Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 may deteriorate rapidly and therefore continuous monitoring is necessary. We conducted an observational study involving patients with mild COVID-19 to explore the ...potentials of wearable biosensors and machine learning-based analysis of physiology parameters to detect clinical deterioration. Thirty-four patients (median age: 32 years; male: 52.9%) with mild COVID-19 from Queen Mary Hospital were recruited. The mean National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) were 0.59 ± 0.7. 1231 manual measurement of physiology parameters were performed during hospital stay (median 15 days). Physiology parameters obtained from wearable biosensors correlated well with manual measurement including pulse rate (r = 0.96, p < 0.0001) and oxygen saturation (r = 0.87, p < 0.0001). A machine learning-derived index reflecting overall health status, Biovitals Index (BI), was generated by autonomous analysis of physiology parameters, symptoms, and other medical data. Daily BI was linearly associated with respiratory tract viral load (p < 0.0001) and NEWS2 (r = 0.75, p < 0.001). BI was superior to NEWS2 in predicting clinical worsening events (sensitivity 94.1% and specificity 88.9%) and prolonged hospitalization (sensitivity 66.7% and specificity 72.7%). Wearable biosensors coupled with machine learning-derived health index allowed automated detection of clinical deterioration.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that is characterised by autoantibody production and widespread inflammation damaging many organs. Previous genome-wide association studies ...(GWASs) have revealed over 80 genetic determinants of SLE, but they collectively explain a fraction of the heritability, and only a few were proven in vivo for the involvement in SLE. We conducted a meta-analysis of SLE GWAS in the Japanese population, followed by functional analyses of a susceptibility gene with use of mutant mice.
We conducted a meta-analysis of two GWASs comprising a total of 1363 cases and 5536 controls using the 1000 Genome Project data as an imputation reference. Enrichment analyses for functional annotations were conducted. We examined Phospholipase D4 (Pld4) mutant mice to assess functional involvement of a genetic determinant.
We found a total of 14 significant loci, which included rs2582511 in
/
recently reported in a Chinese study and a novel locus of rs143181706 in
(p=7.9×10
and 3.7×10
, respectively). PLD4 risk allele was associated with anti-dsDNA antibody production. Enrichment analysis of genetic signals revealed involvement of a wide range of immune-related cells and pathways. Pld4 mutant mice revealed remarkably low body weight. The mice demonstrated autoimmune phenotypes compatible with SLE, including splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy, expansion of B cells and hypersecretion of BAFF and production of autoantibodies especially anti-nuclear antibody and anti-dsDNA antibody.
We found a novel susceptibility gene to SLE. Pld4 mutant mice revealed autoimmune phenotypes suggesting functional involvement of PLD4 with the basics of SLE.
Air pollutants emitted within high-density urbanized areas have negative impacts on human health and quality of life and raise public concern. With the aim of creating a liveable environment and ...mitigating potential environmental problems, environmental scientists, architects and town planners have been working together to discover optimum building layouts and guidance principles for building morphology. These efforts have been consolidated via model simulations.
Targeting an optimal design strategy, an improved SST k−ω model was first validated against wind and pollutant concentration data from a wind tunnel experiment at Tokyo Polytechnic University. The turbulence model was then applied to a variety of idealized city morphologies with different building permeabilities and building-height profiles. To confirm the findings from these idealized cases, further simulations were performed on two real conceptual cities.
To facilitate pollutant dispersion within urbanized areas, at least 20% of the building permeability should be maintained, together with variations in building-height profiles. The innovative “Dragon Hole” design was also found to aid in pollutant dispersion. The study findings show that the pollutant concentration within the source canyon would be reduced by at least 40% for the idealized cases and by approximately 80% for the conceptual real case through incorporation of the abovementioned design features. Moreover, the recommendations resulting from this research are consistent with the requirements documented in the Sustainable Building Design Guidelines.
•An improved SST k−ω model is applied to predict urban wind and pollutant fields.•Highly permeable building designs enhance pollutant dispersion within urban areas.•Pollutant transport would be enhanced under morphologies with height variations.•More than 20% building permeability is effective in limiting pollutant accumulation.•The combination of merit building design measures reduces pollutant trapping up to 80%.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a mature method in wind engineering studies, but many air ventilation assessment (AVA) reports prepared by consulting firms in Hong Kong still suffer from the ...use of inappropriate techniques and computational settings in the CFD modeling stage. The main reason behind this is the lack of informative guidelines relating to CFD model settings in the AVA Technical Circular issued by local authorities. Other aspects of AVA that require improvement include terrain modeling techniques and understanding the sensitivity of modeled topographical size to the wind environment.
