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As an alternative to traditional meteorological methods, rain attenuation in satellite-to-Earth microwave communication signals has been used for rainfall reconstruction in recent years. In this article, the existing 2-D rain field reconstruction problem is extended to a 3-D scenario by leveraging the low Earth orbit satellite system. A compressive sensing approach is further proposed to solve the 3-D rain field reconstruction problem. The Starlink system is used as a reference, and two synthetic rain events near the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, which are generated from the weather research and forecasting model, are used to evaluate the reconstruction performance. Simulation results show that the compressive sensing approach performs better than both the traditional least squares and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator approaches.

The flowing electrolyte in a zinc-air fuel cell (ZAFC) can reduce the problem of incomplete reaction caused by the concentration gradient of the electrolyte. In this study, we propose a self-developed ZAFC with a flowing electrolyte system and optimize control parameters. The anode of the ZAFC used Zn particles through which the electrolyte penetrates and combined with a negative pressure pump to allow the potassium hydroxide (KOH) electrolyte to have an effective chemical reaction with the Zn particles during the discharge process. However, the flow rate of the electrolyte is required to match other control parameters, such as operating temperature, KOH concentration, and cell size, to effectively improve the efficiency of ZAFC. Therefore, the Taguchi method is adopted to obtain the optimal reaction parameters and the key factors affecting the discharge efficiency of the cell. The best operation condition is the temperature at 50°C, the KOH concentration of 30% wt, and the electrolyte flow rate of 150ml/min; then, the maximum power obtained from the experimental results is 13.8 W, the maximum current density reaches 699.721 mA/cm2, and the maximum power density is 395.037 mW/cm2. This paper provides valuable insights for the upgrade of ZAFC for future practical applications.

Understanding the solution-phase behaviour of organic semiconducting polymers is important for systematically improving the performance of devices based on solution-processed thin films of these molecules. Conventional polymer theory predicts that polymer conformations become more compact as solvent quality decreases, but recent experiments have shown the high-performance organic-semiconducting polymer P(NDI2OD-T2) to form extended rod-like aggregates much larger than a single chain in poor solvents, with the formation of these extended aggregates correlated with enhanced electron mobility in films deposited from these solutions. We explain the unexpected formation of extended aggregates using a novel coarse-grained simulation model of P(NDI2OD-T2) that we have developed to study the effect of solvent quality on its solution-phase behaviour. In poor solvents, we find that aggregation through only a few monomers gives effectively inseparable chains, leading to the formation of extended structures of partially overlapping chains via non-equilibrium assembly. This behaviour requires that multi-chain aggregation occurs faster than chain folding, which we show is the case for the chain lengths and concentrations shown experimentally to form rod-like aggregates. This kinetically controlled process introduces a dependence of aggregate structure on concentration, chain length, and chain flexibility, which we show is able to reconcile experimental findings and is generalisable to the solution-phase assembly of other semiflexible polymers.

Background PLG0206 is an investigational, engineered cationic antimicrobial peptide designed to overcome the shortcomings of other natural AMPs, such as toxicity and limited activity. PLG0206 has recently been shown to be well tolerated and safe when administered i.v. in a Phase 1 study. The initial proposed indication for this peptide is the treatment of periprosthetic joint infections via irrigation due to a broad spectrum of activity and anti-biofilm properties. This study evaluated the activity of PLG0206 and comparator antimicrobials against staphylococci and enterococci, causes of periprosthetic joint infections, from the IHMA repository of isolates collected from various world-wide locations in 2019. Methods Isolates tested included Enterococcus faecalis (77), E. faecium (75), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA, 180), methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA, 121) and 152 coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) comprised of S. epidermidis (113), S. haemolyticus (31), S. hominis (4), S. lugdunensis (1), S. saprophyticus (2) and S. simulans (1). Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined by CLSI broth microdilution in cation-adjusted Mueller Hinton broth (CA-MHB), except for PLG0206 which was tested in RPMI medium due to plate-reading difficulties with CA-MHB. The susceptibility of comparators was determined using the 2022 CLSI breakpoints. MDR was defined as resistance to ≥ 3 antibacterial classes. Results When tested in RPMI, 18 E. faecalis, 29 E. faecium, 9 S. aureus and 7 CoNS were unable to grow. Summary MIC and susceptibility data for PLG0206 and comparators just including those isolates able to grow in RPMI are shown in the Table. Identical MIC50 and MIC90 values were obtained for PLG0206 when tested against MDR E. faecium (38), MDR CoNS (63) and MDR MRSA (67). Insufficient numbers of MDR MSSA (7) and MDR E. faecalis (4) were tested to accurately evaluate. Conclusion PLG0206 was the most potent antimicrobial overall (based on MIC50 and MIC90) against enterococci and CoNS and compared well with the comparators against MRSA and MSSA. These data support the evaluation of this novel antimicrobial peptide as a treatment option for periprosthetic joint infections, including those caused by MDR strains. Disclosures David Huang, MD, PhD, Peptilogics: Employee Jonathan Steckbeck, PhD, Peptilogics: I am CEO of Peptilogics.

