Microorganisms are implicated in the irreversible degradation that usually occurs during the distribution and storage of food items. This action proceeds as biological and/or chemical reactions in foods, handling wares, and food processing facilities, and are also dependent on other several environmental factors. This review discusses the main mechanisms involved in the loss of food quality for most important food items, including the growth and associated metabolism of microorganisms resulting in the possible changes, formation of toxic compounds with adverse biological effects, and the subsequent counteractive effects of antibacterial elements used in food handling (with emphasis on copper). Meanwhile, as food spoilage poses a huge economic burden worldwide, evidence shows that the knowledge of spoilage mechanisms and food interactions with microorganisms is still limited, and in effect, perspectives and outlooks are presented as guides for the future design of wares for food handling applications.

1. While territoriality is one of the key mechanisms influencing carnivore space use, most studies quantify resource selection and movement in the absence of conspecific influence or territorial structure without inference on resource selection processes. 2. Our analysis incorporated intra-specific competition in a resource selection framework, via territorial data of conspecifics, to investigate mechanisms of territoriality and to better understand the role of neighboring packs on African wild dog habitat selection. We fit integrated step selection functions to 3-hour GPS data from 12 collared wild dog packs in the Okavango Delta, and estimated selection coefficients using a conditional Poisson likelihood with random effects. 3. Packs selected for the outline of their neighbors’ 30-day boundary (defined as their 90% kernel density estimate), and for the outline of their own 90-day core (defined as their 50% kernel density estimate). Neighbors’ 30-day boundary had a greater influence on resource selection than any habitat feature. Habitat selection differed when they were within versus beyond their neighbors’ 30-day boundary. 4. Pack size, pack age, pup presence, and seasonality all mediated how packs responded to neighbors, and seasonal dynamics altered the strength of residency. While newly-formed packs and packs with pups avoided their neighbors’ boundary, older packs and those without pups selected for it. Packs also selected for the boundary of larger neighboring packs more strongly than that of smaller ones. 5. Social structure within packs has implications for how they interact with conspecifics, and therefore how they are distributed across the landscape. Future research should continue to investigate how territorial processes are mediated by social dynamics and, in turn, how territorial structure mediates resource selection and movement. These results could inform the development of a human-wildlife conflict (HWC) mitigation tool by co-opting the mechanisms of conspecific interactions to manage space use of endangered carnivores.

Goals This multicenter, retrospective research aims to compare effectiveness and tolerability of paclitaxel-based chemotherapy combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) versus chemotherapy alone as a first-line treatment of HER2-negative AGC in a real-world setting. Background Platinum-based chemotherapy combined with ICIs is now becoming the standard first-line therapy of HER2-negative AGC. In China, paclitaxel has shown good efficacy and tolerability in AGC as an alternative for first-line therapy. Combining ICIs with paclitaxel-based chemotherapy may lead to improved tumor immune microenvironment, but evidence in paclitaxel combing with ICIs as first-line regimen is lacking. Methods 86 patients with HER2-negative AGC were enrolled from 2017 to 2022. Among them, 57 patients received paclitaxel-based chemotherapy plus ICIs, and 29 patients received paclitaxel-based chemotherapy alone. We compared the efficacy and incidence of adverse events between the two therapy options. Results Significant improvements in median PFS (8.77 versus 7.47 months; P=0.048) and median OS (15.70 versus 14.33 months; P=0.048) were observed in the ICIs combined with paclitaxel-based chemotherapy group. Meanwhile, the ICIs plus chemotherapy group demonstrated significantly improved ORR (50.9% vs. 27.6%; P=0.039) and DCR (98.3% vs. 82.8%; P=0.015), and the side effects were tolerable. Conclusion In summary, for HER2-negative AGC, ICIs plus paclitaxel-based chemotherapy is effective with mild toxicities, which should be considered as an alternative first-line therapy regimen.

