Light emitting diode(LED)lighting is becoming more and more popular,as incandescent lamps are being phased out globally.LEDs have several advantages over incandescent lamps,including energy efficiency,robustness,long ...Light emitting diode(LED)lighting is becoming more and more popular,as incandescent lamps are being phased out globally.LEDs have several advantages over incandescent lamps,including energy efficiency,robustness,long lifetime,and good temporal stability.The three latter features make LEDs attractive candidates as new photometric standards.Because the spectra of white LEDs are limited to the visible wavelength range,a novel method for the realization of photometric units based on the predictable quantum efficient detector(PQED)can be utilized.The method eliminates the need of photometric filters that are traditionally used in photometry,and instead relies on carrying out the photometric weighting numerically based on the measured relative spectrum of the source.The PQED-based realization simplifies the traceability chain of photometric measurements significantly as compared with the traditional filter-based method.The measured illuminance values of a white LED deviate by only 0.03%when determined by the new and the traditional methods.The new PQED method has significantly lower expanded uncertainty of 0.26%(k=52)as compared with that of the traditional filter-based method of 0.42%(k=52).Furthermore,when filtered photometers that measure LED lighting are calibrated using LED lamps as calibration sources instead of incandescent lamps,a significant decrease in the uncertainty related to the spectral mismatch correction can be obtained.The maximum spectral mismatch errors of LED measurements decreased on average by a factor of 3 when switching from an incandescent lamp to an LED calibration source.展开更多
Background: Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) are an important and increasing threat to global health. They are nowadays more encountered routinely in hospitals and cause high morbidity and mortality du...Background: Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) are an important and increasing threat to global health. They are nowadays more encountered routinely in hospitals and cause high morbidity and mortality due to limited therapeutic alternatives. This study sought to determine the prevalence of CPE in Yaoundé teaching hospital, Cameroon, and the associated risk factors. Materials and Method: To achieve this goal, a descriptive cross-sectional study coupled to an analytical component with consecutive collection of Enterobacteria strains was carried out during a three-month period (from 27<sup>th</sup> July to 24<sup>th</sup> October 2018) in the University Teaching Hospital of Yaoundé, Cameroon. The oxidase and biochemical identification tests using a miniaturized Api 20 E system were performed on colonies grown on Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) medium and subcultured on nutrient agar. Drug susceptibility testing was carried out according to the Antibiogram Committee of the French Society of Microbiology (CA-SFM 2018.V.2.0). The detection of carbapenemase production was performed by the CA-SFM 2018 algorithm for the screening of carbapenemase-producing enterobacteriaceae and its classification by inhibitory synergy tests. Results: Out of the 104 isolates, Escherichia coli (50%) was the most prevalent species, followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (37.5%) and Citrobacter frendii (12.5%). Drugs susceptibility patterns showed a high resistance to penicillins group (97.4% to amoxicillin), cephalosporins (68.4% to cefotaxim, 58.1% to cefixim, 60.7% to ceftazidim, 57.1% of cefoxitin) and aztreonam (55.7%). However, 11.9% carbapenems related resistance was noticed: 14.4% to imipenem, 13.8% to ertapenem and 7.5% to meropenem. Numerous co-resistance to quinolones (65.8%), fluoroquinolones (49.6%), aminoglycosides (49.6%) and cotrimoxazole (71.8%) were also observed. From 104 isolates, AmpC production represented 23.08% (25/104) and 36.54% (38/104) were ESBL-isolates. The overall prevalence of CPE was 25% (26/104) with K展开更多
Clustering is used to gain an intuition of the struc tures in the data.Most of the current clustering algorithms pro duce a clustering structure even on data that do not possess such structure.In these cases,the algor...Clustering is used to gain an intuition of the struc tures in the data.Most of the current clustering algorithms pro duce a clustering structure even on data that do not possess such structure.In these cases,the algorithms force a structure in the data instead of discovering one.To avoid false structures in the relations of data,a novel clusterability assessment method called density-based clusterability measure is proposed in this paper.I measures the prominence of clustering structure in the data to evaluate whether a cluster analysis could produce a meaningfu insight to the relationships in the data.This is especially useful in time-series data since visualizing the structure in time-series data is hard.The performance of the clusterability measure is evalu ated against several synthetic data sets and time-series data sets which illustrate that the density-based clusterability measure can successfully indicate clustering structure of time-series data.展开更多
