Aim: Understand the ecological processes that shape community composition in eelgrass meadows along the coast of France at local and regional scales. Location: Northeastern Atlantic. Methods: Combining taxonomic and trait-based approaches with structural equation modeling, we explored the mechanisms governing community assembly in five meadows located over a distance of 800 km along the French coast in the Northeast Atlantic. We assessed the spatial variability of eelgrass-associated invertebrate communities as affected by environmental parameters or morphological traits of the eelgrass and linked these mechanisms to their impacts at local and regional scales through analyses of the taxonomic and functional α and β diversities. We then quantified the direct and indirect effects of environmental factors on macrofaunal structure and composition. Results: Eelgrass meadows locally favored higher species abundance, diversity, and functional traits present in the community relative to nearby bare sediments. At the regional scale, eelgrass diversity was comparable between sites, with high species turnover observed among them, and each site being characterized by different species and different sets of traits. These differences were due in part to morphological traits of the meadows, but the explanatory variables that best explained the differences among the meadows were environmental conditions, including temperature, current velocity, and Δ water level. Main conclusions: Meadows appear to harbor subsets of species from the regional species pool, rather than harboring eelgrass-specific assemblages. The processes that maintain seagrass diversity appear to reflect a seascape-scale meta-community composed of many habitats connected by source-sink dynamics. Given that eelgrass enhances the diversity and abundance of species found in neighboring habitats, conservation programs should consider ecosystem-level protection spanning multiple habitats, including eelgrass, in order to maximize the protection of biodiversity.

Mining is one of the main drivers of deforestation of tropical forests. This activity affects the storage of aboveground biomass of these ecosystems; and, therefore, its ability to contribute to the mitigation of global climate change. The influence of soils on the aboveground biomass of areas post-mining in the Colombian Pacific was evaluated. For this, plots were established in areas post-mining and with different successional ages (12-15 years, 30-35 years and mature forest). The aboveground biomass and physicochemical parameters of the soil were measured. A aboveground biomass of 15.58 t ha-1, 35.17 t ha-1, and 178.32 t ha-1 was recorded at 12-15 years, 30-35 years and mature forest, respectively. The aboveground biomass was positively correlated with organic matter (OM), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), CICE, total nitrogen (N) and silt; whereas, with sand, aluminum (Al) and potassium (K) content the relationship was negative. It was evidenced that the relationship between aboveground biomass and soils was different in each successional age. When evaluating the changes of aboveground biomass and soils in the successional, it was observed that the aboveground biomass and total N increased with the recovery time; while the P and K decreased with succession. On the other hand, the contents of OM, Mg, Al, Ca and CICE, showed curvilinear tendencies, since they increased in the first stages, and then in the advanced successional stages they decreased. In summary, the results showed that the aboveground biomass of areas post-mining was limited by multiple soil nutrients.

Background and aims High-intensity grazing in Mongolian grasslands has led to the general deterioration of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Abundant evidence shows that grazing affects the structure and function of grassland ecosystems, especially under overgrazing. Methods We examined the effects of three grazing intensities (0, 1.92, and 3.08 sheep ha-1 a-1) on plant commu-nities, plant and soil C, N and P contents, and plant and soil C:N:P stoichiometry in a desert grassland in different years. Results Grazing did not affect plant coverage, richness, or N:P, and the plant community biomass, litter bio-mass and C:N and C:P were highest under a zero grazing intensity. Soil C:N changed with the year and grazing intensity. However, soil C:P and N:P were higher in 2018 than in 2016 and 2017. Conclusions Our study suggested that grazing promoted the flow of N between plants and the soil, especially at 3.08 sheep ha-1 a-1. Under grazing stress, plants maintained the potential for compensatory growth. Further-more, N was shown to be the limiting fertilizer component for plants growing in this area among the three grazing intensities.

Apalutamide is a novel competitive inhibitor of the androgen receptor for the treatment of non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer or metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer. Rash is the most common skin adverse reaction of apalutamide. If rash is paid insufficient attention, further developing life-threatening Stevens–Johnson Syndrome/Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis. Here, we reported a case of toxic epidermal necrolysis caused by apalutamide. An 86-year-old male patient developed a Nikolsky-positive maculopapular rash, skin exfoliation and mucosal erosion involving 60% body surface area 24 days after treatment of oral apalutamide (180mg/d) for prostate cancer with bone metastases. The skin manifestations aggravated after discontinuation of apalutamide and treatment of methylprednisolone (0.8mg/kg/d) and immunoglobulin (400mg/kg/d) for 2 days. Then, clinician increased the dose of methylprednisolone and immunoglobulin. The skin symptoms improved after treatment of methylprednisolone (1.2mg/kg/d) and immunoglobulin (600mg/kg/d) for 5 days. This is the first to report a dose-dependent response to methylprednisolone and immunoglobulin in the treatment of apalutamide-caused toxic epidermal necrolysis. Since the number of prostate cancer patients treated with apalutamide increases, it is necessary to summarize and analyze the clinical characteristics and treatment experience in cases of severe skin adverse reactions caused by apalutamide.

