Notes

Kidney Engagement within Linear Nevus Sweat Syndrome-An Underrecognized Function.
Monte Carlo (MC) simulation studies, aimed at evaluating the magnitude of tissue heterogeneity in
I prostate permanent seed implant brachytherapy (BT), customarily use clinical post-implant CT images to generate a virtual representation of a realistic patient model (virtual patient model). Metallic artifact reduction (MAR) techniques and tissue assignment schemes (TAS) are implemented on the post-implant CT images to mollify metallic artifacts due to BT seeds and to assign tissue types to the voxels corresponding to the bright seed spots and streaking artifacts, respectively. The objective of this study is to assess the combined influence of MAR and TAS on MC absorbed dose calculations in post-implant CT-based phantoms. The virtual patient models used for
I prostate implant MC absorbed dose calculations in this study are derived from the CT images of an external radiotherapy prostate patient without BT seeds and prostatic calcifications, thus averting the need to implement MAR and TAS.

The geometry ation in post-implant CT-based phantoms.
The implementation of MAR and TAS on post-implant CT images have no dosimetric effect on the 125 I prostate MC absorbed dose calculation in post-implant CT-based phantoms.Soils are subjected to multiple anthropogenic modifications, but the synergistic impacts of simultaneous environmental stressors on below-ground communities are poorly understood. We used a large-scale (1152 plots), long-term (26 years), multi-factorial grassland experiment to assess the impact of five common agricultural practises (pesticides, herbicide, liming, fertilizers and grazing exclusion) and their interactive effects on the composition and activity of soil microbial communities. We confirmed that pH strongly impacts belowground communities, but further demonstrate that pH strongly mediates the impacts of other management factors. Notably, there was a significant interaction between liming and the effect of pesticide application, with only half of the taxa responding to pesticide being shared in both limed and unlimed treatments. Likewise, nutrient amendments significantly altered bacterial community structure in acidic soils. Not only do these results highlight an hierarchy of effect of commonly used agricultural practices but also the widespread interactions between treatments many taxa were significantly affected by interactions between treatments, even in the absence of significant main effects. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that chemical amendments may not percolate deeply into physically unperturbed soils with effects concentrated between 0 and 30 cm, despite 20+ years of treatment. The research shows that future changes to agricultural practices will need to consider interactions among multiple factors.A highly efficient carbohydrate conversion to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) is a promising method to achieve green and sustainable development. However, most currently reported strategies are energy consuming, and the 5-HMF yield is relatively lower in the aqueous phase. Herein, a facile method is reported to obtain effective Cr/ZrO2 catalysts with high acidity and their catalytic performances were investigated for catalyzing fructose to 5-HMF at different temperatures and times. With the catalysis of 15 % Cr/ZrO2 catalyst, the highest fructose conversion of 98 %, 5-HMF yield of 48.8 %, and 5-HMF selectivity of 49.8 % are achieved in green solvent with good recyclability. The possible reaction process of the improved catalysis performance is attributed to the highly crystalline and strong acidity of the Cr/ZrO2 catalyst. The Lewis acid sites could increase the overall rate of fructose conversion by promoting side reactions and might suppress fructose to glucose isomerization. In addition, Cr leakage during the reaction might act as the Bronsted acids to catalyze the fructose dehydration to 5-HMF. The reported method of introducing chromium oxides into ZrO2 catalyst will open a new avenue to promote the practical application of biomass and sustainable development in the future.The Qaidam Basin on the northern Tibetan Plateau, China, is one of the driest deserts at high elevations, and it has been considered a representative Mars analogue site. Despite recent advances in the diversity of microbial communities in the Qaidam Basin, our understanding of their genomic information, functional potential and adaptive strategies remains very limited. Here, we conducted a combination of physicochemical and metagenomic analyses to investigate the taxonomic composition and adaptive strategies of microbial life in the regolith across the Qaidam Basin. 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene-based and metagenomic analyses both reveal that microbial communities in the Qaidam Basin are dominated by the bacterial phylum Actinobacteria. The low levels of moisture and organic carbon contents appear to have essential constraints on microbial biomass and diversity. A total of 50 high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes were reconstructed and analysed. Our results reveal the potential of microorganisms to use ambient trace gases to meet energy and carbon needs in this nutrient-limited desert. Furthermore, we find that DNA repair mechanisms and protein protection are likely essential for microbial life in response to stressors of hyperaridity, intense ultraviolet radiation and tremendous temperature fluctuations in this Mars analogue. These findings shed light on the diversity and survival strategies of microbial life inhabiting Mar-like environments, which provide implications for potential life on early Mars.
This study examines the associations of active matrix metalloproteinase-8 (aMMP-8) point-of-care immunotest (Periosafe) outcomes with oral health of patients with haemato-oncologic diseases.

