Letter to the editor

In this study, we present the development and characterization of a homegrown magnetron sputtering system (MSS) constructed from repurposed materials. Borosilicate glass slides were used as the substrate material, while Al, Fe, and Cu were employed as target materials. The system was validated, optimized, and successfully utilized for the deposition of Cu, Al, and Fe films onto the glass substrate. The resulting samples were analyzed for their structure, morphology, photoluminescence, and electrical conductivity using XRD, EDS, SEM, and the 4-point probe method. Our findings indicate that the MSS produces results that compare favorably with standard sputtering equipment, but with significant potential for further refinement. Overall, our work highlights the feasibility and versatility of utilizing homegrown sputtering systems for a range of research applications.

Integrating supervised segmentation and internet reputation as a form of medical visual segmentation, biomechanical configurations are extracted from retinal images. In this analysis, medical digital image clustering techniques are highlighted, followed by an advance including thresholding and micro and macro segmentation. Also, the attributes were retrieved using either algorithm. Based on the gathered features, CNN, PNN, and MLP are used to investigate and diagnose the bone crispiness. A texture categorization framework is proposed, which offers superior classification scenarios, based on the preliminary predictors. As a result, it shows whether or not the claims are fragmented.

The oogenesis-flight syndrome reflects the temporal allocation of energy resources between dispersal / migration and reproduction and is a key concept in research on migratory behaviour in animals. In migratory butterflies, host plant abundance and quality may act as environmental cues to switch between the two states, but the mechanisms regulating this process are virtually unknown. Here, we used an experimental set-up to assess how variation in host plant abundance affected the activity of regulatory elements in the painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui), a model species for insect migratory behaviour studies. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP-seq) was used to evaluate histone tail modifications of H3K27ac and H3K4me3, as a proxy for regulatory activity. The results indicate that recently eclosed females that had access to host plants invested in reproduction at an earlier stage and that variation in host plant abundance triggered significant differences in regulatory element activity via histone tail acetylation. The functions of genes in the vicinity of differentially activated regions were primarily associated with metabolism, egg shell formation, female receptivity, muscle activity, pheromone binding and chromosome maintenance. Our results provide a first glimpse into the regulatory underpinnings of how females perceive the environment and allocate resources for either migration or reproduction and a starting point for more detailed understanding of the links between environmental variation, gene regulation and behaviour in butterflies.

For evaluation of the performance of wireless local area networks, the radio characteristics between the access point (AP) and client station (STA) in the same basic service set must be measured (BSS). Many wireless networks coexist and may uncontrollably overlay in a specific hotspot area because of the enormous demand for wireless services in numerous applications. The performance of wireless radio channels is affected because they are subject to interference from surrounding energy, that direct impact on the throughput of both individual users and networks. This problem can be resolved by a new spatial reuse IEEE 11ax feature that performs a clear channel assessment procedure between the access point and client before assigning the channel for traffic, thereby reducing channel collision and facilitating the wireless network’s effective use of radio resources. Additionally, the usage of radio channels would be limited on radio quality, resource availability and the interference of overlaying networks. The work assesses the performance of the spatial reuse feature using a clear channel assessment approach in conjunction with some modulation and coding schemes. After examination, we found that spatial reuse capability improves the channel’s throughput performance by 18% to 20% higher than conventional approaches for the lower Modulation and coding scheme.

Deciduous forests form the dominant natural vegetation of Europe today, but were restricted to small refugia during Pleistocene cold stages, implying an evolutionary past shaped by recurrent range contractions and expansions. Cold-stage forest refugia were probably widespread in southern and central Europe, with the northwestern Balkan Peninsula being of particular importance. However, the actual number and location of deciduous forest refugia, as well as the connections between them, remain disputed. Here, we address the evolutionary dynamics of the deciduous forest understorey species Euphorbia carniolica as a proxy for past forest dynamics. To do so, we obtained genomic and morphometric data from populations representing the species' entire range, investigated phylogenetic position and intraspecific genetic variation, tested explicit demographic scenarios and applied species distribution models. Our data support two disjoint groups linked to separate refugia on the northwestern and central Balkan Peninsula. We find that genetic differentiation between groups started in the early Pleistocene via vicariance, suggesting a larger distribution in the past. Both refugia acted as sources for founder events to the southeastern Alps and the Carpathians, whereas the latter were likely colonized before the last cold stage. In line with traditional views on the pre-Pleistocene origin of many southeastern European deciduous forest species, the origin of E. carniolica was dated to the late Pliocene. The fact that E. carniolica evolved at a time when a period of continuous forestation was ending in much of Eurasia provides an interesting biogeographical perspective on the past links between Eurasian deciduous forests and their biota.

