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Cellulolytic bacteria were isolated from yak dung samples collected from different habitats of Sikkim, India. Isolate YE16 from the Yumthang Valley sample showed highest enzyme activity of 7.68 U/mL and was identified as Bacillus sp., which has a sequence similarity of 96.15% with B. velezensis. One factor at a time (OFAT) analysis revealed that an acidic pH of 5 with 37 °C temperature was optimum for maximum enzyme production after 36 hrs of incubation (13.88 U/mL), which was further increased after statistical optimization (34.70 U/mL). Media optimization based on response surface methodology predicted that Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and MgSO 4 at concentrations of 30 g/L and 0.525 g/L, respectively, at pH 5.5 to show CMCase activity of 30.612 U/mL, which was consistent with the observed value of 30.25 U/mL and confirmed the model. The crude enzyme also efficiently hydrolyzed alkaline pretreated sugarcane bagasse, releasing 7.09 g/L of glucose equivalent with an ethanol production of 3.05 g. • Cellulolytic bacteria were isolated from dung samples of various habitats of Sikkim. • The isolate YE16 identified as Bacillus sp. showed highest enzyme activity. • Statistical optimization was performed to get an enzyme activity of 34.70 U/mL. • Crude enzyme was able to hydrolyze SCB releasing 7.09 g/L of glucose equivalent. • 3.05 g of ethanol was produced by S. cerevisiae using the enzyme hydrolysate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the rural and tribal areas of India, poor healthcare services for malaria are posing a great challenge to malaria control and elimination. Digitisation in malaria healthcare services, including surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment, may be helpful in malaria control and, subsequently, may move towards the elimination goal of India by 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Celiac disease is one of the most common diseases worldwide, with an apparent trend of increasing prevalence. We investigated the prevalence of celiac disease in children in Italy in 2015–2016 and compared that with data from 25 years ago. We screened 4570 children (5–11 years old, 80.1% of the eligible population) from metropolitan areas of Ancona and Verona for HLA genes associated with increased risk of celiac disease, and for total serum levels of IgA and IgA class anti-tissue transglutaminase in HLA positives. Diagnoses of celiac disease were confirmed by detection of anti-endomysial antibody and analysis of intestinal biopsies. The prevalence of celiac autoimmunity and celiac disease were calculated and compared with values from the same geographical area during the years 1993–1995, after adjustment for the different diagnostic algorithm. We identified 1960 children with celiac disease-associated haplotypes (43% of children screened; 95% CI, 40.8%–45.2%). The prevalence of celiac disease autoimmunity in the HLA-positive subjects was 96/1706 (5.62%; 95% CI, 4.53%–6.71%) and 54 of these children satisfied the diagnostic criteria for celiac disease. In the eligible population there were other 23 known cases of celiac disease. The overall estimated prevalence of celiac disease was 1.58% (95% CI, 1.26%–1.90%); this value is significantly higher than the 1993–1995 adjusted prevalence (0.88%; 95% CI, 0.74%–1.02%). We found the prevalence of celiac disease in children in Italy to be greater than 1.5%; this value has increased significantly over the past 25 years. Studies are needed to determine the causes of this large increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe the case of a young man 7 weeks postoperative from repair of a Stanford type A aortic dissection who developed an expanding pseudoaneurysm of the proximal graft anastomosis. Owing to the morbidity and mortality associated with reoperation, an interdisciplinary team of interventional cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons implanted an Amplatzer septal occluder device in a hybrid operating room, successfully excluding the defect from the true lumen of the aorta. This case highlights the utility of a team approach and creative thinking for the treatment of a pseudoaneurysm in a high-risk, recently postoperative patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• ZnO/CuO electrocatalyst is developed for electrochemical reduction of CO 2. • Catalyst can tune syn-gas composition by changing Cu loading. • Lowest charge transfer resistance for ERC is found for 15%Cu in the composite. • CO production rate of 1.2 mol/m2-h at 73 mA/cm2 is obtained. Reduction of CO 2 in an electrochemical reactor may become a future technology for the production of syngas. This technology uses CO 2 and water co-electrolysis and has the potential to produce variable CO/H 2 ratio, which can become feedstock for various processes. However, developing an electrocatalyst selective for ERC is a great challenge. Further, high current density and low overpotential are