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Nick K. Jones1,2*, Lucy Rivett1,2*, Chris Workman3, Mark Ferris3, Ashley Shaw1, Cambridge COVID-19 Collaboration1,4, Paul J. Lehner1,4, Rob Howes5, Giles Wright3, Nicholas J. Matheson1,4,6¶, Michael P. Weekes1,7¶1 Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK2 Clinical Microbiology & Public Health Laboratory, Public Health England, Cambridge, UK3 Occupational Health and Wellbeing, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK4 Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK5 Cambridge COVID-19 Testing Centre and AstraZeneca, Anne Mclaren Building, Cambridge, UK6 NHS Blood and Transplant, Cambridge, UK7 Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK*Joint first authorship¶Joint last authorshipCorrespondence: mpw1001@cam.ac.ukThe UK has initiated mass COVID-19 immunisation, with healthcare workers (HCWs) given early priority because of the potential for workplace exposure and risk of onward transmission to patients. The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has recommended maximising the number of people vaccinated with first doses at the expense of early booster vaccinations, based on single dose efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 disease.1-3At the time of writing, three COVID-19 vaccines have been granted emergency use authorisation in the UK, including the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech). A vital outstanding question is whether this vaccine prevents or promotes asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, rather than symptomatic COVID-19 disease, because sub-clinical infection following vaccination could continue to drive transmission. This is especially important because many UK HCWs have received this vaccine, and nosocomial COVID-19 infection has been a persistent problem.Through the implementation of a 24 h-turnaround PCR-based comprehensive HCW screening programme at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUHNFT), we previously demonstrated the frequent presence of pauci- and asymptomatic infection amongst HCWs during the UK’s first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.4 Here, we evaluate the effect of first-dose BNT162b2 vaccination on test positivity rates and cycle threshold (Ct) values in the asymptomatic arm of our programme, which now offers weekly screening to all staff.Vaccination of HCWs at CUHNFT began on 8th December 2020, with mass vaccination from 8th January 2021. Here, we analyse data from the two weeks spanning 18thto 31st January 2021, during which: (a) the prevalence of COVID-19 amongst HCWs remained approximately constant; and (b) we screened comparable numbers of vaccinated and unvaccinated HCWs. Over this period, 4,408 (week 1) and 4,411 (week 2) PCR tests were performed from individuals reporting well to work. We stratified HCWs <12 days or > 12 days post-vaccination because this was the point at which protection against symptomatic infection began to appear in phase III clinical trial.226/3,252 (0·80%) tests from unvaccinated HCWs were positive (Ct<36), compared to 13/3,535 (0·37%) from HCWs <12 days post-vaccination and 4/1,989 (0·20%) tests from HCWs ≥12 days post-vaccination (p=0·023 and p=0·004, respectively; Fisher’s exact test, Figure). This suggests a four-fold decrease in the risk of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection amongst HCWs ≥12 days post-vaccination, compared to unvaccinated HCWs, with an intermediate effect amongst HCWs <12 days post-vaccination.A marked reduction in infections was also seen when analyses were repeated with: (a) inclusion of HCWs testing positive through both the symptomatic and asymptomatic arms of the programme (56/3,282 (1·71%) unvaccinated vs 8/1,997 (0·40%) ≥12 days post-vaccination, 4·3-fold reduction, p=0·00001); (b) inclusion of PCR tests which were positive at the limit of detection (Ct>36, 42/3,268 (1·29%) vs 15/2,000 (0·75%), 1·7-fold reduction, p=0·075); and (c) extension of the period of analysis to include six weeks from December 28th to February 7th 2021 (113/14,083 (0·80%) vs 5/4,872 (0·10%), 7·8-fold reduction, p=1x10-9). In addition, the median Ct value of positive tests showed a non-significant trend towards increase between unvaccinated HCWs and HCWs > 12 days post-vaccination (23·3 to 30·3, Figure), suggesting that samples from vaccinated individuals had lower viral loads.We therefore provide real-world evidence for a high level of protection against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection after a single dose of BNT162b2 vaccine, at a time of predominant transmission of the UK COVID-19 variant of concern 202012/01 (lineage B.1.1.7), and amongst a population with a relatively low frequency of prior infection (7.2% antibody positive).5This work was funded by a Wellcome Senior Clinical Research Fellowship to MPW (108070/Z/15/Z), a Wellcome Principal Research Fellowship to PJL (210688/Z/18/Z), and an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship (MR/P008801/1) and NHSBT workpackage (WPA15-02) to NJM. Funding was also received from Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust and the Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. We also acknowledge contributions from all staff at CUHNFT Occupational Health and Wellbeing and the Cambridge COVID-19 Testing Centre.

