we have developed the relation between fuzzy sets and topological spaces. Moreover, this article has been concluded with the examination of some of its properties and certain relationship among the closure of these spaces.

Pseudorabies virus (PRV), the cause agent of Aujeszky’s disease, is an infectious pathogen which greatly affects the heathy development of pig industry worldwide. The low specific host tropism of PRV allows this virus to infect a variety of animals, such as pigs, cattle, minks, dogs, and even possible humans. However, the occurrence of PRV natural infection in goats has never been documented. Herein we provided robust evidences demonstrating the first case of a variant PRV infection leading to the acute goat death in Yunnan Province, China, which might be resulted from mixed feeding with PRV-infected fattening pigs. Therefore, this report not only highlights the potential threat of newly emerging variant PRV strain(s) to goat industry, but also appeals the development of effective and safe vaccines against PRV variants for goats/ruminants in future.

It is very difficult to predict the emission of coal gas before the extraction, because it depends on various geological, geographical and operational factors. Gas content is a very important parameter for assessing gas emission in the coal seam during and after the extraction. Large amounts of gas released during the mining cause concern about adequate airflow for the ventilation and worker safety. Hence, the performance of the ventilation system is very important in an underground mine. In this paper, the gas content uncertainty in a coal seam is first investigated using the central data of 64 exploratory boreholes. After identifying the important coal seams in terms of gas emission, the variogram modeling for gas content was performed to define the distribution. Consecutive simulations were run for the random evaluation of gas content. Then, a method was proposed to predict gas emission based on the Monte Carlo random simulation method. In order to improve the reliability and precision of gas emission prediction, various factors affecting the gas emission were investigated and the main factors determining the gas emission were identified based on a sensitivity analysis on the mine data. This method produced relative and average errors of 2% and 0.57%, respectively. The results showed that the proposed model is accurate enough to determine the amount of emitted gas and ventilation. In addition, the predicted value was basically consistent with the actual value and the gas emission prediction method based on the uncertainty theory is reliable.

The present investigation is intended to demonstrate the magnetic field, relaxation time, hydrostatic initial stress, and two temperatures on the thermal shock problem. The governing equations are formulated in the context of the Lord-Shulman theory with the presence of body force, two temperatures, thermal shock, and hydrostatic initial stress. We obtained the exact solution using the normal mode technique with appropriate boundary conditions. The field quantities were calculated analytically and displayed graphically under the thermal shock problem with the effect of external parameters with respect to space coordinates. The results obtained are in agreement with the previous results obtained by others when the new parameters vanish.

Background and Aims: Cerebral ischemia always led to learning and memory impairments. Cordycepin has been proved to improve cognition but the potential mechanisms are unclear so far. Plasticity of synaptic structure and synaptic function are considered as the neural mechanisms of learning and memory. Therefore, we investigated the effects of cordycepin on dendritic morphology and synaptic function in cerebral ischemia and explored the relevant molecular mechanisms. Experimental Approach: The impact of cordycepin was studied using global cerebral ischemia (GCI) and oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD) models. Behavioral long-term potentiation (LTP) and synaptic transmission were investigated with electrophysiological recordings. Dendritic morphology and histological assessment were assessed by Golgi staining and HE staining, respectively. And the densities of adenosine receptors and adenosine content were evaluated with western blotting and HPLC, respectively. Key Results: Cordycepin alleviated the GCI-induced damages of dendritic morphology and behavioral LTP in hippocampal CA1, and improved the learning and memory abilities and up-regulated the expression of A1R but not A2AR. In the in vitro experiments, cordycepin pre-perfusion could reduce the hippocampal slices injury and synaptic transmission impairment induced by OGD, accompanied with the increase of adenosine content. Furthermore, the protection of cordycepin on synaptic transmission against OGD was eliminated by using the antagonist of A1R instead of A2AR. Conclusion and Implications: These findings indicated that cordycepin alleviated synaptic dysfunction and dendritic injury in ischemia by modulating A1R, which provide conclusive evidence that cordycepin could be used as potential drug for the treatment of cognitive impairment induced by cerebral ischemia

