showing 36 of ~574560 from 574555 documents
Significance of the pulsed dye laser in treatment of acral infantile hemangioma
2021
Effects of low laser level therapy in rehabilitation of patients with COVID19 pneumonia
2021
Introduction. An unprecedented public health crisis has been triggered worldwide by SARS-CoV-2’s high contagiosity and it’s mortality rates of 1-5%. Although the majority of COVID-19 cases have a good outcome, there is a small percentage that develop severe pneumonia and citokine storm and may be in the need of mechanical ventilation. Methods. Identifying the exact drivers of the excessive inflammation and the biomarkers that can predict a hyperinflammatory response to SARS-CoV-2 would be extremly helpful in finding efficient anti-inflammatory interventions that may stop the progression to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Results. In the search for such interventions we have iden…
Structure and dynamics of dibutylphosphate/n-propylamine ionic liquid: A multi-scale theoretical study
2021
Abstract Owing to the amphiphilic nature of their constituent molecules, binary mixtures of pure liquid surfactants are usually characterized by enhanced nano-segregation and thus can exhibit interesting transport properties and complex macroscopic behavior. In this ambit it was recently shown by Turco Liveri et al. (2018) that mixtures of short aliphatic chains compounds at room temperature, such as dibutyl phosphate (DBP) and n-propylamine (PA) liquids, display ionic liquid–like behavior ascribed to phosphate-to-amine proton transfer. To gain a detailed molecular picture of the system structure and dynamics and to understand the molecular mechanisms at the basis of the observed behavior, …
Valutazione e feedback: la competenza docimologica come competenza comunicativa. Una ricerca con i docenti della scuola secondaria
2021
La competenza docimologica degli insegnanti costituisce uno dei perni dell’azione didattica allorché essa può costituire, di fatto, una molla per la promozione dell’apprendimento, dell’autonomia e del successo formativo di ogni alunno. Il feedback, inteso come strumento privilegiato nell’esercizio della prassi valutativa, offre l’opportunità di valorizzare la singolarità dei percorsi di ogni studente intelaiando interazioni comunicative volte alla co-costruzione di conoscenza. La competenza docimologica degli insegnanti assume, pertanto, i connotati della competenza comunicativa, la quale sostanzia e orienta le scelte valutative diversificando registri linguistici e scelte degli strumenti d…
Cardiac magnetic resonance in the assessment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy phenotypes and stages : pictorial review
2021
The aim of this paper is to present recent advances in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) diagnosis and treatment based on a literature review. Special emphasis has been placed on the role of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) for the assessment of morphological and functional consequences of different stages of HCM including prognostication. The text is illustrated with the images and data of the HCM patients diagnosed with CMR study in our hospital. CMR is an important tool, particularly relevant in novel risk factors and LV dysfunction groups. The HCM group with overt left ventricular dysfunction is underrecognized, often labelled by clinicians as dilated cardiomyopathy. Advanced di…
Fear of Coronavirus, Stress and Fear of Childbirth in Polish Pregnant Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic
2021
The COVID-19 pandemic is the largest pandemic of an aggressive coronavirus in the human population in the 21st century. The pandemic may have a negative emotional impact on pregnant women, causing fear and stress. Negative feelings during pregnancy later affect fear of childbirth. Our study aimed to determine the relationship between fear of COVID-19, stress and fear of childbirth. We assume that fear of COVID-19 will be a mediator of the relationship between perceived stress and fear of childbirth. A total of 262 Polish pregnant women participated in this study. Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FOC-6) and Labour Anxiety Questionnaire (KLP II) were used in the study.…
Impact of Seasonality on Physical Activity: A Systematic Review.