Scene flow tracks the three-dimensional (3D) motion of each point in adjacent point clouds. It provides fundamental 3D motion perception for autonomous driving and server robot. Although the Red Green Blue Depth (RGBD) camera or Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) capture discrete 3D points in space, the objects and motions usually are continuous in the macro world. That is, the objects keep themselves consistent as they flow from the current frame to the next frame. Based on this insight, the Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) is utilized to self-learn 3D scene flow with no need for ground truth. The fake point cloud of the second frame is synthesized from the predicted scene flow and the point cloud of the first frame. The adversarial training of the generator and discriminator is realized through synthesizing indistinguishable fake point cloud and discriminating the real point cloud and the synthesized fake point cloud. The experiments on Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Toyota Technological Institute (KITTI) scene flow dataset show that our method realizes promising results without ground truth. Just as human, the proposed method can identify the similar local structures of two adjacent frames even without knowing the ground truth scene flow. Then, the local correspondence can be correctly estimated, and further the scene flow is correctly estimated.   Corresponding author(s) Email: wanghesheng@sjtu.edu.cn

Leukocyte differential test is a widely performed clinical procedure for screening infectious diseases. Existing hematology analyzers require labor-intensive work and a panel of expensive reagents. Here we report an artificial-intelligence enabled reagent-free imaging hematology analyzer (AIRFIHA) modality that can accurately classify subpopulations of leukocytes with minimal sample preparation. AIRFIHA is realized through training a two-step residual neural network using label-free images of isolated leukocytes acquired from a custom-built quantitative phase microscope. By leveraging the rich information contained in quantitative phase images, we not only achieved high accuracy in differentiating B and T lymphocytes, but also classified CD4 and CD8 cells, therefore outperforming the classification accuracy of most current hematology analyzers. We validated the performance of AIRFIHA in a randomly selected test set and cross-validated it across all blood donors. Owing to its easy operation, low cost, and accurate discerning capability of complex leukocyte subpopulations, we envision AIRFIHA is clinically translatable and can also be deployed in resource-limited settings, e.g., during pandemic situations for the rapid screening of infectious diseases.  Corresponding author(s) Email:    rjzhou@cuhk.edu.hk,  rishikesh.pandey@uconn.edu

