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Fish live in aquatic areas with varying salinity from fresh water to seawater. Gills are one of the most important osmoregulatory organs for maintaining the salt–water balance. In this study, changes in the gills of velifera (Poecilia sphenops) acclimated to 20, 30, 40, and 50 ppt of saline in the laboratory were examined histologically and immunohistochemically. Mucus cells (MCs), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), mitochondria-rich cells (MRCs), and heat shock proteins (HSP70) + cells were marked in the gill tissue, which underwent routine histological procedures, and the severity of histological alterations increase with the increase of the salinity. When the gills were examined histologically, it was determined that there was an increase in cells due to hyperplasia, especially in the primary lamellae. A rapid increase in MC and HSP70 + cell numbers was observed in the 20 and 30 ppt groups. Although PCNA + cells were present in each salinity group, they were observed in the salinity group up to 50 ppt. An increase in the number and volume of MRCs was observed with increasing salinity. Based on the histological and immunohistochemical results, it is thought that the cytological and molecular arrangements of cells in gills of sailfin velifera under different levels of salinity are essential for the regulation of ion and salt balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: In this study, we aimed to examine the telomerase activity and hTERT gene expression in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and those with stable coronary artery disease (SCAD) and compare the results to controls. Additionally, we compared overall mortality rates relative to the telomerase activity. METHODS: A total of 211 patients (78 ACS and 71 SCAD patients) were included in the study. The telomerase concentration was measured by ELISA and used to determine telomerase activity. The hTERT gene expression was determined by real-time PCR. RESULTS: The serum telomerase enzyme concentration was lower in ACS (36.61 ± 1.54) and SCAD (36.79 ± 1.57) when compared to the control group (37.03 ± 2.25). However, this difference did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.890). The hTERT gene expression acting in telomerase enzyme synthesis was 2.7-fold lower in ACS group (p = 0.070) and 2.2-fold lower in the SCAD group (p = 0.101) compared to the control group. Patients were followed for a median of 32 months (minimum: 0.1, maximum: 46.8). The serum telomerase concentrations in patients who died and those survived in the SCAD group (35.98 ± 2.02 vs 36.86 ± 1.52 ng/ml, respectively; p = 0.529) were similar to those in the ACS group (36.39 ± 1.08 vs 36.63 ± 1.60 ng/ml, respectively p = 0.993). CONCLUSIONS: In the current study, telomerase activity or hTERT expression was similar in patients with ACS, SCAD, and controls. Moreover, telomerase activity was not associated with all-cause mortality during the 32-month follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of different microstructures on the plastic stability of an air‐hardened industrially produced medium‐manganese steel is presented. For this matter, heat treatment parameters before and during intercritical annealing (IA) are varied, to achieve different microstructures. The resulting duplex microstructure is consecutively tested by tensile tests, which are monitored by digital image correlation (DIC) to obtain information on the local plastic deformation. The tests are accompanied by microstructure investigations using optical, scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopy. Finally, X‐ray and electron backscatter diffraction experiments are performed before and after deformation, to describe the altering phase fractions. It is demonstrated that the effect of the deformation temperature prior to IA treatment has a significant influence on the duplex microstructure, as it changes the austenite morphology from lamellar to globular and increases the phase fraction. The change in austenite phase fraction and morphology results in a higher yield strength (≈100 MPa), as well as higher uniform and total elongations (+2% and +5%, respectively). The DIC and tensile tests reveal that these differences in the austenite phase lead to a complete change in the strain hardening behavior, from continuous flow to discontinuous serrated flow, with clearly visible deformation bands during plastic deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction to this special issue, Contesting Transitions: New Directions in the Anthropology of Energy, Climate Justice, and Resource Imaginaries, takes stock of the current state of debate within anthropology and allied fields over the contradictions, slippages, and inequalities at the centre of the global energy transition. Across a wide range of critical case studies, the contributions underscore the importance of attending to what is being elided by dominant discourses and forms of production, such as alternatives to socio-material understandings of energy and resistance to the inevitability of extractivism as the basis for new ways of living. Even more, the collection takes up and problematizes the concept of 'transition' itself on historical, ethnographic, and epistemological grounds. After describing the themes that emerge from the special issue, and explaining how these themes point toward new configurations of research, theory-building, and critical intervention, the introduction concludes with a broader argument about the indispensable place of a critical anthropology in debates over energy and Anthropocenic harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A striking effort is under way to use energy investment, a key feature of US federal climate policy, to build solar farms on former mining lands and in legacy mining communities in central Appalachia. Focusing on community solar initiatives, we consider the geosociality of energy transitions from the perspective of communities where many people have considerable knowledge of energy systems and how they work. We note that the politics of place-making in the context of environmental sacrifice and capital abandonment enables negotiations around energy that often seek to bridge deep social contradictions. We highlight how solar energy's diffuse networks of power, both social and electrical, privilege forms of temporal labor that are alliance-building, compositionist, para-ethnographic and intimately concerned with the capacity to build relations. Vernacular energy expertise can play a major role in creating novel forms of political sociality. In West Virginia, this both builds on and significantly shifts the emphasis of long legacies of energetic place-making. We expect the ongoing development of community-led solar investment to contribute to substantially important diversifying effects in West Virginian communities, especially when these efforts can more explicitly address the state's extreme geographical, race, and class-based inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ejector cycles achieved higher performance than booster cycle within the gas cooler outlet temperature range of 31 and 50°C. • Multi-ejectors can be applied to ejector cycles with different configurations. • Up to 17% annual energy consumption reduction was found using ejector cycles. • Unit product exergy costs of ejector cycles are up to 28% lower than booster cycle. Restrictions on high-GWP refrigerants have made the use of transcritical CO 2 refrigeration systems widespread. Using transcritical booster refrigeration cycle in warm climates is unsatisfactory due to its high energy consumption. This paper presents theoretical analysis and performance comparison of three different transcritical CO 2 supermarket refrigeration cycle configurations with ejector expansion in Türkiye, which has different climatic regions. Bin-hour data were derived using hourly dry-bulb temperature values for provinces from 7 different regions in Türkiye. The applicability of multi-ejectors to each modeled cycle was also investigated. Annual energy consumption and environmental impact reductions of up to 17% were obtained using ejector expansion cycle compared to booster cycle. Ejector expansion cycles achieved higher performance than booster cycle up to 46% in terms of exergy efficiency at investigated ambient temperatures. Unit product exergy costs of the ejector cycles were found up to 28% lower than booster cycle. