Tag: nevin manimala

Rev Sci Instrum. 2022 Oct 1;93(10):103527. doi: 10.1063/5.0101853.

ABSTRACT

A high-resolution x-ray spectrometer was coupled with an ultrafast x-ray streak camera to produce time-resolved line shape spectra measured from hot, solid-density plasmas. A Bragg crystal was placed near laser-produced plasma to maximize throughput; alignment tolerances were established by ray tracing. The streak camera produced single-shot, time-resolved spectra, heavily sloped due to photon time-of-flight differences, with sufficient reproducibility to accumulate photon statistics. The images are time-calibrated by the slope of streaked spectra and dewarped to generate spectra emitted at different times defined at the source. The streaked spectra demonstrate the evolution of spectral shoulders and other features on ps timescales, showing the feasibility of plasma parameter measurements on the rapid timescales necessary to study high-energy-density plasmas.

PMID:36319349 | DOI:10.1063/5.0101853

Chaos. 2022 Oct;32(10):103116. doi: 10.1063/5.0104853.

ABSTRACT

A large amount of research has used the scale-free statistics of neuronal avalanches as a signature of the criticality of neural systems, which bears criticisms. For instance, the work of Touboul and Destexhe demonstrated that non-critical systems could also display such scale-free dynamics, which passed their rigorous statistical analyses. In this paper, we show that a fully connected stochastic neural network may also generate scale-free dynamics simply by jumping among many stable states.

PMID:36319307 | DOI:10.1063/5.0104853

Chaos. 2022 Oct;32(10):101102. doi: 10.1063/5.0120404.

ABSTRACT

Synchronous collisions between a large number of solitons are considered in the context of a statistical description. It is shown that, during the interaction of solitons of the same signs, the wave field is effectively smoothed out. When the number of solitons increases and the sequence of their amplitudes decay slower, the focused wave becomes even smoother and the statistical moments get frozen for a long time. This quasi-stationary state is characterized by greatly reduced statistical moments and by the density of solitons close to some critical value. This state may be treated as the small-dispersion limit, what makes it possible to analytically estimate all high-order statistical moments. While the focus of the study is made on the Korteweg-de Vries equation and its modified version, a much broader applicability of the results to equations that support soliton-type solutions is discussed.

PMID:36319295 | DOI:10.1063/5.0120404

Chaos. 2022 Oct;32(10):103106. doi: 10.1063/5.0096959.

ABSTRACT

Nonsmooth systems are widely encountered in engineering fields. They have abundant dynamical phenomena, including some results on the complex dynamics in such systems under quasiperiodically forced excitations. In this work, we consider a quasiperiodically forced piecewise linear oscillator and show that strange nonchaotic attractors (SNAs) do exist in such nonsmooth systems. The generation and evolution mechanisms of SNAs are discussed. The torus-doubling, fractal, bubbling, and intermittency routes to SNAs are identified. The strange properties of SNAs are characterized with the aid of the phase sensitivity function, singular continuous spectrum, rational frequency approximation, and the path of the partial Fourier sum of state variables in a complex plane. The nonchaotic properties of SNAs are verified by the methods of maximum Lyapunov exponent and power spectrum.

PMID:36319293 | DOI:10.1063/5.0096959

Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care. 2022 Nov 1:1-7. doi: 10.1080/13625187.2022.2135371. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Knowledge of adolescents’ intention to sustain female genital mutilation (FGM) practice is required to guide efforts to eradicate FGM in Africa and Asia where about 200 million women are affected. Nigeria has one of the highest FGM cases in the world. The study sought to determine the knowledge, attitude, and intentions of adolescents to sustain FGM practice when they become parents.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is a cross-sectional descriptive survey of 195 in-school adolescents aged 14-19 years, in Imesi-Ile, a rural town in South-west Nigeria selected through a multistage sampling method.

RESULTS: Overall, 44.6% of adolescents had good knowledge of FGM, while 44.6% had a positive attitude and 55.4% had a negative attitude towards FGM. More females (57.4%) have a negative attitude towards FGM. About 42.1% of adolescents intend to continue the practice of FGM, while 47% have no intentions and 10.8% remain undecided. Gender, age group and family affluence were not statistically associated with intention to continue FGM.

CONCLUSION: Intention to continue FGM practice is high among adolescents in the rural community. FGM eradication campaign among adolescents should seek to improve knowledge, attitude and intentions towards FGM practice.