essential for the electroreduction of the ERC. In this paper, oxide derived Zn/Cu electrocatalysts with different concentrations of Cu is reported using facile wet chemical synthesis route for the tunable syngas production. Physico-chemical analysis of the electrocatalysts revealed that by varying the concentration of Cu into the oxide derived Zn/Cu composite, fraction of Cu distributed into the ZnO crystal and composite form can be tunned. This inturn generates a synergic effect and reduces the charge transfer resistance towards ERC. By controlling the Cu concentration in the oxide derived Zn/Cu electrocatalyst CO/H 2 ratio can be tunned over a wide range (0.84, 0.76, 0.25) at different current densities (20.4, 8.8, 37 mA/cm2). Oxide derived Zn/Cu electrocatalyst shows potential for electrochemical reduction of CO 2 to syngas with tunnable CO/H 2 ratio by utilizing renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater Wireless Sensor Network (UWSN) technology is widely used in various underwater monitoring and exploration applications and has proven its high stature. Since many years various UWSN protocols have been designed or existing protocols are improvised for effective and qualitative research analysis. The data aggregation is one of the schemes that is widely been used along with UWSN protocols to achieve better results. Thus it is foremost required to present a periodical review on data aggregation. Herein we present a paper based on the survey of UWSN with data aggregation to highlight its benefits and limitations. Ambition behind this paper is to build interest of research fraternity towards future challenges identified on the basis of survey of existing approaches. The existing techniques that aggregate data are divided into cluster based, non-cluster based and other approaches. The existing techniques are analysed along with their advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, the performances of K-means, Distributed underwater clustering scheme and Round-based clustering approaches are compared in terms of delay, packet drop and energy consumption, with and without aggregation. Also the performance of Receiver Oriented Sleep Scheduling, Intra and Inter Cluster Communication and Energy Efficient Distributed Time Synchronization techniques are compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Effect of catalyst layers of different Cu-morphologies on ERC was investigated. • Initial current was due to crystallographic changes in Cu-catalysts. • Dendrites were more selective to hydrocarbons and nanorods to CO. • Nanorods demonstrated highest faradic efficiency of 26%. • Spherical and octahedral morphology were more active towards HER. Abstract Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (ERC) is one of the promising technologies for the renewable energy storage challenge and mitigation of the CO 2 levels. Till now Cu has been found the best electrocatalyst for ERC but still the potential of Cu is not fully explored. This paper illustrates the effect of electrocatalyst layer formed by four different morphologies of cupper (nanorods, octahedral, spherical, and dendrite) with similar crystallite phases. Pre and post-ERC analysis of the catalyst in different environment shows that same crystal facet is formed at the end of ERC, indicating that the crystal rearrangement occurred during ERC is independent of the environment and does not promote any particular reaction. Nanorods form intercalated layers with an extended surface giving maximum faradaic efficiency of 26% at a lower cell voltage of −2.75 V. Dendrites forms porous layers, which are filled by the gas formed during ERC and thus decreases the active surface. However, the entrapped intermediates provide sufficient residence time and conditions for C 2 H 4 and C 2 H 6 formation. Spherical nanoparticles and octahedral nanoparticles formed a smooth, and thin layer with minimum faradaic efficiency towards ERC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycans are the most abundant and diverse group of biomolecules with a crucial role in all the biological processes. Their structural and functional diversity is not genetically encoded, but depends on Carbohydrate Active Enzymes (CAZymes) which carry out all catalytic activities in terms of synthesis, modification, and degradation. CAZymes comprise large families of enzymes with specific functions and are widely used for various commercial applications ranging from biofuel production to textile and food industries with impact on biorefineries. To understand the structure and functional mechanism of these CAZymes for their modification for industrial use, together with knowledge of therapeutic aspects of their dysfunction associated with various diseases, CAZyme inhibitors can be used as a valuable tool. In search for new inhibitors, the screening of various secondary metabolites using high-throughput techniques and rational design techniques have been explored. The inhibitors can thus help tune CAZymes and are