In the context of capitalist labour market, employers expect a lot of work from their employees in a short time to maximize their profits and this reveal the time pressure or overload of work as an element of mobbing. As changing world conditions made it necessary to reconsider the definition of mobbing, in our study we included time pressure and overload of work in definition of mobbing and analysed the odds of facing mobbing at the workplace via logistic regression using a nationally representative Health Survey of Turkey Micro Data Set 2012 considering a sample of 7,377 employed & 15+ aged individuals considering a large group of independent variables as factors. Firstly, it is seen that the prevalence of mobbing was 22.87% and being female, being young, low educated, having chronic mental diseases, significantly increasing chance of being under exposure to mobbing. We found that work difficulty is increasing the mobbing risk almost 6 times. Also, people working in human health sector are mobbed more than 2 times compared to the working in education sector.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to ascertain antibiotic-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) in older adults aged 65 years or above in New Zealand using a case-crossover study design. Methods: We used the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification code N17.9 to identify all individuals aged 65 years and above with a diagnosis of incident AKI between January 01, 2005, and December 31, 2020, from the New Zealand National Minimum Data Set. We created a case-crossover cohort for antibiotic exposures, with a 3-day observation period and two 30 days washout periods, summed up to a 66-day study period. We calculated the changed odds of AKI due to exposures to an antibiotic as matched odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals, using conditional logistic regression. Results: We identified a total of 2399 incident cases of AKI between 2005 and 2020 among older adults. The adjusted odds of consuming a sulphonamide antibiotic during the case period was 3.57 times (95% CI: 2.86 to 4.46) higher than the reference period among the incident AKI cases. Fluoroquinolone utilisation was also associated with incident AKI (adjusted OR = 2.56; 95% CI: 1.90 to 3.46). The number needed to harm for sulphonamides and fluroquinolones were 6.55 (95% CI: 5.15 to 8.65) and 21.38 (95% CI: 13.97 to 36.41), respectively. Conclusion: The potential of sulphonamides and fluoroquinolones to be associated with AKI raises the significant need for vigilant prescribing of these antibiotics in frail older adults.

Containment syringe sharing among individuals is considered to be the most contributing factor to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It’s well recognized that sharing syringes significantly contributes to the transmission of diseases amongst individuals. This study examines how syringe sharing may contribute to HIV infection and spread among injectable drug users. Sharing syringes greatly aids in the spread of infections among people, as is widely acknowledged. The model was calibrated using data from Malaysia from 2000 to 2011 on the incidence of HIV among drug injectors. Through the use of the Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation approach, the parameters are estimated using Bayesian inference. The basic reproduction number for HIV disease suggests that the disease-free equilibrium was stable during the 12 years. This is a good indicator from the public health point of view since the goal is to stabilize the infection rate. Our findings emphasized the potential involvement of syringe sharing in the transmission of HIV among injectable drug users and the need for more research into this infection rate in order to improve strategies for reducing the incidence of individual HIV cases among people who inject drugs.

