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Background Methods Results Conclusion To elucidate the role of balloon Eustachian tuboplasty (BET) in the management of chronic rhinosinusitis with obstructive Eustachian tube dysfunction (ETD), we evaluated the results of endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) with and without BET in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with obstructive ETD.This randomized controlled trial conducted in a single‐institution tertiary care center setting included 50 patients diagnosed with primary chronic rhinosinusitis and obstructive ETD between July 2018 and June 2022. Twenty‐five patients were prospectively enrolled for combined ESS/BET. The control group (25 patients) underwent ESS alone. Outcome measurements of the Sinonasal Outcome Test 22, modified Lund–Kennedy score, Eustachian Tube Dysfunction Questionnaire‐7 (ETDQ‐7), and serial Eustachian tube function test results were analyzed 3 months postoperatively.The improvement (12.60 ± 6.50) in the ETDQ‐7 score in the BET group was significantly higher than that in the control group (6.60 ± 5.58). The ratio of improvement in the ETDQ‐7 score was also significantly higher in the BET than in the control group (92% vs. 68%, p = 0.034). Logistic regression analysis showed that performing BET (odds ratio [OR]: 5.41, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02–28.79, p = 0.048) and a low post‐modified Lund–Kennedy score (OR: 0.15, 95% CI: 0.04–0.54, p = 0.004) were significantly associated with ETDQ‐7 score improvement.Combined BET/ESS could decrease otologic symptoms and improve Eustachian tube function. BET may be an appropriate adjunctive procedure for treating chronic rhinosinusitis with obstructive ETD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cisplatin is a widely used standard chemotherapy for various cancers. However, cisplatin treatment is associated with severe ototoxicity. Fucoidan is a complex sulfated polysaccharide mainly derived from brown seaweeds, and it shows multiple bioactivities such as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antioxidant activities. Despite evidence of the antioxidant effects of fucoidan, research on its otoprotective effects remains limited. Therefore, the present study investigated the otoprotective effects of fucoidan in vitro using the mouse cochlear cell line UB/OC-2 to develop new strategies to attenuate cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. We quantified the cell membrane potential and analyzed regulators and cascade proteins in the apoptotic pathway. Mouse cochlear UB/OC-2 cells were pre-treated with fucoidan before cisplatin exposure. The effects on cochlear hair cell viability, mitochondrial function, and apoptosis-related proteins were determined via flow cytometry, Western blot analysis, and fluorescence staining. Fucoidan treatment reduced cisplatin-induced intracellular reactive oxygen species production, stabilized mitochondrial membrane potential, inhibited mitochondrial dysfunction, and successfully protected hair cells from apoptosis. Furthermore, fucoidan exerted antioxidant effects against oxidative stress by regulating the Nrf2 pathway. Therefore, we suggest that fucoidan may represent a potential therapeutic agent for developing a new otoprotective strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to further evaluate the benefit of topical hemostasis agents in tonsillectomy. We compared the clinical effects of topical application between hydrogen peroxide and adrenaline in tonsillectomy. Overall, 60 patients (120 tonsils) were prospectively enrolled for tonsillectomy between February 2018 and December 2020. The patients were randomly assigned to either the hydrogen peroxide or adrenaline group. Then, tonsillectomy was performed using hydrogen peroxide as a hemostatic agent on the assigned side, while adrenaline was applied to the other side. All procedures were performed by a surgeon who was blinded to the randomization. The outcome measurements of operation time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative pain, and hemorrhage events were analyzed. The intraoperative blood loss was significantly lower in the hydrogen peroxide group than in the adrenaline group (9.99 ± 4.51 mL vs. 13.87 ± 6.32 mL; p = 0.0). The median operation time was also significantly lower in the hydrogen peroxide group (8.02 ± 3.59 min vs. 9.22 ± 3.88 min; p = 0.019). Meanwhile, the visual analogue scale (VAS) scores were significantly higher in the hydrogen peroxide group (4.98 ± 1.94 vs. 4.27 ± 1.97; p = 0.001). The topical application of hydrogen peroxide as a hemostatic agent effectively decreases the operation time and intraoperative blood loss. Thus, hydrogen peroxide can be used as a routine hemostatic agent for bleeding control in tonsillectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The byproducts of lemon juice have always constituted an environmental issue. In this study, the byproducts extracted to lemon