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Long COVID, characterized by persistent symptoms post-acute COVID-19, remains a subject of intense investigation. This study focuses on pain, a common and notable symptom reported by long COVID patients. Method: A cohort of 191 individuals, initially diagnosed with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, was followed up 1.5 years later to assess the frequency, clinical characteristics, and factors associated with pain persistence. Results: Our study revealed that 31.9% of participants experienced at least one persistent pain symptom after 1.5 years. Headache emerged as the most prevalent symptom (29.8%), followed by myalgia (5.8%) and neuropathic pain (4.2%). Factors such as female gender and the presence of neuropathic pain symptom were identified as predictors of long-term headaches. Myalgia, showed associations with headache, arthralgia, and low ferritin levels. Persistent neuropathic pain symptom (4.2%) was linked to older age, female gender, sore throat, and headache. Conclusion: This study provides insights into the evolution of pain symptoms over time after COVID-19 infection, emphasizing the interconnection between different pain syndromes. This research contributes to understanding the diverse and evolving nature of pain in long COVID survivors, offering valuable insights for targeted interventions and further investigations into the underlying mechanisms of persistent pain. Key messages: Our study showed that nearly 32% of participants experienced at least one type of pain after 1.5 years of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 infection. This study provides insights into the evolution of pain symptoms over time, emphasizing the interconnection between different pain syndromes in long COVID survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seminars in Thrombosis and Hemostasis (STH) celebrates 50 years of publishing in 2024. To celebrate this landmark event, STH is republishing some archival material. This article represents the most highly cited paper ever published in STH. The original abstract follows. Blood is a two-phase suspension of formed elements (i.e., red blood cells [RBCs], white blood cells [WBCs], platelets) suspended in an aqueous solution of organic molecules, proteins, and salts called plasma. The apparent viscosity of blood depends on the existing shear forces (i.e., blood behaves as a non-Newtonian fluid) and is determined by hematocrit, plasma viscosity, RBC aggregation, and the mechanical properties of RBCs. RBCs are highly deformable, and this physical property significantly contributes to aiding blood flow both under bulk flow conditions and in the microcirculation. The tendency of RBCs to undergo reversible aggregation is an important determinant of apparent viscosity because the size of RBC aggregates is inversely proportional to the magnitude of shear forces; the aggregates are dispersed with increasing shear forces, then reform under low-flow or static conditions. RBC aggregation also affects the in vivo fluidity of blood, especially in the low-shear regions of the circulatory system. Blood rheology has been reported to be altered in various physiopathological processes: (1) Alterations of hematocrit significantly contribute to hemorheological variations in diseases and in certain extreme physiological conditions; (2) RBC deformability is sensitive to local and general homeostasis, with RBC deformability affected by alterations of the properties and associations of membrane skeletal proteins, the ratio of RBC membrane surface area to cell volume, cell morphology, and cytoplasmic viscosity. Such alterations may result from genetic disorders or may be induced by such factors as abnormal local tissue metabolism, oxidant stress, and activated leukocytes; and (3) RBC aggregation is mainly determined by plasma protein composition and surface properties of RBCs, with increased plasma concentrations of acute phase reactants in inflammatory disorders a common cause of increased RBC aggregation. In addition, RBC aggregation tendency can be modified by alterations of RBC surface properties because of RBC in vivo aging, oxygen-free radicals, or proteolytic enzymes. Impairment of blood fluidity may significantly affect tissue perfusion and result in functional deteriorations, especially if disease processes also disturb vascular properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of silicon and aluminum on phase transformation behavior, particularly bainite, and microstructure evolution in Fe–0.2C–2.5Mn steel are presented. Continuous–cooling–transformation (CCT) and time–temperature–transformation (TTT) diagrams are determined experimentally. An aluminum extended empirical formula is introduced to estimate the martensite start temperature (Ms) with a thorough assessment of existing formulae. Results show that aluminum significantly increases Ms and has a stronger influence on promoting ferritic microstructures than silicon. During continuous cooling, alongside bainite, formation of Widmanstätten structures is induced in aluminum‐alloyed steel at higher cooling rates due to increased prior austenite grain size. Silicon decelerates bainite transformation kinetics by enhancing austenite's chemical stability through carbon enrichment via preventing carbide precipitation and by strengthening austenite against displacive phase transformation via solid solution hardening. Although aluminum has similar effects, incubation time is shortened during isothermal treatment because of the increased driving force, which overcompensates for the retardation effects. A finer carbide‐free bainitic microstructure is achieved in aluminum‐alloyed steel with more pronounced film‐like retained austenite (RA) formation and superior carbon enrichment, improving RA stability and suppressing martensite–austenite island formation. Finally, with the proposed formula, an accurate approximation to experimental Ms is accomplished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anoplophora chinensis Forster (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) is a highly polyphagous and invasive species native to East Asia that makes tunnels in the stems of a variety of broad-leaved plant species and cultivated plant species, as well as citrus and hazelnut. In this study, we collected A. chinensis from hazelnut orchards in Sakarya province of Türkiye, and subsequently recovered the parasitoid Megaselia scalaris (Diptera: Phoridae) from dead adult beetles. The present study reports M. scalaris as a new natural enemy of A. chinensis, and more study is needed on this species' behaviour and biological parameters as a parasitoid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several observation protocols in different theoretical frameworks and components have been designed and validated by teacher trainers and professional development providers to capture and categorize observational data on the characteristics and level of inquiry in science practices. However, certain constraints limit their wide use, such as the neglect of certain indicators of scientific inquiry, the scoring of just summative goals, or the necessity for extensive observer training. The present study, therefore, aims to propose a tool that assists professional development providers and mentors in diagnosing the closeness of practices to scientific inquiry in the context of various settings, from traditional didactic lectures to scientific inquiry, making it easily operational for self and peer evaluations as well as 360‐degree video feedback. The method concentrated on multiple observations provides supportive evidence about the tool's internal consistency coefficient, the relationship between its components, and the inter‐rater reliability coefficient between multiple scorers. The results highlight that the tool, which includes the components of course structure, course overview, and teacher–student communication, has the potential to contribute to the growing library of observation protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salep, a traditional Turkish beverage, derives its name from its primary component: salep powder (SP), which is sourced from the tubers of certain orchid species. This study investigated various physicochemical attributes (including dry matter, protein content, pH, titration acidity, water activity, color, serum separation, and zeta potential), as well as rheological and sensory characteristics of salep beverages. These drinks were prepared by substituting SP with chia (Salvia hispanica L.) seed mucilage powder (MP) with different ratios (10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%). The substitution of SP with MP did not influence the dry matter and protein contents or the pH and acidity values of the drinks significantly (p >.05). The inclusion of MP in the formulation of salep drinks resulted in a decrease in lightness (L*) and a* color values while increasing the b* color values. However, consumer perception, as indicated by color difference values (∆E*), showed no distinguishable difference between drinks containing MP and control drinks. Furthermore, higher ratios of MP led to increased apparent viscosity values in the drinks and effectively prevented or significantly reduced serum separation observed in control drinks (p <.05). Remarkably, sensory evaluations revealed that substituting up to 30% of SP with MP did not negatively impact the overall sensory properties of the drinks (p >.05), suggesting that MP could be recommended as a feasible alternative. This substitution has the potential to contribute to the conservation of orchid plants, the primary source of salep, while also offering cost‐saving benefits in the production of salep drinks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Despite advances in medical therapy, approximately 33% of Crohn's disease (CD) patients will need surgery within 5 years after initial diagnosis. Several surgical approaches to CD have been proposed including small bowel resection, strictureplasty, and combined surgery with resection plus strictureplasty. Here, we utilize the American College of Surgeons (ACS) national surgical quality registry (NSQIP) to perform a comprehensive analysis of 30-day outcomes between these three surgical approaches for CD. Methods: The authors queried the ACS-NSQIP database between 2015 and 2020 for all patients undergoing open or laparoscopic resection of small bowel or strictureplasty for CD using CPT and IC-CM 10. Outcomes of interest included