Search

Background and Aims: COVID-19 pandemic causes massive disruption of the global health system. The diabetic patients are the vulnerable parts population who are predicted to have a significant issue during the pandemic regarding the conventional type of consultation by face-to-face which may result in the higher risk of COVID-19 exposure. This study aims to observe the use of digital health services for diabetes management during COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A scoping review was conducted in PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar during August until September 2020. The keywords that are used on the searching process are diabetes AND digital service OR telemedicine OR technology AND COVID-19. The criteria included the selection of scientific publication as an original research and reviews. Results: All published articles were gathered from 3 search engines; PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar. The discussion explicates the practical considerations that are in accordance with the current condition of each country. In order to do so, the evidence is classified based on the level of global digital health framework in the developed and developing countries. It was found that the minimal level of digital health that connects diabetes patients with healthcare providers was at level 2, which is by using the video mode. The most advanced is at level 3B, which is applied by using the CGM devices, which provide active monitoring, diagnosis, and treatment based on timely clinical judgment. Conclusion: It is feasible to utilize the digital health service during the COVID-19. This review is projected to be beneficial for the patient and health care providers to select the most feasible approach of digital health that merits the contextual resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carrageenan‐doped poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) is synthesized via oxidative polymerization of 3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene monomer, using Na2S2O8 and Fe2(SO4)3 as oxidation agents, at a controlled pH of 10–11, in the presence of carrageenan as the doping agent (dopant). As with polystyrene sulfonate, the most common doping agent for PEDOT, carrageenan also possess ─SO3− functional groups that are capable of interacting with PEDOT chains. The PEDOT/carrageenan (PEDOT/Carr) dispersions are prepared in this study in 1:1, 1:2, and 1:4 ratios by weight. Different types of carrageenans result in PEDOT/Carr dispersions of different processabilities. The PEDOT/Carr ratios are investigated for their effects on the physical properties of the films. The results show that carrageenan is successfully doped to PEDOT to form PEDOT/Carr complex. Increasing amount of carrageenan in dispersion result in more processable PEDOT/Carr dispersions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The PandaX-III experiment plans to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) of 136Xe in the China JinPing underground Laboratory (CJPL). The experiment will use a high pressure gaseous time projection chamber (TPC) to register both the energy and the electron track topology of an event. This article is devoted to demonstrate our particular detector setup capabilities for the identification of 0νββ and the consequent background reduction. As software tool we use REST, a framework developed for the reconstruction and simulation of TPC-based detector systems. We study the potential for background reduction by introducing appropriate parameters based on the properties of 0νββ events. We exploit for the first time not only the energy density of the electron track-ends, but also the electron scattering angles produced by an electron near the end of its trajectory. To implement this, we have added new algorithms for detector signal and track processing inside REST. Their assessment shows that background can be reduced by about 7 orders of magnitude while keeping 0νββ efficiency above 20% for the PandaX-III baseline readout scheme, a two-dimensional 3 mm pitch stripped readout. More generally, we use the potential of REST to handle 2D/3D data to assess the impact on signal-to-background significance at different detector granularities, and to validate the PandaX-III baseline choice. Finally, we demonstrate the additional potential to discriminate surface background events generated at the readout plane in the absence of to, by making use of event parameters related with the diffusion of electrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total ionizing dose effects are investigated on a physically unclonable function (PUF) based on CMOS breakdown. Devices irradiated to 2 Mrad(SiO2) show less than 11% change in current ratio at 1.2 V. The read-out window of programmed PUFs decreases significantly at high-dose proton irradiation, and then recovers back to the original value after annealing. The proton test results for the pFET selector, the unbroken nFET, and the broken nFET indicate that the threshold-voltage shift of the pFET selector contributes mainly to the degradation of the PUF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Indonesia's hospital‐based Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) surveillance system, Surveilans Infeksi Saluran Pernafasan Akut Berat Indonesia (SIBI), was established in 2013. While respiratory illnesses such as SARI pose a significant problem, there are limited incidence‐based data on influenza disease burden in Indonesia. This study aimed to estimate the incidence of influenza‐associated SARI in Indonesia during 2013‐2016 at three existing SIBI