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Abstract Fractional quantum Hall (FQH) phases emerge due to strong electronic interactions and are characterized by anyonic quasiparticles, each distinguished by unique topological parameters, fractional charge, and statistics. In contrast, the integer quantum Hall (IQH) effects can be understood from the band topology of non-interacting electrons. We report a surprising super-universality of the critical behavior across all FQH and IQH transitions. Contrary to the anticipated state-dependent critical exponents, our findings reveal the same critical scaling exponent κ = 0.41 ± 0.02 and localization length exponent γ = 2.4 ± 0.2 for fractional and integer quantum Hall transitions. From these, we extract the value of the dynamical exponent z ≈ 1. We have achieved this in ultra-high mobility trilayer graphene devices with a metallic screening layer close to the conduction channels. The observation of these global critical exponents across various quantum Hall phase transitions was masked in previous studies by significant sample-to-sample variation in the measured values of κ in conventional semiconductor heterostructures, where long-range correlated disorder dominates. We show that the robust scaling exponents are valid in the limit of short-range disorder correlations.

This study aims to provide a thorough ecological understanding of fin fish diversity within carp spawning grounds in the Surma River and Tanguar haor. Over two spawning seasons, this research investigates ecological factors impacting fin fish diversity and abundance in carp spawning grounds of the Surma River and Tanguar haor, emphasizing water quality, habitat features, spawn availability, and environmental influences. Fish spawn samples were collected with eight “Savar nets” at chosen sites and reared in a fiberglass tank at the mini hatchery for species identification. The representative spawn samples were examined under a microscope for preliminary species identification before rearing. The study found that both the Surma River and Tanguar haor offer ideal conditions for carp spawning due to factors such as water quality, natural food availability, habitat suitability, and favorable climatic conditions. The study identified 39 fish species under the 10 fish groups from both locations, with a higher percentage of carp species (31.42%) in the Surma River in 2021 compared to 2022 (22.50%). In Tanguar haor, the percentage of carp species was 7.55% and 6.50% in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The Surma River’s ecological indices (2021-2022) indicated decreased diversity, likely due to environmental degradation, while Tanguar haor showed lower diversity possibly attributable to multiple environmental stressors. The dominant carp species, Labeo calbasu, Labeo bata, and Labeo gonius, were identified in both the Surma River and Tanguar haor. The spawning distribution varied among different locations, with some sites showing a presence of carp species, such as Hajipur T1 in the Surma River and Alam Duar T2 in Tanguar haor. The findings highlight the importance of hydrological and environmental parameters in shaping carp spawning habitat distribution and abundance, contributing to aquatic biodiversity conservation and resource management.

Tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a pivotal role in immuno-oncology, which investigates the intricate interactions between tumors and the human immune system. Specifically, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are crucial biomarkers for evaluating the prognosis of breast cancer patients and have the potential to refine immunotherapy precision and accurately identify tumor cells in specific cancer types. In this study, we conducted tissue segmentation and lymphocyte detection tasks to predict TIL scores by employing self-supervised learning (SSL) model-based approaches capable of addressing limited labeling data issues. Our experiments showed a 1.9% improvement in tissue segmentation and a 2% improvement in lymphocyte detection over the ImageNet pre-training model. Using these SSL-based models, we achieved a TIL score of 0.718 with a 4.4% improvement. In particular, when trained with only 10% of the entire dataset, the SwAV pre-trained model exhibited a superior performance over other models. Our work highlights improved tissue segmentation and lymphocyte detection using the SSL model with less labeled data for TIL score prediction.

