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Trauma associated sleep disorder is a proposed parasomnia that develops after trauma with clinical features of trauma related nightmares, disruptive nocturnal behaviors, and autonomic disturbances. The purpose of this case series is to better characterize the clinical and video-polysomnographic features of patients meeting clinical criteria for this proposed parasomnia.Semistructured clinical interview and detailed video-polysomnography review of 40 patients. Movements and vocalizations in rapid eye movement sleep were quantified according to the rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder severity scale.Patients (n = 40, 32 males) were service members and veterans with a median age of 38.9 years (range 24-57 years) who reported trauma related nightmares and disruptive nocturnal behaviors at home. On video-polysomnography, 28 (71.8%) patients had disruptive nocturnal behaviors in rapid eye movement sleep consisting of limb, head, and axial movements; vocalizations were present in 8 (20%). On the rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder severity scale, most (n = 28, 71.8%) had a low rating but those with greater severity (n = 11, 28.2%) had a higher prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (Disruptive nocturnal behaviors can be captured on video-polysomnography during rapid eye movement sleep, although they may be less pronounced than what patients report in their habitual sleeping environment. Clinical and video-polysomnographic correlations are invaluable in assessing patients with trauma associated sleep disorder to document objective abnormalities. This case series provides a further basis for establishing trauma associated sleep disorder as a unique parasomnia.Brock MS, Matsangas P, Creamer JL, et al. Clinical and polysomnographic features of trauma associated sleep disorder.

In the area of speech processing, human speaker identification under naturalistic environments is a challenging task, especially for hearing-impaired individuals with cochlear implants (CIs) or hearing aids (HAs). Motivated by the fact that electrodograms reflect direct CI stimulation of input audio, this study proposes a speaker identification (ID) investigation using two-dimensional electrodograms constructed from the responses of a CI auditory system to emulate CI speaker ID capabilities. Features are extracted from electrodograms through an identity vector (i-vector) framework to train and generate identity models for each speaker using a Gaussian mixture model-universal background model followed by probabilistic linear discriminant analysis. To validate the proposed system, perceptual speaker ID for 20 normal hearing (NH) and seven CI listeners was evaluated with a total of 41 different speakers and compared with the scores from the proposed system. A one-way analysis of variance showed that the proposed system can reliably predict the speaker ID capability of CI ( F[1,10] = 0.18, p = 0.68) and NH ( F[1,20] = 0, p = 0.98) listeners in naturalistic environments. The impact of speaker familiarity is also addressed, and the results show a reduced performance for speaker recognition by CI subjects using their CI processor, highlighting limitations of current speech processing strategies used in CIs/HAs.

Background/aims A lack of knowledge exists as to how municipalities are meeting the rehabilitation needs of patients recovering from COVID-19. This poses a potential barrier when referring patients for rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to map and describe municipality-based rehabilitation services for patients recovering from COVID-19 in Denmark. Methods This was a cross-sectional, nation-wide survey. Key staff members from all 98 municipalities in Denmark were invited to participate. Participants had insight into the organisation and professional content of municipal rehabilitation. Structured telephone interviews were conducted by three interviewers between October and November 2020. The interview guide consisted of items that asked about the availability, content and organisation of municipality-based rehabilitation services. Results A total of 91 municipalities (93% response rate) participated in the study. Rehabilitation could be provided within pre-existing services in 98% of municipalities and 93% systematically assessed individual rehabilitation needs using a variety of measurement methods. All municipalities reported that they had services in place to provide functional rehabilitation (eg gait training) and over 90% provided physical, cognitive and lifestyle-related rehabilitation. In contrast, 70% could provide COVID-19 education and 64% psychological therapy. Overall, 32% of municipalities had not received referrals for COVID-19 rehabilitation. Of the 62 municipalities that had COVID-19 rehabilitation experience, 73% rated the degree to which they could deliver coherent and coordinated rehabilitation for patients with complex rehabilitation needs as high or very high. Conclusions Overall, Danish municipalities reported that pre-existing services are in place to provide relevant, individualised rehabilitation for patients recovering from COVID-19. Nonetheless, future efforts should ensure that patient education is established, in step with health care providers accumulating knowledge, as well as integrated referral pathways between sectors, to deliver rehabilitation to patients with complex needs. Further, implementation of a national data collection strategy would strengthen and inform future development of relevant services both nationally and internationally.