Abstract Background: There is scarcity of data summarizing the clinical picture, laboratory, and imaging findings as well as outcome in children with malignancy and Covid-19 infection. This study characterizes a detailed comparison of pediatric oncology patients with and without Covid infection. Methods: This is a retrospective study conducted from March 2020-June 2020 at The Indus hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. Pediatric oncology patients (1 month-18 years) with and without covid infection were included in the study. Clinical presentation, laboratory and imaging findings, disease severity and outcome was compared between both cohorts. Results: The mean age of children with and without Covid, was 8.0 ± 4.9 years and 7.4 ± 4.1years respectively. Hematological malignancy comprises the largest number of patients followed by solid tumours. Lymphocytosis and low NLR is observed in covid positive group. Cardiac dysfunction (1.4% vs 0), ARDS (8%vs 0) and lower SpO2/FiO2 ratio (473 vs486) found to be associated with severe disease in covid positive group (p-value<0.05). Overall mortality in children with covid was 6.8% versus 2.7% in children without covid. Conclusion: Pediatric patients with malignancy have different clinical features and laboratory parameters as compare to children without malignancy. ARDS, absolute lymphocytosis and low NLR is associated with severe disease in children with malignancy and covid infection. In contrast to adults, biochemical markers and CBC parameters are not helpful in recognizing covid infection in pediatric patients with malignancy.

Background: Pediatric and adolescent thyroid cancer (PATC) incidence rates (IR) are increasing in many countries. We determined IRs, temporal trends and survival from PATC diagnosed in Cyprus during 1998-2017. Procedure: Patients aged 0-19 years, diagnosed with PATC in the Pediatric Oncology Registry of Cyprus were included. Crude IR (cIR), age standardized rates (ASRW), time trends and overall survival were analysed. Annual IRs and temporal trends were calculated using Microsoft Excel 2016 and Joinpoint Regression analysis. Results: Eighty-one cases (76.5% female, 23.5% male) were identified. The cIR (per 100 000 persons) were for both sexes 2.00 (95% CI 1.61, 2.49), females 3.15 (95% CI 2.45, 4.03) and males 0.92 (95% CI 0.58, 1.44). The annual percentage changes (APC) for cIR and ASRW were 7.5% (p < 0.05) and 7.6% (p < 0.05). The APC of cIR were for females 5.1%, males 8.4% and 15-19-year-olds 7.6%. The female to male RR (rate ratio) was 3.42 (95% CI 2.06, 5.74). The papillary carcinoma (PTC) represented 86.4% of all cases. The RR of 2nd (2008-2017) to 1st (1998-2007) periods for metastatic (regional) stages was 3.76 (95% CI 1.74, 8.31). Survival until 2018 was 100%. Conclusion: This population-based study demonstrated that IR in 0-19-year-olds was among the highest reported. Increasing time trends mainly affected both males and females aged 15-19 years with PTC, the dominant type. Increase of metastatic cases suggests a true increase of thyroid carcinogenesis rather than overdiagnosis. Although prognosis is excellent, rising IR is unexplained, indicating the need to identify causal factors.