In this paper we extend the standard Ultra Weak Variational Formulation （UWVF） of Maxwell＇s equations in an isotropic medium to the case of an anisotropic medium. We verify that the underlying theoretical framework...In this paper we extend the standard Ultra Weak Variational Formulation （UWVF） of Maxwell＇s equations in an isotropic medium to the case of an anisotropic medium. We verify that the underlying theoretical framework carries over to anisotropic media （however error estimates are not yet available） and completely describe the new scheme. We then consider TM mode scattering, show how this results in a Helmholtz equation in two dimensions with an anisotropic coefficient and demonstrate how to formulate the UWVF for it. In one special case, convergence can be proved. We then show some numerical results that suggest that the UWVF can successfully simulate wave propagation in anisotropic media.展开更多
BACKGROUND A well-recognized class effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors(ICI)is immune-related adverse events(IrAEs)ranging from low grade toxicities to life-threatening end organ damage requiring permanent discontin...BACKGROUND A well-recognized class effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors(ICI)is immune-related adverse events(IrAEs)ranging from low grade toxicities to life-threatening end organ damage requiring permanent discontinuation of ICI.Deaths are reported in<5%of patients treated with ICI.There are,however,no reliable markers to predict the onset and severity of IrAEs.We tested the association between neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio(NLR)and platelet-lymphocyte ratio(PLR)at baseline with development of clinically significant IrAEs(grade≥2)in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)patients treated with ICI.AIM To test the association between NLR and PLR at baseline with development of clinically significant IrAEs(grade≥2)in HCC patients treated with ICI.METHODS Data was extracted from an international database from a consortium of 11 tertiary-care referral centers.NLR=absolute neutrophil count/absolute lymphocyte count(ALC)and PLR=platelet count/ALC.Cutoff of 5 was used for NLR and 300 for PLR based on literature.We also tested the association between RESULTS Data was collected from 361 patients treated between 2016-2020 across the United States(67%),Asia(14%)and Europe(19%).Most patients received Nivolumab(n=255,71%).One hundred sixty-seven(46%)patients developed at least one IrAE,highest grade 1 in 80(48%),grade≥2 in 87(52%)patients.In a univariable regression model PLR>300 was significantly associated with a lower incidence of grade≥2 IrAEs(OR=0.40;P=0.044).Similarly,a trend was observed between NLR>5 and lower incidence of grade≥2 IrAEs(OR=0.58;P=0.097).Multivariate analyses confirmed PLR>300 as an independent predictive marker of grade≥2 IrAEs(OR=0.26;P=0.011),in addition to treatment with programmed cell death ligand 1(PD-1)/cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated protein-4(OR=2.57;P=0.037)and PD-1/tyrosine kinase inhibitor(OR=3.39;P=0.01)combinations.Antibiotic use was not associated with IrAE incidence(OR=1.02;P=0.954).Patients treated with steroids had a>2-fold higher incidence of grade≥2 IrAEs(OR=2.74;P<0.001),altho展开更多
Despite aqueous electrolytes having a low cost and excellent ionic conductivity,their low withstand voltage of 1.2 V makes them problematic for battery utility because that is a very important factor in battery produc...Despite aqueous electrolytes having a low cost and excellent ionic conductivity,their low withstand voltage of 1.2 V makes them problematic for battery utility because that is a very important factor in battery production.In this research,the possibility of increasing the withstand voltage while maintaining the low cost of aqueous electrolytes was investigated.In this research,the solution electrolyte was made into a viscous solid polymer electrolyte to improve the withstand voltage of the electrolyte.A solid polymer electrolyte was made from sodium polyacrylate and doped with KOH(potassium hydroxide)and pure water.The improvement of the withstand voltage was evaluated by the specific capacitance.展开更多
Background: Escherichia coli are ubiquitous bacteria colonising both humans and animals. Extended spectrum β-lactamase-producing E. coli has been selected as a suitable indicator for the monitoring and surveillance o...Background: Escherichia coli are ubiquitous bacteria colonising both humans and animals. Extended spectrum β-lactamase-producing E. coli has been selected as a suitable indicator for the monitoring and surveillance of antimicrobial resistance. Death due to resistant bacteria is continuously rising in Cameroon, but the contribution of the aviary sector is not well studied. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the resistance profile of extended spectrum beta-lactamases-producing Escherichia coli strains, isolated from faeces of broiler chickens in Yaoundé, capital city of Cameroon. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out from February to June 2020. Escherichia coli were isolated from samples of broilers in poultry farms in Yaoundé and submitted to the extended spectrum β-lactamase screening. The logistic regression was used to assess the statistical association of a significance threshold p-value of 0.05. Results: Out of 385 faecal samples collected in broiler farms, 114 Escherichia coli isolates were obtained out of which 30 (26.32%) were Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamases-producing Escherichia coli. These isolates revealed high resistance to all antibiotic families. Poor storage conditions for feeds and the proximity to latrines, the troughs on the ground, the lack of foot bath and uniforms, the inadequate treatment of faeces, the poor usage of preventive antibiotics and the lack of water treatment have been identified as risk factors to faecal carriage of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli. Conclusion: This work reveals the emergence of Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamases-producing Escherichia coli in poultry farms in Yaoundé and the failure in the biosecurity system. As such, the awareness of poultry breeders on the respect of biosecurity measures may be an effective tool to tackle antimicrobial resistance, specifically in livestock industries using a One Health approach.展开更多