PMID:36318829 | DOI:10.1080/13625187.2022.2135371

Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2022 Nov 1. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2022.0035. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Background: Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), an emerging viral infectious disease, is mainly transmitted by ticks in the surrounding environment. Clinical progress and risk factors for prognosis in SFTS patients were not yet fully understood. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze clinical progression and laboratory data related to the prognosis of South Korean SFTS patients in a single institution from 2014 to 2021. Materials and Methods: Fifty-three confirmed SFTS patients from August 2014 to September 2021 at Gyeongsang National University Hospital (GNUH) in Jinju, South Korea were enrolled. Electronic medical records of SFTS patients’ demographic features, clinical data, and laboratory data were retrospectively reviewed. Risk factors for fatality were statistically analyzed by classifying enrolled patients into fatal and non-fatal groups. Results: The mean age of patients in the fatal group was significantly higher than that in the non-fatal group (p = 0.036). Hemorrhagic manifestations (p = 0.001) and multiple organ dysfunction (MOD) (p < 0.001) were significantly common in the fatal group. Age, hemorrhagic manifestations, and MOD were also associated with death (p = 0.001, p = 0.008, and p = 0.041, respectively), with adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) of 1.14, 18.25, and 2.36, respectively. Onset of illness to admission was also significantly associated with death (p = 0.005), with aHR of 0.48. Age, interval from onset of illness to admission, hemorrhagic manifestations, and MOD were found to be variables related to the fatality of SFTS patients. Conclusion: Laboratory test results showed a significant difference between the fatal group and the non-fatal group, but they did not have a statistically significant effect on the prognosis of SFTS patients.

PMID:36318815 | DOI:10.1089/vbz.2022.0035

Nicotine Tob Res. 2022 Nov 1:ntac252. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntac252. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the continued use of nicotine following smoking cessation on perceived well-being in comparison to complete cessation of nicotine use. Aims: To explore aspects of perceived well-being and coping among recent ex-smokers as a function of vaping status.

METHODS: Ever-daily smokers in the International Tobacco Control 4 country smoking and vaping surveys in 2016 (W1 N=883) and 2018 (W2 N=1088). Cross-sectional associations and longitudinal samples for those who quit between waves and those quit at W1 who maintained abstinence to W2.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES WERE: past 30 days depression symptoms, perceived stress, stress management since quitting and change in perceived day-to-day health.

RESULTS: In the cross-sectional analyses vapers were more likely to report both improved stress management (aOR = 1.71, 95% CI 1.23-2.36) and perceived day-to-day health (aOR = 1.65, 95% CI 1.26-2.16) than nicotine abstainers. In the longitudinal analyses, smokers who switched to vaping between waves (n=372) were more likely to report depression symptoms at W2 (aOR = 2.00, 95% CI 1.09-3.65) but reported improved perceived health (aOR = 1.92, 95% CI 1.16-3.20). For the past daily smokers who remained quit between waves (n=382), vapers were more likely to report improved stress management relative to abstainers (RRR =5.05. 95% CI 1.19-21.40). There were no other significant differences between vapers and nicotine abstainers.

CONCLUSIONS: There is little evidence to support the view that perceptions of well-being deteriorate in vapers compared to complete nicotine abstainers in the immediate years after smoking cessation.

IMPLICATIONS: This study could find no conclusive evidence that the continued use of nicotine via e-cigarettes was detrimental to health compared to completely stopping nicotine intake altogether. Our results would suggest that continuing to use nicotine may even result in some benefits in the short term such as improved stress management, however further longitudinal studies are required to examine if these effects are restricted to the early post-quitting phase and whether other positive or negative effects on psychosocial health emerge in the future.