GABAergic deficiency contributes the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The present study investigates the therapeutic effectiveness of low-concentration sevoflurane, a volatile anesthetic with GABAergic modulating activity, in MK801-induced schizophrenia-like mice and schizophrenia patients. Three weeks after MK801 administration (0.5 mg/kg, twice/day, 5 days), mice were exposed to 1% sevoflurane 1hr/day for 5 days. Behavioral tests, immunohistochemical analysis, western blot assay and electrophysiology assessments were performed 1week post-exposure. Ten schizophrenia patients received 5hr sevoflurane (0.5%-1.2%) for 6 days, and were assessed with PANSS and the BPRS-18 at week 1 and week 2. MK801 induced social deficits, downregulated expression of NMDARs subunits and postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD95), reduced parvalbumin- and GAD67-positive neurons, altered the amplitude and frequency of mEPSC (miniature excitatory postsynaptic current) and mIPSC (miniature inhibitory postsynaptic current), and increased the excitation/inhibition ratio; all of which were attenuated by sevoflurane. Sevoflurane also significantly ameliorated schizophrenia symptoms in patients at 1st and 2nd week post-inhalation. Our work demonstrated that low-concentration sevoflurane inhalation effectively reversed MK801-induced schizophrenia-like disease in mice and alleviated clinical symptoms of schizophrenia in patients, highlighting sevoflurane as a potential therapy for the management of schizophrenia.

The NTRK genes encode the tropomyosin-related receptor tyrosine kinases TrkA, TrkB and TrkC. TRK receptors play a critical role in the development of nervous system tissues during embryogenesis and early life. Recurrent genomic alterations in NTRK genes, typically fusions involving the 3′ region encoding the kinase domain juxtaposed to 5′ sequences from numerous partner genes, occur at a low frequency in a wide diversity of adult and pediatric cancers. Larotrectinib and entrectinib are potent first-generation NTRK inhibitors with IC50 in the nanomolar range in cellular contexts. Clinical trials of both drugs demonstrated significant and durable responses in patients with tumors harboring NTRK alterations, leading to first of its kind cancer agnostic FDA approvals in the United States for drugs targeting a genomic alteration. Unfortunately, acquired resistance inevitably develops. The second-generation NTRK inhibitors selitrectinib and repotrectinib are designed to overcome known mechanisms of resistance.

Abstract Background: Burns continues to be a serious global public health problem all over the world, especially in developing countries. Materials and Methods: The age, gender, cause of injury, total body surface area (TBSA) of the burn, complications, and mortality rate of 1,038 patients who were hospitalized in our burn center between January 1, 2010 and January 1, 2020 were analyzed. Results: It was found that the burned surface area in boys had a higher surface than in girls. The TBSA was <50% and the mortality rate was 0.2% for all patients. Hot liquids, such as tea, hot milk, hot water, and oily food, were the causes of burns in 84.7% of the patients. Hot objects, hot melted nylon, hot tandoor and embers, and hot asphalt accounted for 7.7% of the burns. Flame burns caused 5.6% of the burns, 1.2 % suffered from electrical burns, frostbite and other causes of burns caused the burns in 0.8% of the patients.. Conclusions: It was found that pediatric burns in our region occurred more often in boys, in children under the age of three, in children of parents with low education levels, and in children residing in rural areas. As the etiological factors of burn injuries vary considerably in different communities, careful study of the pattern in every community is needed before a sound prevention program can be planned and implemented. Hence, this study was conducted to assess the epidemiological, causes, risk factors, and microbial profile of burn injuries and prevention strategies in our region. Keywords: Burns, Pediatrics, Epidemiology, Emergency medicine, microbial profile

In this article, an efficient modification of the Picard iteration method for solving the multispecies Lotka-Volterra modelss (MLVMs) is firstly proposed. Then the convergence and stability of the modified method are discussed. In order to indicate the efficiency of the modified method, three cases of the MLVMs are given. The obtained results evidence that the developed approach is a useful semi-analytical scheme for the solution of the MLVMs.

This article investigates the features of heat and mass transfer for the steady two-dimensional Williamson nanofluid flow across an exponentially stretched surface depending on suction/injection. The boundary conditions incorporate the impacts of the Brownian motion and thermophoresis boundary. The analysis of heat transfer is carried out for the two cases of prescribed exponential order surface temperature (PEST) and prescribed exponential order heat flux (PEHF). The ongoing flow problem is mathematically modeled under the basic laws of motion and heat transfer. The similarity variables are allowed to transmute the governing equations of the problem into a similarity ordinary differential equation (ODEs). The solution of this reduced non-linear system of ODEs is supported by the Homotopy analysis method (HAM). The combination of HAM arrangements is acquired by plotting the h-curve. In order to evaluate the influence of several emergent parameters, the outcomes are presented numerically and are plotted diagrammatically as a consequence of velocity, temperature, and concentration proles.