AIM: To investigate local corticosterone production and angiotensin-Ⅰ converting enzyme(ACE) protein expression and their interaction in healthy and inflamed intestine.METHODS: Acute intestinal inflammation was induc...AIM: To investigate local corticosterone production and angiotensin-Ⅰ converting enzyme(ACE) protein expression and their interaction in healthy and inflamed intestine.METHODS: Acute intestinal inflammation was induced to six weeks old male Balb/c mice by administration of either 3% or 5% dextran sodium sulfate(DSS) in drinking water for 7 d(n = 12 in each group). Healthy controls(n = 12) were given tap water. Corticosterone production and ACE protein shedding were measured from ex vivo incubates of the small and large intestine using EIA and ELISA, respectively. Morphological changes of the intestinal wall were assessed in hematoxylin-eosin stained tissue preparations of jejunum and distal colon. Effects of angiotensin Ⅱ, captopril and metyrapone on corticosterone production was assessed by incubating pieces of small intestine of healthy mice in the presence of 0.1, 1 or 10 μmol/L angiotensin Ⅱ, 1, 10 or 100 μmol/L captopril or 1, 10 or 100 μmol/L metyrapone solutions and measuring corticosterone released to the incubation buffer after 90 min(n = 5 in each group).RESULTS: Both concentrations of DSS induced inflammation and morphological changes in large intestines but not in small intestines. Changes were observed as distortions of the crypt structure, mucosal erosion, immune cell infiltration to the mucosa and submucosal edema. Ex vivo corticosterone production(2.9 ± 1.0 ng/mL vs 2.0 ± 0.8 ng/mL, P = 0.034) and ACE shedding(269.2 ± 97.1 ng/m L vs 175.7 ± 52.2 ng/mL, P = 0.016) were increased in small intestines in 3% DSS group compared to the controls. In large intestine, corticosterone production was increased compared to the controls in both 3% DSS(229 ± 81 pg/mL vs 158 ± 30 pg/mL, P = 0.017) and 5% DSS groups(366 ± 163 pg/mL vs 158 ± 30 pg/mL, P = 0.002). Large intestine ACE shedding was increased in 5% DSS group(41.5 ± 9.0 ng/mL vs 20.9 ± 5.2 ng/mL, P = 0.034). Angiotensin Ⅱ treatment augmented corticosterone production in small intestine at concentration of 10 μmol/L(0.97 ± 0.21 ng/m展开更多
Decarbonisation of district heating and cooling(DHC)system in Helsinki metropolitan area requires investments in new energy technologies and approaches to replace fossil fuel fired district heating(DH)production.Inves...Decarbonisation of district heating and cooling(DHC)system in Helsinki metropolitan area requires investments in new energy technologies and approaches to replace fossil fuel fired district heating(DH)production.Invest-ment paths involving(a)DH heat pumps(HPs)from low quality heat sources and(b)small modular nuclear reactors(SMR)are compared by utilising investment analysis based on optimisation model depicting the as-sumed 2030 situation.Several scenarios,with varying assumptions concerning existing DHC system,investment costs and electricity prices,are analysed in terms of new capacity and total annualised costs.The results indicate that the SMR option is more cost-efficient than the HP option with 4-8€/MWh difference in operation costs including annualised investments.Biomass fired boiler investments,enabled in both options,are preferred to HP investments in most scenarios.The cost-efficiency of HP investments is sensitive to investment cost,whereas SMR investments are relatively stable to investment cost variations.Varying electricity market prices affect cost-efficiency of large-scale HPs,and investments in SMR cogeneration units take place only with high electricity prices.展开更多
This paper presents a proposal for an experimental salt cavern in offshore ultra-deep water for CO2 abatement,including the instrumentation plan and well conceptual design evaluated for carbon capture and storage(CCS)...This paper presents a proposal for an experimental salt cavern in offshore ultra-deep water for CO2 abatement,including the instrumentation plan and well conceptual design evaluated for carbon capture and storage(CCS)application.These studies are based on applied computational mechanics associated with field experimentation that has contributed to the technical feasibility of the underground potash mine at the State of Sergipe in Brazil.This knowhow allowed the stability analysis of several salt caverns for brine production at the State of Alagoas in Brazil and to the drilling through stratified thick layers of salt of the pre-salt reservoirs in Santos Basin.Now,this knowledge has been applied in the design of onshore and offshore salt caverns opened by dissolution for storage of natural gas and CO2.The geomechanical study,through the application of computational mechanics,of offshore giant salt caverns of 450 m high by 150 m in diameter,shows that one cavern can store about 4 billion Sm3 or 7.2 million tons of CO2.Before the construction of the giant cavern,which will be the first gas storage offshore in the world,it has been decided to develop an experimental one,with smaller size,to obtained field parameters.The experimental cavern will allow the calibration of parameters to be used in the structural integrity analysis of the cavern and well for storage of natural gas which is rich in CO2 under high pressure.展开更多
