Newport (United States)

Global warming and climate change have created various problems, one of which is the increase in harmful algal blooms (HABs) in freshwater systems. Annually, numerous freshwater bodies experience cyanobacterial HABs, which pose significant ecological and public health risks. In this study, we investigated a novel strategy for controlling cyanobacteria by inhibiting CO2 fixation using glycolaldehyde (GLA) as a nonoxidative algicide. After treatment of Microcystis aeruginosa (M. aeruginosa), a model cyanobacterium, with various doses of GLA, changes in cell number and biomass were observed, along with alterations in the photochemical efficiency of Photosystem II and electron transfer processes in M. aeruginosa, as measured through chlorophyll a fluorescence transients. Treatment with GLA concentrations of 2.5 mM and above completely suppressed the growth and photosynthesis of the M. aeruginosa cells. However, the use of 0.5 mM GLA led to a hormetic effect in M. aeruginosa. When GLA was tested on cyanobacteria-laden water samples collected from a lake, primarily consisting of colonial M. aeruginosa cells, the obtained results indicated that GLA is equally effective against them. These results suggest that GLA could potentially control both M. aeruginosa and other phytoplankton. Our findings led us to consider target-specific approaches for the control and mitigation of cyanobacterial HABs.

Recurrent neural networks are a kind of recursion which takes sequence data as input and carries on the evolution of temporal dependency data. Variational quantum algorithms use classical computers as the quantum optimizer to update the circuit parameters. In this work, we propose a variational quantum algorithm of the recurrent neural network, which we dub VQRNN, to find approximate optima in the time series forecasting. Motivated by the variational quantum algorithms, we train classical activation functions to assist quantum computing. Here, unlike the quantum tensor networks (QTN) algorithm that predicts a single output feature with a single time step, our algorithm can forecast multi-output features by adjusting the recurrent hidden state. Finally, we deploy the QTN and VQRNN algorithms on the Origin Quantum platform with the numerical simulator backends using the Meteorological data set. Experimental results show that the atmospheric pressure prediction accuracy of VQRNN is 99.8864% in multi-feature forecasting tasks. In addition, we conclude that the variation-based model has an excellent performance in multi-feature output forecasting.

To keep up with the growth of human population and to circumvent deleterious effects of global climate change, it is essential to enhance crop yield to achieve higher production. Here we review mathematical models of oxygenic photosynthesis that are extensively used, and discuss in depth a subset that accounts for diverse approaches providing solutions to our objective. These include models (1) to study different ways to enhance photosynthesis, such as fine-tuning antenna size, photoprotection and electron transport; (2) to bioengineer carbon metabolism; and (3) to evaluate the interactions between the process of photosynthesis and the seasonal crop dynamics, or those that have included statistical whole-genome prediction methods to quantify the impact of photosynthesis traits on the improvement of crop yield. We conclude by emphasizing that the results obtained in these studies clearly demonstrate that mathematical modelling is a key tool to examine different approaches to improve photosynthesis for better productivity, while effective multiscale crop models, especially those that also include remote sensing data, are indispensable to verify different strategies to obtain maximized crop yields.

BackgroundApplication of topical anesthetic agent prior to injection is the most commonly used method to control initial needle penetration pain of local anesthetic injection. Ice and vibration stimulus application are other nonpharmacologic methods used to reduce painful sensations of injection. The present study aims to verify and compare topical anesthetic, ice pretreatment, and electric toothbrush as a vibratory device, to reduce the pain of local anesthetic injections.The study was conducted on children aged 5–12 years, requiring extraction of a maxillary primary tooth. A randomized control trial design was used wherein each child was randomly assigned by permuted block randomization design method to receive either lignocaine 5% as topical anesthetic or ice pretreatment or motorized toothbrush as a vibratory device during local anesthetic injections. Sound, eye, and motor (SEM) scale was used for objective evaluation of pain during injection, and Faces Pain Scale (FPS) was used for subjective evaluation. For statistical analysis, nonparametric test — Kruskal Wallis/ANOVA test for three groups and between two groups Mann–Whitney U-test, was used to compare SEM and FPS values. Level of significance chosen was p < 0.05.ResultsSEM (palatal) and FPS (palatal) scores were slightly higher in topical anesthetic group as compared to ice pretreatment or vibration group, but the differences were not statistically significant. There were no statistically significant differences among SEM (buccal) and FPS (buccal) scores in all the three groups.ConclusionsIce cooling and electric toothbrush-induced vibration were as effective as topical anesthetic for reduction in pain due to injection.Trial registrationThe CTRI number of the trial is CTRI/2021/03/032046.