water vapor extract (LWAE) by distilled, which was added to lemon fermented products (LFP) to evaluate its effect on its quality and bioactivity. Based on the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry results, the main component of the LWAE was D-limonene (>41%). After added 5% LWAE the amount of D-limonene in non-sterilized lemon fermented product (NLFP) increased from 10.1% to 20.9%, while that in LFP increase from 10.5% to 19.9%. Besides, anti-browning test results showed that LWAE could delay browning. This study demonstrated that LWAE improved the antioxidant capacity, limonene content, anti-browning ability, and bioactive ingredients in a gastrointestinal simulation. These results may serve as the principal basis for byproduct reuse and improvement of product quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares the antioxidant capacity of non-sterilized lemon product (NLFP) and sterilized lemon fermented product (LFP). After gastrointestinal simulation reaction, the antioxidant capacity decreased by 50% in lemon juice (LJ), 30%–40% in NLFP, and 40% in LFP respectively. For the bioactive ingredients, sterilized LFP had a polyphenol of 25.8 mg GAE/mL, ascorbic acid of 55.2 mg/mL, and flavonoids of 75.2 mg/L, which were higher than LJ. NLFP and LFP effectively increased the activity of Glutathione Peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and mitochondrial membrane potential, reduced the reactive oxygen species (ROS) content. The results in this study indicate that LJ with lactic acid fermentation can increase biologically active ingredients and antioxidant capacity which is important for future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A proof-of-concept of the enhancement in thermoelectric properties using C/BCN core/shell nanotube heterojunctions has been reported. We demonstrated a scalable two-step reaction route to produce C/BCN core/shell nanotubes with bulk quantities. Systematic X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic-scale high-resolution transmission electron microscope electron energy loss spectroscopy (HRTEM-EELS) characterizations indicate that the synthetic heterostructures with CNT core and BCN shell can be prepared by the developed method. Thermoelectric property measurements revealed that moderate BCN shell effectively improves the Seebeck coefficient, leading to a 6.4-fold increase in thermoelectric power factor of 0.64 μW/mK 2 . Our study provides a fundamental understanding for the rational design of nanostructured heterojunctions for improved thermoelectric properties of carbon-based materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the efficient productions of single- and few-layered graphene and molybdenum disulphide (MoS 2 ) nanosheets using a surfactant-free, water-assisted liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) of graphite and MoS 2 bulk powders in N-methylpyrrolidinone (NMP). Extensive absorption spectroscopic study and materials characterizations indicate that the addition of water to NMP was not only effective on the exfoliation yields but also the stability of the colloidal dispersions of exfoliated nanosheets in the water-NMP mixed solvent upto 18 months. Detailed micro Raman spectroscopic analysis suggests the defects of the exfoliated graphene nanosheets were reduced using the developed water-assisted LPE in NMP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A hybrid model is proposed based on the combination of SVR and Heun's methods. • The hybrid model forecasts flood maps and dike risks with multiple lead times. • The hybrid model outperforms conventional SVR models in long-term forecasting. • The hybrid model is much more efficient than hydraulic models. In response to the increasing threats of flash flooding, how to generate flood maps in real time has drawn great attention. In this study, a hybrid ML model was developed for flood map generation with multiple lead times based on the combination of the support vector regression (SVR) method and Heun's scheme for numerical correction, in which the hydraulic simulation results are used for model training while rainfall and flood sensor data are used as input variables (namely, the SVR-RFN model). To evaluate the performance of the hybrid model, two additional SVR models were developed and used as references for comparison—the first one used rainfall as input variables without sensor data (namely, the SVR-R model), and the second one added flood sensor data as input variables without numerical correction (namely, the SVR-RF model). The three models are tested and compared with a hydraulic model for a historical event in Sanyei River Basin, Taiwan. Using the hydraulic model as the benchmark, the hybrid model performed the best by reducing 63% of flood depth error and had the least deterioration of accuracy as lead time increased. The SVR-RF model performed the second by reducing the flood depth errors by 46% whereas the hydraulic model was more accurate than