Background PLG0206 is an investigational, engineered cationic antimicrobial peptide designed to overcome the shortcomings of other natural AMPs, such as toxicity and limited activity. PLG0206 has recently been shown to be well tolerated and safe in a phase 1 study. This study evaluated the activity of PLG0206 and comparator antimicrobials against Enterobacterales isolates from the IHMA repository collected from various world-wide locations in 2019. Methods Isolates tested included Citrobacter spp. (151), Enterobacter cloacae (152), Escherichia coli (300), Klebsiella pneumoniae (300), Morganella morganii (43), Proteus spp. (152), Providencia spp. (61) and Serratia marcescens (45). Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined by CLSI broth microdilution in cation-adjusted Mueller Hinton broth (CA-MHB), except for PLG0206 which was tested in RPMI medium due to plate-reading difficulties with CA-MHB. The susceptibility of comparators was determined using the 2022 CLSI breakpoints. MDR was defined as resistance to ≥ 3 antibacterial classes. Results Summary MIC and susceptibility data against Citrobacter spp., E. coli, E. cloacae, and K. pneumoniae are shown in the Table. PLG0206 retained activity against MDR isolates of Citrobacter spp. (26), E. coli (92), E. cloacae (45), and K. pneumoniae (132) with MIC50/90 values of 1/2, 1/2, 1/16 and 8/16 μg/mL, respectively. PLG0206 was essentially inactive against the Morganellaceae and Yersiniaceae isolates tested with MIC50 and MIC90 values of > 32 μg/mL (data not shown). Conclusion PLG0206 was active against isolates from the family Enterobacteriaceae, including MDR strains. The spectrum of activity of PLG0206 ranged from being most active against Citrobacter spp. and least active against K. pneumoniae. These data suggest that the novel antimicrobial peptide PLG0206 could be a potential treatment option against infections caused by Enterobacteriaceae isolates. Disclosures David Huang, MD, PhD, Peptilogics: Employee Jonathan Steckbeck, PhD, Peptilogics: I am CEO of Peptilogics.

This report examines changes in health disparities over time by race and ethnicity for HP2020 objectives using three measures of disparity.

