In order to raise the hardness and strength of the surface layer of mechanical components and induce favourable residual compressive stresses, case-hardening procedures have become established in the heat treatment of steel. In this work, a calculation concept for the fatigue strength of components that have been case-hardened through carburizing heat-treatment is being developed. The residual stress and the load stresses in complex-shaped, carburized materials are determined using a finite element (FE) model. The fatigue limit of the components is derived using probabilistic methods and taking into account hardness gradients, residual stresses, and non-metallic inclusions. The model is validated with available axial bending fatigue test data and then used to predict the rotating bending fatigue limit of samples with various geometries and heat-treatment conditions. This work demonstrates the capability of combining probabilistic and FE-based modelling to represent complex interactions between variables that affect the fatigue of heat-treated components, such as steel cleanliness, notch shape, case-hardening depth, or loading conditions.

A document by Qing-Ling Fu. Click on the document to view its contents.

TITLE PAGEArticle TypeClinical pictureTitlePOUNDing score of Intracranial LipomasAuthorsYuta Aikawa, Takanobu Sato, Ryo IchibayashiAffiliationsDivision of Emergency Medicine Department of Internal Medicine, Toho University Medical Center, Sakura Hospital, Chiba, JapanCorresponding AuthorRyo Ichibayashi, MD, PhDORCID iD https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1273-4875Division of Emergency Medicine Department of Internal MedicineToho University Medical Center, Sakura Hospital564-1 ShimosizuSakura-shi, Chiba 285-8741, JapanPhone: +81-43-462-8811Fax: +81-43-462-8835e-mail: [email protected] titleIntracranial LipomasKeywordsLipomas, Headache, Intracerebroventricular, Diagnostic imagingConflict of interestThe authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.Financial supportThe author(s) received no financial support for this article’s research, authorship, and/or publication.Patient consentWritten informed consent was obtained from the patient to publish this report by the journal’s patient consent policy.Author contributionTS wrote and drafted the manuscript. YA, KI, and RI helped draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.Data availability statementThe data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy and ethical considerations.AcknowledgmentsNone.Key clinical messageMost intracranial lipomas are asymptomatic, but headache is the most common symptom. The POUNDing score is sometimes high. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor imaging findings in parallel with the treatment of migraine.Clinical pictureA 29-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with a 2-month-old headache. Her headache was a unilateral throbbing headache like she had never experienced before. Her headache lasted more than 4 hours and was accompanied by vomiting. Otherwise, she had no abnormal neurological findings. She has a history of obsessive-compulsive disorder. She is on regular oral paroxetine hydrochloride and cloxazolam. She gained 30 kg weight in 4 years. So far, she has not seen a doctor because of her headache, although she has acknowledged it many times. She was conscious, had blood pressure 120/80 mmHg, pulse 60/beat, body temperature 35.0°C, pupil 5 mm/5 mm, and bilateral light reflex. No neck stiffness or unconsciousness was noted in her. Her blood tests showed no abnormalities. She underwent a head CT to rule out subarachnoid hemorrhage. Her head CT showed no intracranial hemorrhagic lesions. However, she had bilateral lateral ventricles and low-density structures in the right ventricle. CT values ranged from -20 to -80. When the head CT was set to the condition of the lung field, it was visually confirmed that it was not air (Fig. 1A). As a result, she was diagnosed with an intraventricular lipoma. The POUNDing score was 5 points, suggesting the possibility of migraine.1 After her symptoms improved with analgesics, she was sent home for outpatient follow-up. Intracranial lipoma is a rare benign tumor. Most are located in the midline within the cranium. Lipomas around the corpus callosum are associated with the hypomorphic and amorphic of the corpus callosum. Many cases are asymptomatic, with headache being the most common symptom. It is often found incidentally on head CT. Intracranial lipomas with headaches are found not only in the ventricle but also in other sites.2 At first glance, it can be mistaken for air mixed in the skull. When the CT value is measured, it shows a numerical value from 0 to -100 and is diagnosed as adipose tissue. It is rarely removed by surgery and is observed. The pounding score is a scale for diagnosing migraine. There are no reports of its use for intracranial lipoma. In our case, lipomas were found in the proper and third ventricles, and the right ventricle was more significant than the left (Fig. 1B). Headache due to intracranial lipoma was also considered. Still, from the result of the POUNDing score, it was diagnosed as a headache due to a migraine. Intracranial lipomas that have complained of headaches may include cases of migraine. Therefore, even if the intracranial lipoma is diagnosed, measuring the POUNDing score and differentiating migraine is necessary. On the other hand, the causal relationship between intracranial lipoma and headache has not been elucidated. For this reason, even if symptoms improve with analgesics, follow-up imaging is necessary when ventricular laterality, giant lipoma, and unexplained headache persist.References1. M. Tejero Mas, R. Burgos Blanco, J.J. Aguirre Sánchez, F. Buitrago Ramírez. The mnemonic POUNDing rule in the diagnosis of patients with migraine. Rev Clin Esp . 2018; 218(7): 388-389. doi: 10.1016/j.rce.2018.05.0042. Bilir O, Yavasi O, Ersunan G, Kayayurt K, Durakoglugil T. Incidental Finding in a Headache Patient: Intracranial Lipoma. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine . 2014;15(4):361-2. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2014.4.21298Figure １A・B　Head CTUpper row： A is a lipoma in the right ventricle and B in the third ventricle. （white arrow）Lower row： It can be confirmed that both A and B are not air under lung field conditions. （black circle）