the SVR-R model. In a comparison of flood extents, the hydraulic model showed overestimation, the SVR-R model showed significant underestimation, whereas the two models with sensor data had balanced predictions. The flood maps generated by the hybrid model were applied for dike safety evaluation and showed a good capability in forecasting the risk of dike breach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effects of a graphene nanosheet (GNS) conductive additive on the performance of a highly packed (2.5 g cm) lithium-ion battery cathode containing 92 wt% Li(MnNi)O microspheres (approximately 6 μm in diameter). GNSs, approximately 2.0 nm thick and 0.5-1.0 μm in width, are introduced into an electrode slurry in the form of a dispersion in N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone. They are substantially smaller than the oxide particles; therefore, their presence exerts no adverse influence on the packing density of the electrode. A small quantity of the GNS additive (≤200 ppm relative to the oxide mass) can significantly increase the overall electronic conductance and improve the conductance uniformity of the oxide electrode, leading to reduced polarization and enhanced specific capacity and rate performance. However, the GNS additive also promotes solid-electrolyte interphase formation, resulting in resistance buildup and capacity deterioration upon cycling. This study is the first to identify such an adverse effect caused by a graphene additive. The interplay between the positive and negative effects has led to an optimal GNS additive content of approximately 100 ppm, enhancing both the rate and cycle life performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Methylphenidate is effective in reducing the clinical symptoms of patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ORADUR®-methylphenidate is a new extended-release preparation of methylphenidate. This study aimed at identifying brain regions with activation changes and their correlations with neuropsychological functions after treatment with ORADUR-methylphenidate in children with ADHD. Methods: We recruited drug-naive children with ADHD and age- and sex-matched typically developing (TD) children. They were all scanned with the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the counting Stroop task at baseline, and those with ADHD had the second fMRI assessment after 8-week treatment with ORADUR-methylphenidate. The Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVP) and Conners' Continuous Performance Test (CCPT) were used to assess the attention performance of the ADHD (before and after treatment) and TD groups. Results: ORADUR-methylphenidate significantly decreased inattention (Cohen d = 2.17) and hyperactivity-impulsivity (Cohen d = 0.98) symptoms. We found less activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) in the pre-treatment ADHD children than TD children and greater treatment-induced activation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC). There was no significant difference between the post-treatment ADHD and TD groups. However, the treatment-related activations in the dACC, rDLPFC, and rIFG were significantly correlated with CCPT and RVP measures. Conclusions: Our findings indicated that ORADUR-methylphenidate increased brain activations in the dACC, rDLPFC, and rIFG in children with ADHD, associated with improved focused attention, reduced impulsivity, and enhanced inhibition control. Activities of these brain regions might be biomarkers for the treatment effectiveness of methylphenidate for ADHD. Clinical Trials Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02450890. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Sintering of the AlN powder synthesized by a combustion synthesis method, which was developed recently by the present authors, was studied by using a microwave sintering technique. A single mode microwave cavity was used and an insulation package with a simple configuration was developed. A high sintering temperature (1900°C or higher) and a stable and uniform heating were readily achieved. A temperature measurement technique using a thermocouple with extrapolation was established to obtain the sintering temperature. A percent theoretical density of 99.5% and a thermal conductivity of 186W/mK were obtained for a specimen which was sintered at 1900°C with a soaking time of 30min and 3wt.