Tussilago farfara L. is a traditional medicinal plant valued for its potentially health-promoting metabolites. Its herbal raw material has been recognized and used since ancient times and continues to be widely used in traditional medicine. Introducing these plants to in vitro cultivation is a challenging task, but once the protocol is developed, such cultures can provide an abundant and inexhaustible source of plant material. In this study, we report the successful induction and growth of vigorous T. farfara L. callus in vitro. Callus induction was achieved on solid media in darkness, whereas it appeared inefficient under light conditions and in suspension culture. We present a detailed description of callus growth kinetics, morphological analysis, photosynthetic activity and biochemical parameters (including protein content and photosynthetic pigments) supported by histological studies. Furthermore, we observed potential for organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis. This method for in vitro propagation of T. farfara, along with callus culture maintenance, offers a wide range of applications in pharmacy and could benefit the environment by minimizing the depletion of natural populations of this species.

This paper presents design and optimization of a small-size electromagnetic induction heating control system powered by a 3.7V-900mAh lithium battery and featuring an LC series resonant full bridge inverter circuit, which can be used in small size materials heating applications, such as micro medical devices. The effects of resonant capacitance, inductor wire diameter, heating tube material and wall thickness are studied to maximize the heating rate of the workpiece and meantime reduce the temperature rise of the NMOS transistor. The optimal circuit configuration meeting the design requirements was finally identified via comparing the operational parameters and NMOS transistor loss under different circuit conditions. The validation experiments were conducted on a designed electromagnetic induction smoking devices. The results indicate that under an output current of 4.6A, the heating tube can reach up to the temperature target of 250℃ within 11 seconds, and all NMOS transistors stay below 50°C in a 5 minutes heating process.

HIV-associated cardiovascular diseases remain a leading cause of death in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Although antiretroviral drugs suppress the viral load, they fail to remove the virus entirely. HIV-1 Nef protein is known to play a role in viral virulence and HIV latency. Expression of Nef protein can be detected in different organs, including cardiac tissue. Despite the established role of Nef protein in HIV-1 replication, its impact on organ function inside the human body is not clear. To understand the effect of Nef at the organ level, we created a new Nef transgenic (Nef-TG) mouse that expresses Nef protein in the heart. Our study found that Nef expression caused inhibition of cardiac function and pathological changes in the heart with increased fibrosis, leading to heart failure and early mortality. Further, we found that cellular autophagy is significantly inhibited in cardiac tissue of Nef-TG mice. Mechanistically, we found that Nef protein causes the accumulation of Bcl2 and Beclin-1 protein in the tissue, which may affect the cellular autophagy system. Additionally, we found Nef expression causes upregulation of cellular senescence marker p21, and senescence-associated -galactosidase expression. Our findings suggested that Nef-mediated inhibition of autophagy and induction of senescence markers may promote aging in the PLWHA. Our mouse model could help us to understand the effect of Nef protein on organ function during latent HIV infection.

Epistemological naturalism dismisses the notion that epistemology is a basis for the empirical sciences. In particular, it rejects the demand for a general justification of induction. Making inductive generalisations is a basic habit among humans. There is no such thing as a logic of inductive inference. The role of induction in science is heuristic; it is our way of inventing new theoretical predicates and developing theories. We discover new laws by applying inductive thinking; but this is not any kind of inference which can be evaluated as more or less rational.

Callus induction (CI) is the critical trait for the transformation of desirable genes in plants. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis was conducted on the rice germplasm of 110 diverse indica rice accessions. Three tissue culture media, including B5, MS, and N6, were used for CI in those rice panels. Seven quantitative trait loci (QTLs) on chromosomes 2, 6, 7, and 11 were found to confer a CI percentage in these three media. For the B5 medium, one QTL (qCI-B5-Chr6) was identified on the rice chromosome 6. For the MS medium, two QTLs were identified on the rice chromosomes 2 and 6 (qCI-MS-Chr2 and qCI-MS-Chr6, respectively). For the N6 medium, four QTLs were identified on the rice chromosomes 6, 7, and 11 (qCI-N6-Chr6.1, qCI-N6-Chr6.2, qCI-N6-Chr7, and qCI-N6-Chr11, respectively). Fifty-five genes were identified within the haplotype blocks corresponding to these QTLs. Thirty-one genes showed haplotypes associated with different CI in those media. The qCI-B5-Chr6 was located in the same region as the qCI-N6-Chr6.2. The caleosin-related family protein was identified in this region. Analysis of the gene-based haplotype reveals the association of this gene with different CI in both B5 and N6 media, suggesting that the gene may play a critical role in the CI mechanism. Moreover, several genes, including the beta-tubulin, the zinc finger proteins, the RNP-1 domain-containing protein, and the Lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase, were associated with different CI in the N6 media. Results from this study provide insight into the potential QTLs and candidate genes for callus induction in rice that will fulfill the understanding of the physiological and biochemical processes involved in callus formation, which is an essential tool in the molecular breeding of rice.

Background and objective: Iliopsoas abscess (IPA) is a rare condition with varied symptomology and etiology. Less than one-third of patients with IPA present on the emergency department (ED) admission with the traditional triad of fever, back pain, and restricted hip motion (or limp), leading to delays in diagnosis and management. This case report aims to bring awareness among healthcare professionals regarding the atypical presentation and introduce a potential differential diagnosis when evaluating patients with fever and back pain. The intention is to provide insights into the signs and symptoms that may indicate the presence of an iliopsoas abscess and prompt additional investigations. Case report: Here, we describe a case of primary iliopsoas abscess associated with drug-induced acute liver failure in our ED. The patient complained of pain in the left lumbar region and fatigue that started two weeks before this presentation, claiming that, during the previous night, the pain suddenly worsened. She had a fever, pain at palpation in the right hypochondriac and left lumbar regions, accompanied by fever and vomiting, jaundiced skin, and sclera at the examination in ED. On abdominal ultrasonography, the diagnosis of acute cholangitis was suspected. The laboratory test shows leukocytosis with neutrophilia, thrombocytosis, hepatocytolysis syndrome, and hyperbilirubinemia with the predominance of indirect bilirubin. We performed then abdominal and pelvic computed tomography, which confirmed the diagnosis of cholelithiasis observed with the diameter of the bile duct within normal limits but also showed an abscess-like collection fused to the interfibrillar level of the left iliopsoas muscle; a diagnosis we most likely would have been missed. After that, the patient was hospitalized in the General Surgery Department, and surgery drainage of the abscess was performed. The patient's evolution was excellent; she was discharged after 11 days. Conclusions: The case presented here exemplifies how iliopsoas abscess, a rare cause of back pain, can quickly go unrecognized, especially in the emergency department. Our experiences will raise awareness among doctors in emergency departments about this uncommon but essential diagnosis. With advancements in diagnostic tools and techniques, we aspire that more cases of iliopsoas abscess will be accurately diagnosed.

Characterization of cancer cells and neural stem cells indicates that tumorigenicity and pluripotency are coupled cell properties determined by neural stemness, and tumorigenesis represents a process of progressive loss of original cell identity and gain of neural stemness. This reminds of a most fundamental process required for the development of the nervous system and body axis during embryogenesis, i.e., embryonic neural induction. Neural induction is that, in response to extracellular signals that are secreted by the Spemann-Mangold organizer in amphibians or the node in mammals and inhibit epidermal fate in ectoderm, the ectodermal cells lose their epidermal fate and assume the neural default fate and consequently, turn into neuroectodermal cells. They further differentiate into the nervous system and also some non-neural cells via interaction with adjacent tissues. Failure in neural induction leads to failure of embryogenesis, and ectopic neural induction due to ectopic organizer or node activity or activation of embryonic neural genes causes a formation of secondary body axis or a conjoined twin. During tumorigenesis, cells progressively lose their original cell identity and gain of neural stemness, and consequently, gain of tumorigenicity and pluripotency, due to various intra-/extracellular insults in cells of a postnatal animal. Tumorigenic cells can be induced to differentiation into normal cells and integrate into normal embryonic development within an embryo. However, they form tumors and cannot integrate into animal tissues/organs in a postnatal animal because of lack of embryonic inducing signals. Combination of studies of developmental and cancer biology indicates that neural induction drives embryogenesis in gastrulating embryos but a similar process drives tumorigenesis in a postnatal animal. Tumorigenicity is the manifestation of aberrant occurrence of pluripotent state in a postnatal animal. Pluripotency and tumorigenicity are both but different manifestations of neural stemness in pre- and postnatal stage, respectively, of animal life. The unique property of neural stemness is derived from the evolutionary advantage of neural genes and the neural-biased state of the last common unicellular ancestors of metazoan. Based on these findings, I discuss about some confusion in cancer research, propose to distinguish the causality and associations and discriminate causal and supporting factors involved in tumorigenesis, and suggest revisiting the focus of cancer research.

This paper presents an innovative multi-agent, data-driven reinforcement learning (RL) approach to develop and utilize the thermal equivalent network model that represents the motor's thermal dynamics. A multi-agent reinforcement learning is designed and trained to adjust the model parameters using data from several motor driving cycles. To ensure the incoming driving cycle matches the historical data before employing the pre-trained RL agents, offline statistical analysis and clustering techniques are developed and used. Numerical simulations highlighted the RL agent's ability to develop strategies that effectively address the variability of driving cycles. The proposed RL framework showed its capability to accurately reflect the motor's thermal behavior under various driving conditions.

(1) Background: Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders often experience psychological distress, which can affect the quality of childcare they provide. It is crucial to screen for psychiatric symptoms among these parents. The Core Symptom Index (CSI) is a widely used tool for assessing general symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms, with demonstrated validity and reliability across various populations. However, there is limited research on the validity and reliability of the CSI in the general Chinese population. This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the CSI among parents of children with autism spectrum disorders using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). (2) Methods: A total of 794 Chinese parents raising children with autism participated in this study. All completed the CSI, along with the social inhibition subscale of the Interpersonal Problems Inventory and the Couple Satisfaction Index. Factorial validity was assessed using CFA to determine how well the bifactor three-factor model fits the data. Various structural models were compared using model fit indices. Convergent and discriminant validity were examined by exploring correlations with the social inhibition subscale and the Couple Satisfaction Index. Invariance testing of the CSI was conducted across multiple groups based on gender, age, and education using CFA. The reliability of the CSI was evaluated using McDonald’s omega coefficients. (3) Results: The bifactor model emerged as the best-fitting model for the data, suggesting that the total score of the CSI adequately represents overall psychiatric symptoms. The CSI exhibited significant correlations with the social inhibition subscale (r = 0.41, p < 0.01) and smaller correlation coefficients with the Couple Satisfaction Index (r = -0.16, p < 0.05), indicating both convergent and discriminant validity. Invariant tests supported scalar invariance levels based on gender and age but only partial invariance for education. The Chinese version of the CSI demonstrated high consistency, with McDonald's omega coefficients ranging between 0.86 and 0.95. (4) Conclusions: The bifactor model of the Chinese version of the CSI is validated, making it a suitable tool for measuring depression, anxiety, and somatization symptoms among parents of children with autism spectrum disorders. Further research on other Chinese populations is encouraged.

Induction heating is a fast, reproducible, and efficient heating method used in various manufacturing processes. However, there is no established additive manufacturing (AM) process based on induction heating using wire as feedstock. This study investigates a novel approach to AM based on inductive heating, where a steel wire is melted and droplets are detached periodically using a two-winding induction coil. The process parameters and energy input into the droplets are characterized. The induction generator exhibits sluggish response to the excitation voltage, resulting in a lag in the coil current. The process is captured using a high-speed camera, revealing regular droplet formation and uniform size and shape when operated within an appropriate process window. Larger drops and increased spatter formation occur outside this window. The proposed method allows for the production of droplets with almost spherical shapes. Further analysis and characterization of droplet formation and energy input provide insights into process optimization and overall efficiency.

Induction motors are the most numerous and significant dynamic loads in power systems. In transient voltage stability analysis, dynamic equivalent models are commonly used to simplify the representation of a group of induction motors. This paper presents an method for the grouping and aggregation of induction motors at a common bus. Firstly, grouping rules were provided for clustering induction motors into several subgroups based on the mechanical principles of rotor force and motion, and Aggregation Rules were provided for aggregating a motor subgroup into a single-unit model based on the relationship between voltage drop and power transmission in distribution networks. Secondly, guided by the grouping rules, high-speed remaining electromagnetic torque and low-speed remaining electromagnetic torque were defined as new clustering indicators, and an adaptive K-means clustering method using silhouette coefficient verification was provided to obtain the optimal motor subgroups. Thirdly, guided by the Aggregation Rules, a dynamic equivalent method was further provided to obtain the equivalent single-unit model from a motor subgroup. Lastly, a transient voltage stability simulation in a typical distribution network was presented to illustrate that the proposed clustering and equivalent methods are more reasonable, accurate, and effective than traditional methods, as the obtained model has better dynamic characteristics and can more accurately reproduce the process of voltage collapse.

Distinguishing the level of pathology in the lungs through the sound of a cough is a complicated process that includes many factors. This paper explores the challenges of diagnosing lung pathology based solely on cough sounds. It emphasizes that while cough type can offer initial clues, it is just one piece of a complex diagnostic puzzle. For example, the differentiation of dry, productive, barking, hacking, and wheezing coughs provides initial insights into potential pathologies, which can range from respiratory infections to chronic diseases. The examination of cough characteristics, such as frequency, strength, and persistence, aids in identifying the severity of underlying conditions. Moreover, associated respiratory and systemic symptoms further contribute to the diagnostic landscape, with manifestations such as dyspnea, wheezing, chest pain, and hemoptysis offering valuable clinical information. Diagnostic tests, such as imaging studies and laboratory analyses, play a pivotal role in confirming diagnoses. However, challenges in diagnosis based solely on cough sounds require a more holistic approach, taking into consideration the complexity of lung pathologies. The paper concludes that accurately diagnosing lung pathologies based on cough sounds alone is difficult and requires careful consideration of multiple factors and stresses on contextualizing cough characteristics with other clinical features and diagnostic tests for an accurate assessment and comprehensive treatment planning.

