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3. |
- Wang, Tingting, et al.
(author)
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Prevalence and influencing factors of wheeze and asthma among preschool children in Urumqi city : a cross-sectional survey
- 2023
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 13:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To investigate the prevalence and indoor environmental influencing factors of wheeze and asthma among preschool children in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China to provide a strong basis for prevention and control. In August 2019, a cross-sectional study involving 8153 preschool children was conducted in 60 kindergartens in Urumqi. The ALLHOME-2 questionnaire was used for childhood wheeze and asthma survey, and the dampness in buildings and health (DBH) questionnaire was used for the childhood home dwelling and living environment survey. Multivariate unconditional logistic regression was then used to analyze the potential influencing factors of childhood asthma and wheeze. The prevalence of wheeze and asthma in children was 4.7% and 2.0%, respectively. Multivariate unconditional logistic regression results suggested that ethnicity other than the Han Chinese (odds ratio (OR) 1.39, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05-1.84), caesarean section (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.00-1.53), family history of asthma (OR 5.00, 95% CI 3.36-7.44), carpet or floor bedding at home (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.05-1.87), purchasing new furniture in the mother's residence during pregnancy (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.06-2.36), pet keeping in the residence at aged 0-1 year (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.13-2.13), passive smoking by child in the current residence (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.01-1.80), and having mould or hygroma in the child's residence at aged 0-1 year (OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.12-2.64) were risk factors for wheeze. In addition, Girls (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.59-0.90) was a protective factor for wheeze. Caesarean section (OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.06-2.00), family history of asthma (OR 7.06, 95% CI 4.33-11.53), carpet or floor bedding at home (OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.50-3.23), and pet keeping in the residence at aged 0-1 year (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.04-1.83) were risk factors for asthma, whereas Girls (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.42-0.80) was a protective factor for asthma. This survey indicates that the purchase of new furniture, the placement of carpet or floor bedding in the child's residence, the pets keeping, room dampness or moldy phenomena, and passive smoking may all contribute to an elevated risk of wheeze or asthma in children.
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4. |
- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(author)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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In: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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5. |
- Jin, Ying-Hui, et al.
(author)
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Chemoprophylaxis, diagnosis, treatments, and discharge management of COVID-19 : An evidence-based clinical practice guideline (updated version)
- 2020
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In: Military Medical Research. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2054-9369. ; 7:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the cause of a rapidly spreading illness, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), affecting more than seventeen million people around the world. Diagnosis and treatment guidelines for clinicians caring for patients are needed. In the early stage, we have issued "A rapid advice guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infected pneumonia (standard version)"; now there are many direct evidences emerged and may change some of previous recommendations and it is ripe for develop an evidence-based guideline. We formed a working group of clinical experts and methodologists. The steering group members proposed 29 questions that are relevant to the management of COVID-19 covering the following areas: chemoprophylaxis, diagnosis, treatments, and discharge management. We searched the literature for direct evidence on the management of COVID-19, and assessed its certainty generated recommendations using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Recommendations were either strong or weak, or in the form of ungraded consensus-based statement. Finally, we issued 34 statements. Among them, 6 were strong recommendations for, 14 were weak recommendations for, 3 were weak recommendations against and 11 were ungraded consensus-based statement. They covered topics of chemoprophylaxis (including agents and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) agents), diagnosis (including clinical manifestations, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respiratory tract specimens, IgM and IgG antibody tests, chest computed tomography, chest x-ray, and CT features of asymptomatic infections), treatments (including lopinavir-ritonavir, umifenovir, favipiravir, interferon, remdesivir, combination of antiviral drugs, hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine, interleukin-6 inhibitors, interleukin-1 inhibitors, glucocorticoid, qingfei paidu decoction, lianhua qingwen granules/capsules, convalescent plasma, lung transplantation, invasive or noninvasive ventilation, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)), and discharge management (including discharge criteria and management plan in patients whose RT-PCR retesting shows SARS-CoV-2 positive after discharge). We also created two figures of these recommendations for the implementation purpose. We hope these recommendations can help support healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients.
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6. |
- Jones, Benedict C, et al.
(author)
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To which world regions does the valence-dominance model of social perception apply?