BackgroundChild poverty is a global injustice. UK is the 6th richest country in the world. However, the number of children and families in poverty in UK is increasing every year. Currently nearly 4 million children in UK (27% of children) live in poverty.1 Children from ethnic minorities or in single parent families are more likely to be living in poverty.2 Children living in poverty are more likely to have poorer health outcomes including low birth weight, poor physical health, and mental health problems. The health impacts of growing up in poverty are significant and follow children across their life.3 Poverty and inequality are not just economic issues but is also an ethical issue.ObjectivesWorking in partnership with MKDons our local football club charity to organise a one-day ‘Health Camp’ for 0–10year-old children in the poorest area in Milton Keynes.MethodsA health camp flyer was distributed in local schools and areas a month before the event. The event was held in the Community Council hub that also hosts community larder, community fridge and food bank. On the day, 5 health professionals (GP, Paediatrician, Dentist, Dietician and Health visitor) held ‘drop in’ clinics for children 0–10 years. We collected formal and informal feedback from council hub staff, health professionals, children, and parents on their experience of the day.ResultsAll those surveyed said that accessing different health professionals is difficult. For simple ailments and queries, parents would prefer a ‘drop-in clinic’ that is held regularly. Meeting in a local council hub that families access every week for subsidised or free food reduces the need to travel. Council staff were concerned that many families were going hungry and struggling with rising costs of living including heating. The dietician had many examples of cooking health food with minimal cost and effort that was well received. The dentist was the most popular health staff on the day for adults and children as parents struggle to register with NHS dentist and cannot afford private dentist.Conclusion/DiscussionThe ‘drop in’ health camp was appreciated by council staff and the families that visited on the day. The health professionals felt that such initiatives make a difference in addressing the needs of the socio economically disadvantaged families in our community. Going forward, we aim to hold a ‘Health Camp’ at all the 5 poorest areas in our city.Referenceshttps://cpag.org.uk/child-poverty/child-poverty-facts-and-figureshttps://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/child-health-inequalities-position-statementhttps://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/poorest-get-worse-quality-of-nhs-care-in-england-new-research-finds

In the present work a Jain type modification of the generalized Szász-Mirakyan operators that preserve constant and exponential mappings is presented. The introduction of this operator helps to extend the class of operators that preserve exponential functions. A particular expansion involving the Lambert W-function is established which is used to obtain properties of the operator. Moments, and central moments, are presented with some limiting properties. A Voronovskaya type theorem, as well as other theorems, are discussed with results. Other select properties are also presented.Moments, recurrence formulas, and other identities are established for these operators. Approximation properties are also obtained with use of the Bohman-Korovkin theorem.

Abstract Postoperative cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak is a serious complication after surgical treatment of craniopharyngioma. The objective of this study is to analyze postoperative CSF leak rates following transsphenoidal resection of craniopharyngioma in adult versus pediatric patient populations. PRISMA guidelines were used to query the Pubmed, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases for studies of craniopharyngioma resection in adult or pediatric patients from the past three decades. The following search terms, ("craniopharyngioma") AND ("cerebrospinal fluid" OR "CSF") AND ("leak" OR "rhinorrhea") AND ("resection" OR "surgery") AND ("transsphenoidal" OR "endonasal"), were used. The primary outcome variable collected was presence of postoperative CSF leak. Pooled analyses were performed to determine the rates of CSF leak in adult and pediatric cases. In addition, a meta-analysis was performed to compare the rates of CSF leak in the adult versus pediatric cohort. Of the 21 included studies, 8 studies reported adult cases, 9 studies reported pediatric cases, and 4 studies reported both adult and pediatric cases, for a total of 468 cases. The majority of studies were level 4 evidence (90.5%, 19/21), while two studies were level 3 evidence (9.5%, 2/21). Analysis of postoperative CSF leak in adult and pediatric cases revealed rates of 29% (95% CI: 21%-39%) and 13% (95% CI: 9%-19%), respectively. Using a random-effects meta-analysis model, we found that there was no significant difference between the two cohorts (RR: 1.56; 95% CI = 0.52-4.71; P = 0.43). The present study is the first to analyze postoperative CSF leak rates in adult and pediatric patients undergoing transsphenoidal resection of craniopharyngiomas. While we found that there is no significant difference in CSF leak rates between adult and pediatric patients, further studies of higher methodological quality are warranted to provide a better understanding of complication profiles following resection of adult and pediatric craniopharyngiomas.

Biologically complex coastal environments, such as coral reefs, demonstrate an equally rich ambient soundscape. Bioacoustic features of coastal soundscapes are closely tied with relative ecosystem health, functional groups present, and can be linked with specific behaviors. Biological contributions to ambient soundscapes have distinctive qualities as compared to sound associated with physical processes (i.e. wind and wave noise). While some biological components are readily identifiable, such as marine mammal or fish calls, the background noise associated with hundreds of thousands of biological clicks, snaps, and pops is not as well studied but contains a wealth of information about the ecosystem. A 64-element line array with 4.5 kHz design frequency was deployed for several field experiments off the coast of Kona, Hawaii in 2019 and 2020. Soundscape data from Hawaii were compared with comparable omnidirectional time series from Bermuda (2020) and coastal New England rocky reefs (2020–2021). Similarities in certain spectral features associated with biological sound sources were found between these unique ecosystems. The characteristic coral reef evening chorus, or significant increase in sound levels immediately prior to sunset, was consistent in Hawaii and Bermuda with comparable crepuscular changes in coastal New England.