Tam Hunt [1], Jonathan SchoolerUniversity of California Santa Barbara Synchronization, harmonization, vibrations, or simply resonance in its most general sense seems to have an integral relationship with consciousness itself. One of the possible “neural correlates of consciousness” in mammalian brains is a combination of gamma, beta and theta synchrony. More broadly, we see similar kinds of resonance patterns in living and non-living structures of many types. What clues can resonance provide about the nature of consciousness more generally? This paper provides an overview of resonating structures in the fields of neuroscience, biology and physics and attempts to coalesce these data into a solution to what we see as the “easy part” of the Hard Problem, which is generally known as the “combination problem” or the “binding problem.” The combination problem asks: how do micro-conscious entities combine into a higher-level macro-consciousness? The proposed solution in the context of mammalian consciousness suggests that a shared resonance is what allows different parts of the brain to achieve a phase transition in the speed and bandwidth of information flows between the constituent parts. This phase transition allows for richer varieties of consciousness to arise, with the character and content of that consciousness in each moment determined by the particular set of constituent neurons. We also offer more general insights into the ontology of consciousness and suggest that consciousness manifests as a relatively smooth continuum of increasing richness in all physical processes, distinguishing our view from emergentist materialism. We refer to this approach as a (general) resonance theory of consciousness and offer some responses to Chalmers’ questions about the different kinds of “combination problem.”  At the heart of the universe is a steady, insistent beat: the sound of cycles in sync…. [T]hese feats of synchrony occur spontaneously, almost as if nature has an eerie yearning for order. Steven Strogatz, Sync: How Order Emerges From Chaos in the Universe, Nature and Daily Life (2003) If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.Nikola Tesla (1942) I.               Introduction Is there an “easy part” and a “hard part” to the Hard Problem of consciousness? In this paper, we suggest that there is. The harder part is arriving at a philosophical position with respect to the relationship of matter and mind. This paper is about the “easy part” of the Hard Problem but we address the “hard part” briefly in this introduction.  We have both arrived, after much deliberation, at the position of panpsychism or panexperientialism (all matter has at least some associated mind/experience and vice versa). This is the view that all things and processes have both mental and physical aspects. Matter and mind are two sides of the same coin.  Panpsychism is one of many possible approaches that addresses the “hard part” of the Hard Problem. We adopt this position for all the reasons various authors have listed (Chalmers 1996, Griffin 1997, Hunt 2011, Goff 2017). This first step is particularly powerful if we adopt the Whiteheadian version of panpsychism (Whitehead 1929).  Reaching a position on this fundamental question of how mind relates to matter must be based on a “weight of plausibility” approach, rather than on definitive evidence, because establishing definitive evidence with respect to the presence of mind/experience is difficult. We must generally rely on examining various “behavioral correlates of consciousness” in judging whether entities other than ourselves are conscious – even with respect to other humans—since the only consciousness we can know with certainty is our own. Positing that matter and mind are two sides of the same coin explains the problem of consciousness insofar as it avoids the problems of emergence because under this approach consciousness doesn’t emerge. Consciousness is, rather, always present, at some level, even in the simplest of processes, but it “complexifies” as matter complexifies, and vice versa. Consciousness starts very simple and becomes more complex and rich under the right conditions, which in our proposed framework rely on resonance mechanisms. Matter and mind are two sides of the coin. Neither is primary; they are coequal.  We acknowledge the challenges of adopting this perspective, but encourage readers to consider the many compelling reasons to consider it that are reviewed elsewhere (Chalmers 1996, Griffin 1998, Hunt 2011, Goff 2017, Schooler, Schooler, & Hunt, 2011; Schooler, 2015).  Taking a position on the overarching ontology is the first step in addressing the Hard Problem. But this leads to the related questions: at what level of organization does consciousness reside in any particular process? Is a rock conscious? A chair? An ant? A bacterium? Or are only the smaller constituents, such as atoms or molecules, of these entities conscious? And if there is some degree of consciousness even in atoms and molecules, as panpsychism suggests (albeit of a very rudimentary nature, an important point to remember), how do these micro-conscious entities combine into the higher-level and obvious consciousness we witness in entities like humans and other mammals?  This set of questions is known as the “combination problem,” another now-classic problem in the philosophy of mind, and is what we describe here as the “easy part” of the Hard Problem. Our characterization of this part of the problem as “easy”[2] is, of course, more than a little tongue in cheek. The authors have discussed frequently with each other what part of the Hard Problem should be labeled the easier part and which the harder part. Regardless of the labels we choose, however, this paper focuses on our suggested solution to the combination problem.  Various solutions to the combination problem have been proposed but none have gained widespread acceptance. This paper further elaborates a proposed solution to the combination problem that we first described in Hunt 2011 and Schooler, Hunt, and Schooler 2011. The proposed solution rests on the idea of resonance, a shared vibratory frequency, which can also be called synchrony or field coherence. We will generally use resonance and “sync,” short for synchrony, interchangeably in this paper. We describe the approach as a general resonance theory of consciousness or just “general resonance theory” (GRT). GRT is a field theory of consciousness wherein the various specific fields associated with matter and energy are the seat of conscious awareness.  A summary of our approach appears in Appendix 1.  All things in our universe are constantly in motion, in process. Even objects that appear to be stationary are in fact vibrating, oscillating, resonating, at specific frequencies. So all things are actually processes. Resonance is a specific type of motion, characterized by synchronized oscillation between two states.  An interesting phenomenon occurs when different vibrating processes come into proximity: they will often start vibrating together at the same frequency. They “sync up,” sometimes in ways that can seem mysterious, and allow for richer and faster information and energy flows (Figure 1 offers a schematic). Examining this phenomenon leads to potentially deep insights about the nature of consciousness in both the human/mammalian context but also at a deeper ontological level.

Cannabis sativa is an extraordinarily versatile species. Hemp and its cousin marijuana, both C. sativa, have been used for millennia as a source of fibre, oil and for medicinal, spiritual and recreational purposes. Because the consumption of Cannabis can have psychoactive effects, the plant has been widely banned throughout the last century. In the past decade, evidence of its medicinal properties did lead to the relaxation of legislation in many countries around the world. Consequently, the genetics and development of Cannabis as well as Cannabis-derived products are the subject of renewed attention.Here, we review the biology of C. sativa, including recent insights from taxonomy, morphology and genomics, with an emphasis on the genetics of cannabinoid synthesis. Because the female Cannabis flower is of special interest as the site of cannabinoid synthesis, we explore flower development, flowering time well as the species’ unique sex determination system in detail. Furthermore, we outline the tremendous medicinal, engineering, and environmental opportunities that Cannabis bears. Together, the picture emerges that our understanding of Cannabis biology currently progresses at an unusual speed. A future challenge will be to preserve the multi-purpose nature of Cannabis, and to harness its medicinal properties and sustainability advantages simultaneously.