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A document by Rayyan Syed Kamal. Click on the document to view its contents.

Advances in proteogenomic technologies have revealed hundreds to thousands of translated small open reading frames (sORFs) that encode microproteins in genomes across evolutionary space. While many microproteins have now been shown to play critical roles in biology and human disease, a majority of recently identified microproteins have little or no experimental evidence regarding their functionality. Computational tools have some limitations for analysis of short, poorly conserved microprotein sequences, so additional tools are needed to determine the role of each member of this recently discovered polypeptide class. A currently underexplored avenue in the study of microproteins is structure prediction and determination, which delivers a depth of functional information. In this review, we provide a brief overview of microprotein discovery methods, then examine examples of microprotein structures (and, conversely, intrinsic disorder) that have been experimentally determined using crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, and NMR, which provide insight into their molecular functions and mechanisms. Additionally, we discuss examples of predicted microprotein structures that have provided insight or context regarding their function. Analysis of microprotein structure at the angstrom level, and confirmation of predicted structures, therefore, has potential to identify translated microproteins that are of biological importance and to provide molecular mechanism for their in vivo roles.

The Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Rare Tumor committee includes the Infrequent Tumor and Retinoblastoma subcommittees, encompassing a wide range of extracranial solid tumors that don’t fall within another COG disease committee. Current therapeutic trial development focuses on nasopharyngeal carcinoma, adrenocortical carcinoma, pleuropulmonary blastoma, colorectal carcinoma, melanoma, and thyroid carcinoma. Given the rarity of these tumors, novel strategies and international collaborative efforts are necessary to advance research and improve outcomes.

Multivariate time series data classification has a wide range of applications in reality. With rapid development of deep learning, convolutional networks are widely used in this task and have achieved the current best performance. However, due to high difficulty and cost of collecting this type of data, labeled data is still scarce. In some tasks, the model shows overfitting, resulting in relatively poor classification performance. In order to improve the classification effect under such situation, this paper proposes a novel classification method based on transfer learning - similar domain knowledge transfer (call SDKT for short). Firstly, we designed a multivariate time series domain distance calulation method (call MTSDDC for short), which helped selecting the source domain that are most similar to target domain; Secondly, we used ResNet as a pre-trained classifier, transfered the parameters of the similar domain network to the target domain network and continued to fine-tune the parameters. To verify our method, we conducted experiments on several public datasets. Our study has also shown that the transfer effect from the source domain to the target domain is highly negatively correlated with the distance between them, with an average pearson coefficient of -0.78. For the transfer of most similar source domain, compared to the ResNet model without transfer and the current best model, the average accuracy improvement on the datasets we used is 4.01% and 1.46% respectively.