Low-frequency electromagnetic induction (EMI) is a non-invasive geophysical method that is based on the induction of electromagnetic (EM) waves into the subsurface to quantify changes in electrical conductivity. In this study we present an open (design details and software are accessible) and modular system for the collection of EMI data. The instrument proposed allows to adjust the separations between the transmitter and up to four receiving antennas as well as the acquisition frequency (in the range between 3 and 50 kHz) to permit measurements with variable depth of investigation. The sensor provides access to raw data and the software described in this study allows control of the signal processing chain. The design specifications permit apparent conductivity measurements in the range of between 1 mS/m and 1000 mS/m, with a resolution of 1.0 mS/m and with a sampling rate of up to 10 samples per second. The sensor allows for a synchronous acquisition of a time stamp and a location stamp for each data sample. The sensor has a mass of less than 5 kg, is portable and suitable for 1-person operation, provides 4 hours of operation time on one battery charge, and provides sufficient rigidity for practical field operations.

ABSTRACT: Background: Virtual Reality (VR) emerges as a promising non-pharmacological intervention for managing symptoms and providing distraction during chemotherapy. This study aims to assess VR's effectiveness on cancer-related symptoms, vital signs, and patients' perception of the chemotherapy in lung cancer patients. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted on 100 patients. Participants were allocated into an intervention group (n = 55), which experienced immersive VR, and a comparison group (n = 45), which received usual care. Data were collected through questionnaires and checklists, including feedback on the VR experience, pain, vital signs, and common cancer symptoms, assessed through the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale. Results: VR had a significant impact on reducing the perception of the chemotherapy length. Patients reported high levels of satisfaction and tolerability. No adverse events were observed. VR did not have significant influence on pain intensity and vital signs. The only exceptions were oxygen saturation, where a significant difference (p = 0.02) was reported, and perception of chemotherapy duration. Conclusions: As a non-pharmacological intervention, VR proves beneficial in minimizing the perceived length of chemotherapy session for lung cancer patients, enhancing their overall treatment experience. The intervention showed to be a safe, feasible, and well-accepted distraction technique. Future research should explore VR's potential effects on a wider range of symptoms and evaluate its impact on long-term outcomes.

The neuronal etiology of obesity is centered around diet-induced inflammatory state in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus which impairs the functionality of pro-opiomelanocortine neurons (POMCs) responsible for whole-body energy homeostasis and feeding behavior. Intriguingly, systemic salt inducible kinase 2 (SIK2) knockout mouse demonstrated reduced food intake and energy expenditure along with modestly dysregulated metabolic parameters suggesting a causal link between the absence of SIK2 activity in POMCs and the observed phenotype. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a comparative secretomics study from POMC neurons following pharmacologically induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress induction, a hallmark of metabolic inflammation and POMC dysregulation in diet induced obese (DIO) mice. Our data provide significant in vitro evidence for the POMC specific SIK2 activity in controlling the energy metabolism and feeding in DIO mice by regulating the nature of related POMC secretome. Our data also suggests that under physiological stress conditions SIK2 may act as a gatekeeper for the secreted inflammatory factors and signaling molecules critical for cellular survival and energy homeostasis. On the other hand, in the absence of SIK2 gate opens leading to surge of inflammatory cytokines and apoptotic cues concomitant with the dysregulation of POMC neurons.

Faraday's Law of induction is often stated as "a change in magnetic flux causes an EMF"; or, more cautiously, "a change in magnetic flux is associated with an EMF"; It is as well that the more cautious form exists, because the first "causes" form can be shown to be incompatible with the usual expression for EMF. This is not, however, to deny the causality as reasonably inferred from experimental observation ­ it is the equation for Faraday's Law of induction which does not represent the claimed cause-and-effect relationship. Here we investigate a selection of different approaches, trying to see how an explicitly causal mathematical equation, which attempts to encapsulate the "a change in magnetic flux causes ..." idea, might arise.

Objective: To summarize the prevalence of PASC/Long COVID symptoms among the general population reported in published articles. This narrative review examined 21 PASC symptoms. Methods: A PubMed/manual search returned 114 articles on general PASC/Long COVID symptoms. Manuscripts were excluded if they were not research studies, didn’t report symptom prevalence, or used a pediatric population. Ninety-eight studies were selected for review and 59 met criteria for inclusion. Risk of bias was assessed with the Hoy critical appraisal tool. Results: After excluding studies with high risk of bias, meta-analysis of prevalence for 21 symptom categories ranged from 2.6-28.7% in studies based on surveys to 0.3%-7.1% in studies based on EHR data. Conclusions: PASC symptom studies are limited by variability in study design and representation of the general population. Further research is needed to effectively cluster symptoms in meaningful ways that enable focused treatment.

Sputum induction (SI) is a non-invasive technique to obtain lower airway samples from people who do not spontaneously produce sputum. Since its introduction in 1958, its use has significantly increased for various respiratory conditions, especially with the establishment of standardized techniques. It has been used in pediatric research since 2002, starting with asthma studies. It is a safe and repeatable procedure for non-expectorating children. The ability to analyze both cellular and fluid components of sputum provides valuable information about lung diseases. This work reviews the utility of sputum induction in pediatric respiratory research and its potential clinical applications. We also discuss the safety, tolerability, and side effects profile of the procedure, emphasizing its significance in pediatric respiratory research. Despite the valuable insights gained from SI studies, challenges remain for widespread clinical utilization, requiring further refinement of the technique and increased accessibility in clinical settings.

Background/Objectives: Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Syndrome (OSA) in children disrupts standard breathing patterns and sleep architecture, potentially leading to severe consequences. Early identification and intervention for OSA are crucial to prevent these issues. This study explored the relationships between waiting times for polysomnography (PSG), clinical history, age at the time of PSG, and PSG outcomes in children; Methods: Two hundred and fourteen children were prospectively enrolled. Data were extracted from medical records on the age at referral for PSG and at the time of its execution, the waiting time for PSG, diagnosis (primary snoring, mild, moderate, and severe OSA), history of snoring and apnoea, medications taken, surgical interventions, passive smoke exposure, and allergies. The records also included the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ); Results: The mean age at referral for PSG was 5.2 (2.8) years, the waiting time for PSG was 5.2 (5.0) months, and the age at the time of PSG was 5.6 (2.8) years. Children with a shorter history of OSA (≤12 months) underwent PSG at an earlier age (4.9 (2.7) years) compared to those with a more extended history (6.0 (2.7) years; p=0.006). A younger age at referral for PSG was associated with a lower PSQ score (r=0.167; p=0.015), a shorter history of apnoea (r=0.216; p=0.003) and snoring (r=0.187; p=0.023), but also with greater OSA severity, expressed as oxygen desaturation index (r=-0.152; p=0.026). In the correlation analysis, the waiting time for PSG, adjusted for age at referral, was longer in children with a prolonged history of apnoea (r=0.195; p=0.023) and snoring (r=0.259; p=0.002) but with a lower PSQ score (r=-0.172; p=0.045); Conclusions: Some children receive delayed treatment, increasing the risk of long-term complications. In evaluating children with suspected OSA, the duration of symptoms and the PSQ score at referral emerge as crucial factors that should be considered to optimise prioritisation for PSG access.

This study unveils verapamil's compelling cytoprotective and proliferative effects on pancreatic β-cells amidst diabetic stressors, spotlighting its unforeseen role in augmenting cholecystokinin (CCK) expression. Through rigorous investigations employing MIN6 β-cells and zebrafish models under type 1 and type 2 diabetic conditions, we demonstrate verapamil's capacity to significantly boost β-cell proliferation, enhance glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, and fortify cellular resil-ience. A pivotal revelation of our research is verapamil's induction of CCK, a peptide hormone known for its role in nutrient digestion and insulin secretion, which signifies a novel pathway through which verapamil exerts its therapeutic effects. Furthermore, our mechanistic insights reveal that verapamil orchestrates a broad spectrum of gene and protein expressions pivotal for β-cell survival and adaptation to immune-metabolic challenges. In vivo validation in a zebrafish larvae model confirms verapamil's efficacy in fostering β-cell recovery post-metronidazole inflic-tion. Collectively, our findings advocate for verapamil's reevaluation as a multifaceted agent in diabetes therapy, highlighting its novel function in CCK upregulation alongside enhancing β-cell proliferation, glucose sensing, and oxidative respiration. This research enriches the therapeutic landscape, proposing verapamil not only as a cytoprotector but also as a promoter of β-cell re-generation, thereby offering fresh avenues for diabetes management strategies aimed at pre-serving and augmenting β-cell functionality.

Background: Patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) have bothersome symptoms that may assess using the visual analog scale (VAS). Asthma frequently is associated with AR. The present study investigated the role of VAS in children with newly-diagnosed AR. Methods: Parameters were VAS for nasal and asthma symptoms, and doctor’s perception of these diseases, medication use, and asthma comorbidity. Results: 67% of AR children had asthma. Severity of perceived nasal symptoms was associated with more intense asthma symptoms and doctor’s perception of disease severity (p<0.001 and p=0.02, re-spectively. Conclusions: Allergic rhinitis frequently is associated with asthma in child-hood. Symptom perception assessment using VAS is a simple tool for assessing their intensity. Moreover, the severity of nasal symptoms is associated with asthma symptom severity. Therefore, asthma should be carefully considered in AR children and require appropriate symptom perception assessment.

Considerable attention has been given to the research field of bioorganometallic chemistry, which is a hybrid chemistry field between biology and organometallic chemistry. The introduction of biomolecules, which have hydrogen bonding sites and chiral centers, into organometallic compounds is considered to be a promising strategy to construct chirality-organized bioorganometallic conjugates. This feature paper sketches an outline of induction of helical chirality into bioorganometallic conjugates. Topics covered include control of the helical chirality of 1,n’-disubstituted ferrocene moieties in ferrocene-dipeptide conjugates and the chirality induction of the Au(I)–Au(I) axis in the dinuclear organogold(I)-uracil conjugates.

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is believed to follow a waxing and waning course, often according to environmental stressors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, pre-existing OCD symptoms were reported to increase and to change from checking to washing behaviors, while new-onset symptoms were predominantly of the hoarding type. In the present study, we followed the evolution of OCD symptoms, anxiety, depression, and insight of illness in forty-six OCD patients throughout the pandemic. Clinical measures were collected at four different time points before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Within-subject comparisons were used to compare clinical scale scores across time, and correlations were examined between patients' baseline characteristics and changes in clinical scores. We found that all clinical measures increased during the first Italian lockdown, with respect to the pre-pandemic values. Anxiety decreased during the temporary elimination of restriction provisions, whereas severity of OCD symptoms and insight returned to pre-pandemic values during the second mandatory lockdown. These results were observed only in two sub-groups of patients: those taking benzodiazepines and those with shorter illness duration. Our findings suggest the need of additional clinical attention to these specific sub-groups of OCD patients in case of particularly distressing circumstances, while pointing to a possible adaptive role of their OCD symptoms when the environment requires a higher care of hygiene and extraordinary supply of essential resources.

This study sheds light on personal characteristics of and the coping strategies that older Canadians self-identifying as severely anxious post-COVID-19 were more and less prone to gravitate to. Our studied sample consisted of 606 older people residing in 10 Canadian provinces. Participants completed the Geriatric Anxiety Scale – 10 and a personal checklist of everyday coping strategies for mitigating anxiety. Severely anxious older Canadians tended to be in their 60s, and in poor to fair health. They were not significantly more likely to be women or to be chronically ill, nor to self-identify as non-binary or as having a life partner. Older Canadians experiencing severe anxiety were, however, far more likely to normalize their fear and anxiety, challenge their worries, and to relax or meditate. They were less inclined to decrease other sources of stress in their lives, to stay active, and to get enough sleep. We offer anticipatory guidance for mental health program planners and practitioners, and researchers, fruitful avenues of inquiry.

Despite the popularity of theraphosids, detailed reports on bite symptoms are still limited to few geographic regions and subfamilies. We therefore examined 363 published bite reports and noticed muscles cramps caused by theraphosids from nearly all continents and subfamilies. Symptoms are mostly locally restricted and mild, but 12.7% of victims experience pronounced cramps with highest incidence rates by Poecilotheriinae, Harpactirinae and Stromatopelminae subfamilies. We discuss how variations in venom quantity correlate with muscle cramp prevalence.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by the demyelination of neural fibers in the central nervous system. Understanding the impact of demyelination on neural network efficiency is crucial for elucidating the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying MS. This study aims to model the effects of demyelination on neural network efficiency, specifically focusing on how increased resistance and path lengths due to demyelination correlate with the clinical symptoms of MS. We employed a graph-theoretical approach to simulate neural networks, introducing varying degrees of demyelination. The demyelination was represented by increasing the resistance (weights) of selected edges within the network, affecting both random and clustered distributions of network connections. The primary metric analyzed was the average shortest path length, indicative of network efficiency. The models demonstrated a significant increase in the average shortest path length in demyelinated networks compared to intact ones. Specifically, networks with clustered demyelination exhibited localized inefficiencies, correlating with the focal nature of MS lesions. The increase in path length was associated with reduced signal transmission efficiency, providing insights into a range of MS symptoms including motor and sensory impairments, cognitive dysfunction, visual disturbances, and fatigue. The graph-theoretical model of neural network demyelination offers a novel perspective on how structural changes in the brain's connectivity due to MS can lead to diverse clinical manifestations. While the model simplifies the complexity of neural networks, it underscores the potential of computational approaches in understanding and predicting the course of neurological disorders like MS.