Quantum chemistry must evolve if it wants to fully leverage the benefits of the internet age, where the world wide web offers a vast tapestry of tools that enable users to communicate and interact with complex data at the speed and convenience of a button press. The Open Chemistry project has developed an open source framework that offers an end-to-end solution for producing, sharing, and visualizing quantum chemical data interactively on the web using an array of modern tools and approaches. These tools build on some of the best open source community projects such as Jupyter for interactive online notebooks, coupled with 3D accelerated visualization, state-of-the-art computational chemistry codes including NWChem and Psi4 and emerging machine learning and data mining tools such as ChemML and ANI. They offer flexible formats to import and export data, along with approaches to compare computational and experimental data.

This paper responds to one by Graham Martin and colleagues, who offered a critique of my previous publications on masks for the lay public in the Covid-19 pandemic. I address their charges that my co-authors and I had misapplied the precautionary principle; drawn conclusions that were not supported by empirical research; and failed to take account of potential harms. But before that, I remind Martin et al that the evidence on mask wearing goes beyond the contested trials and observational studies they place centre stage. I set out some key findings from basic science, epidemiology, mathematical modelling, case studies and natural experiments, and use this rich and diverse body of evidence as the backdrop for my rebuttal of their narrowly-framed objections. I challenge my critics’ apparent assumption that a particular kind of systematic review should be valorised over narrative and real-world evidence, since stories are crucial to both our scientific understanding and our moral imagination. I conclude by thanking my academic adversaries for the intellectual sparring match, but exhort them to remember our professional accountability to a society in crisis. It is time to lay straw men to rest and engage, scientifically and morally, with the dreadful tragedy that is unfolding across the world.

This Supporting information includes interactive plots, videos, and data captured while performing evaluation and validation experiments for our paper. 

The construct of wellbeing has been criticised as a neoliberal construction of western individualism that ignores wider systemic issues including increasing burden of chronic disease, widening inequality, concerns over environmental degradation and anthropogenic climate change. While these criticisms overlook recent developments, there remains a need for biopsychosocial models that extend theoretical grounding beyond individual wellbeing, incorporating overlapping contextual issues relating to community and environment. Our first GENIAL model \cite{Kemp_2017} provided a more expansive view of pathways to longevity in the context of individual health and wellbeing, emphasising bidirectional links to positive social ties and the impact of sociocultural factors. In this paper, we build on these ideas and propose GENIAL 2.0, focusing on intersecting individual-community-environmental contributions to health and wellbeing, and laying an evidence-based, theoretical framework on which future research and innovative therapeutic innovations could be based. We suggest that our transdisciplinary model of wellbeing - focusing on individual, community and environmental contributions to personal wellbeing - will help to move the research field forward. In reconceptualising wellbeing, GENIAL 2.0 bridges the gap between psychological science and population health health systems, and presents opportunities for enhancing the health and wellbeing of people living with chronic conditions. Implications for future generations including the very survival of our species are discussed.  

Floral plantings are promoted to foster ecological intensification of agriculture through provisioning of ecosystem services. However, a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of different floral plantings, their characteristics and consequences for crop yield across global regions is lacking. Here we quantified the impacts of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control and pollination services in adjacent crops using a global dataset of 529 sites. Flower strips, but not hedgerows, enhanced pest control services in adjacent fields by 16% on average. However, effects on crop pollination and yield were more variable. Our synthesis identifies several important drivers of variability in effectiveness of plantings: pollination services declined exponentially with distance from plantings, and perennial and older flower strips with higher flowering plant diversity enhanced pollination more effectively. These findings provide promising pathways to optimize floral plantings to more effectively contribute to ecosystem service delivery and ecological intensification of agriculture in the future.

Researchers' ability to accurately screen fossil and subfossil specimens for preservation of DNA and protein sequences remains limited. Thermal exposure and geologic age are usable proxies for sequence preservation on a broad scale but are of nominal use for specimens of similar depositional environments. Cell and tissue biomolecular histology is thus proposed as a novel proxy for determining sequence preservation potential of ancient specimens with improved accuracy. Biomolecular histology as a proxy is hypothesized to elucidate why fossils/subfossils of some depositional environments preserve sequences while others do not and to facilitate selection of ancient specimens for use in molecular studies.