length of stay, discharge disposition, wound complications, 30-day related readmission, and reoperation. Results: A total of 2578 patients were identified; 87% of patients underwent small bowel resection, 5% resection with strictureplasty, and 8% strictureplasty alone. Resection plus strictureplasty (combined surgery) was associated with the longest operative time (p = 0.002). Patients undergoing small bowel resection had the longest length of hospital stay (p = 0.030) and the highest incidence of superficial/deep wound infection (44%, p = 0.003) as well as the highest incidence of sepsis (3.5%, p = 0.03). Small bowel resection was found to be associated with higher odds of wound complication compared to combined surgery (OR 2.09, p = 0.024) and strictureplasty (1.9, p = 0.005). Conclusion: Our study shows that various surgical approaches for CD are associated with comparable outcomes in 30-day related reoperation and readmission, or disposition following surgery between all three surgical approaches. However, small bowel resection displayed higher odds of developing post-operative wound complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formation of C−N bonds through the electrochemical utilization of CO2 and nitrogen containing compounds (N‐compounds) is appealing for the purpose of converting waste and readily available sources or pollutants into value added chemicals at ambient conditions. Existing research predominantly explores these electrochemical reactions independently, often in aqueous electrolytes, leading to challenges associated with competitive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), low product selectivity, and yield. Functional electrolytes such as those containing ionic liquids (ILs) present selective solubility to the solute reactants and present unique interactions with the electrode surface that can suppress the undesired side reactions such as HER while simultaneously co‐catalyzing the conversion of CO2 and N‐compounds such as N2, NO, NO2, and NO3. In this concept paper, we discuss how the microenvironment enabled by ILs can be leveraged to stabilize reaction intermediates at the electrode‐electrolyte interface, thereby promoting C−N bond formation on an active electrode surface at reduced overpotential, with the case study of CO2 and N‐compounds co‐catalysis to generate urea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we synthesized a new thiosemicarbazone derivative molecule (5) that exhibits sensor properties. The characterization of the synthesized molecule was performed using spectroscopic methods such as 1H−, 13C–NMR, FT–IR and Q–TOF. PVC‐membrane ion‐selective sensors were prepared in which the synthesized molecule was used as an ionophore. Surface images of the prepared sensors were examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM) technique. The prepared sensors exhibited selectivity towards barium(II) ions. The developed barium(II)‐selective sensor had a low detection limit of 5.54×10−7 M in the concentration range of 1.0×10−1–1.0×10−6 M. The proposed barium(II)‐selective sensor had fast response time, good repeatability and stability, and can be manufactured with low cost. The sensor can detect barium(II) ions in various water samples with very high recoveries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, two floating memcapacitor emulator circuits, one based on a second-generation current conveyor (CCII) and the other on an operational transconductance amplifier (OTA), are proposed. The first floating memcapacitor contains a single CCII, one multiplier, and four transistors, while the second one comprises a single OTA, one multiplier, and only two transistors. External transistors are operated as electronically controllable grounded capacitors and resistors. Therefore, the inverse memcapacitances of the circuits are adjusted electronically by applying appropriate bias voltages. Both emulator circuits can be operated to have incremental or decremental characteristics. The analyses of frequency response, electronic adjustability, temperature behavior, and non-volatile behavior of the circuits, as well as Monte Carlo analysis, are performed. Furthermore, an adaptive learning circuit is utilized to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed memcapacitor. Additionally, the CCII-based emulator circuit is constructed on a printed circuit board using discrete circuit elements and tested experimentally. The non-volatility feature of the circuit was tested for both incremental and decremental memcapacitors. The simulation and experimental results agree with the expected results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this paper, a new floating memcapacitor emulator that consists of a single multiplier and only four transistors without using passive elements is proposed. While two of these transistors work as MOS capacitors, two of them are used to provide transconductance gain. Moreover, the proposed memcapacitor operates at high frequencies thanks to having simple structures. Furthermore, fix and variable parts of memcapacitance can be tuned electronically by changing DC bias voltages. In order to investigate the performance of the proposed memcapacitor, simulation results are given for different operating frequencies, radical temperature changes, memory effects, and Monte Carlo analysis. Moreover, to confirm the practical realization of the proposed memcapacitor, the proposed floating memcapacitor is implemented by using commercial devices as AD633, ALD1106, and ALD1107. Experimental results of the proposed circuit are given for different operating frequencies and DC supply voltages. Also, a memcapacitor‐based circuit that emulates the relationship between the amoeba's locomotive speed and temperature is given as an application of the proposed memcapacitor. The results for the proposed memcapacitor are in good agreement with theoretical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Aimed to investigate the role of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mp-MRI) in the diagnosis of granulomatous prostatitis caused by intravesical Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG). Methods: In this prospective, single-center study, 10 male patients who were given intravesical BCG due to intermediate- and high-risk bladder cancer were included. Before transurethral resection of bladder tumors (TURB), all patients were evaluated by mp-MRI, serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and digital rectal examination (DRE). Serum PSA levels and DRE findings were evaluated before and after intravesical BCG treatment. Prostate mp-MRI was performed for patients with elevated levels of serum PSA and/or with abnormal DRE findings. Then, MRI fusion + systematic prostate biopsy was performed. Demographic data of the patients before and after intravesical BCG were compared. Results: The average age of the patients was 66.9 years (55–87 years). While PSA was 1.7 ng/ml before intravesical BCG treatment, it was 4.3 ng/ml after intravesical BCG treatment (p = 0.005). PSA density (PSAD) was 0.04 and 0.10 before and after the treatment, respectively (p = 0.012). DRE findings of all patients were normal before the treatment. However, abnormal findings were detected in 80% of them after the treatment (p = 0.008). PI-RADS ≥ 3 lesions were found to be significantly higher in all patients after intravesical BCG (p = 0.004). Conclusion: Granulomatous prostatitis is a rare complication of intravesical BCG. High PSA, abnormal DRE, and PI-RADS ≥ 3 lesions detected after intravesical BCG should suggest granulomatous prostatitis and unnecessary biopsies may be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the increasing importance of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) standards in shaping corporate decisions and investor strategies, emphasizing the role of occupational safety within the social criteria of ESG. It highlights both the potential impact of ESG on promoting safer workplaces, as well as concerns regarding the consistency and effectiveness of safety metrics within ESG frameworks.

