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The resect-and-discard strategy allows endoscopists to replace post-polypectomy pathology with real-time prediction of polyp histology during colonoscopy (optical diagnosis). We aimed to investigate the benefits and harms of implementing computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) for polyp pathology into the resect-and-discard strategy.

AbstractBrazil, a vital pineapple producer, faces phytosanitary challenges, mainly due to fusariosis caused by Fusarium guttiforme, which can lead to significant harvest losses. The frequent use of chemical fungicides has disadvantages because they are environmental contaminants. One option to avoid using these compounds is essential oils, which are of natural origin, biodegradable and have notable activity in controlling numerous pathogens. Thus, the present research aimed to evaluate in vitrothe potential of citronella essential oil to control the fungus F. guttiforme. The chemical identification of the essential oil components was conducted using gas chromatography with flame ionization detectors and mass spectrometry. The main compounds identified in citronella essential oil were citronellal (35.70%), geraniol (24.63%) and citronellol (15.98%). It was clear that the concentration of 1.050 μL mL−1of citronella essential oil promoted 100% inhibition of mycelial growth, with no statistically significant difference when compared to the positive control (Tecto® SC). These results confirm citronella essential oil’s remarkable in vitro potential in controlling the fungus F. guttiforme.

In this work, inexpensive and simple commercial transition metal salts were evaluated as catalysts in the acetalization of alkyl alcohols with β-citronellal, a renewable origin substrate. After an initial screening, FeCl3was the most active and selective catalyst among the various transition metal salts evaluated toward the β-citronellal methyl acetal. The impacts of main reaction parameters such as time, temperature, catalyst load, and type of alcohol on conversion and selectivity of the reactions were investigated. Different iron salts were also investigated. It was demonstrated that both oxidation number and type of anion present in the salt play an essential role in this reaction. Notably, the dissolution of catalyst salts in solution triggered a decrease in the pH of the medium due to the hydrolysis (and or solvolysis) of the metal cation, impacting the conversion and reaction selectivity. The highest activity of FeCl3was assigned to the greatest Lewis acidity strength, as demonstrated by the acidity measurements. This inexpensive, low-corrosive, and commercially affordable catalyst has advantages over traditional liquid mineral acid catalysts and provides an alternative route to synthesize alkyl terpene acetals.

The search for bioherbicides has been encouraged, and plants used in food or with bioactivity have been studied. Therefore, this article aimed to investigate the bioherbicidal potential of essential oils from Psidium cauliflorum and P. acidum through a plant toxicity bioassay using Lactuca sativa and Sorghum bicolor. The seeds were treated with essential oils of both species, along with control groups treated with distilled water, dichloromethane, and glyphosate. Germination percentage (GP), germination speed index (GSI), root growth (RG), shoot length (SL), mitotic index (MI), chromosomal alterations (CA), and nuclear alterations (NA) were evaluated. The major compound of the essential oil of P. cauliflorum was α-pinene, and of P. acidum were trans-caryophyllene, β-elemene, germacrene A, and α-copaene. The essential oils from both species exhibited phytotoxic effects. P. acidum oil inhibited sorghum RG and lettuce SL, while P. cauliflorum oil reduced GP, GSI, RG, and SL in both plants, indicating higher phytotoxicity than P. acidum and non-selective behavior. Cytotoxic investigations showed that both oils inhibited the MI. CA analysis revealed that P. cauliflorum oil exhibited aneugenic and clastogenic action mechanisms. The results demonstrate the bioherbicidal potential of P. cauliflorum essential oil, in addition to being non-selective and displaying a similar inhibition rate to glyphosate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epiphytes enrich the vegetation cover and provide relevant ecosystem services, which are very important in the urban environment for mitigating air pollution and effects such as heat islands. The majority of tree species used in the urban aforestation are exotic, and their capacity to provide a substratum for epiphytes is not thoroughly exploited. We tested an eventual preference of vascular epiphytes for exotic or native phorophytes in an urban area inside the Atlantic forest domain, evaluating the structure and composition of the studied community in four tree species. There was no preference for native or exotic trees, and the community showed a generalistic pattern in the choice of phorophytes. We hypothesized about other features which could be responsible for the distribution of epiphytes in the urban environment. This study showed that both exotic and native phorophytes can act as satisfactory substratum for the urban vascular epiphytes.