Until now, there are no parameter available for guiding us the proper test scheme for COVID-19 patients during hospitalization so that the physicians will learn their SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test results turning negative timely. This study aims to explore feasible parameters to fulfill above requirements. We collected clinical data from 69 patients (31 SARS-CoV-2 positive pneumonia, 38 SARS-CoV-2 negative pneumonia) in Xiangyang Central Hospital (Xiangyang, China) from Feb 12 to Feb 18, 2020 in this study. The general and laboratory data between two groups were compared and discrepant parameters were used to assess the correlation with viral nucleic acid test positive diagnosis. The sensitivity of these parameters to clinical treatment and their correlation with the nucleic acid Ct value were also analyzed. WBC, LYM% and PLT decreased, while CRP and Hb increased significantly in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients compared to those in common pneumonia patients. LYM%, Hb and WBC had a good predictive ability to distinguish the nucleic acid positive from negative pneumonia. The dynamics of WBC, LYM%, Hb and CRP in nucleic acid positive patients were more sensitive to clinical treatment and gradually returned to normal level. Only LYM% had a significant correlation with Ct value. LYM% dynamics was sensitive to clinical treatment, and significantly correlated with Ct value, and might be feasible parameter to estimate the time for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test results turning negative.

Despite the importance of understanding plant growth, the mechanisms underlying how plant and fruit growth declines, during drought remains poorly understood. Specifically, it remains unresolved whether carbon or water factors are responsible for limiting growth as drought progresses. We examine questions regarding the relative importance of water and carbon to fruit growth depending on the water deficit level and the fruit growth stage, by measuring in olive fruit diameter, leaf photosynthesis, a proxy of cell turgor and flow cytometry to determine the fruit cell division stage. We found that photosynthesis and turgor were related to fruit growth; specifically, the relative importance of photosynthesis was higher during periods of more intense cell division, while turgor had higher importance in periods where cell division comes close to ceasing, and fruit growth is dependent mainly on cell expansion. This pattern was found regardless of the water deficit level, although, turgor and growth ceased at more similar values of leaf water potential than photosynthesis. We conclude that carbon and water processes are able to explain fruit growth, with importance placed on the combination of cell division and expansion. However, the major limitation to growth is turgor, which adds evidence to the sink limitation hypothesis.

Melatonin is produced by plants, algae, and animals. Worldwide studies show diverse positive effects of exogenous melatonin on plants, edible plant products, and algae, but the potential of melatonin to enhance food and feed systems through these positive effects remains largely unexplored. Through a meta-analysis of about 25,000 observations, we show that exogenous application of melatonin significantly increases crop productivity and yields, and enhances the nutritional and nutraceutical value of edible plant products and algae by regulating diverse biological functions. Melatonin can improve plants, edible plant products, and algae under various current climate change scenarios, environmental pollution factors, and other stresses by about 7% to nearly 30%, on average, depending on the stressor. We also analyze various technical/methodological factors influencing the desired outcomes and identify conditions that offer optimal enhancement. This study offers a scientific and technical roadmap facilitating sustainable food and feed production through the application of exogenous melatonin.

The massive raise of COVID-19 cases all over the world is leading to unprecedented pressures on healthcare services. Growing evidence is highlighting that COVID-19 is a systemic condition that requires doctors with multiple expertise. Paediatricians are trained in these skills. Considering the issue of staff shortage that is facing every country in the world, and the complexity of COVID-19, paediatricians may represent an important source of ready and skilled specialists that can quickly translate the paediatric practice in the COVID-19 care. We report our experience by making several parallels between the paediatric clinical practice and clinical conditions described in patients with COVID-19 with particular reference to the use of lung ultrasound in paediatric clinical practice and in that of adult COVID-19 units.

