Search Results (3,623)

Background: Obesity is considered a health issue associated with increased morbidity and a risk factor for multiple conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and infections. It may affect the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of many drugs, including antimicrobials like ciprofloxacin. Regrettably, data on ciprofloxacin’s efficacy in obese patients remain scarce. This study aims to evaluate the impact of obesity on the efficacy of ciprofloxacin in treating Gram-negative bacterial infections. Methods: A retrospective multicenter cohort study was conducted in two tertiary hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Adult patients (≥18 years) treated with ciprofloxacin for confirmed Gram-negative infection between January 2017 and April 2023 were included. Patients were excluded if they received ciprofloxacin empirically, had inadequate source control within 72 h, or had missing weight and height information at ciprofloxacin initiation. The primary outcome was clinical cure, defined as the resolution of the clinical infection manifestations without additional therapeutic management by the end of treatment. Other secondary and safety outcomes were also assessed. Results: A total of 99 patients were included, divided into obese (n = 42) and non-obese (n = 57) groups. The obese group had a significantly lower median age (50 years) compared to the non-obese group (64 years) (p = 0.002). The obese group had fewer male patients (38.10% vs. 68.42%; p = 0.004), higher body weight (90 (81–97) vs. 63 (55–70) days; p < 0.001), and lower height (158 (155–165) vs. 165 (158–172) days; p = 0.008) compared to non-obese. Urinary tract infection was the most common type, with Escherichia coli being the most common isolate. The median hospital length of stay was shorter in the obese group than in the non-obese group (1 vs. 3 days, p = 0.007). There were no significant differences in clinical cure rates between obese (85.71%) and non-obese (85.96%) patients (p = 1). No significant differences were observed in terms of in-hospital mortality, 30-day mortality, or 60-day infection recurrence rates between the two groups. Microbiological eradication was not achieved in the obese group, whereas a 10.53% eradication rate was observed in the non-obese group (p = 0.037). However, the majority of the patients had indeterminate eradication. The incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) was lower in the obese group (4.76%) compared to the non-obese group (17.54%, p = 0.066). Conclusions: Treatment with ciprofloxacin in obese patients has similar efficacy and safety outcomes compared to non-obese patients with infections due to Gram-negative pathogens. Full article

This research is designed to examine the genetic diversity and kinship among Hu sheep, as well as to discover genes associated with crucial economic traits. A selection of 50 unrelated adult male Hu sheep underwent genotyping with the SNP50K BeadChip. Seven indicators of genetic diversity were assessed based on high-quality SNP data: effective population size (Ne), polymorphic information content (PIC), polymorphic marker ratio (P_N), expected heterozygosity (He), observed heterozygosity (Ho), effective number of alleles, and minor allele frequency (MAF). Plink software was employed to compute the IBS genetic distance matrix and detect runs of homozygosity (ROHs), while the G matrix and principal component analysis were performed using GCTA software. Selective sweep analysis was carried out using ROH, Pi, and Tajima’s D methodologies. This study identified a total of 64,734 SNPs, of which 56,522 SNPs remained for downstream analysis after quality control. The population displayed relatively high genetic diversity. The 50 Hu sheep were ultimately grouped into 12 distinct families, with families 6, 8, and 10 having the highest numbers of individuals, each consisting of 6 sheep. Furthermore, a total of 294 ROHs were detected, with the majority having lengths between 1 and 5 Mb, and the inbreeding coefficient F_ROH was 0.01. In addition, 41, 440, and 994 candidate genes were identified by ROH, Pi, and Tajima’s D methods, respectively, with 3 genes overlapping (BMPR1B, KCNIP4, and FAM13A). These results offer valuable insights for future Hu sheep breeding, genetic assessment, and population management. Full article

The short and long statistical correlations are essential in the genomic sequence. Such correlations are long-range for introns, whereas, for exons, these are short. In this study, we employed superstatistics to investigate correlations and fluctuations in the distribution of nucleotide sequence lengths of the Cucurbitaceae family. We established a time series for exon sizes to probe these correlations and fluctuations. We used data from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) gene database to extract the temporal evolution of exon sizes, measured in terms of the number of base pairs (bp). To assess the model’s viability, we utilized a timescale extraction method to determine the statistical properties of our time series, including the local distribution and fluctuations, which provide the exon size distributions based on the q-Gamma and inverse q-Gamma distributions. From the Bayesian statistics standpoint, both distributions are excellent for capturing the correlations and fluctuations from the data. Full article