2021
Abstract Background The purpose of this study was to collect and analyze the available scientific evidence of the impact of seasonality on physical activity (PA). PA refers to walking, biking, sports and/or active recreation. Methods The systematic search was performed in the following databases: PubMed, PEDro, Cochrane and Embase. All publications from January 2015 to September 2020 assessing seasonal variations on physical activity development in adults were selected. Results A total of 1159 articles were identified, of which 26 fulfilled the selection criteria involving 9300 participants from 18 different countries. The results obtained suggest that seasonality affects PA independently o…
Playing Roles in Work and Family: Effects of Work/Family Conflicts on Job and Life Satisfaction Among Junior High School Teachers
2021
Junior high school teachers play an essential role in education. How to relieve the worries of teachers, that is, the pressure they face in the fields of work and family, has increasingly become an urgent problem. Based on the COR theory, this study aims to investigate the effects of two types of work/family conflicts (i.e., work-family conflict and family-work conflict) on teachers’ job and life satisfaction. We adopted a handy sample method and collected a total of 560 junior high school teachers data. The results confirmed that both work-family and family-work conflicts are not significantly related to junior high school teachers’ job satisfaction and life satisfaction directly. However,…
Integrating functional traits into correlative species distribution models to investigate the vulnerability of marine human activities to climate cha…
2021
Climate change and particularly warming are significantly impacting marine ecosystems and the services they provided. Temperature, as the main factor driving all biological processes, may influence ectotherms metabolism, thermal tolerance limits and distribution species patterns. The joining action of climate change and local stressors (including the increasing human marine use) may facilitate the spread of non-indigenous and native outbreak forming species, leading to associated economic consequences for marine coastal economies. Marine aquaculture is one among the most economic anthropogenic activities threatened by multiple stressors and in turn, by increasing hard artificial substrates …
The impact of institutional and macroeconomic conditions on aggregate business bankruptcy
2021
Abstract This paper investigates the aggregate business bankruptcy in relation to three macro-level factors: the government effectiveness, entrepreneurship activity and control of corruption for six European countries during the period from 2004 to 2017. We employ fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and partial least squares regression (PLS). Our findings show that countries with a high level of new firm creation and entrepreneurial activity can lead to a rise in the number of company failures. Furthermore, countries with a low corruption index and high levels of government effectiveness can mitigate insolvency. Our results have several policy implications for the evaluation …
Minori di età e formazione dei giovani atleti : storia di una riforma incompiuta
2021
The paper analyses the recent reform of the Italian sport system that includes, for the first time, some new regulations about minors and young athletes. The work underlines that despite the attempt by the legislator, the result is still not satisfying due to the lack of a 'child-centred' perspective.
Conceptions of Assessment as an Integral Part of Language Learning: A Case Study of Finnish and Chinese University Students
2021
Assessment is viewed as an internal and pivotal part of learning, where cultural factors, previous experiences, and future aspirations affect learners’ perceptions. In recent years, an increasing number of western universities have established their campuses or “dual” programmes in China. In the first Sino–Finnish programme, 293 Finnish and Chinese students participated in the same English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. This study investigated students’ perceptions of assessment through an adapted version of the “Students’ Conceptions of Assessment” inventory, and it explored if the responses on each conception differ between the groups. …
One coast, two systems: Regional innovation systems and entrepreneurial discovery in Western Norway
2021
This paper introduces an analytical framework for understanding how specialized and diversified regional innovation system (RIS) differ in the way an entrepreneurial discovery process (EDP) is likely to unfold. To analytically explore the proposed framework, we deploy a sequential explanatory design approach, using quantitative data to analyze the regional industry structure of the city regions of Bergen and Stavanger in Western Norway, followed by a qualitative analysis of interviews with key stakeholders in both regions. We find that the city regions face unique challenges that align with an understanding of their respective RIS categorization, providing evidence that the framework propos…
Use of stevia and chia seeds for the formulation of traditional and vegan artisanal ice cream
2021
Abstract Gelato is the name of the Italian-style artisanal ice cream, a nutritious product widely consumed in different parts of the world. Due to the high content in simple sugars, ice cream should be consumed moderately by diabetic patient. This research aimed to create artisanal ice cream, using Stevia rebaudiana, a plant well known for its sweet taste and its hypoglycemic effect. Traditional and vegan ice cream were formulated using stevia and chia seeds, in order to obtain products with appreciable rheological, textural and sensorial properties. Physical and sensorial properties of the ice cream formulation containing milk protein (traditional) or vegan substitute, were evaluated. Resu…
Crispr gene editing in lipid disorders and atherosclerosis: Mechanisms and opportunities
2021