In machine learning,positive-unlabelled(PU)learning is a special case within semi-supervised learning.In positiveunlabelled learning,the training set contains some positive examples and a set of unlabelled examples fr...In machine learning,positive-unlabelled(PU)learning is a special case within semi-supervised learning.In positiveunlabelled learning,the training set contains some positive examples and a set of unlabelled examples from both the positive and negative classes.Positive-unlabelled learning has gained attention in many domains,especially in time-series data,in which the obtainment of labelled data is challenging.Examples which originate from the negative class are especially difficult to acquire.Self-learning is a semi-supervised method capable of PU learning in time-series data.In the self-learning approach,observations are individually added from the unlabelled data into the positive class until a stopping criterion is reached.The model is retrained after each addition with the existent labels.The main problem in self-learning is to know when to stop the learning.There are multiple,different stopping criteria in the literature,but they tend to be inaccurate or challenging to apply.This publication proposes a novel stopping criterion,which is called Peak evaluation using perceptually important points,to address this problem for time-series data.Peak evaluation using perceptually important points is exceptional,as it does not have tunable hyperparameters,which makes it easily applicable to an unsupervised setting.Simultaneously,it is flexible as it does not make any assumptions on the balance of the dataset between the positive and the negative class.展开更多
The treatment of metastatic urothelial cancer(mUC)has been transformed by recent progress in clinical trials and drug development.There are now three therapeutic classes with proven benefits in mUC:chemotherapy,immuno...The treatment of metastatic urothelial cancer(mUC)has been transformed by recent progress in clinical trials and drug development.There are now three therapeutic classes with proven benefits in mUC:chemotherapy,immunotherapy,and targeted therapy.The optimal sequence and combination of these classes remain to be defined.Biomarker development is essential to guide treatment selection at each therapeutic juncture.Two biomarkers,programmed death-ligand 1 expression and fibroblast growth factor receptor alterations,have been incorporated into the mUC treatment paradigm thus far.This review discusses predictive biomarkers in development and their potential to influence mUC treatment selection moving forward.展开更多
Mutations in the tumor suppressor gene LKB1 are important in hereditary Peutz–Jeghers syndrome,as well as in sporadic cancers including lung and cervical cancer.LKB1 is a kinase-activating kinase,and a number of LKB1...Mutations in the tumor suppressor gene LKB1 are important in hereditary Peutz–Jeghers syndrome,as well as in sporadic cancers including lung and cervical cancer.LKB1 is a kinase-activating kinase,and a number of LKB1-dependent phosphorylation cascades regulate fundamental cellular and organismal processes in at least metabolism,polarity,cytoskeleton organization,and proliferation.Conditional targeting approaches are beginning to demonstrate the relevance and specificity of these signaling pathways in development and homeostasis of multiple organs.More than one of the pathways also appear to contribute to tumor growth following Lkb1 deficiencies based on a number of mouse tumor models.Lkb1-dependent activation of AMPK and subsequent inactivation of mammalian target of rapamycin signaling are implicated in several of the models,and other less well characterized pathways are also involved.Conditional targeting studies of Lkb1 also point an important role of LKB1 in epithelial–mesenchymal interactions,significantly expanding knowledge on the relevance of LKB1 in human disease.展开更多
The 17q12-21 locus harboring ORMDL sphingolipid biosynthesis regulator 3(ORMDL3)and Gasdermin B(GSDMB)genes exhibits one of the most significant and replicated associations with asthma[MIM:600807](Stein et al.,2018).S...The 17q12-21 locus harboring ORMDL sphingolipid biosynthesis regulator 3(ORMDL3)and Gasdermin B(GSDMB)genes exhibits one of the most significant and replicated associations with asthma[MIM:600807](Stein et al.,2018).Several studies explored the complex interactions between SNPs,gene expression and epigenetic modifications at this locus,primarily focusing on the levels of expressed ORMDL3 and GSDMB(Stein et al.,2018).Given that DNA methylation and gene expression signals are cell-type specific(Reinius et al.,2012),isolated materials such as lymphocytes from blood and,to a lesser extent,bronchial epithelial cells from biopsies of bronchi or bronchoalveolar lavages have been used in a number of studies to investigate such interactions(Stein et al.,2018).展开更多
基金The research leading to these results has received partial funding from the European Metrology Research Programme(EMRP)project SIB57‘New Primary Standards and Traceability for Radiometry’The EMRP is jointly funded by the EMRP participating countries within EURAMET and the European Union.
