Switched capacitor array (SCA) circuits allow a fast acquisition of short signals as samples in memory cells, being an alternative to conventional converter circuits. Each memory cell of an SCA has a readout buffer circuit needed only during a short time, thus wasting power when is left ON. Presented is the design of a power cycling circuit that greatly reduces power consumption of SCA circuits by turning buffers ON only when needed. Results from circuit simulations of a prototype implementation are presented. The reduction on power consumption of SCA circuits with power cycling are computed from the results and compared to conventional circuits.

Trevor A. Jackson1* , Miguel N. Rincón2, Laura F. Villamizar1 and Sulav Paudel1.1AgResearch, Lincoln Research Centre, 1365 Springs Road, Lincoln 7674, Private Bag 4749, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand2 Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), Michoacan, Av. Progreso 5 Santa Catarina neighbourhood 04010 México City, Mexico.

Endomyocardial fibrosis (EMF) is a neglected disorder, which is predominant in tropical regions and characterized by fibrotic thickening of the endomyocardium of one or both ventricles, resulting in a restrictive cardiomyopathy (1). Although eosinophilia, infections, toxic agents, malnutrition and immunologic causes have been shown to be associated with EMF, the etiology remains controversial (2). We present a rare case of right ventricular EMF with atrial septal defect (ASD).

Soil depth, slope position and different plantations can influence bacterial community composition in Camellia oleifera forests. However, prior studies have focused on the impacts of different depths, slope positions, and forest types on bacterial diversity independently, without comparing their combined impacts. This study aimed to assess variation in soil bacterial community structures according to soil depth and slope position and different forest types in the same plot. The composition of soil bacterial communities was evaluated using high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Results indicate that the soil organic carbon, humus, and total organic content increased, and the bacterial composition and structure were significantly altered in response to the G. jasminoides + C. oleifera low-yielding forest in comparison to the other three forest types. The highest soil bacteria numbers, Alpha and beta diversity, which improved the soil microecological environment, were associated with the G. jasminoides + C. oleifera forests and not the depth or slope position treatments. The slope position did not have a significant influence on the soil physicochemical and bacterial properties. Structural equation modeling suggested that G. jasminoides + C. oleifera significantly affected the soil bacterial community diversity by mediating the soil pH and NH 4–N. The effects of forest type on soil bacterial diversity were more important than soil depth and slope position. This specific intercropping system was found to be an effective strategy to improve soil health.

The long-term use of vineyards and their renewal causes numerous chemical changes in the bioavailable copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) levels, organic carbon and microbial properties of the soil. However, there are few works with an approach to the use of vineyards in subtropical soils. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the relationship between physical-chemical properties, microbial basal respiration, activity, richness, and diversity from vineyards and nearby forest reference soils in three different areas in southern Brazil. Each area underwent three treatments: old cultivation, i.e., a well-established vineyard; renewed vineyard; and reference, a native forest located adjacent to the vineyards. The physical-chemical properties clay content, moisture, pH, organic matter (OM), carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn) level; the basal respiration (BR), microbial biomass Carbon (MBC), microbial biomass Nitrogen (MBN), hydrolysis of fluorescein diacetate (FDA), microbial quotient (qMic), and metabolic quotient (qCO2); and microbial richness and Shannon diversity index were determined. The organic C level differently influenced the microbial activity and richness in each of the three experimental areas. The change in microbial diversity indexes impacted soil biological activity in two locations. Vineyard renewal promotes the reduction of Cu (- 48.8%) and zinc (- 20%) bioavailability and increases microbial diversity in subtropical soils in southern Brazil.

Pichia pastoris ( Komagataella phaffii) is a fast-growing methylotrophic yeast with the ability to assimilate several carbon sources such as methanol, glucose, or glycerol. It has been shown to have outstanding secretion capability with a variety of heterologous proteins. In previous studies, we engineered P. pastoris to co-express E. coli AppA phytase and the HAC1 transcriptional activator using a bidirectional promoter. Phytase production was characterised in shake flasks and did not reflect industrial conditions. In the present study, phytase expression was explored and optimised using instrumented fermenters in continuous and fed-batch modes. First, the production of phytase was investigated under glucose de-repression in continuous culture at three dilution factors, 0.5 d -1, 1 d -1, and 1.5 d -1. The fermenter parameters of these cultures were used to inform a kinetic model in batch and fed-batch modes for growth and phytase production. The kinetic model developed aided to design the glucose feeding profile of a fed-batch culture. Kinetic model simulations under glucose de-repression and fed-batch conditions identified an optimal phytase productivity at the specific growth rate of 0.041 h -1. Validation of the model simulation with experimental data confirmed the feasibility of the model to predict phytase production in our newly engineered strain. Methanol was used only to induce the expression of phytase at high cell densities. Our results showed that high phytase production required two stages, the first stage used glucose under de-repression conditions to generate biomass while expressing phytase, and stage two used methanol to induce phytase expression. The production of phytase was improved 3.5-fold by methanol induction compared to the expression with glucose alone under de-repression conditions to a final phytase activity of 12.65 MU/L. This final volumetric phytase production represented an approximate 36-fold change compared to the flask fermentations. This two-phase strategy allowed to optimise phytase productivity by producing phytase during both growth and methanol induction phases. Finally, the phytase protein produced was assayed to confirm its molecular weight, and pH and temperature profiles. This study highlights the importance of optimising protein production in P. pastoris when using novel promoters and presents a general approach to performing bioprocess optimisation in this important production host.

