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CONTEXT: Long-term glucocorticoid levels in scalp hair (HairGCs), including cortisol and the inactive form cortisone, represent the cumulative systemic exposure to glucocorticoids over months. HairGCs have repeatedly shown associations with cardiometabolic and immune parameters, but longitudinal data are lacking.DESIGN: We investigated 6341 hair samples of participants from the Lifelines cohort study for cortisol and cortisone levels, and associated these to incident cardiovascular diseases (CVD) during 5-7 years of follow-up. We computed the odds ratio (OR) of HairGC levels for incident CVD via logistic regression, adjusting for classical cardiovascular risk factors, and performed a sensitivity analysis in subcohorts of participants <60 years and >= 60 years. Also, we associated HairGC levels to immune parameters (total leukocytes and subtypes).RESULTS: Hair cortisone levels (available in n = 4701) were independently associated with incident CVD (p < 0.001), particularly in younger individuals (multivariate-adjusted OR 4.21, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.91-9.07 per point increase in 10-log cortisone concentration (pg/mg), p < 0.001). All immune parameters except eosinophils were associated with hair cortisone (all multivariate-adjusted p < 0.05).CONCLUSIONS: In this large, prospective cohort study, we found that long-term cortisone levels, measured in scalp hair, represent a relevant and significant predictor for future cardiovascular diseases in younger individuals. These results highlight glucocorticoid action as possible treatment target for CVD prevention, where hair glucocorticoid measurements could help identify individuals that may benefit from such treatments.

Safeguarding Earth’s tree diversity is a conservation priority due to the importance of trees for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services such as carbon sequestration. Here, we improve the foundation for effective conservation of global tree diversity by analyzing a recently developed database of tree species covering 46,752 species. We quantify range protection and anthropogenic pressures for each species and develop conservation priorities across taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity dimensions. We also assess the effectiveness of several influential proposed conservation prioritization frameworks to protect the top 17% and top 50% of tree priority areas. We find that an average of 50.2% of a tree species’ range occurs in 110-km grid cells without any protected areas (PAs), with 6,377 small-range tree species fully unprotected, and that 83% of tree species experience nonnegligible human pressure across their range on average. Protecting high-priority areas for the top 17% and 50% priority thresholds would increase the average protected proportion of each tree species’ range to 65.5% and 82.6%, respectively, leaving many fewer species (2,151 and 2,010) completely unprotected. The priority areas identified for trees match well to the Global 200 Ecoregions framework, revealing that priority areas for trees would in large part also optimize protection for terrestrial biodiversity overall. Based on range estimates for >46,000 tree species, our findings show that a large proportion of tree species receive limited protection by current PAs and are under substantial human pressure. Improved protection of biodiversity overall would also strongly benefit global tree diversity.

Background: Weight loss can induce changes in appetite-regulating hormone levels, possibly linked to increases in appetite and weight regain. However, hormonal changes vary across interventions. Here, we studied levels of appetite-regulating hormones during a combined lifestyle intervention (CLI: healthy diet, exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy). Methods: We measured levels of long-term adiposity-related hormones (leptin, insulin, high-molecular-weight (HMW) adiponectin) and short-term appetite hormones (PYY, cholecystokinin, gastric-inhibitory polypeptide, pancreatic polypeptide, FGF21, AgRP) in overnight-fasted serum of 39 patients with obesity. Hormone levels were compared between T0 (baseline), T1 (after 10 weeks) and T2 (end of treatment, 1.5 years). T0-T1 hormone changes were correlated with T1-T2 anthropometric changes. Results: Initial weight loss at T1 was maintained at T2 (-5.0%, p < 0.001), and accompanied by decreased leptin and insulin levels at T1 and T2 (all p < 0.05) compared to T0. Most short-term signals were not affected. Only PP levels were decreased at T2 compared to T0 (p < 0.05). Most changes in hormone levels during initial weight loss did not predict subsequent changes in anthropometrics, except for T0-T1 decreases in FGF21 levels and T0-T1 increases in HMW adiponectin levels tended to be associated with larger T1-T2 increases in BMI (p < 0.05 and p = 0.05, respectively). Conclusion: CLI-induced weight loss was associated with changes in levels of long-term adiposity-related hormones towards healthy levels, but not with orexigenic changes in most short-term appetite signals. Our data indicates that the clinical impact of alterations in appetite-regulating hormones during modest weight loss remains questionable. Future studies should investigate potential associations of weight-loss-induced changes in FGF21 and adiponectin levels with weight regain.

Disrupted hormonal appetite signaling plays a crucial role in obesity as it may lead to uncontrolled reward-related eating. Such disturbances can be induced not only by weight gain itself but also by glucocorticoid overexposure, for example, due to chronic stress, disease, or medication use. However, the exact pathways are just starting to be understood. Here, we present a conceptual framework of how glucocorticoid excess may impair hormonal appetite signaling and, consequently, eating control in the context of obesity. The evidence we present suggests that counteracting glucocorticoid excess can lead to improvements in appetite signaling and may therefore pose a crucial target for obesity prevention and treatment. In turn, targeting hormonal appetite signals may not only improve weight management and eating behavior but may also decrease detrimental effects of glucocorticoid excess on cardio-metabolic outcomes and mood. We conclude that gaining a better understanding of the relationship between glucocorticoid excess and circulating appetite signals will contribute greatly to improvements in personalized obesity prevention and treatment.

