Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology is ubiquitously employed in ground robots, unmanned aerial vehicles, and autonomous cars. This paper presents LTA-OM: an efficient, robust, and accurate LiDAR SLAM system. Employing FAST-LIO2 and Stable Triangle Descriptor as LiDAR-IMU odometry and the loop detection method, respectively, LTA-OM is implemented to be functionally complete, including loop detection and correction, false positive loop closure rejection, long-term association mapping, and multi-session localization and mapping. One novelty of this paper is the real-time long-term association (LTA) mapping, which exploits the direct scan-to-map registration of FAST-LIO2 and employs the corrected history map to constrain the mapping process globally. LTA leads to more globally consistent map construction and drift-less odometry at revisit places. We exhaustively benchmark LTA-OM and other state-of-the-art LiDAR systems with 18 data sequences. The results show that LTA-OM steadily outperforms other systems regarding trajectory accuracy, map consistency, and time consumption. The robustness of LTA-OM is validated in a challenging scene - a multi-level building having similar structures at different levels. Besides, a multi-session mode is designed to allow the user to store current session’s results, including the corrected map points, optimized odometry, and descriptor database for future sessions. The benefits of this mode are additional accuracy improvement and consistent map stitching, which is helpful for life-long mapping. Furthermore, LTA-OM has valuable features for robot control and path planning, including high-frequency and real-time odometry, drift-less odometry at revisit places, and fast loop closing convergence. Moreover, LTA-OM is versatile as it is applicable to both multi-line spinning and solid-state LiDARs, mobile robots and handheld platforms.

Several biomarkers have been evaluated as predictors of severity or in directing the treatment of COVID-19, however there are no conclusive results with prediction of the pathobiology of the infection. In this study, we evaluated serum levels of cytokines, chemokines, and cell growth factors in association with the pathobiology of mild to moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection. Those markers may act as immuno-inflammatory biomarkers in adults with mild to moderate flu syndrome who sought care at health units. Serum levels of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients (n=113) and flu symptoms individuals negative for SARS-CoV-2 (n=58), tested by the RT-qPCR test - nasal swab were compared to healthy controls (n=53). Participants who were symptomatic but negative for SARS-CoV-2 were tested for Influenza A/B and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). Results showed that the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, MCP-3, TNF-α and G-CSF were increased in symptomatic patients and the cytokines IL-6 and IL-10 were associated with patients positive for SARS-CoV-2 when compared to healthy controls. Symptoms associated with COVID-19 were fever, anosmia, ageusia and myalgia. For patients without SARS-CoV-2 infection their major symptom was sore throat. Five percent (4/83) of SARS-CoV-2 negative patients were positive for RSV. The pathobiology of mild to moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with increasing pro-inflammatory cytokines and also a pleiotropic IL-6 and anti-inflammatory IL-10 cytokines compared to healthy controls.

Anthropogenic impacts are typically detrimental to tropical coral reefs, but the effect of increasing environmental stress and variability on the size structure of coral communities remains poorly understood. This limits our ability to effectively conserve coral reef ecosystems because size specific dynamics are rarely incorporated. Our aim is to quantify variation in the size structure of coral populations across 20 sites along a tropical-to-subtropical environmental gradient on the east coast of Australia (~23°S to 30°S), to determine how size structure changes with a gradient of sea surface temperature, turbidity, productivity and light levels. We use two approaches: 1) linear regression with summary statistics (such as median size) as response variables, a method frequently favoured by ecologists; and 2) compositional functional regression, a novel method using entire size-frequency distributions as response variables. We then predict coral population size structure with increasing environmental stress and variability. Together, we find fewer but larger coral colonies in marginal reefs than in tropical reefs, where environmental conditions are more variable and stressful for tropical corals. Our model predicts that coral populations may become gradually dominated by larger colonies (> 148 cm2) with increasing environmental stress. Fewer but bigger corals suggest low survival of smaller corals, slow growth, and / or poor recruitment. This finding is concerning for the future of coral reefs as it implies populations may have low recovery potential from disturbances. We highlight the importance of continuously monitoring changes to population structure over biogeographic scales.

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has led to a complete reconfiguration of the therapeutic landscape, with most monoclonal antibodies having lost any neutralization activity. We report here a case series of 75 immunocompromised patients infected by the Omicron variant who benefited of convalescent plasma. At baseline, 49 (68%) of the participants had a WHO score of 5 and 23 (32%) a WHO score of 6. At day 28 the case fatality was 24%. We observed no significant difference in the clinical outcome between patients with hematological malignancies, solid organ transplantation or auto-immune diseases. These promising results require controlled studies.