The use of transposase in cell line development (CLD) programs has experienced increased popularity over the past decade. However, few studies have described the mechanism of action and the genomic and phenotypic characteristics of clones derived from transposase. Additionally, how these traits impact long-term bioproduction is unknown. Here, we use chromosome painting, deep sequencing, and ddPCR to characterize the unique fingerprints associated with transposase-derived clones. Transposase reduces the cellular pool of transient vector as early as three days post transfection following transfection and expedites stable pool establishment by up to two weeks. Furthermore, , recombinant DNA expression is significantly improved up to ~3 fold along with a greater balance of antibody heavy and light chain transcripts, resulting in higher titers in transposase generated pools. Transposase derived pools contained an often innumerable number of integration sites, representing a vast increase in integration site diversity over randomly generated pools, which were bottlenecked at 1-3 integration sites per pool. These transposase mediated integrations typically occurred in clean singlets, free of genomic scars such as deletions, inversions, and other modifications associated with legacy transfection methods which exhibited higher copy numbers per integration site. Also we observed a relative decline in gene expression with copy number increase in the randomly generated, but not the transposase derived clones. Furthermore, transposase-derived clones were more likely to exhibit enhanced a long term stability profile, including product quality attributes such as Mannose-5. This improved stability may result from circumventing mechanisms associated with the silencing of tandem repeats. Thus, transposase-mediated approaches can provide multifaceted molecular and phenotypic advantages in cell line development when compared to legacy random-integration methods.

Objectives: To understand the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of pediatric SARS-CoV-2 infection during the early stage of Omicron variant outbreak in Shanghai. Study designs: This study included local COVID-19 cases<18 years in Shanghai referred to the exclusively designated hospital by the end of March 2022 since emergence of Omicron epidemic. Clinical data, epidemiological exposure and COVID-19 vaccination status were collected. Relative risks (RR) were calculated to assess the effect of vaccination on symptomatic infection and febrile disease. Results: A total of 376 pediatric cases of COVID-19 (median age:6.0±4.2 years) were referred to the designated hospital during the period of March 7-31, including 257 (68.4%) symptomatic cases and 119 (31.6%) asymptomatic cases. Of the 307 (81.6%) children ≥3 years eligible for COVID-19 vaccination, 110 (40.4%) received 2-dose vaccines and 16 (4.0%) received 1-dose vaccine. The median interval between 2-dose vaccination and infection was 3.5 (IQR: 3, 4.5) months (16 days-7 months). Two-dose COVID-19 vaccination reduced the risks of symptomatic infection and febrile disease by 35%(RR 0.65, 95% CI: 0.53-0.79) and 33% (RR 0.64, 95% CI: 0.51-0.81). Two hundred and sixteen (83.4%) symptomatic cases had fever (mean duration:1.7±1.0.8 days), 104 (40.2%) had cough, 16.4% had transient leukopenia; 307 (81.6%) had an epidemiological exposure in household (69.1%) , school (21.8%) and residential area (8.8%). Conclusion: The surge of pediatric COVID-19 cases and multiple transmission model reflect wide dissemination of Omicron variant in the community. Asymptomatic infection is common among Omicron-infected children. COVID-19 vaccination can offer some protection against symptomatic infection and febrile dise