PMID:36318814 | DOI:10.1093/ntr/ntac252

J Ocul Pharmacol Ther. 2022 Nov 1. doi: 10.1089/jop.2022.0095. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Regression of the refractive outcome is a major concern of LASIK procedures mainly in presbyopic patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term efficacy of the pharmacological treatment of presbyopia performed with Benozzi’s method, in combination with hyperopic LASIK surgery in presbyopic population. Methods: A nonrandomized case series was developed, including presbyopic patients who underwent bilateral “Hyperopic LASIK surgery” and were pharmacologically treated with Benozzi’s Method from January 2011 to August 2018, with at least 2 years of follow-up, at two private ophthalmological clinics of Argentina. Main outcomes were spherical equivalent (SE), uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), and uncorrected near visual acuity (UNVA). Measurements were evaluated at baseline and postoperative at 1 month (without Benozzi’s treatment), 2 months (starting with Benozzi’s treatment), and 2 years. The SE stability across the time was statistically compared. Results: A total of 84 eyes of 42 patients, with a mean age at the time of the surgery of 51.07 ± 4.5 (42-59), were found following 2 years of follow-up. Patients have improved and maintained UDVA, achieving Jaeger 1 in the second postoperative month, which was maintained up to the last year of follow-up. Refractive stability across the time is observed comparing first month after surgery with the last year of follow-up, without statistical significant difference (p: 0.11). Conclusion: Hyperopic presbyopic patients that underwent LASIK surgery and 1 month after surgery started with the pharmacological treatment of presbyopia (Benozzi’s method) results in excellent UNVA and UDVA that is stable over time without refractive regression.

PMID:36318813 | DOI:10.1089/jop.2022.0095

Carcinogenesis. 2022 Nov 1:bgac084. doi: 10.1093/carcin/bgac084. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is a prevalent carcinoma in the female population associated with poor prognostic outcomes, in part due to the late stage of disease at diagnoses. Aiming to identify tumor associated antigens (TAAs) with the potential to facilitate earlier detection and targeted therapy of EOC, five scientific literature repositories were systemically searched for primary literature sources reporting the expression of a TAA in the tissue or serum of adult females diagnosed with EOC and healthy women. We identified 7,120 articles of which 32 met our inclusion criteria and passed the bias-quality assessment. Subsequently data were collated on 29 TAAs whose expression had been analyzed in 2,181 patients and 589 healthy individuals. Reports of CA125 and EpCAM expression were numerous while tissue expression data were available for 28 TAAs. Data were segregated into three meta-cohorts for statistical scrutiny and their capacity for diagnostic and treatment targeting assessed. We showed that CA-125 was expressed homogenously in EOC patients while EpCAM was expressed heterogeneously. CA-125 was the most promising TAA target for both diagnosis and treatment, gaining a priority score of 12 (/12) while EpCAM gained a priority score of seven. Tissue expression of EOC TAAs was homogenous; 90% of the EOC population express any identified TAA while just 3% of healthy individuals will be positive for the same TAA. We suggest TAA profiling should be a fundamental aspect of EOC diagnosis, sitting alongside the FIGO framework, promoting reduced mortality and directing development of TAA targeted therapeutics.

PMID:36318800 | DOI:10.1093/carcin/bgac084

Nicotine Tob Res. 2022 Nov 1:ntac253. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntac253. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Count outcomes in tobacco research are often analyzed with Poisson distribution. However, they often exhibit features such as overdispersion (variance larger than expected) and zero-inflation (extra zeros) that violate model assumptions. Furthermore, longitudinal studies have repeated measures that generate correlated counts. Failure to account for overdispersion, zero-inflation, and correlation can yield incorrect statistical inferences. Thus, it is important to familiarize researchers with proper models for such data.

METHODS: Poisson and Negative Binomial models with correlated random effects with and without zero-inflation are presented. The illustrative data comes from a study comparing a mindfulness training app (C2Q, n=60) with a control app (ES, n=66) on smoking frequency at 1, 3 and 6 months. Predictors include app, time, the app by time interaction, and baseline smoking. Each model is evaluated in terms of accounting for zero-inflation, overdispersion, and correlation in the data. Emphasis is placed on evaluating model fit, subject-specific interpretation of effects, and choosing an appropriate model.

RESULTS: The hurdle Poisson model provided the best fit to the data. Smoking abstinence rates were 33%, 32%, and 28% at 1-, 3-, and 6-months, respectively, with variance larger than expected by a factor >7 at each follow-up. Individuals on C2Q were less likely to achieve abstinence across time but likely to smoke fewer cigarettes if smoking.

CONCLUSION: The models presented are specifically suited for analyzing correlated count outcomes and account for zero-inflation and overdispersion. We provide guidance to researchers on the use of these models to better inform nicotine and tobacco research.

IMPLICATIONS: In tobacco research, count outcomes are often measured repeatedly on the same subject and thus correlated. Such outcomes often have many zeros and exhibit large variance relative to the mean. Analyzing such data require models specifically suited for correlated counts. The presented models and guidelines could improve the rigor of the analysis of correlated count data and thus increase the impact of studies in nicotine and tobacco research using such outcomes.

PMID:36318799 | DOI:10.1093/ntr/ntac253