Sex-specific differences in the presentation, clinical course, and quality of life of patients with acute venous thromboembolism according to baselin…

2021

Abstract Introduction Sex and the presence of specific provoking risk factors, along with age, influence the presentation and prognosis of venous thromboembolism (VTE). We investigated the presentation, course and quality of life in women and men with acute VTE classified according to their VTE provoking factors. Methods PREFER in VTE is an international, non-interventional registry of patients with a first episode of acute symptomatic VTE. Baseline provoking factors were classified as follows: major transient, minor transient, active cancer, and none identifiable. The primary outcome was recurrent VTE. Quality of life and treatment satisfaction were secondary outcomes. Results Of 3,455 pat…

Immediate Effects of Prescribed Burning on Soil Mite (Acari: Oribatida) Communities in a Scots Pine (Pinus Sylvestris) Forest, Latvia

2021

Abstract Prescribed burning is used to maintain and restore habitats, to protect and increase species bio-diversity. Knowledge about soil fauna is limited, especially on community responses to fire disturbances. The aim of this study was to determine the immediate effects of prescribed burning on soil armoured mite (Acari: Oribatida) communities, vegetation cover and soil physiochemical properties in a boreal Scots pine forest in Latvia. Soil samples were collected on the day of the prescribed burning in the protected landscape area “Ādaži” and 16 days after. No significant changes in abiotic factors were found. Fire significantly decreased the vegetation cover. After the burning, the total…

Employee trust repair: A systematic review of 20 years of empirical research and future research directions

2021

Employee trust, and increasingly its absence, is a critical topic for researchers and practitioners interested in social relations in the context of work and organizing. Employee trust repair is particularly important in the current disrupted work environment, due to unpredictable changes such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the uncertainty those bring to our lives. It is not surprising that employee trust is attracting increasing interest among researchers and practitioners alike. In this article, we systematically review and take stock of the research on trust repair conducted in the past two decades to provide comprehensive insights and future research directions for researchers and manager…

Impacts of COVID-19 and pandemic control measures on public transport ridership in European urban areas – The cases of Vienna, Innsbruck, Oslo, and A…

2021

The study uses the case of two regions with small and medium sized cities (Agder in Norway and the greater Innsbruck area in Austria) and two European capitals, Vienna and Oslo, to showcase the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public transport ridership in northern and central Europe. The comprehensive timeline of actions taken by governments and public transport providers in Austria and Norway, and their impact on public transport ridership in the first and second waves of the pandemic form the basis of a descriptive study. Comparing the data, a strong negative impact on the public transport patronage in the first wave of the pandemic was found, despite a comparable low number of cases p…

Short-Term Effects on Gene-Expression and on DNA-Methylation at the Genome-Wide Level of the Iberian Ham Intake and Compared With Orange Intake: A Cr…

2021

OBJECTIVES: Diet regulates gene expression and methylation profiles by several mechanisms. However, studies analyzing the simultaneous effect of specific foods on gene-expression and DNA methylation at the genome-wide level are very scarce. Therefore our aims were: To study the short-term transcriptomics and epigenomcis effects at the genome-wide level of the Iberian ham intake compared with orange intake in the same subjects. METHODS: We carried out a cross-over randomized trial (registered at ISRCTN17906849) in 33 healhty volunteers (aged 18–50 years and 50% females) of European ancestry. After 12h fasting, participants were randomly allocated to eat 67.5 g of Iberian ham (100% pure iberi…

Low awareness and common misconceptions about schistosomiasis in endemic lowland areas in Western Ethiopia: a mixed-methods study

2021

Abstract Background Understanding the health behavior of the target population is crucial for sustainable schistosomiasis control. The aim of this study was to assess schistosomiasis related levels of knowledge, attitude, and practices of communities in lowland areas of western Ethiopia, where schistosomiasis is endemic. Methods A community-based multilevel triangulation mixed-methods design was conducted in three schistosomiasis endemic villages in the Abbey and Didessa valleys of the Benishangul Gumuz Region of Western Ethiopia, where mass drug administration (MDA) was done 30 years back and again the last 5 years. A structured survey questionnaire, in-depth interviews, focused group disc…

Compact Cell Imaging Device (CoCID) provides insights into the cellular origins of viral infections