We describe a 5-year-old child with extrahepatic biliary stone who successfully underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography for stone removal. He suffered from persistent colicky abdominal pain accompanied by fever that biliary stone confirmed him. ERCP along with other methods, can be considered a safe procedure for managing BD in children.

A 19 year-old adolescent girl with Dravet syndrome, characterized by complex seizure disorder and global developmental delay, presented with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The genetic basis for her Dravet syndrome was a pathogenic variant in SCN1A, a sodium channel subunit. SCN1A is chiefly expressed in neuronal tissue, but bioinformatic analysis demonstrated its presence in B cell lineage. One estimate suggested that 10% of children with pediatric cancer have a germline predisposition involving proto-oncogenes or tumor suppressors. This number might be even higher should non-classical genetic variants, such as that encoding a sodium channel subunit, be considered.

A document by Ranjeeta Sinvhal. Click on the document to view its contents.

Changes in Conception Rates, Not in Pregnancy-Related Behavior, Likely Caused Decline in Pre-Term Births in Developed Countries During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic 11* Corresponding author: Peter Fallesen, [email protected], Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.Peter Fallesen, PhDSwedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden ROCKWOOL Foundation, Ny Kongensgade 6, 1472 Copenhagen C, DenmarkMoritz Oberndorfer, DSc  Institute of Social Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Kinderspitalgasse 15/1. Stock, A-1090, Vienna, Austria; MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, Berkeley Square, 99 Berkeley Street, Glasgow, G3 7HR, UK  Population Research Unit, University of Helsinki, Unioninkatu 35 (P.O. Box 18). 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland  

We report two cases of anterior displacement of the grafted bone after posterior lumbar interbody fusion. The patients did not require additional surgery. Anterior migration of grafted bone or cage can cause damage to anterior organs and blood vessels, so a careful surgical procedure is necessary.

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation as Acute Rescue Therapy for Negative Pressure Pulmonary Edema in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit: A Case ReportKatrina J. Augustin, MD1,*; Christina M. Creel-Bulos, MD1,2; Gaurav F. Budhrani, MD1,3; Casey F. Miller, ANP-BC4 ; Babar Fiza, MD1;1Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Critical Care Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; 2Department of Emergency Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA;3Anesthesiology Service Line, Atlanta VA Medical Center, Atlanta, GA, USA; 4 Department of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA*Corresponding author: Department of Anesthesiology; Emory University; 1364 Clifton Road, NE; Atlanta, GA 30322; +1-404-778-7777;

The article discusses the interconnected fields of computing and machine learning, and their impact on various areas such as energy, economics, indoor positioning, and business. Computing provides the foundation for data processing and storage, while machine learning enables algorithms and models to learn from data and make predictions. These advancements have revolutionized how we approach complex problems and opened up new avenues for research and innovation. The article highlights the potential of computing and data science to solve complex problems and the importance of staying up-to-date with the latest developments.

Cutaneous vasculitis after COVID-19 vaccination in a 41-year-old maleMehran Pournazari1, Shirin Assar1, Faraneh Farsad2, Dena Mohamadzadeh11Clinical Research Development Center, Imam Reza Hospital, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran2 Research Centre of Loghman Hakim Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

A computational modeling is employed for quantitative assessment of weld formation and area of tissue temperature necrosis during the human skin laser soldering. The evaluation is carried out depending on the components composition of using solders, including bovine serum albumin (BSA), indocyanine green (ICG), and carbon nanotubes (CNT), as well as the angle of incidence of laser light and its pulse duration. The influence of CNT on the change of thermodynamic characteristics of albumin denaturation and the rate of formation of the laser weld is investigated. The obtained results suggest to limit the duration of laser light pulse by temperature relaxation time to minimize transfer of thermal energy to reduce the heating of human skin tissues. The developed model has a great potential for further optimization of laser soldering of biological tissues technology with greater efficiency in minimizing the weld area.