Background: Mitral Regurgitation (MR) can cause left ventricular dilation (remodeling). Reverse remodeling describes improved volumes after intervention. Reverse remodeling carries favorable prognoses, but not all MitraClip patients undergo reverse remodeling. We hypothesized pre-procedural global longitudinal strain (pre-GLS) will predict reverse remodeling one-year post MitraClip in all-cause MR patients. Materials and Methods: Of the 189 MitraClips performed at our institution between 2007-2019, 57 patients had complete echocardiographic data,. Echocardiograms 0-120 days prior to and 6-24 months after procedure were retrospectively reviewed. Reverse remodeling was defined as reduction in end diastolic volume (EDV). Results: In 20 sample echocardiograms, intra and inter-reader GLS variability was r=0.95 and r=0.90, respectively. Our population consisted of 55.2% female, 12.3% functional , 61.4% degenerative and 26.3% mixed mitral regurgitation. A reduction in EDV was demonstrated in 38 patients (67%). EDV, ESV, LAVi, and RVSP significantly decreased post-clip (all p<0.01) but not LVEF. Regression models showed pre-EDV (p<0.01) and pre-ESV (p<0.01) had significant crude and adjusted linear associations and │pre-GLS│ had a significant crude curvilinear association (linear p=0.04, quadratic p =0.04) with EDV reductions post clip. The curvilinear association showed among lower, more abnormal │pre-GLS│ values, higher │pre-GLS│ was associated with greater reductions in EDV. When adjusted for pre-EDV and pre-ESV, GLS lost significance(linear p=0.29, quadratic p=0.29). Conclusion: Our study shows a majority of MitraClip patients demonstrate reverse remodeling and pre-GLS to be associated with reverse remodeling, though not robustly. Further study with large sample sizes can better define the association.

Here we describe a case of a young female with congenital hypertrophic cardiomyopathy presenting with a narrow complex tachycardia. She underwent an electrophysiology study that revealed dual atrial flutter circuity in a single right atrium. This case highlights the importance of high-density electrical mapping for identification of complex atrial arrhythmias.

Soil acidification has become an increasingly serious problem. Due to aluminum toxicity and phosphorus deficiency, the root development of many crops is hindered. In this study, we aimed to investigate the mechanism involved in aluminum toxicity and reduction of phosphorus absorption under acidic conditions using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model organism. The high-affinity phosphate transporter PHO84 was sensitive to aluminum under low-phosphorus conditions, and the addition of phosphate alleviated this sensitivity. The reduction of phosphate absorption induced by aluminum is dependent on PHO84. The sensitivity assay of corresponding gene mutations in the phosphate signaling transduction pathway indicated that the effect of aluminum on PHO84 is related to the phosphate signaling transduction pathway system and regulated by PHO4/PHO2; however, aluminum did not affect the pho84p transport mediated by Pho86p through the sensitivity detection of pho86Δ to aluminum. Our results corroborate the finding that aluminum reduces phosphorus absorption and inhibits the growth of the plant in acidic media. Additionally, the high-affinity phosphate transporter NtPT1 in tobacco exhibits a similar role to PHO84 in yeast cells, indicating that the reduction of phosphorus absorption caused by aluminum depends on NtPT1 in tobacco. Altogether, our results may provide basis for the engineering of aluminum-resistant microorganisms or plants and the treatment of acidic soil.

Primary cardiac tumors are extremely rare and they most commonly occur in adults. The majority of these neoplasms are benign and, in children, rhabdomyomas, fibromas and teratomas represent the most prevalent subtypes. Among the malignant primary cardiac tumors, sarcomas are the most common. In this case report, we present the first pediatric case of a primary cardiac intimal sarcoma, a histological subtype never previously reported in the pediatric population. Our patient is a 16-year-old who presented with severe cardiogenic shock and arrhythmias and underwent urgent surgical resection of his cardiac mass.