Deep learning techniques have recently demonstrated remarkable success in numerous domains. Typically, the success of these deep learning models is measured in terms of performance metrics such as accuracy and mean average precision (mAP). Generally, a model's high performance is highly valued, but it frequently comes at the expense of substantial energy costs and carbon footprint emissions during the model building step. Massive emission of CO2 has a deleterious impact on life on earth in general and is a serious ethical concern that is largely ignored in deep learning research. In this article, we mainly focus on environmental costs and the means of mitigating carbon footprints in deep learning models, with a particular focus on models created using knowledge distillation (KD). Deep learning models typically contain a large number of parameters, resulting in a 'heavy' model. A heavy model scores high on performance metrics but is incompatible with mobile and edge computing devices. Model compression techniques such as knowledge distillation enable the creation of lightweight, deployable models for these low-resource devices. KD generates lighter models and typically performs with slightly less accuracy than the heavier teacher model (model accuracy by the teacher model on CIFAR 10, CIFAR 100, and TinyImageNet is 95.04%, 76.03%, and 63.39%; model accuracy by KD is 91.78%, 69.7%, and 60.49%). Although the distillation process makes models deployable on low-resource devices, they were found to consume an exorbitant amount of energy and have a substantial carbon footprint (15.8, 17.9, and 13.5 times more carbon compared to the corresponding teacher model). The enormous environmental cost is primarily attributable to the tuning of the hyperparameter, Temperature (τ). In this article, we propose measuring the environmental costs of deep learning work (in terms of GFLOPS in millions, energy consumption in kWh, and CO2 equivalent in grams). In order to create lightweight models with low environmental costs, we propose a straightforward yet effective method for selecting a hyperparameter (τ) using a stochastic approach for each training batch fed into the models. We applied knowledge distillation (including its data-free variant) to problems involving image classification and object detection. To evaluate the robustness of our method, we ran experiments on various datasets (CIFAR 10, CIFAR 100, Tiny ImageNet, and PASCAL VOC) and models (ResNet18, MobileNetV2, Wrn-40-2). Our novel approach reduces the environmental costs by a large margin by eliminating the requirement of expensive hyperparameter tuning without sacrificing performance. Empirical results on the CIFAR 10 dataset show that the stochastic technique achieves an accuracy of 91.67%, whereas tuning achieves an accuracy of 91.78%-however, the stochastic approach reduces the energy consumption and CO2 equivalent each by a factor of 19. Similar results have been obtained with CIFAR 100 and TinyImageNet dataset. This pattern is also observed in object detection classification on the PASCAL VOC dataset, where the tuning technique performs similarly to the stochastic technique, with a difference of 0.03% mAP favoring the stochastic technique while reducing the energy consumptions and CO2 emission each by a factor of 18.5.

BackgroundSecondhand smoke (SHS) poses a high health risk to those living in multiunit housing (MUH) since it can easily spread from unit to unit and throughout the building's communal areas. MUH residents in Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable to SHS due to the absence of smoking restrictions within a housing complex. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of SHS exposure and its associated factors among MUH residents living in seven divisional cities of Bangladesh- Dhaka, Chattogram, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Barishal, and Rangpur.MethodsFrom April 2019 to November 2019, a cross-sectional survey was conducted with 616 MUH residents aged 18 or older who had been residing in MUH for at least two years in the seven divisional cities of Bangladesh. A multivariable logistic regression model was performed to determine the associated factors of SHS exposure.ResultsIn MUH complexes, more than half (54.9%) of the 616 respondents were exposed to SHS. The key factors positively associated with SHS exposure were females (aOR: 1.8, 95% CI:1.236-2.681), residents with a low monthly family income (aOR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.162-3.220), those whose family members smoked (aOR: 2.4, 95% CI: 1.537-3.746), and Dhaka city residents (aOR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.013-3.440).ConclusionsThis study revealed a high prevalence of SHS exposure among Bangladeshi MUH residents. Therefore, a smoking ban is needed in and around MUH complexes to protect non-smoking residents from SHS exposure.