This paper revisits and summarizes important aspects of current best-practice guidelines for robust CFD simulations. The study compares two conventional approaches to terrain treatment through a series of sensitivity tests. The first approach uses terrain features to cover the entire ground of the computational domain, whereas the second imitates wind tunnel experiments in which the domain includes an inclined buffer area. One drawback of the first approach was found to be the occurrence of numerical divergence when the terrain size is small; meanwhile, in the latter approach, the inclination angle of the buffer area must not exceed 30° to achieve robust results.
The final stage of the study validates the results of CFD simulations based on the two approaches with experimental data from a dense city. The approach that mimics wind tunnel experiments with a buffer zone was found to achieve better correlations, and smaller normalized mean square errors with respect to the experimental data and is thus considered superior.
•Best Practice Guidelines for CFD simulations are revisited.•Two techniques for terrain modeling via CFD are validated by wind tunnel experiment.•VR and TKE are insensitive to a buffer area with an inclination angle less than 30°.•Simulation results are influenced by terrain size and treatment techniques.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Severe digital ischemia (SDI), which presents with digital ulcers, necrosis, or gangrene, has been reported to be a rare manifestation of anti‐aminoacyl transfer RNA synthetase (ARS) ...antibody‐positive polymyositis/dermatomyositis or anti‐synthetase syndrome. A retrospective study was conducted between 2009 and 2020 at our department to investigate the clinical features of anti‐ARS antibody‐positive patients with SDI and identify their predictors. A total of 46 patients who were positive for anti‐ARS antibody were included, four of whom (8.7%) presented with SDI. The characteristics of the patients with SDI were as follows: the median age was 74 years, with 75% being female; anti‐Jo–1 antibody, Raynaud's phenomenon, interstitial lung disease, and myositis were observed in two (50%), four (100%), four (100%), and three patients (75%), respectively. Next, we reviewed the literature of anti‐ARS antibody‐positive patients with SDI and investigated the predictors of SDI by analyzing a total of 51 patients, including the previously reported five patients with SDI. Multivariable analyses revealed that Raynaud's phenomenon and myositis independently predicted the development of SDI in patients with anti‐ARS antibody. In conclusion, digital ulcers, necrosis, or gangrene seem to be more common presentations in our study, and Raynaud's phenomenon and myositis can predict the complications of SDI in anti‐ARS antibody‐positive patients.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Pancreatic cancer induces a substantial global burden. We examined its global incidence/mortality rates and their correlation with socioeconomic development (Human Development Index HDI and Gross ...Domestic Product GDP in 2000 as proxy measures). Data on age-standardized incidence/mortality rates in 2012 were retrieved from the GLOBOCAN database. Temporal patterns in 1998-2007 were assessed for 39 countries according to gender. The Average Annual Percent Change (AAPC) of the incidence/mortality trends was evaluated using joinpoint regression analysis. The age-standardized incidence ranged between 0.8-8.9/100,000. When compared among countries, Brazil (AAPC = 10.4, 95%C.I. = 0.8,21) and France (AAPC = 4.7, 95%C.I. = 3.6,5.9) reported the highest incidence rise in men. The greatest increase in women was reported in Thailand (AAPC = 7, 95%C.I. = 2.1,12.1) and Ecuador (AAPC = 4.3, 95%C.I. = 1.3,7.3). For mortality, the Philippines (APCC = 4.3, 95%C.I. = 2,6.6) and Croatia (AAPC = 2, 95% C.I. = 0,3.9) reported the biggest increase among men. The Philippines (AAPC = 5.8, 95% C.I. 4.5,7.2) and Slovakia (AAPC = 3.1, 95% C.I. 0.9,5.3) showed the most prominent rise among women. Its incidence was positively correlated with HDI (men: r = 0.66; women: r = 0.70) and GDP (men: r = 0.29; women: r = 0.28, all p < 0.05), and similarly for mortality (men: r = 0.67; women: r = 0.72 HDI; men: r = 0.23; women: r = 0.28 GDP). In summary, the incidence and mortality of pancreatic cancer were rising in many countries, requiring regular surveillance.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Tai Chi (TC) on anthropometric parameters and physical fitness among children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID).