El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-linked climate patterns have been known to be associated with several rodent species, but the effects of ENSO on rodent populations at both the spatial and temporal scales in wild natural plague foci of southern China, have not been thoroughly studied. In this study, we investigated the possible natural environmental factors relating ENSO, precipitation, relative humidity and surface temperatures to the populations of 2 allopatric rodent species (Apodemus chevrieri and Rattus tanezumi) in Jianchuan county the most important core area of the natural foci of wild plague in southern China from 1978 to 2019. Our results indicated that ENSO-driven climate factors, such as the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), rainfall, surface temperature, and other biological factors, all affected the rodent population densities. We found that sympatric rodent species with different life histories respond differently to precipitation and surface temperature, while SOI had a similar effect on the population densities of these two species, and the effect of SOI on rodent population densities was time-dependent. Additionally, nonlinear negative relationships were established between the population density of rodents and SOI, and El Niño events were found to be beneficial for increasing the rodent density, whereas La Niña events were favorable for decreasing the rodent density. The cross-wavelet analysis results revealed that the rodent population density oscillated in an anti-phase pattern with SOI over a period of approximately 2-3 years before 1995 but has oscillated in-phase with SOI over the same periods since 1995. These results indicate that ENSO-driven climate variations may significantly impact rodent population dynamics in Jianchuan county, and SOI, a large-scale climate factor, has the same effect on sympatric rodent species with different life histories.

Experimental evidence shows that grassland plant diversity enhances ecosystem functioning. Yet, the transfer of results from controlled biodiversity experiments to naturally assembled ‘real world’ ecosystems remains challenging. Here, we address this issue by experimentally sowing locally absent plant species in 73 agricultural grasslands along a land-use intensity gradient, to test how ecosystem functions related to productivity and nutrient cycling respond to species enrichment. We found that only one of 12 ecosystem functions responded to changes in species richness. In fact, ecosystem functioning was rather driven by environmental conditions and land-use intensity. This suggests that the functionally-relevant niche space is saturated in naturally assembled grasslands, and that competitive, high-functioning species are already present. While nature conservation and cultural ecosystem services certainly benefit from species enrichment, our study indicates that plant species enrichment may deliver only weak increases in ecosystem functioning in both moderately intensive and traditionally managed agricultural grasslands.

Objective To study the patterns of glycemic status in response to Antenatal corticosteroid administered to women with risk of preterm delivery between 24 weeks and 36 weeks 6 days of gestation in normoglycemic subjects and to evaluate if maternal characteristics predicted the development of hyperglycemia Design : longitudinal study Participants : 76 antenatal women, normoglycemic status between 24 weeks and 36 week 6 days of gestation Methods : Antenatal women who screened negative for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus by 75 gm GTT who received Injection Betamethasone for risk of preterm delivery . Fasting and Postprandial blood sugar levels were recorded from day 1 to 7 after steroid administration. Results Forty seven out of seventy six patients had hyperglycemia of varying severity. Among the risk factors associated with hyperglycemia, age>25 years, family history ofdiabetes and hypertension and BMI >25 have statistically significant association with hyperglycemia. was Conclusion : Antenatal corticosteroids have proven benefit in reducing neonatal mortality and morbidity hence should be definitely administered as benefit outweigh sideeffects .Hyperglycemia can occur even in normoglycemic women after antenatal corticosteroids. Testing of all antenatal patients who are at risk for development of hyperglycemia especially in age group more than 25years, BMI over 25, hypertensive patients, family history of diabetes is recommended after ACS . KEY WORDS : GLYCEMIC STATUS, ANTENATAL STEROIDS

This paper considers explicit neutral delay differential equations (NDDE) with piecewise continuous initial functions. We explain how the discontinuities in the solutions arise and present a perturbing scheme, in combination with an adaptive Legendre–Gauss–Radau collocation method, to deal with this type of problems computationally. The pointwise and mean convergence of the continuous solution of the perturbed NDDE to the discontinuous solution of the original NDDE are proved. Our new method for discontinuous NDDEs and the rigorous theoretical analysis provided are particularly important since explicit NDDEs have received little attention in the literature. Numerical results are given to show that the proposed method can be implemented in an efficient and accurate manner.