COVID-19 posed the healthcare professionals at enormous risk during this pandemic era while vaccination was recommended as one of the effective preventive approaches. It was visualized that almost all health workforces would be under vaccination on a priority basis as they are the frontline fighters during this pandemic. This study was designed to explore the reality regarding infection and vaccination status of COVID-19 among healthcare professionals of Bangladesh. It was a web-based cross-sectional survey and conducted among 300 healthcare professionals available in the academic platform of Bangladesh. A multivariate logistic regression model was used for the analytical exploration. Adjusted and Unadjusted Odds Ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated for the specified setting indicators. A Chi-square test was used to observe the association. Ethical issues were maintained according to the guidance of the declaration of Helsinki. Study revealed that 41% of all respondents identified as COVID-19 positive whereas a significant number (18.3%) found as non-vaccinated due to registration issues as 52.70%, misconception regarding vaccination as 29.10%, and health-related issues as 18.20%. Respondents of more than 50 years of age found more significant on having positive infection rather than the younger age groups. Predictors for the non-vaccination guided that male respondents (COR/p = 3.49/0.01), allied health professionals, and respondents from the public organizations (p = 0.01) who were ≤29 (AOR/p = 4.45/0.01) years of age significantly identified as non-vaccinated. As the older female groups were found more infected and a significant number of health care professionals found as non-vaccinated, implementation of specific strategies and policies are needed to ensure the safety precautions and vaccination among such COVID-19 frontiers.

COVID-19 posed the healthcare professionals at enormous risk during this pandemic era while vaccination was recommended as one of the effective preventive approaches. It was visualized that almost all health workforces would be under vaccination on a priority basis as they are the frontline fighters during this pandemic. This study was designed to explore the reality regarding infection and vaccination status of COVID-19 among healthcare professionals of Bangladesh. It was a web-based cross-sectional survey and conducted among 300 healthcare professionals available in the academic platform of Bangladesh. A multivariate logistic regression model was used for the analytical exploration. Adjusted and Unadjusted Odds Ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated for the specified setting indicators. A Chi-square test was used to observe the association. Ethical issues were maintained according to the guidance of the declaration of Helsinki. Study revealed that 41% of all respondents identified as COVID-19 positive whereas a significant number (18.3%) found as non-vaccinated due to registration issues as 52.70%, misconception regarding vaccination as 29.10%, and health-related issues as 18.20%. Respondents of more than 50 years of age found more significant on having positive infection rather than the younger age groups. Predictors for the non-vaccination guided that male respondents (COR/p = 3.49/0.01), allied health professionals, and respondents from the public organizations (p = 0.01) who were ≤29 (AOR/p = 4.45/0.01) years of age significantly identified as non-vaccinated. As the older female groups were found more infected and a significant number of health care professionals found as non-vaccinated, implementation of specific strategies and policies are needed to ensure the safety precautions and vaccination among such COVID-19 frontiers.

Healthcare professionals play a pivotal role in protecting and saving the lives of general people. As health workers are more likely to be infected with COVID-19, it is inevitable to safeguard them through vaccination in advance to continue healthcare services. Hence the study aimed to explore the infection and vaccination status along with immediate health consequences among these frontiers. This was a cross-sectional, web-delivered study conducted among the 300 healthcare frontiers working at COVID-19 dedicated hospitals in eight divisions of Bangladesh. The study questionnaire encompasses infection, vaccination status with dose information, and demographical and organizational information among the respondents. A multivariate logistic regression model and Chi-square test was used for the analytical exploration. Adjusted and Unadjusted Odds Ratio with a 95% confidence interval was calculated for the specified setting indicators. The study revealed that 49% of all respondents tested positive whereas 98% of them were found vaccinated of which mostly (52.3%) had their 2nddoses and 68.7% faced immediate health consequences for having the vaccination. As predictor for COVID-19 infection status, young and senior adult group (30-39 years: AOR = 2.01/0.03; 95% CI: 1.08-3.76; >50 years: AOR = 4.36/0.01; 95% CI: 1.65-11.55) and respondents who received Sinopharm as their vaccine found to have more significant positive infection history. The predictors regarding experiencing immediate health effects after vaccination, surprisingly female (AOR = 3.31/0.01; 95% CI: 1.82-6.04) health professionals of the capital city (AOR = 1.91/0.03; 95% CI: 1.06-3.46) were observed to have health consequences on vaccination. As the older female group (>50 years) in the nursing profession was found more infected with COVID-19 and a significant number of health professionals especially the age group (30-39 years) in the nursing profession experienced immediate health effects of COVID-19 vaccination, implementation of specific strategies and policies are needed to ensure the safety precaution and effective vaccination among the health professionals of Bangladesh.