Cutting production costs is a crucial instrument for companies to increase profitability and remain competitive. However, companies aim to cut costs without compromising performance requirements of the products. Commonality between components reduces the costs, while diversity between them differentiates the key attributes of the products in a product family. This commonality-diversity trade-off is the essence of the product family design optimization. Current model-based methodologies consider optimizing the design for commonality rather than cost. This article proves that higher commonality does not always amount to minimal cost and, therefore, a simple commonality index cannot replace a cost model. A tunable cost model that includes simplified formulas for standardization benefits is introduced to be used by cost optimization techniques. Current product family optimization methods are often combinatorial and perform inefficiently due to searching large design space. These methods also optimize the product family design from scratch. This limits the applicability of the current methods in industrial settings that are typically complex and brownfield. This article proposes a model-based cost optimization methodology that accelerates the cost optimization by starting from an existing design. The proposed methodology is a two-stage nested optimization algorithm, in which the commonality matrix is optimized with sensitivity analysis on component types in the outer loop and the associated design variables are optimized in the inner loop. The methodology is numerically demonstrated on an industrial example and benchmarked against state-of-the-art cost optimization methods. The proposed methodology ensures a gradual improvement in cost reduction with a significant acceleration in performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study involved fortifying pumpkin slices with calcium and vitamin D3 using vacuum impregnation (VI) pre‐treatment and assessing the quality characteristics of the resulting desserts/jams. Slices were subjected to immersion or VI pre‐treatments for 30, 60, and 90 min in a solution containing calcium oxide and vitamin D3. Calcium ions contributed to the hardness of desserts, with VI reducing processing time. The highest impregnated calcium (58.17 mg/100 g fw) and vitamin D3 contents (6.02 mg/100 g dm) were determined in slices pre‐treated by VI for 90 min. VI was more effective than immersion in terms of calcium and vitamin D3 transition into pumpkin tissues. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images indicated that calcium oxide particles were noticeable in slices pre‐treated by VI. Immersing fruit slices for 90 min produced desserts with a textural hardness of 11.04 N, while VI pre‐treatment for the same duration increased their hardness value to 18.92 N. Desserts produced with VI‐pre‐treated slices exhibited superior texture and sensory attributes, with no adverse taste resulting from calcium oxide. In conclusion, VI pre‐treatment shows significant potential for the industrial production of desserts/jams with enhanced structural integrity for fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: In this study, we aimed to examine the telomerase activity and hTERT gene expression in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and those with stable coronary artery disease (SCAD) and compare the results to controls. Additionally, we compared overall mortality rates relative to the telomerase activity. METHODS: A total of 211 patients (78 ACS and 71 SCAD patients) were included in the study. The telomerase concentration was measured by ELISA and used to determine telomerase activity. The hTERT gene expression was determined by real-time PCR. RESULTS: The serum telomerase enzyme concentration was lower in ACS (36.61 ± 1.54) and SCAD (36.79 ± 1.57) when compared to the control group (37.03 ± 2.25). However, this difference did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.890). The hTERT gene expression acting in telomerase enzyme synthesis was 2.7-fold lower in ACS group (p = 0.070) and 2.2-fold lower in the SCAD group (p = 0.101) compared to the control group. Patients were followed for a median of 32 months (minimum: 0.1, maximum: 46.8). The serum telomerase concentrations in patients who died and those survived in the SCAD group (35.98 ± 2.02 vs 36.86 ± 1.52 ng/ml, respectively; p = 0.529) were similar to those in the ACS group (36.39 ± 1.08 vs 36.63 ± 1.60 ng/ml, respectively p = 0.993). CONCLUSIONS: In the current study, telomerase activity or hTERT expression was similar in patients with ACS, SCAD, and controls. Moreover, telomerase activity was not associated with all-cause mortality during the 32-month follow-up (Tab. 3, Fig. 1, Ref. 29). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer is a prevalent malignancy associated with a high mortality rate, with a 5-year relative survival rate of 23%. Traditional survival analysis methods, reliant on clinician judgment, may lack accuracy due to their subjective nature. Consequently, there is growing interest in leveraging AI-based systems for survival analysis using clinical data and medical imaging. The purpose of this study is to improve survival classification for lung cancer patients by utilizing a 3D-CNN architecture (ResNet-34) applied to CT images from the NSCLC-Radiomics dataset. Through comprehensive ablation studies, we evaluate the effectiveness of different features and methodologies in classification performance. Key contributions include the introduction of a novel feature (GTV1-SliceNum), the proposal of a novel loss function (PEN-BCE) accounting for false negatives and false positives, and the showcasing of their efficacy in classification. Experimental work demonstrates results surpassing those of the existing literature, achieving a classification accuracy of 0.7434 and an ROC-AUC of 0.7768. The conclusions of this research indicate that the AI-driven approach significantly improves survival prediction for lung cancer patients, highlighting its potential for enhancing personalized treatment strategies and prognostic modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractActivated carbon from green walnut shells was synthesized; characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray analysis (SEM-EDX); and used as an adsorbent for the separation and preconcentration of indigo carmine. The pH, adsorbent mass, sample volume, foreign ion effect, eluent type, and eluent volume were optimized. The preconcentration factor was 20.0 and the enrichment factor was 19.68. The developed SPE method provided a limit of detection of 40.8 µg L−1 and limit of quantification of 136.1 µg L−1. The analyte recoveries were from 92 to 102%. The intra-day and inter-day relative standard deviations were 3.2% and 3.8%. The protocol was employed for the separation, preconcentration, and spectrophotometric determination of indigo carmine in water, candies, hair dyes, edible cake decorations, fruit juices, and textiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nesfatin‐1 and ghrelin, initially recognised as hormones involved in regulating energy, have emerged as crucial players with vital functions in various human body systems. In this study, we conducted a comparative assessment of nesfatin‐1 and ghrelin responses in individuals experiencing metabolic stress due to diabetes, those with depressive diabetes characterised by both metabolic and mental stress, and healthy controls. We collected blood samples from a total of 90 participants, consisting of 30 people with type II diabetes mellitus (DM), 30 people with type II DM and major depressive disorders, and 30 healthy individuals. Diabetes was diagnosed based on glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, while depression was assessed using DSM‐V criteria. Insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR) was calculated, and serum ghrelin and nesfatin‐1 levels were measured using ELISA kits. We observed statistically significant decreases in nesfatin‐1 and ghrelin levels in the diabetic group (p < 0.0001). However, in the depressive diabetic group, nesfatin‐1 levels increased significantly, while ghrelin levels decreased further. The nesfatin‐1 to ghrelin ratio decreased in the diabetic group but increased significantly in the depressive diabetic group (p < 0.0001). Nesfatin‐1 and ghrelin hormones exhibit parallel impacts in response to metabolic stress, but nesfatin‐1 demonstrates contrasting actions compared to ghrelin when mental stress is added to metabolic stress. The findings of this study suggest that nesfatin‐1 and ghrelin hormones may play active roles as protective, prognostic, and even etiological factors in various stress situations, particularly those involving mental stress, in addition to their known functions in regulating energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: We aimed to identify the possible relationship between various diseases of the upper digestive system and colon polyps by analyzing patients with gastric polyps and evaluating the cancers and diseases accompanying the polyps. (2) Methods: Each patient's age; gender; polyp type and size; presence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), atrophic gastritis, and intestinal metaplasia; status of whether cancer developed during follow-up; status of whether a colonoscopy was performed or not; and colon pathologies detected during colonoscopy were analyzed retrospectively using hospital records. (3) Results: Between the study dates, 19,214 esophagogastroduodenoscopies were performed in the endoscopy unit of our hospital. Gastric polyps were detected in 178 (0.9%) patients. No significant relationship was found between the gastric polyp size and the occurrence of gastric cancer or gastrointestinal system malignancy (p > 0.05). A colonoscopy was performed in 86 of the 178 patients who underwent gastroscopy. The frequency of polyp detection during colonoscopy was statistically significantly higher in patients with gastric polyps than in patients without gastric polyps (p < 0.001). (4) Conclusions: New prospective studies are needed regarding the relationship between gastric polyps and gastrointestinal system diseases. Going forward, a colonoscopy will be required in gastric polyp patients, especially with FGP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to improve COD, NH3‐N, and turbidity removal from Bingöl's leachate using a single‐reactor integrated electrocoagulation (EC)–coal‐based powdered activated carbon (CBPAC) process under various experimental conditions. In the EC‐CBPAC process, three stainless‐steel cathodes and three aluminum electrodes were connected to the negative and positive terminals of the power supply, respectively. The initial concentrations in the leachate were 1044 mg O2/L for COD, 204 mg/L for NH3‐N, and 57 NTU (or 71.25‐mg (NH2)2H2SO4/L) for turbidity, respectively. After a 40‐min EC‐CBPAC process, with