文摘Light emitting diode(LED)lighting is becoming more and more popular,as incandescent lamps are being phased out globally.LEDs have several advantages over incandescent lamps,including energy efficiency,robustness,long lifetime,and good temporal stability.The three latter features make LEDs attractive candidates as new photometric standards.Because the spectra of white LEDs are limited to the visible wavelength range,a novel method for the realization of photometric units based on the predictable quantum efficient detector(PQED)can be utilized.The method eliminates the need of photometric filters that are traditionally used in photometry,and instead relies on carrying out the photometric weighting numerically based on the measured relative spectrum of the source.The PQED-based realization simplifies the traceability chain of photometric measurements significantly as compared with the traditional filter-based method.The measured illuminance values of a white LED deviate by only 0.03%when determined by the new and the traditional methods.The new PQED method has significantly lower expanded uncertainty of 0.26%(k=52)as compared with that of the traditional filter-based method of 0.42%(k=52).Furthermore,when filtered photometers that measure LED lighting are calibrated using LED lamps as calibration sources instead of incandescent lamps,a significant decrease in the uncertainty related to the spectral mismatch correction can be obtained.The maximum spectral mismatch errors of LED measurements decreased on average by a factor of 3 when switching from an incandescent lamp to an LED calibration source.
文摘Background: Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) are an important and increasing threat to global health. They are nowadays more encountered routinely in hospitals and cause high morbidity and mortality due to limited therapeutic alternatives. This study sought to determine the prevalence of CPE in Yaoundé teaching hospital, Cameroon, and the associated risk factors. Materials and Method: To achieve this goal, a descriptive cross-sectional study coupled to an analytical component with consecutive collection of Enterobacteria strains was carried out during a three-month period (from 27<sup>th</sup> July to 24<sup>th</sup> October 2018) in the University Teaching Hospital of Yaoundé, Cameroon. The oxidase and biochemical identification tests using a miniaturized Api 20 E system were performed on colonies grown on Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) medium and subcultured on nutrient agar. Drug susceptibility testing was carried out according to the Antibiogram Committee of the French Society of Microbiology (CA-SFM 2018.V.2.0). The detection of carbapenemase production was performed by the CA-SFM 2018 algorithm for the screening of carbapenemase-producing enterobacteriaceae and its classification by inhibitory synergy tests. Results: Out of the 104 isolates, Escherichia coli (50%) was the most prevalent species, followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (37.5%) and Citrobacter frendii (12.5%). Drugs susceptibility patterns showed a high resistance to penicillins group (97.4% to amoxicillin), cephalosporins (68.4% to cefotaxim, 58.1% to cefixim, 60.7% to ceftazidim, 57.1% of cefoxitin) and aztreonam (55.7%). However, 11.9% carbapenems related resistance was noticed: 14.4% to imipenem, 13.8% to ertapenem and 7.5% to meropenem. Numerous co-resistance to quinolones (65.8%), fluoroquinolones (49.6%), aminoglycosides (49.6%) and cotrimoxazole (71.8%) were also observed. From 104 isolates, AmpC production represented 23.08% (25/104) and 36.54% (38/104) were ESBL-isolates. The overall prevalence of CPE was 25% (26/104) with K
文摘Clustering is used to gain an intuition of the struc tures in the data.Most of the current clustering algorithms pro duce a clustering structure even on data that do not possess such structure.In these cases,the algorithms force a structure in the data instead of discovering one.To avoid false structures in the relations of data,a novel clusterability assessment method called density-based clusterability measure is proposed in this paper.I measures the prominence of clustering structure in the data to evaluate whether a cluster analysis could produce a meaningfu insight to the relationships in the data.This is especially useful in time-series data since visualizing the structure in time-series data is hard.The performance of the clusterability measure is evalu ated against several synthetic data sets and time-series data sets which illustrate that the density-based clusterability measure can successfully indicate clustering structure of time-series data.
