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Background: The actual burden of the Omicron variants remains unclear. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the epidemiological and clinical features of Omicron-infected patients and investigate factors influencing hospital admission. Methods: This retrospective single-center study included individuals with positive SARS-CoV-2 infection, specifically the Omicron variants (XBB, EG or JN), identified through real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assays from January 2022 to December 2023. Results: A total of 305 Omicron-infected patients were included; (53.11 %) were females and (46.89 %) were males, with a median age of 39 years [interquartile range (IQR): 30, 53]. Underlying diseases, including endocrine/metabolic disorders (22.30 %), hypertension (12.79 %), chronic respiratory disease (10.49 %), and malignancy (9.18 %) were prevalent, while (40.98 %) were medically free. The XBB variant was predominant (73.11 %), followed by JN (20.33 %), and EG variant (6.56 %). The seasonality analysis demonstrates XBB variants' domination in 2022, with a surge to 40 cases in December. The trend continued in 2023, peaking at 76 XBB cases in March. May 2023 reported 38 XBB cases and the emergence of 17 EG instances. Notably, in December, only one XBB case was reported, and 62 instances emerged with the JN variant. Overall, 233 out of 305 cases were reported during flu season (September to March) (76.39 %). Moreover, hospitalization occurred in (16.39 %), with a (1.31 %) mortality rate (all deaths in the JN variant). Multivariable analysis confirmed renal disease, chronic respiratory disease, endocrine/metabolism issues, and polymicrobial infection as positive predictors of hospitalization (p

The actual burden of the Omicron variants remains unclear. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the epidemiological and clinical features of Omicron-infected patients and investigate factors influencing hospital admission. This retrospective single-center study included individuals with positive SARS-CoV-2 infection, specifically the Omicron variants (XBB, EG or JN), identified through real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assays from January 2022 to December 2023. A total of 305 Omicron-infected patients were included; (53.11 %) were females and (46.89 %) were males, with a median age of 39 years [interquartile range (IQR): 30, 53]. Underlying diseases, including endocrine/metabolic disorders (22.30 %), hypertension (12.79 %), chronic respiratory disease (10.49 %), and malignancy (9.18 %) were prevalent, while (40.98 %) were medically free. The XBB variant was predominant (73.11 %), followed by JN (20.33 %), and EG variant (6.56 %). The seasonality analysis demonstrates XBB variants' domination in 2022, with a surge to 40 cases in December. The trend continued in 2023, peaking at 76 XBB cases in March. May 2023 reported 38 XBB cases and the emergence of 17 EG instances. Notably, in December, only one XBB case was reported, and 62 instances emerged with the JN variant. Overall, 233 out of 305 cases were reported during flu season (September to March) (76.39 %). Moreover, hospitalization occurred in (16.39 %), with a (1.31 %) mortality rate (all deaths in the JN variant). Multivariable analysis confirmed renal disease, chronic respiratory disease, endocrine/metabolism issues, and polymicrobial infection as positive predictors of hospitalization (p < 0.05). While COVID-19 vaccination significantly reduced hospitalization odds (Odds Ratio: 0.20, p = 0.001). These findings contribute valuable insights into Omicron epidemiology and factors influencing hospitalization. The dynamic fluctuations in Omicron variants, particularly XBB, EG, and JN, over 2022 and 2023, with JN emerging as the dominant circulating variant globally, underscore the need for continuous vigilance and urgency for updated vaccine formulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional theories of consciousness (ToCs) that assume that the substrate of consciousness is the brain's neuronal matter fail to account for fundamental features of consciousness, such as the binding problem. Field ToC's propose that the substrate of consciousness is the brain's best accounted by some kind of field in the brain. Electromagnetic (EM) ToCs propose that the conscious field is the brain's well-known EM field. EM-ToCs were first proposed only around 20 years ago primarily to account for the experimental discovery that synchronous neuronal firing was the strongest neural correlate of consciousness (NCC). Although EM-ToCs are gaining increasing support, they remain controversial and are often ignored by neurobiologists and philosophers and passed over in most published reviews of consciousness. In this review I examine EM-ToCs against established criteria for distinguishing between ToCs and demonstrate that they outperform all conventional ToCs and provide novel insights into the nature of consciousness as well as a feasible route toward building artificial consciousnesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ZnO thin films having different thicknesses (300, 400 and 500) nm were deposited by spray pyrolysis method (SPM). XRD analysis indicate that the deposited films have hexagonal wurtzite structure and display a strong peak at (002) plane. The effects of thicknesses on crystallite size, stress and strain are investigated. The thicknesses effect on film surface topography parameters such as roughness, particle size and Root mean square of grains are calculated. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) confirm that the distribution grains size appears nanostructure and homogeneous in all films. RMS increases from 1.54 nm to 3.98 nm with thicknesses 500 nm. The surface roughness increases from 1.33 nm to 3.30 nm. Transmittance was detecting to be atop 80% in visible region. The bandgap energy increased from 2.83 eV to 3.75 eV with thickness elevation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A thin film of iron disulfide (FeS2) and Mn-doped was prepared using the chemical spray pyrolysis (CSP) method at a constant temperature of the glass substrate at around 400 °C. According to XRD examination, films were structurally cubic oriented with a predominant planar orientation (201). The doping of Mn ions in the FeS2 host matrix was confirmed by a minor shift of the diffraction peak towards the lower 2Î, values. The surface of the produced film for pyrite was homogeneous, according to the AFM investigations. According to the XRD data, the predicted grain size altered as the consistent manganese increased. When compared to undoped FeS2 thin films, the Mn2+-doped FeS2 thin films' desired bandgap energy showed a red shift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, different number of the 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a,8-triaza-s-indacene (aza-BODIPY) molecule has been employed to design novel oligomers with considerable electrical and optical properties. The geometries of the designed oligomers were optimized and the IR frequency and cohesive energy were calculated to study their stability. To explore their electronic properties, the HOMO, LUMO energies and Eg of designed oligomers were calculated. It was shown that by enlarging the size of oligomer and increase in number of aza-BODIPY units in designed oligomers, their Eg was narrowed. Finally, it was found that as the numbers of aza-BODIPY units in the oligomers increased, a great enhancement in optical properties was observed. Significant optical properties with strong absorption lines were seen in the visible and near-infrared regions for designed oligomer with six and seven aza-BODIPY units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of financial development (FD) on economic growth (EG) is well documented. However, studies on how inflation mediates the impact of FD on EG produce inconclusive findings. Meanwhile, the tripartite relationship among FD, inflation and EG is particularly crucial for sub-Saharan African countries given that these countries are largely inflationary on the back of under-developed financial sectors and low EG. The inconclusive evidence presented by the existing studies limits policy making. This study therefore re-examines whether inflation mediates the FD–EG nexus by utilizing a panel data obtained from 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The study uses the sample splitting threshold approach to investigate this relationship. The findings identify inflation thresholds of 7.65% and 6.76% at which the impact of FD on EG changes sign. Specifically, irrespective of the indicator of FD, higher FD significantly increases EG at low inflation rates. However, beyond the estimated thresholds, the impact of FD on EG is insignificant, revealing that higher inflation does not support the growth-enhancing effect of FD. The research recommends that inflation should be kept below the identified thresholds for FD to spur EG.

A flame retardant system based on expandable graphite (EG), aluminum diethylphosphinate (AlPI) and melamine polyphosphate (MPP) was investigated in glass fiber- (GF) reinforced polyamide 6 (PA6). Burning characteristics were evaluated via cone calorimeter, limiting oxygen index (LOI) and UL-94 tests. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and coupled Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to investigate the decomposition process as well as flame retardant modes of actions. Specifically, in the cone calorimeter tests, formulations containing EG showed excellent flame retardant properties for non-reinforced and reinforced PA6. The best performance was achieved for 25 wt.% glass fiber-reinforced PA6 containing solely 20 wt.% EG, corresponding to a measured pHRR of 134 kW/m2 and a total smoke production of 1.2 m2. Higher glass fiber contents of 45 wt.% (30 vol.%) revealed a lower char volume, which was attributed to both the limited space available for expansion and the sheer-induced reduction in particle size during processing. All of the reinforced PA6 formulations only achieved V2 classifications, but this was at low filling degrees (10 wt.