The figure-of-merit (FoM) is a crucial metric in evaluating liquid crystal (LC) phase shifters, significantly influencing the selection of superior device candidates. This paper identifies, for the first time, a fundamental limitation in the widely-used High-Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS), a closed-source commercial tool, when modeling reconfigurable delay line phase shifters (RDLPS) based on LC at millimeter-wave (mmW) frequencies for Beyond 5G (B5G) and Sixth-Generation (6G) applications. Specifically, the study reveals unreliable predictions of differential phase shifts (DPS) when using the line length parameterization (LLP) approach, with an accuracy of only 47.22%. These LLP-induced inaccuracies lead to misleading FoM calculations, potentially skewing comparative analyses against phase shifters implemented with different geometries or advanced technologies. Additionally, the per-unit-length (PUL) paradigm, commonly employed by microwave circuit engineers for evaluating and optimizing microwave transmission line designs, is also found to have limitations in the context of mmW RDLPS based on LC. The PUL methodology underestimates the FoM by 1.38206°/dB for an LC coaxial RDLPS at 60 GHz. These findings underscore a critical symmetry implication, where the assumed symmetry in phase shift response is violated, resulting in inconsistent performance assessments. To address these challenges, a remediation strategy based on a scenario-based “Length-for-π” (LFP) framework is proposed, offering more accurate performance characterization and enabling better-informed decision-making in mmW phase shifter design. Full article

Hāpuku (Polyprion oxygeneios) is a promising candidate for aquaculture production in New Zealand. Methods for spawning, juvenile production, and growout to harvest entirely on land, where water quality, pathogens, environmental impacts, and genetic “pollution” can be tightly controlled, have been developed, and genetic improvement to optimise land-based production is the obvious next step. However, estimates of genetic parameters are required to design a rigorous, disciplined, and effective selective breeding program. By using existing data consisting of irregularly spaced repeated measurements of fork length and live body weight collected on wild-collected founders and two generations of captively reared progeny, we evaluated the species’ genetic potential for improvement in growth. We first tested a range of univariate random regression models to identify the best-fitting models for these data. Subsequently, using a bivariate model, we estimated variance components for growth trajectories of fork length and whole body weight. With one to six records available per fish, the best-fitting univariate models included only a fixed effect for contemporary groups and fixed and random genetic third-order Legendre polynomials. More complex models that included full-sib family and/or permanent environmental effects produced unacceptable constrained and/or non-positive-definite solutions. Both traits are moderately heritable at all stages of the growout phase (~0.4–0.5), and the genetic correlation patterns between daily breeding values estimated via the covariance function are different for length and weight. Genetic correlations for length between all pairs of age-specific breeding values are positive and strong (>0.7) and change gradually and smoothly with increasing temporal separation. For weight, these correlations deteriorate more rapidly with increasing time lags between measurements and become negative for some age pairings. We conclude that random regression analyses are a valuable tool for extracting genetic information from irregularly spaced repeated measurements of fish size, speculate that emerging technologies for high-throughput genotyping and phenotyping will add to the value of this approach in the near future, and reason that a breeding strategy that rigorously takes into account the potentially unfavourable genetic correlations between breeding values for weight at some ages will further adapt hāpuku to land-based systems and enhance the profitability commercial-scale production. Full article

