Abstract
Background
Acute bronchiolitis and air pollution are both risk factor of pediatric asthma. This study aimed to assess subsequent exposure to air pollutants related to the inception of ...preschool asthma in infants with acute bronchiolitis. This study aimed to assess subsequent exposure to air pollutants related to the inception of preschool asthma in infants with acute bronchiolitis.
Methods
A nested case-control retrospective study was performed at the Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital systems between 2009 and 2019. The average concentration of PM
10
, PM
2.5
, SO
2
, NO, NO
2,
and NO
X
was collected for three, six, and twelve months after the first infected episode. Adjusted regression models were employed to evaluate the association between asthma and air pollution exposure after bronchiolitis.
Results
Two thousand six hundred thirty-seven children with acute bronchiolitis were included. Exposure to PM
10
, PM
2.5
, SO
2
, NO, NO
2,
and NO
X
in the three, six, and twelve months following an episode of bronchiolitis was found to significantly increase the risk of preschool asthma in infants with a history of bronchiolitis.(OR, 95%CI: PM
10
= 1.517-1.559, 1.354–1.744; PM
2.5
= 2.510-2.603, 2.148–3.061; SO
2
= 1.970-2.040, 1.724–2.342; ; NO = 1.915-1.950, 1.647–2.272; NO
2
= 1.915-1.950, 1.647–2.272; NO
X
= 1.752-1.970, 1.508–2.252) In a sensitive analysis of hospitalized infants, only PM
10
, PM
2.5
, SO
2,
and NO were found to have significant effects during all time periods. (OR, 95%CI: PM
10
= 1.613-1.650, 1.240–2.140; PM
2.5
= 2.208-2.286, 1.568–3.061; SO
2
= 1.679-1.622, 1.197–2.292; NO = 1.525-1.557, 1.094–2.181)
Conclusion
The presence of ambient PM
10
, PM
2.5
, SO
2
and NO in the three, six, and twelve months following an episode of acute bronchiolitis has been linked to the development of preschool asthma in infants with a history of acute bronchiolitis.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In this study, geopolymer was applied to convert ion exchange resins contaminated with radionuclides into a solid waste form. Geopolymer has superior properties to enable the encapsulation of spent ...resins. The allowable limit of resin content in the converted waste form was analyzed to evaluate the solidification capability of geopolymer. The encapsulation of ion exchange resins into solid waste form was conducted using geopolymer prepared with ground granulated blast furnace slag and alkaline solution in an ambient atmosphere, with the addition of wollastonite powder to adjust its mechanical properties. The physical and mechanical properties of the converted solid wastes prepared using different resin content ratios and various SiO2/Na2O molar ratios were tested. The results indicate the wet ion exchange resin (the moisture content in the resin is 51%) content and the compressive strength of the solid resin waste were measured as 45 wt% and 8.5 MPa, respectively. The morphology and mineral phases of the formed solid wastes were characterized using SEM and EDS. The mechanical performance test results proved the formed solid wastes could comply with the fuel cycle and material administration standards ruled by the Atomic Energy Council of Taiwan. These results suggest that this blast furnace slag-based geopolymer is a promising matrix material for the solidification of radioactive wastes.
•GGBFS -based geopolymer is a promising matrix material for the solidification of radioactive wastes.•The maximum solidified wet resin content can reach 45 wt% in GGBFS-based geopolymer systems.•KMnO4 can be employed to pretreat the ion exchange resin in order to reduce resin shrinkage or swelling.
Introduction
This cohort study aimed to explore the potential association between ambient air pollution and dementia incidence in adults who have experienced a stroke. Additionally, the study aimed ...to determine dysphagia as a predictive factor for the subsequent development of dementia in patients with stroke.
Materials and methods
This retrospective nested case–control study used data from the Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital Database in Taiwan. Data collected include average ambient air pollution concentrations within 3 months and 1 year after the index dysphagia date. The primary outcome includes incident dementia in patients with or without dysphagia. Logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the association between significant air pollution exposure and the risk of dementia while controlling for baseline demographic characteristics (age and sex), and comorbidities.
Results
The univariable regression models revealed a higher likelihood of dementia diagnosis in patients with dysphagia (odds ratio = 1.493, 95% confidence interval = 1.000–2.228). The raw odds ratios indicated a potential link between air pollution exposure and elevated dementia risks in the overall study population and patients with stroke without dysphagia, except for O
3
. Particulate matter (PM)2.5 and nitrogen oxides (NOx) exhibited significant effects on the risk of dementia in the stepwise logistic regression models.
Conclusion
The presence of dysphagia following a stroke may pose a risk of developing dementia. Additionally, PM2.5 and NOx exposure appears to elevate the risk of dementia in patients with stroke.