IntroductionConsistent with World Health Organization (WHO) advice [1], UK Infection Protection Control guidance recommends that healthcare workers (HCWs) caring for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) should use fluid resistant surgical masks type IIR (FRSMs) as respiratory protective equipment (RPE), unless aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) are being undertaken or are likely, when a filtering face piece 3 (FFP3) respirator should be used [2]. In a recent update, an FFP3 respirator is recommended if “an unacceptable risk of transmission remains following rigorous application of the hierarchy of control” [3]. Conversely, guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that HCWs caring for patients with COVID-19 should use an N95 or higher level respirator [4]. WHO guidance suggests that a respirator, such as FFP3, may be used for HCWs in the absence of AGPs if availability or cost is not an issue [1].A recent systematic review undertaken for PHE concluded that: “patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection who are breathing, talking or coughing generate both respiratory droplets and aerosols, but FRSM (and where required, eye protection) are considered to provide adequate staff protection” [5]. Nevertheless, FFP3 respirators are more effective in preventing aerosol transmission than FRSMs, and observational data suggests that they may improve protection for HCWs [6]. It has therefore been suggested that respirators should be considered as a means of affording the best available protection [7], and some organisations have decided to provide FFP3 (or equivalent) respirators to HCWs caring for COVID-19 patients, despite a lack of mandate from local or national guidelines [8].Data from the HCW testing programme at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUHNFT) during the first wave of the UK severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic indicated a higher incidence of infection amongst HCWs caring for patients with COVID-19, compared with those who did not [9]. Subsequent studies have confirmed this observation [10, 11]. This disparity persisted at CUHNFT in December 2020, despite control measures consistent with PHE guidance and audits indicating good compliance. The CUHNFT infection control committee therefore implemented a change of RPE for staff on “red” (COVID-19) wards from FRSMs to FFP3 respirators. In this study, we analyse the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCWs before and after this transition.

We settle the question of how to compute the entry and leaving arcs for turnpikes in autonomous variational problems, in the one-dimensional case using the phase space of the vector field associated to the Euler equation, and the initial/final and/or the transversality condition. The results hinge on the realization that extremals are the contours of a well-known function and that that the transversality condition is (generically) a curve. An approximation algorithm is presented and an example included for completeness.

Background: To evaluate the frequency and burden of disease of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses in children under the age of 2 months. Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional, single-center study was conducted between March 2021, and February 2022. All children under the age of 2 months and tested for SARS-CoV-2 were included. The frequency of SARS-CoV-2, of other respiratory viruses and the burden of disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses were evaluated. Results: 727 children with an RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 were included (mean age: 0.9 months (±0.6); boys: 57%); 514 (71%) in the emergency room and 213 (29%) in hospital. Among them, 62 (8.5%) had a positive RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2, more often in the Omicron period (23%) than in the Alpha period (4%). Of the 565 (78%) with a multiplex RT-PCR test for other viruses, 325 (58%) were positive. Children with a positive SARS-CoV-2 were less likely to have required respiratory support (p=.001), enteral nutrition (p=.03), or intensive care admission (p=.01) and had a shorter hospital stay than children with other respiratory viruses (5d vs. 7d, p=.007). Conclusion: In this young population of children, SARS-CoV-2 infection was less frequent and less severe than other viral respiratory infections.

In this paper, we consider the non-fragile containment control problem of nonlinear multi-agent systems (MASs) with exogenous disturbance where the communication links among agents under consideration is directed. Firstly, based on relative output measurements between the agent and its neighbors, a disturbance observer-based control protocol is proposed to solve the containment control problem of MASs with inherent nonlinear dynamics and exogenous disturbances. Secondly, because of the additional tuning of parameters in the real control systems, uncertainties in the designing of observer and controller gains always occur, and as a result, an output feedback controller with disturbance rejection is conceived and the containment control problem of nonlinear MASs with non-fragility is thoroughly investigated. Then, depending on matrix transformation and inequality technique, sufficient conditions of the designed controller gains exist, which is derived from the asymptotic stability analysis problem of some containment error dynamics of MASs. Finally, two simulation examples are exploited to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.