Ticks in the familyIxodidaeare important vectors of zoonoses including Lyme disease (LD), which is caused by spirochete bacteria from theBorreliella(Borrelia)burgdorferisensu lato (Bbsl) complex. The blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) continues to expand across Canada, creating hotspots of elevated LD risk at the leading edge of its expansion range. Current efforts to understand the risk of pathogen transmission associated withI. scapularisin Canada focus primarily on targeted screens, while variation in the tick microbiome remains poorly understood. Using multi-omics consisting of 16S metabarcoding and ribosome-depleted, whole-shotgun RNA transcriptome sequencing, we examined the microbial communities associated with adultI. scapularis(N = 32), sampled from four tissue types (whole tick, salivary glands, midgut, and viscera) and three geographical locations within a LD hotspot near Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The communities consisted of both endosymbiotic and known or potentially pathogenic microbes, including RNA viruses, bacteria, and aBabesiasp. intracellular parasite. We show that β-diversity is significantly higher between individual tick salivary gland and midgut bacterial communities, compared to whole ticks; while linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) determined that the three potentially pathogenic bacteria detected by V4 16S rDNA sequencing also differed among dissected tissues only, including aBorreliafrom theBbslcomplex,Borrelia miyamotoi, andAnaplasma phagocytophilum. Importantly, we find co-infection ofI. scapularisby multiple microbes, in contrast to diagnostic protocols for LD, which typically focus on infection from a single pathogen of interest (B. burgdorferisensu stricto).IMPORTANCEA vector of human health concern, blacklegged ticks,Ixodes scapularis, transmit pathogens that cause tick-borne diseases (TBDs), including Lyme disease (LD). Several hotspots of elevated LD risk have emerged across Canada asI. scapularisexpands its range. Focusing on a hotspot in southeastern Ontario, we used high-throughput sequencing on whole ticks and dissected salivary glands and midguts. Compared to whole ticks, analysis of salivary glands and midguts revealed greater β-diversity among microbiomes that are less dominated byRickettsiaendosymbiont bacteria and enriched for pathogenic bacteria including aBbsl-associatedBorrelia,Borrelia miyamotoi, andAnaplasma phagocytophilum. We also find evidence of co-infection ofI. scapularisin this region by multiple microbes. Overall, our study highlights the challenges and opportunities associated with the surveillance of the microbiome ofI. scapularisfor pathogen detection using metabarcoding and metatranscriptome approaches.

Acquiring accurate channel state information and mitigating severe intersymbol interference are challenging for underwater acoustic communications with moving transceivers due to the rapid changes of the underwater acoustic channels. In this work, we address the issue using a superimposed training (ST) scheme with a powerful channel estimation method. Different from the conventional time-multiplexed training, training sequences with a small power are superimposed with symbol sequences. The training signals are transmitted over all time, leading to enhanced tracking capability to deal with time-varying channels at the cost of only a small power loss. To realize this, based on the belief propagation, we develop a message-passing-based bidirectional channel estimation (BCE) algorithm, where all messages are Gaussian, enabling efficient implementation. In particular, the channel correlations are fully exploited through a forward recursion and a backward recursion, thereby achieving accurate channel estimation. Moreover, the ST-based BCE is combined with channel equalization (in the frequency domain) and decoding, and they are performed jointly in an iterative manner to significantly enhance the overall system performance. Field experiments were carried out in Jiaozhou Bay in 2019, and the results verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme and algorithm.

Screening for perinatal depression is a clinical approach to identifying women in need of mental health diagnoses, referral, and treatment. Many states mandate screening for perinatal depression, b...

This study was designed to evaluate iVue Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) effectiveness in screening for eye disease compared to clinical examination. Subjects were recruited from the Casey Eye Community Outreach Program Mobile Clinic during its routinely scheduled outreach clinics to indigent, underserved populations throughout Oregon. Macular optical coherence tomography interpretation and automated optical coherence tomography analysis were compared to the clinical examination, with specific attention to findings indicative of retinal abnormalities, risks for glaucoma, and narrow angles. As a result, a total of 114 subjects were included in this study. In diabetics, optical coherence tomography and clinical exam were in fair agreement (kappa = 0.39), with 22% of eyes having abnormal findings on macular optical coherence tomography and 26% of eyes having diabetic retinopathy or diabetic macular edema on fundus exam. In non-diabetics, optical coherence tomography and clinical exam were in fair agreement (kappa = 0.28), with 11% of eyes having abnormal findings on macular optical coherence tomography and 9% on fundus exam. Using optical coherence tomography ganglion cell complex and retinal nerve fiber layer analysis, 18% of eyes were found to be glaucoma suspects, whereas clinical exam of cup-to-disc ratio detected 8% and intraocular pressure 5%. Agreements between optical coherence tomography and other methods were poor (kappa