- 2021
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In: Nature Human Behaviour. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-3374. ; 5:1, s. 159-169
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Over the past 10 years, Oosterhof and Todorov's valence-dominance model has emerged as the most prominent account of how people evaluate faces on social dimensions. In this model, two dimensions (valence and dominance) underpin social judgements of faces. Because this model has primarily been developed and tested in Western regions, it is unclear whether these findings apply to other regions. We addressed this question by replicating Oosterhof and Todorov's methodology across 11 world regions, 41 countries and 11,570 participants. When we used Oosterhof and Todorov's original analysis strategy, the valence-dominance model generalized across regions. When we used an alternative methodology to allow for correlated dimensions, we observed much less generalization. Collectively, these results suggest that, while the valence-dominance model generalizes very well across regions when dimensions are forced to be orthogonal, regional differences are revealed when we use different extraction methods and correlate and rotate the dimension reduction solution. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 5 November 2018. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7611443.v1 .
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7. |
- Barausse, Enrico, et al.
(author)
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Prospects for fundamental physics with LISA
- 2020
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In: General Relativity and Gravitation. - : SPRINGER/PLENUM PUBLISHERS. - 0001-7701 .- 1572-9532. ; 52:8
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In this paper, which is of programmatic rather than quantitative nature, we aim to further delineate and sharpen the future potential of the LISA mission in the area of fundamental physics. Given the very broad range of topics that might be relevant to LISA,we present here a sample of what we view as particularly promising fundamental physics directions. We organize these directions through a "science-first" approach that allows us to classify how LISA data can inform theoretical physics in a variety of areas. For each of these theoretical physics classes, we identify the sources that are currently expected to provide the principal contribution to our knowledge, and the areas that need further development. The classification presented here should not be thought of as cast in stone, but rather as a fluid framework that is amenable to change with the flow of new insights in theoretical physics.
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8. |
- Bian, Wenjie, et al.
(author)
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Diffusion behavior of Se(IV) and Re(VII) in biotite: effects of dry density and ionic strength
- 2023
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In: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry. - : Springer Nature. - 0236-5731 .- 1588-2780. ; 332:11, s. 4413-4425
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Biotite is an important adsorption carrier in the constituent minerals of Beishan granite. In this work, the effects of compaction density and ionic strength on the diffusion behavior of Se(IV) and Re(VII) in biotite were studied by capillary in-diffusion method and diffusion cell through-diffusion method. When the compaction density decreases or the ionic strength increases, the apparent diffusion coefficient increases, and its values range between 10–11 and 10–9 m2/s. The relationship between De and εacc, ionic strength and εacc was fitted using Archie's law and compared with the parameters of other researchers.
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9. |
- Cao, Qi, et al.
(author)
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Jointly estimating the most likely driving paths and destination locations with incomplete vehicular trajectory data
- 2023
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In: Transportation Research, Part C: Emerging Technologies. - 0968-090X. ; 155
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- With an ever-increasing deployment density of probe and fixed sensors, massive vehicular trajectory data is available and show a promising foundation to improve the observability of dynamic traffic demand pattern. However, due to technical and privacy issues, the raw trajectories are not always complete and the paths and destinations between discontinuous trajectory nodes are usually missing. This paper proposes a probabilistic method to jointly reconstruct the missing driving path and destination location of vehicles with incomplete trajectory data. One problem-specific HMM-structured model incorporating spatial and temporal analysis (ST-HMM) is constructed to define the matching probability between observed data and possible movement. Two algorithms, namely candidate set generation and best-match search algorithms, are developed to seek the most possible one as matching result. It can implement end-to-end processing from incomplete trajectory data to complete and connective paths and destinations for the target vehicle. The proposed method is tested based on field-test data and city-wide road network. Compared with two benchmark methods, the proposed method improved the matching accuracy in terms of both path identification and destination inference. Additionally, sensitivity analyses on the size of training dataset and candidate set were performed. We believe that experiment results of these sensitivity analyses can help to provide guidance on data sensing and candidate generation.
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10. |
- Chen, X, et al.