Long-term prognosis after low-dose peanut challenge for patients with history of anaphylaxisNobuko Akamatsu, MD, PhD1,2, Ken-ichi Nagakura, MD, PhD1, Sakura Sato, MD3, Noriyuki Yanagida, MD, PhD1,3,*, Motohiro Ebisawa, MD, PhD3 1Department of Pediatrics, National Hospital Organization, Sagamihara National Hospital, Kanagawa, Japan2Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Tokyo Medical University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan3Clinical Research Center for Allergy and Rheumatology, National Hospital Organization, Sagamihara National Hospital, Kanagawa, JapanRunning title: Prognosis after low-dose peanut challenge*Corresponding author: Noriyuki Yanagida, MD, PhDDepartment of Pediatrics, National Hospital Organization, Sagamihara National Hospital,18-1, Sakuradai, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0392, JapanE-mail: yana@foodallergy.jpWord count: 1190Number of figures: 2 Number of tables: 0Conflict of interest: Motohiro Ebisawa and Sakura Sato have received speaker honoraria from Viatris. All other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.Financial support: This paper has not received any financial support.Keywords : low-dose oral food challenge, peanut, food allergy, low-dose-tolerant, tolerant, pediatric, anaphylaxisTo the Editor,Peanuts cause severe allergic reactions, and only 20% of peanut-allergic patients acquire tolerance.1 Peanut oral food challenge (OFC) has a high risk of severe symptoms such as anaphylaxis, and OFC is avoided in children with an immediate history, especially with a history of anaphylaxis.1Peanut-allergic patients and their guardians have a lower quality of life because of worry that anaphylaxis may occur at any time.2 Low-dose OFC may be useful to manage children with a history of anaphylaxis,3 but it has not been used to evaluate prognosis. This study investigated long-term prognosis after low-dose peanut OFC for patients with a history of immediate reactions, including anaphylaxis.We retrospectively analyzed participants with a history of immediate symptoms due to peanut ingestion, who received baseline low-dose OFC with 133 mg of peanut protein from August 2013–August 2017 at Sagamihara National Hospital (Figure 1), and evaluated two-year tolerance acquisition.We defined tolerance as passing an OFC with 795 mg protein (medium-dose OFC) and ingesting more than 795 mg protein without symptoms at home; consuming this dose enables cessation of strict avoidance in daily life. We defined baseline low-dose OFC negative patients as the low-dose-tolerant group and positive patients as the low-dose-reactive group. The low-dose-tolerant group was instructed to consume 133 mg at home twice a week. Then, based on guardians’ preference, patients received a medium-dose OFC every 6 months or gradually increased peanut ingestion to 795 mg at home under a physician’s direction. The low-dose-reactive group completely avoided peanuts and received low-dose OFC every 6 months. When the low-dose-reactive group passed low-dose OFC, they received medium-dose OFC (Supplementary Figure 1).Anaphylaxis was defined according to the World Allergy Organization Guidelines.4 OFC protocol is described in the supplementary information.5 The percentage of patients who acquired tolerance within two years was estimated using Kaplan-Meier curves. The co-factors for tolerance acquisition were analyzed using Cox regression analysis. Multivariate analysis was performed on the results of low-dose OFC, total IgE, peanut-specific IgE (Pn-sIgE), and history of peanut-related anaphylaxis. SPSS (version 27.0; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) was used for all analyses; p <0.05 was considered statistically significant. The Ethics Committee of The Sagamihara National Hospital (2016-015) approved the study according to the Helsinki Declaration. Written informed consent was obtained from all patients’ guardians.Fifty-three patients (median age, 7.1 years) were enrolled; 43% had a history of anaphylaxis. The median Pn-sIgE level was 20.7 (interquartile range 7.0–57.5) kUA/L. The median Ara h 2-specific IgE level was 10.4 (4.98–28.3) kUA/L. The median thresholds of past immediate symptoms were 26.6 mg (13.3–133) (Supplementary Table 1).Twenty-one patients (40%) passed the low-dose OFC and were defined as the low-dose-tolerant group, and 32 (60%) failed and were defined as the low-dose-reactive group (Supplementary Table 1); 35% of patients with a history of anaphylaxis passed the low-dose OFC. During low-dose OFC, oral mucosal symptoms were most common (72%), then gastrointestinal (63%) and respiratory symptoms (63%). Three patients required intramuscular adrenaline (Supplementary Table 2). When the low-dose-tolerant patients ingested low-dose peanuts at home, six (29%) had mild reactions like oral and throat discomfort; most reactions resolved naturally and did not require medical attention.In the low-dose-tolerant group, 13 patients (62%) acquired tolerance within 2 years, including five patients with a history of anaphylaxis, whereas in the low-dose-reactive group, one patient (3%), with no history of anaphylaxis, acquired tolerance (p <0.001) (Figure 2). In the low-dose-reactive group, 6% of patients passed low-dose OFC within two years.The predictive factors of failure to acquire tolerance have been positive reactions to low-dose OFC (crude hazard ratios of total IgE, Pn-sIgE: 0.37 [95% confidence interval 0.15–0.94, p =0.04), and log (Pn-sIgE) 2.23 [1.01–4.92], p =0.048) (Supplementary Table 3). In 23 patients with a history of anaphylaxis, five (22%) acquired tolerance. In 30 patients with no history of anaphylaxis, nine (30%) acquired tolerance. History of anaphylaxis did not significantly affect tolerance acquisition (Supplementary Figure 2).This is the first report showing that low-dose OFC can be undergone relatively safely with tolerance acquisition in some peanut-allergic patients, including patients with a history of anaphylaxis. Patients with a history of anaphylaxis have a lower quality of life because of worry that anaphylaxis may occur at any time.6 Therefore, these results are significant because if patients realize that low-dose peanuts can be ingested, complete avoidance becomes unnecessary, and tolerance acquisition could be assessed. The low-dose-reactive group was less likely to develop tolerance and required careful follow-up to prevent accidental ingestion.Previous studies of long-term prognosis after peanut OFC excluded patients with a history of anaphylaxis,1 therefore, their tolerance acquisition based on the results of OFC was unknown. In our current study, more than half of patients in low-dose-tolerant groups acquired tolerance within two years, even those with a history of anaphylaxis. Furthermore, one-fifth of patients with a history of anaphylaxis tolerated peanuts, and there was no significant difference between patients with and without a history of anaphylaxis in acquiring tolerance. Therefore, passing low-dose OFC could be considered to assess tolerance acquisition, regardless of the history of anaphylaxis.It has been reported that peanut OFC is high risk because it often causes anaphylaxis and other serious symptoms.1 In the previous studies of peanut OFC, subjects have no history of anaphylaxis or as few as 10%, while this study had 40%, but the occurrence of anaphylaxis in OFC was comparable.1,7 Furthermore, there is a report of a group of subjects, 83% of whom had a history of anaphylaxis, and all patients reacted with anaphylaxis in OFC.8 It has been reported that the incidence of anaphylaxis with OFC was higher with progression up to the total OFC ingested.7 Therefore this study suggests that low-dose OFC is relatively safe in patients with a history of anaphylaxis.Recently, some trials of low-dose oral immunotherapy showed that ingesting low-dose peanuts (133-300 mg) could induce immunological changes and allow the intake of larger amounts.9Similarly, daily ingestion of low-dose wheat is effective in increasing consumption dose and preventing accidental symptoms, even in patients with a history of anaphylaxis.10 Therefore, twice weekly ingestion of 133 mg in the low-dose-tolerant group may yield oral tolerance. In addition, few serious reactions were observed in the low-dose-tolerant group during the subsequent at-home dose escalation in this study.This study has several limitations. First, 33 subjects were excluded because their two-year course could not be tracked. Although the excluded and included patients’ backgrounds were similar (Supplementary Table 4), predictors of tolerance acquisition, such as anaphylaxis may be different with more subjects. Second, there was a lack of information on several points. Although at-home intake methods were unified, the frequency of home peanut intake and adherence was unknown. Additionally, we couldn’t confirm thresholds of past immediate symptoms in 25% of subjects. However, the median thresholds were 26.6 mg in 75% of subjects who were able to assess the threshold. Therefore, we assume that thresholds in the remaining children were similar.For peanut-allergic patients with a history of anaphylaxis, low-dose OFC is relatively safe and effective in the assessment of tolerance acquisition. Low-dose OFC results may effectively stratify peanut-allergic patients with anaphylaxis history with good and poor tolerance acquisition to select optimal management plans.Nobuko Akamatsu, MD, PhD1,2, Ken-ichi Nagakura, MD, PhD1, Sakura Sato, MD3, Noriyuki Yanagida, MD, PhD1,3, Motohiro Ebisawa, MD, PhD3,1Department of Pediatrics, National Hospital Organization, Sagamihara National Hospital, Kanagawa, Japan2Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Tokyo Medical University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan3Clinical Research Center for Allergy and Rheumatology, Sagamihara National Hospital, Kanagawa, Japan