With the escalating proliferation of wind power plants, the imperative focus on system robustness and stability intensifies. Doubly fed induction machines (DFIMs) are extensively employed as generating units in land-based wind power plants due to their performance advantages. While the stator windings of DFIMs are directly connected to the power system, the three-phase rotor windings are connected via power converters, rendering these units highly vulnerable to voltage disturbances. During faults, voltage drops at the stator terminals lead to elevated voltages and currents on the rotor side due to electromagnetic coupling between stator and rotor, potentially damaging rotor insulation and costly power electronics. Historically, to safeguard equipment, wind power plants employing distributed energy resources such as DFIMs were disconnected from the grid during faults—an unsatisfactory solution given the burgeoning number of these installations. Consequently, grid operators and IEEE standard 2800 mandate fault ride-through or low voltage ride-through capabilities to maintain supply adequacy during recovery from disturbances and voltage fluctuations. This paper provides an overview of diverse techniques devised to enable fault ride-through for DFIMs. Additionally, it scrutinizes existing approaches in modeling DFIM behavior during faults and introduces an approach tailored specifically for DFIMs, detailing its comparative advantages and limitations vis-à-vis established models. A conclusion about the necessity for more precise models in comparison to the existing ones is provided.

Background and Objectives: The burdened symptomatology accompanying advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is associated with poor prognosis and lower quality of life (QoL). Although both chemotherapy and immunotherapy increase survival, they are still associated with reduced functionality due to their toxicity. This study aimed to estimate the QoL and symptom burden of NSCLC patients receiving second-line chemotherapy compared to patients receiving second-line immunotherapy. Materials and Methods: This comparative, prospective study, conducted from January 2020 to December 2021, included 111 NSCLC patients who were divided into two groups: 61 patients receiving second-line chemotherapy and 50 patients receiving second-line immunotherapy. Patients QoL and symptom burden were estimated using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ C-30) (value range 0 - 100) from treatment cycle 1 to 6. Results: The QoL (mean score > 50) and functionality dimensions (mean score > 50) were moderate to good in both treatment groups, while the symptoms burden did not appear to be a serious problem (mean score < 50). From cycle 3 to cycle 5, the QoL was significantly better in the immunotherapy group. From cycle 3, role and social functioning scores were higher in the immunotherapy group, while emotional and cognitive functioning were higher from cycle 2 (p < 0.05). The chemotherapy group experienced higher levels of nausea/vomiting, constipation and financial difficulties in all cycles (p < 0.05). Fatigue and appetite loss were significantly greater from cycle 2 and insomnia was significantly greater from cycle 3. On the contrary, the immunotherapy group experienced higher levels of diarrhea in cycles 5 and 6 (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Although both therapy groups did not report significantly impaired QoL and severe symptoms, it seems that QoL improved in the immunotherapy group, which reported less symptom burden compared to the chemotherapy group.

Aim. The aim of this study is to compare data from two cohorts separated by a 17-year interval. We assessed the prevalence and severity of symptoms with the “dialysis symptom index” in these two groups recruited in 2007 and 2024 to determine how advancements in dialysis therapy have influenced symptom burden’s prevalence and severityMethods. We conducted a cross-sectional study of patients receiving thrice weekly, in-center hemodialysis. The population, recruited between February and March 2007, was comprised of patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis at the outpatient dialysis unit of our hospital. This dialysis facility is staffed by academic nephrologists. In May 2024, in the same unit, another population sample was recruited and studied as in 2007. Study coordinators administered the Dialysis Symptom Index (DSI) during the dialysis treatment. The DSI is made up of 30 questions, each of which addresses a specific physical or emotional symptom. Patients were asked to report symptoms that had been present at any time during the previous week by responding “yes” or “no”. For symptoms that were present, the patient was then asked to describe the symptom severity on a five-point Likert scale (1= not bothersome to 5=bothers very much). We generated a total symptom burden score that represents the total number of symptoms reported as being present, as well as a total symptom severity score that represents the sum of individual severity scores assigning a severity score of zero for symptoms that were not present. Results. We studied 71 patients in 2007 and 61 patients in 2024. The demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics of the two study populations did not differ significantly. The total symptom burden score did not differ significantly between 2007 and 2024. The prevalence of most symptoms was similar in the two groups. The prevalence of constipation, decreased interest in sex and difficulty becoming sex aroused was higher in 2024 than in 2007. The total symptom severity was similar in the two periods. The severity of most symptoms was similar in the two groups. The severity of decreased interest in sex and difficulty becoming sex aroused was higher in 2024 than in 2007. Conclusion. The present study shows that, 17 years apart, the prevalence and severity of the symptom burden in patients on maintenance hemodialysis has not changed significantly. These results suggest that effort should be made to design adequate studies on the causes and pathogenesis of physical and emotional symptoms of patients on chronic hemodialysis and, once the underlying mechanisms are identified, it is amenable that high-quality studies on possible therapeutic pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions will be performed.

The recent outbreak and spread of the COVID-19 virus infection across the world has seen a massive global system-wide shutdown of human social and economic activity. Both developed and developing nations have been forced to contain and isolate their citizens as much as possible. However, the continuous rising cases in both categories of nations, especially those with poor or nonexistent testing facilities and healthcare systems pose a hidden danger. The seemingly lack of and access to a truly global concerted research effort in both temporary but effective symptom mitigation may lead to more deaths in infected cases. We propose that a fusion of both technological and home-grown solutions can be utilized effectively to manage symptoms. This would add to the preventive methods of social distancing, isolation, quarantine and frequent handwashing to halt the impact of the disease. We also hope to spur further research in such drug/non-drug combination therapy-based methods with emphasis on effectiveness based on quality of nutrient sources.

Background/Objectives: To test the hypothesis that clinical tumor response after a single cycle of induction chemotherapy (ICT) can reliably differentiate between chemo-/radiosensitive and resistant tumors in the larynx preservation setting. Methods: Treatment consisted of docetaxel/cisplatin/5-fluorouracil (TPF) ICT followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy (cCRT) with weekly cisplatin. The response of the primary tumor was assessed by transnasal endoscopy after the first ICT cycle. Results: 37/39 (95%) patients with laryngeal (46%) or hypopharyngeal (54%) carcinoma responded to one cycle of ICT, and two patients were referred for salvage surgery. Laryngectomy-free survival at 2 and 5 years was 87% and 75%, respectively. The corresponding rates for locoregional control (and also for disease-free survival) were 79% and 70% and for overall survival 92% and 82%. Conclusions: Clinical assessment of tumor response to one cycle of TPF ICT serves as a valid and easy-to-use predictor of tumor sensitivity to platinum-based cCRT.

In several mammalian species including humans, complex stimulation patterns such as cognitive challenge and physical exercise lead to improvements in organ function, organism health and performance, as well as possibly longer lifespans. The hypothesis is presented here that activity-dependent transcriptional programs, induced by these environmental stimuli, temporarily and lightly de-differentiate somatic cells such as neurons and muscle cells into a state that resembles functionally younger cells to allow cellular remodeling and adaptation of the organism to environmental change. This cellular adaptation program targets several process classes that are heavily implicated in aging, such as mitochondrial metabolism, cell-cell communication, intracellular signaling and epigenetic information processing and leads to functional improvements in these areas. I reverse engineer these activity-dependent gene programs, identify critical molecular nexus points such as CREB, MEF2 and cFos and speculate as to how one might leverage them to prevent and attenuate human aging-related decline of body function, enhance human performance and restore more youthful levels of function and morphology. The findings presented here can serve as a basis for the study and development of effective longevity efforts as the underlying gene programs could be used as markers for treatment success and as targets for therapy development.

Three-phase induction motors play a key role in industrial operations. However, their failure can result in serious operational problems. This study focuses on the early identification of faults through accurate diagnosis and classification of faults in three-phase induction motors, using artificial intelligence techniques, by analyzing current, temperature, and vibration signals. Experiments were conducted on a test bench, simulating real operating conditions, including stator phase unbalance, bearing damage and shaft unbalance. To classify the faults, an Auto-Regressive Neural Network with Exogenous Inputs (NARX) was developed. The parameters of this network were determined through a process of selecting the best network, using the scanning method with multiple training and validation iterations, with the introduction of new data. The results of these tests showed that the network had excellent generalization in all the situations evaluated, achieving the following accuracy rates: Motor without fault = 94.2%, Unbalance fault = 95%, Bearings with fault =98% and Stator with fault = 95%.

Hyphal and germling fusion is a common phenomenon in ascomycetous fungi. Due to the formed hyphal network, this process enables coordinated development, interaction with plant hosts and efficient nutrient distribution. Recently, our lab showed a positive correlation of germling fusion with the formation of penetrating hyphopodia on maize leaves outgoing from Colletotrichum graminicola oval conidia. To investigate the probable interconnectivity of these processes, we have generated a deletion mutant in Cgso, which homologs are essential for cellular fusion in other fungal species. Indeed, plant infection studies combined with microscopy revealed a significant decrease in symptom development of the ∆Cgso mutant on maize leaves. However, hyphopodia development was not affected, indicating that both processes are not directly connected. Instead, we were able to link the decreased symptom development to a reduced formation of acervuli, asexual fruiting bodies of C. graminicola, which give rise to falcate conidia. Monitoring of a fluorescent labelled autophagy marker eGFP-CgAtg8 revealed a high autophagy activity in hyphae surrounding acervuli. Since the ∆Cgso mutant shows no hyphal fusions at these sites, we conclude that efficient nutrient transport of degraded cellular material by hyphal fusions enables proper acervuli maturation and symptom development on leaves.

Background: There is now evidence that schizophrenia and deficit schizophrenia are neuro-immune conditions and that oxidative stress toxicity (OSTOX) may play a pathophysiological role. Aims of the study: To compare OSTOX biomarkers and antioxidant (ANTIOX) defenses in deficit versus non-deficit schizophrenia. Methods: We examined lipid hydroperoxides (LOOH), malondialdehyde (MDA), advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), sulfhydryl (-SH) groups, paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activity and PON1 Q192R genotypes, total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter (TRAP) as well as immune biomarkers in patients with deficit (n=40) and non-deficit (n=40) schizophrenia and healthy controls (n=40). Results: Deficit schizophrenia is characterized by significantly increased levels of AOPP and lowered -SH, and PON1 activity, while no changes in the OSTOX/ANTIOX biomarkers were found in non-deficit schizophrenia. An increased OSTOX/ANTIOX ratio was significantly associated with deficit versus non-deficit schizophrenia (Odds ratio=3.15, p<0.001). Partial least squares analysis showed that 47.6% of the variance in a latent vector extracted from psychosis, excitation, hostility, mannerism, negative symptoms, psychomotor retardation, formal thought disorders, and neurocognitive test scores was explained by LOOH+AOPP, PON1 genotype + activity, CCL11, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IgA responses to neurotoxic tryptophan catabolites (TRYCATs), whereas -SH groups and IgM responses to MDA showed indirect effects mediated by OSTOX and neuro-immune biomarkers. Discussion: Our findings indicate that with increasing overall severity of schizophrenia, neuro-immune and neuro-oxidative (especially protein oxidation indicating chlorinative stress) toxicities become more prominent and together with lowered antioxidant defenses and impairments in innate immunity-associated resilience against neurotoxic processes shape a distinct nosological entity, namely deficit schizophrenia.

(1) Background: Recent studies provide some evidence for the contribution of antibody-mediated autoimmune mechanisms to the nature of fibromyalgia (FM) and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Much attention was paid to the autoantibodies (AAb) targeting G protein-coupled receptors as natural components of the immune system. However, natural AAb network is much more extensive, and has not been previously investigated in these disorders; (2) Methods: The enzyme immunoassays ELI-Viscero-Test and ELI-Neuro-Test were used to determine changes in serum content of a 33 natural AAb to neural, organ-specific and non-tissue-specific autoantigens a) in 11 FM patients with comorbid ME/CFS; b) in 11 ME/CFS patients without FM; c) in 11 healthy controls. Individual autoantibody profiles and their correlation with some clinical symptoms were analyzed. (3) Results: both patients with ME/CFS and ME/CFS+FM were characterized by more frequent and pronounced deviations in the immunoreactivity to GABA-receptors than healthy controls. Although the level of other natural AAb did not differ between study groups, AAb correlation signatures were changing in patients compared to healthy controls. Both in patients and healthy controls the level of natural AAb to various neural and tissue-specific antigens correlated with the severity of fatigue, bodily pain, depression, anxiety, physical and mental-health related quality of life. Notably, that widely different correlation patterns were observed between study groups. (4) Conclusions: Findings from this pilot study provide some evidence that the homeostasis of autoimmune relationships, which are possibly a physiological part of our immune system, may break down in FM and ME/CFS. The correlation of disease-induced perturbations in individual AAb profiles with some clinical symptoms may arise from the immune system's ability to reflect qualitative and quantitative changes in antigenic composition of the body.

Objective: The Acute Cystitis Symptom Score (ACSS) was developed and validated as a self-reporting questionnaire for diagnosing and monitoring acute, uncomplicated cystitis (AC) in female patients. The study aims at the translation of the ACSS into Greek from original Russian as a source and American English as a new master version and at its linguistic validation. Material and Methods: Three independent professional native Greek translators, two of them experts in Russian and one in English, translated the ACSS from Russian and American English into Greek. The second group of three translators translated each of the three versions back into the original language to detect or correct any important discrepancies. These three Greek versions were then used for linguistic validation. Results: The English to Greek translation reflected more the spoken language, the two Russian to Greek translations more the written, formal language. A total of 60 randomly selected females and 30 healthcare professionals was asked about their preferences and to comment on each of the three translations. Considering all comments the scientific committee (SC) developed the Greek consensus version. For cognitive assessment additional 30 healthcare professionals and 30 females were asked to comment on the intelligibility of all items. Considering their comments the linguistically validated Greek study version was established by the SC. Conclusion: The linguistically validated Greek version of the ACSS can now be used for the clinical validation study.