When countries emerge from a civil war, accountability and compensation for harms done are crucial for peacebuilding. However, post-civil war governments face uncertain political contexts, delegation problems, difficulties building trust among former combatants, deficits of central administrative capacity, and incentives to reward supporters. Given these challenges, they are unlikely to be able to fairly distribute financial compensation. In Nepal, the awarding of internationally funded compensation for conflict-related losses provides a very tangible test regarding whether factional opportunism or broader public interest considerations guide post-conflict allocations. We hypothesize that without effective institutions, compensation will be skewed in favour of those in power and not proportional to harms suffered. Using individual-level data, we analyse who benefited from the post-conflict settlement, showing those killed by Maoist perpetrators, those sympathetic to the state and members of the state armed forces were more likely to be compensated, a biased, hence unfavourable, outcome for peacebuilding.

Background Death certificate data can improve our understanding of the mortality burden associated with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza. Methods We used International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes listed on death certificates to characterize deaths from 1999 to 2018 as RSV, influenza, and unspecified bronchiolitis. We described the distribution of each cause of death by age, sex, race/ethnicity, place of death, and contributing causes of death. Results Over the 20-year study period, RSV, bronchiolitis, and influenza were listed as the underlying causes of death on 932, 1046, and 52 293 death certificates, respectively. Children Conclusions Thorough reporting on death certificates is an important public health goal, especially as new therapeutics become available. Infants had higher odds of dying out of hospital from respiratory pathogens compared to other causes, and race/ethnicity alone did not explain this disparity.

In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused widespread destruction and displacement in parts of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. This research evaluates determinants of displacement and, conditional on being displaced, the duration of displacement for households living in areas affected by these hurricanes. Hurdle Models, which assume that different processes govern zero outcomes (i.e., no displacement) and positive outcomes (i.e., amount of time displaced), are used to model the likelihood of household displacement and its duration as a function of socioeconomic characteristics, hurricane-caused property and neighborhood damage, social support, and financial assistance. Results show that mobile home residence, marital status, educational attainment, the presence of children, and property and neighborhood damage affect the likelihood and expected length of displacement among sample respondents. Financial assistance and social support are also correlated with displacement and its duration, but endogeneity concerns complicate the interpretation of these results. The findings highlight the diversity of factors that slow households’ return following displacement and underscore the need for additional research on the role of social capital in determining hazard-related outcomes.

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common genetic cardiovascular disorder; however, detection rates remain low. While most patients are only mildly symptomatic, some develop serious complications such as heart failure (HF), atrial fibrillation (AF), and sudden cardiac death (SCD). Given the possibility of severe outcome, a large focus is put on early detection and prevention of possible HCM related complications. Syncope has long been one of these factors associated with increased risk of SCD, however little concrete data on the impact and consequences of prior syncope in a large HCM population exist. Objectives To determine the risk of ventricular tachycardia (VT), cardiac arrest (CA) and death in patients with HCM and prior history of syncope compared to HCM patients without syncope. Methods All patients aged ≥16 years diagnosed with HCM from 2005 - 2018 were identified in the Danish National Registers and included at first time diagnosis. All admissions or prior presentation of syncope were registered and analyzed for the outcome of a combined endpoint comprising occurrence of VT, CA or death. The association between HCM, syncope and the combined endpoint were investigated using multivariable cox proportional-hazard analysis adjusted for gender, age, and comorbidities. Cumulative incidence of the combined endpoint was calculated using the Aalen-Johansen estimator. Results In this study 3,856 HCM patients were included (median age 68 years [IQR 56-78]) with near equal gender distribution (males 53%, females 47%). Overall 361 (9%) of patients had a registered contact for syncope prior to HCM diagnosis. A total of 1356 patients (35%) reached the combined endpoint. Of those patients with prior syncope 163 patients (45%) reached the endpoint, compared to 1193 patients (34%) who had no registered syncope prior to HCM diagnosis. Univariate analysis showed a significantly increased risk (HR 1.5 (CI 1.3-1.8) p = Conclusion Although there was a significant increased rate of HCM patients with prior syncope reaching the combined endpoint of ventricular tachycardia, cardiac arrest and death, multivariate analysis showed this association to be mainly driven by comorbidity and age. In this cohort males with prior syncope were at a significantly higher risk of reaching the combined endpoint. More research will be needed to explore this disparity.