(author)
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Negative thermal quenching of below-bandgap photoluminescence in InPBi
- 2017
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In: Applied Physics Letters. - : AIP Publishing. - 0003-6951 .- 1077-3118. ; 110:5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper reports a temperature-dependent (10-280 K) photoluminescence (PL) study of below-bandgap electron-hole recombinations and anomalous negative thermal quenching of PL intensity in InP1- xBix (x = 0.019 and 0.023). Four PL features are well resolved by curve-fitting of the PL spectra, of which the energies exhibit different temperature dependence. The integral intensities of the two high-energy features diminish monotonically as temperature rises up, while those of the two low-energy features decrease below but increase anomalously above 180 K. A phenomenological model is established that the residual electrons in the final state of the PL transition transfer into nonradiative state via thermal hopping, and the thermal hopping produces in parallel holes in the final state and hence enhances the radiative recombination significantly. A reasonable interpretation of the PL processes in InPBi is achieved, and the activation energies of the PL quenching and thermal hopping are deduced. © 2017 Author(s).
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11. |
- Du, Yaoyao, et al.
(author)
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Cartilage Oligomeric Matrix Protein Inhibits Vascular Smooth Muscle Calcification by Interacting With Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2.
- 2011
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In: Circulation Research. - 1524-4571. ; 108, s. 79-917
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Rationale: Vascular calcification is a significant contributor to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We recently reported that cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) is pivotal for maintaining the homeostasis of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Whether COMP affects the process of vascular calcification is unknown. Objective: We aimed to test whether COMP modulates vascular calcification. Methods and Results: VSMC calcification in vitro was induced by calcifying media containing high inorganic phosphate or calcium. In vivo medial vessel calcification was induced in rats by 5/6 nephrectomy with a high-phosphate diet or by periadventitial application of CaCl(2) to the abdominal aorta. COMP protein level was markedly reduced in both calcified VSMCs and arteries. COMP deficiency remarkably exacerbated VSMC calcification, whereas ectopic expression of COMP greatly reduced calcification. Furthermore, COMP knockdown facilitated osteogenic markers expression by VSMCs even in the absence of calcifying media. By contrast, COMP overexpression significantly inhibited high phosphate- or high calcium-induced VSMC osteochondrogenic transition. Induction of osteogenic marker expression by COMP silencing was reversed by a soluble form of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 receptor IA, which suggests a BMP-2-dependent mechanism. Our data revealed that COMP bound directly to BMP-2 through the C terminus, inhibited BMP-2 receptor binding, and blocked BMP-2 osteogenic signaling, indicating COMP inhibits osteochondrogenic transition of VSMCs at least partially through inhibiting BMP-2. Conclusions: Our data strongly suggest that COMP is a novel inhibitor of vascular calcification. The imbalance between the effects of COMP and BMP-2 may provide new insights into the pathophysiology of vascular calcification.
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12. |
- Eisenchlas, Susana A., et al.
(author)
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Home and away – Implications of short-term sojourning of young Australian bilinguals
- 2021
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In: Lingua. - : Elsevier. - 0024-3841 .- 1872-6135. ; 263, s. 1-14
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study investigates the transnational experiences of young Taiwanese-background children living in Australia, who sojourn to their parents’ homeland during the school holidays to improve their linguistic and cultural skills, as reported by their mothers. Although this appears to be a frequent practice in the Taiwanese diaspora, showcasing the agency of this community, little research has systematically investigated this practice, and in particular its impact on the children and their families. Data for this study were obtained through online questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with mothers who engage in this practice, to gather information on family histories and participants’ backgrounds, family language policies, and parents’ perceptions of children's experiences and challenges. The data show that parents aim to enhance their children's proficiency levels in the home language as well as their Taiwanese identity. Children, however, take an agentive role with regard to identity choices, so parents’ aims are not always fulfilled. Sojourning is presented as a clear example not only of enacted family language policy, but also as an explicit management practice, positioning the Taiwanese diaspora within both their new as well as their old homeland.
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13. |
- Elsik, Christine G., et al.