Host-associated microbiota can be affected by factors related to environmental change, such as urbanization and invasive species. For example, urban areas often affect food availability for animals, which can change their gut microbiota. Invasive parasites can also influence microbiota through either competition or indirectly through a change in the host immune response. These interacting factors can have complex effects on host fitness, but few studies have disentangled the relationship between urbanization and parasitism on an organism’s gut microbial composition. To address this gap in knowledge, we investigated the effects of urbanization and parasitism by the invasive avian vampire fly (Philornis downsi) on the gut microbiota of nestling small ground finches (Geospiza fuliginosa) on San Cristóbal Island, Galápagos. We conducted a factorial study in which we experimentally manipulated parasite presence in an urban and non-urban area. Feces were then collected when nestlings to characterize the gut microbiota (i.e., alpha and beta diversity, community composition). Although we did not find an interactive effect of urbanization and parasitism on the microbiota, we did find main effects of each variable. Urban and parasitized nestlings had lower bacterial diversity and differences in relative abundance of bacterial phyla and genera compared to non-urban non-parasitized nestlings, respectively. Overall, this study advances our understanding of the complex effects of anthropogenic stressors on the gut microbiota of birds.

A document by Mandana Karimi. Click on the document to view its contents.

Word Count: 1,075Key Clinical Message: Despite emphasis for emergent surgical treatment of Stanford Type A aortic dissections, pregnant patients that are clinically stable may safely receive a staged approach instead, with delivery followed by delayed dissection repair.Keywords: Cardiothoracic Surgery, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Anesthesia, Cardiovascular Disorders

In this paper, the vector extension operation is proposed to replace the de Boor-Cox formula for a fast algorithm to B-spline basis functions. This B-spline basis function based on vector extending operation is implemented in the class and shape transformation (CST) parameterization method in place of the traditional Bezier polynomials to enhance the local ability of control and accuracy to represent an airfoil shape. To calculate the k-degree B-spline function’s nonzero values, the algorithm can improve the computing efficiency by 2k+1 times.

Compared with traditional technology, bonding technology is more suitable for civil structure reinforcement because of its cost-efficiency and superior mechanical properties. As one of the simplest forms of adhesive joints, numerous studies have been conducted on the performance of single-lap joints (SLJs). However, research on the long-term performance of SLJs requires better organization and comprehension. This paper aims to investigate the long-term performance and optimization design of SLJs. The main factors influencing the long-term performance of SLJs from both material and component levels are discussed. The moisture diffusion mechanisms of bulk adhesives and the degradation mechanisms of SLJs are explored. Moreover, the optimization design of SLJs focuses on evaluating the overlap length, adhesive layer thicknesses, and changes in adhesives along the overlap length based on available literature. This paper can be employed to improve the shear strength and long-term performance of SLJs and to provide insights into their challenges and prospects.