The means of tunnel mathematics (the theory of functions of spatial complex variable) allow to find an analytical solution for problem of supersonic flow around a cone in the area of boundary layer and beyond. The peculiar feature of Navier-Stokes equations is that they allow to determine analytical velocity fields of fluids only for small number of simple problems. Of course, the problem of supersonic motion of fluid around a cone is not included in this number. Tunnel mathematics is a method for finding analytical vector velocity fields for steady flows of fluids with axial symmetry. The Navier-Stokes equations themselves are then used to determine pressure and temperature distributions. The main theorem of tunnel mathematics allows to find these distributions for planes z = const (it is similar to the constructing of slices of brain at MRI procedure). Further, collecting these “slices”, we can obtain full space distributions of pressure and temperature around a supersonic cone. At this stage of investigations, the conclusions obtained by means tunnel mathematics make it possible to qualitatively judge the thickness of boundary layer on the cone surface, the shape of the shock wave and weather the shock wave intersects the boundary layer or not. First of all, we focused on ensuring that resulting solutions corresponded to the physical pattern of phenomena. No doubt, solutions obtained by means tunnel mathematics must be confirmed experimentally.

Transistor operation beyond cutoff frequency as THz signal rectifiers has attracted increasing attention, lately. As a result, further development of different models has been carried out of the rectification and detection of this THz signal within different transistor structures. The common theory for THz detection by FETs is based on the well-known plasma wave model. However, recently reported THz rectification in HBT devices challenged this plasma wave model, as it may not apply to the THz detection and rectification within HBTs. We propose a simple nonlinear analytical model for describing the induced THz rectified signals in HBTs. This nonlinear analytical model is not only applicable to HBTs but also to FETs. Our proposed model is primarily based on the Taylor series expansion of the device's multivariable, nonlinear static I-V characteristics function. We validate our proposed analytical model by performing TCAD simulations for a typical SiGe HBT structure for both unbiased and biased collector operation modes. The results of the simulations demonstrate good agreement with the suggested nonlinear analytical model. Furthermore, we present a parametric study to investigate the contribution of effective device parameters such as base length, base width, base doping, emitter doping, and collector doping on the behavior of the HBT as a THz rectifier. The findings of this study shed light on the effects of these parameters and their role in shaping the performance of the HBT as a THz rectifier.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy is a promising treatment for pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (R/R B ALL). Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) is a common toxicity after CAR T cell therapy and fever is often the first symptom. Differentiating CRS from infection after CAR T cell therapy can be challenging. Plasma microbial cell free DNA (mcfDNA) is a novel diagnostic tool which allows for qualitative and quantitative assessment of over 1,000 organisms. This pilot study sought to characterize mcfDNA results in pediatric patients with R/R B ALL in the first two months after CAR T cell therapy.

This paper tackles worldwide road-safety and traffic-management issues by implementing vehicle speed detection and license plate identification technologies. A holistic method to improve road-safety and traffic control addresses limited training data issues. The study stresses the necessity for an efficient and reliable vehicle recognition, license plate identification, and character segmentation system for precise speed detection. A three-class Vehicle Detection model and customized models for Numberplate detection, Character-segmentation, and Character-Detection are presented to suit this need. Creating complete training and testing datasets requires thorough data preparation, hand clipping, and labeling. Data augmentation separates validation and testing subsets while expanding the dataset. A robust and automatic system for real-time vehicle speed detection and license plate identification is the major contribution of this research. The suggested system uses advanced deep learning to monitor and regulate traffic efficiently, reducing manual intervention and improving road-safety. Experimental findings reveal that the Vehicle Detection model can recognize automobiles and the specialized models can detect license plates, segment characters, and detect characters. The output of one model feeds into the input of another on a distributed system, thus these four models can operate simultaneously. These results demonstrate the system's ability to improve road-safety and urban traffic management.