Adult patients diagnosed with haematological diseases aimed to be treated with haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) between 2018 and 2019 were included in the study. Clinical and radiological dental examination were taken immediately prior to transplantation. The presence of oral foci of infections, caries or periodontitis was examined and compared with the outcomes of aMMP-8 immunotest.

Acute oral infection foci were present in 11.9%, chronic in 44.1% and periodontitis in 42.0% of the 143 subjects. aMMP-8 immunotest was positive in 13.3% of all the 143 subjects. mTOR inhibitor Among subjects with periodontitis (n=60), the aMMP-8 immunotest was also positive in 13.3% of these subjects. However, the subjects with positive aMMP-8 immunotest (n=19) had more often acute or chronic infection foci and more than one of the examined dental treatment needs compared with subjects with negative immunotest (all p < 0.05). There were no differences in age, sex, hyposalivation, DMFT-index values nor with plasma levels of leukocytes, neutrophils or C-reactive protein between subjects with positive or negative aMMP-8 immunotest.

aMMP-8 immunotest accuracy might be reduced, in relation to periodontitis, in haemato-oncologic patients.
aMMP-8 immunotest accuracy might be reduced, in relation to periodontitis, in haemato-oncologic patients.Karst caves are recently proposed as atmospheric methane sinks in terrestrial ecosystems. Despite of the detection of atmospheric methane-oxidizing bacteria (atmMOB) in caves, we still know little about their ecology and potential ability of methane oxidation in this ecosystem. To understand atmMOB ecology and their potential in methane consumption, we collected weathered rocks and sediments from three different caves in southwestern China. We determined the potential methane oxidization rates in the range of 1.25 ± 0.08 to 1.87 ± 0.41 ng CH4 g-1 DW h-1 , which are comparable to those reported in forest and grassland soils. Results showed that alkaline oligotrophic caves harbour high numbers of atmMOB, particularly upland soil cluster (USC), which significantly correlated with temperature, CH4 and CO2 concentrations. The absolute abundance of USCγ was higher than that of USCα. USCγ-OPS (open patch soil) and USCγ-SS (subsurface soil) dominated in most samples, whereas USCα-BFS (boreal forest soil) only predominated in the sediments near cave entrances, indicating niche differentiation of atmMOB in caves. Overwhelming dominance of homogenous selection in community assembly resulted in convergence of atmMOB communities. Collectively, our results demonstrated the niche differentiation of USC in subsurface alkaline caves and their non-negligible methane-oxidizing potential, providing brand-new knowledge about atmMOB ecology in subsurface biosphere.
Congenital heart diseases (CHD) are the most important congenital anomaly. The burden and types are important for health planning and preparation for surgery. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence, anatomic types and defect sizes of the CHDs seen in a tertiary hospital.

A retrospective review of echocardiographic records of children seen in a tertiary centre over a twelve-year period was conducted. Using information from the echocardiograms, the anatomic types and defect sizes of the CHDs were determined using known classifications. Statistical analysis was done using IBM-SPSS version 21.

The prevalence of CHD was 10.3/1000 children with a MF ratio of 11. Sixty two percent of the subjects were infants. There were more acyanotic than cyanotic CHDs (80.6% vs 19.4%). The most common types of ventricular septal defect (VSD) and atrial septal defect (ASD) were the membranous and ostium secundum types respectively. The medium sized VSD (49.0%) were in the majority while the small size patent ductus arteriosus and atrial septal defects predominated, 69.5% and 61.3% respectively.

The prevalence of CHD in this study was high. The large number of small sized defects of ASD and VSD allows for spontaneous closure or uncomplicated surgical repair of the defects, an advantage in a setting with poor access to heart surgery.
The prevalence of CHD in this study was high. The large number of small sized defects of ASD and VSD allows for spontaneous closure or uncomplicated surgical repair of the defects, an advantage in a setting with poor access to heart surgery.We detected a highly divergent SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant in an immunocompromised person several months after the latest detection of the Alpha variant in the Netherlands. The patient was infected for 42 weeks despite several treatment regimens and disappearance of most clinical symptoms. We identified several potential immune escape mutations in the spike protein.The purpose of this study was to provide an empirical model to develop reference air kerma (RAK) alert levels as a function of patient thickness or age for pediatric fluoroscopy for any institution to use in a Quality Assurance program. RAK and patient thickness were collected for 10&663 general fluoroscopic examinations and 1500 fluoroscopically guided interventions (FGIs). RAK and patient age were collected for 6137 fluoroscopic examinations with mobile-C-arms (MC). Coefficients of linear regression fits of logarithmic RAK as a function of patient thickness or age were generated for each fluoroscopy group. Regression fits of RAK for 50%, 90%, and 98% upper prediction levels were used as inputs to derive an empirical formula to estimate alert levels as a function of patient thickness. A methodology is presented to scale results from this study for any patient thickness or age for any institution, for example, the patient thickness dependent RAK alert level at the top 1% of expected RAK can be set using the 98% upper prediction interval boundary given by RAK 98 % = e m .
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