Background To develop and validate the American-English version of the self-reporting Acute Cystitis Symptom Score (ACSS), a suitable tool for diagnosis and patient-reported outcome in female patients with acute uncomplicated cystitis (UC). Methods After certified translation into American-English and cognitive assessment, the clinical validation of the ACSS was performed as an embedded study in a US phase II trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03129295). Results A total of 167 female patients with typical symptoms of UC were included in the study following FDA guidance. At Day 1 (diagnosis) the mean(SD) sum score of the six ACSS typical symptoms reached 10.60(2.51). Of 100 patients followed-up last time on Day 5 or 6 (End-of-treatment, EoT), 91 patients showed clinical success according to the favoured ACSS criteria (sum score of typical symptoms 0.98(1.94)). There was no correlation between the severity of symptoms on Day 1 or between clinical success rate at EoT and level of bacteriuria on Day 1. Conclusion The American-English ACSS showed high predictive ability and responsiveness, and excellent levels of reliability and validity. It can now be recommended as the new master version in clinical and epidemiological studies, in clinical practice or for self-diagnosis of women with symptoms of UC.

The effects of ELICE16INDURES, a well-known plant conditioner developed by the Research Institute for Medicinal Plants and Herbs Ltd. Budakalasz, Hungary, were studied in a soybean population. The active ingredients of the compound have been selected to help elicit general immunity in plants without pathogenic damage, thereby roborizing the healthy plant population and preparing it for possible future biotic stressors. Here we have analyzed changes in the expression levels of genes encoding enzymes involved in the catalysis of metabolic pathways that induce and regulate PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI) at two different time points and treatments. Twenty-three different enzymes were analyzed that catalyze different metabolic pathways, such as the biosyntheses of jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, ethylene, phenylpropanoid, flavonoid, and phytoalexin biosynthesis and cellular detoxification processes. Bioinformatical softwares werw used to analyze the results. It has been found that some of the primary defense mechanisms (e.g., Mitogen-Activated-Protein Kinase (MAPK) cascade, jasmonic acid biosynthesis, flavonoid and phytoalexin biosynthesis, etc.) that intensify following the attack of pathogens can be activated without the intrusion of the actual pathogen by an immunochemical. Thus, we proved that plant resistance can be artificially conditioned.

With the widespread use of electric machines there is a growing need to extract information from the machines to optimize their control systems and maintenance management. The present work shows the development of an embedded system to perform the monitoring of an squirrel cage induction motor rotor physical variables. The system comprises: circuit to acquire desirable rotor variable(s) value(s) and send it to the computer; a rectifier and power storage circuit that besides converting an alternating current in continuous also store energy for a certain amount of time to wait the motor engine shutdown; and magnetic generator that harvest energy from rotating field to power the circuits mentioned above. The embedded system is set on the rotor, making it difficult to power the system because it is rotating, problem solved with the construction of the magnetic generator eliminating the need of using batteries or collector rings and send data to the computer using a wireless NRF24L01 module. For the proposed system validation a temperature sensor (DS18b20) was used, variable known as the most important when identifying the need for maintenance and control systems. Tests were made getting satisfactory results proving the viability of using sensors on the rotor.

Plant-Derived Extracellular Vesicles (PDEVs) contain high levels of antioxidants, especially when deriving from organic. PDEVs from different vegetal sources has shown an increased antioxidant power, compared to PDEVs from single plants, suggesting a synergistic effect of the bioactives constitutively expressed in the PDEVs from single fruits. With this study we wanted to investigate the beneficial effects of a mix of PDEVs on human skin cells. We found detectable levels of Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Glutathione, Catalase and SOD in a mix of PDEVs deriving from 5 different fruits (Grape, Red Orange, Papaya, Pomegranate and Tangerine). We then treated H2O2-conditioned fibroblasts with the mix of PDEVs. The results showed that the PDEVs ‘mix reverted the H2O2-induced redox imbalance, restoring the mitochondrial homeostasis, with a strong reduction of mitochondrial anion superoxide and increase of sirtuin levels. The antioxidant action was consistent with a wound repair on a lesion produced in a Fibroblasts’ monolayer. This result was consistent with an increased level of Vimentin and Matrix Metalloproteinase-9, whose expression is directly related to the efficiency of the reparative processes. These data support a beneficial role of PDEVs in both preventing and treating skin injuries, through their potent antioxidant and reparative activities.

A 31-year-old male noticed blurred vision in his right eye for five days with no obvious predisposing causes, accompanied by mild dizziness. No obvious nodular lesions were found in the body. The patient’s binocular visual acuity was 20/20. Fundus photography showed the optic nerve swelling and radial superficial retinal hemorrhage of both eyes. Blood panel, urine routine, liver, and kidney function were all normal. Total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein were all in the normal limits. Head MRI showed a mass in the right temporal lobe, clear boundary, and multiple separations, which thinned and disappeared closer to the skull. The right temporal lobe and lateral ventricle were all compressed, with the midline structure shifted to the left. The patient was then transferred to Neurosurgery. During the operation, we observed the tumor had invaded the skull. The actual size of the tumor was 5.6 cm × 7.5 cm × 10.1 cm. Histology revealed foam cell accumulation in the mucous connective tissue of the right temporal lobe. The immunohistochemistry showed: CD34 (+), CD99 (+), EMA (−), GFAP (−), IDH-1 (−), Ki-67 (+) index about 10%, Oliga-2 (−), PR (−), S-100 (−), Vim (+), β-Catenin (+), CD1a (−), CD68 (+). Three months after the removal of the tumor, the visual acuity of both eyes was 20/20; The visual fields were normal, the optic disc edema and retinal hemorrhages had disappeared. MRI indicated the midline structure was back to normal.

With a highly efficient optical absorption capability, bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) nanomaterial can be used as an outstanding photothermal agent for anti-tumor treatment and shows promise in the field of nanotechnology-based biomedicine. However, little research has been done on the relevant mechanism underlying the photothermal killing effect of Bi2Se3 nanomaterial. Herein, the photothermal effects of Bi2Se3 nanoparticles on A549 cells were explored with emphasis put on autophagy. Firstly, we characterized the structure and physicochemical property of the synthesized Bi2Se3 and confirmed their excellent photothermal conversion efficiency (35.72%), photostability, biocompatibility and ability of photothermal killing on A549 cells. Enhanced autophagy was detected in Bi2Se3-exposed cells under an 808 nm laser. Consistently, an elevated expression ratio of LC3-II to LC3-I, a marker of autophagy occurrence, was induced in Bi2Se3-exposed cells upon NIR irradiation. Meanwhile, the expression of cleaved-PARP was increased in the irradiated cells dependently on the exposure concentrations of Bi2Se3 nanoparticles. Pharmacological inhibition of autophagy by 3-methyladenine (3-MA) further strengthened the photothermal killing effect of Bi2Se3. Meanwhile, stress-related signaling pathways including p38 and SAPK/JNK were activated coupled with the attenuated PI3K/Akt signaling. Our study figures out that autophagy and the activation of stress-related signaling pathways were involved in the photothermal killing of cancerous cells by Bi2Se3, which provides a more understanding of photothermal nanomaterials.

Este estudio examina la implementación de redes bayesianas para el diagnóstico de afecciones respiratorias utilizando datos clínicos. Se analizaron 5725 registros de una clínica privada en Francia, obtenidos de Kaggle, centrándose en seis variables clave: glucosa en sangre, frecuencia cardíaca, saturación de oxígeno, presión arterial, temperatura y estado de salud del paciente. El objetivo era crear un modelo que mejorara la precisión y eficiencia en el diagnóstico de infecciones respiratorias. Se desarrolló una red bayesiana para modelar las interacciones fisiológicas en condiciones respiratorias, destacando la influencia de la glucosa en sangre en la oxigenación y la interacción entre la frecuencia cardíaca y la saturación de oxígeno. La mediana de la temperatura corporal fue de 38,18 °C y la mediana de la frecuencia cardíaca fue de 92,00 lpm. El modelo, basado en sólidos principios médicos, considera tanto los mecanismos patológicos directos como las respuestas compensatorias del cuerpo. Se utilizó Netica para la simulación y análisis del modelo, proporcionando una visualización clara de las probabilidades condicionales y las relaciones entre las variables. Los hallazgos demuestran que las redes bayesianas son herramientas efectivas para apoyar el diagnóstico de afecciones respiratorias, proporcionando una evaluación integral del estado de salud del paciente. La matriz de confusión reveló una precisión del 94%, una especificidad del 100% y una sensibilidad del 86,53%. Además, la calidad de la prueba para el estado "enfermo" mostró una sensibilidad de hasta el 98,49% y una especificidad de hasta el 98,85%, con un área bajo la curva ROC (AUC) de 0,9592. Estos resultados indican que el modelo tiene un alto rendimiento en la clasificación correcta de los casos de salud y enfermedad normales. Este enfoque tiene el potencial de mejorar la precisión y la eficiencia del diagnóstico, especialmente en entornos clínicos que requieren decisiones rápidas y precisas. Este estudio destaca la aplicación innovadora de las redes bayesianas en medicina respiratoria, ofreciendo una herramienta prometedora para mejorar el diagnóstico y el manejo de pacientes con afecciones respiratorias, y estableciendo una base para futuras investigaciones en el uso de métodos probabilísticos en el diagnóstico médico.

The need for industrial and commercial machinery to maintain high torque while accurately following a variable angular speed is increasing. To meet this demand, induction motors (IMs) are commonly used with variable speed drives (VSDs) that employ a field-oriented control (FOC) scheme. Over the last thirty years, IMs have been replacing independent connection direct current motors due to their cost-effectiveness, reduced maintenance needs, and increased efficiency. However, IMs and VSDs exhibit nonlinear behavior, uncertainties, and disturbances. This paper proposes a robust combined adaptive passivity-based control (CAPBC) for this class of nonlinear systems that applies to angular rotor speed and stator current regulation inside an FOC scheme for IMs´ VSDs. It uses general Lyapunov-based design energy functions and adaptive laws with σ-modification to assure robustness after combining control and monitoring variables. Lyapunov’s second method and Barbalat Lemma prove that the control and identification error tends to be zero over time. Moreover, comparative experimental results with standard Proportional Integer controller (PIC) and direct APBC, show the proposed CAPBC effectiveness and robustness under normal and changing conditions

In this paper, we demonstrate the Collatz conjecture using the mathematical complete induction method. We show that this conjecture is satisfied for the first values of natural numbers, and in analyzing the sequence generated by odd numbers, we can deduce a formula for the general term of the Collatz sequence for any odd natural number n after several iterations. This formula is used in one case that we analyze using the mathematical complete induction method in the process of demonstrating the conjecture.

Callus induction of F. moluccana (sengon) was still an obstacle to indirect organogenesis regeneration. The purpose of the study was to determine the callus induction formation from root fragments of F. moluccana plantlets. Primary explants (fragments of roots) were cultivated on MS induction basal media and three concentration combination of PGRs (BAP and NAA): 0.5 ml/l BAP; 0,1 ml/l NAA (single PGR); and combination of 0.5 ml/l BAP + 0.1 ml/l NAA (double PGR). When roots were used as explants, high formation rates of callus (more than 70%) were obtained. Highest formation rates of callus were in NAA added at all clones (12 clones), then BAP added (7 clones) and BAP + NAA added (5 clones). The results indicated that BAP and NAA concentrations used in the media were influence the producing callus and affect the amount of callus produced from roots of sengon. The addition of NAA also gives higher callus proliferation results than the addition of BAP or the addition of a combination of the two hormones. The results indicated that BAP and NAA concentrations used in the media were influence the producing callus and affect the amount of callus produced from roots of sengon.

This article presents the impact analysis of space harmonics (SH) presence on a single-sided three-phase linear induction motor, along with a comprehensive parametric investigation. The presence of SH often reduces the LIM performances. The electromagnetic phenomena are governed by Maxwell's equations associated with equivalent circuit modelling. The chosen mathematical model uses 2D formulation with magnetic vector potential A. The model implementation is performed with finite element method on Gmsh-GetDP free platform. The electromagnetic thrust is calculated in current excitation case by a numerical model (FEM) with and without term generating SH in order to highlight the effect of SH. The adaptation to voltage supply operation is obtained by equivalent electric circuits (EEC), through calculation of the operational impedance. The main objective of the study consists in a comparative exploration of SH presence using two numerical models (single and multi-harmonics), and an assessment of parameters effect on space harmonic presence and various machine characteristics such as thrust, efficiency, and power factor. The motor’s characteristics (ie: thrust, efficiency and power factor) strongly depend on parameters such as the pole pair number and conductivity. Improving the operation and maximizing the performances of such a machine for a given specification requires the use of optimization algorithms.

LSM4 is an essential yeast gene encoding a component of different LSM complexes involved in the regulation of mRNA splicing, stability and translation. In previous papers we reported that the expression in S. cerevisiae of the K. lactis Lsm4 gene lacking the C-terminal Q/N-rich domain in a Lsm4 null strain S. cerevisiae (Sclsm4D1) restored cell viability. Nevertheless, in this transformed strain we observed some phenotypes which are typical markers of regulated cell death, Reactive Oxygen Species and oxidated RNA accumulation. In this paper we report that a similar truncation operated in the S. cerevisiae LSM4 gene confers to cells the same phenotypes observed with the K.lactis LSM4D1 gene. Up to now there was no evidence on the direct involvement of LSM4 in autophagy. Here we found that the Sclsm4D1 mutant showed defects in the induction of autophagy and it was very sensitive to nitrogen starvation or treatment with low doses of rapamycin, an inducer of autophagy. Moreover, both during nitrogen starvation and ageing, the Sclsm4D1 mutant accumulated cytoplasmic autophagy-related structures, suggesting a role of Lsm4 in Phagophore Assembly Site (PAS) processing and/or vacuolar autophagosome internalization

Identifying a vestibular source of pathology in patients complaining of post-traumatic brain injury (TBI) dizziness can be difficult. We describe a possible new method utilizing the reduction of post-TBI symptom (including dizziness) with the use of a noise cancellation device (NCD). This retrospective case series included patients with TBI and dizziness presenting to a binocular vision specialty clinic, who were diagnosed with a vertical heterophoria (VH). If they did not respond adequately to microprism lenses and/or if they experienced hyperacusis, they were evaluated with an NCD. If there was marked reduction of TBI symptoms (including dizziness), the patients were referred to a neuro-otologist for vestibular diagnostic evaluation and treatment. Fourteen patients were identified and found to have abnormalities on vestibular testing consistent with Third Mobile Window Disorder (TMWD). All were treated with a 6-week medical protocol (diuretics, no straining, low sodium/no caffeine diet). Five responded positively, requiring no further treatment. Nine required surgical intervention and responded positively. In conclusion, 14 patients with post-concussive dizziness and VH, a positive response to NCD was associated with abnormal vestibular testing, a diagnosis of TMWD, and symptom reduction/resolution with a medical or surgical approach. The removal of sound resulting in reduction or resolution of vestibular symptoms represents an Inverse Tullio Phenomena.