Long-term survival after reduced-dose radiotherapy in pediatric nasopharyngeal carcinomaWen Shen Looi, MBBS, FRCR, FAMS1, Ah Moy Tan, MBBS2, Shui Yen Soh, MBBS2, Yoke Lim Soong, MBBS1, Ru Xin Wong, MBBS11Division of Radiation OncologyNational Cancer Centre Singapore2Haematology/Oncology ServiceKK Women’s and Children’s Hospital

IntroductionInternational continence society defined mixed urinary incontinence (MUI) as “complaint of involuntary loss of urine associated with urgency and also with effort or physical exertion or on sneezing or coughing”., which include both urgency urinary incontinence (UUI) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI) complaints. Urinary incontinence affects social behaviors, financial burden such as using class of drugs, rehabilitation floor muscles, and psychological suffering such as dissatisfaction in sexual activity. Diagnosis of urinary incontinence is based on history, physical examinations and supplemental evaluations like dye test, cystoscopy, urodynamic study, urine analysis, urine culture, and imaging technics. (1)At the first, conservative treatments are performed for patient such as biofeedback, pelvic floor muscle exercise, electrical stimulation and drug treatment. In the second step of treatment, surgery is considered. The surgery is usually used to address the failure of normal anatomic support of the bladder neck and proximal urethra, and intrinsic sphincter deficiency, meanwhile its implementation should be approached with caution for carefully. In some cases, surgery intervention also failed and other novel interventions should be considered. (2)Platelet rich fibrin glue, stem cells, butolonium toxins and TVT separately applied for treatment of patients, but this is the first time that these mixed modalities were used for the treatment of mixed urinary incontinence which did not respond to pharmaceutical and surgical treatment.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a significant global cause of cancer-related mortality. Hepatitis B virus (HBV)infection is a major etiologic factor leading to HCC. While noteworthy progress has been made in managing HBV replication, achieving a cure for HBV-related HCC (HBV-HCC) remains challenging, and the overall survival outcome for HCC remains suboptimal. HBV persistence is attributed to a myriad of mechanisms, encompassing both innate and adaptive immune responses. Regulatory T cells(Tregs) are pivotal in upholding immune tolerance and modulating excessive immune activation. During HBV infection, Tregs mediate specific T cell suppression, thereby contributing to both persistent infection and the mitigation of liver inflammatory responses. Studies have demonstrated an augmented expression of circulating and intrahepatic Tregs in HBV-HCC, which correlates with impaired CD8 + T cells function. Consequently, Tregs play a dual role in the context of HBV infection and the progression of HBV-HCC. In this comprehensive review, we discuss pertinent studies concerning Tregs in HBV infection, HBV-related cirrhosis and HCC. Furthermore, we provide valuable treatment strategies pertinent to liver cancer management.

Objective: Diagnosis of Aortic arch (AoA) anatomy is critical for planning cardiac surgery/intervention and in diagnosing associated congenital heart defects. AoA sidedness is traditionally diagnosed with echocardiography as being contralateral to the direction of the first brachiocephalic artery in suprasternal view, but this method can be challenged by numerous anatomic variants and clinical conditions. The objective of this study was to assess feasibility of trachea visualization with echocardiography in pediatric patients, and using this landmark to identify AoA sidedness and potential for double aortic arch (DAA). Methods: A prospective study was performed on patients <18 years old who were undergoing Chest CT/MRI to serve as gold standard for confirming AoA anatomy. A right-to-left echocardiographic sagittal sweep was performed from the suprasternal notch and used to categorize 1) Left AoA = right SVC-trachea-AoA, 2) Right AoA= SVC-AoA-trachea, 3) DAA = SVC-AoA-trachea-AoA. The proportion of successful sweeps and diagnostic accuracy were calculated. Results: 100 consecutive patients were scanned (44% female; median age of 8.8 yr, range 2d–17.9 yr; median BSA 1.14 m 2, range 0.2–2.7; right AOA in 4%). Diagnosis of AoA sidedness was possible in 97% (95% CI: 94–100%, p < 0.01) and correct in 100% when the trachea was seen. Conclusion: Tracheal imaging with echo is reliable, easy, and reproducible method in patients of various sizes and levels of acuity to define AoA sidedness.

Micro-Doppler (mD) characteristics of the cone space targets (CSTs) have attracted great attention due to the potential for discrimination between targets and decoys. However, current investigations mainly focus on CSTs with perfectly smooth surfaces. This Letter reveals that mD characteristics of CSTs are associated with surface roughness, and the generated data set used for CST recognition should contain rough target samples. Finally, simulation results via the electromagnetic computation verify the correctness of the analysis.