Influenza A virus (IAV) infection causes a frenzied host response, which promotes acute lung inflammation. Andrographolide, an active component extracted from Andrographis paniculate, exerts significant inhibitive effects on acute inflammation induced by IAV. However, the molecular mechanism of the anti-inflammatory and antiviral effects remains poorly understood. Here, we found that andrographolide reduced mortality, alleviated body weight loss, and decreased lung index and inflammatory cytokines secretion rather than inhibiting viral replication. Further study with RNA-seq analysis revealed that the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway is significantly activated in the lungs of andrographolide-treated mice. The phosphorylated AKT and PI3K were significantly increased after andrographolide intervention by Western blot. Moreover, [pyroptosis](javascript:;)-related proteins, and downstream pathways of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, including cleaved-caspase 3 and GSDME-N, were decreased. The protective effect of andrographolide was significantly reduced after treatment with an AKT inhibitor. In summary, our findings suggested that andrographolide exerts a protective effect on IAV-induced [pneumonia](javascript:;) by activating the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, which may represent a novel therapeutic strategy for IAV infection.

A document by Matthew T. Luongo. Click on the document to view its contents.

RATIONALE Ambient ionization mass spectrometry (AIMS) delivers realistic data from samples in their native state. In addition, AIMS methods reduce time and costs for sample preparation and have less environmental impact. However, AIMS data are often complex and require substantial processing before interpretation. METHODS We developed an interactive R script for the guided processing of mass spectrometry (MS) data. The ‘MQ_Assistant’ is based on MALDIquant, a popular R package for MS data processing. In each step, the user can try and pre-view the effect of chosen parameters before deciding on the values with the best result and proceeding to the next stage. The outcome of the MQ_Assistant is a feature matrix that can be further analyzed in R and statistics tools such as MetaboAnalyst. RESULTS Using 360 AIMS example spectra, we demonstrate the step-by-step processing for creating a feature matrix. In addition, we show how to visualize the results of tree biological replicates of a plant-microbe interaction between Arabidopsis and Trichoderma as a heatmap using R and upload them to MetaboAnalyst. The final parameter set can be saved for reuse in MALDIquant workflows of similar data. CONCLUSIONS The MQ_Assistant helps novices and experienced users to develop workflows for (AI)MS data processing. The interactive procedure supports the quick finding of appropriate settings. These parameters can be exported and reused in future projects. The step-wise operation with visual feedback also suggests the use of the MQ_Assistant in education.

When a chemical reaction occurs via tunnelling, a simple mass-dependence is expected, where substitution of atoms by heavier isotopes leads to a reduced reaction rate. However, as shown in a recent study of CO orientational isomerization at the NaCl(100) interface [Choudhury et al., Nature 612, 691 (2022)], the lightest isotopologue need not exhibit the fastest tunnelling; for the CO/NaCl system, the non-monotonic mass-dependence is understood through a new picture of condensed phase tunnelling where the overall rate is dominated by a few pairs of reactant/product states. These state-pairs – termed quantum gateways – gain dynamical importance through accidentally-enhanced tunnelling probabilities, facilitated by a confluence of the energetic landscape underlying the reaction as well as the phonon bath of the surrounding medium. Here, we explore gateway tunnelling through measurements of the kinetic isotope effect (KIE) for CO isomerization in a monolayer buried by many layers of either CO or N2. With an N2 overlayer, tunnelling rates are accelerated for all four isotopologues (12C16O, 13C16O, 12C18O, and 13C18O), but the degree of acceleration is isotopologue-specific and non-intuitively mass dependent. A one-dimensional tunnelling model involving an Eckart barrier cannot capture this behaviour. This reflects how a change to the potential energy surface moves states in and out of resonance, changing which tunnelling gateways can be accessed in the isomerization reaction.

A document by Maria Höffmann. Click on the document to view its contents.