Introduction: The objective of the current study was two-fold. First, it aimed to estimate receptive vocabulary and expressive syntax skills in L2 Italian among early sequential/simultaneous bilingual children of migrant single-mother families with very low socioeconomic status (SES). This objective was achieved by matching the participants’ performance with normative data. Secondly, this study aimed to identify which individual and language exposure factors contributed to learning L2 vocabulary and syntax. Methods: Twenty-four early sequential/simultaneous bilingual children (age range = 5.10–12.4 years) and their mothers were enrolled. Mothers answered questions about linguistic biography and demographic information. Children completed Lexical Comprehension, Sentence Repetition, and Non-Word Repetition tasks from the Language Assessment Battery for 4–12-year-olds to, respectively, assess receptive vocabulary, expressive syntax, and phonological processing. Moreover, non-verbal intellectual functioning was evaluated by the Raven’s Test. Results/Discussion: Compared to normative data, 20 children showed lower receptive vocabulary abilities (<−1.5 SD), 24 lower expressive syntax skills (−2DS), and 7 children lower phonological processing (<−1.5 DS). Moreover, L2 phonological processing and the length of L2 exposure in an educational context positively predicted L2 receptive vocabulary as well as L2 expressive syntax skills. To date, performance in L2 among early sequential/simultaneous bilingual children from migrant households and very low SES remains underexplored. Future efforts need to be directed towards the understanding of factors that impact oral competence in L2, considering that these children will also be exposed to written L2 in the school context. Full article

Flash floods are catastrophic phenomena that pose a serious risk to coastal infrastructures, towns, villages, and cities. This study assesses the risk of flash floods in the ungauged Mekkah province region based on specific and effective morphometric and topographic features characterizing the study region. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data were employed to construct a digital elevation model (DEM) for a detailed analysis, and the geographical information systems software 10.4 (GIS) was utilized to assess the linear, area, and relief aspects of the morphometric parameters. The ArcHydro tool was used to prepare the primary parameters, including the watershed border, flow accumulation, flow direction, flow length, and stream ordering. The study region’s flash flood hazard degrees were assessed using several morphometric characteristics that were measured, computed, and connected. Two different and effective methods were used to independently develop two models of flood vulnerability behaviors. The integrated method analysis revealed that most of the eastern and western parts of the studied province provide high levels of flood vulnerability. Due to it being one of the most helpful topographic indices, the integrated flood vulnerability final map was overlayed with the topographic position index (TPI). The integrated results aided in understanding the link between the general basins’ morphometric characteristics and their topographical features for mapping the different flood susceptibility locations over the entire studied province. Thus, this can be applied to investigate a surface-specific reduction plan against the impacts of flood hazards in the studied landscape. Full article

Nosodes are solutions prepared from pests, capable of controlling those same pests in crops. The use of these solutions in agriculture is an emerging technology for producing eco-friendly and inexpensive plant-based foods free from toxic compounds. The effects of applying nosodes to bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) crops before and after harvest were evaluated. The experiment was conducted in the field, with nosode 200CH applied once, three times, biweekly, and weekly from the flowering stage of the “Delgado” bean plant. The application of nosodes resulted in a 108% higher yield, 26% greater biomass, a 32% increase in root length, 34% more pods, and up to a 227% decrease in damaged pods compared to untreated plants. Furthermore, compared to the untreated plants, treated plants exhibited a 37% higher membrane stability and a phenolic content that was up to 27% higher in seeds and 22% higher in leaves. Plants under conventional management showed 61% less Diabrotica balteata (LeConte) incidence than nosode-treated ones. Seeds treated with nosodes exhibited a mortality in Zabrotes subfasciatus (Boh.) of up to 80%. This study highlights the use of nosodes in bean cultivation as an agronomic strategy to enhance seed production and quality, aiding producers in informed decision making about their application. Full article

Since 2008, annual outbreaks of green tides in the Yellow Sea have had severe impacts on tourism, fisheries, water sports, and marine ecology, necessitating effective interception and removal measures. Satellite remote sensing has emerged as a promising tool for monitoring large-scale green tides due to its wide coverage and instantaneous imaging capabilities. Additionally, drift prediction techniques can forecast the location of future green tides based on remote sensing monitoring information. This monitoring and prediction information is crucial for developing an effective plan to intercept and remove green tides. One key aspect of this monitoring information is the green tide distribution envelope, which can be generated automatically and quickly using buffer analysis methods. However, this method produces a large number of envelope vertices, resulting in significant computational burden during prediction calculations. To address this issue, this paper proposes a simplification method based on azimuth difference and side length (SM-ADSL). Compared to the isometric and Douglas–Peucker methods with the same simplification rate, SM-ADSL exhibits better performance in preserving shape and area. The simplified distribution envelope can shorten prediction times and enhance the efficiency of emergency decision-making for green tide disasters. Full article