Estimating the velocity of a mass involved in nonsmooth impacts is a challenging problem because of their hybrid nature, especially when the restitution coefficient and the orientation of the tangent line at the point of impact are unknown. In this article, various hybrid observers are proposed for some families of mechanical systems to estimate the velocities, the restitution coefficient, and the orientation of the constraint, under the assumption that only the positions are measured. The stability properties of the corresponding error dynamics are proved, showing semiglobal exponential convergence to zero. First, the performance of the proposed observer is tested in some simulation runs. Second, the analysis is carried out in experimental tests, by measuring the position of the impacting body through slow and fast camcorders, with a post-processing of the recorded video. A final experimental evaluation is done in real-time with a hardware architecture based on a Raspberry Pi.

The objective of this paper is to propose an algorithmic procedure, based on the computation of determinants and on some algebraic geometry techniques, for the parametrization in closed-form of a class of asymptotically stable recursive implementations of numerical differentiators of a given order. Numerical examples show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

In this paper, algorithmic procedures based on algebraic geometry tools are proposed to design iteration maps with arbitrary order of superlinear convergence, for the solution of systems of multi-variable polynomial equations. First, the design is carried out in the single-variable case to illustrate its properties and to highlight its relation with the celebrated Newton and Householder iterative methods. Secondly, the proposed techniques are extended to the multi-variable case. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is highlighted via its application to the inverse kinematics of a robot arm.

Inner and outer homeomorphisms are considered for restoring the continuous differentiability (with bounded derivatives) with respect to time of the configuration of a rigid mechanical system subject to inequality constraints at the times of non-smooth impacts. The performances of the approach are tested by simulations.

The aim of this systematic review was to determine the best treatment alternatives for patients with maxillary lateral incisor agenesis (MLIA) by comparing orthodontic space closure, implant and tooth supported dental prostheses by assessing studies that evaluated their periodontal, occlusal (function) and aesthetic results.

The shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora.

The Paleocene-Eocene transition is characterized by a prominent negative carbon isotope excursion that corresponds to the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The sharp negative shift of stable carbon isotopes has been retained as marker for the Paleocene/Eocene boundary. Although recorded in several oceanic and onland settings, the PETM phases namely the onset, the core of the event and the recovery, are not adequately dated by standard calcareous nannofossils biozonations. Here, we present new biostratigraphic data from Sites 1209 (Shatsky Rise, Tropical Pacific Ocean) and 1263 (Walvis Ridge, South Eastern Atlantic Ocean) in order to precisely assess the succession of biostratigraphic events (first and last occurrences, changes in the assemblage composition), and to anchor them to the independent proxy represented by the δ13Cbulk carb curve. A tidy comparison of our data with nannofossil events from six sections located at different (paleo)latitudes and in different geological settings (open ocean-to-shelf) revealed 26 calcareous nannofossil events across a 250 kyrs long-lasting interval spanning the PETM, and allowed a high-resolution biozonal subdivision of this interval. Calcareous nannofossil events plotted against available δ13Cbulk carb curves show a certain degree of diachroneity, even when considering previously established zonal markers. Also, unconformities occur at the onset of PETM in most oceanic sites, but to a lesser extent in onland sections. We propose here a new biozonation, based on reproducible events at different localities, to obtain a chronostratigraphic subdivision with a high-resolution for this short-lasting hyperthermal event. We define thus four new zones spanning the latest Paleocene and the earliest Eocene that allow correlation of shelf and open-ocean localities, and two subzones mainly useful in shelf environments. These new zones correlate to the main trends of the δ13Cbulk carb curve and define the pre-excursion interval (PE-1), the negative δ13Cbulk carb shift defining the base of the Eocene (PE0), the core of the event, the recovery phase I (PE1) and the recovery phase II intervals (PE2).