Article type: Research LetterTitle: Dupilumab therapy in children aged 6 months to 12 years with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis: a Chinese real-world study

The development of cloud computing has significantly altered how services are built, deployed, and made accessible to users outside of the organization. In actuality, the pay-as-you-go model of dispersed IT supported by the cloud computing paradigm calls for the outsourcing of software services and applications. In this situation, the capacity to ensure effective cloud performance management and to facilitate automated scalability become fundamental prerequisites. Users of the cloud are becoming more and more interested in a transparent and coherent image of the cloud, where performance is guaranteed in a variety of situations and under a variety of loads. In this essay, We examine the advantages of an integrated scalability approach at various cloud stack layers, concentrating on the database and compute infrastructure layers. In order to achieve this, we offer various performance measurements and a set of rules based on them to assess the cloud stack’s condition and scale it as needed to maintain stable performance. Then, using a proof-of-concept architecture, we empirically investigate three scaling scenarios for cloud performance: database only, computing infrastructure solely, and the scenario where computing infrastructure and database compete for resources.

The Terasort benchmark and the YCSB benchmark are the two most used cloud computing benchmarks. Despite the fact that these benchmarks are quite helpful, data warehouse systems and associated OLAP technologies were not the focus of their creation. We initially introduce cloud computing and data warehouse systems in this essay. Then, we contend that the TPC-H benchmark, which is the most well- known benchmark for decision support systems, conflicts with the justifications for cloud computing (scalability, elasticity, pay-per-use, fault-tolerance characteristics), and customer relationship management (end- user satisfaction, Quality of Service features). Finally, we propose updated specifications for a benchmark for cloud data warehouse systems. The suggested specifications ought to make it possible to fairly compare the products offered by various cloud system providers .