We describe a 90-year-old male presenting with disequilibrium, loss of balance and difficulty walking for three days prior to initial presentation. Interestingly, he denied cough, fever or dyspnea prior to arrival. Over the course of 48 hours, the patient developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) requiring intubation, diagnosed with COVID-19 infection and was treated in the intensive care unit where he died. Since the initial cases in Wuhan China in Dec 2019, the medical and epidemiological communities have learned much about the presenting features, symptomatology, epidemiology, transmission and common physical, laboratory and radiological findings of this disease. Although common symptoms are already established, it is very important to learn and record atypical symptoms or presentations of this highly contagious disease. By doing so, we will be able to recognize earlier atypical symptoms and prevent the environmental exposure to Health care workers and future patients as well. We report that Central disequilibrium may be such as initial presenting sign and symptom of impending respiratory failure from SARS-CoV-2 virus. These atypical findings such as presyncope may precede common respiratory complications of SARS-CoV-2.

Endophytic insect pathogenic fungi have a multifunctional lifestyle; in addition to its well-known function as biocontrol agents, it may also help plants respond to other biotic and abiotic stresses, such as iron (Fe) deficiency. This study explores M. brunneum EAMa 01/58-Su strain attributes for Fe acquisition. Firstly, direct attributes include siderophore exudation (in vitro assay) and Fe content in shoots and in the substrate (in vivo assay) were evaluated for three strains of Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium bruneum. The M. brunneum EAMa 01/58-Su strain showed a great ability to exudate iron siderophores (58.4% surface siderophores exudation) and provided higher Fe content in both dry matter and substrate compared to the control and was therefore selected for further research to unravel the possible induction of Fe deficiency responses, Ferric Reductase Activity (FRA), and relative expression of Fe acquisition genes by qRT-PCR in melon and cucumber plants.. In addi-tion, root priming by M. brunneum EAMa 01/58-Su strain elicited Fe deficiency responses at transcriptional level. Our results show an early up-regulation (24, 48 or 72 h post inoculation) of the Fe acquisition genes FRO1, FRO2, IRT1, HA1, and FIT as well as the FRA. These results highlight the mechanisms involved in the Fe acquisition as mediated by IPF M. brunneum EAMa 01/58-Su strain.

Remediation of IT issues encoded into domain-specific or user-defined alerts occurring in cloud environments and customer ecosystems in a vast majority of cases suffers from accurate recommendations which could be timely supplied for recovery of performance degradations. That, of course, is hard to realize through furnishing those abnormality definitions with an appropriate expert knowledge which varies from one environment to another. At the same time, in a large proportion of support cases, the reported problems under Global Support Services (GSS) or Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) treatment ultimately go down to the product teams making them waste costly development hours on investigating self-monitoring metrics of our solutions. Therefore, the mean-time-to-resolution (MTTR) rates of problems/alerts are significantly impacted from lack of a systematic approach towards adopting AI Ops. That would imply building, maintaining, and continuously improving/annotating a data store of insights that ML models are trained and generalized across the whole customer base and corporate cloud services. Our ongoing study is in line with such a vision and validates an approach that learns the alert resolution patterns in such a global setting and explains them using interpretable AI methodologies. The knowledge store of causative rules is then applied in predicting potential sources of the application degradation reflected in an active alert instance. In this communication, we share our experiences with a prototype solution and up to date analysis demonstrating how root conditions are discovered with a high accuracy for a specific type of problem. It is validated against the historical data of resolutions performed by heavy manual development efforts. We also offer a Dempster-Shafer theory-based rule verification framework for experts as a what-if analysis tool to test their hypotheses about underlying environment.

Objective: There are currently no known treatment methods for ensuring complete recovery from facial nerve damage. Thus, various basic and clinical studies continue to be conducted to achieve this end. As part of this research, autophagy is being investigated for its role in nerve regeneration. Here, we review the existing literature regarding the involvement and signifi-cance of autophagy in facial nerve injury and regeneration. Methods: A comprehensive litera-ture review was conducted to assess the induction and role of autophagy in facial nerve injury and subsequent regeneration. Results: Studies conducted on rats and mice have demonstrated activation of autophagy and expression of related factors in facial and sciatic nerves. Among the most studied of these factors in relation to degeneration and regeneration of facial and sciatic nerves are LC3II/I, PI3K, mTOR, Beclin-1, ATG3, ATG5, ATG7, ATG9, and ATG12. Conclusion: This analysis indicates that autophagy is involved in the process of nerve regeneration follow-ing facial and sciatic nerve damage. Inadequate autophagy induction or failure of autophagy re-sponses can result in regeneration issues after facial or sciatic nerve damage. Animal studies suggest that autophagy plays an important role in facial and sciatic nerve degeneration and re-generation.

The Acute Cystitis Symptom Score (ACSS) is a patient self-reporting questionnaire for the clinical diagnosis and patient-reported outcome (PRO) in women with acute uncomplicated cystitis (AC). The aim of the current study (part II) was the clinical validation of the Greek ACSS questionnaire. After linguistic validation according to internationally accepted guidelines and cognitive assessment (part I), the clinical validation was performed after ethical approval by using the Greek ACSS study version in 92 evaluable female participants including 53 patients with symptoms suspicious of AC and 39 controls. The clinical outcome using the ACSS questionnaire at different time points after the start of treatment was demonstrated as well. The age (mean±SD) of the 53 patients (44.7±17.0) and 39 controls (49.3±15.9) and their additional conditions at baseline visits, such as menstruation, premenstrual syndrome, pregnancy, menopause, diabetes mellitus, were comparable. There was, however, a significant difference (p&lt;0.001) between patients and controls at baseline visit regarding sum score of the ACSS domains, such as typical symptoms and quality of life. The clinical outcome of up to 7 days showed a fast reduction of the symptom scores and improvement of quality of life. The optimal thresholds for the patient-reported outcome of successful therapy could be established. The linguistically and clinically validated Greek ACSS questionnaire can now be used for clinical or epidemiological studies and also for patient’s self-diagnosis of AC and as a PRO measure tool.

Patients with heart failure have difficulty in self-care management, as daily monitoring and recognizing symptoms do not readily trigger an action to avoid hospital admissions. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of a nurse-led complex intervention on symptom recognition and fluid restriction. A latent growth model was designed to estimate self-care management and quality of life changes on patients with heart failure and assessed by a pilot study, for three months, to sixty-three patients (33 control, 30 intervention). Patients in the control group had a higher risk of hospitalisation (IRR 11.36; p<.001) and emergency admission (IRR 4.24; p<.001) at three-months follow-up. Analysis of the time scores demonstrated that the intervention group had a clear improvement in self-care behaviours (βSlope. Assign-ment_group=-.881; p<.001) and in the quality of life (βSlope. Assignment_group=1.739; p<.001). This study supports that a nurse-led program on symptom recognition and fluid restriction can have a positive impact on self-care behaviours and quality of life in patients with heart failure.

Background/Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate compliance and accuracy in comparison with traditional PD diaries for tracking motor symptoms using a new smartphone application (My Parkinson’s) and paper diary strategies. Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with progressive motor symptoms. Treatment becomes more challenging as PD progresses, motor complications in the form of wearing-off phenomenon and levodopa-induced dyskinesia develop. Traditional paper diaries and clinical scales used to evaluate patients may be inadequate in assessing whether the patient is “on” or “off,” resulting in less-than-ideal treatment changes. Methods: A randomized crossover design was utilized to examine 22 advanced PD patients who underwent symptomatic assessment with both diaries during two separate 24-hour periods seven days apart. The compliance and accuracy of data were assessed by comparing diary entries with the clinical examination notes and WhatsApp queries. Latterly, patients' diary preferences were also evaluated.; Results: The digital diary had significantly better compliance and accuracy than the paper diaries, with substantial/almost perfect levels of agreement (κ = 0·615 to 0·818) between logged symptoms and clinical examination notes. 65% of patients preferred the digital diary for follow-ups, and there was no significant difference in ease of use compared to paper diaries. Conclusions: Digital diaries are helpful in the clinical management of PD patients as they minimize recall bias and reduce data errors in appropriately selected patients. Our study suggests a broader adoption of digital health technologies in PD management. Still, additional research is necessary to improve the tools and assess long-term patient outcomes.

In this study, the temporal variation in soil salinity dynamics was monitored and analyzed using Electromagnetic Induction (EMI) in an agricultural area in Port Said, Egypt, which is at risk of soil salinization. To assess soil salinity, repeated CMD2 soil apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) measurements were taken and inverted to generate electromagnetic conductivity imaging (EMCI), representing soil electrical conductivity (σ) distribution through time-lapse inversion. This process involved converting EMCI data into salinity cross sections using a site-specific calibration equation that correlates σ with the electrical conductivity of saturated soil paste extract (ECe) for the collected soil samples. The study was performed from August 2021 to April 2023, involving six surveys during two agriculture seasons. The results demonstrated the accurate prediction ability of soil salinity with R2 value of 0.81. The soil salinity cross sections generated on different dates observed changes in the soil salinity distribution. These changes can be attributed to shifts in irrigation water salinity resulting from canal lining, winter rainfall events, and variations in groundwater salinity. This approach is effective for evaluating agricultural management strategies in irrigated areas where it is necessary to continuously track soil salinity to avoid soil fertility degradation and a decrease in agricultural production and farmer’s income.

Phase change refers to the process of maturation and transition from the juvenile to the adult stage. In response to this shift, certain species like chestnut lose the ability to form adventitious roots, thereby hindering the successful micropropagation of adult plants. While auxin is the main hormone involved in adventitious root formation, other hormones, such as ethylene, are also thought to play a role in its induction and development. In this study, experiments were carried out to determine the effects of ethylene on the induction and growth of adventitious roots. The analysis was performed in two types of chestnut microshoots derived from the same tree, a juvenile-like line with high rooting ability derived from basal shoots (P2BS) and a line derived from crown branches (P2CR) with low rooting responses. By means of the application of compounds to modify ethylene content or inhibit its signalling, the potential involvement of this hormone in the in-duction of adventitious roots was analyzed. Our results show that ethylene can modify the rooting competence of mature shoots, while the response in juvenile material was barely affected. To further characterize the molecular reasons underlying this maturation-derived shift in behaviour, specific gene expression analyses were developed. Findings suggest that several mechanisms, including ethylene signalling, auxin transport and epigenetic modifications, relate to the modu-lation of the rooting ability of mature chestnut microshoots and their recalcitrant behaviour.

A novel method proposed in the production of Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel has been investigated experimentally. In this study, we report the results of biodiesel processing with electromagnetic induction technology. The method used is to compare the results of Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel processing between conventional, microwave and electromagnetic induction. The degumming, transesterification, and esterification process of the 3 methods are measured by stopwatch to obtain time comparison data. Characteristics of viscosity, density, and Fatty Acid Metil Ester (FAME) were obtained from testing of a Gas Chromatography-mass Spectrometry (GCMS) at the Polytechnic Chemistry Laboratory of the State of Malang. The results show that the biodiesel produced by this method satisfies the biodiesel standards and their characteristics are better than the biodiesel produced by conventional and microwave methods. The electromagnetic induction method also offers a fast and easy route to produce biodiesel with the advantage of increasing the reaction rate and improving the separation process compared to other methods. This advanced technology has the potential to significantly increase biodiesel production with considerable potential to reduce production time and costs.

Background Hokkaido is the northernmost, least populous, and coldest of the Japanese islands. It was the first prefecture to be affected by COVID-19, while Kanagawa is home to one of the most populous areas of Japan, namely the Tokyo metro area. The Japanese government responded early during the pandemic by identifying infected patients, contact tracing, and performing PCR analysis on anyone who was suspected of having been exposed to SARS-CoV-2. The government has also been publishing information about each individual who tested positive for the virus. Both Hokkaido and Kanagawa started recording COVID-19 cases in the winter of 2020 and have detailed records of thousands of patients, thus providing an invaluable resource for the transmission and behavior of the virus. Methods The current study analyzed the COVID-19 registry data from the Hokkaido and Kanagawa prefectures. The Hokkaido registry contained 1,269 cases (674 (53%) females and 595 (47%) males) recorded between February 14 and July 22, 2020. The Kanagawa registry had 3,123 cases (1,346 (43%) females and 1,777 (57%) males. The final data contained a total of 4,392 cases (2,020 (46%) females and 2,372 (54%) males). By leveraging the information on viral transmission paths available in the registry data, we performed exponential random graph model (ERGM) network analysis to examine demographic and symptomological homophilies of the SARS-CoV-2 viral transmission networks. Results We observed age, symptomatic, and asymptomatic homophilies in both prefectures. Furthermore, those patients who contracted the virus through secondary or tertiary contacts were more likely to be asymptomatic than those who contracted it from primary infection cases. The transmission networks showed that transmission occurred significantly in healthcare settings, as well as in families, although the size of the networks was small in the latter. Most of the transmissions stopped at the primary and secondary levels and no transmission beyond quaternary was observed. We also observed a higher level of asymptomatic transmission in Kanagawa than in Hokkaido. Conclusions Symptom homophilies are an important component of COVID-19 and suggest that nuanced genetic differences in the virus may affect its epithelial cell type range and can thus result in the diversity of symptoms seen in individuals infected by SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, environmental variables such as temperature and humidity may also be playing an important role in the overall pathogenesis of the virus.