We contribute to the study of Rota–Baxter operators on types of algebras other than associative and Lie algebras. If Ais an algebra of a certain type and Ris a Rota–Baxter operator on A, one can define a new multiplication on Aby means of Rand the previous multiplication and ask under what circumstances the new algebra is of the same type as A. Our first main result deals with such a situation in the case of BiHom-Lie algebras. Our second main result is a BiHom analogue of Aguiar’s theorem that shows how to obtain a pre-Lie algebra from a Rota–Baxter operator of weight zero on a Lie algebra. The BiHom analogue does not work for BiHom-Lie algebras, but for a new concept we introduce here, called left BiHom-Lie algebra, at which we arrived by defining first the BiHom version of Leibniz algebras.

In this paper, a dynamical interval Newton’s method is proposed to solve systems of nonlinear equations. Differently from other interval techniques available in the literature, the proposed method is capable of determining the roots of vector-valued time-varying functions. The design is carried out by firstly proposing an interval Newton’s method capable of determining the roots of a scalar time-varying function and then extending these results to the vector-valued case. If the function to be zeroed is polynomial, then it is shown how to couple the proposed scalar and vector Newton’s methods to determine improved estimates of its roots. Examples of application of the proposed procedure to the inverse kinematics of a robotic manipulator and to the problem of designing an observer for a nonlinear system are reported.

Specific microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles have been reported to be predictive of specific clinical outcomes of dental implants and might be used as biomarkers in implant dentistry with diagnostic and prognostic purposes. The aim of the present narrative review was to summarize current knowledge regarding the use of miRNAs in implant dentistry. The authors attempted to identify all available evidence on the topic and critically appraise it in order to lay the foundation for the development of further research oriented towards the clinical application of miRNAs in implant dentistry.

The leading hypothesis for the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event (T-OAE; c.183 Ma) and the associated negative C-isotope excursion is the massive release of 12C favouring greenhouse conditions and continental weathering. The nutrient delivery to shallow basins supported productivity and, because of O2consumption by organic-matter respiration, anoxia development. However, several studies have shown that calcareous nannoplankton experienced a decrease during the T-OAE. Nannofossil fluxes measured in the Llanbedr (Mochras Farm) borehole, Wales, UK, were the highest prior to the negative C-isotope excursion, along with high amounts of taxa indicative of nutrient-rich environments (Biscutaceae). Such conditions attest to high productivity. Fluxes show the lowest values in the core of the event, along with a size decrease of Schizosphaerellaand a peak in Calyculaceae. The recovery of nannofossil fluxes and Schizosphaerellasize occurred concomitant with the return of C-isotopes to more positive values. Concomitantly, deep dwellers (Crepidolithus crassus) dominated, indicating a recovery of the photic-zone productivity. These observations demonstrate that the cascade of environmental responses to the initial perturbation was more complex than previously considered. In spite of elevated nutrient delivery to epicontinental basins in the early Toarcian, carbonate and primary productions of nannoplankton were depressed in the core the T-OAE, probably because of prolonged thermohaline seawater stratification.

The authors describe 3 cases of retrograde peri-implantitis associated with residual cysts and their successful surgical and regenerative management. Implants were originally placed with both immediate and delayed protocols.