文摘In this paper we extend the standard Ultra Weak Variational Formulation （UWVF） of Maxwell＇s equations in an isotropic medium to the case of an anisotropic medium. We verify that the underlying theoretical framework carries over to anisotropic media （however error estimates are not yet available） and completely describe the new scheme. We then consider TM mode scattering, show how this results in a Helmholtz equation in two dimensions with an anisotropic coefficient and demonstrate how to formulate the UWVF for it. In one special case, convergence can be proved. We then show some numerical results that suggest that the UWVF can successfully simulate wave propagation in anisotropic media.
文摘BACKGROUND A well-recognized class effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors(ICI)is immune-related adverse events(IrAEs)ranging from low grade toxicities to life-threatening end organ damage requiring permanent discontinuation of ICI.Deaths are reported in<5%of patients treated with ICI.There are,however,no reliable markers to predict the onset and severity of IrAEs.We tested the association between neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio(NLR)and platelet-lymphocyte ratio(PLR)at baseline with development of clinically significant IrAEs(grade≥2)in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)patients treated with ICI.AIM To test the association between NLR and PLR at baseline with development of clinically significant IrAEs(grade≥2)in HCC patients treated with ICI.METHODS Data was extracted from an international database from a consortium of 11 tertiary-care referral centers.NLR=absolute neutrophil count/absolute lymphocyte count(ALC)and PLR=platelet count/ALC.Cutoff of 5 was used for NLR and 300 for PLR based on literature.We also tested the association between RESULTS Data was collected from 361 patients treated between 2016-2020 across the United States(67%),Asia(14%)and Europe(19%).Most patients received Nivolumab(n=255,71%).One hundred sixty-seven(46%)patients developed at least one IrAE,highest grade 1 in 80(48%),grade≥2 in 87(52%)patients.In a univariable regression model PLR>300 was significantly associated with a lower incidence of grade≥2 IrAEs(OR=0.40;P=0.044).Similarly,a trend was observed between NLR>5 and lower incidence of grade≥2 IrAEs(OR=0.58;P=0.097).Multivariate analyses confirmed PLR>300 as an independent predictive marker of grade≥2 IrAEs(OR=0.26;P=0.011),in addition to treatment with programmed cell death ligand 1(PD-1)/cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated protein-4(OR=2.57;P=0.037)and PD-1/tyrosine kinase inhibitor(OR=3.39;P=0.01)combinations.Antibiotic use was not associated with IrAE incidence(OR=1.02;P=0.954).Patients treated with steroids had a>2-fold higher incidence of grade≥2 IrAEs(OR=2.74;P<0.001),altho
文摘Despite aqueous electrolytes having a low cost and excellent ionic conductivity,their low withstand voltage of 1.2 V makes them problematic for battery utility because that is a very important factor in battery production.In this research,the possibility of increasing the withstand voltage while maintaining the low cost of aqueous electrolytes was investigated.In this research,the solution electrolyte was made into a viscous solid polymer electrolyte to improve the withstand voltage of the electrolyte.A solid polymer electrolyte was made from sodium polyacrylate and doped with KOH(potassium hydroxide)and pure water.The improvement of the withstand voltage was evaluated by the specific capacitance.
文摘Background: Escherichia coli are ubiquitous bacteria colonising both humans and animals. Extended spectrum β-lactamase-producing E. coli has been selected as a suitable indicator for the monitoring and surveillance of antimicrobial resistance. Death due to resistant bacteria is continuously rising in Cameroon, but the contribution of the aviary sector is not well studied. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the resistance profile of extended spectrum beta-lactamases-producing Escherichia coli strains, isolated from faeces of broiler chickens in Yaoundé, capital city of Cameroon. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out from February to June 2020. Escherichia coli were isolated from samples of broilers in poultry farms in Yaoundé and submitted to the extended spectrum β-lactamase screening. The logistic regression was used to assess the statistical association of a significance threshold p-value of 0.05. Results: Out of 385 faecal samples collected in broiler farms, 114 Escherichia coli isolates were obtained out of which 30 (26.32%) were Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamases-producing Escherichia coli. These isolates revealed high resistance to all antibiotic families. Poor storage conditions for feeds and the proximity to latrines, the troughs on the ground, the lack of foot bath and uniforms, the inadequate treatment of faeces, the poor usage of preventive antibiotics and the lack of water treatment have been identified as risk factors to faecal carriage of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli. Conclusion: This work reveals the emergence of Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamases-producing Escherichia coli in poultry farms in Yaoundé and the failure in the biosecurity system. As such, the awareness of poultry breeders on the respect of biosecurity measures may be an effective tool to tackle antimicrobial resistance, specifically in livestock industries using a One Health approach.