Background: Obesity is a multifactorial, chronic, progressive disease associated with decreased health-related quality of life, co-morbidities, and increased mortality risk. Lifestyle interventions, focusing on dietetics, physical exercise, and behavioral therapy, are a cornerstone of therapy. Despite this very multidisciplinary treatment approach, the definition of treatment success is still based only on an average weight loss of ≥ 5%. However, the heterogeneous nature of obesity may necessitate a more comprehensive approach to assessing treatment effects. Objectives: Here, we describe changes in physiological, psychological, and behavioral health after a multidisciplinary combined lifestyle intervention (CLI). Additionally, we investigated whether these changes were related to weight loss. Methods: This prospective longitudinal study comprised 96 adults with obesity (73 women, 81 Caucasian) participating in a CLI at the Obesity Center CGG, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The 1.5-year intervention comprised mul-tidisciplinary professional guidance towards a healthy diet, increased physical activity, and included cognitive behavioral therapy. Physiological health outcomes, psychological well-being, eating behavior, and physical activity were assessed after ten weeks and 1.5 years and compared to baseline. Results: An average of 5.2% weight loss (-6.0 kg) was accompanied by a mean 9.8% decrease in fat mass (-5.9 kg; both P < 0.001) and significant improvements in metabolism, hormonal status, and immune parameters (all P < 0.05). Moreover, we observed decreased psychopathology, increased quality of life, and decreased disordered eating (all P < 0.05). Weight loss correlated with most metabolic changes (all P < 0.05) but not with most psychological/behavioral changes. Conclusions: Combined lifestyle intervention in patients with obesity was accompanied by significant improvements in body weight and body composition along w

Current policy is driving renewed impetus to restore forests to return ecological function, protect species, sequester carbon and secure livelihoods. Here we assess the contribution of tree planting to ecosystem restoration in tropical and sub-tropical Asia; we synthesize evidence on mortality and growth of planted trees at 176 sites and assess structural and biodiversity recovery of co-located actively restored and naturally regenerating forest plots. Mean mortality of planted trees was 18% 1 year after planting, increasing to 44% after 5 years. Mortality varied strongly by site and was typically ca 20% higher in open areas than degraded forest, with height at planting positively affecting survival. Size-standardized growth rates were negatively related to species-level wood density in degraded forest and plantations enrichment settings. Based on community-level data from 11 landscapes, active restoration resulted in faster accumulation of tree basal area and structural properties were closer to old-growth reference sites, relative to natural regeneration, but tree species richness did not differ. High variability in outcomes across sites indicates that planting for restoration is potentially rewarding but risky and context-dependent. Restoration projects must prepare for and manage commonly occurring challenges and align with efforts to protect and reconnect remaining forest areas.

Plant functional traits can predict community assembly and ecosystem functioning and are thus widely used in global models of vegetation dynamics and land–climate feedbacks. Still, we lack a global understanding of how land and climate affect plant traits. A previous global analysis of six traits observed two main axes of variation: (1) size variation at the organ and plant level and (2) leaf economics balancing leaf persistence against plant growth potential. The orthogonality of these two axes suggests they are differently influenced by environmental drivers. We find that these axes persist in a global dataset of 17 traits across more than 20,000 species. We find a dominant joint effect of climate and soil on trait variation. Additional independent climate effects are also observed across most traits, whereas independent soil effects are almost exclusively observed for economics traits. Variation in size traits correlates well with a latitudinal gradient related to water or energy limitation. In contrast, variation in economics traits is better explained by interactions of climate with soil fertility. These findings have the potential to improve our understanding of biodiversity patterns and our predictions of climate change impacts on biogeochemical cycles.

Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.

Medical term for artificial ventilator is electrical ventilator, in which an electrical motor replaces spontaneous breathing, which may necessitate the use of a ventilator. Manual compression of the Ambu bag can help with breathing. Engineering and architectures must be guided by current rules for the realization of every project. And we must check whether the parameters given is sufficient or not. From this cost-effective ventilator system comes into play. For treating covid-19 particularly in nations like India where we have large population there is a moment necessity of cost-effective ventilators which can operate with sufficient functionality to cure Covid patients. This paper describes the design of cost-effective ventilator system which detects oxygen level, body temperature and pulse rate.

Recently, machine gaining expertise of strategies have been used to predict a driver's circumstance in order to grant records that will decorate road safety. A driver's circumstance can be estimated through a driver's facial expressions and riding behaviors. Recent developments in video processing the usage of laptop computer analyzing have enabled snap shots acquired from cam-eras to be analyzed with immoderate accuracy. In this proposed system, an approach for extracting certain factors of the eyes and the mouth using Open CV and Dlib library. It offers an alarm when drowsiness and accident occur. An alert will be acquired to the licensed person through the WiFi module linked to the raspberry-pi, the automobile will be stopped.

The most of common method of identifying an animal for a human was based on his knowledge what he had acquired yet still the identification of few animals is still a tremendous task. In order to overcome this problem, we make use of advanced technology like computer vision along with YOLO V5 algorithms for the better performance and analysis of animal recognition. A sample input will be fed which will be analyzed using the YOLO algorithms, animal will be recognized and using the pretrained dataset and provide the right output.

This project presents a fixed frequency divider built on FMCML flops. Since common-mode issues might develop when employing only one type of FMCML flip-flop, the idea is based on switching FMCML flops using CMOS input differential duo. Our method avoids intermediate stages by making use of Frequency divide by 16 by adopting FCMCML D Latch having complementary transistors. An adapting approach is discussed here such that it makes use of Scaler architecture with 4 NMOS having an enable pin so that it attains minimal power dissipation and reduction in overall delay.