2021

The overall CoCID concept is centred on providing virologists with a next-generation imaging device, which, through increased penetration and depth of focus, as well as through high natural contrast and sensitivity to organelle density (including virus-related organelles), will produce higher-fidelity ultrastructural images of whole intact cells. These insights will, in turn, help increase our understanding of the links between the structural reorganisation of cells and the mechanisms of viral entry, replication, assembly, and egress in cells. CoCID will provide this valuable imaging capability in the form of a compact lab-scale device that will greatly improve the accessibility of soft X-r…

Analysis of the Pre and Post-COVID-19 Lockdown Use of Smartphone Apps in Spain

2021

The global pandemic of COVID-19 has changed our daily habits and has undoubtedly affected our smartphone usage time. This paper attempts to characterize the changes in the time of use of smartphones and their applications between the pre-lockdown and post-lockdown periods in Spain, during the first COVID-19 confinement in 2020. This study analyzes data from 1940 participants, which was obtained both from a survey and from a tracking application installed on their smartphones. We propose manifold learning techniques such as clustering, to assess, both in a quantitative and in a qualitative way, the behavioral and social effects and implications of confinement in the Spanish population. We al…

“As Many as Possible for as Long as Possible”—A Case Study of a Soccer Team That Fosters Multiple Outcomes

2021

The personal assets framework suggests that dynamic elements of (a) personal engagement in activities, (b) quality social dynamics, and (c) appropriate settings will influence an athlete’s long-term outcomes of performance, personal development, and continued participation in sport. The aim of the present study was to conduct a case study of a Norwegian age-restricted team that was successful in promoting participation, performance, and positive development for individual participants and to investigate how the dynamic elements of activities, social dynamics, and settings have led to these long-term outcomes. The results indicated that the case is a best-practice example of successful attai…

Risk for non-AIDS-defining and AIDS-defining cancer of early versus delayed initiation of antiretroviral therapy

2021

BACKGROUND: Immediate initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) regardless of CD4 cell count reduces risk for AIDS and non-AIDS-related events in asymptomatic, HIV-positive persons and is the standard of care. However, most HIV-positive persons initiate ART when their CD4 count decreases below 500 × 10 9 cells/L. Consequences of delayed ART on risk for non-AIDS-defining and AIDS-defining cancer, one of the most common reasons for death in HIV, are unclear. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the long-term risk difference for cancer with the immediate ART strategy.DESIGN: Multinational prospective cohort study.SETTING: The D:A:D (Data collection on Adverse events of anti-HIV Drugs) study, which included…

Impact of Residual Mitral Regurgitation on Survival After Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair for Secondary Mitral Regurgitation.

2021

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess the impact of residual mitral regurgitation (resMR) on mortality with respect to left ventricular dilatation (LV-Dil) or right ventricular dysfunction (RV-Dys) in patients with secondary mitral regurgitation (SMR) who underwent mitral valve transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER). BACKGROUND The presence of LV-Dil and RV-Dys correlates with advanced stages of heart failure in SMR patients, which may impact the outcome after TEER. METHODS SMR patients in a European multicenter registry were evaluated. Investigated outcomes were 2-year all-cause mortality and improvement in New York Heart Association functional class with respect to MR reduction…

1,4 dihidropiridinski derivati povećavaju ekspresiju gena Psma3, Psmb5 i Psmc6 u glasničkoj RNA štakora

2021

The ubiquitin-proteasome system modifies different cellular and protein functions. Its dysregulation may lead to disrupted proteostasis associated with multiple pathologies and aging. Pharmacological regulation of proteasome functions is already an important part of the treatment of several diseases. 1,4-dihydropyridine (1,4-DHP) derivatives possess different pharmacological activities, including antiaging and neuroprotective. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of several 1,4-DHP derivatives on mRNA expression levels of proteasomal genes Psma3, Psmb5, and Psmc6 in several organs of rats. Rats were treated with metcarbatone, etcarbatone, glutapyrone, styrylcarbatone, AV-153…

Impact of smoking on COVID-19 outcomes: a HOPE Registry subanalysis

2021

BackgroundSmoking has been associated with poorer outcomes in relation to COVID-19. Smokers have higher risk of mortality and have a more severe clinical course. There is paucity of data available on this issue, and a definitive link between smoking and COVID-19 prognosis has yet to be established.MethodsWe included 5224 patients with COVID-19 with an available smoking history in a multicentre international registry Health Outcome Predictive Evaluation for COVID-19 (NCT04334291). Patients were included following an in-hospital admission with a COVID-19 diagnosis. We analysed the outcomes of patients with a current or prior history of smoking compared with the non-smoking group. The primary …

