Heliyon最新文献

Background: Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator metabolic syndrome/cystic fibrosis screen-positive, inconclusive diagnosis (CRMS/CFSPID) is a designation given following a positive newborn screen for cystic fibrosis (CF) when CF is not excluded but cannot be confirmed. We describe the long-term clinical outcomes of a CRMS/CFSPID cohort.

Methods: A retrospective, single centre study of children with a current or previous diagnosis of CRMS/CFSPID. Study period extended from February 1, 2007 to August 1, 2022. Baseline and longitudinal data were assessed.

Results: 30 children were designated as CRMS/CFSPID between 2007 and 2021. At baseline, 13 CFTR variants were identified, of which F508del and R117H 7T/9T were most common (occurring in 25 and 20 children respectively). Initial mean immunoreactive trypsinogen and sweat chloride were 82.8 mmol/L and 34.3 mmol/L respectively. During longitudinal assessment (n = 27), occurring over a mean duration of 8.5 years, five children progressed to CF at a mean age of 9.5 years. All children were pancreatic sufficient except one who reclassified to CF. Four isolated Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 12 isolated Staphylococcus aureus, of which one and two progressed to CF respectively. All recent Z-scores for weight and spirometry were above -2. Initial mean sweat chloride was higher in those who progressed to CF versus those who did not, although this did not reach statistical significance (38.4 mmol/L versus 32.0 mmol/L respectively, p = 0.105).

Conclusions: Most children with CRMS/CFSPID remained well with a low progression rate to CF. This supports a less intensive medical surveillance approach. Our results highlight the importance of assessment in a dedicated CRMS/CFSPID clinic during adolescence to detect progression to CF after 6 years of age.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent joint disorder characterized by joint pain, functional impairment, and disability. The current study investigated the therapeutic effects of intra-articular injection of rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (rBM-MSCs) in rats with knee OA.

Methods: Fourty five male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups (A-C) and received either an intra-articular injection of normal saline (NS) or rBM-MSCs. The normal control group (A, n = 15) received NS, the OA control group (B, n = 15) received NS, and the OA treated group (C, n = 15) received rBM-MSCs (0.5 × 10⁶ cells in 25 μL NS). Knee OA was induced using monosodium iodoacetate (MIA). rBM-MSCs were sourced from female Wistar rats and their stem cells were characterized using flow cytometry. Histomorphometric analyses were performed on knee sections from both normal and OA knee. Serum biomarkers, including hyaluronic acid (HA), cross-linked N-telopeptide of type I collagen-1 (NTX-1), NGF, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3), oligomeric cartilage matrix protein COMP, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and soluble IL-6 receptor (sIL-6R), were analyzed using ELISA kits. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) was used to determine the genes regulated by MSCs in OA, and the protective mechanisms were determined using the Molecular Activity Predictor (MAP).

Results: rBM-MSCs were positive for CD29 and CD90 and negative for CD45 surface markers. OA biomarkers were significantly elevated in the untreated OA group but decreased after treatment with intra-articular MSCs. The OA group treated with MSCs showed significant repair of the damaged cartilage compared to the control group.

Conclusions: Cartilage damage leads to an increase in inflammatory cytokine levels and is associated with an increase in serum biomarkers related to cartilage degradation. Intra-articular administration of MSCs showed beneficial effects, including regeneration of damaged cartilage and a reduction in inflammation-related serum biomarker levels.

Background: Hookworm infestation is an important public health concern especially in regions with poor sanitation and limited resources. In healthcare institutions in Ethiopia, wet mount microscopy with low performance has been used as the sole diagnostic technique. Sensitive diagnostic methods are essential for the proper identification of hookworm infection in national strategies for hookworm prevention and management. Thus, the objective of the article was to evaluate the performance of diagnostic techniques in the detection of hookworm infestation among school children in the Gozamin district, Northwest Ethiopia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study with 530 school children was conducted from February to April 2022 in Ethiopia. The study participants were selected by using systematic random sampling technique. Direct wet mount (DWM), Richie^'s, Kato-Katz (KK), and spontaneous tube sedimentation (STS) diagnostic techniques were utilized to process the stool samples. The data were entered into the Epi-data version 4.2 and the data was analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. The sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and test efficiency of the test were calculated with respect to the Composite Reference Standard (CRS) as the reference method. The degree of agreement with the methods of diagnosis was assessed by the Kappa value.