Elevated circulating concentrations of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) have been conclusively demonstrated in epidemiological and intervention studies to be causally associated with the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Enormous advances in LDL-C reduction have been achieved through the use of statins, and in recent years, through drugs targeting proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), a key regulator of the hepatic LDL-receptor. Existing approaches to PCSK9 targeting have used monoclonal antibodies or RNA interference. Although these approaches do not require daily dosing, as statins do, repeated subcutaneous injections are nevertheless neces…
Lipocalin-2 Regulates Hippocampal Microglial Activation in Poststroke Depression
2021
Background and Purpose: Microglia play important role in poststroke depression (PSD), however, the exact mechanism was still unclear. The purpose of the study was to study the mechanism of microglial activation in PSD.Methods: 24 rats were randomly divided into three groups: the PSD group (n = 10), the poststroke (PS) group (n = 7), and the sham group (n = 7). Primary hippocampal microglia were isolated and cultured, and recombined LCN2 protein was used to stimulate the cultured microglia. The protein expression of Iba1, P38 MAPK and PP38 MAPK was analyzed by western blotting; the LCN2 expression was measured by RT-qPCR, the serum LCN2 level and the NO level were analyzed by ELISA.Results: …
Deep Q-Learning With Q-Matrix Transfer Learning for Novel Fire Evacuation Environment
2021
We focus on the important problem of emergency evacuation, which clearly could benefit from reinforcement learning that has been largely unaddressed. Emergency evacuation is a complex task which is difficult to solve with reinforcement learning, since an emergency situation is highly dynamic, with a lot of changing variables and complex constraints that makes it difficult to train on. In this paper, we propose the first fire evacuation environment to train reinforcement learning agents for evacuation planning. The environment is modelled as a graph capturing the building structure. It consists of realistic features like fire spread, uncertainty and bottlenecks. We have implemented the envir…
Immune biomarkers to predict SARS-CoV-2 vaccine effectiveness in patients with hematological malignancies
2021
AbstractThere is evidence of reduced SARS-CoV-2 vaccine effectiveness in patients with hematological malignancies. We hypothesized that tumor and treatment-related immunosuppression can be depicted in peripheral blood, and that immune profiling prior to vaccination can help predict immunogenicity. We performed a comprehensive immunological characterization of 83 hematological patients before vaccination and measured IgM, IgG, and IgA antibody response to four viral antigens at day +7 after second-dose COVID-19 vaccination using multidimensional and computational flow cytometry. Health care practitioners of similar age were the control group (n = 102). Forty-four out of 59 immune cell types …
Targeted Therapy Modulates the Secretome of Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts to Induce Resistance in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer
2021
The combination of trastuzumab plus pertuzumab plus docetaxel as a first-line therapy in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer has provided significant clinical benefits compared to trastuzumab plus docetaxel alone. However, despite the therapeutic success of existing therapies targeting HER2, tumours invariably relapse. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve our understanding of the mechanisms governing resistance, so that specific therapeutic strategies can be developed to provide improved efficacy. It is well known that the tumour microenvironment (TME) has a significant impact on cancer behaviour. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are essential components of the…
Immunogenicity of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in older residents of a long-term care facility: relation with age, frailty and prior infection …
2021
Clinical and biological assessment of the COVID-19 vaccine efficacy in the frail population is of crucial importance. The study focuses on measuring the levels of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies before and after BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccination among long-term care facility (LTCF) elderly residents. We conducted a prospective, single-center, observational study among LTCF residents. The study protocol was based on three blood sample acquisitions: first taken at baseline—5 days before the first dose of the vaccine, second—20 days after the first dose, and third—12 days after the second shot of the vaccine. The comparison was made for two cohorts: patients with and without prior COVID-19 inf…
Predictors of Psychological Distress and Coronavirus Fears in the First Recovery Phase of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in Germany
2021
Objectives: While previous research has mainly focused on the impact of the first acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, little empirical knowledge exists about depression, anxiety, and somatic symptom levels and possible predictors of symptom levels in the pandemic’s recovery phase. The present study aimed to analyze the mental burden of a convenience ample of the general German population during the first recovery phase of the pandemic and to identify significant predictors of symptom levels.Methods: Standardized measures of anxiety (GAD-2), depression (PHQ-2), somatic symptoms (PHQ-15), and health anxiety, as well as measures of COVID-19 fears and possible vulnerability f…
Molecular Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2021: What’s New
2021
The last two years, despite the very serious COronaVIrus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, have been quite productive in the field of molecular endocrinology and metabolism and our journal section has contributed extensively on that [...]