Molecular property predictors form the core of any AI-enabled drug discovery strategy. In recent years, there has been significant research in this area, resulting in the development of powerful predictors and representations. However, these diverse predictors have different software interfaces, dependencies, and levels of documentation. Due to lack of a unified API for molecular property prediction, an AI-enabled drug discovery endeavor often necessitates a tangled web of scripts, notebooks, and configuration. This makes it is needlessly difficult to share, distribute, and manage predictors, to ensemble predictors together, and to provide universal AI explainability tools. To this end, we present Oloren ChemEngine (OCE), an open-source Python library with a unified API for molecular property predictors with simplified model management and reproducibility. Using OCE, we create models which achieve superior performance on ADME/Tox prediction tasks by ensembling and integrating many different molecular property prediction methods. We include model-agnostic uncertainty quantification using calibrated confidence intervals and probabilities as well as interpretability using counterfactual methods.

The purpose of this study was to correct refractive error-associated bias in optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (OCTA) glaucoma diagnostic parameters.OCT and OCTA imaging were obtained from participants in the Hong Kong FAMILY cohort. The Avanti/AngioVue OCT/OCTA system was used to measure the peripapillary nerve fiber layer thickness (NFLT), peripapillary nerve fiber layer plexus capillary density (NFLP-CD), macular ganglion cell complex thickness (GCCT), and macular superficial vascular complex vascular density (SVC-VD). Healthy eyes, including ones with axial ametropia, were enrolled for analysis.A total of 1346 eyes from 792 participants were divided into 4 subgroups: high myopia (-6D), low myopia (-6D to -1D), emmetropia (-1D to 1D), and hyperopia (1D). After accounting for age, sex, and signal strength, multivariable regression showed strong dependence in most models for NFLT, GCCT, and NFLP-CD on axial eye length (AL), spherical equivalent (SE) refraction, and apparent optic disc diameter (DD). Optical analysis indicated that AL-related transverse optical magnification variations predominated over anatomic variations and were responsible for these trends. Compared to the emmetropic group, the false positive rates were significantly (Chi-square test P0.003) elevated in both myopia groups for NFLT, NFLP-CD, and GCCT. Regression-based adjustment of these diagnostic parameters with AL or SE significantly (McNemar test P0.03) reduced the elevated false positive rates.Myopic eyes are biased to have lower NFLT, GCCT, and NFLP-CD measurements. AL- and SE-based adjustments were effective in mitigating this bias.Adoption of these adjustments into commercial OCT systems may reduce false positive rates related to refractive error.

BackgroundPerinatal (during pregnancy and up until one year after birth) depression is one of the most common medical complications of pregnancy and is a major public health issue. The common early detection method to identify depression is to systematically administer depression screens to patients during their usual care clinic encounters. This study investigates how prenatal patients perceive depression screening and how screening informs their treatment to meet the specific needs of different racial and ethnic groups within both community and health care settings.MethodsBetween June 2019 and August 2019, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted to explore participants' experiences of depression screening with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Perinatal women (N = 29) consented to participate in-depth, one-on-one qualitative interviews. Trained patient-researchers (n = 6), women who had previously experienced a perinatal mental health problem, were trained as research team members and facilitated the interviews alongside a research assistant. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data was analyzed with the use of Nvivo12. Thematic network analysis was used to analyze the data.ResultsThrough the in-depth patient engaged qualitative interviews this study uncovered several specific motivators and behaviors related to perinatal depression screening. Using directed content analysis, several themes within a COM-B frame emerged and could be reduced to themes and further divided into two different stages: the depression screening stage and the post-screening stage.ConclusionsThe results of this qualitative study provide information for health care providers to improve, adjust, and assess the process of conducting perinatal depression screening among women. The data also provide information for health care facilities to identify a better screening tool and develop and measure their screening process. These findings are essential to design comprehensive patient-centered screening protocols given the increase in state and federal policies urging universal depression screening.