emerging as a potential research interest. [Display omitted] • CAZyme have significant role in various biological processes associated with glycan. • CAZyme are important in metabolic pathway, pathogenesis and various diseases. • Biological significance of CAZyme makes study on their inhibitors essential. • Their inhibitors are potent therapeutic against glycan & CAZyme associated disease. • Screening of natural source and rational design can generate novel inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to values added products is one of the most promising and challenging techniques. Moreover, the lack of availability of efficient, selective and stable electrocatalysts is a major difficulty for efficient CO 2 reduction. Various materials including metals, metal oxides, and metal complexes have been studied to increase the Faradaic efficiency, selectivity, and to reduce the energy input for the generation of hydrocarbons. Herein, we report a non-noble bimetallic electrocatalysts based on Ag-Co that is hardly evaluated for the electrochemical reduction of CO 2 in-spite of the proven synergetic effect of bimetals for various chemical reactions. Therefore, the present study investigates the role of bimetallic electrocatalyst for the CO 2 electrochemical reduction. A bimetal electrocatalyst is synthesized by Co and Ag metals to investigate the effect of the bimetal over gas phase CO 2 electrochemical reduction. It is found that though the chosen metals are individually selective for the CO formation but the combination results in CH 4 and C 2 H 4 formation along with CO. The maximum Faradaic efficiency found for CH 4 is 19.5% at 2 V using Ag-Co. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) perform an important part in modern day communication as it can sense the various physical and environmental parameters by employing low cost sensor devices. The growth of the networks due to scientific advancements have altogether made it possible to create an energy efficient cross layer network that can improve its lifespan. In this paper, a routing protocol is proposed for the networks which are heterogeneous and are based on the adaptive threshold sensitive distributed energy efficient cross layer routing protocol. The concept of weighted probability is used to assign the CH (Cluster Head) of the network cluster. The proposed algorithm is simulated, tested and compared with previously established routing protocols and has shown enhanced results and prolonged network lifespan. In the proposed protocol, a combination of the proactive and reactive network is considered for effective data transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wireless sensor networks (WSN) are a special type of ad-hoc networks which are used for an extensive range of real time applications like monitoring, surveillance, tracking, process control etc. The physical data viz. temperature, pressure, moisture etc. is transmitted within the network for further processing. Apart from physical data, direct images or video can also be transmitted in case the user wants to have a better idea of what is going on at the event site. But to transmit the images is in itself a challenging task considering the network load and congestion. The limited capabilities of the sensor nodes make it very difficult to transmit the images as they require substantial amount of overheads to be transmitted. Here a novel method is proposed which employs the cross layer technique through the various layers as it helps to achieve efficient transfer of images across the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Three datasets are merged to build a larger, more diversified spam dataset. • Data balancing is done using SmoteTomek and NearMiss data resampling techniques. • Proposed Hard and Soft voting ensemble models for performance improvement. • Several DL approaches are experimented with GloVe and FastText word embeddings. • Proposed FCB-SA hybrid DL approach outperformed other DL approaches. Cybercriminals use social media platforms to disseminate spam, misleading facts, fake news, and malicious links. Blocking such deceptive social media spam is essential. However, extracting relevant features from social networks is challenging due to privacy and time constraints. Traditional frequency-based word representation techniques are time-consuming and inefficient in producing contextual word vectors. Word embeddings and deep learning models have recently shown good results in text classification. Also, most existing approaches assumed balanced class distribution, which is false for most real-world datasets. In this paper, an attempt is made to advance the performance of the social spam detection system by leveraging dataset balancing, advanced word embedding techniques, machine learning, and deep learning approaches with the self-attention mechanism. In the proposed framework, the datasets are balanced using NearMiss and SmoteTomek techniques to feed several machine-learning models. Later, the baseline