Lifelong soya consumption in males does not increase lifespan but increases health span under a metabolic stress such as type 2 diabetes mellitus.
2021
Soya consumption can decrease oxidative stress in animal models. Moreover, phytoestrogens such as genistein, present in soya, can mimic some of the beneficial effects of estrogens and are devoid of significant side effects, such as cancer. In this study, we have performed a controlled lifelong study with male OF1 mice that consumed either a soya-free diet or a soya-rich diet. We show that, although we found an increase in the expression and activity of antioxidant enzymes in soya-consuming mice, it did not increase lifespan. We reasoned that the soya diet could not increase lifespan in a very healthy population, but perhaps it could extend health span in stressed animals such as type 2 diab…
AIOC2: A deep Q-learning approach to autonomic I/O congestion control in Lustre
2021
Abstract In high performance computing systems, I/O congestion is a common problem in large-scale distributed file systems. However, the current implementation mainly requires administrator to manually design low-level implementation and optimization, we proposes an adaptive I/O congestion control framework, named AIOC 2 , which can not only adaptively tune the I/O congestion control parameters, but also exploit the deep Q-learning method to start the training parameters and optimize the tuning for different types of workloads from the server and the client at the same time. AIOC 2 combines the feedback-based dynamic I/O congestion control and deep Q-learning parameter tuning technology to …
World Tuberculosis Day 2021 Theme - 'THE CLOCK IS TICKING' - and the world is running out of time to deliver the United Nations General Assembly comm…
2021
DFT/TD-DFT Framework of Mixed-Metal Complexes with Symmetrical and Unsymmetrical Bridging Ligands—Step-By-Step Investigations: Mononuclear, Dinuclear…
2021
Recently, mono- and dinuclear complexes have been in the interest of scientists due to their potential application in optoelectronics. Herein, progressive theoretical investigations starting from mononuclear followed by homo- and heterometallic dinuclear osmium and/or ruthenium complexes with NCN-cyclometalating bridging ligands substituted by one or two kinds of heteroaryl groups (pyrazol-1-yl and 4-(2,2-dimethylpropyloxy)pyrid-2-yl) providing the short/long axial symmetry or asymmetry are presented. Step-by-step information about the particular part that built the mixed-metal complexes is crucial to understanding their behavior and checking the necessity of their eventual studies. Evaluat…
Viewing patterns regarding panoramic radiographs with different pathological lesions: an eye-tracking study.
2021
Objective: The aim of this study was to examine how dental students vary their viewing patterns of panoramic radiographs during different levels of dental education. Methods: Two groups of students (total number = 48, n = 24) in different grades (second and fifth clinical semester) were compared. The second clinical semester participated twice, as during the second clinical semester a specific lecture on dental radiology and diagnosis is held. The first viewing took place at the beginning of the semester (2a), the second at the end of it (2e). The fifth semester (5e) represents students shortly before graduation. While viewing 20 panoramic radiographs showing specific pathologies, the eye m…
Prevalence of unwillingness and uncertainty to vaccinate against COVID-19 in older people: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
2021
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been shown to have more severe health outcomes in older people specifically in relation to mortality and disability. Vaccination seems to be efficacious and safe for preventing the negative consequences of COVID-19, but vaccine hesitancy seems to be high in older adults. We therefore aimed to investigate the prevalence of unwillingness and the uncertainty to vaccinate against COVID-19 in older people and the factors that can be associated with the unwillingness to vaccinate. For this work, we searched several databases until 18th June 2021 for studies reporting the prevalence of unwillingness and the uncertainty to vaccinate against COVID-19 in pe…
Iconofilia ed iconoclastia: Teodoro Abū Qurrah e la diatriba sull’immagine tra Cristianesimo d’Oriente ed Islām
2021
The main theme of this intervention is the role played by Syrian and PalestinianChristians in collecting and preserving the Greek philosophical thought and in guaranteeing its trasmission by being the warrantors of Greek and Patristic culture in the following centuries. During the period following the Islamic expansion, these started to translate in arabic this cultural heritage and it is thanks to this translating masterpiece from Greek to Syrian or from Greek to Arabic that the new comers found the first Arabic translations of the greatest Greek philosophers. The author whose thought will be inspected lived under the caliphates of Hārūn al-Rašīd (766–809) and al-Ma ʾmūn (786–833). Teodoro…
Ingesta nutricional en pacientes afectados de esclerosis lateral amiotrófica una consulta ambulatoria de nutrición artificial en Portugal
2021
Introducción: La Esclerosis Lateral Amiotrófica (ELA) es una patología neurodegenerativa crónica y progresiva, que produce la muerte de las motoneuronas. Deriva en pérdida de peso, de masa muscular e incremento de deficiencias nutricionales. Existe relación entre la ingesta nutricional y la patogénesis de la ELA. El objetivo de este análisis fue describir las características sociodemográficas, antropométricas y clínicas junto con la ingesta nutricional en una muestra de pacientes portugueses afectados de ELA. Material y Métodos: Se realizó una anamnesis clínica breve. El peso corporal fue evaluado siguiendo el protocolo de la International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (IS…
Mango siciliano di IV gamma: come aumentarne la shelf life con l’uso di film edibili di origine naturale.