Singlet fission (SF), a process that produces two triplet excitons from one singlet exciton, has attracted recent interest for its potential to circumvent the detailed-balance efficiency limit of single-junction solar cells. For the potential of SF to be fully realized, accurate assignment and quantification of SF is necessary. Intersystem crossing (ISC) is another process of singlet to triplet conversion that is important to distinguish from SF to avoid either over- or under-estimation of SF triplet production. Here, we quantify an upper bound on the rate of ISC in two commonly studied SF chromophores, TIPS–pentacene and TIPS–tetracene, by using transient absorption spectroscopy of solutions of varying concentrations in toluene. We show that SF in solutions of these acenes has previously been misidentified as ISC, and vice versa. By determining a bimolecular SF rate constant in concentrated solutions in which SF dominates over ISC, we distinguish triplet formation due to SF from triplet formation due to ISC and show that the characteristic time scale of ISC must be longer than 325 ns in TIPS–pentacene, while it must be longer than 118 ns in TIPS–tetracene. We additionally note that no excimer formation is observed in the relatively dilute (up to 8 mM) solutions studied here, indicating that previous excimer formation observed at much higher concentrations may be partially due to aggregate formation. This work highlights that an accurate quantification of ISC is crucial as it leads to accurate determination of SF rate constants and yields.

In recent years, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) have increased significantly due to climate change and the demand for high-efficiency power sources. HEVs that combine an internal combustion engine (ICE) and an electric motor (EM) can improve the power output of the ICE and overcome the challenges of the insufficient battery life of electric vehicles. In this study, a parallel HEV with a power distribution mechanism is developed for energy saving and carbon reduction. The driver′s power demands are used as input sources, and a rule-based control strategy is used to determine the power distribution of the generator, EM, and ICE. The NEDC2000 driving cycle is used as the test benchmark to demonstrate the performance of the HEV. In comparison to ICE vehicles, the fuel efficiency of HEVs significantly improved. In addition, other parameters, including the average brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC), brake-specific carbon monoxide emission (BSCO), and brake-specific hydrocarbons (BSHCs), were lower, which can effectively save fossil fuel and reduce air pollution.

PURPOSE: To quantify the abnormal corneal thinning and posterior surface steepening that is observed in keratoconus with an Ectasia Index. METHODS: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) was used to image the corneas of normal individuals and patients with varying stages of keratoconus (manifest, subclinical, and forme fruste). Maps of corneal pachymetry and posterior surface mean curvature were generated, and an Ectasia Index was calculated by multiplying Gaussian fits obtained from the two types of maps. Repeated five-fold cross-validation was used to evaluate the ability of the Ectasia Index to differentiate between normal and keratoconic eyes. The classification performance of the Ectasia Index was compared to minimum pachymetry and maximum posterior mean curvature. RESULTS: Thirty-two eyes from 16 normal individuals, 89 eyes from 63 patients with manifest keratoconus, 16 eyes from 15 patients with subclinical keratoconus, and 26 eyes from 26 patients with forme fruste keratoconus were included in the study. During cross-validation, 100% of the eyes with manifest (89 of 89) and subclinical (16 of 16) keratoconus were correctly classified by the Ectasia Index. The average classification accuracy for the forme fruste keratoconus group was 63 ± 21% (16.4 of 26). The specificity for the normal group was 91 ± 10% (29.1 of 32). The Ectasia Index had a higher sensitivity for keratoconus detection and similar specificity in comparison to minimum pachymetry and maximum posterior mean curvature. CONCLUSIONS: The Ectasia Index could be a valuable additional metric for clinicians to consider when screening for keratoconus. [ J Refract Surg . 2022;38(8):502–510.]