Vascular complications are among the most serious manifestations of diabetes. Atherosclerosis is the main cause of reduced life quality and expectancy in diabetics, whereas diabetic nephropathy and retinopathy are the most common causes of end-stage renal disease and blindness. An effective therapeutic approach to prevent vascular complications should counteract the mechanisms of injury. Among them, the toxic effects of Advanced Glycation (AGEs) and Lipoxidation (ALEs) end-products are well-recognized contributors to these sequelae. L-carnosine (β-alanyl-Lhistidine) acts as a quencher of the AGE/ALE precursors Reactive Carbonyl Species (RCS), which are highly reactive aldehydes derived from oxidative and non-oxidative modifications of sugars and lipids. Consistently, L-carnosine was found to be effective in several disease models in which glyco/lipoxidation plays a central pathogenic role. Unfortunately, in humans, L-carnosine is rapidly inactivated by serum carnosinase. Therefore, the search for carnosinase-resistant derivatives of Lcarnosine represents a suitable strategy against carbonyl stress-dependent disorders, particularly diabetic vascular complications. In this review, we present and discuss available data on the efficacy of L-carnosine and its derivatives in preventing vascular complications in rodent models of diabetes and metabolic syndrome. We also discuss genetic findings providing evidence for the involvement of the carnosinase/L-carnosine system in the risk of developing diabetic nephropathy and for preferring the use of carnosinase-resistant compounds in human disease. The availability of therapeutic strategies capable to prevent both long-term glucose toxicity, resulting from insufficient glucoselowering therapy, and lipotoxicity may help reduce the clinical and economic burden of vascular complications of diabetes and related metabolic disorders.

In this paper, some computational tools are proposed to determine the largest invariant set, with respect to either a continuous-time or a discrete-time system, that is contained in an algebraic set. In particular, it is shown that if the vector field governing the dynamics of the system is polynomial and the considered analytic set is a variety, then algorithms from algebraic geometry can be used to solve the considered problem. Examples of applications of the method &#x0028 spanning from the characterization of the stability to the computation of the zero dynamics &#x0029 are given all throughout the paper.

In this paper, by exploiting the concept of polynomial greatest common divisor, some algebraic tests are proposed to certify the structural properties of both discrete-time and continuous-time linear systems. Furthermore, by exploiting the concept of parametric greatest common divisor, such results are extended to certify the structural properties of systems whose dynamical matrices depend polynomially on some parameters.

In this paper, algebraic tests are proposed to establish asymptotic stability of parametric linear systems assuming that the parameters lie in a given variety. In particular, by using tools borrowed from algebraic geometry, necessary and sufficient condition are proposed to test whether a continuous-time or a discrete-time linear parametric system is asymptotically stable for all the specializations belonging to a given variety. Both the cases of zero dimensional and non-zero dimensional varieties are considered.

In this paper, a position feedback controller is proposed to solve the tracking problem in rectangular billiards. Such a controller is obtained by transforming the billiard table into a surface on which the ball moves without experiencing any impact, i.e.,by reflecting the billiard table rather than the ball trajectory, and designing a position feedback controller based on such an unfolded billiard table. Furthermore, it is shown how such an infinite billiard table can be mapped to the surface of a torus, thus leading to bounded trajectories of the ball.

Several studies have focused on the response of calcareous nannofossils to the Toarcian anoxic event (T-OAE), one of the most dramatic events of environmental perturbations of the Mesozoic Era. Nevertheless, the impact of marked environmental perturbations on calcareous nannofossils during the Pliensbachian/Toarcian transition (Pl/To; ~183 Ma), slightly before the T-OAE, remain comparatively less well documented. Here, we present a high-resolution biostratigraphical and chemostratigraphic study of two sections where the Pl/To is well represented. One section is located in Central Spain (La Almunia) and the second one is in North-Western France (Anse St. Nicolas). Although the two localities were paleogeographically close to each-other during the Early Jurassic, dissimilarities in the nannofossil assemblages suggest different paleoenvironmental conditions. Across the Pl/To boundary, absolute abundances (nannofossils/gram of rock) and placolith-coccoliths increased substantially in both sections. Equally, carbon isotopes show a negative excursion at the boundary followed by a trend to more positive values. The comparison of our new data to seven sections located in both Northern and Southern Tethyan margins, shows that the Pl/To corresponded to a major diversification event of coccoliths. The Pl/To speciation caused a pronounced shift from muroliths to placoliths. Some differences are observed from one section to another, but several first occurrences (FO) of species and a reorganization of the nannofossil community are documented in all the localities. Some of these FOs are biostratigraphically useful for the definition of the Pl/To boundary, like the FOs of Biscutum intermedium, Zeugrhabdothus erectus and Discorhabdus ignotus. The carbon cycle perturbation at the Pl/To occurred during a transgressive event after a pronounced cooling event and a sea-level drop that triggered hiatuses in many localities. The origination event of calcareous nannofossils is closely linked to all these phenomena. Thus, the Pl/To event has to be seen as the onset of profound paleoenvironmental perturbations that culminated with the T-OAE.