The Representation of Roma in the Romanian Media During COVID-19: Performing Control Through Discursive-Performative Repertoires

2021

This article investigates the narratives employed by the Romanian media in covering the development of COVID-19 in Roma communities in Romania. This paper aims to contribute to academic literature on Romani studies, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, by adopting as its case study the town of Ţăndărei, a small town in the south of Romania, which in early 2020 was widely reported by Romanian media during both the pre- and post-quarantine period. The contributions rest on anchoring the study in post-foundational theory and media studies to understand the performativity of Roma identity and the discursive-performative practices of control employed by the Romania media in the first half…

C2orf69 mutations disrupt mitochondrial function and cause a multisystem human disorder with recurring autoinflammation

2021

BACKGROUND. Deciphering the function of the many genes previously classified as uncharacterized open reading frame (ORF) would complete our understanding of a cell’s function and its pathophysiology. METHODS. Whole-exome sequencing, yeast 2-hybrid and transcriptome analyses, and molecular characterization were performed in this study to uncover the function of the C2orf69 gene. RESULTS. We identified loss-of-function mutations in the uncharacterized C2orf69 gene in 8 individuals with brain abnormalities involving hypomyelination and microcephaly, liver dysfunction, and recurrent autoinflammation. C2orf69 contains an N-terminal signal peptide that is required and sufficient for mitochondrial…

Analysis of Cipollino Verde marble wall decoration in Ephesos, Turkey, using geological reconstruction

2021

Abstract Slabs of Cipollino Verde, composed of layered and folded marble from Euboea in Greece, decorated the hall of a Roman town house in Ephesos, Turkey in the second century AD. After excavation, the fragmented slabs were restored. Preservation of the dowels in the walls from which the slabs were originally suspended allowed reconstruction of the order in which they had been placed on the walls. The pattern of folded layering in the slabs in turn allowed 3D structural geological reconstruction of the folds, and reconstruction of the arrangement of slabs in the marble block, from where they were serially sectioned, using a slab saw. Investigation of geological fold alignment in the block…

Electrodialysis with asymmetrically profiled membranes: Influence of profiles geometry on desalination performance and limiting current phenomena

2021

Abstract Electrodialysis (ED) has recently gained much attention in the wide field of desalination and water treatment. However, energy consumption and capital costs may impair the process competitiveness. In this regard, limiting current density (LCD) and current efficiency (η) are key performance parameters for optimized ED systems. In this work, an experimental campaign was carried out characterizing the performance of ED stacks when adopting asymmetrically profiled membranes. Current–voltage curves were recorded under different operating conditions mimicking the operation of brackish water or seawater desalination units. Results showed that there was a preferable direction of the electr…

A new tool to improve pedicle screw placement accuracy in navigated spine surgery: A monocentric study

2021

Objective Navigated instrumented spine surgery is burden by a low but significant screw mispositioning risks, respectively, for the 2D imaging system from 15 to 40% and, for the 3D imaging system, ranging from 4.1 to 11.5%. The primary objective of this study was to demonstrate the efficacy of a new "screw-like" tool in order to further decrease pedicle screws mispositioning rate during vertebral navigated spine surgery. Materials and methods Between January and June 2019 an initial case series of 18 patients were enrolled. All patients underwent a pedicle screw fixation, both in thoracic (Th10-Th12) and lumbosacral (L1-S1) spine, using O-arm (Medtronic Navigation, Louisville, Colorado) and…

Carbon isotope composition of plant photosynthetic tissues reflects a Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) continuum in the majority of CAM lineages

2021

Abstract The stable carbon isotope composition of plant tissues, commonly expressed as δ13C, holds a wealth of information about photosynthetic pathway, water relations and stress physiology. Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is a derived form of photosynthesis that allows plants to fix carbon at a higher water-use efficiency compared to the ancestral C3 photosynthesis. While the central carbon-fixing enzyme of C3 plants, Rubisco, strongly discriminates against the heavy 13C isotope, CAM is characterized by a dual use of Rubisco and the much less discriminating PEP carboxylase as carbon-fixing enzymes, causing the δ13C values of CAM plant tissues to be generally less negative than those fo…

Evaluation of routing policies using an interval-valued TOPSIS approach for the allocation rules

2021

Abstract The success of warehouse management in a supply chain widely depends on an efficient and effective retrieve of customer orders, which is known as the picking process. This paper investigates various routing policies of pickers under two different allocation methods of items in a warehouse of fixed layout, and evaluates their performance in terms of the resulting travel distance by means of a simulation approach. The allocation strategies taken into account are the random storage and a multi-criteria approach, called Interval-Value TOPSIS (IV-T), which is expressively proposed in this paper as a new way to solve the storage allocation problem of items in a warehouse. Because of the …