surveillance sites. Methods: From May 2013 to April 2016, inpatients from sentinel hospitals in three districts of Indonesia (Gunung Kidul, Balikpapan, Deli Serdang) were screened for SARI. Respiratory specimens were collected from eligible inpatients and screened for influenza viruses. Annual incidence rates were calculated using these SIBI‐enrolled influenza‐positive SARI cases as a numerator, with a denominator catchment population defined through hospital admission survey (HAS) to identify respiratory‐coded admissions by age to hospitals in the sentinel site districts. Results: From May 2013 to April 2016, there were 1527 SARI cases enrolled, of whom 1392 (91%) had specimens tested and 199 (14%) were influenza‐positive. The overall estimated annual incidence of influenza‐associated SARI ranged from 13 to 19 per 100 000 population. Incidence was highest in children aged 0‐4 years (82‐114 per 100 000 population), followed by children 5‐14 years (22‐36 per 100 000 population). Conclusions: Incidence rates of influenza‐associated SARI in these districts indicate a substantial burden of influenza hospitalizations in young children in Indonesia. Further studies are needed to examine the influenza burden in other potential risk groups such as pregnant women and the elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report two types of memristive devices made of ZnO nanowire assemblies and Ag electrodes: nanowire-bundle and nanowire-mesh memristors. Although constructed with the same materials, these devices exhibit different characteristics. Nanowire-bundle memristors have small On/Off ratios and feature stable hysteresis under X-ray irradiation. Nanowire-mesh memristors show large On/Off ratios and multiple distinct states. We attribute the switching in bundle nanowires to the modification of the Schottky barrier by the mobile Ag ions and the stability of hysteresis to the ability of the bundles to retain Ag in the alleys between nanowires, as confirmed by first-principles calculations and energy dispersive x-ray measurements. For nanowire-mesh memristors, the high On/Off ratio leads us to attribute the switching mechanism to the formation and dissolution of Ag bridges in the nano-gaps at the intersections of nanowires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical stress and 10-keV x-ray irradiation and annealing responses are evaluated for HfO2-passivated black phosphorous (BP) MOSFETs with HfO2 gate dielectrics. Device characteristics are stable during constant gate-voltage stress up to at least ±1 V. Significant negative threshold shifts, mobility degradation, and increases in subthreshold swing occur during both positive and negative bias irradiation. Hole trapping in the HfO2 gate dielectric dominates the TID response in these passivated BP MOSFETs. Reversibility of electrical parameters and magnitude of low frequency noise is observed during switched-bias annealing after irradiation. The voltage dependence of the low-frequency noise suggests that the trap distribution of the defects contributing to the noise becomes more uniform in energy after the devices are irradiated and annealed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One of the main pathogeneses of varicocoele and infertility is oxidative stress ( OS), nevertheless, the oxidative damaged DNA in infertile patients with varicocoele remains poorly clarified. The objective of this study was to comprehensively investigate whether sperm DNA damage and OS injury were related with different issues of varicocoele. According to the varicocoele practice guidelines, surgical treatment was not indicated in the infertile patients with subclinical (SubVc, n = 15) and normozoospermic clinical varicocoele ( NCVc, n = 22), the infertile astheno/oligozoospermic patients with clinical varicocoele ( AOCVc, n = 51) would receive microsurgerical varicocoelectomy. Normozoospermic healthy donors with proven fertility ( n = 25) were recruited as controls. Thiobarbituric acid and sperm chromatin structure assay ( SCSA) methods were preformed to analyze seminal lipid peroxidation product malondialdehyde ( MDA) and sperm DNA fragmentation index ( DFI). We found that AOCVc and NCVc, except SubVc, could significantly elevate sperm DFI and seminal MDA levels. Varicocoelectomy could substantially improve semen parameters, and reduce sperm DFI and seminal MDA levels in the AOCVc patients. However, the non-operative NCVc patients would possibly suffer a severe deterioration of semen parameters accompanied by aberrantly higher levels of sperm DFI and seminal MDA, whereas no differences occurred in the non-operative SubVc patients. Sperm DFI level in the pregnant group was much lower compared to the non-pregnant group ( AOCVc, p < 0.01; NCVc, p < 0.05) with the best cutoff value of 19.73%, while no differences in seminal MDA ( p > 0.05) could be observed. Finally, a strong positive correlation was found between sperm DFI and seminal MDA (Rs = 0.504, p < 0.01), and they were also closely correlated with crucial semen parameters except normal morphology. Therefore, sperm DNA damage in clinical varicocoele, but not in SubVc, might be associated with the role of seminal reactive oxygen species ( ROS) in mediating such damage. Varicocoelectomy could be beneficial for reducing OS injury and sperm DFI, and males with low sperm fragmented- DNA level had more opportunities to become pregnant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature suggests evidence that protamine deficiency is related to DNA damage and male fertility. In this meta-analysis, we analyzed the relationship between the ratio of protamine-1 and protamine-2 