The broad use of artificial intelligence (AI) and its various applications have already shown significant impact in medicine and in everyday life. In gastroenterology, the most studied AI tools at present are computer-aided detection (CADe) and computer-aided diagnosis (CADx). These tools have been mainly assessed during colonoscopy for the detection of polyps and for the prediction of their histology based on their appearance. Their use aims to improve colonoscopy quality, standardize procedures, and potentially reduce costs. Data on CADe demonstrates clear benefits that are applicable to clinical practice. While CADx shows good diagnostic performance, its additional benefits in assisting endoscopists remain unclear

Introduction: Maxillary expansion in patients at the end of their growth relies on the possibility to use miniscrew supported expanders to apply expansion forces directly to the midpalatal suture. Although miniscrews provide a stable anchorage unit, several studies have reported that they do not remain in exactly the same position during treatment. The aim of the present study was to analyze miniscrew position changes after the expansion using bone-borne appliances in late adolescent patients. Methods: Nineteen patients (13 females, 6 males), with a mean age of 17.81 (SD = 4.66), were treated with a Bone-Borne Expander Device. The appliance was designed with 4 miniscrews: 2 in the anterior palatal area, at the third rugae level; 2 in the posterior area. A CBCT and an intraoral scan were obtained before treatment (T0), and then, a second CBCT was obtained after the expansion (T1). Data on peri-suture bone thickness were collected at T0, then the CBCTs were superimposed, and changes between mini-screws position on T0 and T1 were evaluated, both by linear and angular displacements. Results: Significant longitudinal differences were found in the distance of the head and the tip of miniscrews measured at the occlusal plane, as well as angular changes. Correlations between displacement measurements and peri-suture bone thickness and height measurements were found as well. Conclusions: While acting as bone anchor units, miniscrews do not remain in the same position during bone-borne expansion. The amount of displacement was related to peri-sutural total bone height and cortical thickness, especially in the anterior area of the naso-frontal maxillary complex.

Biodiesel is a fuel from vegetable oil or animal fat, and is a promising substitute for petroleum-derived diesel. Transesterification is the most widely used method in biodiesel production. Eggshell is rich in calcium carbonate (CaCO3), and when it is subjected to heat treatment it results in calcium oxide (CaO). CaO from eggshells was prepared at different calcination temperatures, and characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The obtained CaO was used as a catalyst. All catalysts showed good stability and excellent morphology for biodiesel synthesis. Catalytic activity was evaluated by the methyl transesterification reaction of cotton oil for 3 h, 9:1 methanol:oil molar ratio, 3 wt% (catalyst/oil weight ratio) catalyst and 60°C. Biodiesels showed an ester content of 97.83%, 97.23% and 98.08%, obtained from calcined eggshell at 800°C, 900°C and 1000°C, respectively. Biodiesel quality was affected by the acidity of the cation exchange resin. The kinematic viscosity of biodiesel was in accordance with specification, except for the biodiesel obtained from the calcined catalyst at 1000°C. The CaO from eggshells obtained at different calcination temperatures is promising for biodiesel synthesis.