This venture manages naturally gathering the Water utilization by a client and furthermore identifying the spillages in the water dissemination framework. Water spillage is a significant part of water misfortunes. As well as raising shopper attention to their water use, metering is likewise a significant method for distinguishing and confines water spillage. A hole identification program can be exceptionally proactive, assisting water utilities with robotizing water frameworks, recognizing trouble spots prior, giving clients instruments to screen water use, giving more exact rates and diminishing interest. The goals are to defeat the burdens of utilizing ebb and flow meter innovation and make the charging and investigating process quicker alongside diminishing the wastage of water. Message and Wi-Fi (IoT) innovation naturally gathers utilization, determinations, and gathers status information from energy meter and moving that data to a focus point data set for charging examining and investigating. This progression saves the cost of infrequent trips to each utility supplier actual area to peruse a meter. One more benefit is charging can be founded on close to regular utilisation as opposed to in the gauges view of previous or anticipated use. This ideal data in combination with investigation, can assist both utility providers and customers with bettering control to the creation and usage of water utilization.

Increasing evidence points to a relation between increased glucocorticoid (GC) exposure and weight gain. In support, long-term cortisol measurements using hair analysis revealed that many individuals with obesity appear to have cortisol values in the high physiological range. The mechanisms behind this relationship need to be determined in order to develop targeted therapy to reach sustainable weight loss in these subgroups. The effect of GCs is not only determined by the plasma concentration of GCs but also by individual differences in GC sensitivity and the target tissue, which can be analyzed by functional GC assays. GC sensitivity is influenced by multiple genetic and acquired (e.g., disease-related) factors, including intracellular GC availability, hormone binding affinity, and expression levels of the GC receptors and their isoforms, as well as factors involved in the modulation of gene transcription. Interindividual differences in GC sensitivity also play a role in the response to exogenous GCs, with respect to both therapeutic and adverse effects. Accordingly, in this review, we summarize current knowledge on mechanisms that influence GC sensitivity and their relationships with obesity and discuss personalized treatment options targeting the GC receptor.

Background: Increased levels of serotonin secretion are associated with mesenteric fibrosis (MF) in small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors (SI-NETs). However, the profibrotic potential of serotonin differs between patients, and in this study, we aimed to gain an understanding of the mechanisms underlying this variability. To this end, we analyzed the proteins involved in tryptophan metabolism in SI-NETs. Methods: Proteomes of tumor and stroma from primary SI-NETs and paired mesenteric metastases of patients with MF (n = 6) and without MF (n = 6) were identified by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The differential expression of proteins involved in tryptophan metabolism between patients with and without MF was analyzed. Concurrently, monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) expression was analyzed in the tumor and stromal compartment by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and reported as intensity over area (I/A). Results: Of the 42 proteins involved in tryptophan metabolism, 20 were detected by LC-MS. Lower abundance of ten proteins was found in mesenteric metastases stroma in patients with MF. No differential expression was found in primary SI-NETs. In patients with MF, IHC showed lower MAO-A expression in the stroma of the primary SI-NETs (median 4.2 I/A vs 6.5 I/A in patients without MF, P = 0.003) and mesenteric metastases (median 2.1 I/A vs 2.8 I/A in patients without MF, P = 0.019). Conclusion: We found a decreased expression of tryptophan and serotonin-metabolizing enzymes in the stroma in patients with MF, most notably in the mesenteric stroma. This might account for the increased profibrotic potential of serotonin and explain the variability in the development of SI-NET-associated fibrotic complications.

Young children are at an increased risk of contracting contagious diseases such as COVID-19 due to improper hand hygiene. An autonomous social agent that observes children while handwashing and encourages good hand washing practices could provide an opportunity for handwashing behavior to become a habit. In this article, we present a human action recognition system, which is part of the vision system of a social robot platform, to assist children in developing a correct handwashing technique. A modified convolution neural network (CNN) architecture with Channel Spatial Attention Bilinear Pooling (CSAB) frame, with a VGG-16 architecture as the backbone is trained and validated on an augmented dataset. The modified architecture generalizes well with an accuracy of 90% for the WHO-prescribed handwashing steps even in an unseen environment. Our findings indicate that the approach can recognize even subtle hand movements in the video and can be used for gesture detection and classification in social robotics.

With the advent of new IEEE 802.11ax (WiFi 6) devices, enabling security is a priority. Since previous versions were found to have security vulnerabilities, to fix the most common security flaws, the WiFi Protected Access 3 (WPA3) got introduced. Although WPA3 is an improvement over its predecessor in terms of security, recently it was found that WPA3 has a few security vulnerabilities as well. In this paper, we have mentioned the previously known vulnerabilities in WPA3 and WPA2. In addition to that, we have created our own dataset based on WPA3 attacks (Section III). We have proposed a two-stage solution for the detection of an intrusion in the network. The two-stage approach will help ease computational processing burden of an AP and WLAN Controller. First, AP will perform a lightweight simple operation for some duration (say 500ms) at certain time interval. Upon discovering any abnormality in the flow of traffic an ML-based solution at the controller will detect the type of attack. Our approach is to utilize resources on AP as well as the back-end controller with certain level of optimization. We have achieved over 99% accuracy in attack detection using an ML-based solution. We have also publicly provided our code and dataset for the open-source research community, so that it can contribute for future research work.