with male fertility and the association of protamine deficiency with sperm DNA damage. Quality of available cohort studies was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale checklist. Summary effect estimates with 95% confidence intervals ( CI) were derived using a random effects model. The effect of the protamine ratio on male fertility was analyzed in nine studies demonstrating a significantly higher value of the protamine ratio in subfertile men ( n = 633) when compared with controls ( n = 453, SMD = 0.46, 95% CI 0.25-0.66, Z = 4.42, p < 0.00001). Both protamine mRNA ( SMD = 0.45, 95% CI 0.11-0.79, Z = 2.63, p = 0.009) and protein ratio ( SMD = 0.46, 95% CI 0.25-0.68, Z = 4.22, p < 0.0001) showed significantly increased values in subfertile patients. The association between protamine deficiency and DNA damage was analyzed in 12 studies ( n = 845) exhibiting a combined overall correlation coefficient ( COR) of 0.53 (95% CI 0.28-0.71, Z = 3.87, p < 0.001). Protamine deficiency measured by CMA3 staining was significantly associated with sperm DNA damage ( COR = 0.71, 95% CI 0.48-0.85, Z = 4.87, p < 0.001), whereas the P1/P2 ratio was not ( COR = 0.17, 95% CI −0.16 to 0.46, Z = 0.99, p = 0.33). It is concluded that the protamine ratio represents a suitable biomarker for the assessment of sperm quality and protamine deficiency is closely related with sperm DNA damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ambipolar-diffusion-with-cutoff (ADC) model is extended to estimate the single-event-induced collected charge for multiple transistors for circuits simulation. The proposed improvement in the model includes both parasitic-bipolar and charge-sharing effects for a given technology. Simulation results indicate excellent agreement between the proposed model and published TCAD data for 130, 90, 65, and 40 nm technology nodes. A comparison between ADC and both rectangular parallelepiped (RPP) and integral rectangular parallelepiped (IRPP) models indicates a 2.7\times and 2.5\times lower error in estimating collected charge when compared with TCAD data. The ADC average error was estimated to be 7.1 fC and for the RPP and IRPP about 19.1 fC and 17.5 fC, respectively, across the technologies for particles with the linear energy transfer range from 1 - 30~\MeV-cm^2/\mg. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although the role of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration [CO] on plant growth and fecundity is widely acknowledged as important within the scientific community; less research is available regarding the impact of [CO] on secondary plant compounds, even though such compounds can play a significant role in human health. At present, Artemisia annua, an annual plant species native to China, is widely recognized as the primary source of artemesinin used in artemesinin combination therapies or ACTs. ACTs, in turn, are used globally for the treatment of simple Plasmodium falciparum malaria, the predominant form of malaria in Africa. In this study, artemesinin concentration was quantified for multiple A. annua populations in China using a free-air CO enrichment (FACE) system as a function of [CO]-induced changes both in situ and as a function of the foliar ratio of carbon to nitrogen (C:N). The high correlation between artemesinin concentration and C:N allowed an historical examination of A. annua leaves collected at 236 locations throughout China from 1905 through 2009. Both the historical and experimental data indicate that increases in artemesinin foliar concentration are likely to continue in parallel with the ongoing increase in atmospheric [CO]. The basis for the [CO]-induced increase in artemesinin is unclear, but could be related to the carbon: nutrient hypothesis of Bryant et al. (). Overall, these data provide the first evidence that historic and projected increases in atmospheric [CO] may be associated with global changes in artemesinin chemistry, potentially allowing a greater quantity of drug available for the same area of cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring ammonia (NH3) emission is time consuming and requires specialized measurement equipment. The measurement time can be reduced if there is a close relationship between time and subsequent cumulated NH3 emission values. A statistical analysis was employed to study the relationship between cumulative NH3 emissions over varying time intervals and final NH3 loss after 3 days of measurement. A large number of multi-plot field experiments on NH3 loss after the application of animal and biogas slurries by trail hoses to crops in Northern Germany were carried out from 2007 to 2010. Based on data from 2007, measured using a passive sampler method, a linear empirical model was developed to calculate final cumulated NH3 loss from intermediate cumulated losses. Linear model fitting showed that cumulative NH3 losses after 24 h were significantly correlated with final cumulated NH3 losses, explaining more than 0·98 of its variation. The linear coefficient was 1·34, implying that c. 0·73 of final NH3 loss occurred within the first 24 h. Validation by datasets obtained from another year (2008), two additional measurement methods and another agro-region (marsh area, 2009/10) resulted in a close agreement of model predictions with measured data within the range of model uncertainty and data variation. The results underpin the feasibility of calculating final NH3 losses from cumulative losses during first 24 h after slurry application and can be used to simplify NH3 loss measurement after the application of liquid slurries in multi-plot field experiments. The slope of the linear relationship is only valid for liquid slurries and the environmental conditions of the present study, which are typical for many agro-regions in north-western Europe, and will have to be adapted for different climatic conditions. A time-efficient measurement of emissions from solid organic fertilizers might require a different time span. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A fiber sensor scheme for simultaneous measurement of curvature and temperature is presented. It comprises an optical fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) formed by cascading two waist-enlarged fiber tapers and a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) fabricated in between the two fiber tapers. Simultaneous measurement is realized based on the facts that the MZI is sensitive to both curvature and temperature, while the FBG is only sensitive to the later. Sensitivities of 6.73 nm/m-1 and 54.7 pm/°C are achieved experimentally for curvature and temperature measurements, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid advances are being made toward optically cooling a single mode of a micro-mechanical system to its quantum ground state and observing the quantum behavior at macroscopic scales. Reaching this regime in roomtemperature environments requires a stringent condition on the mechanical quality factor Qm and frequency fm, Qm fm ≳ kBTbath/h, which so far has been marginally satisfied only in a small number of systems. Here we propose and analyze a new class of systems that should enable one to obtain unprecedented Q-frequency products. The technique is based on the use of optical forces to 'trap' and stiffen the motion of a tethered mechanical structure, thereby freeing the resulting mechanical frequencies and decoherence rates from the underlying material properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultracold polar molecules offer the possibility of exploring quantum gases with interparticle interactions that are strong, long-range and spatially anisotropic. This is in stark contrast to the much studied dilute gases of ultracold atoms, which have isotropic and extremely short-range (or ‘contact’) interactions. Furthermore, the large electric dipole moment of polar molecules can be tuned using an external electric field; this has a range of applications such as the control of ultracold chemical reactions, the design of a platform for quantum information processing and the realization of novel quantum many-body systems. Despite intense experimental efforts aimed at observing the influence of dipoles on ultracold molecules, only recently have sufficiently high densities been achieved. Here we report the experimental observation of dipolar collisions in an ultracold molecular gas prepared close to quantum degeneracy. For modest values of an applied electric field, we observe a pronounced increase in the loss rate of fermionic potassium–rubidium molecules due to ultracold chemical reactions. We find that the loss rate has a steep power-law dependence on the induced electric dipole moment, and we show that this dependence can be understood in a relatively simple model based on quantum threshold laws for the scattering of fermionic polar molecules. In addition, we directly observe the spatial anisotropy of the dipolar interaction through measurements of the thermodynamics of the dipolar gas. These results demonstrate how the long-range dipolar interaction can be used for electric-field control of chemical reaction rates in an ultracold gas of polar molecules. Furthermore, the large loss rates in an applied electric field suggest that creating a long-lived ensemble of ultracold polar molecules may require confinement in a two-dimensional trap geometry to suppress the influence of the attractive, ‘head-to-tail’, dipolar interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultracold polar molecular gases promise new directions and exciting applications in collisions and chemical reactions at ultralow energies, precision measurements, novel quantum phase transitions, and quantum information science. Here we briefly discuss key experimental requirements for observing strong dipole–dipole interactions in an ultracold dipolar gas of molecules. We then survey current experimental progress in the field with a focus on our recent work creating a near quantum degenerate gas of KRb polar molecules [Ni et al., Science, 2008, 322, 231]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polar molecules have bright prospects for novel quantum gases with long-range and anisotropic interactions, and could find uses in quantum information science and in precision measurements. However, high-density clouds of ultracold polar molecules have so far not been produced. Here, we report a key step towards this goal. We start from an ultracold dense gas of loosely bound 40K87Rb Feshbach molecules with typical binding energies of a few hundred kilohertz, and coherently transfer these molecules in a single transfer step into a vibrational level of the ground-state molecular potential bound by more than 10 GHz. Starting with a single initial state prepared with Feshbach association, we achieve a transfer efficiency of 84%. Given favourable Franck–Condon factors, the presented technique can be extended to access much more deeply bound vibrational levels and those exhibiting a significant dipole moment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new 24-membered ring lactone, macrolactin S, was isolated from a culture broth of marine Bacillus sp. and its structure was established by various spectral analyses. Macrolactin S is the first macrolactin hydroxylated