(author)
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The Genome Sequence of Taurine Cattle : A Window to Ruminant Biology and Evolution
- 2009
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In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 324:5926, s. 522-528
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To understand the biology and evolution of ruminants, the cattle genome was sequenced to about sevenfold coverage. The cattle genome contains a minimum of 22,000 genes, with a core set of 14,345 orthologs shared among seven mammalian species of which 1217 are absent or undetected in noneutherian (marsupial or monotreme) genomes. Cattle-specific evolutionary breakpoint regions in chromosomes have a higher density of segmental duplications, enrichment of repetitive elements, and species-specific variations in genes associated with lactation and immune responsiveness. Genes involved in metabolism are generally highly conserved, although five metabolic genes are deleted or extensively diverged from their human orthologs. The cattle genome sequence thus provides a resource for understanding mammalian evolution and accelerating livestock genetic improvement for milk and meat production.
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14. |
- Fang, Xing, et al.
(author)
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Microstructure and mechanical properties of the laser welded air-hardening steel joint
- 2024
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In: Materials Characterization. - : Elsevier BV. - 1044-5803 .- 1873-4189. ; 213
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The decrease in mechanical properties of high-strength steel after welding is an important issue affecting the wide application of high-strength steel. Air-hardening steel is a high-strength steel suitable for lower body structural parts such as subframes. Its application process involves welding, hot forming and other processes. The present work investigates the microstructure and mechanical properties of the air-hardening steel laser welded joint that is air-cooled after hot forming in the two-phase zone (800 °C). The microstructure was characterized by electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results show that during hot forming, the welded joint transforms from martensite to ferrite and acicular martensite, and the base metal transforms from ferrite to polygonal martensite and ferrite. The difference in martensite morphology between the welded joint and the base metal is attributed to the nucleation positions of austenite. The structural evolution of the welded joint and the base metal is accompanied with the annihilation and reproduction of dislocations, which results in significant changes in hardness. The hardness value dropped from the highest 430 HV to 271 HV in the welded joint, while increased from the lowest 184 HV to 203 HV in the base metal. After hot forming, the tensile strength of the welded sample is reduced by only 36 MPa, and the total elongation is slightly decreased by about 1.5% compared with the unwelded sample. The welded joint and the base metal have similar plastic deformation capabilities, since the acicular martensite in the welded joint displays good plastic deformation ability, and the dislocation density of the welded joint and the base metal is similar. Overall, the microstructure and dislocation density of the air-hardening steel welded joint after hot forming are similar to those of the base metal, which is responsible for the good mechanical properties of air-hardening steel welded joint.
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15. |
- Ge, Qi, et al.
(author)
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Structure-Based Low-Rank Model With Graph Nuclear Norm Regularization for Noise Removal
- 2017
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In: IEEE Transactions on Image Processing. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 1057-7149 .- 1941-0042. ; 26:7, s. 3098-3112
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Nonlocal image representation methods, including group-based sparse coding and block-matching 3-D filtering, have shown their great performance in application to low-level tasks. The nonlocal prior is extracted from each group consisting of patches with similar intensities. Grouping patches based on intensity similarity, however, gives rise to disturbance and inaccuracy in estimation of the true images. To address this problem, we propose a structure-based low-rank model with graph nuclear norm regularization. We exploit the local manifold structure inside a patch and group the patches by the distance metric of manifold structure. With the manifold structure information, a graph nuclear norm regularization is established and incorporated into a low-rank approximation model. We then prove that the graph-based regularization is equivalent to a weighted nuclear norm and the proposed model can be solved by a weighted singular-value thresholding algorithm. Extensive experiments on additive white Gaussian noise removal and mixed noise removal demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a better performance than several state-of-the-art algorithms.
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16. |
- Huang, Yaqi, et al.
(author)
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Application of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in dementia research and practice : A scoping review
- 2023
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In: Aging & Mental Health. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1360-7863 .- 1364-6915. ; 27:2, s. 357-371
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) endorsed by the World Health Organization provides a conceptual framework for describing functioning and disability based on a biopsychosocial model. Although dementia is one of the leading causes of disability, yet little is known on the extent to how the ICF has been utilized in dementia research and practice. The study aimed to examine and map the current applications of the ICF with dementia from a body of earlier studies and to explore the potential use in person-centred dementia care.METHODS: The Arksey and O'Malley framework was used to guide the searching, selecting, and synthesizing process. The scoping review was reported following The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Review (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines.RESULTS: A total of 34 studies were included. The applications of ICF were classified into 4 themes: (1) in clinical practice and the education of health professionals (n = 20); (2) community support services and income support (n = 3); (3) population-based, census, or survey data (n = 10); (4) advocacy and empowerment purposes (n = 1).CONCLUSION: The ICF has made a major impact on dementia in clinical settings. Findings strongly support applying the ICF to person-centered dementia care. In the future, more empirical studies are needed to expand the scope of ICF use in dementia research and practice.