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop an open-source and reproducible digital quantitative analysis (DIA) of somatostatin receptor subtype 2a (SST2) staining in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (panNETs) and growth hormone (GH)-secreting pituitary adenomas (GHomas). Design: SST2 immunostaining of 18 panNETs and 39 GHomas was assessed using a novel DIA protocol and compared with a widely used semi-quantitative immunoreactivity score (IRS). Methods: The DIA software calculates the staining intensity/area and the percentage of positive cells (%PC). Four representative images were selected for each sample by two independent selectors (S1 and S2), with the analysis performed by two independent analyzers (A1 and A2). Agreement between observers was calculated using the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC). Results: In panNETs, the CCC ranged 0.935-0.977 for intensity/area and 0.942-0.983 for %PC. In GHomas, the CCC ranged 0.963-0.997 for intensity/area and 0.979-0.990 for %PC. In both panNETs and GHomas, the DIA staining intensity was strongly correlated with the IRS (Spearman rho: 0.916-0.969, P < 0.001), as well as the DIA %PC with the IRS %PC (Spearman rh: 0.826-0.881, P < 0.001). In GHomas, the biochemical response to somatostatin receptor ligands correlated with SST2 expression, evaluated both as DIA intensity/area (Spearman rho: -0.448 to -0.527, P = 0.007-0.004) and DIA %PC (Spearman rho: -0.558 to -0.644, P ≤ 0.001). Conclusions: The DIA has an excellent inter-observer agreement and showed a strong correlation with the widely used semi-quantitative IRS. The DIA protocol is an open-source, highly reproducible tool and provides a reliable quantitative evaluation of SST2 immunohistochemistry.

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a rare multi-system genetic disorder characterized by a high incidence of epilepsy and neuropsychiatric manifestations known as tuberous-sclerosis-associated neuropsychiatric disorders (TANDs), including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small regulatory non-coding RNAs that regulate the expression of more than 60% of all protein-coding genes in humans and have been reported to be dysregulated in several diseases, including TSC. In the current study, RNA sequencing analysis was performed to define the miRNA and isoform (isomiR) expression patterns in serum. A Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to identify circulating molecular biomarkers, miRNAs, and isomiRs, able to discriminate the development of neuropsychiatric comorbidity, either ASD, ID, or ASD + ID, in patients with TSC. Part of our bioinformatics predictions was verified with RT-qPCR performed on RNA isolated from patients’ serum. Our results support the notion that circulating miRNAs and isomiRs have the potential to aid standard clinical testing in the early risk assessment of ASD and ID development in TSC patients.

In order to link infrared observations of dust formed during planet formation in debris disks to mid-infrared spectroscopic data of planetary materials from differentiated terrestrial and asteroidal bodies, we obtained absorption spectra of a representative suite of terrestrial crustal and mantle materials, and of typical Martian meteorites. A series of debris disk spectra characterized by a strong feature in the 9.0-9.5 micron range (HD23514, HD15407a, HD172555 and HD165014), is comparable to materials that underwent shock, collision or high temperature events. These are amorphous materials such as tektites, SiO2-glass, obsidian, and highly shocked shergottites as well as inclusions from mesosiderites (Group A). A second group (BD+20307, Beta Pictoris, HD145263, ID8, HD113766, HD69830, P1121, and Eta Corvi) have strong pyroxene and olivine bands in the 9-12 micron range and is very similar to ultramafic rocks (e.g. harzburgite, dunite)(Group B). This could indicate the occurrence of differentiated materials similar to those in our Solar System in these other systems. However, mixing of projectile and target material, as well as that of crustal and mantle material has to be taken into account in large scale events like hit-and-run and giant collisions or even large-scale planetary impacts. This could explain the olivine-dominated dust of group B. The crustal-type material of group A would possibly require the stripping of upper layers by grazing-style hit-and run encounters or high energy events like evaporation/condensation in giant collisions. In tidal disruptions or the involvement of predominantly icy/water bodies the resulting mineral dust would originate mainly in one of the involved planetesimals. This could allow attributing the observed composition to a specific body (such as e.g. Eta Corvi).

Mid-infrared (5 micron to 25 micron) transmission/absorption spectra of differentiated meteorites (achondrites) were measured to permit comparison with astronomical observations of dust in different stages of evolution of young stellar objects. In contrast to primitive chondrites, achondrites underwent heavy metamorphism and/or extensive melting and represent more advanced stages of planetesimal evolution. Spectra were obtained from primitive achondrites (acapulcoite, winonaite, ureilite, and brachinite) and differentiated achondrites (eucrite, diogenite, aubrite, and mesosiderite silicates). The ureilite and brachinite show spectra dominated by olivine features, and the diogenite and aubrite by pyroxene features. The acapulcoite, winonaite, eucrite, and mesosiderite silicates exhibit more complex spectra, reflecting their multi-phase bulk mineralogy. Mixtures of spectra of the primitive achondrites and differentiated achondrites in various proportions show good similarities to the spectra of the few Myr old protoplanetary disks HD104237A and V410 Anon 13. A spectrum of the differentiated mesosiderite silicates is similar to the spectra of the mature debris disks HD172555 and HD165014. A mixture of spectra of the primitive ureilite and brachinite is similar to the spectrum of the debris disk HD113766. The results raise the possibility that materials produced in the early stage of planetesimal differentiation occur in the protoplanetary and debris disks.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are the fundamental building blocks of today's contemporary Internet of Things, with applications ranging from smart agriculture to smart cities to online industrial monitoring. The battery energy of WSN nodes is restricted, which is a key design restriction. The objectives of this paper are to use a solar energy harvesting technology to extend the lifetime of a WSN network. An iterative re-enactment was performed in MATLAB/SIMULINK for solar powered DC-DC converters with Maximum Control Point Tracking (MPPT) to attain ideal results. From the re-enactment results, it is proved that our outlined solar energy harvesting system has accomplished 98% proficiency.