Background and Purpose Asthma is characterized by airway inflammation, mucus hypersecretion and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). The activation of cholinergic anti‐inflammatory pathway (CAP) through nicotinic agents has been shown to control experimental asthma. Yet, the effects of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS)-induced CAP on allergic inflammation remain unknown. Experimental Approach BALB/c mice were sensitized and challenged with house dust mite (HDM) extract, and treated with active VNS (5Hz, 0.5 ms, 0.1 mA). Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid was assessed for total and differential cell counts and cytokine levels. Lungs were examined by histopathology and electron microscopy. AHR in response to methacholine was also measured. Key Results In the HDM mouse asthma model, active but not sham VNS reduced BAL fluid total and differential cell counts, blocked mucus hypersecretion and suppressed choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) expression in bronchial epithelial cells. Besides, active VNS also abated HDM-induced elevation of type 2 cytokines IL-4 and IL-5. Furthermore, goblet cell hyperplasia and collagen deposition were diminished in VNS-treated mice. Mechanistically, VNS was found to block the phosphorylation of transcription factor STAT6 and the level of IRF4 in total lung lysates. Finally, VNS abrogated methacholine-induced AHR in asthma mice. Therapeutic effects of VNS were abolished by prior administration with α-bungarotoxin, a specific inhibitor of α7 nicotinic receptors (α7nAChR). Conclusion Our data revealed the protective effects of VNS on various clinical features in allergic airway inflammation model. VNS, a clinically approved therapy for depression and epilepsy, appears to be a promising new strategy for controlling allergic asthma through α7nAChR.

Mussels of order Unionida are a group of strictly freshwater bivalves with nearly 1,000 described species, with a dispersed geographic distribution across the world’s freshwater ecosystems. Despite their fundamental ecological importance, they are highly threatened, being the faunal group with the highest records of wild extinctions. To date, only five freshwater mussel species have had their whole genome sequenced, of which only two are from European species. Here, we present the first genome assembly of the painter’s mussel, Unio pictorum (Linnaeus, 1758), the type species representative of the order and the most widespread species of the genus in Europe. We used long-read PacBio HiFi sequencing reads to produce a highly contiguous assembly that will pave the way for the study of European freshwater mussels in the Genome Era.

The thermohydraulic performance of an enhanced PTC’s tube is evaluated in this paper. A passive method is used by introducing transversal inserts on the bottom part of the receiver. The height of the inserts is investigated using MCRT method coupling FVM for Reynolds number range from 2 . 36 ∙ 10 4 to 11 . 83 ∙ 10 4 . the heat transfer fluid used in this study is the Therminol ®VP1 with. The numerical results show that the tube enhanced by inserts augments the reliability of the system, and the introduction of the inserts into the receiver tube decreases the temperature difference over the circumferential area of the absorber tube and minimizes the heat losses and also increase the lifetime of the receiver.

The prediction of regional agricultural carbon emissions is of great significance to regional environmental protection and sustainable development of regional agriculture. This paper puts forward a combined prediction model integrating Partial Least Squares (PLS), Simulated Annealing (SA) and Adaptive Boosting (AdaBoost) to predict regional agricultural carbon emissions, which overcomes the shortcomings of insufficient accuracy of a single model prediction. This paper conducts a demonstrative study on the agricultural carbon emissions in Fujian Province, China to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the PLS-SA-AdaBoost combined prediction model. The experimental results show that PLS-SA-AdaBoost combined prediction model has a higher precision than SA-AdaBoost model and PLS-SA-AdaBoost model; meanwhile PLS-SA-AdaBoost combined prediction model shows obvious advantages compared with other combined prediction models. In terms of five different scenarios, the paper adopts PLS-SA-AdaBoost combined prediction model to predict the future trend of agricultural carbon emissions in Fujian Province.

As the applications using augmented reality have been widespread, the depth information on mobile devices has been important. For example, it can be used for the natural interaction with the environment in augmented reality and the bokeh effects during image processing. However, it is difficult to get depth information on general mobile devices without any depth sensors. As one of the methods for the depth information without any special sensors, stereo vision through recent multiple cameras can be used to generate the disparity map, which can be finally used to generate the depth map. However, the cameras have heterogeneous characteristics each vendor, which makes it challenging to utilize the cameras. In this research, we propose a method for the disparity map to use the cameras that most of the recent devices internally include. With our method, the devices don’t have to include depth sensors such as ToF (Time Of Flight) and SL (Structured Light) and could get the depth information at the raw image from the camera within 275.64 msec (3.63 FPS) on commodity devices. As far as we know, the proposed method is the first research that can generate the disparity map from captured figures by commercial mobile devices.