PurposeTo assess the effects of algorithms and covariates in glaucoma diagnosis with optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).MethodsIn this prospective cross-sectional study, one eye each of 36 normal controls and 64 patients with glaucoma underwent 4.5 mm disc-centred and 6 mm macula-centred OCTA scans. The peripapillary nerve fibre layer plexus capillary density (NFLP-CD) and macular superficial vascular complex vessel density (SVC-VD) were measured using both a commercial algorithm (AngioAnalytics) and a custom algorithm (Center for Ophthalmic Optics & Lasers Angiography Reading Toolkit (COOL-ART)). The nerve fibre layer and ganglion cell complex thicknesses were measured on structural OCT.ResultsThe overall peripapillary NFLP-CD and macular SVC-VD measured with the two algorithms were highly correlated but poorly agreed. Among the normal controls, the perfusion measurements made by both algorithms were significantly correlated with age. AngioAnalytics measurements were also correlated with signal strength index, while COOL-ART measurements were not. These covariates were adjusted. The diagnostic accuracy, measured as the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for glaucoma detection, was not significantly different between algorithms, between structural and perfusion parameters and between the peripapillary and macular regions (All p>0.05). The macular SVC-VD in the 6 mm square had a significantly higher diagnostic accuracy than that of the central 3 mm square area (p=0.005).ConclusionsAngioAnalytics and COOL-ART vessel density measurements are not interchangeable but potentially interconvertible. Age and signal strength are significant covariates that need to be considered. Both algorithms and both peripapillary and macular perfusion parameters have similarly good diagnostic accuracy comparable to structural OCT. A larger macular analytic area provides higher diagnostic accuracy.

This research examined the operation of zinc–air fuel cell (ZAFC) with two different anode fuel types, namely zinc plate and zinc particle. The cell operation with zinc particle fuel also included ...

ImportanceFibroids are benign uterine tumors that can cause significant morbidity. Knowledge on fibroid prevalence, especially in the asymptomatic population and in Asian and Hispanic or Latina individuals, is limited, and a better understanding of affected groups will improve timely diagnosis and motivate appropriate recruitment in clinical trials to reduce health disparities.ObjectiveTo estimate the prevalence of fibroids in a diverse cohort of female individuals.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis cross-sectional study included female individuals not seeking treatment for fertility or other conditions who were prospectively recruited in an academic medical center in San Francisco, California. Effort was made to recruit an equal proportion of participants from 4 large racial and ethnic groups in the United States (Asian-Chinese, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latina, and White) and across 4 equal age groups between 25 and 45 years. All participants reported regular menses (21-35 days), had not used estrogen- or progestin-containing medications in the 3 months prior to enrollment, and denied history of pelvic surgery. The assessment of ultrasonography results was part of an ongoing longitudinal cohort, with initial recruitment from October 2006 to September 2012. Data analysis was performed in April to September 2022.Main Outcomes and MeasuresFibroid presence and burden as assessed by transvaginal ultrasonography.ResultsA total of 996 female participants were included in the analysis, including 229 (23.0%) Asian-Chinese, 249 (25.0%) Black or African American, 237 (23.8%) Hispanic or Latina, and 281 (28.2%) White individuals. Mean (SD) age was 34.8 (5.7) years in Asian-Chinese participants, 35.4 (6.1) years in Black or African American participants, 34.8 (5.3) years in Hispanic or Latina participants, and 35.3 (5.0) years in White participants. Fibroids were present in 21.8% (95% CI, 16.7%-27.8%) of Asian-Chinese participants, 35.7% (95% CI, 29.8%-42.0%) of Black or African American participants, 12.7% (95% CI, 8.7%-17.6%) of Hispanic or Latina participants, and 10.7% (95% CI, 7.3%-14.9%) of White participants. Black or African American and Asian-Chinese participants were more likely to have fibroids than White participants (Black or African American: adjusted odds ratio [OR], 4.72 [95% CI, 2.72-8.18]; P P P = .06). The largest mean (SD) fibroid diameter was 3.9 (1.9) cm in Black or African American participants, 3.2 (1.6) cm in Asian-Chinese participants, 3.2 (1.6) cm in White participants, and 3.0 (1.4) cm in Hispanic or Latina participants (P = .03).Conclusions and RelevanceIn this study of female participants in a nonclinical setting, Black or African American and Asian-Chinese participants were disproportionately affected by uterine fibroids. Hispanic or Latina participants had similar fibroid burden to White participants.