a CBPAC dosage of 5 g/L and pH of 5 for COD and turbidity, and 9.5 for NH3‐N, the optimum removal efficiencies for COD, NH3‐N, and turbidity were achieved at 92%, 40%, and 91%, respectively. When the EC process was applied without CBPAC under the same experimental conditions, the removal efficiencies of COD, NH3‐N, and turbidity were 87%, 28%, and 54%, respectively. Before and after the EC‐CBPAC process, the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, pore volume, and mean pore diameter of the CBPAC were found to be (888 m2/g, 0.498 cm3/g, and 22.28 Å) and (173 m2/g, 0.18 cm3/g, and 42.8 Å), respectively. The optimum pseudo‐first‐order (PFO) rate constants for COD, turbidity, and NH3‐N were determined to be 3.15 × 10−2, 4.77 × 10−2, and 8.8 × 10−3 min−1, respectively. With the current density increasing from 15 to 25 mA/cm2, energy consumption, unit energy consumption, and total cost increased from 68.7 to 122.4 kWh/m3, 6.948 to 15.226 kWh/kg COD, and 0.85 to 1.838 $/kg COD, respectively. Practitioner points: EC‐CBPAC process has greater COD, NH3‐N, and turbidity removal efficiency than EC process.COD and turbidity achieved their optimum disposal efficiencies at 92% and 91%, respectively, at pH 5The most efficient disposal efficiency for NH3‐N was observed to be 40% at pH 9.5.EC‐CBPAC process increased removal efficiencies for COD, NH3‐N, and turbidity by 20%, 19%, and 38%, respectively, compared with EC alone.The turbidity, NH3‐N, and COD disposal fitted PSO model due to high correlation values (R2 0.94–0.99). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP) has made significant progress with the evolution of Contextualised Neural Language Models (CNLMs) and the emergence of large LMs. Traditional and static language models exhibit limitations in tasks demanding contextual comprehension due to their reliance on fixed representations. CNLMs such as BERT and Semantic Folding aim to produce feature-rich representations by considering a broader linguistic context. In this paper, Deep Learning-based Aspect Category Detection approaches are introduced to perform text classification. The study extensively assesses classification model performance, emphasising enhanced representativeness and optimised feature extraction resolution using CNLMs and their hybridised variants. The effectiveness of the proposed approaches is evaluated on benchmark datasets of 4500 reviews from the laptop and restaurant domains. The results show that the proposed approaches using hybridised CNLMs outperform state-of-the-art methods with an f-score of 0.85 for the laptop and f-scores higher than 0.90 for the restaurant dataset. This study represents a pioneering work as one of the initial research efforts aiming to jointly evaluate the representation performance of CNLMs with different architectures to determine their classification capabilities. The findings indicate that the proposed approaches can enable the development of more effective classification models in various NLP tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation and monitoring of drought, a complex disaster, are essential issues for the planning of agricultural activities and the operation and management of water resources. In this study, the meteorological drought of the Black Sea region in northern Turkey is evaluated with the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI) methods at 3-, 6-, and 12-month time scales. Meteorological parameters obtained between 1965 and 2019 from 28 meteorological observation stations are used to analyze the drought. Drought-wet period percentages, percentages of occurrence of drought classes, critical period, and negative peak index values are investigated. As a result of the study, it is observed that the percentage of drought occurrence at all time scales is higher than 50% at two stations in the study region, which received precipitation above the average of Turkey. The sum of the extreme drought (ED) and severe drought (SD) values throughout the region is approximately 15% for the whole area. There is a high correlation coefficient, 97.8, 97.6, and 97.3 for the 3-, 6-, and 12-month time scales, respectively, between the SPI and RDIst methods in the evaluation of meteorological drought in the Black Sea region, which is generally a rainy region. It is determined that with the increase in the time scale, the percentage of ED occurrence increased and the risk level of the region around RDI and 17089 station is the highest. It has been determined that the correlation between oscillation indices and meteorological drought indices for the Black Sea region is almost non-existent. The highest correlation value between the oscillation and meteorological drought indices in the region is obtained with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With neutron diffraction, the local stress and texture of metallic components can be analyzed non-destructively. For both, highly accurate positioning of the sample is essential, requiring the measurement at the same sample location from different directions. Current sample-positioning systems in neutron diffraction instruments combine XYZ tables and Eulerian cradles to enable the accurate six-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) handling of samples. However, these systems are not flexible enough. The choice of the rotation center and their range of motion are limited. Industrial six-axis robots have the necessary flexibility, but they lack the required absolute accuracy. This paper proposes a visual servoing system consisting of an industrial six-axis robot enhanced with a high-precision multi-camera tracking system. Its goal is to achieve an absolute positioning accuracy of better than 50 μ m. A digital twin integrates various data sources from the instrument and the sample in order to enable a fully automatic measurement procedure. This system is also highly relevant for other kinds of processes that require the accurate and flexible handling of objects and tools, e.g., robotic surgery or industrial printing on 3D surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the relationship between hydrological and meteorological drought in drought-prone regions is critical for proper reservoir management. This study presents a novel multiscale framework for investigating the associations between hydrological and meteorological drought based on the Time-Dependent Intrinsic Correlation (TDIC) method. Firstly, the characteristics of short, medium and long term standardized precipitation index (SPI) and the standardized runoff index (SRI) of the Wadi Mina basin (Algeria) have been analyzed based on data from 6 rainfall and hydrometric stations. Then an Improved Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with adaptive noise (ICEEMDAN) method is used to decompose the most correlated SPI and SRI series to different scales. A stronger association between the two types of droughts is evident in the low-frequency trend component regardless of the station, but their evolution pattern does not remain the same. Subsequently, a TDIC based running correlation analysis is performed between the modes to examine the SPI–SRI associations over the time domain and across the time scales. TDIC analysis has proven the dynamic behavior in the SPI–SRI associations bearing frequent alterations in nature and strength across the process scales and along the time domain. In general, at the intra-annual scales the SPI–SRI correlations are mostly weak positive with localized alterations to negative along the time domain, whereas the relationship is dominantly strong positive and long range at inter-annual scales up to 4 years. This dynamic behavior in the SPI–SRI association and the evolution pattern of trend decipher that the rainfall processes are not directly transferred to streamflow drought, but it also gets controlled by many other local meteorological processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a pathological condition ranging from simple steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. NAFLD is a complex disease mediated by metabolic, environmental, and genetic mechanisms. Many factors such as insulin resistance, lipotoxicity, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, endoplasmic reticulum stress, circadian rhythm, genetics, epigenetics, dietary factors, and gut microbiota play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of NAFLD. Lifestyle changes such as healthy diet, physical activity, avoiding alcohol and smoking are involved in the NAFLD treatment. Dietary bioactive compounds including curcumin, resveratrol, catechins, quercetin, sulforaphane, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, alkaloids, vitamins, and peptides have many health promoting effects such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, chemopreventive, and hepatoprotective. In this review, the pathophysiology of NAFLD and the effects of dietary bioactive compounds on this disease will be discussed in detail with updated information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to discuss the simultaneous longitudinal and lateral flight control of the octorotor, a rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), for the first time under the effect of morphing and to improve autonomous flight performance. Design/methodology/approach: This study aims to design and control the octorotor flight control system with stochastic optimal tuning under morphnig effect. For this purpose, models of different arm lengths of the octorotor were