Results: The overall prevalence of hookworm was 34.9 %. The detection rate of STS, Richie's, KK and DWM techniques in hookworm detection was 30.2 %, 27.0 %, 22.3 % and 15.1 %, respectively. The sensitivity and test efficiency of STS to detect hookworm were 86.5 % and 95.3 %, for Richie^'s 77.3 % and 92.1 %, for KK 63.8 % and 87.4 %, for DWM method 43.2 % and 80.2 %, respectively. The agreement of STS, Richie^'s, KK and DWM techniques with CRS were perfect (κ = 0.893), perfect (κ = 0.816), substantial (κ = 0.696) and moderate (κ = 0.498), respectively in detecting hookworm parasites.

Conclusion: The prevalence of hookworm among school children was high. The STS method is superior to other methods for detecting hookworm infections. The Richie's technique was more successful in detecting the hookworm parasite than the KK and DWM techniques. It is important to implement the STS technique in routine diagnostic methods and in endemic areas of hookworm infection because it cheaper, easy to perform, and identifies a wide range of parasitic species.

The Rey-Osterrieth complex figure (ROCF) test is a neuropsychological task that can be useful for early detection of cognitive decline in the elderly population. Several computer vision systems have been proposed to automate this complex analysis task, but the lack of public benchmarks does not allow a fair comparison of these systems. To advance in that direction, we present a benchmarking framework for the automatic scoring of the ROCF test that provides: the ROCFD528 dataset, which is the first open dataset of ROCF line drawings; and experimental results obtained by several modern deep learning models, which can be used as a baseline for comparing new proposals. We evaluate different state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks (CNNs) under traditional and transfer learning paradigms. Experimental quantitative results (MAE = 3.448) indicate that a CNN specifically designed for sketches outperforms other state of the art CNN architectures when the number of examples available is limited. This benchmark can also be a paradigmatic example within the broad field of machine learning for the development of efficient and robust models for analyzing line drawings and sketches not only in classification but also in regression tasks.

The Culex tritaeniorhynchus Giles, 1901 (Diptera: Culicidae) is major vector of Japanese encephalitis (JE) in China, and this study aimed to uncover the vector's spatiotemporal distribution and environmental correlation in Beijing. In study area, the Remote Sensing (RS), Global Position System (GPS), and Geographic Information System (GPS) were used to clarify the distribution characteristics of vector on spatial and temporal scales, and regressions analysis of cross-sectional study was performed to detect the environmental factors linked with the density and presence of Cx. tritaeniorhynchus. In study area, the scenic area was the major environmental area for breeding of the vector, August was the primary peak month, the new urban development area (NUDA) was major distribution subarea of Beijing, and the vector could be detected throughout the subarea of Beijing from June to September. In the scenic area, the total value of light index within buffer zones of 100 m (LT_100) and the total value of NDVI index within buffer zones of 800 m (NDVI_800) determined whether there was a positive or negative vector in the trapping sites, and the total value of NDVI index within buffer zones of 100 m (NDVI_100) and LT_100 was linked to the density of the vector. Our findings provide better insight into the spatio-temporal distribution pattern, associated environmental risk factors, and health risk of vector in Beijing. Based on the results here, we could predict the risk of JE and create and implement location-specific JE prevention and control measures to prevent future risks during the urbanization advancement of Beijing.