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Pulsed field ablation (PFA) is a novel method of cardiac ablation demonstrated in early preclinical and clinical settings. The aim of this study was to report the safety and clinical efficacy of pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) with PFA for real-world atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. Methods and results All-comer AF patients (n=121, 59% paroxysmal) were prospectively included and underwent PFA with 100% HD voltage maps performed after PVI. PVI was achieved with PFA-only in 119 (98%) of the cases. During the implementation phase the mean procedure and fluoroscopy time was reduced from 85 ± 34 to 72 ± 18 minutes (p=0.044) and 22 ±9 to 16 ±4 (p=0.034). We observed one phrenic nerve palsy with only partial remission at follow-up. Other adverse events were numerically comparable to standard PVI procedures. Over a mean follow-up of 308 ± 87 days a total of 22/121 (18.2%) cases experienced clinically significant recurrence or initiation of anti-arrhythmic drugs with Kaplan-Meier event-free estimate at 365 days of 80% (88% for paroxysmal versus 69% for persistent) Figure 1. HD mapping post-PVI showed insufficient acute lesion formation in up to 20% (60% of these right sided) resulting in additional PFA for sufficient isolation. In four of six re-do procedures significant gaps were located at the right pulmonary veins. Conclusion PFA was a highly efficient method to achieve PVI with reductions in procedure time and fluoroscopy over the implementation period. The safety, procedural data and clinical recurrence rates from initial trials were confirmed in real-life non-selected AF patients. More data is needed to investigate and understand the lesion durability and limitations of PFA.

Cable bacteria encompass at least two genera, and they are known to vary greatly in habitat preferences and filament thickness. We systematically investigated variations and similarities in cellular structures and electrical properties of different cable bacteria strains. Using SEM, TEM, STEM-EDX and ToF-SIMS, we characterized shared features of cable bacteria, such as inner and outer membranes, surface layer and cell junction architecture, as well as strain specific features, like the number and size of periplasmic conductive fibers (PCFs). Our data indicates that the PCFs are organized as loose stranded rope-like structures. With spatially resolved elemental analysis we detected nickel-containing co-factors within the PCF of cable bacteria strains in both genera suggesting a conserved conduction mechanism. Electrical conductivity of different cable bacteria strains showed a range of values covering three orders of magnitude indicating an unknown metabolic adaptation. Using cryogenic electron tomography we discovered multiple polar chemosensory arrays, abundant cytoplasmic inner membrane-attached vesicles (IMVs), polysomes and inner membrane invaginations that shed light on cable bacteria metabolism including complex motility control mechanisms, localized protein synthesis, and membrane remodeling. We propose that the IMVs discovered in this work are novel metabolic hubs closely connected to the unique conductive fiber structure of cable bacteria.

Sulfonamides are widely used antiobiotics and a threat to water resources and related ecosystems. While the direct discharge from untreated sewer or wastewater to surface water is a well-known pathway to the aquatic environment, only a limited number of studies have looked at the discharge and fate of sulfonamides from a contaminant plume to surface water so far.In this study, we investigated a sulfonamide contaminant plume discharging to a stream in Denmark. The sulfonamides (originating from a former production facility), are transported through a multilayered sandy aquifer and discharge to a groundwater-fed stream located down gradient. Our objectives were to evaluate if a screening using fluorescence properties could be used to delineate the sulfonamide contaminant plume and support the contaminant mass discharge estimation (both by transect method and in-stream measurements).Direct push technics in combination with a fluorescence screening allowed a relatively unexpensive coarse delineation of high concentrations areas (as opposed to laboratory analysis) down to 15 m.b.g.s. and ergo optimization of monitoring wells / screen locations in the transect. Chemical analyses were combined with slug test and hydraulic gradient estimates via continuous monitoring to quantify the sulfonamide flux and its temporal variations in a 2 km-long transect along the stream (24 monitoring wells with 3 - 6 screens).The estimated sulfonamide mass discharge (transect based) is in good agreement with the mass discharge calculated from in-stream measurements, highlighting the relevance of the screening approach to select appropriate measurement point locations. Furthermore, the comparison between the flux in both stream and groundwater compartments shows that the degradation of sulfonamides seems relatively limited in the near-stream and hyporheic zone, with the exception of the sulfanilic acid. The results of this study will be used for the prioritization of remedial actions along the main discharge zones.

During intestinal organogenesis, equipotent epithelial progenitors mature into phenotypically distinct stem cells that are responsible for life-long maintenance of the tissue. While the morphological changes associated with the transition are well-characterized, the molecular mechanisms underpinning the maturation process are not fully understood. Here, we leverage intestinal organoid cultures to profile transcriptional, chromatin accessibility, DNA methylation and 3D chromatin conformation landscapes defining fetal and adult epithelial cells. We observed prominent differences in gene expression and enhancer activity, accompanied by changes in 3D organization and local changes in DNA accessibility and methylation, between the two cellular states. Using integrative analyses, we identified sustained YAP transcriptional activity as a major gatekeeper of the immature fetal state. We found the YAP-associated transcriptional network to be regulated at various levels of chromatin organization, and likely to be coordinated by changes in extracellular matrix composition. Altogether, our work highlights the value of unbiased profiling of regulatory landscapes for the identification of key mechanisms underlying tissue maturation.

