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To investigate the clinical infection characteristics and antibiotic resistance of Group B Streptococcus (Streptococcus agalactiae, GBS) in Chengdu, China, from 2019 to 2021, as well as to provide data to support rational clinical drug use.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, 1 of the most prolonged and extensive global pandemics in history, ravaged the world. Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) played crucial roles as frontline health care providers in detecting and treating COVID-19–infected patients. The purpose of this study was to provide updated knowledge and sociodemographic disparity patterns in APRNs’ perceived stress and resilience during the prolonged pandemic period. A total of 2,412 APRNs completed the surveys. The results of this research showed that APRNs’ stress and resilience were significantly impacted by the prolonged pandemic. Significant sociodemographic disparity patterns of perceived stress and resilience among APRNs were also clearly identified.

This study evaluates a popular approach to assessing stormwater utility fees in the context of social equity. Analyses are based on comparing single-family land parcels in different neighborhoods of Corpus Christi, a U.S. city in the state of Texas that recently introduced a stormwater fee program. The stormwater fees are based on the same stormwater runoff factor for all single-family residential land parcels. We instead derive stormwater runoff estimates from parcel-scale impervious area measurements through the application of a machine-learning model to high-resolution remote sensing data. The difference between the official runoff factor and our estimate tends to be larger among land parcels in census tracts with proportionally more low-income and Hispanic households. This finding at odds with the ability-to-pay principle is attributable to the association of different neighborhoods’ sociodemographic compositions with their housing development patterns. Our work not only contributes to the design of a stormwater fee program that better characterizes the generation of stormwater runoff but it also helps city officials alleviate social inequity for homeowners in economically disadvantaged communities.

The significance of apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) is the anti-inflammatory functional component of high-density lipoprotein, which needs to be further studied in relation to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). This study aimed to identify the predictive value of ApoA-1 on the risk and prognosis of PAH, as well as the underlying anti-inflammatory mechanism.

Support vectors, which usually compose a subset of training sets, determine the decision function of support vector machine (SVM) classification. Selecting a subset including the support vectors through reducing a large training set is a challenge. This paper examines how different linkage techniques in a clustering-based reduction method affect classification accuracy for semiarid vegetation mapping. The investigated linkage techniques include single, complete, weighted pairgroup average, and unweighted pair-group average. Using a multiple-angle remote sensing data set, there is no loss of SVM accuracy when the original training set is reduced to 21%, 14%, 20%, and 20% for these four linkage techniques, respectively.

This paper presents a fast algorithm designed to generate multi-resolution representations of linear features based on bit interleaving and map tries. The proposed algorithm constructs a hierarchical subdivision of vertices of linear features in order to support the progressive transmission of vector map data over the Internet. Its time complexity is O(n), where nis the number of input vertices of the linear features. The performance of this algorithm is compared quantitatively and qualitatively with both the Ramer-Douglas-Peucker algorithm and the simple and fast n-th point algorithm.

A recent study conducted by researchers at Soochow University in Jiangsu, China, aimed to construct a predictive model for the recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) based on P-wave duration (PWD) in patients with early persistent AF who underwent radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA). The study collected data from patients with early persistent AF who were admitted to the Department of Cardiology at the hospital. The researchers found that PWD was greater and left atrial appendage emptying velocity (LAAV) was lower in the recurrence group compared to the sinus rhythm group. The multivariate model based on PWD measured after RFCA demonstrated better predictive efficacy than the univariate model in patients with early persistent AF. The researchers concluded that these findings may contribute to personalized treatments for patients with AF. [Extracted from the article]

Researchers from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong, China conducted a study to examine the factors influencing hospital discharge readiness among Chinese patients who have undergone enterostomy. The study included 177 patients with colorectal cancer who completed questionnaires assessing their readiness for hospital discharge, self-care ability, and quality of life. The results showed that factors such as quality of life, self-care knowledge, leakage during hospitalization, monthly family income, stoma siting before surgery, and self-care intention influenced patients' readiness for hospital discharge. The researchers suggest that future studies should focus on developing interventions to enhance patients' readiness for hospital discharge. [Extracted from the article]

A new study conducted by researchers at Tianjin Medical University in China has found that folic acid supplementation may protect against age-associated apoptosis (cell death) and telomere attrition (shortening of protective DNA caps) in neural stem cells. The study was conducted on senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) mice, and the results showed that folic acid supplementation inhibited apoptosis and prevented telomere attrition in the cerebral cortex of the mice. The researchers suggest that this effect may be due to decreased levels of oxidative damage. This research provides insight into the potential mechanisms by which folic acid can inhibit age-associated neural stem cell apoptosis. [Extracted from the article]

This paper addresses the global stabilization of fractional-order memristor-based neural networks (FMNNs) with time delay. The voltage threshold type memristor model is considered, and the FMNNs are represented by fractional-order differential equations with discontinuous right-hand sides. Then, the problem is addressed based on fractional-order differential inclusions and set-valued maps, together with the aid of Lyapunov functions and the comparison principle. Two types of control laws (delayed state feedback control and coupling state feedback control) are designed. Accordingly, two types of stabilization criteria [algebraic form and linear matrix inequality (LMI) form] are established. There are two groups of adjustable parameters included in the delayed state feedback control, which can be selected flexibly to achieve the desired global asymptotic stabilization or global Mittag–Leffler stabilization. Since the existing LMI-based stability analysis techniques for fractional-order systems are not applicable to delayed fractional-order nonlinear systems, a fractional-order differential inequality is established to overcome this difficulty. Based on the coupling state feedback control, some LMI stabilization criteria are developed for the first time with the help of the newly established fractional-order differential inequality. The obtained LMI results provide new insights into the research of delayed fractional-order nonlinear systems. Finally, three numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2024 JUL 6 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- Investigators publish new report on Heart Disorders and Diseases - Atrial Fibrillation. [...]

2024 JUN 24 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Stem Cell Week -- New study results on apoptosis have been published. According to news reporting out of [...]

2024 APR 20 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- Research findings on Nanotechnology - Photocatalytics are discussed in a new report. [...]

2021 OCT 21 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Women's Health Weekly -- Data detailed on breast cancer have been presented. According to news originating from Shanghai, [...]