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  • Wren Nicolaisen posted an update 3 days, 12 hours ago

    The data from three high-spatial-resolution satellites-WorldView-2 (WV-2), WorldView-3 (WV-3), and GaoFen-2 (GF-2)-were used to test the methods and verify the robustness of the OSI. The results show that the OSI index performed well regarding both strong and weak shadows with the user accuracy and the producer accuracy both above 90%, while the four other existing indexes that were tested were not effective at diverse solar illumination conditions. In addition, all the disturbances from water body were excluded well when using the OSI, except for the GF-2 data in weak shadows.Wood chips are extensively utilised as raw material for the pulp and bio-fuel industry, and advanced material analyses may improve the processes in utilizing these products. Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) combined with machine learning was used in order to analyse heartwood content of pine chips and bark content of birch chips. A novel electrode system integrated in a sampling container was developed for the testing using frequency range 42 Hz-5 MHz. Three electrode pairs were used to measure the samples in x-, y- and z-direction. Three machine learning methods were used K-nearest neighbor (KNN), decision tree (DT) and support vector machines (SVM). The heartwood content of pine chips and bark content of birch chips were classified with an accuracy of 91% using EIS from pure materials combined with a k-nearest neighbour classifier. When using mixed materials and multiple classes, 73% correct classification for pine heartwood content (four groups) and 64% for birch bark content (five groups) were achieved.The impact of the mitochondria-targeted antioxidant MitoQ was evaluated in the cardiac alterations associated with obesity. Male Wistar rats were fed either a high fat diet (HFD, 35% fat) or a standard diet (CT, 3.5% fat) for 7 weeks and treated with MitoQ (200 µM). The effect of MitoQ (5 nM) in rat cardiac myoblasts treated for 24 h with palmitic acid (PA, 200 µM) was evaluated. MitoQ reduced cardiac oxidative stress and prevented the development of cardiac fibrosis, hypertrophy, myocardial 18-FDG uptake reduction, and mitochondrial lipid remodeling in HFD rats. It also ameliorated cardiac mitochondrial protein level changes observed in HFD reductions in fumarate hydratase, complex I and II, as well as increases in mitofusin 1 (MFN1), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha, and cyclophilin F (cycloF). In vitro, MitoQ prevented oxidative stress and ameliorated alterations in mitochondrial proteins observed in palmitic acid (PA)-stimulated cardiac myoblasts increases in carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A, cycloF, and cytochrome C. PA induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases and nuclear factor-κB p65. Fumarate hydratase-IN-1 concentration Therefore, the data show the beneficial effects of MitoQ in the cardiac damage induced by obesity and suggests a crosstalk between lipotoxicity and mitochondrial oxidative stress in this damage.Childhood trauma experience (CT) is negatively associated with many aspects of adult life. Religiosity/spirituality (R/S) are often studied as positive coping strategies and could help in the therapeutic process. Evidence on this is lacking for a non-religious environment. The aim of this study was to assess the associations of different types of CT with R/S in the secular conditions of the Czech Republic. A nationally representative sample (n = 1800, mean age = 46.4, SD = 17.4; 48.7% male) of adults participated in the survey. We measured childhood trauma, spirituality, religiosity and conversion experience. We found that four kinds of CT were associated with increased levels of spirituality, with odds ratios (OR) ranging from 1.17 (95% confidence interval 1.03-1.34) to 1.31 (1.18-1.46). Non-religious respondents were more likely to report associations of CT with spirituality. After measuring for different combinations of R/S, each CT was associated with increased chances of being “spiritual but non-religious”, with OR from 1.55 (1.17-2.06) to 2.10 (1.63-2.70). Moreover, converts were more likely to report emotional abuse OR = 1.46 (1.17-1.82) or emotional neglect with OR = 1.42 (1.11-1.82). Our findings show CT is associated with higher levels of spirituality in non-religious respondents. Addressing spiritual needs may contribute to the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic treatment of the victims.Inherited platelet disorders (IPDs) are rare diseases featured by low platelet count and defective platelet function. Patients have variable bleeding diathesis and sometimes additional features that can be congenital or acquired. Identification of an IPD is desirable to avoid misdiagnosis of immune thrombocytopenia and the use of improper treatments. Diagnostic tools include platelet function studies and genetic testing. The latter can be challenging as the correlation of its outcomes with phenotype is not easy. The immune-morphological evaluation of blood smears (by light- and immunofluorescence microscopy) represents a reliable method to phenotype subjects with suspected IPD. It is relatively cheap, not excessively time-consuming and applicable to shipped samples. In some forms, it can provide a diagnosis by itself, as for MYH9-RD, or in addition to other first-line tests as aggregometry or flow cytometry. In regard to genetic testing, it can guide specific sequencing. Since only minimal amounts of blood are needed for the preparation of blood smears, it can be used to characterize thrombocytopenia in pediatric patients and even newborns further. In principle, it is based on visualizing alterations in the distribution of proteins, which result from specific genetic mutations by using monoclonal antibodies. It can be applied to identify deficiencies in membrane proteins, disturbed distribution of cytoskeletal proteins, and alpha as well as delta granules. On the other hand, mutations associated with impaired signal transduction are