In this paper, we study a spectrum sharing based cognitive radio network (CRN) where secondary users (SUs) share the same spectrum with a primary user (PU) over block fading channels. We assume ...complete perfect channel state information (CSI) at the SUs while only local instantaneous CSI is assumed at the PU. The PU is assumed to adopt an ON/OFF power allocation based on truncated channel inversion and convey this one-bit side information to all SUs. Based on these assumptions, we investigate the optimal probabilistic power allocation that seeks to maximize the system utilities for SUs subject to the primary interference power constraint, and the secondary rate outage constraints and the peak power constraints. The probabilistic power allocation problem was first reformulated as a non-convex deterministic power allocation problem. To handle the non-convex constraints, we proposed a successive convex approximation (SCA) algorithm that provides high-quality approximate solutions. Convergence analysis on the algorithm was also provided. To further reduce complexity, a decentralized version of the SCA algorithm was proposed. Extensive simulations validated our analyses and demonstrated that superior performance is indeed achieved by our proposed algorithms where the achieved utilities are close to the optimal values.
Researchers in international business have long been interested in understanding the impact of internationalization on firm performance and innovation. However, because international diversification ...offers both advantages and agency problems, prior studies of this research stream offer mixed results. Based on a sample of Taiwan's publicly listed firms during the period of 2000—2009, this study contributes to this research stream by examining the impact of family management on firm performance and innovation implications of internationalization. This study finds that family management positively moderates the relation between internationalization and performance/innovation. These findings suggest that family management helps mitigate the agency problems associated with internationalization so that family firms experience positive benefits from internationalization in terms of innovation and performance.
Two D-π–A-A molecules (MIDTP and TIDTP) composed of an electron-rich ditolylamino group (D) and an electron-deficient 5-dicyanovinylenylpyrimidine (A-A) fragment bridged together with ...indeno1,2-bthiophene (IDT) were synthesized. These molecules provide an opportunity to examine in-depth the impact of side-chain variations (methyl vs p-tolyl) on the crystallization behaviors, solid-state morphology, physical properties, and optoelectronic characteristics relevant for practical applications. X-ray analyses on single-crystal structures indicate that methyl-substituted MIDTP forms “coplanar antiparallel dimers” via C–H···S interactions and organizes into an ordered slip-staircase arrays. In contrast, p-tolyl-bearing TIDTP shows “cofacial centrosymmetric dimers” via π–π interactions and packs into a less-ordered layered structures. The X-ray diffraction analyses upon thermal treatment are consistent with a superior crystallinity of MIDTP, as compared to that of TIDTP. This difference indicates a greater propensity to organization by introduction of the smaller methyl group versus the bulkier p-tolyl group. The increased propensity for order by MIDTP facilitates the crystallization of MIDTP in both solution-processed and vacuum-deposited thin films. MIDTP forms solution-processed single-crystal arrays that deliver OFET hole mobility of 6.56 × 10–4 cm2 V–1 s–1, whereas TIDTP only forms amorhpous films that gave lower hole mobility of 1.34 × 10–5 cm2 V–1 s–1. MIDTP and TIDTP were utilized to serve as donors together with C70 as acceptor in the fabrication of small-molecule organic solar cells (SMOSCs) with planar heterojunction (PHJ) or planar-mixed heterojunction (PMHJ) device architectures. OPV devices based on higher crystalline MIDTP delivered power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 2.5% and 4.3% for PHJ and PMHJ device, respectively, which are higher than those of TIDTP-based cells. The improved PCEs of MIDTP-based devices are attributed to better hole-transport character.
In prosthodontics, the ability of glass-ceramics to express the optical properties of natural teeth is an important goal of esthetic restorations. Dental restorations do not merely need to be similar ...in color to natural teeth; proper optical properties, such as opalescence, transparency, etc., must be combined in order to achieve excellent esthetic effects. The optical properties of ceramic materials are mainly distinguished by different hues (e.g., A, B, C, and D) combined with translucency (e.g., high translucency (HT), medium translucency (MT), low translucency (LT), and medium opacity (MO)). However, there are many varieties of tooth color. Therefore, it is expected that glass-ceramics can change their nanocrystal size and porosity through different heat-treatment temperatures and times and, thereby, present different transparency effects. This study mainly analyzed the influence of changes in sintering temperature on the optical properties of glass-ceramics. The optical properties of glass-ceramics in the oral cavity were evaluated with human trials. We hypothesized that (1) the transparency of glass-ceramics can be changed by controlling the sintering temperature and (2) glass-ceramics modified by the sintering temperature can be suitable for clinical applications. Results showed that the transparency decreased, the nanoparticle size increased, the crystallinity increased, and the surface hardness decreased as the sintering temperature increased. High-brightness glass-ceramics have more-sensitive optical properties. Results of clinical trials showed that glass-ceramics whose transparency was changed by controlling the sintering temperature can be candidates for clinical applications. Based on the above results, the hypotheses of this study were supported. In the future, we will continue to explore the esthetic field of dental restorations.