Background: Outdoor air pollution and childhood asthma are increasing problems in South Asian countries. However, little is known about the associations between levels of air pollution and severe childhood asthma requiring hospital treatment in these regions. Methods: We undertook a systematic review to assess the evidence between outdoor air pollution exposure and childhood and adolescent asthma hospitalization in South Asia. MEDLINE, Web of Science, Google Scholar, CINAHL, Embase, Scopus, ProQuest Central databases were searched for peer-reviewed papers, and examination of reference lists was conducted for additional studies. We identified all the literature published in English up to January 2021 for the study population comprised of children aged less than 19 years. The search strategy was designed to identify all the studies and screen them as per the inclusion criteria. The method of qualitative synthesis using the standard tool determined the comprehensiveness of the assessment of bias. Results: Of the original 367 studies screened three studies were ultimately included from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and a narrative synthesis was conducted. Although studies reported adverse effects of outdoor pollution on asthma hospitalizations, limitations in exposure assessments, varying definitions of asthma hospitalizations and limited data analysis were identified. Conclusions: There is currently limited evidence that can provide meaningful risk estimates of the impact of outdoor air pollution on asthma hospitalizations during childhood and adolescence. Studies with comparable outcome definitions, appropriate exposure assessments and study designs are needed to inform future public and environmental health policy. PROSPERO registration: CRD42020156714 (28/04/2020).

Hydroxychloroquine – a quinoline antimalarial, has hypoglycemic effects that manifest due to its action on the intracellular insulin metabolism in peripheral tissues. Recent studies confirm that the use of Hydroxychloroquine can aid in preventing new onset diabetes and complications of diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as in improving the mortality rate of these patients.

To access an unlicensed channel, Wi-Fi follows the Listen Before Talk (LBT) mechanism, whereas LTE-U (and future New Radio in Unlicensed (NR-U) Patriciello et al., 2020; Lagen et al., 2019) adopts the ON–OFF duty-cycled mechanism to fairly share the channel with Wi-Fi. These different mechanisms result in quite different performance for Wi-Fi and LTE-U/NR-U based on their relative deployment and density in the environment. In this work, we present an analytical model for the characterization of achievable throughputs of Wi-Fi and LTE-U networks in spatially distributed scenarios with downlink-prevalent traffic. The proposed model is used to study how LTE-U and Wi-Fi coexist with each other in spatially distributed scenarios. Our extensive simulation results show that it is a reliable model for estimating the throughput of both Wi-Fi and LTE-U in a spatially distributed deployment. The impact of various network parameters such as energy detection and carrier sense threshold on Wi-Fi and LTE-U coexistence is explored as a byproduct and corroborated via a National Instrument experimental test bed. Our model gives very high accuracy in throughput estimation and the mean normalized error is less than 3% for a 80-node scenario in which 50% of nodes belong to each of Wi-Fi and LTE-U network. The analytical model is also used to conduct coexistence studies of LTE-U and Wi-Fi. © 2021

Impact cratering on the Moon and the derived size-frequency distribution functions of lunar impact craters are used to determine the ages of unsampled planetary surfaces across the Solar System. Radiometric dating of lunar samples provides an absolute age baseline, however, crater-chronology functions for the Moon remain poorly constrained for ages beyond 3.9 billion years. Here we present U–Pb geochronology of phosphate minerals within shocked lunar norites of a boulder from the Apollo 17 Station 8. These minerals record an older impact event around 4.2 billion years ago, and a younger disturbance at around 0.5 billion years ago. Based on nanoscale observations using atom probe tomography, lunar cratering records, and impact simulations, we ascribe the older event to the formation of the large Serenitatis Basin and the younger possibly to that of the Dawes crater. This suggests the Serenitatis Basin formed unrelated to or in the early stages of a protracted Late Heavy Bombardment.

Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) are soft computing technique that follows an approach similar to human reasoning and human decision-making process, making them a valuable modeling and simulation methodology. Medical Decision Systems are complex systems consisting of many factors that may be complementary, contradictory, and competitive; these factors influence each other and determine the overall diagnosis with a different degree. Thus, FCMs are suitable to model Medical Decision Support Systems. The proposed work therefore uses FCMs arranged in hierarchical structure to classify between Diabetes, Thyroid disorders and their subtypes. Subtypes include type 1 and type 2 for diabetes and hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism for thyroid.

Providing high-speed Internet service using satellite network has attracted researchers from both academia and industry mainly due to the characteristics of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks such as global coverage, scalability, and lower transmission delay. With the recent advancements in the Software-Defined Network (SDN), implementation of SDN in Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) can help to achieve the set goals for 5G and beyond networks. Since satellite networks have a distinct architecture, some of the traditional protocols no longer remain useful. Therefore, to satisfy the diverse Quality of Service (QoS) requirements for a variety of applications, we propose a novel and centralized QoS-aware routing algorithm, called fybrrLink in which the global view of the network in SDN is utilized. We implement a modified Bresenham's algorithm and Dijkstra's algorithm to find the optimal path in a significantly reduced computation time. Also, taking advantage of the deterministic satellite constellation, we propose a flow rule transfer algorithm and a topology monitoring algorithm. Further, fybrrLink is evaluated with multiple NS3 simulations, and results confirm its supremacy over other state-of-the-art algorithms.