This study aims to develop and apply multistate models to estimate, forecast, and manage hospital length of stay during the COVID-19 epidemic without using any external packages. Data from Bellvitge University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain, were analyzed, involving 2285 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe conditions. The implemented multistate model includes transition probabilities and risk rates calculated from transitions between defined states, such as admission, ICU transfer, discharge, and death. In addition to examining key factors like age and gender, diabetes, lymphocyte count, comorbidity burden, symptom duration, and different COVID-19 waves were analyzed. Based on the model, patients hospitalized stay an average of 11.90 days before discharge, 2.84 days before moving to the ICU, or 34.21 days before death. ICU patients remain for about 24.08 days, with subsequent stays of 124.30 days before discharge and 35.44 days before death. These results highlight hospital stays’ varying durations and trajectories, providing critical insights into patient flow and healthcare resource utilization. Additionally, it can predict ICU peak loads for specific subgroups, aiding in preparedness. Future work will integrate the developed code into the hospital’s Health Information System (HIS) following ISO 13606 EHR standards and implement recursive methods to enhance the model’s efficiency and accuracy. Full article

Finger vein (FV) biometrics have garnered considerable attention due to their inherent non-contact nature and high security, exhibiting tremendous potential in identity authentication and beyond. Nevertheless, challenges pertaining to the scarcity of training data and inconsistent image quality continue to impede the effectiveness of finger vein recognition (FVR) systems. To tackle these challenges, we introduce the visual feature-guided diamond convolutional network (dubbed ‘VF-DCN’), a uniquely configured multi-scale and multi-orientation convolutional neural network. The VF-DCN showcases three pivotal innovations: Firstly, it meticulously tunes the convolutional kernels through multi-scale Log-Gabor filters. Secondly, it implements a distinctive diamond-shaped convolutional kernel architecture inspired by human visual perception. This design intelligently allocates more orientational filters to medium scales, which inherently carry richer information. In contrast, at extreme scales, the use of orientational filters is minimized to simulate the natural blurring of objects at extreme focal lengths. Thirdly, the network boasts a deliberate three-layer configuration and fully unsupervised training process, prioritizing simplicity and optimal performance. Extensive experiments are conducted on four FV databases, including MMCBNU_6000, FV_USM, HKPU, and ZSC_FV. The experimental results reveal that VF-DCN achieves remarkable improvement with equal error rates (EERs) of $0.17\%$, $0.19\%$, $2.11\%$, and $0.65\%$, respectively, and Accuracy Rates (ACC) of $100\%$, $99.97\%$, $98.92\%$, and $99.36\%$, respectively. These results indicate that, compared with some existing FVR approaches, the proposed VF-DCN not only achieves notable recognition accuracy but also shows fewer number of parameters and lower model complexity. Moreover, VF-DCN exhibits superior robustness across diverse FV databases. Full article

Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) have emerged as a game-changer in skeleton-based action recognition. However, most previous works are resource-heavy, with large FLoating-number OPerations (FLOPs) limiting the model’s potential. A recent work involving shift operators to GCN (Shift-GCN) has successfully introduced a lightweight GCN, but there is still a performance gap compared to previous results. Inspired by Shift-GCN, we propose an innovative and novel model named attention-guided and topology-enhanced shift graph convolutional network (AT-Shift-GCN), which continues the lightweight benchmark and provides a more powerful performance. We employ a topological transfer operation to aggregate the information flow of different channels and extract spatial information. In addition, to extract temporal information across scales, we apply attention to interacting with shift convolution kernels of different lengths. Furthermore, we integrate an ultralight spatiotemporal attention module to fuse spatiotemporal details and provide robust neighborhood representation. In summary, AT-Shift-GCN is a breakthrough in skeleton-based action recognition that provides a lightweight model with enhanced performance on three datasets. Full article