Aquatic Macrophytes Occurrence in Mediterranean Farm Ponds: Preliminary Investigations in North-Western Sicily (Italy)

2021

Mediterranean wetlands are severely affected by habitat degradation and related loss of biodiversity. In this scenario, the wide number of artificial farm ponds can play a significant role in the biodiversity conservation of aquatic flora. In the present contribution we show the preliminary results of a study on Mediterranean farm ponds of north-western Sicily (Italy), aimed to investigating the environmental factors linked to the occurrence of submerged macrophytes (vascular plants and charophytes). We studied the aquatic flora of 30 ponds and determined the chemical and isotopic composition of their water bodies on a subset of the most representative 10 sites. Results show that (1) farm p…

Continuous hydrothermal synthesis in supercritical conditions as a novel process for the elaboration of Y-doped BaZrO3

2021

Abstract The present work describes a novel process for the elaboration of a ceramic material. Y-doped barium zirconate, an electrolyte material for Protonic Ceramic Fuel cell, was synthesized by a continuous hydrothermal process in supercritical conditions (410 °C/30.0 MPa) using nitrate precursors and NaOH reactants. The use of supercritical water allowed the formation of particles of about 50 nm in diameter with a narrow size distribution. X-Ray Diffraction examination revealed that a major perovskite phase with few BaCO3 and YO(OH) impurities was obtained. BaCO3 is assumed to form due to faster kinetics than Y-doped BaZrO3 resulting in a Ba-deficient perovskite phase. The Ba-deficiency …

Malika Maskarinec: The Forces of Form in German Modernism. Evanston, IL: Northwestern UP, 2018. 240 pp.

2021

Transforming student contributions into subject-specific expression

2021

Drawing on a corpus of pre-service teacher training classroom interactions in an English-medium instruction university in Turkey, we examine teacher follow-up turns that introduce specialized terms, showing how a teacher transforms student’s responses into pedagogically relevant points using academic language. We argue that teacher third-turns following student contributions accomplish several interrelated actions, not only introducing new terminology to these teachers-in-training, but also familiarizing them with ways of thinking specific to their discipline, i.e., these turns model “doing being a teacher.” These teacher actions are used to bridge student contributions to more scientific t…

Hypervisor memory acquisition for ARM

2021

Abstract Cyber forensics use memory acquisition in advanced forensics and malware analysis. We propose a hypervisor based memory acquisition tool. Our implementation extends the volatility memory forensics framework by reducing the processor's consumption, solves the in-coherency problem in the memory snapshots and mitigates the pressure of the acquisition on the network and the disk. We provide benchmarks and evaluation.

David V procedure with concomitant ascending aorta, aortic arch and descending aorta replacement in adult patient with coarctation of aorta

2021

The influence of Coulomb interaction screening on the excitons in disordered two-dimensional insulators.

2021

AbstractWe study the joint effect of disorder and Coulomb interaction screening on the exciton spectra in two-dimensional (2D) structures. These can be van der Waals structures or heterostructures of organic (polymeric) semiconductors as well as inorganic substances like transition metal dichalcogenides. We consider 2D screened hydrogenic problem with Rytova–Keldysh interaction by means of so-called fractional Scrödinger equation. Our main finding is that above synergy between screening and disorder either destroys the exciton (strong screening) or promote the creation of a bound state, leading to its collapse in the extreme case. Our second finding is energy levels crossing, i.e. the degen…

Diasporic Politics and Defining Diaspora in Law: The Case of Latvia

2021

Abstract Passage of the Diaspora Law of Latvia required policymakers to go through an arduous process of discussing the limitations of diaspora, weighing the potential risks and benefits of various possible approaches, and ultimately agreeing on a definition to be included in the law. The end result was a very broad interpretation of who can be recognized as part of the Latvian diaspora. In this paper, to understand the political process of arriving at a definition, the theoretical perspectives of the ‘narrow’ and ‘broad’ definitions of diaspora are discussed, the motivations driving national governments to engage with their diasporas are analysed, and the discourse used during the drafting…

Antibacterial Activity of Propolis Extracts from the Central Region of Romania against Neisseria gonorrhoeae