%) for both net EG or EG/AlPi/MPP combinations. For GF-reinforced PA6 containing EG/AlPi/MPP mixtures, a synergistic effect was found to improve the oxygen index up to 30.6%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of financial development (FD) on economic growth (EG) is well documented. However, studies on how inflation mediates the impact of FD on EG produce inconclusive findings. Meanwhile, the tripartite relationship among FD, inflation and EG is particularly crucial for sub-Saharan African countries given that these countries are largely inflationary on the back of under-developed financial sectors and low EG. The inconclusive evidence presented by the existing studies limits policy making. This study therefore re-examines whether inflation mediates the FD–EG nexus by utilizing a panel data obtained from 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The study uses the sample splitting threshold approach to investigate this relationship. The findings identify inflation thresholds of 7.65% and 6.76% at which the impact of FD on EG changes sign. Specifically, irrespective of the indicator of FD, higher FD significantly increases EG at low inflation rates. However, beyond the estimated thresholds, the impact of FD on EG is insignificant, revealing that higher inflation does not support the growth-enhancing effect of FD. The research recommends that inflation should be kept below the identified thresholds for FD to spur EG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Eosinophils are a common clinical feature associated with chronic allergic diseases, and elemental diets, systemic steroids, anti‐IL‐5 and anti‐IL‐13 treatment have shown some therapeutic promise. Herein, we present evidence that pre‐ and post‐intraperitoneal administration of tacrolimus (FK506) is very effective in reducing CCR3/Siglec‐F+ eosinophils in Aspergillus‐challenged asthma and EoE, CD2‐IL‐5 induced global eosinophilia, and DOX regulated IL‐13‐induced asthma. We used flow cytometry and anti‐major basic protein (MBP) immunostaining to examine eosinophils in the spleen, bone marrow, BALF, lung, oesophagus and intestine. Additionally, we also performed ELISA and Western blot analyses to show that tacrolimus treatment also reduces the levels of eosinophil‐specific cytokines IL‐4, IL‐5, IL‐13 and TGF‐β, eosinophil‐specific chemokines Eotaxin‐1 and Eotaxin‐2, and progenitors of target RCAN1 mRNA and protein levels. Additionally, the current investigations also show that the TGF‐β‐mediated oesophageal and lung fibrosis is also reduced in Aspergillus‐challenged, CD2‐IL‐5 transgenic and DOX‐responsive IL‐13 mice. Mechanistically, we show that tacrolimus in vitro treatment inhibited bone marrow‐derived eosinophil proliferation and viability by promoting eosinophil apoptosis that may be associated with downregulation of RCAN1. Taken together, we provide in vivo and in vitro evidence that tacrolimus ameliorates eosinophil levels and associated pathogenesis in allergen‐, IL‐5‐ and IL‐13‐induced EoE, EG and asthma pathogenesis. Considering tacrolimus side‐effects and reactivity to several other drugs, we propose the topical use of tacrolimus for paediatric and low‐dose oral for adult patients as a novel therapeutic strategy for the clinical trial to reduce mucosal eosinophilia first in steroid‐refractory or elemental diet non‐responsive adult EoE, EG and asthma patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated natural gas dehydration performance of selected glycols and sales gas characteristics of dehydrated gases with Aspen Hysys. In this study, all the relevant simulations with the selected glycols were conducted with the same scale and parameters, so that their dehydration performance and sales gas characteristics could be compared effectively. In case of circulation rate, lowest water composition was achieved by 99% ethylene-glycol (EG), highest methane composition was obtained by 90% triethylene-glycol (TEG), the highest amount of sales gas obtained by 90% tetraethylene-glycol (TREG), highest LHV (lower heating value) was achieved by 99% diethylene-glycol (DEG), highest HHV (higher heating value) was achieved by 99% DEG, highest total LHV was obtained by 95% TEG and highest total HHV was obtained by 95%-TEG. In case of both contractor pressure and stage number, lowest water composition was achieved by 95% TEG, highest methane composition was obtained by 95% TEG, the highest amount of sales gas obtained by 90% TREG, highest LHV was achieved by 95% TEG, highest HHV was achieved by 99% DEG, highest total LHV was obtained from 95% EG and highest total HHV was obtained by 90% TREG. The pressure and temperature of glycol did not show any effect on any parameter of sales gas. With glycol circulation rate, a similar changing trend of H2O and CH4 composition and amount of sales gas was found for all TEG and TREG components and higher concentration DEG and EG components, although different patterns found for lower concentration DEG and EG. Change of H2O and CH4 composition and amount of sales gas with stage