Anomalous aortic origin of the coronary arteries (AAOCA) is a rare congenital abnormality involving the origin and course of coronary arteries and present with diverse clinical manifestations in patients. We describe a 12-year-old male patient whose anomalous left coronary artery (LCA) originated from the right aortic sinus of Valsalva (RASV), accompanied with myocardial infarction. He was diagnosed by multimodal imaging including invasive coronary angiography (ICA), computed tomography angiography (CTA) and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), providing morphologic and functional information of the abnormal coronary arteries. The patient was corrected with surgery after the preparation of multimodal imaging.

Nasogastric tube (NGT) use has been common in the immediate postoperative period in surgical patients for decades. Potential advantages include the decompression of gastric contents and the early administration of time-sensitive medications. However, its routine use after cardiac surgery has not been established as a gold standard yet. The NGT use for prevention of post-operative nausea and vomiting has been a matter of debate in literature. Also, NGT use has also been associated with the incidence of some respiratory and gastrointestinal complications and it may be a source of significant pain and discomfort to patients. In this article, we review the current available literature regarding the use of NGT during and immediately after cardiac surgery, with particular emphasis on its potential role in enhanced postoperative recovery.

In this case, we reported an old female with a rare combination of the Scimitar Syndrome and pulmonary artery aneurysm, and she presented with chest pain, fatigue and shortness when admitted in our hospital. Further cardiac examination including echocardiography and computed tomography angiogram were performed and revealed these rare anomalies. Surgical procedure was carried out to cure the patient. This patient stayed in ICU for few days without any major complications and discharged from hospital after 10 days.

Changes in the heart allocation system have led to transplant programs traveling greater distances for donor organs. At the same time, several new technologies have emerged to provide improvements in donor organ protection when compared with traditional strategies. These new developments have increased the need for a better understanding of risks associated with donor injury related to various types of ischemia.

Based on the Gurtin-Murdoch surface / interface theory and the complex potential theory, the problem of an electrically semi-permeable nano-sharp crack in one-dimensional (1D) hexagonal piezoelectric quasicrystals (PEQCs) is analyzed. By constructing conformal mapping of sharp crack, the analytic solutions of the electroelastic field are determined. Meanwhile, the field intensity factors and the energy release rate (ERR) under the electric boundary conditions of semi-permeable are obtained. The effects of length of nano-sharp crack, dielectric constant, the electric loading, the mechanic loadings on the dimensionless stress intensity factors (SIFs), dimensionless electric displacement intensity factor (EDIF) and the dimensionless ERR are considered. The results show that the dimensionless SIFs, EDIF and the ERR have an obvious size dependent effect. The impact of surface effect becomes weaker along with the growth of crack size. The change of the dielectric coefficient has little influence on the dimensionless SIFs, but has a strong influence on the dimensionless EDIF. The obtained analytical solutions are helpful to promote the development of nano quasicrystal (QC) composite mechanics, and provide an important theoretical support for the design and preparation of nano QC materials.

In this paper, we define three types of 2-Ruled hypersurfaces in the Minkowski 4-space $\mathbb{E}^4_1$. We obtain Gaussian and mean curvatures of the 2-ruled hypersurfaces of type-1 and type-2, and some characterizations about its minimality. We also deal with the first Laplace-Beltrami operators of these types of 2-Ruled hypersurfaces in $\mathbb{E}^4_1$. Moreover, the importance of this paper is that the definition of these surfaces by using the octonions in $\mathbb{E}^4_1$. Thus, this is a new idea and make the paper original. We give an example of 2-ruled hypersurface constructed by octonion and we visualize the projections of the images with MAPLE program. Furthermore, the optical fiber can be defined as a one-dimensional object embedded in the 4-dimensional Minkowski space $\mathbb{E}^4_1$. Thus, as a discussion, we investigate the geometric evolution of a linearly polarized light wave along an optical fiber by means of the 2-ruled hypersurfaces in a four-dimensional Minkowski space

Drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, pathogens, and attacks by herbivores are environmental stresses that plants experience repeatedly. In order to survive in repeated stressful environments, plants have evolved a new adaptive mechanism known as ‘stress memory’. Coordinated responses of cell, gene/genome, and epigenetic modifications, including altered physiological responses, gene activation, hyper-induction and chromatin modification are considered necessary for the formation of stressed memories. Cotton ( Gossypium spp.) is an important economic crop, which can be used as raw materials in many fields and has high economic value. Here, we ensured that G. hirsutum drought memory was established after cycles of mild drought and re-watering treatment, and studied gene expression by whole-transcriptome RNA sequencing. The physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms of drought stress memory formation in G. hirsutum were revealed. As a histone modification, H3K4me3 plays an important role in [+/+] transcript memory. In addition, the intergenerational inheritance phenomenon of drought stress memory in G. hirsutum was also exhibited. Our results showed that the pathways of long-term and short-term memory may be different.