Neuroinflammation and brain oxidative stress are recognized as significant contributors to hypertension including salt sensitive hypertension. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play an essential role in intercellular communication in various situations, including physiological and pathological ones. Based on this evidence, we hypothesized that EVs derived from the brains of hypertensive rats with salt sensitivity could trigger neuroinflammation and oxidative stress during hypertension development. To test this hypothesis, we compared the impact of EVs isolated from the brains of hypertensive Dahl Salt Sensitive rats (DSS) and normotensive Sprague Dawley (SD) rats on inflammatory factors and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS) production in primary neuronal cultures and brain cardiovascular relevant regions, including the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and lamina terminalis (LT). We found that brain-derived DSS-EVs significantly increased mRNA levels of proinflammatory cytokines (PICs) and chemokines, including TNFα, IL1β, CCL2, CCL5, and CCL12, as well as the transcriptional factor NF-κB in neuronal cultures. DSS-EVs also induced oxidative stress in neuronal cultures, as evidenced by elevated NADPH oxidase subunit CYBA coding gene mRNA levels and persistent mtROS elevation. When DSS-EVs were injected into the brains of normal SD rats, mRNA levels of PICs, chemokines, and the chronic neuronal activity marker FOSL1 were significantly increased in the PVN and LT. Furthermore, DSS-EVs caused mtROS elevation in brain PVN and LT, particularly in neurons. Our study reveals a novel role for brain-derived EVs from hypertensive rats in triggering neuroinflammation, upregulating chemokine expression, and inducing excessive ROS production. These findings provide insight into the complex interactions between EVs and hypertension-associated processes, offering potential therapeutic targets for hypertension-linked neurological complications.

This study focuses on the reasoning of symptoms of TCM internal diseases. Taking cough as an example, the BERT-BiLSTM-CRF model is used for entity recognition. Experiments show that the model has the best entity recognition effect on three types of texts, including teaching cases, clinical cases and literature data, and the F1 value is up to 0.967. It can effectively identify symptoms, course of disease, tongue condition and pulse condition in TCM diagnosis and treatment texts, which lays a solid foundation for intelligent assisted syndrome differentiation and treatment of TCM. By constructing four types of entity corpora and using three mainstream entity recognition models for experiments, it is found that the BERT-BiLSTM-CRF model has a good entity recognition effect in three types of data: teaching cases, clinical cases and literature data. Experimental results show that the F1 values of the BERT-bilSTM-CRF model in teaching cases, clinical cases and literature data are 0.967, 0.82 and 0.91, respectively, which provides an effective method for information extraction in the field of TCM syndrome differentiation diagnosis and treatment, and lays a foundation for further research on knowledge reasoning.

Gastric-type endocervical adenocarcinoma (GAS) is a rare non-human papillomavirus associated mucinous adenocarcinoma of the cervix. Its clinical manifestations are extremely atypical, with hidden lesions and difficulty in obtaining materials, resulting in a low positive rate of screening and biopsy. The pathological morphological features are similar to benign lesions, but the biological characteristics are highly malignant, posing great challenges to diagnosis. The preoperative diag-nostic rate is low, which is prone to misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis, leading to delayed treatment and seriously affecting the prognosis of patients. Here，we reported a case of ovarian endometriosis cyst combined with GAS confirmed by surgery and postoperative pathology, with "pelvic mass" as the initial symptom. Through case report and literature review, the characteristics and current re-search progress of GAS were summarized, in order to provide references for diagnosis of GAS, and provide theoretical guidance for formulating reasonable treatment strategy and improving patient prognosis.

This article presents a harmonic analysis of the stator currents of a squirrel-cage in-15 duction motor fed by a voltage source inverter with PWM space vector control (SV-PWM). The 16 influence of PWM switching frequency and dead time (dead-band) of controlled transistors on 17 THD and electromagnetic torque ripple is shown. The aim is to determine the lowest switching 18 frequency of the transistors for which the drive will operate correctly. Characteristics were de-19 termined as functions in the form of THD ( ), where the least square approximation was 20 used for stator current measurements when the PWM switching frequency is changed. The ap-21 proximations were realized for simulation and experimental results. To clarify the results, the 22 operation of hardware PWM circuits in microcontrollers was analyzed.

Boron carbide (B4C) powders with defined stoichiometry, high crystallinity, minimal impurity content, and a fine particle size are imperative for realizing the exceptional properties of this compound in advanced high-technology applications. Nevertheless, achieving the desired stoi-chiometry and particle size using traditional synthesis methods, which rely on prolonged, high-temperature processes, can be challenging. The primary objective of this study is to syn-thesize fine B4C powders characterized by high crystallinity and a sub-micron particle size, em-ploying a fast, and energy-efficient method. B4C powders are synthesized from elemental boron and carbon in a high-frequency induction heating furnace using the Electromagnetic Induction Synthesis (EMIS) method. The rapid heating rate achieved through contactless heating promotes the ignition and propagation of the exothermic chemical reaction between boron and carbon. Additionally, electromagnetic effects accelerate atomic diffusion, allowing the reaction to be completed in an exceptionally short timeframe. The grain size and crystallinity of B4C can be finely tuned by adjusting various process parameters, including the post-ignition holding temperature and the duration of heating. As a result, fine B4C powders can be synthesized in under 10 minutes. Moreover, these synthesized B4C powders exhibit high resistance to oxidation when exposed to air.

Induction heating (IH) technology is widely recognized and utilized in residential applications due to its high efficiency and safe operating characteristics. Resonant inverter circuits are widely used in IH systems because of their high efficiency and ability to perform soft-switching. Among the various resonant inverters used in IH systems, the single-switch quasi-resonant (SSQR) inverter topology is typically preferred for low-cost and low-output-power applications. Despite its cost advantage, the SSQR topology has a relatively narrow soft-switching range, which can be unstable depending on the electrical parameters of the load and the resonant converter circuit. Accurately determining the capacitance value of the resonant capacitor and the inductance value of the induction coil, which are the key circuit elements of the SSQR induction cooker, is crucial for designing a reliable, efficient, and durable cooking system. In other words, there exists a critical relationship between the resonant converter circuit parameters, load characteristics, and safe operating conditions. Additionally, when considering closed-loop control methods used for power control and safety, selecting appropriate resonant circuit elements becomes vital in ensuring both reliable and efficient operation. This paper focuses on a novel and simplified design method for the SSQR inverter utilized in household appliances. The proposed method and its advantages in terms of the safe operating area of the switch are theoretically investigated and verified through simulations and prototype circuits.

Polyploidy induction is recognized as one of the major evolutionary processes presenting remark-able morphological, physiological, and genetic variations in plants. Soybean (Glycine max L.), also known as soja bean or soya bean, is an annual leguminous crop of the pea family (Fabaceae) that shares a paleopolypoidy history, dating back to approximately 56.5 million years ago with other leguminous crops such as cowpea and other Glycine specific polyploids. This crop has been documented as one of the polyploid complex species among legumes whose gene evolution and result-ant adaptive growth characteristics, following induced polyploidization has not been fully explored. Furthermore, there are no successfully established in vivo or in vitro based polyploidy in-duction protocols that have been reported so far, particularly, with the intention to develop mutant plants showing strong resistance to abiotic salinity stress. This review, therefore, describes the role of synthetic polyploid plant production in soybean for the mitigation against high soil salt stress levels, and how this evolving approach could be used to further enhance nutritional, pharmaceutical and economic industrial value of soybeans, including addressing challenges involved during the polyploidization process.

We present here a five hours experimentation of a didactical path about the electromagnetic induction addressed to students of the last year of an Italian scientific high school and oriented to better understand the physical origin of the induced electromotive force. The expression of the induced electromotive force as the sum of the term linked to the time variation of the magnetic field and of the motional one has been obtained in a detailed way, still suitable for presentation at high school. Many examples have been proposed to the students in order to clarify the conceptual physical knots. The students’ responses to a 6-questions multiple choice questionnaire have been analyzed. It emerged that our approach is concretely feasible although we find the well-known difficulties in calculating flux and circulation of a vector field. Furthermore, it emerged that an integral approach to the problem masks the understanding of the nature of the forces acting locally on the charges. Hence our proposal of a “redefinition” of the induced electric field in terms of the magnetic vector potential is also presented.

Induction machines drive many industrial processes, and their unexpected failure can cause heavy production losses. The analysis of the current spectrum can identify online the characteristic fault signatures at an early stage, avoiding unexpected breakdowns. Nevertheless, frequency domain analysis requires stable working conditions, which is not the case for wind generators, motors driving varying loads, etc. In these cases an analysis in the time-frequency domain -such as a spectrogram- is required for detecting faults signatures. The spectrogram is built using the short frequency Fourier transform, but its resolution depends critically on the time window used to generate it: short windows provide good time resolution, but poor frequency resolution, just the opposite than long windows. Therefore, the window must be adapted at each time to the shape of the expected fault harmonics, by highly skilled maintenance personnel. In this paper, this problem is solved with the design of a new multi-band window, which generates simultaneously many different narrow-band current spectrograms, and combines them into a single, high resolution one, without the need of manual adjustments. The proposed method is validated with the diagnosis of bar breakages during the start-up of a commercial induction motor.

Severe cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection are characterized by an immune response that leads to the overproduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines, resulting in damage to the lungs and other organs. This remarkable increase in cytokines and other inflammatory molecules is primary caused by viral proteins, in particular ORF8, a unique accessory protein specific to SARS-CoV-2. In addition to its role in cytokine induction, ORF8 is attributed with various other functions, including its ability to evade type I interferon responses. Despite the evidence, the mechanisms through which ORF8 exerts these functions remains a subject of controversy. In this mini review, we discuss the multifaceted roles of ORF8 as a modulator of cytokine response, focusing on type I interferon and IL-6. We also discuss data from our studies indicating that ORF8 augments production of IL-6 induced by Poly(I:C) in human embryonic kidney (HEK)-293 and monocyte-derived dendritic cells (mono-DCs).

The stator winding insulation system is the most critical and weak part of the EMU's (electric multiple unit) traction motor. The effective diagnosis for stator ITSC (inter-turn short-circuit) faults can prevent the fault from expanding into phase-to-phase or ground short-circuits. The TCU(traction control unit) controls the traction inverter to output SPWM (sine pulse width modulation) excitation voltage when the traction motor is stationary. Three ITSC fault diagnostic conditions are based on different IGBTs control logic. The Goertzel algorithm is used to calculate the fundamental current amplitude difference Δi and phase angle difference Δθ of equivalent parallel windings under the three diagnostic conditions. The six parameters under the three diagnostic conditions are used as features to establish an ITSC fault diagnostic model based on random forest. The proposed method was validated using a simulation experimental platform for ITSC fault diagnosis of EMU traction motors. The experimental results indicate that the current amplitude features Δi and phase angle features Δθ change obviously with the increase of ITSC fault extent if the ITSC fault occurs at the equivalent parallel windings. The accuracy of the ITSC fault diagnosis model based on the random forest for ITSC fault detection and location both in train and test samples are 100%.

β-apopicropodophyllin (APP), a derivative of podophyllotoxin (PPT), has been identified as a potential anti-cancer drug. This study tested whether APP acts as an an-ti-cancer drug and can sensitize colorectal cancer (CRC) cells to radiation treatment. APP had an anti-cancer effect against the CRC cell lines HCT116, and DLD-1, SW480 and COLO320DM with IC50 values of 7.88 nM, and 8.22 nM, 9.84 nM and 7.757 nM, respec-tively induction of DNA damage. Colonogenic and cell counting assays indicated that the combined treatment of APP and γ-ionizing radiation (IR) showed greater retardation of cell growth than either alone, suggesting that APP sensitizes CRC cells to IR. Annexin V-propidium iodide (PI) assays and immunoblot analysis showed that the combined treatment of APP and IR increased apoptosis in CRC cells compared with either APP or IR alone. Results obtained from the xenograft experiments also indicated that the combination of APP and IR enhanced apoptosis in in vivo animal model. Apoptosis induction by the combined treatment of APP and IR resulted from reactive oxygen species (ROS). Inhibition of ROS by N-acetylcysteine (NAC) restored cell viability and decreased the induction of apoptosis by APP and IR in CRC cells. Taken together, these results indicate that a combined treatment of APP and IR might promote apoptosis by inducing ROS in CRC cells.

The authors of the paper have made an attempt to detect the fibre content and fibre spacing in a steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) industrial floor. Two non-destructive testing (NDT) methods: an electromagnetic induction technique and a radar-based technique were applied. The first method allowed to detect the spacing in subsequent layers located in the thickness of the slab. The result of the second method was a 3D visualization of the detected fibre in the volume of concrete slab. The conducted tests showed aptitude and limitations of the applied methods in estimating fibre volume and spacing. The two techniques also allowed to locate the areas with relatively low fibre concentration which are very likely to be characterized by low mechanical properties.

Background: Cancer therapies predispose survivors to a high symptom burden. This study utilized mobile health (mHealth) technology to assess the feasibility of collecting daily symptoms from adult survivors of childhood cancer and evaluate symptom fluctuation and associations with future health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL). Methods: A prospective study using an mHealth platform to distribute a 20-item cancer-related symptom survey (5 consecutive days each month) and an HRQOL survey (the day after symptom survey) over 3 consecutive months to participants from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. PROMIS-29 Profile and Neuro-QOL assessed HRQOL. Daily symptom burden was calculated by summing the severity (mild, moderate, or severe) of 20 symptoms. Univariate linear mixed-effects models analyzed total, person-to-person, day-to-day, and month-to-month variability for the burden of 20 individual symptoms. Multivariable linear regression analyzed the association between daily symptom burden in the first month and HRQOL in the third month, adjusting covariates. Results: Out of the 60 survivors invited, 41 participated in this study (68% enrollment rate); 83% reported their symptoms ≥3 times and 95% reported HRQOL, both in each week across 3 months. Variability of daily symptom burden differed from person-to-person (74%), day-to-day (18%), and month-to-month (8%). Higher first-month symptom burden was associated with poorer HRQOL related to anxiety (regression coefficient: 6.56; 95%CI: 4.10-9.02), depression (6.32; 95%CI: 3.18-9.47), fatigue (7.93; 95%CI: 5.11-10.80), sleep (6.07; 95%CI: 3.43-8.70), pain (5.16; 95%CI: 2.11-8.22), and cognitive function (-6.89; 95%CI: -10.00 to -3.79) in the third month. Conclusion: Daily assessment reveals fluctuations in symptomology, and higher symptom burden was associated with poorer HRQOL in the future. Utilizing mHealth technology for daily symptom assessment improves our understanding of symptom dynamics and sources of variability.