In cellular circumstances where carbohydrates are scarce, plants can use alternative substrates for cellular energetic maintenance. In plants, the main protein reserve is present in the chloroplast, which contains most of the total leaf proteins and represents a rich source of nitrogen and amino acids. Autophagy plays a key role in chloroplast breakdown, a well-recognized symptom of both natural and stress-induced plant senescence. Remarkably, an autophagic-independent route of chloroplast degradation associated with Chloroplast Vesiculation (CV) gene was recently demonstrated. During extended darkness, CV is highly induced in the absence of autophagy, contributing to the early senescence phenotype of atg mutants. To further investigate the role of CV under dark-induced senescence conditions, mutants with low expression of CV ( amircv) and double mutants amircv1xatg5 were characterized. Following darkness treatment, no aberrant phenotypes were observed in amircv single mutants; however, amircv1xatg5 double mutants displayed early senescence and enhanced dismantling of chloroplast and membrane structures under these conditions. Metabolic characterization revealed that the functional lack of both CV and autophagy leads to higher impairment of amino acid release and differential organic acid accumulation during starvation conditions. The data obtained are discussed in the context of the role of CV and autophagy, both in terms of cellular metabolism and the regulation of chloroplast degradation.

Chromatographic data processing has garnered attention due to multiple FDA 483 citations and warning letters, highlighting the need for a robust technological solution. The healthcare industry has the potential to greatly benefit from the adoption of digital technologies, but the process of implementing these technologies can be slow and complex. This article presents a “Digital by Design” managerial approach, adapted from pharmaceutical quality by design principles, for designing and implementing an artificial intelligence (AI)-based solution for chromatography peak integration process in the healthcare industry. We report the use of a convolutional neural network model to predict analytical variability for integrating chromatography peaks and propose a potential GxP framework for using artificial intelligence in the healthcare industry that includes elements on data management, model management, and human-in-the-loop processes. The component on analytical variability prediction has a great potential to enable Industry 4.0 objectives on real-time release testing, automated quality control, and continuous manufacturing.

A 30-year-old woman arrived at our hospital with polymorphic ventricular tachycardia and hypothermia. Later, it was found that the cause was an overdose of caffeine exceeding the lethal dose.Although it is common for toxidrome caused by caffeine intoxication to produce hyperthermia , here we report a case of hypothermia.

Temporal processing of auditory data plays a crucial role in our proposed model of tinnitus development through stochastic resonance (SR). The model assumes a physiological mechanism optimizing auditory information transmission (as quantified by autocorrelation (AC) analysis) into the brain by adding the optimal amount of neuronal noise to otherwise subthreshold signals. We hypothesize that this takes place at the second synapse of the auditory pathway in the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN). We propose that after hearing loss, this neuronal noise is increased in the affected frequency-band to improve hearing thresholds at the cost of upward propagation of this added noise, which finally may be perceived as tinnitus. We already showed the improvement of hearing thresholds in a large population of patients. Until now, we did not investigate the differences in hearing thresholds based on the biological constraints of early auditory temporal processing (phase locking) that is only possible up to frequencies of 5 kHz. In this report, we grouped our patient database (N=47986) according to tinnitus pitch (TP) of below (TP<5kHz) or above (TP>5kHz) the 5 kHz limit or having no tinnitus (NT) and compared their mean audiograms. We found that TP<5kHz patients showed significantly better hearing thresholds than all other patient groups independent of age. No improvement was seen for TP>5kHz patients who even showed worse thresholds than NT patients for high frequencies. These results are further evidence for our SR model of tinnitus development and the existence of AC analysis at the level of the DCN.

Due to poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is water-processable, thermally stable and highly conductive, PEDOT:PSS and its composites have been considered to be one of the most promising flexible thermoelectric materials. However, the PEDOT:PSS film prepared from its commercial aqueous dispersion usually has quite low conductivity, thus cannot be directly utilized for thermoelectric applications. Here, a simple environmentally friendly strategy via femtosecond laser irradiation without any chemical dopants and treatments was demonstrated. Under optimal conditions, the electrical conductivity of the treated film is increased to 803.1 S/cm from 1.2 S/cm around three order of magnitude higher, and the power factor is improved to 19.0 μW·m-1·K-2, which is enhanced more than 200 times. The mechanism for such remarkable enhancement was attributed to the transition of the PEDOT chains from a coil to a linear or expanded coil conformation, reduction of the interplanar stacking distance, and the removal of insulating PSS with increasing the oxidation level of PEDOT, facilitating the charge transportation. This work presents an effective route for fabricating high-performance flexible conductive polymer films and wearable thermoelectric devices.