The demand for streaming media and live video conferencing is at peak and expected to grow further, thereby the need for low-cost streaming services with better quality and lower latency is essential. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a novel peer-to-peer (P2P) live streaming platform, called fybrrStream, where a logical mesh and physical tree i.e., hybrid topology-based approach is leveraged for low latency streaming. fybrrStream distributes the load on participating peers in a hierarchical manner by considering their network bandwidth, network latency, and node stability. fybrrStream costs as low as the cost of just hosting a light-weight website and the performance is comparable to the existing state-of-the-art media streaming services. We evaluated and tested the proposed fybrrStream platform with real-field experiments using 50+ users spread across India and results obtained show significant improvements in the live streaming performance over other schemes.

This study investigates the contact temperatures reached due to frictional heating on TPU (Thermoplastic polyurethane) and NBR (Nitrile butadiene rubber) seal surfaces during operation. These elastomers present limited thermal resistance so an excessive temperature rise may affect their tribological performance. Sliding tests of the elastomers against steel cylinders were carried out and the surface temperature evolution was acquired during the tests using a high precision infrared camera. Frictional behaviour and temperature curves were analyzed. The influence of the experimental parameters, such as the sealing material, sliding velocity, applied load and steel surface conditions was examined. Experimental thermal results were compared with those calculated through well-established analytical models, in order to determine the advantages and limitations of the latter.

Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.

The last decades have been marked by increasing evidence for the presence of near-surface volatiles at the lunar poles. Enhancement in hydrogen near both poles, UV and VNIR albedo anomalies, high CPR in remotely sensed radar data have all been tentatively interpreted as evidence for surface and/or subsurface water ice. Lunar water ice and other potential cold-trapped volatiles are targets of interest both as scientific repositories for understanding the evolution of the Solar System and for exploration purposes. Determining the exact nature, extent and origin of the volatile species at or near the surface in the lunar polar regions however requires in situ measurements via lander or rover missions. A number of upcoming missions will address these issues by obtaining in situ data or by returning samples from the lunar surface or shallow subsurface. These all rely on the selection of optimal landing sites. The present paper discusses potential regions of interest (ROI) for combined volatile and geologic investigations in the vicinity of the lunar South Pole. We identified eleven regions of interest (including a broad area of interest (>200 km × 200 km) at the South Pole, together with smaller regions located near Cabeus, Amundsen, Ibn Bajja, Wiechert J and Idel'son craters), with enhanced near-surface hydrogen concentration (H > 100 ppm by weight) and where water ice is expected to be stable at the surface, considering the present-day surface thermal regime. Identifying more specific landing sites for individual missions is critically dependent on the mission's goals and capabilities. We present detailed case studies of landing site analyses based on the mission scenario and requirements of the upcoming Luna-25 and Luna-27 landers and Lunar Prospecting Rover case study. Suitable sites with promising science outcomes were found for both lander and rover scenarios. However, the rough topography and limited illumination conditions near the South Pole reduce the

Return of samples from the surface of Mars has been a goal of the international Mars science community for many years. Affirmation by NASA and ESA of the importance of Mars exploration led the agencies to establish the international MSR Objectives and Samples Team (iMOST). The purpose of the team is to re-evaluate and update the sample-related science and engineering objectives of a Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign. The iMOST team has also undertaken to define the measurements and the types of samples that can best address the objectives. Seven objectives have been defined for MSR, traceable through two decades of previously published international priorities. The first two objectives are further divided into sub-objectives. Within the main part of the report, the importance to science and/or engineering of each objective is described, critical measurements that would address the objectives are specified, and the kinds of samples that would be most likely to carry key information are identified. These seven objectives provide a framework for demonstrating how the first set of returned Martian samples would impact future Martian science and exploration. They also have implications for how analogous investigations might be conducted for samples returned by future missions from other solar system bodies, especially those that may harbor biologically relevant or sensitive material, such as Ocean Worlds (Europa, Enceladus, Titan) and others. Summary of Objectives and Sub-Objectives for MSR Identified by iMOST: Objective 1 Interpret the primary geologic processes and history that formed the Martian geologic record, with an emphasis on the role of water. Intent To investigate the geologic environment(s) represented at the Mars 2020 landing site, provide definitive geologic context for collected samples, and detail any characteristics that might relate to past biologic processesThis objective is divided into five sub-objectives that would apply at different landing site

With the exponential growth in mobile data traffic, mobile operators are facing the unfortunate limit on the availability of licensed spectrum which has however, led to the popularity of Long Term Evolution (LTE) in unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U). Undeniably, it is expected from LTE-U that it fairly shares the spectrum with Wi-Fi. Along with fair sharing, efficient utilization of the unlicensed spectrum is also equally important, which in some sense requires coordination between the two Radio Access Technologies (RATs) viz., LTE-U and Wi-Fi. In particular, the hidden terminal scenario between LTE-U and Wi-Fi, resulting mainly due to lack of coordination, threatens the spectrum utilization of unlicensed spectrum. Focusing on this hidden terminal problem between LTE-U and Wi-Fi, we highlight the deficiency of existing technologies from the Wi-Fi perspective, both at the user level and at the network level. We then propose a novel coexistence technique (similar to RTS-CTS mechanism in Wi-Fi) that solves the hidden terminal problem between LTE-U and Wi-Fi, and subsequently addresses the spectrum underutilization problem caused by hidden terminal collisions. The proposed mechanism achieves this by using a modified CTS frame of Wi-Fi. We have validated our proposed mechanism using a mathematical framework demonstrating its credibility.