Lymphatic complications following vascular procedures involving the groin require prompt treatment to limit morbidity. Several treatments have been described, including conservative management, aspiration, sclerotherapy, and direct lymphatic ligation with or without a muscle flap have been described. To date, there is no data indicating which treatment results in the shortest time to recovery. We sought to address this gap by conducting a retrospective cohort study.We reviewed all patients who developed a lymphatic complication after undergoing an open revascularization procedure in the groin between 2014 and 2020 in which plastic surgery was involved in the closure. A control group consisted of patients from the same timespan who did not develop a lymphatic complication. Demographics, comorbidities, operative details, and outcomes were compared between these groups. For cases identified with a lymphatic complication, the method of diagnosis, culture data, and treatment details were collected, and outcomes were compared for surgical management versus sclerotherapy.There were 27 lymphatic complications and 60 control patients. The complication group had a higher incidence of aortofemoral bypass (25.8% vs. 8.3%, P = 0.04), and a lower incidence of femoral-to-distal bypass (11.1% vs. 45.0%, P0.01). Daily drain output volume from postoperative days 1-5, and days 6-10, was significantly higher in the complication group than in the controls (194.0 vs. 44.0, P0.01; and 429.5 vs. 35.0, P0.01, respectively). In the lymphatic leak group, 16 patients (59.3%) had surgical treatment and six (22.2%) had sclerotherapy. Of those who had surgery, 71.4% had successful outcomes without the need for an additional intervention, whereas all of the patients analyzed who were treated with sclerotherapy had successful outcomes without further intervention. The average time to resolution was significantly shorter for surgery than for sclerotherapy (38.7 vs. 86.0 days, P = 0.03).Daily postoperative drain volume can assist with early diagnosis of a lymphatic leak in the groin following an open revascularization procedure. Sclerotherapy and surgery were each successful, but surgery resulted in significantly shorter times to resolution. In the appropriate candidates, surgery should be considered first line management of a lymphatic leak.

T lymphocytes or T cells are key components of the vertebrate response to pathogens and cancer. There are two T cell classes based on their TCRs, αβ T cells and γδ T cells, and each plays a critical role in immune responses. The squamate reptiles may be unique among the vertebrate lineages by lacking an entire class of T cells, the γδ T cells. In this study, we investigated the basis of the loss of the γδ T cells in squamates. The genome and transcriptome of a sleepy lizard, the skink Tiliqua rugosa, were compared with those of tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus, the last living member of the Rhynchocephalian reptiles. We demonstrate that the lack of TCRγ and TCRδ transcripts in the skink are due to large deletions in the T. rugosa genome. We also show that tuataras are on a growing list of species, including sharks, frogs, birds, alligators, and platypus, that can use an atypical TCRδ that appears to be a chimera of a TCR chain with an Ab-like Ag-binding domain. Tuatara represents the nearest living relative to squamates that retain γδ T cells. The loss of γδTCR in the skink is due to genomic deletions that appear to be conserved in other squamates. The genes encoding the αβTCR chains in the skink do not appear to have increased in complexity to compensate for the loss of γδ T cells.

Artifactually decreased counts in regions of the left ventricle adjacent to intense splanchnic activity have been described in single photon emission computed tomography imaging and attributed to the side lobes of ramp filtering, a crucial step in filtered back projection. However, filtered back projection is based on a mathematical proof that makes no assumptions about the distribution of activity implying there is another cause for this artifact.Computer simulations of a left ventricle with varying intensity, proximity and size of adjacent splanchnic activity was created with and without attenuation. Both filtered back projection and an iterative expectation maximization algorithm were performed. Volume weighted bullseyes were generated then the ratio of average activity in regions in the anterior and inferior walls of the bullseye were calculated.In the absence of attenuation, there was no effect on uptake despite intense adjacent splanchnic activity. The effect of attenuation alone was mild but was greatly amplified by adjacent splanchnic uptake. This effect varied with the intensity, proximity and size of adjacent activity. Moving the attenuation to the apex of the left ventricle produced a paradoxical increase in counts to the inferior wall. The effect on iterative reconstruction was less pronounced than with filtered back projection and the paradoxical increase with attenuation at the apex did not occur.The ramp filter artifact in single photon emission computed tomography reconstruction is due to attenuation, not ramp filtering per se. Adjacent splanchnic activity can result in either an increase or decrease in counts. These effects are less pronounced and more consistent with iterative reconstruction.