This study investigates a novel approach for enhancing methylene blue (MB) removal from water using a composite of endophytic Trichoderma mate and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). For the first time, a unique combination of simplex-lattice design and decision tree learning algorithm was employed to optimize MB removal. This innovative approach effectively identified the optimal composite ratio of hyphal mate (0.5354 g/L) and MWCNTs (0.4646 g/L) for maximizing MB removal, which achieved remarkable removal efficiency ranging from 63.50 to 95.78 % depending on the combination used. The DT model further demonstrated promising potential for predicting MB removal efficiency. SEM revealed a unique hybrid material formed by the intertwining or entrapment of MWCNTs within the hyphal network of Trichoderma mate. FT-IR analysis confirmed the presence of novel functional groups on the MWCNTs' surface at 2438.79 and 528.25 cm^-1, likely due to interactions with the endophytic fungi's biomolecules. These functional groups presumably act as reducing and stabilizing agents, promoting efficient MB adsorption. This research paves the way for utilizing the combined biological and chemical approach (fungal biomass and MWCNTs) in bioremediation applications. The findings suggest significant potential for practical applications in wastewater treatment, providing an eco-friendly and cost-effective method for dye removal. Furthermore, the proposed method shows promise for scaling up to industrial wastewater treatment and applicability in resource-limited settings, offering a sustainable solution for global water pollution challenges. Further investigations with larger datasets incorporating additional influencing factors are necessary to refine the predictive power of the DT model for practical applications.

In this study, a series of chiral amido-oxazoline ligands was synthesized with a primary focus on immobilizing the most effective ligands on MCM-41 mesoporous material. Following several attempts, the para-nitro group of the chiral amido-oxazoline ligands was successfully reduced to amino group, enabling their immobilization on MCM-41. The resulting chiral heterogeneous amido-oxazoline ligands were characterized using various techniques, including FT-IR, XRD, TGA, SEM, TEM, EDX, and BET-BJH, confirming the successful immobilization of the amido-oxazoline ligands. A comparison of the efficiency of the homogeneous and heterogeneous amido-oxazoline-based ligands in the Kharasch-Sosnovsky and Henry reactions revealed better performance of the heterogeneous ligand. The immobilized amido-oxazoline-copper complexes exhibited remarkable catalytic activity, achieving excellent yields and enantioselectivities (up to 88 % ee) in the Kharasch-Sosnovsky reaction, and delivering excellent yields with moderate enantioselectivities in the Henry reaction. Notably, the Henry reaction proceeded with moderate diastereoselectivity, favoring the syn diastereomer, under solvent-free conditions, highlighting the sustainability of the process. The heterogeneous nature of the catalysts facilitated effortless recovery and efficient reusability.

The equalization of basic public services and the advancement of new-type urbanization are pivotal concerns within the framework of regional economic theory and national developmental strategies. Nonetheless, China's current landscape of basic public service equalization falls short of desired levels, while the aspiration for high-quality development embedded in new-type urbanization initiatives remains largely aspirational, lacking robust implementation frameworks, particularly in the underdeveloped western counties. Drawing upon an empirical econometric analysis, this study delves into the intricate relationship between new-type urbanization and basic public service equalization, focusing on 88 counties in Guizhou Province, spanning the years 2011-2022. Our findings underscore that new-type urbanization in Guizhou's counties holds significant potential to elevate the standards of basic public service equalization. This positive influence manifests through multifaceted dimensions of urbanization, encompassing economic, demographic, social, and ecological aspects. From a heterogeneity lens, the study reveals that the catalyzing effect of new-type urbanization is notably more pronounced in central Guizhou urban agglomerations compared to their non-central counterparts. Additionally, regions endowed with a robust economic foundation exhibit a significantly greater enhancement in basic public service equalization than those with weaker economic underpinnings. Notably, the implementation of new-type urbanization pilot policies has proven effective, substantially boosting the level of basic public service equalization within the designated pilot areas.This research contributes to the theoretical underpinnings of regional economics by expanding the scope of understanding on how new-type urbanization can foster basic public service equalization. Furthermore, it offers a practical roadmap for Guizhou's counties to harness the transformative power of new-type urbanization strategies, thereby enhancing the accessibility and quality of essential public services across the region.

The article deals with the issue of evaluation of the causes of accidents at level crossings in the Czech Republic, including the prediction of the development and proposals of measures for prevention and thus reduction of their number. The goal of this work is to verify the hypothesis that the number of accidents at level crossings in the Czech Republic is decreasing. The authors use available data from the Ministry of Transport and process statistical data for ten years (2013-2022) of railway operation. Accidents are divided into groups related to accidents at level crossings and the result is expressed in graphical form. These data are then processed and evaluated using the method of regression data analysis. The results of the work are also new proposals and recommended measures to reduce the accident rate at level crossings.