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background The benefit of acute carotid stenting compared with no acute stenting on clinical outcomes among patients with tandem lesions (TL) undergoing endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) remains unknown. Methods We conducted a a systematic review and meta- analysis of studies comparing acute carotid stenting versus no stenting among TL patients undergoing EVT with regards to 90 day modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score, symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH), and mortality. Four reviewers screened citations for eligibility and two assessed retained studies for risk of bias and data extraction. A random effects model was used for the synthesis of aggregated data. results 21 studies (n=1635 patients) were identified for the systematic review; 19 were cohort studies, 1 was a post- hoc analysis of an EVT trial, and 1 was a pilot randomized controlled trial. 16 studies were included in the meta- analysis. Acute stenting was associated with a favorable 90 day mRS score: OR 1.43 (95% CI 1.07, 1.91). No significant heterogeneity between studies was found for this outcome (I2=17.0%; χ2=18.07, p=0.26). There were no statistically significant differences for 3 month mortality (OR 0.80 (95% CI 0.50, 1.28)) or sICH (OR 1.41 (95% CI 0.91, 2.19)). Conclusions This meta- analysis suggests that among TL patients undergoing EVT, acute carotid stenting is associated with a greater likelihood of favorable outcome at 90 days compared with no stenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an assistive system for clipart design by providing visual scaffolds from the unseen viewpoints. Inspired by the artists' creation process, our system constructs the visual scaffold by first synthesizing the reference 3D shape of the input clipart and rendering it from the desired viewpoint. The critical challenge of constructing this visual scaffold is to generate a reference 3D shape that matches the user's expectations in terms of object sizing and positioning while preserving the geometric style of the input clipart. To address this challenge, we propose a user‐assisted curve extrusion method to obtain the reference 3D shape. We render the synthesized reference 3D shape with a consistent style into the visual scaffold. By following the generated visual scaffold, the users can efficiently design clipart with their desired viewpoints. The user study conducted by an intuitive user interface and our generated visual scaffold suggests that our system is especially useful for estimating the ratio and scale between object parts and can save on average 57% of drawing time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is growing evidence suggesting an association between air pollution and suicide. However, previous findings varied depending on the type of air pollutant and study location. Objectives: We examined the association between air pollutants and suicide in 10 large cities in South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Methods: We used a two-stage meta-analysis. First, we conducted a time- stratified case-crossover analysis to estimate the short-term association between nitrogen dioxide (N[O.sub.2]), sulfur dioxide (S[O.sub.2]), and particulate matter [aerodynamic diameter [less than or equal to] 10 [micro]m (P[M.sub.10]), aerodynamic diameter [less than or equal to] 2.5 [micro]m (P[M.sub.2.5]), and P[M.sub.10-2.5]] and suicide, adjusted for weather factors, day-of-week, long-term time trends, and season. Then, we conducted a meta-analysis to combine the city-specific effect estimates for N[O.sub.2], S[O.sub.2], and P[M.sub.10] across 10 cities and for P[M.sub.2.5] and P[M.sub.10-2.5] across 3 cities. We first fitted single-pollutant models, followed by two-pollutant models to examine the robustness of the associations. Results: Higher risk of suicide was associated with higher levels of N[O.sub.2], S[O.sub.2], P[M.sub.10], and P[M.sub.10-2.5] over multiple days. The combined relative risks (RRs) were 1.019 for N[O.sub.2] (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.999, 1.039), 1.020 for S[O.sub.2] (95% CI: 1.005, 1.036), 1.016 for P[M.sub.10] (95% CI: 1.004, 1.029), and 1.019 for P[M.sub.10-2.5] (95% CI: 1.005, 1.033) per interquartile range (IQR) increase in the 0-1 d average level of each pollutant. We found no evidence of an association for P[M.sub.2.5]. Some of the associations, particularly for S[O.sub.2] and N[O.sub.2], were attenuated after adjusting for a second pollutant. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that higher levels of air pollution may be associated with suicide, and further research is merited to understand the underlying mechanisms. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP2223, Introduction Suicide is a significant public health concern. An estimated 804,000 people worldwide died by suicide in 2012, accounting for 1.4% of all deaths; suicide constitutes the 15th most common [...]

In recent years, personalized fabrication has received considerable attention because of the widespread use of consumer‐level three‐dimensional (3D) printers. However, such 3D printers have drawbacks, such as long production time and limited output size, which hinder large‐scale rapid‐prototyping. In this paper, for the time‐ and cost‐effective fabrication of large‐scale objects, we propose a hybrid 3D fabrication method that combines 3D printing and the Zometool construction set, which is a compact, sturdy and reusable structure for infill fabrication. The proposed method significantly reduces fabrication cost and time by printing only thin 3D outer shells. In addition, we design an optimization framework to generate both a Zometol structure and printed surface partitions by optimizing several criteria, including printability, material cost and Zometool structure complexity. Moreover, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method by fabricating various large‐scale 3D models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Childhood asthma is a common disease whose prevalence is changing. Shift in environmental exposure was one of the plausible explanations. This study investigated changes in the association between childhood asthma and ambient air pollution occurring over time. Method: A nationwide questionnaire survey concerning respiratory illness and symptoms was administered to Taiwanese elementary and middle school students in 2011 and repeatedly in 2016‐2017. During the study period, the concentrations of ambient air pollutants were obtained from the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) monitoring stations. Generalized estimating equation models were applied to examine the association between air pollution in the past year and the risk of current asthma. Results: A total of 6346 children from the 2011 survey and 11 585 children from the 2016‐2017 survey attended schools located within a 1‐km radius of Taiwan EPA monitoring stations. The prevalence of childhood current asthma (children with physician‐diagnosed asthma and persistent asthma symptoms in the past year) increased from 7.5% to 9.6% during this period. The level of exposure to particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of ≤2.5 μm (PM2.5) in the past year was found to be associated with current asthma both in the 2011 survey (odds ratio (OR): 1.90, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.41‐2.57) and in the 2016‐2017 survey (OR: 1.24, 95% CI: 1.04‐1.48). Conclusion: Improved air quality has reduced the effect of PM2.5 on childhood asthma, but air quality remains a health concern in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]