Background Globally, viral pathogens are the leading cause of acute respiratory infection in children under-five years. We aim to describe the epidemiology of viral respiratory pathogens in hospitalized children under-two years of age in Eastern Province of Sierra Leone, during the second year of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Methods We conducted a prospective study of children hospitalized with respiratory symptoms between October 2020 and October 2021. We collected demographic and clinical characteristics and calculated each participant´s respiratory symptom severity. Nose and throat swabs were collected at enrollment. Total nucleic acid was purified and tested for multiple respiratory viruses. Statistical analysis was performed using R version 4.2.0 software. Results 502 children less than two-years of age were enrolled. 376 (75%) had at least one respiratory virus detected. The most common viruses isolated were HRV/EV (28.2%), RSV (19.5%) and PIV (13.1%). Influenza and SARS-CoV-2 were identified in only 9.2% and 3.9% of children, respectively. Viral co-detection was common. Human metapneumovirus and RSV had more than two-fold higher odds of requiring O2 therapy while hospitalized. Conclusion Viral pathogen prevalence was high (75%) in our study population. Despite this, 100% of children received antibiotics, underscoring a need to expand laboratory diagnostic capacity and to revisit clinical guidelines implementation in these children. Continuous surveillance and serologic studies among more diverse age groups, with greater geographic breadth, are needed in Sierra Leone to better characterize the long-term impact of COVID-19 on respiratory virus prevalence and to better characterize the seasonality of respiratory viruses in Sierra Leone.

Background: Knowledge of the specific dynamics of influenza introduction and spread in university settings is limited. Methods: Persons with acute respiratory illness symptoms received influenza testing by molecular assay during October 6–November 23, 2022. Viral sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were conducted on nasal swab samples from case-patients. Case-control analysis of a voluntary survey of persons tested was used to identify factors associated with influenza; logistic regression was conducted to calculate odds ratios and 95% CIs. A subset of case-patients tested during the first month of the outbreak was interviewed to identify sources of introduction and early spread. Results: Among 3,268 persons tested, 788 (24.1%) tested positive for influenza; 744 (22.8%) were included in the survey analysis. All 380 sequenced specimens were influenza A (H3N2) virus clade 3C.2a1b.2a.2, suggesting rapid transmission. Influenza (OR [95% CI]) was associated with indoor congregate dining (1.43 [1.002–2.03]), attending large gatherings indoors (1.83 [1.26–2.66]) or outdoors (2.33 [1.64–3.31]), and varied by residence type (apartment with ≥1 roommate: 2.93 [1.21–7.11], residence hall room alone: 4.18 [1.31–13.31], or with roommate: 6.09 [2.46–15.06], or fraternity/sorority house: 15.13 [4.30–53.21], all compared with single-dwelling apartment). Odds of influenza were lower among persons who left campus for ≥1 day during the week before their influenza test (0.49 [0.32–0.75]). Almost all early cases reported attending large events. Conclusions: Congregate living and activity settings on university campuses can lead to rapid spread of influenza following introduction. Isolating following a positive influenza test or administering antiviral medications to exposed persons may help mitigate outbreaks.

Abstract: Fatigue damage accumulation will not only cause the degradation of material performance, but also lead to the growth of effective stress and critical stiffness. However, the existing fatigue reliability models usually ignore the effective stress growth and its influence on critical stiffness of composite material. This study considers the combined effects of performance degradation and effective stress growth, and a pair of fatigue reliability models for composite material is presented. Firstly, the fatigue damage in composite material is quantified by its performance degradation, and the fitting accuracy of several typical fatigue damage models is compared. Subsequently, the uncertainties of initial strength and initial stiffness are considered, and a pair of probabilistic models of residual strength and residual stiffness is proposed. The performance degradation data of Gr/PEEK [0/45/90/-45] 2S laminates are utilized to verify the proposed probabilistic models. Finally, the effective stress growth mechanism and its influence on failure threshold are elaborated, and a pair of fatigue reliability models for composite material is developed. Moreover, the differences between strength-based and stiffness-based reliability analysis results of composite material are compared and discussed. Keywords: fatigue reliability; performance degradation; effective stress; fatigue damage; composite material

A document by Beka Abzak. Click on the document to view its contents.

A document by Lizandro de Sousa Santos. Click on the document to view its contents.