number DEG and EG showed more sensitivity, and for heating values, TREG showed higher sensitivity. EG showed more sensitivity to the parameters with the change of contractor pressure. Although TEG was found as an overall better dehydrator, but its high circulation rate made EG an alternate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of different concentration of l-carnitine with different cryoprotectants (Ethelene glycol, Dimethyl Sulfoxid, combination between EG and DMSO) on viability rate of immature vitrified buffalo oocytes. Selected cumulus oocyte complexes (COCs) with a compact cumulus cells and even granulated cytoplasm were equliperated in a solution composed of (20% Ethelyn glycol+20 %dimethyl sulfoxide) for 10 min. Then COCs randomly divided into four groups (control, LC;5mM LC;10mM; LC-20mM LC) in solution containing either 40%EG(VS1) or 40% DMSO(VS2) or 40% EG + 40% DMSO(VS3). The viability rate at 5,10mM LC and using EG (88.3; 82 % resp); DMSO (70.4%;56.8% resp.) and EG +DMSO (82.04%; 80% resp.) was increased than using 20mM LC and control. The rate of zona pellucida abnormalities was significantly increased after exposure of buffalo oocytes to EG at concentration of 20 mM LC (29%, P<0.01) when compared to 10mM and 5mM. The percentage of cytoplasmic abnormalities and using DMSO was increased with 20 Mm LC than other treatments. In conclusion using of EG or mixture of (EG+DMSO) and LC at 5,10mM increase recovery and survival rate of buffalo oocytes after vitrification and warming and decrease the abnormalities in cytoplasm and zona pellucida. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Soybean oil is used as a raw material to synthesize soybean oil-based polyol and then to prepare vegetable oil-based rigid polyurethane foam. • Preparation of reactive flame retardant hyperbranched polyol (DOPO-MASi) containing phosphorus nitrogen and siloxane from DOPO. • The reactive flame retardant (DOPO-MASi) and the additive flame retardant expandable graphite (EG) are blended into soybean oil-based polyol to obtain vegetable oil-based flame retardant rigid polyurethane foam with good overall performance. The preparation of rigid polyurethane foam (RPUF) from vegetable oil and the improvement of its flame retardant properties are of great importance to broaden the application field of RPUF, which can satisfy the green environment and reduce the fire accidents caused by its flammability. In this paper, a reactive hyperbranched flame retardant polyol (DOPO-MASi) containing three flame retardant elements of P, N and Si was prepared by reacting 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO), a phosphorus-containing compound, with maleic anhydride, diethanolamine and Triethoxy(3-glycidyloxypropyl)silane (KH-561), respectively, and mixed with expandable graphite (EG) to obtain a vegetable oil-based flame retardant RPUF with the multi-flame retardant system. This foam has excellent flame retardant properties and smoke-suppressing effect, with a limiting oxygen index (LOI) of 30% and a "V-0″ level in the UL-94 vertical burning test, as well as its pHRR, THR, and TSP were reduced by 47.5%, 57.9% and 62.8%, respectively. More importantly, 5% EG/20% FR-RPUF also has good mechanical properties. The above properties provide a reference for the practical application of RPUF in environmental protection and flame retardant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the toxicities of permeable cryoprotectants and finally to establish the cryopreservation method of surplus embryos obtained during assisted reproductive technology (ART). Toxicities of permeable cryoprotectants, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), ethylene glycol (EG), Glycerol, and 1,2-PROH were investigated using a murine embryo model. Female F-1 mice were stimulated with gonadotropin, induced ovulation with hCG and mated. Two cell embryos were collected and cultured after exposure to among DMSO, EG, Glycerol, and 1,2-PROH. Embryo development was evaluated up to the blastocyst stage. The total cell count of blastocysts that were treated with DMSO and Glycerol at the 2-cell stage was significantly lower than that were treated with EG (81.1±15.1), 1,2-PROH (88.0±21.1) or the control (99.9±21.3) (p

The research aims to determine how the influence of intellectual capital which measured by Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) to finance performance which measured by Return on Asset (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) and to Firm Growth which measured by Asset Growth (AG) and Equity Growth (EG), in construction companies listed on the Indonesia stock exchange (IDX) 2011-2013 period .The sampling using purposive sampling method, the samples was taken from 7 companies. This research used secondary data, which means the data that used in this research come from annual report of company and is used smartPLS 3.0 to analysed the data. This research show that there is positive influence between intellectual capital to financial performance and intellectual capital also has positive influence to firm growth.