Because the coronavirus disease 10 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly altered cardiovascular care, we sought to investigate whether the number of reports of adverse events attributed to percutaneous catheter ablation devices changed over the course of the pandemic, specifically examining three medical device classes: cardiac ablation percutaneous catheters; cardiac ablation percutaneous catheters for treatment of atrial fibrillation; and cardiac ablation percutaneous catheters for treatment of atrial flutter. Using data from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database, we compared weekly reported rates of adverse events for each device during the year immediately preceding the pandemic (March 2019-March 2020) to those during the first year of the pandemic (March 2020-March 2021).  We report a 19% decrease in reported malfunctions related to cardiac ablation percutaneous catheters during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic. We further report a 23% decrease in reported malfunctions related to cardiac ablation percutaneous catheters for atrial fibrillation during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic. Finally, we report a 25% decrease in reported injuries related to cardiac ablation percutaneous catheters for atrial flutter during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic.

Whether you benefit from high-quality urban environments, such as those rich in green and blue spaces, that may offer benefits to allergic and respiratory health depends on where you live and work. Environmental inequality, therefore, results from the unequal distribution of the risks and benefits that stem from interactions with our environment. Within this perspective, this article reviews the evidence for an association between air pollution caused by industrial activities, traffic, disinfection-by-products and tobacco/e-cigarettes and asthma in children. We also discuss the proposed mechanisms by which air pollution increases asthma risk, including environmental epigenetic regulations, oxidative stress, and damage, disrupted barrier integrity, inflammatory pathways, and enhancement of respiratory sensitization to aeroallergens. Environmental air pollution is a major determinant of childhood asthma, but magnitude of effect is not shared equally across the population, regions, and settings where people live, work, and spend their time. Improvement of the exposure assessment, a better understanding of critical exposure time windows, underlying mechanisms, and drivers of heterogeneity may improve the risk estimates. Urban conditions and air quality are not only important features for national and local authorities to shape healthy cities and protect their citizens from environmental and health risks, but they also provide opportunities to mitigate inequalities in the most deprived areas where the environmental burden is highest. Actions to avoid exposure to indoor and outdoor air pollutants should be complementary at different levels – individual, local, and national levels – to take effective measures to protect children who have little or no control over the air they breathe.

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) accounts for the vast majority of thyroid cancer cases. Cerebellar metastasis is rarely the presenting feature. We report a patient presenting with a cerebellar lesion which demonstrated metastatic PTC upon resection, with unusual features including incidental medullary thyroid microcarcinoma without PTC in the main thyroidectomy specimen.

In this letter, we investigate and analyse the effect of sidewall angle on the performance of lithium niobate grating couplers. We proposed a method to calculate the mode effective index of grating couplers with slanted sidewall, and analyse the relationship between the mode effective index with different sidewall angle under the same grating period and etching depth. A lithium niobate grating coupler is designed and optimized by using the proposed calculation method. A coupling efficiency of 40% was obtained for each fiber/lithium niobate waveguide interface. Focus ion beam etching was used to fabricate the optimized structure. Experimental results show that the proposed method features great accuracy for obtaining desired transmission spectrum, indicating great potential for thin film lithium niobate platforms.

The present study discusses a mathematical modeling of electro-hydrodynamic distribution in a pulsatile flow of Carreau fluid in a circular conduit taking chemical reaction and externally applied electric field. The axial solute distribution process in a circular tube has been analyzed using the generalized dispersion technique and finite Hankel transforms. The momentum and constitutive equations are solved by perturbation method with suitable boundary condition and obtained fluid velocity profile. Analytical solutions of the solute dispersion and convection coefficients of the concentration profile have been obtained with the help of the assumptions of low zeta potential and a low Reynolds number. The effects of the Debye–Hückel parameter, Weissenberg number, Pulsatile Reynolds number, chemical reaction parameter, and time-dependent pressure gradient on the dispersion environment have been studied. The development in fluid velocity and solute concentration profiles are studied graphically for accurate ranges of the distinct physical parameters. The most important outcome of the present investigation is an increment in the Debye–Hückel parameter enhancing the dispersion mechanism in the circular tube. Furthermore, this study highlights the clinical aspect of the electrohydrodynamic solute dispersion’s nature in normal as well as disease-affected blood. The present study might contribute to the design and fabrication of surgical tools and development of laboratory equipment in the fields of medical and bioengineering. Furthermore, the results obtained could play a key role in understanding the transportation of nutrients and dispersion process of drugs in the blood circulation.