The proliferation and penetration of smart phones and IoT devices is having profound impact on world economy. In order to support billions of wirelessly connected devices, and tackle exponentially increasing traffic demands and ever-increasing Quality of Experience and energy efficiency requirements of diverse services and applications being carried over communication network infrastructure, convergence and coexistence of various radio access technologies (RATs) is required. In this work, we present various architectures and traffic steering mechanisms for efficient interworking of LTE and Wi-Fi networks and evaluate their performance for carrying TCP traffic which is sensitive to out-of-order delivery of packets at the receiver. Unlike interworking which requires simultaneous usage of both LTE and Wi-Fi radios at user equipment (UE), mobile operators are considering deployment of LTE-U/LAA in unlicensed bands so that only one radio is used at UE. However, to use unlicensed bands LTE-U/LAA needs to fairly co-exist with Wi-Fi. To address this inter-RAT hidden terminal problem, we present novel solutions that either rely on a central inter-RAT controller or work without any such controller in a distributed manner.

As the Internet grows aggressively, with the numbers crossing four billion users covering more than half of the world’s population, mobile operators need to augment network coverage and capacity in a significant manner. According to Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) forecast, the mobile Internet traffic grows with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 46% between 2017 and 2022, and reaches 77.5 EB per month by 2022. Furthermore, with the introduction of portable devices like smartphones and tablets, the mobile operators need to boost the network capacity to meet the upsurging traffic demand. Some of the mechanisms to improve the network capacity include densification of cells, employing Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology, and addition of more spectrum. Though densification of cells and MIMO increase the capacity, it is still not sufficient to meet the bandwidth requirements. Since the amount of licensed spectrum available is limited, it is expensive proposition to improve the network capacity by increasing the bandwidth. The spectrum crunch and huge cost of licensing the spectrum motivate the mobile industry to make use of the unlicensed spectrum for operation of cellular networks. However, with Wi-Fi being one of the traditional, wide-spread, and far reaching consumers of these unlicensed bands, it has been made incumbent on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) to ensure fair coexistence with Wi-Fi networks, before any such deployment. To ensure fair coexistence with other wireless technologies in the unlicensed spectrum (mainly Wi-Fi), LTE has to go through some modifications in terms of channel access. Two schemes are proposed for LTE operation in the unlicensed spectrum namely LTE in Unlicensed (LTE-U) and Licensed Assisted Access (LAA). LTE-U scheme is restricted to regions where Listen-Before-Talk (LBT) is not mandatory like India, USA, China, and Korea. LAA scheme follows LBT which makes it a global solution because it satisfies all the regional re

To access an unlicensed channel Wi-Fi follows Listen Before Talk (LBT) mechanism whereas LTE-U adopts ON-OFF duty cycled mechanism to fairly share the channel with Wi-Fi. These contrasting mechanisms result in quite different performance for Wi-Fi and LTE-U based on their relative deployment and density in the environment. In this work, we present an analytical model for characterization of achievable throughputs of Wi-Fi and LTE-U networks in spatially distributed high-density scenarios. The proposed model is used to study how LTE-U and Wi-Fi coexist with each other in different deployment scenarios. Our extensive simulation results prove it to be a reliable model for estimating throughput of both Wi-Fi and LTE-U. We record a very good accuracy in throughput estimation and the mean normalized error is less than 1% for 40-node scenario in which 50% of nodes belong to each of Wi-Fi and LTE-U. Finally, we use the analytical model to conduct coexistence studies of LTE-U and Wi-Fi., Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures

Return of samples from the surface of Mars has been a goal of the international Mars science community for many years. Affirmation by NASA and ESA of the importance of Mars exploration led the agencies to establish the international MSR Objectives and Samples Team (iMOST). The purpose of the team is to re-evaluate and update the sample-related science and engineering objectives of a Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign. The iMOST team has also undertaken to define the measurements and the types of samples that can best address the objectives. Seven objectives have been defined for MSR, traceable through two decades of previously published international priorities. The first two objectives are further divided into sub-objectives. Within the main part of the report, the importance to science and/or engineering of each objective is described, critical measurements that would address the objectives are specified, and the kinds of samples that would be most likely to carry key information are identified. These seven objectives provide a framework for demonstrating how the first set of returned martian samples would impact future martian science and exploration. They also have implications for how analogous investigations might be conducted for samples returned by future missions from other solar system bodies, especially those that may harbor biologically relevant or sensitive material, such as Ocean Worlds (Europa, Enceladus, Titan) and others., This report is freely available to read and download, NHM Repository

Introduction: Emergency departments (ED) and hospitals face increasing challenges related to capacity, throughput, and stewardship of limited resources while maintaining high quality. Appropriate utilization of extremity magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations within the emergency setting is not well known. Therefore, this study aimed to determine indications for and appropriateness of MRI of the extremities for musculoskeletal conditions in the ED observation unit (EDOU).Methods: We conducted this institutional review board-approved, retrospective study in a large, quaternary care academic center and Level I trauma center. An institutional database was queried retrospectively to identify all adult patients undergoing an extremity MRI while in the EDOU during the two-year study period from October 2013 through September 2015. We compared clinical history with the American College of Radiology (ACR) Appropriateness Criteria® for musculoskeletal indications. The primary outcome was appropriateness of musculoskeletal MRI exams of the extremities; examinations with an ACR Criteria score of seven or higher were deemed appropriate. Secondary measures included MRI utilization and imaging findings. Results: During the study period, 22,713 patients were evaluated in the EDOU. Of those patients, 4,409 had at least one MRI performed, and 88 MRIs met inclusion criteria as musculoskeletal extremity examinations (2% of all patients undergoing an MRI exam in the EDOU during the study period). The most common exams were foot (27, 31%); knee (26, 30%); leg/femur (10, 11%); and shoulder (10, 11%). The most common indications were suspected infection (42, 48%) and acute trauma (23, 26%). Fifty-six percent of exams were performed with intravenous contrast; and 83% (73) of all MRIs were deemed appropriate based on ACR Criteria. The most common reason for inappropriate imaging was lack of performance of radiographs prior to MRI. Conclusion: The majority of musculoskeletal extremity