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17. |
- Klionsky, Daniel J., et al.
(author)
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Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy
- 2012
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In: Autophagy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1554-8635 .- 1554-8627. ; 8:4, s. 445-544
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process vs. those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process); thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from stimuli that result in increased autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.
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18. |
- Lennon, Matthew J., et al.
(author)
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Use of Antihypertensives, Blood Pressure, and Estimated Risk of Dementia in Late Life An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis
- 2023
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In: JAMA NETWORK OPEN. - 2574-3805. ; 6:9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- IMPORTANCE The utility of antihypertensives and ideal blood pressure (BP) for dementia prevention in late life remains unclear and highly contested. OBJECTIVES To assess the associations of hypertension history, antihypertensive use, and baseline measured BP in late life (age >60 years) with dementia and the moderating factors of age, sex, and racial group. DATA SOURCE AND STUDY SELECTION Longitudinal, population-based studies of aging participating in the Cohort Studies of Memory in an International Consortium (COSMIC) group were included. Participants were individuals without dementia at baseline aged 60 to 110 years and were based in 15 different countries (US, Brazil, Australia, China, Korea, Singapore, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Sweden, and Greece). DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS Participants were grouped in 3 categories based on previous diagnosis of hypertension and baseline antihypertensive use: healthy controls, treated hypertension, and untreated hypertension. Baseline systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were treated as continuous variables. Reporting followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses of Individual Participant Data reporting guidelines. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The key outcome was all-cause dementia. Mixed-effects Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the associations between the exposures and the key outcome variable. The association between dementia and baseline BP was modeled using nonlinear natural splines. The main analysis was a partially adjusted Cox proportional hazards model controlling for age, age squared, sex, education, racial group, and a random effect for study. Sensitivity analyses included a fully adjusted analysis, a restricted analysis of those individuals with more than 5 years of follow-up data, and models examining the moderating factors of age, sex, and racial group. RESULTS The analysis included 17 studies with 34 519 community dwelling older adults (20 160 [58.4%] female) with a mean (SD) age of 72.5 (7.5) years and a mean (SD) follow-up of 4.3 (4.3) years. In the main, partially adjusted analysis including 14 studies, individuals with untreated hypertension had a 42% increased risk of dementia compared with healthy controls (hazard ratio [HR], 1.42; 95% CI 1.15-1.76; P =.001) and 26% increased risk compared with individuals with treated hypertension (HR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.03-1.53; P =.02). Individuals with treated hypertension had no significant increased dementia risk compared with healthy controls (HR, 1.13; 95% CI, 0.99-1.28; P =.07). The association of antihypertensive use or hypertension status with dementia did not vary with baseline BP. There was no significant association of baseline SBP or DBP with dementia risk in any of the analyses. There were no significant interactions with age, sex, or racial group for any of the analyses. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This individual patient data meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies found that antihypertensive usewas associated with decreased dementia risk compared with individuals with untreated hypertension through all ages in late life. Individuals with treated hypertension had no increased risk of dementia compared with healthy controls.
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19. |
- Liu, Jun, et al.
(author)
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Microbial community structure and function in sediments from e-waste contaminated rivers at Guiyu area of China
- 2018
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In: Environmental Pollution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0269-7491. ; 235, s. 171-179
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The release of toxic organic pollutants and heavy metals by primitive electronic waste (e-waste) processing to waterways has raised significant concerns, but little is known about their potential ecological effects on aquatic biota especially microorganisms. We characterized the microbial community composition and diversity in sediments sampled along two rivers consistently polluted by e-waste, and explored how community functions may respond to the complex combined pollution. High-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that Proteobacteria (particularly Deltaproteobacteria) dominated the sediment microbial assemblages followed by Bacteroidetes, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi and Firmicutes. PICRUSt metagenome inference provided an initial insight into the metabolic potentials of these e-waste affected communities, speculating that organic pollutants degradation in the sediment might be mainly performed by some of the dominant genera (such as Sulfuricurvum, Thiobacillus and Burkholderia) detected in situ. Statistical analyses revealed that toxic organic compounds contributed more to the observed variations in sediment microbial community structure and predicted functions (24.68% and 8.89%, respectively) than heavy metals (12.18% and 4.68%), and Benzo(a)pyrene, bioavailable lead and electrical conductivity were the key contributors. These results have shed light on the microbial assemblages in e-waste contaminated river sediments, indicating a potential influence of e-waste pollution on the microbial community structure and function in aquatic ecosystems.