Does changing mindsets change the brain? Indeed, it does! This study explains how. Via a comprehensive review of the research literature, the study explores the complex link between mindset and neuroscience, focusing on how it affects cognitive functioning and personal growth. The study provides an overview of mindset, including fixed and growth mindsets, and delves into neuroscience, examining its fundamental ideas, cerebral regions, neuroplasticity, and connection to mindset. The study examines the influence of mindset on cognitive functions like memory, attention, and decision-making, as well as the neural mechanisms underpinning mindset and brain activity. It also analyzes the interrelationship between mindset and emotional regulation, examining the neural foundations of emotional regulation and its impact on mindset, resilience, and stress response. The study discusses mindset interventions in relation to neuroplasticity, presenting techniques for developing a growth mindset in light of neuroscientific data proving their efficacy. It also discusses the long-term impacts of mindset interventions on the structure and functionality of the brain. The implications of mindset and neuroscience are discussed within different settings, including learning, academic achievement, motivation, success, and career advancement. The report concludes by outlining prospective directions for future research and application, emphasizing the need to understand the influence of mindset and neuroscience on social development and individual growth. The results are influential upon professional development plans, instructional methods, and intervention procedures, eventually enabling people to adopt growth mindsets and fully reach their cognitive potential.

We fabricate a synaptic device employing a TiO2 channel highly responsive to optical stimuli and incorporating a dual-gate dielectric, one of which facilitates charge trapping at the interface. Unlike conventional synaptic transistors responding to only a single type of stimulus such as optical or electrical stimulation, our device stands out by simulating synaptic behavior by integrating both optical and electrical stimuli. These distinctive attributes enable us to elicit excitatory postsynaptic current via optical and inhibitory postsynaptic currents through electrical stimulation. Notably, the lifetime of the optical synaptic behaviors was approximately 12 times longer than that of the electrical stimulation. Additionally, employing the paired-pulse facilitation index, distinct time constants are computed corresponding to the rapid and slow phases, mirroring a pattern akin to that observed in a bio-synapse. We establish a nonlinearity factor v = 7.21×10-4 through short-term plasticity to long-term plasticity transition, demonstrating remarkable linearity. We achieve 2048 analog states characterized by exceptional linearity. Finally, we replicate human depression, known as seasonal affective disorder, by employing electrical stimulation to emulate feelings of melancholy. Subsequently, we replicate light therapy for seasonal affective disorder by incorporating light stimulation. This outcome signifies a promising pathway for future investigations into emulating human brain activity.

Regulatory T (Treg) cells play a crucial role in immune tolerance, and numerous studies have focused on the molecular mechanisms of CD4+ Treg cells, whereas the role and relevant mechanisms of CD8+ Treg cells remain unclear. Ly49 is located at murine NK and T cells, and plays a similar role to human KIRs in regulation of immune response. In this paper, we have explored the effect of AIM2 deficiency on the homeostasis of CD8+Ly49+ regulatory T (Treg) cells in AIM2 knockout (KO) mouse model. We have performed KLH immunization model for AIM2 KO mice and found enhanced function of suppressive CD8+ Treg cells in the absence of AIM2, indicating AIM2 dampens the homeostasis of murine inhibitory CD8+ Treg cells.

In this paper, Hopf and zero-Hopf bifurcations are investigated for a class of three-dimensional cubic Kolmogorov systems with one positive equilibrium. Firstly, by computing the singular point quantities and figuring out center conditions, we determined that the highest order of the positive equilibrium is eight as a fine focus, which yields that there exist at most seven small amplitude limit cycles restricted to one center manifold and Hopf cyclicity 8 at the positive equilibrium. Secondly, by using the normal form algorithm, we discuss the existence of stable periodic solution via zero-Hopf bifurcation around the positive equilibrium. At the same time, the relevance between zero-Hopf bifurcation and Hopf bifurcation is analyzed via its special case, which is rarely considered. Finally, some related illustrations are given by means of numerical simulation.