Experimental hardware-research interfaces form a crucial role during developmental stages of any medical, signal-monitoring system as it allows researchers to test and optimize output results before perfecting the design for the actual FDA approved medical device and large-scale production. These testing platforms, intake raw signals through which performance of novel algorithms can be analyzed and modified to generate the desired data points for an optimized output, allowing the advancement of the medical device. With cochlear implants (CIs) and hearing aids (HAs) becoming a more common solution for varying degrees of hearing impairment, having modern signal processing strategies tested for such speech sensitive systems is a necessity. But the rigid design requirements of commercial CI and HA processors make it difficult to explore novel algorithms for research investigations and conducting longitudinal studies. This study presents the design, development, clinical evaluation, and applications of CCi-MOBILE, a computationally powerful signal processing testing platform built for researchers in the hearing-impaired field. The custom-made, portable research platform allows researchers to design and perform complex speech processing algorithm assessment offline and in real-time. It can be operated through user-friendly, open-source software and is compatible with implants manufactured by Cochlear Corporation. The FPGA design and hardware processing pipeline for CI stimulation is discussed followed by results from an acute study with implant users’ speech intelligibility in quiet and noisy conditions. The results show a consistent level of performance compared with CI users’ clinical processor, thus confirming the viability of the platform in chronic CI based studies.

Natural compensation of speech production in challenging listening environments is referred to as the Lombard effect (LE). The resulting acoustic differences between neutral and Lombard speech have been shown to provide intelligibility benefits for normal hearing (NH) and cochlear implant (CI) listeners alike. Motivated by this outcome, three LE perturbation approaches consisting of pitch, duration, formant, intensity, and spectral contour modifications were designed specifically for CI listeners to combat speech-in-noise performance deficits. Experiment 1 analyzed the effects of loudness, quality, and distortion of approaches on speech intelligibility with and without formant-shifting. Significant improvements of +9.4% were observed in CI listeners without the formant-shifting approach at +5 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) large-crowd-noise (LCN) when loudness was controlled, however, performance was found to be significantly lower for NH listeners. Experiment 2 evaluated the non-formant-shifting approach with additional spectral contour and high pass filtering to reduce spectral smearing and decrease distortion observed in Experiment 1. This resulted in significant intelligibility benefits of +30.2% for NH and +21.2% for CI listeners at 0 and +5 dB SNR LCN, respectively. These results suggest that LE perturbation may be useful as front-end speech modification approaches to improve intelligibility for CI users in noise.

Background Endothelin A receptor antagonists (ETARA) slow chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression but their use is limited due to fluid retention and associated clinical risks. Sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) cause osmotic diuresis and improve clinical outcomes in CKD and heart failure. We hypothesized that co-administration of the SGLT2i dapagliflozin with the ETARA zibotentan would mitigate the fluid retention risk using hematocrit (Hct) and bodyweight as proxies for fluid retention. Methods Experiments were performed in 4% salt fed WKY rats. First, we determined the effect of zibotentan (30, 100 or 300 mg/kg/day) on Hct and bodyweight. Second, we assessed the effect of zibotentan (30 or 100 mg/kg/day) alone or in combination with dapagliflozin (3 mg/kg/day) on Hct and bodyweight. Results Hct at day 7 was lower in zibotentan versus vehicle groups (zibotentan 30 mg/kg/day 43% (standard error [SE] 1), 100 mg/kg/day, 42% (1); and 300 mg/kg/day 42% (1); versus vehicle 46% (1); p Conclusions Combining ETARA with SGLT2i prevents ETARA induced fluid retention, supporting clinical studies to assess the efficacy and safety of combining zibotentan and dapagliflozin in individuals with CKD.