The interferon-inducible transmembrane (IFITM) proteins belong to the Dispanin/CD225 family and inhibit diverse virus infections. IFITM3 reduces membrane fusion between cells and virions through a poorly characterized mechanism. Mutation of proline-rich transmembrane protein 2 (PRRT2), a regulator of neurotransmitter release, at glycine-305 was previously linked to paroxysmal neurological disorders in humans. Here, we show that glycine-305 and the homologous site in IFITM3, glycine-95, drive protein oligomerization from within a GxxxG motif. Mutation of glycine-95 (and to a lesser extent, glycine-91) disrupted IFITM3 oligomerization and reduced its antiviral activity against Influenza A virus. An oligomerization-defective variant was used to reveal that IFITM3 promotes membrane rigidity in a glycine-95-dependent and amphipathic helix-dependent manner. Furthermore, a compound which counteracts virus inhibition by IFITM3, Amphotericin B, prevented the IFITM3-mediated rigidification of membranes. Overall, these data suggest that IFITM3 oligomers inhibit virus-cell fusion by promoting membrane rigidity.

In order to elucidate involvement of cyclic AMP and intracellular Ca2+,[Ca2+]i, in the modulation of aqueous humour formation (AHF), we studied the effects of terbutaline, forskolin and 8-Br-cAMP in the isolated bovine eye. We also studied the interaction of cAMP on calcium signaling in cultured ciliary epithelial (CE) cells. Drug effects on AHF were measured by fluorescein dilution. Drug effects on [Ca2+]i were studied by the fura-2 fluorescence ratio technique. Terbutaline (100 nmol-100 M), forskolin (30 nM-100 M) or 8-Br-cAMP (100 nM- 10 μM), administered in the arterial perfusate produced significant reductions in AHF. The AH reducing effect of terbutaline was blocked by a selective inhibitor of protein kinase A (KT-5720). ATP (100 M) caused a rapid, transient (peak) increase in [Ca2+]i followed by a sustained plateau phase lasting more than 5 minutes. Preincubation of the cells (6 min) with terbutaline, forskolin or 8-Br-cAMP significantly reduced the peak calcium response to ATP. The sustained plateau phase of the response, on the other hand, was augmented by each of the agents. KT-5720 partially reversed the inhibitory effect of terbutaline on the peak and totally inhibited its effect on the plateau phase. These data indicate: (a) that AHF in the bovine eye can be manipulated through cyclic AMP, operating via protein kinase A, (b) that protein kinase A can affect [Ca2+]i homeostasis, (c) that calcium release from the intracellular store, not the entry, affects AHF, and (d) that interaction of [Ca2+]i with cAMP plays a role in modulating AH secretion.