Introduction: National lockdown was implemented to slow down the COVID-19 outbreak. This paper aims to compare the epidemiology of paediatric orthopaedic trauma presentation, management and outcomes during the lockdown period with the matched pre-pandemic period in 2019. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study. All patients aged 0 - 18 years who required trauma unit management during the school closure period (18 March – 25 May 2020) were included. Cases for the matched period in 2019 were analysed for comparison. Patient demographics, mechanism and anatomic location of injury, management, and follow-up were assessed. Results: 286 and 575 injuries were observed in 2020 and 2019, respectively. In 2020, we observed a 50.3% fall in paediatric trauma presentation. There was a significant reduction in the average age at presentation by more than one year (p < 0.001). Sports-related injuries decreased significantly (n=16 5.6% vs n=127 22.1%; p<0.001). Proportion of ride on injuries increased significantly (n=63 22% vs n=61 10.6%; p<0.0001). Non-accidental injury concerns rose significantly (n=9 3.1% vs n=4 0.7%; p=0.01). There was a proportional increase in upper limb injuries (64.3% vs 58.4%) and proportional reduction in lower limb injuries (32.1% vs 35.5%). Use of conservative management increased. Telephone follow-up rose significantly (23% vs 6%; p < 0.001). Re-presentation rate increased significantly (1.4% vs 0.2%; p = 0.04). Conclusion: There was a reduction in paediatric trauma presentation and the average age at presentation during lockdown. This change was accompanied by a shift in mechanism and anatomic location of injury, management, and follow-up.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in agriculture has reached a critical point, and classification studies utilizing machine learning (ML) methods for agricultural products are being conducted intensively. However, these studies face challenges in creating balanced datasets, which can significantly impact the performance of proposed methods and lead to confusing results. In this study, we address this challenge by creating a dataset comprising data from 7 species of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) and 2 species of pistachio fruit (Pistacia vera L). Our objective is to evaluate the performance of ML methods on this dataset and explore the effectiveness of the Synthetic Minority Over-Sampling Technique (SMOTE) for improving classification accuracy. Initially, we performed classification on the original dataset using popular ML methods. Among these methods, the POLY-SVM model exhibited the best performance with an accuracy ratio of 92.95%. However, we observed limitations in the classification results due to the unbalanced distribution of data among different classes. To address this issue, we applied the SMOTE technique for over-sampling, which effectively balanced the data distribution. The POLY-SVM model, when trained on the dataset after SMOTE over-sampling, achieved a significantly improved classification accuracy of 98.64%. Furthermore, our proposed model demonstrated enhanced sub-classification performance, particularly for fruit species. In conclusion, this study highlights the challenges posed by unbalanced data distribution in agricultural product classification studies using ML methods. By utilizing the SMOTE technique for data over-sampling, we successfully addressed this challenge and improved classification accuracy.

Aims: Conduct a systematic review of case reports and case series regarding the development of acute abdomen following vaccination with COVID-19, to describe in detail the possible association, the clinical and demographic characteristics. Methods: Case report studies and case series regarding the development of acute abdomen following COVID-19 vaccination were included. Systematic review studies, literature, letters to the editor, brief comments, etc. were excluded. PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases were searched until June 15, 2023. The Joanna Brigs Institute tool was used to assess risk of bias and study quality. Descriptive data were expressed as frequency, median, mean, and standard deviation. Results: Seventeen clinical case studies were identified and 17 patients with acute abdomen associated with COVID-19 vaccination were evaluated, including: acute appendicitis (n=3), acute pancreatitis (n=9), diverticulitis (n=1), cholecystitis (n=2) and colitis (n=2). The most associated COVID-19 vaccine was Pfizer-BioNTech (mRNA) with 64.71 %. The majority of cases acute abdomen was after the first dose (52.94 %). All patients responded objectively to medical (88.34 %) and surgical (11.76 %) treatment and were discharged within a few weeks. There were no cases of death. Conclusions: Acute abdomen is a rare complication of great interest in the medical and surgical practice of COVID-19 vaccination, our study reviewed based on a small sample of patients, therefore it is recommended to conduct future observational studies and fully elucidate the mechanisms by which this association occurs.