difficult to identify by immunofluorescence of blood smears. This review summarizes technical aspects and the main diagnostic patterns achievable by this method.Due to their polymerization characteristics, hyper-branched dendrimers have lately shown to be promising candidates for use in dental materials. In this study, a new dental adhesive system was prepared, using a dendrimer derived from 2-isocyanatoethyl methacrylate (G-IEMA), and its adhesive properties were investigated. The exposed dentin was treated with four universal adhesives (UAs) SBU (Scotchbond Universal™), FUT (Futurabond M+™), AE1 (experimental adhesive with Bis-GMA) and AE2 (experimental adhesive with G-IEMA), using Etch & Rinse (ER) or Self Etch (SE) protocols. Composite build-ups were prepared and stored for 24 h at 37 °C in distilled water. Composite/dentin beams were prepared with cross-sectional areas of 1 ± 0.3 mm2 and µTBS (Micro-tensile bond strength) test was performed at 0.5 mm/min. Failures modes were evaluated by stereomicroscopy, and bonding interfaces were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Statistical analysis of µTBS data was performed using General Linear (GLM) and Linear Mixed Models (LMM). The effect of adhesive type on µTBS was significant (p = 0.010), with AE1 presenting significantly higher µTBS than SBU (p = 0.019). No other differences between adhesives were observed. ER showed significantly better results than SE (p = 0.019), and no significant interactions between the adhesives and protocols were determined. Results obtained so far pinpoint the emergence of a new paradigm in the dental materials field, as G-IEMA can be used successfully as an alternative to Bis-GMA.The geographic spread of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infections from the epicenter of Wuhan, China, has provided an opportunity to study the natural history of the recently emerged virus. Using publicly available event-date data from the ongoing epidemic, the present study investigated the incubation period and other time intervals that govern the epidemiological dynamics of COVID-19 infections. Our results show that the incubation period falls within the range of 2-14 days with 95% confidence and has a mean of around 5 days when approximated using the best-fit lognormal distribution. The mean time from illness onset to hospital admission (for treatment and/or isolation) was estimated at 3-4 days without truncation and at 5-9 days when right truncated. Based on the 95th percentile estimate of the incubation period, we recommend that the length of quarantine should be at least 14 days. The median time delay of 13 days from illness onset to death (17 days with right truncation) should be considered when estimating the COVID-19 case fatality risk.Atranorin (ATR), is a compound with multidirectional biological activity under different in vitro and in vivo conditions and it is effective as an antibacterial, antiviral, antiprotozoal and anti-inflammatory agent. In the current study, the in vitro as well as in vivo chemotherapeutic effect of ATR as well as its combined efficacy with the existing antibabesial drugs (diminazene aceturate (DA), atovaquone (AV) and clofazimine (CF)) were investigated on six species of piroplasm parasites. ATR suppressed B. bovis, B. bigemina, B. divergens, B. caballi and T. equi multiplication in vitro with IC50 values of 98.4 ± 4.2, 64.5 ± 3.9, 45.2 ± 5.9, 46.6 ± 2.5, and 71.3 ± 2.7 µM, respectively. The CCK test was used to examine ATR’s cytotoxicity and adverse effects on different animal and human cell lines, the main hosts of piroplasm parasites and it showed that ATR affected human foreskin fibroblasts (HFF), mouse embryonic fibroblast (NIH/3T3) and Madin-Darby Bovine Kidney (MDBK) cell viability in a dose-related effect with a moderate selective index. The combined efficacy of ATR with DA, CF, and AV exhibited a synergistic and additive efficacy toward all tested species. In the in vivo experiment, ATR prohibited B. microti multiplication in mice by 68.17%. The ATR-DA and ATR-AV combination chemotherapies were more potent than ATR monotherapy. These results indicate the prospects of ATR as a drug candidate for piroplasmosis treatment.The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper […].The purpose of this research was to explore the fresh keeping effect of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) with different gas ratios combined with gelatin active coatings containing eugenol on Chinese sea bass stored at -0.9 °C for 36 days. The results showed that MAP3 (60% CO2/10% O2/30% N2), together with gelatin active coatings containing eugenol, could prevent water loss, which maintained high field NMR, MRI, and organoleptic evaluation results. This hurdle technology could also effectively delay the bacterial reproduction, protein degradation, and alkaline accumulation, so it showed the lowest K value, total volatile basic nitrogen, free amino acids, total viable count, Pseudomonas spp., and H2S-producing bacteria, which better maintain the quality of sea bass.In the current study, diethylene glycol monoethyl ether-mediated microemulsions were combined with microneedles for enhanced transdermal aconitine delivery. The oil-in-water microemulsion increasedaconitine solubility and enhanced transdermal drug delivery and assistance with metal microneedles enhanced permeation of the aconitine-loaded microemulsion. Carried by the microemulsion, the in vitro permeability of aconitine was significantly enhanced, and further improved using microneedles. In vivo microdialysis revealed that the subcutaneous local drug concentration reached a high level within 30 min and remained relatively consistent to the end of the experimental period. AUC0-t of the microemulsion group was significantly higher than that of the aqueous solution group, and the microemulsion combined with microneedles group achieved the highest AUC0-t among the tested groups. The microemulsion and microdialysis probe also showed good biocompatibility with skin tissue. The microemulsion could be internalized by HaCaT and CCC-ESF-1 cells via lysosomes.