A growing body of evidence indicates that renal tissue injuries are reversible. We investigated whether dietary salt reduction with the combination therapy of angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker (ARB) plus calcium channel blocker (CCB) reverses renal tissue injury in Dahl salt-sensitive (DSS) hypertensive rats. DSS rats were fed a high-salt diet (HS; 4% NaCl) for 4 weeks. Then, DSS rats were given one of the following for 10 weeks: HS diet; normal-salt diet (NS; 0.5% NaCl), NS + an ARB (olmesartan, 10 mg/kg/day), NS + a CCB (azelnidipine, 3 mg/kg/day), NS + olmesartan + azelnidipine or NS + hydralazine (50 mg/kg/day). Four weeks of treatment with HS diet induced hypertension, proteinuria, glomerular sclerosis and hypertrophy, glomerular podocyte injury, and tubulointerstitial fibrosis in DSS rats. A continued HS diet progressed hypertension, proteinuria and renal tissue injury, which was associated with inflammatory cell infiltration and increased proinflammatory cytokine mRNA levels, NADPH oxidase activity and NADPH oxidase-dependent superoxide production in the kidney. In contrast, switching to NS halted the progression of hypertension, renal glomerular and tubular injuries. Dietary salt reduction with ARB or with CCB treatment further reduced blood pressure and partially reversed renal tissues injury. Furthermore, dietary salt reduction with the combination of ARB plus CCB elicited a strong recovery from HS-induced renal tissue injury including the attenuation of inflammation and oxidative stress. These data support the hypothesis that dietary salt reduction with combination therapy of an ARB plus CCB restores glomerular and tubulointerstitial injury in DSS rats.

Recent clinical trials have demonstrated that combination therapy with renin-angiotensin system inhibitors plus calcium channel blockers (CCBs) elicits beneficial effects on cardiovascular and renal events in hypertensive patients with high cardiovascular risks. In the present study, we hypothesized that CCB enhances the protective effects of an angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker (ARB) against diabetic cerebrovascular-renal injury. Saline-drinking type 2 diabetic KK-A(y) mice developed hypertension and exhibited impaired cognitive function, blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption, albuminuria, glomerular sclerosis and podocyte injury. These brain and renal injuries were associated with increased gene expression of NADPH oxidase components, NADPH oxidase activity and oxidative stress in brain and kidney tissues as well as systemic oxidative stress. Treatment with the ARB, olmesartan (10 mg/kg/day) reduced blood pressure in saline-drinking KK-A(y) mice and attenuated cognitive decline, BBB disruption, glomerular injury and albuminuria, which were associated with a reduction of NADPH oxidase activity and oxidative stress in brain and kidney tissues as well as systemic oxidative stress. Furthermore, a suppressive dose of azelnidipine (3 mg/kg/day) exaggerated these beneficial effects of olmesartan. These data support the hypothesis that a CCB enhances ARB-associated cerebrovascular-renal protective effects through suppression of NADPH oxidase-dependent oxidative stress in type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: The antiseptic effect of gastric irrigation before endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has not yet been reported. The aim of the randomized prospective study is to evaluate the antiseptic effects of gastric irrigation of saline solution before ESD by evaluating bacterial count. METHODS: This prospective randomized controlled trial included 50 patients diagnosed with early gastric cancer who were randomly divided into 2 groups (25 patients in each group) by using the opaque envelope method: the clean group (irrigation with 2 L saline solution before ESD) and the regular group (no irrigation). The gastric juice was collected and cultured before ESD. The entire stomach was irrigated using a water jet attached to an endoscope. After ESD with resection and removal of the tumor specimen, a postoperative culture of the gastric juice was obtained using the same method as the preoperative culture. RESULTS: The mean log bacterial count of the post-gastric irrigation gastric juice was 5.08±0.75 in the regular group and 1.86±0.86 in the clean group. The difference in the bacterial counts was significant between the groups (P = 0.0004). The difference in the white blood cells (WBC) count on POD 1 was significant (P = 0.044). WBC count on POD 2 did not significantly differ between the groups (P = 0.3). The difference in the body temperature (BT) on POD 1 was significant (P = 0.017), On POD 2 the BT was not significant between the groups (P = 0.5). On POD 1, 88% of the patients in the regular group and 16% of the patients in the clean group had mild to moderate spontaneous pain (P = 0.0026). On POD 2 the proportion with mild to moderate spontaneous pain was 36% and 24% in the regular group and the clean group, respectively (P = 0.1). CONCLUSION: Pre-ESD gastric irrigation with saline solution is effective and feasible for suppressing infection during the ESD procedure with favorable clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION INFORMATION: The university hospital medical information network (UMIN) #000008691.