Patients with heart failure have difficulty in self-care management, as daily monitoring and recognizing symptoms do not readily triggers an action to avoid hospital admissions. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of a nurse-led complex intervention on symptom recognition and fluid restriction. A latent growth model was designed to estimate self-care management and quality of life changes on patients with heart failure and assessed by a pilot study, for three months, to sixty-three patients (33 control, 30 intervention). Patients in the control group had a higher risk of hospitalisation (IRR 11.36; p<.001) and emergency admission (IRR 4.24; p<.001) at three-months follow-up. Analysis of the time scores demonstrated that the intervention group had a clear improvement in self-care behaviours (βSlope. Assignment_group=-.881; p<.001) and in the quality of life (βSlope. Assignment_group=1.739; p<.001). This study supports that a nurse-led program on symptom recognition and fluid restriction can have a positive impact on self-care behaviours and quality of life in patients with heart failure.

The theory of electron spin has been proposed for a century, but the study of quantum effects in biological molecules is still in its infancy. Chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) is a very modern theory that can explain many biochemical phenomena. In this paper, we propose a new theoretical model based on CISS theory and quantum chemistry theory, which can well explain the theoretical explanation of the chiral selectivity of chiral proteins. Moreover, this theory can predict the spin state of corresponding chiral molecules. Taking L-DOPA and AADC enzyme as examples, this theoretical model solves the theoretical explanation of AADC enzyme's chiral catalysis selectivity problem and successfully predicts the spin state of L-DOPA and D-DOPA's valence electrons.

Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) has a stator winding directly coupled with grid. Whereas, rotor winding is connected via a fault-prone back to back power converters. DFIG is known to be vulnerable to the grid faults. In early times, when a fault occurred, these generators were required to disconnect from the grid to secure the generator and power converters. However, due to the increased penetration of wind turbines into the power system, grid operators demanded that the wind turbines remain connected to the grid, as disconnecting them would further disrupt the grid. When a fault at the grid terminal occur, a high stator current is induced which further result in high rotor current. This current will trigger the DC-link voltage to rise. This high currents and DC-link voltage will cause harm to the converters. Thus, in this paper work, the crowbar protection system is employed for protecting the converters against excess energy. Furthermore, the analysis of DFIG is rendered by integrating the crowbar protection with the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) for a much effective outcome in enhancing machine to drive the fault. MATLAB-Simulink software is used for modeling and simulation. All system parameters are obtained from ADAMA-II Wind Farm.

The paper presents dynamic and transient behaviour of the Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) in the wind farms. When Voltage sag or any faults occurs in the network, the variables in the doubly Fed Induction Generators are varying severely. If the voltage sag occurs, Active and Reactive power that generated by the DFIG will decrease and will increase respectively, The DC voltage link will be bigger, and the rotor current will increase. The DFIG in the wind farms uses Proportional Integral controller for controlling of electronic devices (Rotor Side Converter and Grid Side Converter). Even though the model of Doubly Fed Induction Generators and electronic device in the paper are linear, The Proportional Integral controllers cannot protect and control the variables. So, the power electronic converters and the DC-link can damage due to over voltages and over currents. Doubly Fed Induction Generator in the wind farm is simulated in MATLAB software. The results of the simulation present over voltage and over current in the DC-link and in the rotor of the Doubly Fed Induction Generator. In addition, it will explore the effect of Proportional Integral controller in Doubly Fed Induction Generator when three-phase short circuit fault occurs

Usually, the vector control of the induction machine (IM) is done by using cascade control structures with conventional linear PI controllers, the inner loop being designed for current control, and the outer loop for rotor flux and speed control. In this paper, starting from the dq model of the IM with the rotor magnetic flux space vector aligned along the d axis, advanced control algorithms are proposed for the two control loops of the cascade structure. For the current inner loop, after the decoupling control of the two dq currents, predictive algorithms with constraints are used to control and limit the currents. Since the outer loop has a nonlinear affine multivariable plant model, a homotopy-based variant of feedback linearization is used to obtain a non-singular decoupling matrix of the feedback transformation even when the rotor flux is zero at the start-up of the motor. During the continuous variation of the homotopy parameter, the model of the plant is variable, in which case the model free algorithms are properly used to control the flux and speed of the IM. The comparative analysis obtained for the cascade structure with conventional PI controllers and advanced algorithms, respectively, shows that the last lead to improve the dynamical performance of the IM.

: In the automotive industry, high-strength plates have been increasingly used to reduce the vehicle body weight due to stringent regulations on fuel economy and safety. Such plates achieve tensile strengths as high as 1.5 GPa owing to the hot-stamping process. However, these plates suffer from scale generation and surface decarburization because of the surface oxidation of the material. Recently, studies on materials subjected to high-frequency induction heating have reported strength improvement owing to the coil shape and cooling method. This study presents the surface temperature changes, mechanical properties, and microstructures of boron steels subjected to longitudinal heating, which uses eddy currents generated from high-frequency induction heating. The surface temperature data were analyzed under different high-frequency induction heating powers (15, 18, 21, 24, 27, and 30 kW) and distances from the specimen (6, 9, and 15 mm). The mechanical properties and microstructures were also analyzed in different high-frequency induction heating coil directions. The correlations between the high-frequency induction heating power and the distance from the specimen with the maximum tensile strength were determined.

This study is to explore the feasibility using neural network (NN) and deep learning to diagnose three common respiratory diseases with only few symptom words. These three diseases are nasopharyngitis, upper respiratory infection, and bronchitis/bronchiolitis. Through natural language processing, the symptom word vectors are encoded by GPT-2 and classified by the last linear layer of the NN. The experimental results are promising, showing that this model achieves a high performance in predicting all these three diseases. They reach 90% in accuracy, which suggests the implications of the developed model, highlighting its potential use in assisting patients understanding their conditions via a remote diagnosis. Unlike previous studies that focus on extracting various categories of information from medical records, this study directly extracts sequential features from unstructured text data, reducing the effort required for data pre-process.

Background: Schizophrenia and treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) are associated with aberrations in immune-inflammatory pathways. Increased High Mobility Group Protein 1 (HMGB1), an inflammatory mediator, and Dickkopf-Related Protein (DKK1), a Wnt/β-catenin signaling antagonist, affect the blood-brain-barrier and induce neurotoxic effects and neurocognitive deficits.Aim of the study: The present study aims to examine HMGB1 and DDK1 in non-responders to treatments with antipsychotics (NRTT, n=60), partial RTT (PRTT, n=55) and healthy controls (n=43) in relation to established markers of schizophrenia including IL-6, IL-10 and CLL11 (eotaxin); and to delineate whether these proteins are associated with the schizophrenia symptom subdomains and neurocognitive impairments.Results: HMGB1, DKK1, IL-6 and CCL11 were significantly higher in schizophrenia patients than in controls. DKK1 and IL-6 were significantly higher in NRTT than in PRTT and controls while IL-10 was higher in NRTT than in controls. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that schizophrenia was best predicted by increased DDK1 and HMGB1 while NRTT (versus PRTT) was best predicted by increased IL-6 and CCL11 levels. A large part of the variance in psychosis, hostility, excitation, mannerism and negative (PHEMN) symptoms, and formal thought disorders was explained by HMGB1, IL-6, and CCL11 while most neurocognitive functions were predicted by HMGB1, DDK1 and CCL11. Conclusion: The neurotoxic effects of HMGB1, DKK1, IL-6 and CCL11 including effects on the blood-brain-barrier and the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway may cause impairments in executive functions, and working, episodic and semantic memory and explain, in part, PHEMN symptoms and a non-response to treatment with antipsychotic drugs.

Abstract: COVID-19 Long Haulers, an estimated 3% to 12% of people infected globally with coronavirus having latter devasting symptoms 12 weeks after the initial infection is on the rise. We conducted a collaborative study with the long covid patient organization in Greece in order to estimate the prevalence, symptoms and problems that adult long haulers experience and then propose a management plan for these patients. Symptoms were obtained from 208 patients using unstructured qualitative free text entries in an anonymized online questionnaire. The majority of respondents (68.8%) were not hospitalized and had been diagnosed more than six months ago with lingering symptoms (66,8%). Eighteen different symptoms (fatigue, tachycardia, shortness of breath, parosmia etc) were mentioned in both hospitalized and community patients. Interestingly, patients with initial mild symptoms suffer from the same persistent symptoms as those who were hospitalized. Awareness of long covid sequelae seems to be low even among medical doctors. Treatment options incorporating targeted rehabilitation programs are either not available or still excluded from the management plan of long covid patients. Since long COVID is a multi-systemic entity, we propose a holistic interventional approach using a multidisciplinary medical team in order to securely and effectively diagnose and treat these specific patients. Academic and medical community must collaborate with long covid patients’ organizations so as to provide personalized medicine.

Malnutrition problems are related to diets that lack one or more essential elements, which it is extremely important to food enrichment to improve the content of compounds effective for health. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of the addition of Ca2+, K+ and Mg2+ on the induction of nutraceutical quality in grafted tomatoes grown in the NFT (Nutrient Film Technique) system. In the experiment, two factors were evaluated: plants with and without grafting and the foliar application of 10 ml L−1 Ca2+, 4 ml L−1 K+ and 10 ml L−1 Mg2+ cations separately for each case, in addition to the control. The treatments were evaluated using a completely randomized design, with 5 repetitions per treatment. The interactive effects between grafting and foliar application of Ca2+ induced a greater content lycopene, β-carotene and total flavonoids in fruits of tomato. The interactive effects between the graft and the Mg2+ foliar applications obtained the best results in the phenol content. As regards, capacity DPPH and ABTS, the graft decreased concentration, increasing the content of these through foliar applications of calcium. Regarding the enzymatic variables, graft factor increased activity catalase, glutathione peroxidase and phenylalanine ammonium lyase, obtained the best results graft interaction and foliar application of calcium and magnesium. The results obtained demonstrate the influence of the use of grafts and foliar applications of cal-cium and magnesium as tools that could improve the nutraceutical quality content of tomato crop

Chromosome elimination resulting in haploids is achieved by rapid loss of chromosomes from one parent during zygote stage, and is an important procedure to produce doubled haploid (DH) lines in plants. During crosses between an emasculated wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and a maize (Zea mays L.) as pollen donor, the complete loss of maize chromosomes results in wheat haploid embryos. Through embryo rescue and chromosome doubling process, pure lines with stable traits can be quickly obtained. We here term it as the maize-obligated wheat doubled haploids (mowDH). Although this technology is not new, it remains a practical approach to date. In order to optimize and improve this technology, and to achieve its maximum potential in the winter wheat area of China, this paper reviews the previous and on-going research, proposes a technical scheme for production of wheat DH lines via the maize pollen induction, and presents outlooks on DH research and its application in wheat breeding.

A correct system design can be systematically obtained from a specification model of a real-time system that integrates hybrid measurements in a realistic industrial environment, this has been carried out through complete Matlab / Simulink / Stateflow models. However, there is a widespread interest in carrying out that modeling by resorting to Machine Learning models, which can be understood as Automated Machine Learning for Real-time systems that present some degree of hybridization. An induction motor controller which must be able to maintain a constant air flow through a filter is one of these systems and it is discussed in the paper as a study case of closed-loop control system. The article discusses a practical application of ML methods that demonstrates how to replace such closed loop in industrial control systems with a Simulink block generated from neural networks to show how the proposed procedure can be applied to derive complete hybrid system designs with artificial neural networks (ANN). In the proposed ANN-based method to design a real-time hybrid system with continuous and discrete components, we use a typical design of a neural network, in which we define the usual phases: training, validation, and testing. The generated output of the model is made up of reference variables values of the cyber-physical system, which represent the functional and dynamic aspects of model. They are used to feed Simulink/Stateflow blocks in the real target system.

Introduction: Myasthenia gravis (MG), an immune disorder affecting nerve-muscle transmission, often necessitates tailored therapies to alleviative longitudinal symptom fluctuations. Here, we aimed to examine and compare the treatment cycle intervals and efficacy of efgartigimod in four patients. This case series mainly offers insights into personalized treatment cycle intervals and efficacy of efgartigimod for patients with MG in our facility in Japan. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed four patients with MG (2 patients with early-onset, 1 with late-onset, and 1 with seronegative MG, mainly managed with oral immunosuppressants as prior treatments) who completed four or more cycles of efgartigimod treatment from January 2022 to September 2023. We focused on changes in serum immunoglobulin (IgG) level, acetylcholine receptor antibody (AChR-Ab) titer, and quantitative MG (QMG) score. Results: Efgartigimod, administered at a median of 5.0 [IQR 5.0, 7.5] weeks between cycles, led to decreased serum IgG level in all patients and reduced AChR-Ab titers in seropositive patients. All patients showed sustained MG symptom improvement, with considerably reduced QMG scores before efgartigimod treatment. None of the patients required rescue medications or developed treatment-related adverse events. Conclusion: Customized efgartigimod administration intervals effectively enhanced clinical outcomes in patients with MG without notable symptom fluctuations, demonstrating the benefits of individualized treatment approaches and validating the safety of efgartigimod during the study period.