2021

(1) Background: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are among the most common infections worldwide, many of these being caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG). Increased antimicrobial NG resistance has been reported in recent decades, highlighting the need for new sources of natural compounds with valuable antimicrobial activity. This study aims to determine the effect of propolis extracts on NG strains, including antibiotic-resistant strains. (2) Methods: First void urine samples from presumed positive STI subjects were harvested. DNA was extracted, purified, and amplified via PCR for the simultaneous detection of 6 STIs. The presence of the dcmH, gyrA, and parC genes was checked in the D…

Dimethylfumarat mindert Proliferation und Metastasierung von humanen Kolonkarzinomzelllinien

2021

An Early Beginning of Citizen Science: Adolescents Experiencing Urban Energy Usages and Air Pollution

2021

Here, we report on the process and development of high school science projects, which were inspired by a citizen science program focused on urban monitoring. We gathered and discussed two 1980s projects’ data, involving 2600 students, 80 teachers, 15 scientists and 20 stakeholders. We added recent survey data from speaking with the former participants. Our analysis revealed key findings: (1) the process of a student-driven science investigation engages students in the scientific practices; (2) it is important to bring together scientists, teachers and students, reflecting the importance of multi-dimensional learning; and (3) citizen science was born before the 1990s, when the term came into…

Plastic end-of-life alternatives, with a focus on the agricultural sector

2021

The end of life (EoL) of plastic polymers depends on when they stop being considered a resource and begin to be considered a waste. Even with dynamic management, plastic pollution will increase in the coming decades. Reduction strategies focus on reducing the quantities of materials used in the construction of individual objects for packaging, support for reuse and recycling, incentives for gathering low-value plastics, awareness, and simplification. The agricultural sector, a sector in which the use of plastic is (apparently) not high, needs to combine environmental, social, and above all economic aspects, which can help entrepreneurs in the sector to optimize the recycling process.

Optimization of acetate production from citrus wastewater fermentation

2021

Abstract Citrus wastewater is a sugar-rich waste stream suitable for the recovery of energy of material from its treatment. In this study, fermentation of citrus wastewater was carried out to assess the optimal conditions to maximize the bioconversion of the organic substrate into acetate. Unbalanced nutrient (C: N: P 200:0.1:0.1) enabled the highest acetate production. The presence of the particulate organic fraction enabled to obtain a higher acetate concentration regardless the initial COD concentration. Initial pH values higher than 5 did not cause substantial differences on the maximum bioconversion of COD into acetate in Trial 3, whereas pH lower than 5 hindered the hydrolysis process…

The Riga East University Hospital Stroke Registry—An Analysis of 4915 Consecutive Patients with Acute Stroke

2021

Background and Objectives: A hospital-based stroke registry is a useful tool for systematic analyses of the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and natural course of stroke. Analyses of stroke registry data can provide information that can be used by health services to improve the quality of care for patients with this disease. Materials and Methods: Data were collected from the Riga East University Hospital (REUH) Stroke Registry in order to evaluate the etiology, risk factors, clinical manifestations, treatment, functional outcomes, and other relevant data for acute stroke during the period 2016–2020. Results: During a five-year period, 4915 patients (3039 females and 1876 males) with…

Mechanisms of Immune Evasion in Multiple Myeloma: Open Questions and Therapeutic Opportunities

2021

Simple Summary The growing interest in immunotherapy for the treatment of multiple myeloma demands a deep knowledge of the complex interactions between malignant and immune cells within the bone marrow. Indeed, understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this network should represent the basis for the design of novel patient-oriented biological therapeutic approaches. Here, we describe the role of the main immune components of the myeloma niche along disease evolution and their implication in impairing/improving the response to anti-cancer treatments. Additionally, we provided an overview of the potential weakness of this pro-tumor interplay, evidencing novel therapeutic …

Corrigendum to “Personal protective equipment and intensive care unit healthcare worker safety in the COVID-19 Era (PPE-SAFE): An international surve…

2021

The authors regret errors were present in the published article. Counts of some of the adverse events were erroneous. Changes to the text include. Last sentence of the abstract should read. Adverse effects of PPE included heat (1266, 51%), thirst (1174, 47%), pressure areas (1088, 44%), headaches (696, 28%), Inability to use the bathroom (661, 27%) and extreme exhaustion (492, 20%). All but pressure areas were associated with longer shift durations. Last sentence of the results section of the manuscript should read. All but pressure areas were associated with longer duration of shifts wearing PPE (Table 4). Table 1 the total number of community/urban type of hospital should read 740 instead…