The proper selection of solvents is important during liquefaction of biomass process to produce fuel additives and valuable chemicals. In this study, novel low-cost liquefying agents such 1,2-propanediol (PG), diethylene glycol (DEG), and 1,4-butanediol (BDO), as well as the traditional liquefying agent, ethylene glycol (EG), were used. It was found that the liquefaction yield of corn stalk in the presence of PG at the optimum temperature of 180°C was up to 99.2%, which was higher than that of the other three liquefying agents. The main components and functional groups of bio-oil with an acid catalyst were characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The chief constituents of bio-oil were complex, and corn stalk could be effectively degraded with PG liquefaction. Moreover, the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) data also revealed that the fiber structure of the liquefied corn stalk was destroyed and essentially liquefied during PG liquefaction. Consequently, all the results in the study successfully confirmed that PG can provide an efficient and environmental process for generating bio-oil from lignocellulosic mass at a low cost in liquefaction of corn stalk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of embryonic stage, cryoprotectant, and freezing-thawing method on the rates of survival and development of the cryopreserved mouse early embryo and finally to establish the cryopreservation method of surplus embryos obtained during assisted reproductive technology (ART). Two to eight cell embryos were obtained from oviducts of mated F1 hybrid female mice superovulated by PMSG and hCG. Two-step EG, DMSO and 4-step EG, DMSO were used as cryoprotectant and dehydration and rehydration method of embryos, and slow-cooling or rapid-cooling method was used as frozen program. The survival rates of embryos were measured after thawing and rehydration, and the developmental rates of embryos were compared and observed during culturing embryos for 24, 48, 72, 96 hrs. As for the survival and development rates of embryos according to embryonic stage, the survival rate of 2 cell stage in EG and DMSO was significantly higher than 4~8 cell (65.4% versus 61.2%, 81.1% versus 72.5%) (p

It is a hot research topic today to find out the potential knowledge from the scattered urban data and take advantage of the relationship between the knowledge to solve the challenges of urban governance and smart city construction. The urban knowledge graph is an effective way to establish the relationship between the knowledge and address the urban issues. This study proposes the methodology to create an urban knowledge graph and its framework. It elaborates the approaches of urban knowledge acquisition, reasoning and expression. Furthermore, a hybrid reasoning algorithm known as EG is given based on expectation‐maximisation algorithm and Gibbs algorithm, which has the complementary advantages of the both methods. Through a study case, this study illustrates constructing and working process of an urban knowledge graph. The case shows that the urban knowledge graph has a good application prospect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing energy efficiency is of particular importance and therefore the use of nanofluids has been considered due to their thermophysical properties. in this study Response surface methodology (RSM) and MLP artificial neural network (ANN) models are applied for the determination of the density and specific heat capacity. Results indicate that the maximum residual value for the RSM model of density was ± 1.5 and for the RSM model of specific heat was + 0.008 and − 0.006. The optimum MLP structure for density is created with 5 neurons in the first layer and 2 neurons in the second layer. For the MLP structure of specific heat, 4 neurons in the first layer and 5 neurons in the second layer are considered. The best MLP structures have MSE, MAE and R2 equal to 0.324113, 0.395038 and 0.9985 for density and 1.89E-05, 3.24E-03 and 0.9974 for thermal conductivity, respectively. The maximum influence of volume fraction of nanoparticles (φ) on the density belongs to TiN50–EG nanofluid and the minimum one belongs to Si 3 N 4 20–EG nanofluid. TiN50–EG and TiN20–EG nanofluids have the minimum effect on the specific heat. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the thermodynamic characteristics of cationic surfactants in binary mixtures, the aggregation behavior of hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) has been investigated in ethylene glycol (EG) + water solvent mixtures at different temperatures and EG to water ratios. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) and degree of counter ion bonding ( β) were calculated from electrical conductivity measurements. An equilibrium model for micelle formation was applied to obtain the thermodynamic parameters for micellization, including the standard Gibbs energies of micellization ( $\Delta G_{\mathrm{mic}}^{\mathrm{o}})$, standard enthalpies of micelle formation ( $\Delta H_{\mathrm{mic}}^{\mathrm{o}})$ and standard entropies of micellization ( $\Delta S_{\mathrm{mic}}^{\mathrm{o}})$. Our results show that $\Delta G_{\mathrm{mic}}^{\mathrm{o}}$ is always negative and slightly dependent on temperature. The process of micellization is entropy driven in pure water, whereas in EG + water mixtures the micellization is enthalpy driven. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) films were deposited using direct-current plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (DC PECVD) process. The resulting film properties were studied with respect to the introduction of hydrogen (H2) and helium (He) in methane (CH4) plasma. The analysis techniques used to assess the film properties included optical transmission spectroscopy, Fourier transmission infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Hydrogen dilution has significant effect on the deposition rate and optical band gap (Eg) of the film but helium dilution produces insignificant effects on these parameters. However, the hydrogen content in the film decreases steeply to a saturation value with increase in helium dilution. Increase in dilution of CH4 by both H and He gases result in decrease in PL efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]