drawn in the Solidworks program. The morphing was carried out by simultaneously lengthening or shortening the arm lengths of the octorotor. The morphing rate was estimated by using simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation (SPSA). The stochastic gradient descent algorithm, which is frequently used in machine learning, was used to estimate the changing moments of inertia with the change of arm lengths. The proportional integral derivative (PID) controller has been preferred as an octorotor control algorithm because of its simplicity of structure. The PID gains required to control both longitudinal and lateral flight were also estimated with SPSA. Findings: With SPSA, three longitudinal flight PID gains, three lateral flight PID gains and one morphing ratio were estimated. PID gains remained within the limits set for SPSA, giving satisfactory results. In addition, the cost index created was 93% successful. The gradient descent algorithm used for the moment of inertia estimation achieved the optimum result in 1,570 iterations. However, in the simulations made with the obtained data, longitudinal and lateral flight was successfully carried out. Originality/value: Octorotor longitudinal and lateral flight control was performed quickly and effectively with the proposed method. In addition, the desired parameters were obtained with the optimization methods used, and the longitudinal and lateral flight of the octorotor was successfully carried out in the desired trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the problem of designing lightweight, load-bearing planar frame structures for additive manufacturing, which can be formulated as a nonlinear, non-convex mathematical programming problems. Even using state-of-the-art commercial solvers, exact methods are only capable of solving small unrealistic instances (with very few variables). In this paper, we develop a heuristic method which is fast and capable of solving the design problem for larger-scale, weight-optimized, planar frame structures for additive manufacturing. The approach explicitly considers manufacturability constraints stemming from the use of additive manufacturing technology and leverages the problem structure imposed by these constraints. The proposed heuristic method is based on iteratively resolving a relaxed master problem on a reduced ground structure. The approach differs from the existing methods in two important aspects. First, we consider planar frame optimization master problem directly (instead of simpler but less relevant truss optimization). Secondly, we employ both element and node addition, which allows us to enforce additive manufacturability constraints without using binary variables (and hence, avoiding the need for computationally expensive integer programming). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, micro‐drilling tests were carried out on composite laminates reinforced with hybrid (aramid‐carbon) and carbon fibers. Thrust force, hole quality, tool wear, and temperature parameters were measured and assessed following each drilling test. The quality of holes includes circularity, overcut, hole damage factor (HDF), and taper ratio. Micro‐drilling was performed on a CNC milling machine using 0.6 mm drill diameter, 7500 rpm, and 0.5 mm/min feed parameters. The plates are 3.05 mm (carbon fiber) and 3.45 mm (hybrid) thick. According to the results, the maximum thrust force (29.8 N) was measured in the hybrid composite due to the high fracture toughness of the aramid. In addition, it was determined that the thrust force and drill wear were related. The increase in thrust force during drilling caused an increase in drill wear values. While the average wear of the drill in carbon composite was 0.013 mm, the average wear of the drill in hybrid composite was 0.021 mm. Thrust force and tool temperatures were found to have a similar trend. The highest tool temperature was measured as 86.7°C in the hybrid composite. Hole quality results showed that drilling in carbon composite was more successful than in hybrid composite. Holes drilled in carbon composite have lower values for overcut (0.017 mm), HDF (1.028), and taper ratio (0.008). It has been understood that hole quality depends on thrust force and damage formation. Highlights: Carbon and hybrid (carbon‐aramid) composites were produced with a vacuum infusion process (VIP).Micro‐drilling of composites was investigated focusing on thrust force, tool temperature, and hole quality.Hybrid composites exhibited greater thrust forces due to their higher toughness compared to carbon composites.Hybrid composites showed higher maximum tool temperatures compared to carbon composites.The carbon composites exhibited better hole quality compared to the hybrid composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although the most common intracranial neoplasm in the adult population is metastatic tumors, brain metastasis from hepatocellular carcnoma (HCC) are very rare. The aim of this study is to analyze patients with advanced HCC, in order to determine the incidence of brain metastasis and evaluate the clinicopathologic properties. Methods: The records of HCC patients treated in our university between 2011 and 2019 were reviewed retrospectively. Patient characteristics, symptoms, laboratory data, treatment modalities, and survival after both the diagnosis of HCC and detection of brain metastasis were recorded. Results: Of the 119 hepatocellular carcinoma patients, 34 had metastasis, 8 of which were to the brain. The median time elapsed between the diagnosis of HCC and brain metastasis was 14.6 months and the median overall survival after the detection of brain metastasis was 1.6 months. In 34 patients with metastasis, median survival was 26.2 months for those without brain metastasis, whereas it was 15.8 months for those with brain metastasis (P = 0.460). The survival times after brain metastasis were 11.6 and 3.9 months for the two patients treated with regorafenib and sorafenib after the detection of brain metastasis, respectively. Conclusion: In this study, it was found that patients who were clinically eligible to receive tyrosine kinase inhibitors survived longer after the detection of brain metastasis. Our study shows that multidisciplinary evaluation of these patients is vital for treatment guidance, and survival outcomes can be improved with the advancements in surgical and radiotherapy techniques even in patients with poor prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines on vestibular system. In addition, in this study we aimed to investigate the possible protective effects of vaccination on the vestibular system in people who recovered Covid-19. Materials and Methods: Totally, 77 subjects were divided into four groups, and evaluated using computerized dynamic posturography (CDP), vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) and video head impulse test (v-HIT). The groups were as follows; Group 1; who had SARS-CoV-2 infection at least one year ago and have not been vaccinated at all. Group 2; who had SARS-CoV-2 infection at least one year ago and were vaccinated 5 times (2 doses of Sinovac and 3 doses of Biontech). Group 3; who had no known SARS-CoV-2 infection, and were vaccinated 5 times (2 doses of Sinovac and 3 doses of Biontech). Group 4; who had no known SARS-CoV-2 infection, and have not been vaccinated at all. Results: The SOT values of (Covid-Vaccine-) group were better than the (Covid+Vaccine-) group (p=0.001), and no other significant difference was found between the groups (p>0.05). The v-HIT gains of the groups were not significantly different (p>0.05). On o-VEMPs, there was elongation in the N1 and P1 latencies in (Covid+Vaccine-) group compared to (Covid-Vaccine+) group. The amplitudes decreased in (Covid+Vaccine-) compared to (Covid-Vaccine-) (p<0.05). According to c-VEMP results, vaccination led to elongation in the P1 latencies and increased the P1-N1 amplitudes (p<0.05). Conclusion: Both SARS-CoV-2 viral infection and vaccination may impact on vestibular system. The impact of vaccination seems on the saccule level. However, vaccination may limit or diminish the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on equilibrium, possibly by facilitating the central compensation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, vibrations of stepped nanobeams were investigated according to Eringen's nonlocal elasticity theory. Multi-time scale method, which is one of the perturbation methods, has been applied to solve dimensionless state equations. The solution is considered in two steps. First-order terms obtained from the perturbation expansion formed the linear problem in the first step. In the second step, the solution of the second order of the perturbation expansion was made and nonlinear terms emerged as corrections to the linear problem from this solution. The main issue that the study wants to emphasize is the examination of the mechanical effects of the steps, which are discontinuities encountered at the nanoscale, on the system. For this purpose, while the findings of the research were obtained, various nonlocal parameter values were obtained to capture the nano-scale effect, and frequency-response and nonlinear frequency-amplitude curves corresponding to the 1st Mode values of the beam for different step ratios and step locations were obtained to capture the step effect. One of the important features of the nonlinear system is the formation of internal resonance between the modes of the system. How this situation affects the characteristics of the system has also been examined and results have been given by graphs. The obtained data show that taking into account the nanoscale step is essential for the accuracy and sensitivity of many nanostructures such as sensors, actuators, biostructures, switches, etc. that are likely to be produced at the nanoscale in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the pivotal role of safety metrics, particularly lagging indicators like the total recordable injury rate (TRIR), in shaping organizational decisions and behavior regarding safety culture. It highlights the philosophical and statistical limitations of traditional lagging indicators such as TRIR, emphasizing their retrospective nature, conceptualization of safety, and inability to capture relative severity.