Ecosystem carbon sequestration service (ECSS), the benefit that humans derive from ecosystem carbon sequestration, is key to regulating climate and supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achievement. However, the ECSS-SDGs relationship is largely unknown, limiting our understanding of how ecosystem services contribute to the sustainable development agenda. Here we assessed the sustainable development progress of the Loess Plateau from 2000 to 2019 based on the SDG indicators. Then we analysed the impact of ECSS on regional SDG progress and its threshold. The results showed that the Loess Plateau made higher progress on resource and environmental SDGs, such as SDG 13 (Climate action), SDG 12 (Responsible consumption and production), SDG 6 (Clean water and sanitation), and SDG 7 (Affordable and clean energy). SDG 6, 7, 13 and 15 (Life on land) showed linear responses to ECSS, while the response of SDG 1 (No poverty), 4 (Quality education), 8 (Decent work and economic growth) and 12 (Responsible consumption and production) to ECSS showed a threshold when the standardised carbon sequestration value was 0.11. ECSS positively affected the SDG progress when the standardised carbon sequestration value was less than 0.11, which corresponds to most part of the Loess Plateau. It indicates that ECSS support the SDG realization in most areas of the Loess Plateau, where the socio-economic sustainability is closely related to carbon sequestration service. The areas that ECSS had no significant impact on SDGs (when the standardised carbon sequestration value was larger than 0.11) correspond to large-scale forestland. This work links carbon sequestration service to sustainable development and can help to leverage nature’s contributions to social-ecological sustainability.

：Terrestrial ecosystem carbon storage is an important part of global carbon storage, and land use patterns are an important driver in the evolution of its carbon stock. The evolution of land use patterns is particularly evident within urban agglomerations. In this study, the Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration was taken as the study area, and the CA-Markov simulation model and the InVEST carbon stock assessment model were used to simulate the evolution of land use patterns and carbon stocks in the study area under different scenarios for the last 20a (2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020) and the next 10a (2030). In addition, a decoupling elasticity index model was coupled to reveal the link between land use conflicts and carbon stocks in the land use evolution process. The results show that: 1) From 2000 to 2030, the main land use types in the Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration are cultivated field, woodland and grassland. In time, the type of evolution of land use types is mainly manifested in the decrease of cultivated field and the increase of construction land, and in space it is mainly manifested in the radial expansion of construction land to the periphery with Xi’an city as the centre. (2) Carbon stock in the Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration continues to decrease from 2000 to 2030. And spatially, carbon stock shows a distribution trend of high on both sides and low in the middle. 3) The conversion of cultivated field to construction land is the most important reason for the decrease in carbon stock in the Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration. 4) The decoupling relationship between the area of cultivated field occupied by construction land and carbon storage in the Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration from 2000 to 2020 is in the order of recessive decoupling, strong decoupling, strong negative decoupling, and strong decoupling. From 2020 to 2030, the decoupling relationship between cultivated field occupied by construction land and carbon storage is strong decoupling. The cities that are strong decoupling in the natural and planning scenarios account for 25% and 50% of the total number of urban agglomerations respectively. The study can provide a pathway reference for land use restructuring and carbon stock enhancement of terrestrial ecosystems in the Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration.

ABSTRACT Aims: To estimate the prevalence of polypharmacy among community-dwelling adults in the UK and determine its association with mortality, hospitalization, adverse drug reactions and falls at one and five years. Method: A retrospective cohort study was carried out using 1000 patients aged 75 years and above from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink. The follow-up periods for one and five years were January 2010 to December 2010, and January 2010 to December 2014 respectively. Sociodemographic and clinical variables were retrieved using medical and product codes. The association between polypharmacy and mortality, falls, adverse drug reactions, and hospitalization was determined using Cox regression analysis while confounding for age, sex, Charlson’s Comorbidity Index, potentially inappropriate medicines, previous hospitalization, and previous falls. Results: The prevalence of polypharmacy was 47%. Adjusted hazard ratios with their 95% confidence intervals for polypharmacy and outcomes at five years were mortality 1.60(1.3-2.0), hospitalization 1.49(1.3-1.7), falls 1.49(0.9-2.4), and adverse drug reactions 0.97(0.5-1.8). The results for the one-year analysis were mortality 2.37(1.4-3.9), hospitalization 2.47(1.4-4.3), and falls 0.37(0.03-4.0). The result for adverse drug reactions was omitted. Conclusion: Polypharmacy was found to be an independent risk factor for mortality and hospitalization, but not falls or adverse drug reactions.

Water availability in karst forests is temporally and spatially heterogeneous; thus, xylem hydraulic efficiency, safety and water storage are potential drivers of tree growth. We selected 21 tree species from a primary subtropical karst forest in southern China and analyzed the contribution of xylem hydraulic efficiency, safety, and water storage to the growth of karst trees. The results showed that large vessel diameter, strong connectivity between vessels and axial parenchyma, and high saturated water content (SWC) led to high xylem hydraulic conductivity (Ks). SWC traded off against embolism resistance (P50). Ks had the strongest relationship with the average diametral growth rate (DGR). In large trees, both high Ks and more negative P50 were associated with high DGR. Through a growth-size relationship model, DGR acceleration was positively correlated with embolism-resistance across species. This study shows that xylem hydraulic efficiency and safety influenced growth rate and growth dynamics in karst tree species.