Recently, the use of LTE in unlicensed has gained a lot of attention to improve the data rate and satisfy the increasing user demand. Use of unlicensed spectrum is allowed with restricted transmission power hence mostly LAA/LTE-U nodes are Femto cells and mostly will be used to improve the indoor data rates. In future, the LAA nodes will get deployed inside residential apartment complexes and office buildings to provide high data rates for indoor User Equipment (UEs). The UEs with high Signal-to-Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) experience good throughput, but the SINR decreases significantly if building walls and other obstacles are present in the communication path. The coverage difference of licensed and unlicensed spectrum provides different SINR so, efficient placement of LAA Femtos in buildings with consideration of interference from other LAA Femto nodes, Wi-Fi Access Points (APs) and Macro Base Stations (BSs) is very crucial for attaining desirable SINR for the indoor UEs. In this paper, we have considered obstructions (walls, floors) and interference from Macro, Femto BSs, and Wi-Fi APs. Our goal is to find the optimal number of Femtos with minimum SINR requirements in the unlicensed band, and next thing is to achieve good SINR in all sub-regions in licensed band as well. To do this, we formulated an optimization model (MinLF) to find the minimum number of LAA/LTE-U Femtos along with its positions in indoor scenarios which resulted in Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) optimization problem. Further, to maximize minimum SINR in the licensed spectrum, we formulated MinLPow model to find the optimal power of each located Femto inside the building which is Mixed Integer Non-Linear Programming (MINLP). MinLF formulation is solved using GAMS CPLEX optimization solver. After getting positions of Femtos, we solved MinLPow formulation using Genetic Algorithm. Finally, the efficiency of proposed formulation model is shown with sufficient simulation study.

The deployment of LTE in unlicensed spectrum is a plausible solution to meet explosive traffic demand from mobile users. However, fair coexistence with the existing unlicensed technologies, mainly Wi-Fi, needs to be ensured before any such deployment. Duty cycled LTE (LTE-U) is a simple and an easily adaptable scheme which helps in fair coexistence with the Wi-Fi. Nonetheless, the immense deployment of Wi-Fi necessitates a user-oriented study to find the effects of LTE-U operation, primarily in scenarios where the LTE-U eNB remains hidden from Wi-Fi Access Point. To delineate these effects, we perform a user-level Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) throughputs study of Wi-Fi in the presence of LTE-U using a testbed. Since, TCP is a more complicated protocol, we analyzed the Congestion Window and Round Trip Time data to comprehend the throughput results. This further explains the unfairness in throughput distribution among Wi-Fi users. Furthermore, we also notice inability among the disadvantaged users to receive the periodic Wi-Fi beacon frames successfully. The reasons and the subsequent consequences of throughput unfairness and beacon losses, are carefully elaborated. Also, to validate the beacon loss results, we present a beacon loss analysis which provides a mathematical expression to find the beacon loss percentage. Finally, we examine the results and highlight a need for incorporating additional functionalities in either LTE-U or Wi-Fi to overcome the present challenges.

The Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) is shown asa required technology to avoid overcrowding of the licensedbands by the increasing cellular traffic. Proposed by 3GPP,LAA uses a Listen Before Talk (LBT) and backoff mechanismsimilar to Wi-Fi. While many mathematical models have beenproposed to study the problem of the coexistence of LAAand Wi-Fi systems, few have tackled the problem of QoSprovisioning, and in particular analysed the behaviour of thevarious classes of priority available in Wi-Fi and LAA. Thispaper presents a new mathematical model to investigate theperformance of different priority classes in coexisting Wi-Fi andLAA networks. Using Discrete Time Markov Chains, we modelthe saturation throughput of all eight priority classes used byWi-Fi and LAA. The numerical results show that with the 3GPPproposed parameters, a fair coexistence between Wi-Fi and LAAcannot be achieved. Wi-Fi users in particular suffer a significantdegradation of their performance caused by the collision withLAA transmissions which has a longer duration compared toWi-Fi transmissions.

The deployment of LTE in unlicensed spectrum is a plausible solution to meet explosive traffic demand from mobile users. However, fair coexistence with the existing unlicensed technologies, mainly Wi-Fi, needs to be ensured before any such deployment. Duty cycled LTE (LTE-U) is a simple and an easily adaptable scheme which helps in fair coexistence with the Wi-Fi. Nonetheless, the immense deployment of Wi-Fi necessitates a user-oriented study to find the effects of LTE-U operation, primarily in scenarios where the LTE-U eNB remains hidden from Wi-Fi Access Point. To comprehend these effects, we perform a user-level throughput study of Wi-Fi in the presence of LTE-U using a testbed and observe a clear unfairness in throughput distribution among Wi-Fi users. Furthermore, we also notice inability among the disadvantaged users to receive the periodic Wi-Fi beacon frames successfully. The reasons and the subsequent consequences, of throughput unfairness and beacon losses, are carefully elaborated. Also, to validate the beacon loss results, we present a beacon loss analysis which provides a mathematical expression to find the beacon loss percentage. Finally, we examine the results and highlight a need for incorporating additional functionalities in either LTE-U or Wi-Fi to overcome the present challenges.