In response to the challenges of low fertilizer utilization rates, excessive application amounts, and difficulties in precise targeted fertilization during the middle tillage and top-dressing period for corn, a targeted deep fertilization device is designed, integrating mechanical structure design and automatic control technology. The device mainly includes a strong discharge fertilization device and a targeted fertilization control system. The fertilization device has been designed, and the main factors affecting the performance of the fertilization wheel have been identified. Based on the structure, a strong discharge fertilization plate mechanism has been added, and a mechanical model for the fertilization wheel during the refilling and discharging processes has been constructed. A targeted fertilization control system for corn has been developed that utilizes a photoelectric sensor to detect the position of the corn plants. A microcontroller combines the plant position information and the device moving speed to adjust the intermittent rotation of the stepper motor in real time, achieving targeted deep fertilization for corn. Coupled simulation analysis was conducted using discrete element software EDEM and dynamic software Adams. Through single-factor and multi-factor experiments, the main factors affecting fertilization performance were analyzed, and the optimal structural parameters for the fertilization wheel were determined. Bench validation tests were conducted, and the results demonstrated that under forward speeds of 0.4 to 1.2 m/s, the coefficient of variation of the fertilizer application rate per hole of the discharge device ranged from 2.02% to 4.46%, the error in fertilizer application rate per hole ranged from 7.12% to 12.18%, the average length of fertilizer application holes ranged from 72.5 mm to 130.2 mm, and the coefficient of variation of hole length stability ranged from 1.94% to 3.54%. These parameters were consistent with the results from the simulation tests, and the operational performance met the requirements. Finally, field tests validated the overall operational performance of the device. When the device’s speed ranged from 0.4 m/s to 1.2 m/s, the coefficient of variation of the fertilizer application rate per hole, the error in fertilizer application rate per hole, the average length of fertilizer application holes, the coefficient of variation of hole length stability, and the qualification rate of fertilization position were 3.63%, 10.46%, 108.8 mm, 2.96%, and 87.16%, respectively. The overall performance of the device is stable and meets the requirements for targeted deep fertilization in corn cultivation. Full article

A proper time display format is essential for pilots to understand integrated meteorological radar information, thereby making informed flying decisions and steering clear of hazardous weather. Previous studies on time display format supported the advantages of digital format, while some studies found that analog clock format is superior to digital format. This study explored the effect of time display format on the cognitive performance of integrated meteorological radar information through two experiments. Experiment 1 first examined the effects of digital and analog clock displays on the timing of individual processing advance or delay changes in a general scenario. Then, Experiment 2 was conducted in a simulated flight scenario to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of digital and analog clock display in delay time processing with and without time pressure. The results showed the following: (1) Analog clock has more advantages than digital display format in processing the varying time difference. (2) Whether with or without time pressure, analog clock is more conducive to individual cognition of integrated meteorological radar information than digital time display. (3) The length of delay time is an important factor affecting individual time cognition, and it can also affect the cognition of radar information. The longer the delay time, the more difficult it is to identify the time and understand the information. These findings provide a certain reference for the design of the integrated meteorological radar information display interface. Full article

Unmanned aerial vehicle target tracking is a complex task that encounters challenges in scenarios involving limited computing resources, real-time requirements, and target confusion. This research builds on previous work and addresses challenges by proposing a grid-based beetle antennae search algorithm and designing a lightweight multi-target detection and positioning method, which integrates interference-sensing mechanisms and depth information. First, the grid-based beetle antennae search algorithm’s rapid convergence advantage is combined with a secondary search and rollback mechanism, enhancing its search efficiency and ability to escape local extreme areas. Then, the You Only Look Once (version 8) model is employed for target detection, while corner detection, feature point extraction, and dictionary matching introduce a confusion-aware mechanism. This mechanism effectively distinguishes potentially confusing targets within the field of view, enhancing the system’s robustness. Finally, the depth-based localization of the target is performed. To verify the performance of the proposed approach, a series of experiments were conducted on the grid-based beetle antennae search algorithm. Comparisons with four mainstream intelligent search algorithms are provided, with the results showing that the grid-based beetle antennae search algorithm excels in the number of iterations to convergence, path length, and convergence speed. When the algorithm faces non-local extreme-value-area environments, the speed is increased by more than 89%. In comparison with previous work, the algorithm speed is increased by more than 233%. Performance tests on the confusion-aware mechanism by using a self-made interference dataset demonstrate the model’s high discriminative ability. The results also indicate that the model meets the real-time requirements. Full article