Belowground life is traditionally considered to rely on leaf litter as the main basal resource, whereas the importance of roots remains little understood, especially in the tropics. Here, we analysed the response of 30 soil animal groups to root trenching and litter removal in rainforest and plantations in Sumatra and found that roots are similarly important to soil fauna as litter. Trenching effects were stronger in soil than in litter with animal abundance being overall decreased by 42% in rainforest and by 30% in plantations. Litter removal little affected animals in soil, but decreased the total abundance by 60% both in rainforest and rubber plantations but not in oil palm plantations. Litter and root effects were explained either by the body size or vertical distribution of specific animal groups. Our findings highlight the importance of root-derived resources for soil animals and quantify principle carbon pathways in tropical soil food webs.

Background: Poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors have emerged as maintenance therapy for advanced ovarian cancer. However, due to the development of drug resistance, combination of PARP inhibitors with other chemotherapeutic agents has become a contemporary research hotspot. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of phase II or III randomized controlled trials to analyze the efficacy and safety of combinations of PARP inhibitors with various chemotherapeutic agents on the progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of patients with ovarian cancer. Results: A total of eight trials that contained the combination of PARP inhibitors and chemotherapeutic agents were included. Combination of PARP inhibitors with bevacizumab benefited patients with BRCA mutations and HRD-positive status(HR=0.34 (95% Cl: 0.23–0.5; P<0.05); HR=0.35 (95% Cl: 0.27–0.45; P<0.05)), while combination with chemotherapy prolonged the PFS in the BRCA mutation, HRD, and homologous recombination proficiency subgroups(HR=0.39 (95% Cl: 0.26–0.58; P<0.05);HR=0.57 (95% Cl: 0.43–0.76; P<0.05); HR=0.79 (95% Cl: 0.64–0.98; P<0.05) ). However, patients with BRCA wild-type or unknown type benefited most from combination with cediranib. PARP inhibitors increased the risk of G≥3 neutropenia when combined with bevacizumab(RR=2.25, 95% Cl 1.09–4.62; P<0.05) and G≥3 anemia(RR=1.54, 95% Cl 1.16–2.05; P<0.05) and neutropenia(RR=1.25,95% CL 1.00-1.57; P<0.05) when combined with chemotherapy. Conclusion: Combination regimens of PARP inhibitors showed benefits in both primary and recurrent ovarian cancer, and the population subsets benefiting varied among different combinations. G≥3 adverse reactions were mainly hematological toxicities.

Background Microbiome studies are often limited by a lack of statistical power due to small sample sizes and a large number of features. This problem is exacerbated in correlative studies of multi-omic datasets. Statistical power can be increased by finding and summarizing modules of correlated observations, which is one dimensionality reduction method. Additionally, modules provide biological insight as correlated groups of microbes can have relationships among themselves. Results To address these challenges, we developed SCNIC: Sparse Cooccurrence Network Investigation for compositional data. SCNIC is open-source software that can generate correlation networks and detect and summarize modules of highly correlated features. Modules can be formed using either the Louvain Modularity Maximization (LMM) algorithm or a Shared Minimum Distance algorithm (SMD) that we newly describe here and relate to LMM using simulated data. We applied SCNIC to two published datasets and we achieved increased statistical power and identified microbes that not only differed across groups, but also correlated strongly with each other, suggesting shared environmental drivers or cooperative relationships among them. Conclusions SCNIC provides an easy way to generate correlation networks, identify modules of correlated features and summarize them for downstream statistical analysis. Although SCNIC was designed considering properties of microbiome data, such as compositionality and sparsity, it can be applied to a variety of data types including metabolomics data and used to integrate multiple data types. SCNIC allows for the identification of functional microbial relationships at scale while increasing statistical power through feature reduction.

A document by Richard Stein. Click on the document to view its contents.

We have described how to perform blind endometrial sampling at the time of outpatient vaginoscopy without the use of a speculum in a true no touch technique.

Isolated tricuspid valve regurgitation can be caused by either primary valvular abnormalities or secondary to annular dilation. Congenital tricuspid valve regurgitation in the adult is rare and encompasses a heterogenous group of anatomical variants that is often associated with or is a sequela of other congenital heart diseases that poses a unique challenge to the surgical management of these patients. We present a case of primary isolated congenital tricuspid valve regurgitation and successful tricuspid valve repair in an adult.