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20. |
- Liu, Qi, et al.
(author)
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Surface passivation and hole extraction : Bifunctional interfacial engineering toward high-performance all-inorganic CsPbIBr2 perovskite solar cells with efficiency exceeding 12%
- 2022
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In: Journal of Energy Challenges and Mechanics. - : Elsevier BV. - 2056-9386. ; 74, s. 387-393
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- All-inorganic CsPbIBr2 perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted considerable research attention in recent years due to their excellent thermal stability. However, their power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) are relatively low and still far below the theoretical limit. Here, we report the use of an organic dye molecule (namely VG1-C8) as a bifunctional interlayer between perovskite and the hole-transport layer in CsPbIBr2 PSCs. Combined experimental and theoretical calculation results disclose that the mul-tiple Lewis base sites in VG1-C8 can effectively passivate the trap states on the perovskite films. Meanwhile, the p-conjugated dye molecule significantly accelerates the hole extraction from the per-ovskite absorber as evidenced by the photoluminescence analysis. Consequently, the VG1-C8 treatment simultaneously boosts the photovoltage and photocurrent density values from 1.26 V and 10.80 mA cm -2 to 1.31 V and 12.44 mA cm -2, respectively. This leads to a significant enhancement of PCE from 9.20% to 12.10% under one sun irradiation (AM 1.5G). To our knowledge, this is the record efficiency reported so far for CsPbIBr2 PSCs. Thus, the present work demonstrates an effective interfacial passivation strategy for the development of highly efficient PSCs.
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21. |
- Lu, Qi, et al.
(author)
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Needs of family members caring for stroke survivors in China : A deductive qualitative content analysis study by using the caregiver task inventory-25
- 2022
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In: BMC Geriatrics. - : BioMed Central. - 1471-2318. ; 22:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BackgroundIn China, family caregivers are usually the main carers of relatives after stroke due to traditional Chinese culture and the limited development of the primary healthcare system. This responsibility often results in burdens and negative health outcomes. However, family caregivers seldom receive support. To improve informal care, as well as the health and well-being of family caregivers, it is important to identify their needs.ObjectiveThis study aimed to deductively explore the needs of family members caring for stroke survivors in China.MethodsTwenty-six semi-structured interviews were performed with family caregivers of stroke survivors who were selected from one city and three communities by purposive sampling. A deductive qualitative content analysis method was performed by using the Caregiver Task Inventory-25 (CTI-25), an instrument measuring the needs of family caregivers, as a framework.ResultsAll subscales, as well as all belonging items in the CTI-25, were identified in the present study, meaning that the family caregivers had needs related to learning to cope with new role, providing care according to care-receiver's needs, managing own emotional needs, appraising supportive resources, and balancing caregiving needs and one's own needs. Moreover, needs related to financial support, both direct and indirect, were identified but not part of the CTI-25.ConclusionThese findings identified that family caregivers of stroke survivors in China had various needs, which is important knowledge when assessing needs and improving health care for family caregivers. Cultural adjustments and modifications should be made if CTI-25 is used in mainland China. This study also indicated a comprehensive and holistic perspective (individual, community, and social level) when identifying, assessing needs or implementing interventions to support family caregivers.
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22. |
- Luo, Xiyu, et al.