% of Y2O3 added. The effects of sintering aid (i.e., Y2O3) and sintering temperature on densification, microstructure and thermal conductivity of the sintered specimens were investigated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Sentinel physician surveillance in communities has played an important role in detecting early signs of epidemics. The traditional approach is to let the primary care physician voluntarily and actively report diseases to the health department on a weekly basis. However, this is labor-intensive work, and the spatio-temporal resolution of the surveillance data is not precise at all. In this study, we built up a clinic-based enhanced sentinel surveillance system named "Sentinel plus" which was designed for sentinel clinics and community hospitals to monitor 23 kinds of syndromic groups in Taipei City, Taiwan. The definitions of those syndromic groups were based on ICD-10 diagnoses from physicians. Methods: Daily ICD-10 counts of two syndromic groups including ILI and EV-like syndromes in Taipei City were extracted from Sentinel plus. A negative binomial regression model was used to couple with lag structure functions to examine the short-term association between ICD counts and meteorological variables. After fitting the negative binomial regression model, residuals were further rescaled to Pearson residuals. We then monitored these daily standardized Pearson residuals for any aberrations from July 2018 to October 2019. Results: The results showed that daily average temperature was significantly negatively associated with numbers of ILI syndromes. The ozone and PM2.5 concentrations were significantly positively associated with ILI syndromes. In addition, daily minimum temperature, and the ozone and PM2.5 concentrations were significantly negatively associated with the EV-like syndromes. The aberrational signals detected from clinics for ILI and EV-like syndromes were earlier than the epidemic period based on outpatient surveillance defined by the Taiwan CDC. Conclusions: This system not only provides warning signals to the local health department for managing the risks but also reminds medical practitioners to be vigilant toward susceptible patients. The near real-time surveillance can help decision makers evaluate their policy on a timely basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What Works Clearinghouse (WWC, 2022) recommends a design-comparable effect size (D-CES; i.e., gAB) to gauge an intervention in single-case experimental design (SCED) studies, or to synthesize findings in meta-analysis. So far, no research has examined gAB's performance under non-normal distributions. This study expanded Pustejovsky et al. (2014) to investigate the impact of data distributions, number of cases (m), number of measurements (N), within-case reliability or intra-class correlation (ρ), ratio of variance components (λ), and autocorrelation (ϕ) on gAB in multiple-baseline (MB) design. The performance of gAB was assessed by relative bias (RB), relative bias of variance (RBV), MSE, and coverage rate of 95% CIs (CR). Findings revealed that gAB was unbiased even under non-normal distributions. gAB's variance was generally overestimated, and its 95% CI was over-covered, especially when distributions were normal or nearly normal combined with small m and N. Large imprecision of gAB occurred when m was small and ρ was large. According to the ANOVA results, data distributions contributed to approximately 49% of variance in RB and 25% of variance in both RBV and CR. m and ρ each contributed to 34% of variance in MSE. We recommend gAB for MB studies and meta-analysis with N ≥ 16 and when either (1) data distributions are normal or nearly normal, m = 6, and ρ = 0.6 or 0.8, or (2) data distributions are mildly or moderately non-normal, m ≥ 4, and ρ = 0.2, 0.4, or 0.6. The paper concludes with a discussion of gAB's applicability and design-comparability, and sound reporting practices of ES indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) were formed by liquid-phase exfoliation in an ultrasonic bath using platelet graphite nanofibers (PGNFs) as the raw material and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as the exfoliation agent. PGNFs, carbon fibers with graphene nanosheets stacked perpendicular along the fiber axis, were sectioned layer by DMSO for 3 h with ultrasonic assistance to create GQDs. The diameters of the derived GQDs were in the range of 10–30 nm and fewer than five graphene layers were formed. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis revealed that no functional groups were grafted onto the GQDs during the process, indicating that the synthetic route produced high-quality GQDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Content-based video copy detection has grabbed an increasing attention in the video search community due to the rapid proliferation of video copies over the Internet. Most existing techniques of video copy detection focus on spatial-based video transformations such as brightness enhancement and caption superimposition. It can be accomplished efficiently by the clip-level matching technique, which summarizes the full content of a video clip as a single signature. However, temporal-based transformations involving random insertion and deletion operations pose a great challenge to clip-level matching. Although some studies employ the frame-level matching technique to deal with temporal-based transformations, the high computation complexity might make them impractical in real applications. In this paper, we present a novel search method to address the above-mentioned problems. For a given query video clip, it is partitioned into short segments, then each of which linearly scans over the video clips in a dataset. Rather than exhaustive search, we derive the similarity upper bounds of these query segments as a filter to skip unnecessary matching. In addition, we present a min-hash-based inverted indexing mechanism to find candidate clips from the dataset. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is robust and efficient to deal with temporal-based video copies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) is an essential mediator for most of the oxidative biological reactions in enzyme-based biosensor systems, such as glucose oxidase, cholesterol oxidase, and alcohol oxidase. Synthesis of new catalysts to detect the concentration of H 2 O 2 more precisely is indispensable for enzyme-based electrochemical biosensors. In this study, boron-doped graphene nanosheets (BGNs) with 2.2 atomic percentage (at%) boron doping level and a hierarchical microstructure were synthesized by an atmospheric-pressure carbothermal reaction as a noble-metal free catalyst for sensing H 2 O 2 . The isolated boron atoms on the BGNs surface act as the electrocatalytic sites by transferring charges to neighbor carbon atoms, and the hierarchical microstructure provides multidimensional electron transport pathways for charge transfer and therefore enhances the electrocatalytic ability. BGNs possess a higher reduction current in the cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurement than that of pristine graphene nanosheets (GNs) over the detection range of 0.0 to 10.0 mM at −0.4 V ( vs. Ag/AgCl). The BGNs modified electrochemical sensor shows a linear range from 1.0 to 20.0 mM of H 2 O 2 with a sensitivity of 266.7 ± 3.8 μA mM −1 cm −2 and limit of detection (LOD) of 3.8 μM at a signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of 3. The beneficial hierarchical microstructure and the synergetic effects arising from doping boron in GNs accomplish the better performance of the BGNs modified electrochemical sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helium bubble formation was examined by scanning/transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM) in Fe-9/10Cr binary alloys and two dispersion strengthened nanostructured alloys (CNA3 and 14YWT containing 5–10 nm diameter carbide and oxide particles, respectively) after ex-situ and in-situ He implantation to ~10,000 appm at 500 to 900 °C. The combination of high-resolution STEM images and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) revealed that the Y-Ti-O nanoparticles in 14YWT were uniformly distributed and exhibited a one-to-one relationship for bubble attachment to the nanoclusters. In the in-situ experiment at 900 °C, grain boundary cracking was severe in the Fe-10Cr model alloy, but not in the nanostructured alloys. From 500 to 900 °C, the bubble size generally increased with increasing irradiation temperature, while the bubble density decreased with increasing temperature. At the same temperatures, the bubble size in the implanted materials was in the order of Fe-9/10Cr > CNA3 > 14YWT, while the bubble density showed the opposite order. The observed bubble number densities for the nanostructured alloys are comparable to the nanoparticle density, suggesting that the nanoparticles in both alloys were effective in trapping He. Our results indicate that very high He concentrations can be managed in nanostructured alloys by sequestering the helium into smaller bubbles (which leads to a lower volume swelling value) and to shield He from the grain boundaries. This can be attributed to the much higher sink strength associated with the nanoclusters or the He trapping ability between different types of nanoclusters. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic patterning, with designed spatial profile of the desired magnetic properties, has been a rising challenge for developing magnetic devices at nanoscale. Most existing methods rely on locally modifying magnetic anisotropy energy or saturation magnetization, and thus post stringent constraints on the adaptability in diverse applications. We propose an alternative route for magnetic patterning: by manipulating the local intergranular exchange coupling to tune lateral magnetic properties. As demonstration, the grain boundary structure of Co/Pt multilayers is engineered by thermal treatment, where the stress state of the multilayers and thus the intergranular exchange coupling can be modified. With Ag passivation layers on top of the Co/Pt multilayers, we can hinder the stress relaxation and grain boundary modification. Combining the pre-patterned Ag passivation layer with thermal treatment, we can design spatial variations of the magnetic properties by tuning the intergranular exchange coupling, which diversifies the magnetic patterning process and extends its feasibility for varieties of new devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]