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Purpose: We report two clinical trials in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients evaluating immune response, toxicity, and clinical outcome after vaccination with the telomerase peptide GV1001: a phase II trial (CTN-2006) in patients vaccinated after chemoradiotherapy and an 8-year update on a previously reported phase I/II trial (CTN-2000).Experimental Design: CTN-2006: 23 inoperable stage III patients received radiotherapy (2 Gy × 30) and weekly docetaxel (20 mg/m2), followed by GV1001 vaccination. CTN-2000: 26 patients were vaccinated with two telomerase peptides (GV1001 and I540). The immune responses were evaluated by T-cell proliferation and cytokine assays.Results: CTN-2006 trial: a GV1001-specific immune response developed in 16/20 evaluable patients. Long-term immunomonitoring showed persisting responses in 13 subjects. Serious adverse events were not observed. Immune responders recorded a median PFS of 371 days, compared with 182 days for nonresponders (P = 0.20). CTN-2000 trial update: 13/24 evaluable subjects developed a GV1001 response. The immune responders achieved increased survival compared with nonresponders (median 19 months vs. 3.5 months; P < 0.001). Follow-up of four long-time survivors showed that they all harbored durable GV1001-specific T-cell memory responses and IFNγhigh/IL-10low/IL-4low cytokine profiles. Two patients are free of disease after 108 and 93 months, respectively.Conclusions: Vaccination with GV1001 is well tolerated, immunizes the majority of NSCLC patients and establishes durable T-cell memory. The considerable immune response rate and low toxicity in the phase II trial support the concept of combining chemoradiotherapy with vaccination. The survival advantage observed for immune responders warrants a randomized trial. Clin Cancer Res; 17(21); 6847–57. ©2011 AACR.

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Structured AbstractBackgroundHidradenitis suppurativa (HS) skin lesions are highly inflammatory and characterized by a large immune infiltrate. While B cells and plasma cells comprise a major component of this immune milieu the biology and contribution of these cells in HS pathogenesis is unclear.ObjectiveWe aimed to investigate the dynamics and microenvironmental interactions of B cells within cutaneous HS lesions.MethodsWe combined histological analysis, single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNAseq), and spatial transcriptomic profiling of HS lesions to define the tissue microenvironment relative to B cell activity within this disease.ResultsOur findings identify tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) within HS lesions and describe organized interactions between T cells, B cells, antigen presenting cells and skin stroma. We find evidence that B cells within HS TLS actively undergo maturation, including participation in germinal center reactions and class switch recombination. Moreover, skin stroma and accumulating T cells are primed to support the formation of TLS and facilitate B cell recruitment during HS.ConclusionOur data definitively demonstrate the presence of TLS in lesional HS skin and point to ongoing cutaneous B cell maturation through class switch recombination and affinity maturation during disease progression in this inflamed non-lymphoid tissue.

Adapting speaker recognition systems to new environments is a widely-used technique to improve a well-performing model learned from large-scale data towards a task-specific small-scale data scenarios. However, previous studies focus on single domain adaptation, which neglects a more practical scenario where training data are collected from multiple acoustic domains needed in forensic scenarios. Audio analysis for forensic speaker recognition offers unique challenges in model training with multi-domain training data due to location/scenario uncertainty and diversity mismatch between reference and naturalistic field recordings. It is also difficult to directly employ small-scale domain-specific data to train complex neural network architectures due to domain mismatch and performance loss. Fine-tuning is a commonly-used method for adaptation in order to retrain the model with weights initialized from a well-trained model. Alternatively, in this study, three novel adaptation methods based on domain adversarial training, discrepancy minimization, and moment-matching approaches are proposed to further promote adaptation performance across multiple acoustic domains. A comprehensive set of experiments are conducted to demonstrate that: 1) diverse acoustic environments do impact speaker recognition performance, which could advance research in audio forensics, 2) domain adversarial training learns the discriminative features which are also invariant to shifts between domains, 3) discrepancy-minimizing adaptation achieves effective performance simultaneously across multiple acoustic domains, and 4) moment-matching adaptation along with dynamic distribution alignment also significantly promotes speaker recognition performance on each domain, especially for the LENA-field domain with noise compared to all other systems., Comment: IEEE/ACM TRANSACTIONS ON AUDIO, SPEECH, AND LANGUAGE PROCESSING

Drinking water biofilms are considered beneficial as they increase the microbiological water stability. Multiple water quality measurements of a newly commissioned PE pipe in Aarhus, Denmark showed importance of biofilm formation on water quality.