(author)
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Effects of local compositional heterogeneity in mixed halide perovskites on blue electroluminescence
- 2024
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In: Matter. - 2590-2393. ; 7:3, s. 1054-1070
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Compositional heterogeneity is commonly observed in mixed bromide/iodide perovskite photoabsorbers, typically with minimal effects on charge carrier recombination and photovoltaic performance. Consistently, it has so far received very limited attention in bromide/chloride-mixed perovskites, which hold particular significance for blue light-emitting diodes. Here, we uncover that even a minor degree of localized halide heterogeneity leads to severe non-radiative losses in mixed bromide/chloride blue perovskite emitters, presenting a stark contrast to general observations in photovoltaics. We not only provide a visualization of the heterogeneity landscape spanning from micro-to sub-microscale but also identify that this issue mainly arises from the initially formed chloride-rich clusters during perovskite nucleation. Our work sheds light on a long-term neglected factor impeding the advancement of blue light-emitting diodes using mixed halide perovskites and provides a practical strategy to mitigate this issue.
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23. |
- Luo, Ziyu, et al.
(author)
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An Efficient Deep-Subwavelength Second Harmonic Nanoantenna Based on Surface Plasmon-Coupled Dilute Nitride GaNP Nanowires
- 2021
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In: Nano Letters. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 1530-6984 .- 1530-6992. ; 21:8, s. 3426-3434
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- High-index semiconductor nanoantennae represent a powerful platform for nonlinear photon generation. Devices with reduced footprints are pivotal for higher integration capacity and energy efficiency in photonic integrated circuitry (PIC). Here, we report on a deep subwavelength nonlinear antenna based on dilute nitride GaNP nanowires (NWs), whose second harmonic generation (SHG) shows a 5-fold increase by incorporating similar to 0.45% of nitrogen (N), in comparison with GaP counterpart. Further integrating with a gold (Au) thin film-based hybrid cavity achieves a significantly boosted SHG output by a factor of similar to 380, with a nonlinear conversion efficiency up to 9.4 x 10(-6) W-1. In addition, high-density zinc blende (ZB) twin phases were found to tailor the nonlinear radiation profile via dipolar interference, resulting in a highly symmetric polarimetric pattern well-suited for coupling with polarization nano-optics. Our results manifest dilute nitride nanoantenna as promising building blocks for future chip-based nonlinear photonic technology.
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24. |
- Sarneel, Judith M., et al.
(author)
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Reading tea leaves worldwide : decoupled drivers of initial litter decomposition mass-loss rate and stabilization
- 2024
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In: Ecology Letters. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1461-023X .- 1461-0248. ; 27:5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The breakdown of plant material fuels soil functioning and biodiversity. Currently, process understanding of global decomposition patterns and the drivers of such patterns are hampered by the lack of coherent large-scale datasets. We buried 36,000 individual litterbags (tea bags) worldwide and found an overall negative correlation between initial mass-loss rates and stabilization factors of plant-derived carbon, using the Tea Bag Index (TBI). The stabilization factor quantifies the degree to which easy-to-degrade components accumulate during early-stage decomposition (e.g. by environmental limitations). However, agriculture and an interaction between moisture and temperature led to a decoupling between initial mass-loss rates and stabilization, notably in colder locations. Using TBI improved mass-loss estimates of natural litter compared to models that ignored stabilization. Ignoring the transformation of dead plant material to more recalcitrant substances during early-stage decomposition, and the environmental control of this transformation, could overestimate carbon losses during early decomposition in carbon cycle models.
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25. |
- Sarneel, Judith M., et al.
(author)
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Reading tea leaves worldwide: Decoupled drivers of initial litter decomposition mass-loss rate and stabilization
- 2024
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In: ECOLOGY LETTERS. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1461-023X .- 1461-0248. ; 27:5
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The breakdown of plant material fuels soil functioning and biodiversity. Currently, process understanding of global decomposition patterns and the drivers of such patterns are hampered by the lack of coherent large-scale datasets. We buried 36,000 individual litterbags (tea bags) worldwide and found an overall negative correlation between initial mass-loss rates and stabilization factors of plant-derived carbon, using the Tea Bag Index (TBI). The stabilization factor quantifies the degree to which easy-to-degrade components accumulate during early-stage decomposition (e.g. by environmental limitations). However, agriculture and an interaction between moisture and temperature led to a decoupling between initial mass-loss rates and stabilization, notably in colder locations. Using TBI improved mass-loss estimates of natural litter compared to models that ignored stabilization. Ignoring the transformation of dead plant material to more recalcitrant substances during early-stage decomposition, and the environmental control of this transformation, could overestimate carbon losses during early decomposition in carbon cycle models.
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