Follow-up visits for very preterm infants (VPI) after hospital discharge is crucial for their neurodevelopmental trajectories, but ensuring their attendance before 12 months corrected age (CA) ...remains a challenge. Current prediction models focus on future outcomes at discharge, but post-discharge data may enhance predictions of neurodevelopmental trajectories due to brain plasticity. Few studies in this field have utilized machine learning models to achieve this potential benefit with transparency, explainability, and transportability.
We developed four prediction models for cognitive or motor function at 24 months CA separately at each follow-up visits, two for the 6-month and two for the 12-month CA visits, using hospitalized and follow-up data of VPI from the Taiwan Premature Infant Follow-up Network from 2010 to 2017. Regression models were employed at 6 months CA, defined as a decline in The Bayley Scales of Infant Development 3rd edition (BSIDIII) composite score > 1 SD between 6- and 24-month CA. The delay models were developed at 12 months CA, defined as a BSIDIII composite score < 85 at 24 months CA. We used an evolutionary-derived machine learning method (EL-NDI) to develop models and compared them to those built by lasso regression, random forest, and support vector machine.
One thousand two hundred forty-four VPI were in the developmental set and the two validation cohorts had 763 and 1347 VPI, respectively. EL-NDI used only 4-10 variables, while the others required 29 or more variables to achieve similar performance. For models at 6 months CA, the area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) of EL-NDI were 0.76-0.81(95% CI, 0.73-0.83) for cognitive regress with 4 variables and 0.79-0.83 (95% CI, 0.76-0.86) for motor regress with 4 variables. For models at 12 months CA, the AUC of EL-NDI were 0.75-0.78 (95% CI, 0.72-0.82) for cognitive delay with 10 variables and 0.73-0.82 (95% CI, 0.72-0.85) for motor delay with 4 variables.
Our EL-NDI demonstrated good performance using simpler, transparent, explainable models for clinical purpose. Implementing these models for VPI during follow-up visits may facilitate more informed discussions between parents and physicians and identify high-risk infants more effectively for early intervention.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Purpose: Both air pollutant exposure and neonatal jaundice (NJ) have known effects on childhood asthma, but a higher total serum bilirubin (TSB) level has been associated with lung protection. This ...study aimed to assess whether prenatal/postnatal exposure to ambient air pollutants is related to the development of asthma in infants with NJ. Patients and Methods: A nested case-control retrospective study was performed using the data of infants with NJ in the Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital Research Database. Data on average ambient air pollution concentrations within six months, the first year and second year after birth, and in the first, second and third prenatal trimesters were collected. NJ was defined as TSB levels greater than or equal to 2 mg/dl with the diagnosis less than one-month-old. Asthma was defined as a diagnosis with medication use. We constructed conditional logistic regression models to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Exposure to NO and SO.sub.2 at all six time points in the study was significantly associated with an increased risk of preschool asthma in infants with NJ. The overall peak OR (95% CI) of SO.sub.2, PM.sub.25, PM.sub.10, NO, NO.sub.2, and NO.sub.x were 1.277 (1.129-1.444), 1.057 (1.023-1.092), 1.035 (1.011-1.059), 1.272 (1.111-1.455), 1.168 (1.083-1.259) and 1.104 (1.051-1.161), respectively. Fetuses in the first and second trimester were most vulnerable to ambient air pollutant exposure such as SO.sub.2 PM.sub.2.5, NO, NO.sub.2 and NO.sub.x during the prenatal period. Exposure to all six ambient air pollutants during the first and second years after birth significantly affected preschool asthma in NJ infants. Conclusion: In different time windows, prenatal and postnatal exposure to SO.sub.2, PM.sub.2.5, PM.sub.10, NO, NO.sub.2, and NO.sub.x were associated with preschool asthma in NJ infants. The relatively high impact of NO and SO.sub.2 exposure in infants with NJ requires further studies and prevention measures. Keywords: 1000 days, air pollution, SO.sub.2, neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, asthma
Flow-based super-resolution (SR) models have demonstrated astonishing capabilities in generating high-quality images. However, these methods encounter several challenges during image generation, such ...as grid artifacts, exploding inverses, and suboptimal results due to a fixed sampling temperature. To overcome these issues, this work introduces a conditional learned prior to the inference phase of a flow-based SR model. This prior is a latent code predicted by our proposed latent module conditioned on the low-resolution image, which is then transformed by the flow model into an SR image. Our framework is designed to seamlessly integrate with any contemporary flow-based SR model without modifying its architecture or pre-trained weights. We evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed framework through extensive experiments and ablation analyses. The proposed framework successfully addresses all the inherent issues in flow-based SR models and enhances their performance in various SR scenarios. Our code is available at: https://github.com/liyuantsao/FlowSR-LP
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