at C-12. Besides, the known compounds macrolactin A and macrolactin B were also isolated, which were elucidated on the basis of spectral data analyses and literature data comparison. They exhibited antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a probabilistic fatigue crack growth life prediction methodology for spot-welded joints under variable amplitude loading history. The loading is multi-axial and is obtained from transient response analysis of a vehicle model using finite-element analysis. A three-dimensional (3D) finite element model of a simplified joint with four spot welds is developed, and the static stress analysis of this joint is performed. Then the fatigue crack inside the base material sheet is modelled as a surface crack. Probabilistic crack growth model is combined with the stress analysis result to develop a probabilistic fatigue crack growth life prediction methodology for spot welds. This new method is implemented with MSC/NASTRAN and MSC/FATIGUE and is useful for the reliability assessment of spot-welded joints against fatigue crack growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LXeGRIT is a liquid xenon time projection chamber (LXeTPC) used as balloon-borne Compton telescope for imaging cosmic sources in the MeV energy band. The three-dimensional position sensitive charge readout is triggered by the xenon scintillation light. In the original chamber design, the light is detected by four UV sensitive, 2" PMT's (EMI 9813), coupled to the liquid xenon vessel by quartz windows. In order to improve the trigger efficiency and uniformity, a new light readout system has been studied. It consists of 12 UV sensitive, compact 2" PMT's (Hamamatsu R6041Q), mounted in Teflon frames which cover the four sides of the LXeTPC active volume. These all-metal PMT's were especially developed to work at liquid xenon temperature and up to 3.5 atm overpressure. Light simulations promise, an increase in light collection efficiency by more. than a factor of ten for the new readout. We present simulations of the light collection efficiency and initial results from the successful operation of the new PMT fully immersed in liquid xenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the clinical effect of three different dosage-forms of Zhishi Xiaopi Pill ([for symbol see text, recipe on functional dyspepsia (FD). Methods: The total of 158 patients were included in this study and were randomly divided into four groups. Three group patients of FD were respectively treated with three different dosage-forms of ZSXPP, while the control group were treated with cisapride. Results: The treatment outcome indicated that there was no difference in the total therapeutic efficacies of these four groups. The tension of vagus nerve and the plasma level of motilin in FD patients were significantly increased by the treatment with ZSXPP; the impaired contraction function of lower esophageal sphincter in some FD patients was improved, too. Conclusion: All of three different dosage-forms of ZSXPP were as effective as cisapride on FD. The efficacy was partly due to the improvement of esophageal and gastric dynamics which was probably related to the increasing of the tension of vagus nerve and the plasma level of motilin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on a study which examined the incidence of cancellation of day surgery patients. Reasons for cancellation; Factors to be considered by hospitals performing day surgery.

Examines lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy in patients with breast cancer. Factors influencing the surgical approach to treating women with breast cancer; Development in lymphatic mapping and SLN biopsy; Techniques for performing lymphatic mapping of breast cancer.

The isothermal section of the Ti-Ni-Si ternary system at 1100 °C was constituted. Twenty-one single-phase areas were determined. The binary Ti3Si phase proposed to occur at 1100 °C was not found in the investigation. A new phase, with the composition of NiTi4Si4 named H, was detected. Some of the ternary compounds show noticeable composition ranges, especially G′-Ni3Ti2Si. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dendritic cells (DC) are distinguishable from other antigen-presenting cells by their potent antigen-presenting capacity. They are not only efficient at presenting peptide antigen but can also process and present soluble protein antigens to antigen-specific T cells and cloned T cell lines. They are very strong stimulators of both allogeneic and syngeneic mixed lymphocyte reactions and have a unique capacity to stimulate naive T cells. The potent functional capacity of DC is related to a high-level expression of major histocompatibility complex class IAI molecules and constitutive expression of costimulatory molecules, such as CDS0/CD86. as well as heat stable antigen. CD40 and the leucocyte function antigen (LFA) family of adhesion molecules. Recent studies have shown that DC are also involved m regulation of the immune response via induction of both central and peripheral tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1400‡C isothermal section of Ti-Al-Nb system was determined using the diffusion couple technique, along with optical microscopy and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). Equilibrated alloys were employed to identify the phase regions using XRD. The isothermal section consists of seven single-phase regions including Β(ΒTi,Nb), α(αTi), γ(TiAl), η((Ti,Nb)Al3), σ(Nb2Al), δ(Nb3Al), and γ1. The detailed studies on the γ31 phase were made by XRD, DTA, and DSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]