Management practices can have significant implications for both soil quality and soil fertility. The observation on different pools of nitrogen in rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere in the long term are limited. Here we present the results on different pools of nitrogen in soil from long term integrated nutrient management practices under finger millet – groundnut cropping system, that has been in operation for more than 42 years. Organic manures - farmyard manure, maize residue and mineral fertilizers had been applied repeatedly for 42 years with finger millet – finger millet mono-cropping and finger millet- groundnut cropping system. The results indicated that all the nitrogen fractions were found to be higher in non-rhizosphere soil except total nitrogen and ammonical nitrogen fractions. The combined application of FYM @ 10 t ha -1 and mineral fertilizer 100% RDF in finger millet – groundnut cropping system recorded significantly higher total nitrogen (R-969.20 mg kg -1; NR-956.93 mg kg -1), nitrate nitrogen (R-84.00 mg kg -1; NR-85.40 mg kg -1), Ammonical N (R-109.20 mg kg -1; NR-106.30 mg kg -1) and organic nitrogen fractions in both rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil. The total nitrogen was found to be significantly and positively correlated with organic carbon (r = 0.718**, r = 0.831**), available nitrogen (r = 0.912**, r = 0.915**), MBN (r = 0.912**, r = 0.914**) and urease (r = 0.809**, r = 0.820**) in case of both rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil. All the nitrogen fractions were significantly and positively correlated with each other indicating the existence of dynamic equilibrium.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) requires coordinated, specialized medical care for optimal outcomes. There are no United States (US) guidelines that define a pediatric comprehensive SCD program. We report a modified Delphi consensus-seeking process to determine essential, optimal, and suggested elements of a comprehensive pediatric SCD center. Nineteen pediatric SCD specialists participated from the US. Consensus was predefined as 2/3 agreement on each element’s categorization. Twenty-six elements were considered essential (required for guideline-based SCD care), ten were optimal (recommended but not required), and five were suggested. This work lays the foundation for a formal recognition process of pediatric comprehensive SCD centers.

Perinatal Mortality Rate is an important epidemiological indicator of Maternal and Child Health care because of its sensitivity for both maternal and new-born care. To analyse trends of perinatal morbidity and mortality, 4177 deliveries were studied across 18 months in a tertiary care hospital in Karnataka. Fetal growth restriction accounted to more than 50% of the perinatal deaths. Maternal morbidities were associated with up to 40.6% of causes for still birth. Preterm births account to 45.3% of neonatal deaths, sepsis accounting to 20.31%. Early recognition and intervention for these conditions seemed to be the mainstay in improving perinatal outcome.

There are few references to determine the plasticity behavior of non-petroleum mulches before application. Plasticity behavior covers many areas of science and engineering and is used in various materials. The premise of this study is mainly to introduce a new method to measure The Intrinsic Potential Plasticity (IPPI) Index defined here for several types of non-petroleum mulch before spraying on dunes. Many researchers are trying to find a suitable dune stabilizer as an alternative to bitumen for fixing dune systems. Petroleum mulch was a widespread material for dune stabilization in Iran, but in fact, it is harmful to the environment and many soil biotas. One of the advantages of bituminous mulch is its plasticity behavior. Observations show that several non-petroleum mulches have no effective performance in terms of plasticity and consistency. On the other hand, sand particles are classified as none plastic, hence it is difficult to determine the plasticity behavior of stabilizers in the Lab. To prove the technique, several liquid mulches were tested. A heavy texture soil is selected as a facilitator medium and its plasticity index was measured using distilled water. Then, each mulch was added to this medium using the same procedure and assuming no interaction between mulch and clay minerals. Then, subtracting the plasticity index of the medium soil from the total plasticity index of the medium soil plus mulch, resulted in the calculation of (IPPI) for several liquid stabilizers explained in the article

This study examines the memory effect on predator-prey interactions in the face of global warming, employing a fear function with a Holling type II function to characterize the consumer prey and predator species. The effect of global warming on both prey and predators was studied using the exponential decay function. The system’s equilibria are determined, and the system’s stability is established around the equilibrium points. A series of numerical simulations are done to evaluate the theoretical component of the work and show the impacts of global warming, anxiety, and fractional order on our model’s behavior.

In this article, the multi-parameters Mittag-Leffler function is studied in detail. As a consequence, a series of novel results such as the integral representation, series representation and Mellin transform to the above function, are obtained. Especially, we associate the multi-parameters Mittag- Leffler function with two special functions which are the generalized Wright hypergeometric and the Fox's-H functions. Meanwhile, some interesting integral operators and derivative operators of this function, are also discussed.