Objective: Takayasu arteritis is a systemic vasculitis. There have been some cases reported in the literature that suggest distortion of hearing in this disease. Patients may experience hearing loss as the first symptom or during the course of the disease. This study aims to investigate disturbances in hearing function in patients with Takayasu arteritis by comparing them to healthy subjects. Materials and Methods: Patients and randomly selected age-gender compatible healthy subjects were enrolled in the study. Subjects who previously had congenital hearing loss, otologic surgery, severe head trauma, ototoxicity, were exposed to noise, or worked in noisy environments beforehand were excluded. Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA), tympanometry, and Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) were performed on all subjects. The Indian Takayasu Arteritis Activity Score (ITAS 2010) was also estimated for the Takayasu group. Statistical comparisons of air and bone-conduction thresholds and OAE values between the Takayasu and control groups were performed. Results: A total of 31 subjects were included in each group, comprising 27 women and 4 men. The mean ages were 45.3±2 for the Takayasu group and 44.8±1.8 for the control group, respectively. Both groups were similar in age and gender composition (p>0.05). No significant differences were found between the Takayasu and healthy control groups in terms of PTA averages and OAE values (p>0.05). However, significant differences were observed at the right and left 8000 Hz frequencies (p<0.05), with higher values in the Takayasu group. Additionally, two patients in the Takayasu group experienced idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL). Conclusion: Hearing function was similar between the Takayasu group and age-gendermatched healthy controls, except at the 8000 Hz frequency in PTA. Takayasu arteritis may manifest with ISSHL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Afamin is a protein that increases in gestational diabetes but its concentration in neonates hasn't been investigated. Our objective is to compare cord blood afamin levels in neonates born to mothers with and without diabetes, and to explore its relationship with maternal and neonatal variables. In this case control study, umbilical cord blood was collected for afamin measurement in pregestational/gestational diabetic pregnancies (n = 40) and healthy pregnancies (n = 45) after delivery. Correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between afamin levels and maternal BMI, age, HbA1c, fasting and postprandial blood glucose, gestational age, birth weight. The diabetic group had a higher median afamin level (p < 0.001). Afamin concentrations did not differ significantly between diabetic subgroups. The concentration of afamin in cord blood was independent of maternal BMI, age, HbA1c, blood glucose, gestational age, birth weight. The concentration of afamin in cord blood of diabetic pregnancies is significantly higher, irrespective of other clinical factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety academics and practitioners in construction typically use safety prediction models that employ information associated with past incidents to predict the likelihood of future injury or fatality on site. However, most prevailing models utilize only information related to failure (i.e., incident), so they cannot distinguish effectively between success and failure without well-informed comparison. Furthermore, recordable incidents on construction sites are extremely rare, which results in data that are too sparse to make predictions with high statistical power. This paper empirically reviews different approaches to safety to increase the understanding of conditions associated with safety success and failure. Empirical data about business-, project-, and crew-related factors were collected to predict serious injury and fatality (SIF) exposure conditions. A variety of modeling techniques were tested in a machine learning pipeline to identify the most accurate and stable predictive models. Results showed that the multilayer perceptron (MLP) approach best distinguished SIF exposure conditions from safety success conditions using nonlinear decision boundaries. The most influential factors in the models included the crew experience working together, supervisor experience with the crew, total number of workers under the supervisor's purview, and the maturity of leadership development programs for frontline supervisors. This study showed that data sets with both success and failure information yield more reliable and meaningful predictions than data sets with failure alone. Such an approach to safety data collection, analysis, and prediction could be used by future researchers to generate new insights into the causes of serious incidents and the relationships among causal factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: Childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) is a rare type of psychotic disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, grossly disorganized behavior, and poor psychosocial functioning. The etiology of COS is unknown, but neurodevelopmental factors are likely to play a critical role. A potential neurodevelopmental anomaly marker is the dorsal visual system dysfunction, which is implicated in motion perception, spatial functions, and attention. (2) Methods: To elucidate the role of the dorsal visual system in COS, we investigated 21 patients with COS and 21 control participants matched for age, sex, education, IQ, and parental socioeconomic status. Participants completed a motion and form coherence task, during which one assesses an individual's ability to detect the direction of motion within a field of moving elements or dots and to recognize a meaningful form or object from a set of fragmented or disconnected visual elements, respectively. (3) Results: The patients with COS were impaired in both visual tasks compared to the control participants, but the evidence for the deficit was more substantial for motion perception than for form perception (form: BF10 = 27.22; motion: BF10 = 6.97 × 106). (4) Conclusions: These results highlight the importance of dorsal visual stream vulnerability in COS, a potential marker of neurodevelopmental anomalies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Insulin-like growth factors improve oocyte quality and are necessary for oocyte maturation. However, their effectiveness is contingent upon regulated availability, influenced by binding proteins. Specifically, IGFBP-4 has been identified as a factor blocking the positive effects of insulin-like growth factors, with higher expression observed in degenerating cattle follicles. Therefore, we studied the effect of IGFBP-4 on oocyte developmental potential using an in vitro embryo production system. We determined the ability of the oocyte to mature and cleave; proper embryo development; as well as the total cell number and some relevant genes for embryo quality. We found that IGFBP-4 did not affect the early stages of embryo development or growth. However, high IGFBP-4 concentrations decreased the number of embryos able to break and leave the Zona Pellucida, an important event before elongation and pregnancy establishment. We concluded that IGFBP-4 impairs embryo quality by decreasing the capacity of an embryo to hatch, and therefore the further development and pregnancy establishment could be impaired. These results provide new insights about the impact of IGFBP-4 on embryo quality and may have implications for cattle fertility. Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are essential for oocyte maturation. Their bioavailability is regulated by their respective binding proteins (IGFBPs) and proteases. IGFBP-4 blocks the biological effects of IGFs. High IGFBP-4 expression has been associated with follicle atresia. We hypothesized that IGFBP-4 affects oocyte developmental competence during maturation. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the effect of IGFBP-4 on the developmental rate of bovine cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) during in vitro embryo production. Abattoir-derived COCs were matured with rbIGFBP-4 (2000, 540, and 54 ng/mL) compared to a control. Cumulus expansion, oocyte maturation, cleavage, blastocyst, and hatching rates were evaluated. Furthermore, blastocyst gene expression of SOCS2, STAT3, SLC2A1, SLCA3, BAX, and POU5F1 transcripts were quantified using RT-qPCR. No statistical differences were detected among the groups for cumulus expansion, maturation, cleavage, blastocyst rates, or all gene transcripts analyzed. However, at day 8 and 9, the number of total hatching and successfully hatched blastocysts was lower in 2000 ng/mL rbIGFBP-4 compared to the control (day 8: total hatching: 17.1 ± 0.21 vs. 31.2 ± 0.11%, p = 0.02 and hatched blastocyst 6.7 ± 0.31 vs. 21.5 ± 0.14%, p = 0.004; day 9 total hatching 36.4 ± 0.18 vs. 57.7 ± 0.10%, p = 0.009 and hatched blastocyst 18.2 ± 0.21 vs. 38.1 ± 0.11%, p = 0.004). We concluded that high concentrations of rbIGFBP-4 might negatively affect the subsequent ability of the embryo to hatch and possibly compromise further elongation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety academics and practitioners in construction typically use safety prediction models that employ information associated with past incidents to predict the likelihood of future injury or fatality on site. However, most prevailing models utilize only information related to failure (i.e., incident), so they cannot distinguish effectively between success and failure without well-informed comparison. Furthermore, recordable incidents on construction sites are extremely rare, which results in data that are too sparse to make predictions with high statistical power. This paper empirically reviews different approaches to safety to increase the understanding of conditions associated with safety success and failure. Empirical data about business-, project-, and crew-related factors were collected to predict serious injury and fatality (SIF) exposure conditions. A variety of modeling techniques were tested in a machine learning pipeline to identify the most accurate and stable predictive models. Results showed that the multilayer perceptron (MLP) approach best distinguished SIF exposure conditions from safety success conditions using nonlinear decision boundaries. The most influential factors in the models included the crew experience working together, supervisor experience with the crew, total number of workers under the supervisor's purview, and the maturity of leadership development programs for frontline supervisors. This study showed that data sets with both success and failure information yield more reliable and meaningful predictions than data sets with failure alone. Such an approach to safety data collection, analysis, and prediction could be used by future researchers to generate new insights into the causes of serious incidents and the relationships among causal factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stiff person syndrome (SPS) is a disease characterized by rigidity in the extremities, axial muscles, and abdominal muscles, severe and painful spasms, and accompanying gait disturbances. Stiff person syndrome is most common in adults between the ages of 20 to 50 and in female sex. The most frequently reported antibody in patients with SPS is antibodies developed against glutamic acid decarboxylase enzyme. In this article, two SPS cases from different age groups who presented with gait disturbance and painful spasms and were found to have glutamic acid decarboxylase antibody positivity were reported with clinical and electrophysiological findings in the light of the literature. As in our cases, SPS should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients of all age presenting with muscle stiffness and spasms, specifically those that increase with stimulus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nascent proteins destined for the cell membrane and the secretory pathway are targeted to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) either posttranslationally or cotranslationally. The signal-independent pathway, containing the protein TMEM208, is one of three pathways that facilitates the translocation of nascent proteins into the ER. The in vivo function of this protein is ill characterized in multicellular organisms. Here, we generated a CRISPR-induced null allele of the fruit fly ortholog CG8320/Tmem208 by replacing the gene with the Kozak-GAL4 sequence. We show that Tmem208 is broadly expressed in flies and that its loss causes lethality, although a few short-lived flies eclose. These animals exhibit wing and eye developmental defects consistent with impaired cell polarity and display mild ER stress. Tmem208 physically interacts with Frizzled (Fz), a planar cell polarity (PCP) receptor, and is required to maintain proper levels of Fz. Moreover, we identified a child with compound heterozygous variants in TMEM208 who presents with developmental delay, skeletal abnormalities, multiple hair whorls, cardiac, and neurological issues, symptoms that are associated with PCP defects in mice and humans. Additionally, fibroblasts of the proband display mild ER stress. Expression of the reference human TMEM208 in flies fully rescues the loss of Tmem208, and the two proband-specific variants fail to rescue, suggesting that they are loss-of-function alleles. In summary, our study uncovers a role of TMEM208 in development, shedding light on its significance in ER homeostasis and cell polarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractAntibodies are the most common ligands in commercial and research assay systems for detecting whole pathogen cells. On the other hand, aptamers are superior ligands with many advantages over antibodies in sensitive and robust assay development. Extensive comparisons between aptamer-based biosensors and immunosensors are limited to protein analytes. Here, we report a comparison of ligands (four antibodies and one aptamer for each bacteria) to be used as a biosensor for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus on glass surfaces through systematic experiments. We have demonstrated that anti-E. coli antibody and mouse monoclonal to S. aureus have the best performance among the compared ligands. Hence, the ligands with the best performance were further investigated within the scope of linear range, analytical sensitivity, and reproducibility of the results. We have demonstrated that anti-E. coli antibody with a capture efficiency of 89.1% and mouse monoclonal to S. aureus with a capture efficiency of 88.2% have the best performance among the compared ligands. The results suggest that antibody ligands function with higher efficiency than aptamer ligands but aptamers have strong potential as an analytical tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Besides being a devastating and long-lasting disaster, a drought is an event that affects a large area. It is essential to determine the duration, severity, and magnitude of the drought in the determination and evaluation of the measures. The disruption of rain-based activities in the Black Sea coasts, the wettest areas in Turkey, will cause agricultural production to decrease and the region's people to be negatively affected economically. Analysing the meteorological drought due to precipitation in the region will help to reduce the effects of such adverse events. In the present study, three homogeneous regions were identified using the fuzzy C-means clustering method (FCM), and drought characteristics (e.g. severity (S), duration (D), and magnitude (m)) were calculated based on the standardised precipitation index (SPI). The trivariate risk analysis of meteorological drought was performed using copulas, goodness-of-fit test statistics, and graphical methods. The L-moment ratio diagram for drought duration in all homogeneous regions showed that among the five distributions, the best distribution function was determined for the severity and duration of drought as PE3 regions and the magnitude of drought as GPA. The copula goodness-of-fit statistics showed that the Joe copula in all homogeneous regions is the best. Based on the results, the west coast of the Black Sea is under high conditional drought risk, and inland and eastern coastal are under low conditional drought risk in the S≤20 and D≤20 episodes, for m=0.2. Nevertheless, with the increase of m value, the area at risk of drought is growing; moreover, the entire region considered for m=0.75 and 1 is very high risk. The conditional risk analysis can be helpful for the decision-makers to maintain agricultural activities and prevent this region, which plays a vital role in the country's exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In this study, we aimed to contribute to the literature by sharing the perioperative and postoperative outcomes of infants (0–24 months) who underwent ultra-mini percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PNL) for kidney stones in our clinic. Methods: Infants under 24 months old with kidney stones of 2 cm and larger, who applied to our clinic between January 2018 and May 2023, were included in the study. The patients' demographic and clinical characteristics were obtained from the medical records. The collected data were analyzed retrospectively. Results: A total of 26 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 17.3 ± 3.90 (12–24) months. The mean operation time was 50.7 ± 6.43 min. The mean stone size was 2.66 ± 0.59 cm. Stone-free was achieved in 23 patients (88.5%). In one patient (3.8%) with residual fragments, SWL was performed, and in two patients (7.7%), RIRS was performed to achieve stone-free. Postoperatively, fever was observed in 3 patients (11.5%). There were no patients requiring blood transfusion. Conclusions: In experienced centers, ultra-mini-PNL performed by experienced surgeons is an effective and reliable treatment option for infants under 24 months of age with kidney stones larger than 2 cm. It provides high-stone clearance rates and low complication rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]