ML models and proposed voting-based ensemble models are evaluated on imbalanced and balanced datasets. For the proposed deep learning-based hybrid approaches, embeddings are generated using GloVe and FastText word embeddings on the balanced combined dataset and passed into the deep neural network comprised of Conv1D and Bi-directional recurrent neural network layers with the self-attention mechanism for improved context understanding and effective results. This study examines hybrid approaches for detecting social spam using imbalanced social network data and picks the optimum combination. Besides, Machine learning ensembles, word embeddings, deep learning with hyper-parameter optimization, and a self-attention method are compared thoroughly. Experiments and comparisons with other techniques show that the proposed hybrid framework with deep learning-based approaches achieves better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Severity of villous atrophy in celiac disease (CeD) is the cumulative effect of enterocyte loss and cell regeneration. Gluten-free diet has been shown to benefit even in patients having a positive anti-tissue transglutaminase (tTG) antibody titre and mild enteropathy. Aim We explored the balance between mucosal apoptotic enterocyte loss and cell regeneration in mild and advanced enteropathies. Methods Duodenal biopsies from patients with mild enteropathy (Marsh grade 0 and 1) ( n = 26), advanced enteropathy (Marsh grade ≥2) ( n = 41) and control biopsies ( n = 12) were subjected to immunohistochemical staining for end-apoptotic markers (M30, H2AX); markers of cell death (perforin, annexin V); and cell proliferation (Ki67). Composite H -scores based on the intensity and distribution of markers were compared. Results End-apoptotic markers and marker of cell death (perforin) were significantly up-regulated in both mild and advanced enteropathies, in comparison to controls; without any difference between mild and advanced enteropathies. Ki67 labelling index was significantly higher in crypts of mild enteropathy, in comparison to controls, suggesting maintained regenerative activity in the former. Conclusions Even in patients with mild enteropathy, the rate of apoptosis is similar to those with advanced enteropathy. These findings suggest the necessity of reviewing the existing practice of not treating patients with mild enteropathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accurate formulation of radiative source is established with the transient effect of radiation transport for evaluating the correct thermal damage in the proximity of laser source. The accurate formulation of radiative source consists of two parts: the conventional absorption term and the propagation term. The inclusion of the propagation term significantly deviates the energy distribution from earlier steady state radiative source especially in the ultrashort time scale where this term has significance. In the present work, this effect has been investigated in the presence of absorbing, emitting, and anisotropically scattering medium within a two-dimensional rectangular domain subjected to collimated irradiation at one of its boundaries. A small inhomogeneity is taken at the center of the top wall which is irradiated with a laser source. The effects of optical parameters such as absorption coefficient, scattering coefficient, and scattering albedo on the temperature distribution in the medium are analyzed. It is found that the modified radiation energy flux gives an early signal of crossing the thermal damage threshold temperature surrounding the inhomogeneity. Inclusion of propagation term in radiation energy source helps to precisely access the extent of thermal damage surrounding the inhomogeneity which is not traceable as per the existing models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The actor nodes are the backbone of wireless sensor and actor networks (WSANs) in an unsupervised and hostile environment. Their failure rate is also high in hostile scenario due to many reasons like breakdown of electronic circuitry or complete battery power exhaustion of devices or software counter fault in nodes or physical damage of actor nodes, etc. The most serious side effect may occur in the network when connected network converts into multiple sub-networks due to permanent failure of cut-vertex backbone actor nodes in the network. This loss of connectivity among backbone actor nodes creates an adverse effect on the overall performance of the network. Therefore, the network partition problem in WSANs is most challenging issue in the real environment where we cannot control or reduce the failure of backbone cut-vertex actor nodes in the network. Recently, many approaches have been proposed to recover the lost connectivity among disjoint sub-networks using actors’ controlled mobility. However, it is also possible to rehabilitate the disconnected network by efficient use of high power sensor nodes as bridging routers without using actor's movement. In