Glioma refers to a highly prevalent type of brain tumor that is strongly associated with a high mortality rate. During the treatment process of the disease, it is particularly important to accurately perform segmentation of the glioma from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). However, existing methods used for glioma segmentation usually rely solely on either local or global features and perform poorly in terms of capturing and exploiting critical information from tumor volume features. Herein, we propose a local and global dual transformer with an attentional supervision U-shape network called DTASUnet, which is purposed for glioma segmentation. First, we built a pyramid hierarchical encoder based on 3D shift local and global transformers to effectively extract the features and relationships of different tumor regions. We also designed a 3D channel and spatial attention supervision module to guide the network, allowing it to capture key information in volumetric features more accurately during the training process. The experimental results show that DTASUnet exhibited superior or competitive performance compared to other state-of-the-art algorithms. In the BraTS 2018 validation set, the average Dice scores of DTASUnet for the tumor core (TC), whole tumor (WT), and enhancing tumor (ET) regions were 0.845, 0.905, and 0.808, respectively. For the BraTS 2020 validation set, the average Dice scores of TC, WT, and ET were 0.844, 0.906, and 0.790, respectively. These results demonstrate that DTASUnet has utility in assisting clinicians with determining the location of gliomas to facilitate more efficient and accurate brain surgery and diagnosis.

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The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of photobiomodulation (PBM) on pain control during pterygomandibular puncture. A patient received anesthesia on both sides of the mouth in a randomized manner. On the right side, an 808nm infrared low-level laser was applied before local anesthesia. On the left side, a sham laser was applied using the same technique. There was a 50% reduction in pain levels on the PBM-treated side compared to the sham PBM side, as measured by the visual analog scale. Sensitivity tests revealed that anesthesia was more effective on the PBM side. There was no significant difference in blood pressure before and after anesthesia on either side. While these findings are based on a single case report, they suggest that photobiomodulation before anesthesia may alleviate puncture pain associated with anesthesia. Nevertheless, further well-designed clinical trials are necessary to confirm the effectiveness of this complementary therapy.

Infective endocarditis associated with atopic dermatitisYamato Tamura, MD*, and Takehisa Abe, MDDepartment of Cardiovascular Surgery, Nara Prefectural Seiwa Medical Center, 1-14-16 Mimuro, Sango-cho, Ikoma-gun, Nara, 636-0802, Japan*Corresponding author: Yamato Tamura, MDDepartment of Cardiovascular Surgery, Nara Prefectural Seiwa Medical Center1-14-16 Mimuro, Sango-cho, Ikoma-gun, Nara 636-0802, JapanTel: +81-745-32-0505Fax: +81-745-32-0517E-mail: ytamura.cvs@gmail.com

IntroductionConsciousness refers to the state in which a person is awake and aware. The depth of wakefulness can be measured by Glasgow coma scale (GCS). Awareness is ability of responding appropriately to internal and external stimuli (1, 2). Consciousness state divides into coma (a pathologic state without wakefulness or awareness), vegetative state (unresponsive wakefulness syndrome), and minimally conscious state (1, 3).There is a broad spectrum of disorders that can cause stupor and coma. They are divided to two main groups: structural and functional pathologies. Structural etiologies include trauma and cerebrovascular disease. Nonstructural etiologies are intoxications, infections, seizures and metabolic derangements (4). Some of these differential diagnoses are emergencies such as acute stroke, expanding mass lesion, and herniation syndrome especially when there is papilledema or focal neurologic deficits in physical examinations and we can exclude them by head CT scan. Another emergency condition is bacterial meningitis and viral encephalitis presenting with fever. Thus, febrile unconsciousness suggest LP and further CSF evaluation (5). As mentioned above, metabolic derangements (such as hypoxia, hypoglycemia, hypernatremia, diabetic ketoacidosis, uremia, and hypothyroidism), toxins (including lead, cyanide, methanol, and carbon monoxide) and drugs (such as sedatives, barbiturates, opiates, alcohol, anticholinergics, H1-antihitamines, and amphetamines) could also result in decreased level of consciousness (6, 7).An important cause of decreased level of consciousness is drug intoxication, unintentional or deliberate poisoning. Deliberate self-poisoning is the most common way of suicide that leads to death or some substantial consequences like cardiac, brain, pulmonary, renal injury and other organ dysfunctions (8-10).Herein, we report a 25-year-old woman presented with steady unconsciousness (GCS=7) for 10 days.