Demand Response (DR) is quickly becoming a critical component of the contemporary energy industry, notably in EU energy markets. As a result, substantial work has gone into standardizing demand response data models. As a result, an increasing number of demand response concepts are based on these standards. As a result, an increasing number of demand response concepts are based on these standards. These approaches, however, are often centralized, and those that rely on cloud solutions employ the cloud as a centralized data repository, assuming that the data is already homogenised when saved, i.e. all data has the same structure and type. In practice, however, DR plans rely on a number of components that deliver data in a variety of forms and types. Furthermore, the various DR standards establish models for various data formats, which impede data sharing between different DR systems. This article introduces CIM, a generic technology that allows current disaster recovery systems to disperse their components in the cloud while providing a robust security and privacy foundation for data interaction. Furthermore, the CIM includes a semantic interoperability layer capable of transforming data into a normalised form when transferred, allowing it to be consumed transparently by DR components. Experiments support the CIM as a solution for DR systems to decentralize their designs and share heterogeneous data with other DR systems that adhere to other DR standards.

Commercialized passivated emitter rear cell (PERC) silicon solar cells feature direct contact of metal with silicon, which leads to severe recombination loss and low open circuit voltage (Voc). To overcome the loss, the authors demonstrate a highly stable and thickness-tolerant dopant-free electron-selective contact consisting of a strontium fluoride/aluminium (SrF2/Al) stack. The inserting SrF2 layer can mitigate the Fermi-level pinning effect between the silicon substrate and the Al electrode. Besides, a relatively low Ohmic contact resistivity of 2 mΩ·cm2 on lightly doped n-type c-Si can be achieved when using 4 nm of SrF2. Moreover, the formed contact within 9 nm SrF2 is stable for over 5000 hours in the air without encapsulation. Solar cells with this novel dopant-free electron-selective contact reach a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.56%. The promising results and its stable nature, indicate its potential to act as efficient electron-selective contact for various optoelectronic devices.

This paper presents an energy-efficient digital-to-analog converter (DAC) switching method with low common-mode variations for high resolution successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), while enabling to implement resolutions such as 14-bit as compared to the typical 10-bit. The proposed switching method enables high resolution by having a nearly constant common-mode voltage and employing input-swapping to use the reference voltage (Vref) only in the sampling phase. This method eliminates the need for the third reference voltage during the entire DAC switching steps, which reduces the required number of switches even compared to the state-of-the-art methods that use low number of switches. The use of lower number of switches not only lowers the DAC control logic complexity, but also results in a faster operation, lower power, and smaller area. When compared to conventional 10-bit SAR ADCs, the proposed switching method in a 10-bit implementation reduces the average switching energy and area by 93.7 % and 75 %, respectively, while offering high resolution implementation options such as 14 bits.

Title: Complex regional pain syndrome of the knee after COVID-19 Vaccine in an adult patient

Background: The importance of pulmonary artery pressure recovery (PR) in patients with Ross procedures in whom a homograft substitutes the resected pulmonary valve, is unknown. The aim of the study was to evaluate the occurrence and extent of PR in the pulmonary artery in 65 asymptomatic patients with pulmonary homograft after Ross surgery during rest and exercise. Methods: Stress echocardiography was performed in 65 pulmonary homograft patients and 31 controls with native pulmonary valves up to 75 watts (W). Right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP), transvalvular flow, mean pressure gradient (P mean), valve resistance and RV stroke work were determined in the exercise (max. 75 W) and recovery phases in increments of 25W each. Results: Pulmonary homografts demonstrated significantly elevated P mean compared to controls at all stages. When considering pressure recovery (absolute and relative PR at rest 3.8+/-1.8 mmHg, 42.6+/-7.2%, respectively) and transvalvular energy loss (EL; at rest 4.5+/-4.3 mmHg) the homograft hemodynamics reached the level of controls. In a subgroup of patients with tricuspid regurgitation, resting RVSP was the same in homograft patients and controls (21.3 +/- 6.1 vs. 20.4 +/- 6.3, p=0.62), despite significant different P max values. Conclusions: Ross patients with pulmonary homograft showed systematically increased hemodynamic parameters compared to normal pulmonary valves. These differences were abolished when PR was considered for homograft patients. The equality of RVSP values at rest in both groups shows non-invasive evidence for PR in the pulmonary system after homograft implantation. Therefore, PR appears to be an important measure in calculating the actual hemodynamics in pulmonary homografts.