2021
Un nuovo edible coating, a base di olio di neem e gel di aloe, allunga la vita commerciale di frutti di mango in IV gamma senza alterarne il gusto
Climate change, consumer lifestyles and legitimation strategies of sustainability-oriented firms
2021
Abstract This study explores the links between climate change, consumer lifestyles, and legitimation strategies of sustainable firms. Our findings offer new insight into this under-researched area based on qualitative case studies of four Nordic firms operating in industrial and consumer contexts. We find that climate change consciousness is a major driver for all case firms’ sustainability-focused operations, but the dynamics differed. Achieving sociopolitical legitimacy emerges as an important factor for the case firms operating in the energy sector, especially as it connects to government incentives and regulative pressures. However, cognitive legitimacy is increasingly important for the…
Characteristic of Pseudomonas syringae pv. atrofaciens Isolated from Weeds of Wheat Field
2021
The aim of this study was the identification of the causative agent of the basal glume rot of wheat Pseudomonas syringae pv. atrofaciens from the affected weeds in wheat crops, and determination of its virulent properties. Isolation of P. syringae pv. atrofaciens from weeds of wheat crops was carried out by classical microbiological methods. To identify isolated bacteria, their morphological, cultural, biochemical, and serological properties as well as fatty acids and Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) profiles with the OPA-13 primer were studied. Pathogenic properties were investigated by artificial inoculation of wheat plants and weed plants, fr…
Scalable and effective multi-level entangled photon states: a promising tool to boost quantum technologies
2021
Abstract Multi-level (qudit) entangled photon states are a key resource for both fundamental physics and advanced applied science, as they can significantly boost the capabilities of novel technologies such as quantum communications, cryptography, sensing, metrology, and computing. The benefits of using photons for advanced applications draw on their unique properties: photons can propagate over long distances while preserving state coherence, and they possess multiple degrees of freedom (such as time and frequency) that allow scalable access to higher dimensional state encoding, all while maintaining low platform footprint and complexity. In the context of out-of-lab use, photon generation…
Chi ha bisogno della mobilità? Per una critica situata del new mobilities paradigm
2021
Nei vent’anni trascorsi dalla pubblicazione di “Sociology Beyond Societies” di John Urry (2000), il testo che ha anticipato e ispirato il successivo mobility turn nelle scienze sociali, si è assistito a un proliferare di discorsi sulla mobilità che hanno travalicato dipartimenti, riviste e discipline portando al centro della scena migrazioni, flussi turistici, viaggi virtuali, trasporti di merci e persone. Obiettivo di questo contributo è di indagare criticamente i processi e le condizioni di produzione del mobility turn e di rileggerne contenuti, attori e metodologie all’interno dell’operazione strategica che l’ha sostenuto. In particolare, muovendo da una delle domande fondative della geo…
Death following pulmonary complications of surgery before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic
2021
Association of Surgeons in Training Surgical Summit, online, 17 Oct 2020 - 17 Oct 2020 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting / Surgical Research Society, online, 24 Mar 2021 - 25 Mar 2021, National Research Collaborative Meeting, online, 10 Dec 2020 - 10 Dec 2020, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Annual Academic Surgery Conference, online, 5 Nov 2020 - 5 Nov 2020; The British journal of surgery : BJS 108(12), 1448-1464 (2021). doi:10.1093/bjs/znab336