Oleochemical industry has seen massive growth in Southeast Asia since the 1980’s. However, there is a major problem when it comes to energy optimisation strategies for oleochemical plants, which is apparent by the very limited amount of literature reviews available regarding energy optimisation in the oleochemical sector. This paper aims to propose a solution that leads towards the sustainable development of an oleochemical plant using a mathematical approach. The focus of this work is to increase the cost efficiency of the plant as well as reduce its environmental impact. Three case studies were carried out where Case 1 looks into the reutilisation of waste steam, Case 2 regarding the effects of production capacity changes on energy demand, and Case 3 attempts to create a holistic solution. From the three case studies that were carried out, Case 1 allowed for cost savings of 50.82%, while the entirety of Case 3 allowed for cost savings of 29.56%. Case 2 showed the changes in steam demand given an increase or decrease in production that can be linked to seasonal data of palm oil. Case 2 also accounted for safety factors that were applied in Case 3 to create a more holistic solution.

In this paper, we obtain the local-in-time existence and uniqueness of solution to the generalized Degasperis-Procesi equation in $B^1_{\infty,1}(\mathbb{R})$. Moreover, we prove that the data-to-solution of this equation is continuous but not uniformly continuous in $B^1_{\infty,1}(\mathbb{R})$

Objective: This descriptive study aimed to assess the prevalence and characteristics of pelvic pain and explore predictive factors for pelvic pain in transgender (trans) individuals using testosterone therapy. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: Online. Sample: Trans people presumed female at birth, using testosterone for gender-affirmation, living in Australia, and aged > 16 years. Methods: Logistic regression was applied to estimate the effect size of the possible factors contributing to pain after starting testosterone. Main Outcome Measures: Prevalence and characteristics of pelvic pain following initiation of testosterone therapy, type and length of testosterone therapy, menstruation history, and relevant sexual health, gynaecological and mental health experiences. Results: Among 486 participants (median age 27 years), 351 (72.4%) reported experiencing pelvic pain following initiation of testosterone therapy, described most commonly as in the suprapubic region and as “cramping”. Median duration of testosterone therapy was 32 months. Persistent menstruation, current or previous history of post-traumatic stress disorder, and experiences of pain with orgasm were associated with higher odds of pelvic pain after testosterone therapy. No associations were observed with genital dryness, intrauterine device use, previous pregnancy, penetrative sexual activities, touching external genitalia, or known diagnoses of endometriosis, vulvodynia, vaginismus, depression, anxiety, or obesity. Conclusions: Pelvic pain is common in trans people following initiation of testosterone therapy. Given the association with persistent menstruation and orgasm, as well as the known androgen-sensitivity of the pelvic floor musculature, further research into pelvic floor muscle dysfunction as a contributor is warranted.

Objective: To compare the survival and perioperative outcomes of laparoscopic and open debulking surgery for advanced ovarian cancer (EOC). Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Tertiary referral centre. Population: Patients with high-grade serous EOC (FIGO stage III-IV) undergoing debulking surgery between April 2008 and June 2018. Methods: Patients were identified in the hospital database, and their electronic charts were reviewed. The data were evaluated by R software and univariate and multivariate analyses. Main outcome measures: Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and surgical outcomes. Results: There were imbalances in the baseline indexes of ascites volume, Fagotti score and NACT administration between the two groups (P<0.001). After adjustment with the inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) propensity score method, the overall balance of the covariates was improved significantly. The survival analyses both before and after weighting showed that there was no difference in OS or PFS between the two groups. Multivariate Cox regression showed that the surgical approach was not an independent factor for survival. Stratified analyses showed that there was no difference in OS or PFS between the subgroups, regardless of whether they were grouped by treatment strategy (primary and interval debulking) or by reduction effect (R0 and non-R0)). The blood loss volume, complication rate and ICU admission rate were lower in the laparoscopy group than in the open group (p<0.001). Conclusions: Compared with laparotomy, laparoscopic debulking surgery can achieve similar survival outcomes and lead to better perioperative outcomes. However, these outcomes warrant further evaluation in randomized clinical trials.