this paper, we propose a new energy efficient recovery approach based on two point crossover genetic algorithm (GA) to reconnect the partitioned network. The simulation results confirm the effectiveness of our proposed over state-of-the-art approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 64-year-old male with Budd–Chiari syndrome (BCS) due to inferior vena cava (IVC) occlusion after liver transplant presented with massive ascites and lower extremity edema. He was found to have chronic total occlusion of the supra-hepatic IVC with thrombosis in the infra-hepatic IVC, hepatic, renal, and iliac veins. Attempts to recanalize the occlusion by multiple operators failed. He was not a surgical candidate. The patient underwent venography of the IVC, and placement of a McNamara catheter for catheter-directed thrombolysis on the first day. The second day, he underwent right internal jugular access with contrast injections to mark the superior aspect of the occlusion via a Multipurpose catheter. An adult transseptal needle (Bard Electrophysiology Division C. R. Bard, Inc., Lowell, MA, USA) was used to create a tract through a 6 French Raabe Sheath and traverse the occlusion. A 10-mm Snare (Cook, Bloomington, IN, USA) cranially retracted the guidewire. Intravascular ultrasound was performed to further delineate the diameter of the IVC at the lesion before dilation with a 6.0 mm × 40 mm PTA balloon and a 10 mm × 29 mm Palmaz Stent (Cordis Corporation, Bridgewater, NJ, USA) deployment. The patient lost 24.6 kg in 2 weeks with resolution of ascites and pedal edema. < Learning objective: This case provides a unique approach to percutaneous intervention of inferior vena cava chronic total occlusion in the setting of Budd–Chiari syndrome post-liver transplant. There was use of an inferior and superior marker followed by use of transseptal needle to transverse the occlusion followed by balloon dilation and stent placement. While the disease and intervention have been described, the use of dual cranial/caudal markers and use of transseptal needle is unique to this particular case.> [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mango (Mangifera indica) is one of the most popular fruits in the world. During processing, the byproducts such as peel, seed and kernel are produced, which are high in bioactive components. There is a need to utilize them to formulate food products or extract the functional components. This paper provides an overview about the nutritional composition of mango byproducts besides discussing the bioactive compounds (BACs). The manuscript also explores the existing evidences on the biological activity of BACs and the potential of mango peel and seed kernel to develop value-added foods and beverages. Mango kernel is a great source of macronutrients and micronutrients with a relatively high antioxidant and polyphenolic content, whereas mango peels are rich in protocatechuic acids, mangiferin and β-carotene. These BACs demonstrate numerous biological activities including anti-oxidant antimicrobial, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. One of the promising strategies to utilize these byproducts is the development of different value-added food products such as bakery products, meat products, and dairy-based products for improving their phenolic compounds, fiber content, carotenoids, and antioxidant activity. This review thus illustrates the nutraceutical and pharmacological properties of mango byproducts and their appropriate use to enhance nutrition and health. [Display omitted] • Mango by-products (peel, seed & seed husk) constitute 35–60% of the fruit. • They are rich in bioactive compounds (BACs) like fibre, mangiferin, β-carotene, etc. • These BACs exhibits biological activities and offer physiological benefits. • Recent methods of BACs extraction, identification and quantification are discussed. • Extracted BACs are employed as antioxidants, anticancer, antibiotics, and antibacterial agents. • Mango by-products show huge potential to develop value-added food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Due to significant advances in miniaturization, low power circuit design but reasonably efficient to carry the sensitive information through wireless communication, wireless sensor network (WSN) have attracted attention a lot in recent years. WSN''s are being used in many applications like health monitoring, military purposes, and home automation. Since WSN suffer from many constraints including lower processing power, low battery life, small memory and wireless communication channel, security becomes the main concern to deal with such kind of networks. Due to these well accepted limitations, WSN is not able to deal with traditional cryptographic algorithms. This paper gives an overview of cryptographic frameworks designed so far and also a comparison of existing schemes is tabled. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Aims: The mechanisms responsible for the increased risk of heart failure (HF) post–myocardial infarction (MI) may differ between patients with versus without diabetes. We hypothesized that after high-risk MI, patients with diabetes would demonstrate patterns of remodeling that are suggestive of reduced ventricular compliance and that are associated with an increased risk of death or HF. Methods and Results: We performed quantitative echocardiographic analysis in 153 patients with diabetes and 451 patients without diabetes enrolled in the VALIANT Echo study. Diabetes was associated with a higher risk of death or HF in age-adjusted models (hazard ratio 1.44, 95% CI 1.04-2.00, P = .028). Diabetic patients were similar to nondiabetic patients with respect to left ventricular (LV) volume and ejection fraction but had higher LV mass index (104.1 ± 27.5 vs 97.1 ± 28.6 g/m2, P = .009), relative wall thickness (0.41 ± 0.08 vs 0.38 ± 0.07, P < .0001), and left atrial volume index (LAVi) (26.2 ± 8.1 vs 24.0 ± 8.2 mL/m2, P = .008)—all parameters that were significantly related to the risk of death or HF hospitalization. Changes in LV volume and ejection fraction from baseline to 20 months were not different, although diabetic patients demonstrated greater increase in LAVi (4.4 ± 7.7 vs 2.2 ± 6.7 mL/m2, P = .01). Conclusions: After high-risk MI, diabetic patients were at higher risk of death or HF and demonstrated greater baseline LV mass index, relative wall thickness, and LAVi as well as greater left atrial enlargement at 20-month follow-up. These findings suggest greater baseline concentric remodeling and long-term elevation in LV diastolic pressure post-MI among diabetic patients, which may partially mediate this risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Echocardiographic measurements of left ventricular (LV) function, predominantly LV ejection fraction (LVEF), have been used to define risk in patients after myocardial infarction. However, the extent to which measures of LV structure and function provide incremental prognostic value over clinical variables in survivors of high-risk myocardial infarction has not been well defined. Methods: Predictors of death and development of heart failure were assessed in 603 patients from the Valsartan in Acute Myocardial Infarction (VALIANT) echocardiographic substudy. We used multivariable proportional hazards models to assess the individual predictive value of echocardiographic measures including left ventricular mass index, LVEF, LV volumes, left atrial volume index, right ventricular fractional area change, mitral regurgitation, and deceleration time. We adjusted for the 11 clinical variables found previously to be most associated with all-cause mortality in this cohort. Receiver operating characteristic curves obtained via binary response regression were used to assess the incremental predictive value of echocardiographic measures in predicting outcomes of death and hospital stay for heart failure. Results: Each echocardiographic measure was independently associated with outcome of death or development of heart failure (all P < .002). Left ventricular ejection fraction alone added minimal prognostic value to the clinical assessment, yet adding additional echocardiographic assessments to a multivariable model improved in predicting 17-month survival free of heart failure significantly, increasing the c-statistic from 0.74 to 0.84 (P < .001). Conclusion: Echocardiographic measures of cardiac structure and function beyond LVEF provide important prognostic information beyond the clinical assessment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives: We sought to investigate the clinical prognostic value of longitudinal and circumferential strain (S) and strain rate (SR) in patients after high-risk myocardial infarction (MI). Background: Left ventricular (LV) contractile performance after MI is an important predictor of long-term outcome. Tissue deformation imaging might more closely reflect myocardial contractility than traditional measures of systolic functions. Methods: The VALIANT (Valsartan in Acute Myocardial Infarction Trial) Echo study enrolled 603 patients with LV dysfunction, heart failure, or both 5 days after MI. We measured global peak longitudinal S and systolic SR (SRs) from apical 4- and 2-chamber views and global circumferential S and SRs from parasternal short-axis view with speckle tracking software (Velocity Vector Imaging, Siemens, Inc., Mountain View, California). We related global S and SRs to LV remodeling at 20-month follow-up and to clinical outcomes. Results: Both longitudinal (mean: −5.1 ± 1.6 100/ms) and circumferential SRs (mean: −8.0 ± 2.8 100/ms) were predictive of death or hospital stay for heart failure (hazard ratio: 2.4, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.0 to 3.1, p < 0.001; hazard ratio: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.2 to 1.4, p < 0.001, respectively) after adjustment for clinical covariates by Cox proportional hazards, and longitudinal SRs further improved in predicting 18-month survivor on a model based on clinical and standard echocardiographic measures (increase in area under the receiver-operator characteristic curve: 0.13, p = 0.009). With multivariable logistic regression, circumferential SRs, but not longitudinal SRs, was strongly predictive of remodeling (odds ratio: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.1 to 1.4, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Both longitudinal and circumferential SRs were independent predictors of outcomes after MI, whereas only circumferential SRs was predictive of remodeling, suggesting that preserved circumferential function might serve to restrain ventricular enlargement after MI. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is an independent risk factor and predictor of cardiovascular (CV) events and all-cause mortality. Patients with LVH are at increased risk for stroke, congestive heart failure, coronary heart disease, and sudden cardiac death. Left ventricular hypertrophy represents both a manifestation of the effects of hypertension and other CV risk factors over time as well as an intrinsic condition causing pathologic changes in the CV structure and function. We review the risk factors for LVH and its consequences, concentric remodeling, and its prognostic significance, clinical benefits and supporting evidence for LVH regression, and its implications for management. We conclude our review summarizing the various pharmacological and nonpharmacological therapeutic options approved for the treatment of hypertension and LVH regression and the supporting clinical trial data for these therapeutic strategies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Background information on social spam and the spamming process. • Social spam taxonomy comprising spam content and spammer account is outlined. • A review of social spam, Deepfakes, and spammer detection techniques is presented. • Several challenges, open issues, and future research directions are discussed. Online Social Networks are perpetually evolving and used in plenteous applications such as content sharing, chatting, making friends/followers, customer engagements, commercials, product reviews/promotions, online games, and news, etc. The substantial issues related to the colossal flood of social spam in social media are polarizing sentiments, impacting users' online interaction time, degrading available information quality, network bandwidth, computing power, and speed. Simultaneously, groups of coordinated automated accounts/bots often use social networking sites to spread spam, rumors, bogus reviews, and fake news for targeted users or mass communication. The latest developments in the form of artificial intelligence-enabled Deepfakes have exacerbated these issues at large. Consequently, it becomes extremely relevant to review recent work concerning social spam and spammer detection to counter this issue and its effect. This paper provides a brief introduction to social spam, the spamming process, and social spam taxonomy. The comprehensive review entails several dimensionality reduction techniques used for feature selection/extraction, features used, various machine learning and deep learning techniques used for social spam and spammer detection, and their merits and demerits. Artificial intelligence and deep learning empowered Deepfake (text, image, and video) spam, and their countermeasures are also explored. Furthermore, meticulous discussions, existing challenges, and emerging issues such as robustness of detection systems, scalability, real-time datasets, evade strategies used by spammers, coordinated inauthentic behavior, and adversarial attacks on machine learning-based spam detectors, etc., have been discussed with possible directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study sought to understand prognostic implications of increased baseline left ventricular (LV) mass and geometric patterns in a high risk acute myocardial infarction. Background: The LV hypertrophy and alterations in LV geometry are associated with an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. Methods: Quantitative echocardiographic analyses were performed at baseline in 603 patients from the VALIANT (VALsartan In Acute myocardial iNfarcTion) echocardiographic study. The left ventricular mass index (LVMi) and relative wall thickness (RWT) were calculated. Patients were classified into 4 mutually exclusive groups based on RWT and LVMi as follows: normal geometry (normal LVMi and normal RWT), concentric remodeling (normal LVMi and increased RWT), eccentric hypertrophy (increased LVMi and normal RWT), and concentric hypertrophy (increased LVMi and increased RWT). Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate the relationships among LVMi, RWT, LV geometry, and clinical outcomes. Results: Mean LVMi and RWT were 98.8 ± 28.4 g/m2 and 0.38 ± 0.08. The risk of death or the composite end point of death from cardiovascular causes, reinfarction, heart failure, stroke, or resuscitation after cardiac arrest was lowest for patients with normal geometry, and increased with concentric remodeling (hazard ratio [HR]: 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.9 to 4.9), eccentric hypertrophy (HR: 3.1; 95% CI: 1.9 to 4.8), and concentric hypertrophy (HR: 5.4; 95% CI: 3.4 to 8.5), after adjusting for baseline covariates. Also, baseline LVMi and RWT were associated with increased mortality and nonfatal cardiovascular outcomes (HR: 1.22 per 10 g/m2 increase in LVMi; 95% CI: 1.20 to 1.30; p < 0.001) (HR: 1.60 per 0.1-U increase in RWT; 95% CI: 1.30 to 1.90; p < 0.001). Increased risk associated with RWT was independent of LVMi. Conclusions: Increased baseline LV mass and abnormal LV geometry portend an increased risk for morbidity and mortality following high-risk myocardial infarction. Concentric LV hypertrophy carries the greatest risk of adverse cardiovascular events including death. Higher RWT was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular complications after high-risk myocardial infarction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether alterations in cardiac structure or function contribute to the increased risk associated with renal impairment after myocardial infarction (MI). Background: Renal impairment is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes after MI. Methods: Echocardiography was performed on 603 patients with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, heart failure (HF), or both after MI. Patients were grouped according to their estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and measures of cardiac structure and function were related to baseline eGFR. The relationship between eGFR and cardiac structure and function and clinical outcomes of death or HF was assessed with multivariable Cox regression. Results: Ejection fraction, infarct segment length, right ventricular function, and mitral deceleration time were not influenced by renal function. Patients with reduced eGFR had smaller LV and larger left atrial (LA) volumes and higher left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and LV mass/LV volume ratio. A greater proportion of the patients with reduced eGFR had LV hypertrophy. The relationship between eGFR and the outcome of death or HF was attenuated by including baseline differences in LVMI, and both LVMI and LA volume conferred additional prognostic information in a multivariable model. Conclusions: Renal impairment was associated with smaller LV and larger LA volumes and increased LVMI. Systolic function was similar when compared with patients with normal renal function. Thus, reduced systolic function cannot account for worse outcomes in patients with renal impairment after MI. Indirect measures of diastolic function suggest that diastolic dysfunction might be an important mediator of increased risk in this population. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: 2,4,6-Triaryl-3-methylarylpyridines were obtained, in 60–70% yield, by a novel one-pot solventless solid-supported dimerization–heteroannulation reaction of chalcones and compounds possessing terminal –CONH2 functionality, at 125–135°C, using immobilized Bi(III) nitrate and Zn(II) chloride as co-catalyst. Initially, chalcones were prepared, in nearly quantitative yield, by a modified aldol condensation, in neutral aqueous medium, in the presence of p-toluenesodium sulfonate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Anti-viral monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatments may provide immediate but short-term immunity from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in high-risk populations, such as people with diabetes and the elderly; however, data on their efficacy in these populations are limited. We demonstrate that prophylactic mAb treatment blocks viral replication in both the upper and lower respiratory tracts in aged, type 2 diabetic rhesus macaques. mAb infusion dramatically curtails severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-mediated stimulation of interferon-induced chemokines and T cell activation, significantly reducing development of interstitial pneumonia. Furthermore, mAb infusion significantly dampens the greater than 3-fold increase in SARS-CoV-2-induced effector CD4 T cell influx into the cerebrospinal fluid. Our data show that neutralizing mAbs administered preventatively to high-risk populations may mitigate the adverse inflammatory consequences of SARS-CoV-2 exposure. [Display omitted] • Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) block SARS-CoV-2 replication • Neutralizing mAbs prevent SARS-CoV-2-induced interferon-induced chemokines • Neutralizing mAbs limit effector CD4 T cell influx into cerebrospinal fluid Verma et al. observe that prophylactic mAbs limit SARS-CoV-2 replication and immune activation. In aged diabetic rhesus macaques, these protective mechanisms took place in the areas of the body most highly targeted by the virus and the respiratory, nervous, and circulatory systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]