BACKGROUND Complications following vascular procedures involving the groin can lead to significant morbidity. Achieving stable soft tissue coverage over sites of revascularization can help mitigate complications. Prior evidence supports the use of muscle flaps in reoperative groins and in high risk patient populations to reduce postoperative complications. Data regarding the use of prophylactic muscle flap coverage of the groin is lacking. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of immediate prophylactic muscle flap coverage of vascular wounds involving the groin. METHODS A retrospective cohort study was performed on all patients undergoing primary open vascular procedures involving the groin for occlusive, aneurysmal, or oncologic disease between 2014 and 2020 at a single institution where plastic surgery was involved in closure. Patient demographics, comorbidities, surgical details, and postoperative complications were compared between patients who had sartorius muscle flap coverage of the vascular repair versus layered closure alone. RESULTS A total of 133 consecutive groins were included in our analysis. A sartorius flap was used in 115 groins (86.5%) and a layered closure was used in 18 (13.5%). Wound breakdown was similar between groups (25.2% sartorius vs. 38.9% layered closure, P = 0.26). However, the rate of reoperation was significantly higher in the layered closure group (50.0% vs. 12.2%, P < 0.01). Among patients who experienced wound breakdown (N = 36), a larger proportion of layered closure patients required operative intervention (71.4% vs. 20.7%, P = 0.02). Other rates of complications were not statistically different between groups. CONCLUSIONS In patients undergoing primary open vascular procedures involving the groin, patients who underwent prophylactic sartorius muscle flap closure had lower rates of reoperation. Although incisional breakdown was similar between the groups overall, the presence of a vascularized muscle flap overlying the vascular repair was associated with reduced need for reoperation and allowed more wounds to be managed with local wound care alone. Consideration should be given to this low morbidity local muscle flap in patients undergoing vascular procedures involving the groin.

A NOAH-CEST NMR supersequence is introduced allowing the simultaneous acquisition of 15N and 13C-CEST experiments of proteins, resulting in the characterization of backbone and methyl side-chain dynamics from a single measurement.

A series of four different biomass feedstock was washed and hydrothermally carbonized at temperatures of 50 °C and 150–270 °C for four hours, respectively. For the first time both the resulting solid and liquid products were characterised and evaluated in a comprehensive study. Concerning fuel properties, HTC had a higher impact on the fuel quality than washing. HTC yielded hydrochar with higher carbon content than the starting material leading to a significant increase in heating value, while washing only had a minor effect on elemental composition and heating value. Treatment temperature was found to have the highest impact on LHV and elemental composition. Both washing and HTC proved effective in reducing potassium and chlorine content, while earth alkaline, phosphorous and silicon removal was limited. Process water characterisation revealed that filtrates from washing and HTC are acidic, with acidity being increased by HTC. Electrical conductivity of the effluent was found to correlate with the amount of electrolytes Na, K, Mg and Ca in the feedstock, thereby being feedstock dependent. COD, BOD5 and TOC values determined revealed that effluent from both washing and HTC is strongly contaminated by organic matter. The organic load was significantly higher in HTC effluents. Feedstock type was found to be the main influencing factor on effluent characteristics rather than HTC temperature. Nutrients were found in low concentrations. Graphic Abstract

This study investigated the effects of injectable vitamin C (VC) at weaning and prior to transit on growth performance and immune function in early-weaned beef steers. On day 0, 91 Angus × Simmental steers (92 ± 4 kg) were weaned (65 ± 11 d of age), given vaccination boosters, blocked by age, and randomly assigned to weaning (WEAN) treatments: intramuscular injections (20 mL per steer) of VC (250-mg sodium ascorbate per mL; 5 g per steer) or saline (SAL). From days 0 to 48, steers were housed at the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center (Simpson, IL) in pens (six pens; N = 14 to 16 steers per pen) equipped with two to three Vytelle bunks to measure individual daily feed disappearance. On day 49, half of the steers in each WEAN treatment were randomly assigned to an additional injection treatment (20 mL per steer) of VC or SAL prior to transport (TRANS). After administering pretransit injections, all steers were loaded onto a commercial livestock trailer with equal representation of treatments across compartments. Steers were transported for 6 h (approximately 480 km) to the Illinois Beef and Sheep Field Laboratory (Urbana, IL). Upon arrival, steers were sorted into pens (six pens; N = 13 to 17 steers per pen) with 2 Vytelle bunks per pen. Steers were weighed on days 0, 1, 14, 48, 49, 64, 78, 106, and 107. Blood was collected (WEAN = 24 steers per treatment; TRANS = 12 steers per treatment) on days 0, 1, 2, 14, 49 (pre- and posttransit), 50, and 51. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS 9.4 with fixed effects of age block, WEAN, TRANS, and WEAN × TRANS. Plasma ascorbate concentrations were greater (WEAN × time P0.01) on days 1 and 2 for steers that received VC at weaning. Similarly, for steers that received VC on day 49 pretransit, ascorbate concentrations were greater (TRANS × time P = 0.04) on days 49 posttransit, 50, and 51. Treatments did not affect (P ≥ 0.13) body weight, average daily gain, or gain to feed throughout the trial. Serum Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus type 1 and 2 antibody titers on days 14 and 51 were not affected (P ≥ 0.32) by treatment. Injectable VC administered to early-weaned beef steers at the time of weaning or pretransit increased plasma ascorbate concentrations but did not improve growth performance or antibody response to vaccination booster.Weaning and transit represent the primary stressors for beef calves in the United States and are responsible for increasing inflammation, suppressing the immune system, and decreasing antioxidant status. These adverse physiological responses to stressors may decrease growth and increase morbidity in beef calves. Vitamin C is the primary water-soluble antioxidant in plasma and when provided intramuscularly prior to the stress event, may be able to attenuate aspects of a stress response on growth and immune function. This study evaluated the effects of injectable vitamin C given to early-weaned beef calves prior to weaning on day 0 and a 6-h transit on day 49 after weaning. Basal levels of plasma ascorbate were lower than prior studies in older and larger animals. As expected, injectable vitamin C rapidly increased plasma ascorbate concentrations at 24 h, but concentrations also increased in control calves receiving a saline injection. Treatments did not affect overall growth performance or dry matter intake. Treatments also did not impact the immune response to a booster vaccination provided at weaning. While other research has indicated a positive effect of injectable vitamin C prior to transit, additional research is needed to refine the dosage and physiological need for exogenous antioxidants like vitamin C based on the severity and duration of a stress event in lightweight beef calves.