Accumulating evidence suggests that TNF-α-mediated immune-neurotoxicity contributes to cognitive impairments and the overall severity of schizophrenia (OSOS). There are no data whether peripheral IL-6 and IL-4 may affect the phenome of schizophrenia above and beyond the effects of TNF-α and whether those cytokines are regulated by lowered natural IgM to malondialdehyde (MDA) and paraoxonase 1 enzyme activity. We assessed the aforementioned biomarkers in schizophrenia patients with (n=40) and without (n=40) deficit schizophrenia and 40 healthy controls. Deficit schizophrenia was best predicted by a combination of increased IL-6 and PON1 status (QQ genotype and lowered CMPAase activity) and lowered IgM to MDA. Partial Least Squares bootstrapping shows that 41.0% of the variance in negative symptoms, psychosis, hostility, excitation, mannerism, psychomotor retardation, and formal thought disorders was explained by increased TNF-α and PON1 status (QQ genotype and lowered CMPAase activity), lowered IL-4 and IgM to MDA as well as male sex and lowered education. We found that 47.9% of the variance in verbal fluency, word list memory, true recall, Mini-Mental State Examination, and executive functions was predicted by increased TNF-α and lowered IL-4, IgM to MDA and education. In addition, both TNF-α and IL-4 levels were significantly associated with lowered IgM to MDA, while TNF-α was correlated with PON1 status. These data provide evidence that the symptomatic (both the deficit subtype and OSOS) and cognitive impairments in schizophrenia are to a large extent mediated by the effects of immune-mediated neurotoxicity as well as lowered regulation by the innate immune system.

Electrical rotating machines like Induction Motors (IMs) are widely used in several industrial applications since their robust elements, provide high efficiency and give versatility in industrial applications. Nevertheless, the occurrence of faults in IMs is inherent to their operating conditions, hence, Inter-turn short-circuit (ITSC) is one of the most common failures that affect IMs and its appearance is due to electrical stresses leads to the degradation of the stator winding insulation. In this regard, this work proposes a diagnosis methodology for the assessment and detection of incipient ITSC in IMs, the proposed method is based on the processing of vibration, stator currents and magnetic stray-flux signals. Certainly, the novelty and contribution include the characterization of different physical magnitudes by estimating a set of statistical time domain features, as well as, their fusion and reduction through the Linear discriminant Analysis technique within a feature-level fusion approach. Furthermore, the fusion and reduction of information from different physical magnitudes leads to perform the automatic fault detection and identification by a simple Neural-Network (NN) structure. The proposed method is evaluated under a complete set of experimental data and the obtained results demonstrate that the fusion of information from different sources (physical magnitudes) allows to improve the accuracy during the detection of ITSC in IMs , the results make this proposal feasible to be incorporated as a part of condition-based maintenance programs in the industry.

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. This study aimed to test the efficacy of a newly-developed symptom self-management program on health outcomes among inpatients post-AMI. A pilot randomised, controlled trial was utilised. A convenience sample of 90 was recruited from a tertiary hospital in Singapore. Adult inpatients with post-AMI were randomly assigned to the three groups: IManage-HSet, IManage-FF or control group. Sample size was computed using power analysis. Data were collected through self-reported questionnaires and physiological instruments. Data analyses included univariate statistics, analysis of variance and repeated measure analysis of variance. Ninety participants were recruited with 30 in each group. Participants in the IManage-HSet and IManage-FF group had significantly greater relaxation (ηp2 = 0.11), lower objective stress (ηp2 =0.14), and greater knowledge (ηp2 = 0.62) than those of the control group. The two intervention groups had lower subjective stress (ηp2 = 0.04), depression (ηp2 = 0.01), and anxiety (ηp2 = 0.03) than the control but such differences did not achieve statistical significance. Furthermore, most participants reported that they were satisfied with the programs and they provided positive comments on the contents, educational materials and relaxation practice. This pilot study supports the potential benefits and feasibility of the IManage-VR and IManage-FF interventions on stress, perceived relaxation, knowledge and patient satisfaction. Contents of the symptom management interventions could be added into current cardiac rehabilitation programs. Future RCTs with multi-centered sites and larger sample size are required to further test the intervention. This study was prospectively registered with the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial on the 5th August 2014 with registration number ISRCTN61027816.

The aim of the study is to evaluate the predictive factors of response to induction chemotherapy in patients with resectable NSCLC, treated at the unit of Thoracic Surgery of Siena University Hospital with radical surgery. From January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2020, 78 patients were recruited. We analyzed the outcomes in terms of 5-years OS based on the Estimated Regression Rate, N2 downstaging and age; two patients’ subgroups were created by age (Group A: age &lt;66 years-old; Group B: age &gt;66 years-old). No 5-year OS difference was observed based on age, while it was observed in patients with N2 downstaging (p=0.031). Bewtween patients with N2 downstaging, only patients in Group A had a significantly increased 5-year OS (p=0.019), while this was not observed in Group B (p=0-321); the same result was observed with the Estimated Regression Rate &gt; 50% (Group A p=0.005; Group B p=0.391). The percentage of disease regression and the N2 down-staging after induction chemotherapy have great value on the survival, although this advantage seems to be observed mostly in younger patients. A multidisciplinary oncologic discussion of clinical cases could provide support in the careful selection of the ideal patients to undergo neoadjuvant treatment before radical surgery.

Fault detection at the early stage of development is of great importance in the maintenance of electric motors. In this regard, Motor Current Signature Analysis (MCSA) is cited in many articles to detect rotor bar fracture. The popularity of MCSA is due to its non-invasive and non-destructive nature, simplicity, and, compatibility with several signal processing tools. The vast variety of the signal processing tools which are commonly used for detecting the broken rotor bar fault is based on the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the stator current signal and analysis of the produced Fourier spectrum; however, because of the small amplitude at the fault frequency relative to the main frequency amplitude, the former cannot be easily discriminated from the latter. Therefore, the peak at the fault frequency is hidden in the shadow of the main frequency component, hence the fault will not be detectable. As a solution to vanish the base frequency component, a method based on the Algebraic Identity of trinomial expansion is proposed in this paper which enables us to display the difference between the frequency of the fault signature and the base frequency. In this article, the fault of the broken rotor bars of the squirrel cage induction motor is revealed by the proposed method. In addition, a frequency weighting technique is presented to magnify the component at the fault related frequency compared to the lower frequencies. To validate the proposed methods, they are examined on the laboratory data obtained from three different operating conditions including the direct online start, the direct torque control, and the scalar control and the results show the ability of the proposed methods in fault detection of an induction motor.

Phagosomal escape and intracellular survival, often accompanied by Small Colony Variants (SCVs) formation, are typical features of infections caused by S. aureus. The survival in macro-phages favours S. aureus dissemination and complicates treatment. RAW 264.7 murine macro-phages infected with S. aureus USA300 and treated with erythromycin and 20mM carnosine, alone and in combination, were used as experimental model. SCVs were isolated from all treat-ment conditions, but only those undergoing the pressure of combined erythromycin and carnosine for 48 hours were stable for at least six passages on blood agar. Nucleic acid extraction was car-ried out for S. aureus USA300 wild-type and stable SCVs. Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) was performed using Illumina DNA Prep and Illumina MiSeq, and quantitative reverse transcription PCR was performed. WGS analysis did not yield mutations pointing to differences between S. au-reus USA300 and stable SCVs, therefore the focus was shifted to evaluating gene expression vari-ations. Genes such as zur, mntR, uhpt, fur, sdrE were shown to be significantly up-regulated in SCVs compared to S. aureus USA300 wild-type, suggesting a global change that allows adapta-tion to intracellular persistence, including protection from inflammatory response and evasion of the immune system.

The objective of this research-action, teaching and extension project was to support the beginning teacher, who graduated from the Pedagogy courses at UFF-INFES and UFRRJ/IE, raising the difficulties and solutions of this teacher's pedagogical practice, as well as implementing and analyzing strategies of professional induction of the newly graduated professor by the proposed pilot course with a focus on promoting dialogue between university and school. This project was aimed at graduates of Pedagogy courses who started as teachers in the early years of elementary school and early childhood education (with less than 5 years as a teacher). These teachers participated in two pilot courses (one in 2021 and the other in 2022) to help recent graduates in their professional induction through innovative actions that help them to take a leading role in their practices. For this, we seek to investigate: the impact of this program on their professional induction through narrative interviews, accompany them in this process and analyze the difficulties and solutions they found in their pedagogical practice as a result of the help that the project offered them; the role of mentors (teachers running the school) and the University at the beginning of their professional activities. Finally, we concluded that this course worked as a support for beginning teachers, allowing for greater reflection and better professional performance, as well as a way to reduce the shock of reality, demotivation and teacher abandonment.

Our previous study has found the anti-tumor activity of oleandrin in osteosarcoma cells in vitro, but the signal transduction process of cell apoptosis induced by oleandrin is uncertain, which is explored in this study. Fluorescence staining and flow cytometry (FCM) was performed to detect the cell apoptosis, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). Caspase-3 activity was detected using a commercial kit. The protein expression of cytoplasmic cytochrome c, mitochondrial cytochrome c, bcl-2, bax, caspase-9, Fas, FasL, caspase-8 and caspase-3 was detected using western blot. A pan-caspase inhibitor, z-VAD-fmk, was applied to block the apoptotic pathway and the apoptosis status were re-tested. We found that oleandrin significantly induced the increased apoptosis of U2OS cells. Meanwhile, the intracellular ROS was elevated, but the MMP decreased. The cytochrome c in mitochondria was notably decreased but increased in cytoplasm. The caspase-3 activity was also enhanced with the increase of drug concentration and treatment time. Oleandrin also down-regulated the level of bcl-2, but remarkably up-regulated the expression of bax, cleaved caspase-9, Fas, FasL, cleaved caspase-8 and cleaved caspase-3. Furthermore, the pre-treatment with z-VAD-fmk almost completely reverted the oleandrin-induced apoptosis. The results suggested that oleandrin induces the apoptosis of osteosarcoma cells via mitochondrial- and death receptor-dependent pathways.

The hot pressing process for 100% coriander-based fiberboards was optimized using an induction RocTool system, which offers rapid mold heating and cooling. The fiberboards were made with deoiled press cake as a proteic binder and extrusion-refined straw as reinforcement. A Doehlert’s experimental design evaluated the influence of pressure (10-50 MPa), molding time (60-300 s), and mold temperature (155-205°C) on fiberboard properties, energy consumption, cost, and environmental impact. The results showed that the RocTool device allows better temperature control during shaping, resulting in exacerbated adhesive properties for proteins. Using the isoresponse curves, optimal hot pressing conditions were 35 MPa, 300 s, and 205°C, corresponding to a 40.6 MPa flexural strength. However, it was observed that to achieve a MDF-like fiberboard with minimal production cost, much less restrictive molding conditions were sufficient, i.e., 32.5 MPa, 170 s, and 160°C. The study revealed that maximum thermopressing conditions emitted 3.87 kg of CO2 eq., while conditions leading to the MDF-like board reduced emissions to 1.45 kg CO2 eq., resulting in a more environmentally-friendly material.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are known to play key roles in breast cancers; however, detailed mechanistic studies of lncRNA function have not been conducted in large cohorts of breast cancer tumors, nor have inter-donor and inter-subtype variabilities been taken into consideration. Here we provide the first identification and annotation of the human BORG lncRNA gene. Using multiple tumor cohorts of human breast cancers, we show that while BORG expression is strongly induced in breast tumors as compared to normal breast tissues, the extent of BORG induction varies widely between breast cancer subtypes and even between different tumors within the same subtype. Elevated levels of BORG in breast tumors are associated with the acquisition of core cancer aggression pathways, including those associated with basal tumor and pluripotency phenotypes, and with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) programs. While a subset of BORG-associated pathways was present in high BORG-expressing tumors across all breast cancer subtypes, many were specific to triple-negative breast cancer tumors. Finally, we show that genes induced by heterologous expression of BORG in murine models of TNBC both in vitro and in vivo strongly overlap with those associated with high BORG levels in human TNBC tumors, indicating that human BORG is a novel driver of the highly aggressive basal TNBC tumor phenotype.

In this paper, an extendable fuzzy robust speed controller suitable for induction motor drive system was proposed. Firstly, the two-degrees-of-freedom (2DOF) robust control technology with feedforward control and disturbance elimination method was adopted. Upon parameter variation and load disturbance, the motor drive system could utilize a robust controller to generate compensation signals and reduce the impact on controlling performance of the motor drive system. The magnitude of the compensation signal was adjusted via the weighting factor. However, should a fixed weighting factor be adopted, system instability might be generated easily when time delay and saturation of control force occur. Based on the above, the smart method of extendable fuzzy theory (EFT) was adopted in this paper to adjust adequate weighting factors, where the controlling performance of the induction motor drive system could be improved accordingly. The method divided the speed difference between motor speed command and actual speed of the induction motor, and the variation rate for such speed difference into 20 regional categories. The correlation degree between the speed difference of actual feedback, variation rate for speed difference and each regional category was then calculated, where more suitable weighting factor was selected. Therefore, the proposed extendable fuzzy robust 2DOF controller with variable weighting factor designed will allow better performance for response in speed tracking and load regulation. Lastly, the simulation software Matlab/Simulink was applied to simulate the utilization of the controlling method proposed for the induction motor drive system. For both the response in speed tracking and load regulation, the simulation results proved that the extendable fuzzy robust speed controller proposed provided better controlling performance than the conventional robust controller.

In the last decade Electromagnetic Induction (EMI) measurements have been increasingly used for investigating the soil salinization caused by the use of brackish or saline water as irrigation source. EMI measurements proved to be a powerful tool for providing spatial information of the investigated soil because of the strict correlation between the output geophysical parameter, i.e. the electrical conductivity, to soil moisture and salinity. In addition, their non-invasive nature and their capability to collect a high number of data over broad areas and in relatively short time, makes these measurements attractive for monitoring flow and transport dynamics, otherwise undetectable with conventional measurements. In an experimental field, EMI measurements were collected during the growth season of the tomato, irrigated with three different irrigation strategies. The data were collected over three months in a time-lapse mode in order to visualize changes in electrical conductivity to be associated with soil salinity. A rigorous time-lapse inversion procedure has been set for modeling the soil salinization induced by brackish irrigation water.