基金Supported by Grants from Foundation for Clinical Chemistry Research,Finland(partly)
文摘AIM: To investigate local corticosterone production and angiotensin-Ⅰ converting enzyme(ACE) protein expression and their interaction in healthy and inflamed intestine.METHODS: Acute intestinal inflammation was induced to six weeks old male Balb/c mice by administration of either 3% or 5% dextran sodium sulfate(DSS) in drinking water for 7 d(n = 12 in each group). Healthy controls(n = 12) were given tap water. Corticosterone production and ACE protein shedding were measured from ex vivo incubates of the small and large intestine using EIA and ELISA, respectively. Morphological changes of the intestinal wall were assessed in hematoxylin-eosin stained tissue preparations of jejunum and distal colon. Effects of angiotensin Ⅱ, captopril and metyrapone on corticosterone production was assessed by incubating pieces of small intestine of healthy mice in the presence of 0.1, 1 or 10 μmol/L angiotensin Ⅱ, 1, 10 or 100 μmol/L captopril or 1, 10 or 100 μmol/L metyrapone solutions and measuring corticosterone released to the incubation buffer after 90 min(n = 5 in each group).RESULTS: Both concentrations of DSS induced inflammation and morphological changes in large intestines but not in small intestines. Changes were observed as distortions of the crypt structure, mucosal erosion, immune cell infiltration to the mucosa and submucosal edema. Ex vivo corticosterone production(2.9 ± 1.0 ng/mL vs 2.0 ± 0.8 ng/mL, P = 0.034) and ACE shedding(269.2 ± 97.1 ng/m L vs 175.7 ± 52.2 ng/mL, P = 0.016) were increased in small intestines in 3% DSS group compared to the controls. In large intestine, corticosterone production was increased compared to the controls in both 3% DSS(229 ± 81 pg/mL vs 158 ± 30 pg/mL, P = 0.017) and 5% DSS groups(366 ± 163 pg/mL vs 158 ± 30 pg/mL, P = 0.002). Large intestine ACE shedding was increased in 5% DSS group(41.5 ± 9.0 ng/mL vs 20.9 ± 5.2 ng/mL, P = 0.034). Angiotensin Ⅱ treatment augmented corticosterone production in small intestine at concentration of 10 μmol/L(0.97 ± 0.21 ng/m
基金The authors of this paper gratefully acknowledge the public fi-nancing of Business Finland for the“EcoSMR”project(Grant No.:9277/31/2019).
文摘Decarbonisation of district heating and cooling(DHC)system in Helsinki metropolitan area requires investments in new energy technologies and approaches to replace fossil fuel fired district heating(DH)production.Invest-ment paths involving(a)DH heat pumps(HPs)from low quality heat sources and(b)small modular nuclear reactors(SMR)are compared by utilising investment analysis based on optimisation model depicting the as-sumed 2030 situation.Several scenarios,with varying assumptions concerning existing DHC system,investment costs and electricity prices,are analysed in terms of new capacity and total annualised costs.The results indicate that the SMR option is more cost-efficient than the HP option with 4-8€/MWh difference in operation costs including annualised investments.Biomass fired boiler investments,enabled in both options,are preferred to HP investments in most scenarios.The cost-efficiency of HP investments is sensitive to investment cost,whereas SMR investments are relatively stable to investment cost variations.Varying electricity market prices affect cost-efficiency of large-scale HPs,and investments in SMR cogeneration units take place only with high electricity prices.
基金the support from the company Shell Brasil Petroleo and FAPESP through the “Reserch Centre for Gas Innovation-RCGI”(Fapesp Proc.2014/50279-4),hosted by the University of Sao Paulo,and the strategic importance of the support given by ANP(Brazil’s National Oil,Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency)through the R&D levy regulation.