...Sixty-six Chinese individuals engaged in sport-related extracurricular activities (TC and aerobic exercise (AE)) as exercise interventions or arts/crafts activities as a control condition (CON). The experimental protocol consisted of a baseline assessment, a 12-week intervention period, and a post-intervention assessment.
Significant interaction effect was only observed in the performance of a 6-min walk test. After 12 weeks of intervention, the AE group had significant changes in body mass index (
= 0.006,
= 0.11), sit-ups (
= 0.030 and
= 0.57), and 6-min walk test (
= 0.005,
= 0.89). Significant increases in vertical jump (
= 0.048,
= 0.41), lower-limb coordination (
= 0.008,
= 0.53), and upper-limb coordination (
= 0.048,
= 0.36) were observed in the TC group. Furthermore, the TC group demonstrated significantly greater improvements on balance compared to the control group (
= 0.011).
TC may improve leg power and coordination of both lower and upper limbs, while AE may be beneficial for body mass index, sit-ups and cardiorespiratory fitness.
High-quality, straightforward single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) with spatial resolution remains challenging. Here, we developed DRaqL (direct RNA recovery and quenching for laser capture ...microdissection), an experimental approach for efficient cell lysis of tissue sections, directly applicable to cDNA amplification. Single-cell RNA-seq combined with DRaqL allowed transcriptomic profiling from alcohol-fixed sections with efficiency comparable with that of profiling from freshly dissociated cells, together with effective exon–exon junction profiling. The combination of DRaqL with protease treatment enabled robust and efficient single-cell transcriptome analysis from formalin-fixed tissue sections. Applying this method to mouse ovarian sections, we were able to predict the transcriptome of oocytes by their size and identified an anomaly in the size–transcriptome relationship relevant to growth retardation of oocytes, in addition to detecting oocyte-specific splice isoforms. Furthermore, we identified differentially expressed genes in granulosa cells in association with their proximity to the oocytes, suggesting distinct epigenetic regulations and cell-cycle activities governing the germ–soma relationship. Thus, DRaqL is a versatile, efficient approach for high-quality single-cell RNA-seq from tissue sections, thereby revealing histological heterogeneity in folliculogenic transcriptome.
The preparation of CeO
2/polyaniline (CeO
2/PANI) core–shell nanocomposites via chemical oxidation of aniline using CeO
2 as an oxidant is reported. TEM, TGA, FT-IR, XPS, and conductivity measurement ...are used to characterize the resulting composites. TEM measurements reveal that the shape of PANI/CeO
2 nanocomposites is different from CeO
2 nanoparticles and fibular PANI oxidized with soluble oxidant. Electron diffraction (ED) patterns of CeO
2/PANI nanocomposites reveal single crystal of CeO
2. FT-IR spectra confirmed the formation of PANI; the amount of PANI in the nanocomposites is estimated by TGA results. The conductivities increase with the increasing ratio of PANI/CeO
2. XPS results reveal that in the nanocomposites Ce
4+ of CeO
2 is reduced to Ce
3+. In addition, the degree of protonation of polyaniline obtained from N
1s XPS results in cerium dioxide/polyaniline composites is about 48.52%.
Sample preparation of CeO
2/polyaniline core–shell nanocomposites.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
While a broadband metamaterial perfect absorber (MPA) has been implemented and proposed intensively in recent years, an ultra-broadband perfect absorber with polarization selectivity has not been ...realized in literature. In this work, we propose a configuration of polarization-selective (PS) MPA with ultra-wide absorption bandwidth. The aluminum wire grid is integrated on top of the ultrathin-metal-dielectric stacking. The transverse electric (TE) wave is blocked due to the requirement of zero tangential electric field at the metal surface. The transverse magnetic field can pass the aluminum wire-grids because the normal electric field can be supported by the surface charge density at the metal surface, and full absorption of the TM wave is accomplished by the metal-dielectric stacking beneath. Theoretical calculation using rigorously coupled wave analysis demonstrates the wavelength selectivity from λ = 1.98μm to λ = 11.74μm where the TE absorption is <0.04 while TM absorption is >0.95, using 300 nm thick aluminum (Al) wire grid with 16-pair SiO
/Ti stacking. Additionally, the design is wavelength scalable by adjusting the dielectric thickness (t
) and the wire grid period (P) and height (t). The experimental result is demonstrated using Al grids and Ti/SiO
, and the measured result fully supports the calculated prediction.
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