Cannabis sativais cultivated for multiple uses including the production of cannabinoids. In developing improved production systems for high-cannabinoid cultivars, scientists and cultivators must consider the optimization of complex and interacting sets of morphological, phenological, and biochemical traits, which have historically been shaped by natural and anthropogenic selection. Determining factors that modulate cannabinoid variation within and among genotypes is fundamental to developing efficient production systems and understanding the ecological significance of cannabinoids. Thirty-two high-cannabinoid hemp cultivars were characterized for traits including flowering date and shoot-tip cannabinoid concentration.Additionally, a set of plant architecture traits, as well as wet, dry, and stripped inflorescence biomass were measured at harvest. One plant per plot was partitioned post-harvest to quantify intra-plant variation in inflorescence biomass production and cannabinoid concentration. Some cultivars showed intra-plant variation in cannabinoid concentration, while many had a consistent concentration regardless of canopy position. There was both intra- and inter-cultivar variation in architecture that correlated with intra-plant distribution of inflorescence biomass, and concentration of cannabinoids sampled from various positions within a plant. These relationships among morphological and biochemical traits will inform future decisions by cultivators, regulators, and plant breeders as well as our broader understanding of intra-plant variation of specialized biochemicals.HighlightIn-season hemp plant architecture measurements can predict post-harvest traits related to the distribution of biomass and concentration of cannabinoids.

Naturalistic sounds encode salient acoustic content that provides situational context or subject/system properties essential for acoustic awareness, autonomy, safety, and improved quality of life for individuals with sensorineural hearing loss. Cochlear implants (CIs) are an assistive hearing device that restores auditory function in hearing impaired individuals. Most CI research advancements have focused on improving speech recognition in noisy, reverberant, or time-varying diverse environments. Relatively few studies have explored non-linguistic sound (NLS) perception among CIs, and those that have carried out such studies generally reported poor perception, suggesting a clear deficit in current CI sound processing systems. In this study, a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based NLS classification model is used as a framework to compare unprocessed and CI-simulated NLS classification and evaluate NLS perception targeted algorithms among CI listeners. Additionally, a NLS enhancement algorithm that focuses on improving identifiability and perception among CI listeners is proposed. The proposed NLS enhancement algorithm is evaluated based on identifiability performance using the CI-simulated NLS classification model. The proposed NLS classification framework was able to achieve near human-level performance with no significant effect of classification modality (model vs human subject) and achieved mean classification scores of 85.86% for NH ( p = 0.3758) and 65.25% for CI ( p = 0.1725). Among the four different feature-based methods of the proposed NLS enhancement algorithm, the “harmonicity”-based one achieved highest mean classification accuracy of 63.75%, when compared to baseline, and demonstrated significant improvement in performance ( p = 0.0403). The resulting proposed comparative NLS classification framework contributes toward (i) advancement of NLS recognition studies, (ii) mitigation of CI user recruitment constraints and listener evaluation with NH listeners, (iii) development of a community shared testbed for comparative NLS studies, and (iv) advancement of NLS enhancement studies (identifiability and perceptual factors) among CI listeners.