文摘This paper presents a proposal for an experimental salt cavern in offshore ultra-deep water for CO2 abatement,including the instrumentation plan and well conceptual design evaluated for carbon capture and storage(CCS)application.These studies are based on applied computational mechanics associated with field experimentation that has contributed to the technical feasibility of the underground potash mine at the State of Sergipe in Brazil.This knowhow allowed the stability analysis of several salt caverns for brine production at the State of Alagoas in Brazil and to the drilling through stratified thick layers of salt of the pre-salt reservoirs in Santos Basin.Now,this knowledge has been applied in the design of onshore and offshore salt caverns opened by dissolution for storage of natural gas and CO2.The geomechanical study,through the application of computational mechanics,of offshore giant salt caverns of 450 m high by 150 m in diameter,shows that one cavern can store about 4 billion Sm3 or 7.2 million tons of CO2.Before the construction of the giant cavern,which will be the first gas storage offshore in the world,it has been decided to develop an experimental one,with smaller size,to obtained field parameters.The experimental cavern will allow the calibration of parameters to be used in the structural integrity analysis of the cavern and well for storage of natural gas which is rich in CO2 under high pressure.
文摘In machine learning,positive-unlabelled(PU)learning is a special case within semi-supervised learning.In positiveunlabelled learning,the training set contains some positive examples and a set of unlabelled examples from both the positive and negative classes.Positive-unlabelled learning has gained attention in many domains,especially in time-series data,in which the obtainment of labelled data is challenging.Examples which originate from the negative class are especially difficult to acquire.Self-learning is a semi-supervised method capable of PU learning in time-series data.In the self-learning approach,observations are individually added from the unlabelled data into the positive class until a stopping criterion is reached.The model is retrained after each addition with the existent labels.The main problem in self-learning is to know when to stop the learning.There are multiple,different stopping criteria in the literature,but they tend to be inaccurate or challenging to apply.This publication proposes a novel stopping criterion,which is called Peak evaluation using perceptually important points,to address this problem for time-series data.Peak evaluation using perceptually important points is exceptional,as it does not have tunable hyperparameters,which makes it easily applicable to an unsupervised setting.Simultaneously,it is flexible as it does not make any assumptions on the balance of the dataset between the positive and the negative class.
文摘The treatment of metastatic urothelial cancer(mUC)has been transformed by recent progress in clinical trials and drug development.There are now three therapeutic classes with proven benefits in mUC:chemotherapy,immunotherapy,and targeted therapy.The optimal sequence and combination of these classes remain to be defined.Biomarker development is essential to guide treatment selection at each therapeutic juncture.Two biomarkers,programmed death-ligand 1 expression and fibroblast growth factor receptor alterations,have been incorporated into the mUC treatment paradigm thus far.This review discusses predictive biomarkers in development and their potential to influence mUC treatment selection moving forward.
基金supported by European ENFIN Grant (LSHG-CT-2005-518254)Sigrid Juse´lius Foundation,the Academy of Finland,and the Finnish Cancer Foundation.
文摘Mutations in the tumor suppressor gene LKB1 are important in hereditary Peutz–Jeghers syndrome,as well as in sporadic cancers including lung and cervical cancer.LKB1 is a kinase-activating kinase,and a number of LKB1-dependent phosphorylation cascades regulate fundamental cellular and organismal processes in at least metabolism,polarity,cytoskeleton organization,and proliferation.Conditional targeting approaches are beginning to demonstrate the relevance and specificity of these signaling pathways in development and homeostasis of multiple organs.More than one of the pathways also appear to contribute to tumor growth following Lkb1 deficiencies based on a number of mouse tumor models.Lkb1-dependent activation of AMPK and subsequent inactivation of mammalian target of rapamycin signaling are implicated in several of the models,and other less well characterized pathways are also involved.Conditional targeting studies of Lkb1 also point an important role of LKB1 in epithelial–mesenchymal interactions,significantly expanding knowledge on the relevance of LKB1 in human disease.
基金supported by operating grants from the Canadian Institute of Health Research(CIHR awards 133605 and 141900Laprise&Pastinen)provided by the Wellcome Trust under award WT091310。
文摘The 17q12-21 locus harboring ORMDL sphingolipid biosynthesis regulator 3(ORMDL3)and Gasdermin B(GSDMB)genes exhibits one of the most significant and replicated associations with asthma[MIM:600807](Stein et al.,2018).Several studies explored the complex interactions between SNPs,gene expression and epigenetic modifications at this locus,primarily focusing on the levels of expressed ORMDL3 and GSDMB(Stein et al.,2018).Given that DNA methylation and gene expression signals are cell-type specific(Reinius et al.,2012),isolated materials such as lymphocytes from blood and,to a lesser extent,bronchial epithelial cells from biopsies of bronchi or bronchoalveolar lavages have been used in a number of studies to investigate such interactions(Stein et al.,2018).