Aim Identification of taxonomically cryptic species is essential for the effective conservation of biodiversity. Freshwater-limited organisms tend to be genetically isolated by drainage boundaries, and thus may be expected to show substantial cryptic phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity. By comparison, populations of diadromous taxa, that migrate between freshwater and marine environments, are expected to show less genetic differentiation. Here we test for cryptic diversity in Australasian populations (both diadromous and non-diadromous) of two widespread Southern Hemisphere fish species. Location Throughout both their Australian ranges (including Lord Howe Island) and localities in New Zealand (including the Subantarctic Islands and Chatham Island). Taxon Galaxias brevipinnis and Galaxias maculatus. Methods mtDNA and nuclear markers were used to assess the presence of cryptic species and to determine if differences in species ecology could influence the degree of cryptic diversity. Results Both mtDNA and nuclear markers reveal putative cryptic species within these taxa. The substantial diversity detected within G. brevipinnis may be explained by its strong climbing ability which allows it to form isolated inland populations. In island populations, G. brevipinnis similarly show deeper genetic divergence than those of G. maculatus, which may be explained by the greater abundance of G. maculatus larvae in the sea allowing more ongoing dispersal. Main conclusions Our study highlights that even widespread, ‘high-dispersal’ species can harbour substantial cryptic diversity and therefore warrant increased taxonomic and conservation attention.

Cost effectiveness of support with out-of-pockets costs to prevent treatment abandonment in Malawi and sub-Saharan Africa; lessons learnt and the way forward – a report from CANCaRe Africa Junious Sichali1, Avi Denburg2, Harriet Khofi3, Cecilia Mdoka1, Deborah Nyirenda4, Yamikani Chimalizeni3, George Chagaluka3, Elizabeth Molyneux3, Marc Y. R. Henrion4,5, Sumit Gupta2, Trijn Israels11 Collaborative African Network for Childhood Cancer Care and Research (CANCaRe Africa), 2Division of Haematology/Oncology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada,3 Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), Blantyre, Malawi, 4 Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Research Programme, Blantyre, Malawi, 5Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UKCorresponding author:Dr Trijn Israels, CANCaRe Africa, Department of Paediatrics, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KuHES), Blantyre, Malawi. Email: [email protected] count: 1189 wordsNumber of Tables: 0Number of Figures: 0Short running title: Cost-effectiveness of treatment abandonment preventionKey words: childhood cancer, treatment abandonment, cost-effectiveness,LMIC Low- and middle-income countryGICC Global Initiative for Childhood CancerCANCaRe Africa Collaborative African Network for Childhood Cancer Care and ResearchALL Acute lymphoblastic leukaemiaGDP Gross Domestic ProductDALY Disability Adjusted Life Year

Hypochlorite (ClO-) is an important reactive oxygen species produced by the immune system to fight off invading pathogens, but its over-expression can interfere with normal physiological process and induce serious diseases. Although a variety of molecular probes have been reported for detecting ClO-, the development of advanced fluorescent tools with faster response and higher sensitivity to precisely monitor ClO- remains a challenge. In this work, two Hantzsch ester (a derivative of 1,4-dihydropyridine) derived fluorescent probes MeDHP-BCl and MeDHP-PhBCl were constructed based on asymmetric BODIPY-matrix. These probes exhibit significant fluo-rescence turn-on in the ultra-sensitive (detection limit < 1 nM) and ultra-fast response (≤ 5 s) to ClO-, the reaction has determined to be a highly selective N-Chlorination of Hantzsch ester which cannot be activated by various common bioactive species, including nitric ox-ide (NO) that could oxidize Hantzsch ester under aerobic physiological conditions in most reports. MeDHP-PhBCl possess a relatively longer fluorescence emission wavelength and higher quantum yield after activation, while more notably, MeDHP-BCl displayed lower cytotoxicity and more remarkable fluorescence increasement in the response to ClO-, enabling selective and precise visualization of endogenous ClO- over-expression in living RAW264.7 cells.

We develop a delay-adaptive controller for a class of first-order hyperbolic partial integro-differential equations (PIDEs) with an unknown input delay. By employing a transport PDE to represent delayed actuator states, the system is transformed into a transport partial differential equation (PDE) with unknown propagation speed cascaded with a PIDE. A parameter update law is designed using a Lyapunov argument and the infinite-dimensional backstepping technique to establish global stability results. Furthermore, the well-posedness of the closed-loop system is analyzed. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method was validated through numerical simulations.

A document by Franca Rusconi. Click on the document to view its contents.