Ambiguous Results Research Articles

PCR231 Associations of Preoperative Anxiety/Depression (EQ-5D-5L) With Pre- and Postoperative Health-Related Quality of Life for Hip and Knee Replacement

Previous literature revealed ambiguous results about preoperative anxiety and depression as predictors for health-related quality of life (HRQoL) before and after total hip replacements (THR) and total knee replacements (TKR). This study aimed to evaluate whether problems reported preoperatively in the dimension of anxiety/depression from the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire were related to overall disease-specific and generic health perception, both before and after THR and TKR.

ГЕОДЕЗІЯ, КАРТОГРАФІЯ І АЕРОФОТОЗНІМАННЯ

A number of factors can significantly affect the accuracy of height determination when applying the GNSS leveling method. In general, it is possible to distinguish those related to the process of GNSS observations and their post-processing, and those related to the selection of the geoid/quasi-geoid height model. This work focuses on aspects of GNSS leveling accuracy when choosing global geoid models. In particular, to better ensure accuracy, it is important to understand the significance of the heights tidal system selection of global geoid models. The purpose of the work is to analyze the influence of different tide systems of global geoid models on the accuracy of height determination by the GNSS leveling method. This paper considers the heights of global geoid models EGM08, EIGEN-6C4, GECO, and XGM2019e_2159 of high degree and order calculated in the tide systems of “tide-free”, “mean-tide”, “zero-tide”. The analysis of the actual accuracy of the geoid heights was carried out on the basis of the standard and root mean square deviations of the heights differences of global geoid models in the corresponding tidal systems in relation to the GNSS leveling data. GNSS leveling data were obtained at 14 high-precision geometric leveling points of accuracy class 1-2, covering the central part of the Lviv region. Similarly, the accuracy of the geoid models was analyzed taking into account the differences of gravity anomalies concerning the high-resolution anomalies of the WGM2012 model. Data presenting differences of height and gravitational anomalies allowed us to correct the height of the models according to the weighted average principle. In addition, corresponding statistics were calculated for them. The conducted analysis shows that for the EGM08 model, the system of “mean-tide” is optimal with an accuracy assessment at the level of σ=2-3 cm and m=4 cm. For the EIGEN-6C4 model, it is best to use the “zero-tide” system which will ensure accuracy up to 4-5 cm. The accuracy of the EGM08 and EIGEN-6C4 models is confirmed by the statistical characteristics analysis results of the gravity anomaly differences. The GECO and XGM2019e_2159 models give ambiguous results within 3-9 cm by both parameters and in all tidal systems. Only after correction of the heights, their accuracy is 2-5 cm. Considering the optimal tidal system, the heights of the EGM08 and EIGEN-6C4 models can provide an accuracy of 1-3 cm after the correction by weighting coefficients.

Investigating microRNAs to Explain the Link between Cholesterol Metabolism and NAFLD in Humans: A Systematic Review.

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is characterized by hepatic free cholesterol accumulation. In addition, microRNAs (miRNAs) might be involved in NAFLD development. Therefore, we systematically reviewed the literature to examine the link between miRNAs and cholesterol metabolism in NAFLD. Nineteen studies were retrieved by a systematic search in September 2022. From these papers, we evaluated associations between 13 miRNAs with NAFLD and cholesterol metabolism. Additionally, their diagnostic potential was examined. Four miRNAs (miR122, 34a, 132 and 21) were associated with cholesterol metabolism and markers for NAFLD. MiR122 was upregulated in serum of NAFLD patients, increased with disease severity and correlated with HDL-C, TAG, VLDL-C, AST, ALT, ALP, lobular inflammation, hepatocellular ballooning and NAFLD score. Serum and hepatic levels also correlated. Serum and hepatic miR34a levels were increased in NAFLD, and correlated with VLDL-C and TAG. Serum miR379 was also higher in NAFLD, especially in early stages, while miR21 gave ambiguous results. The diagnostic properties of these miRNAs were comparable to those of existing biomarkers. However, serum miR122 levels appeared to be elevated before increases in ALT and AST were evident. In conclusion, miR122, miR34a, miR21 and miR132 may play a role in the development of NAFLD via effects on cholesterol metabolism. Furthermore, it needs to be explored if miRNAs 122, 34a and 379 could be used as part of a panel in addition to established biomarkers in early detection of NAFLD.

The Path of Remittances to Consumption or Saving! Albania Case Study

Since the change of the political systems in the 1990-s in Albania, massive emigration has been a continuous phenomenon of different scales in Albania. The outflow migration phenomenon is associated with the inflow of remittances to the origin families. Remittances have been a vital financial source of living for a considerable number of households. Therefore, they constitute an important financial mechanism for funding the country's economy. Empirical regression analysis in emerging economies suggests ambiguous results of remittances in the economy. Therefore, it is the purpose of this paper to investigate the effect of remittances on macroeconomic variables such as aggregate consumption, national saving, and the economic growth rate in Albania. Econometric models based on the ordinary least squared method (OLS) are performed to analyze the effect among the variables, and time series data are retrieved from the World Bank and Institute of Statistics of Albania databases. Model results based on data from the period 1992-2019 show that most of the remittance income is consumed by the recipient families contributing to the aggregate consumption demand. According to the model’s results, a 1 percent increase in remittances contributes to a 3.2 percent increase in aggregate consumption in the country. While remittances have neither a significant effect on a country's national aggregate saving nor the country's economic growth rates.

Portraying Immunity to Sars-Cov-2 after mRNA-Vaccination in Patients with Multiple Myeloma

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a plasma-cell neoplasia that is associated with severe suppression of the humoral and cellular immune system. Therefore, MM patients are confronted with a high risk of COVID-19 in the still ongoing pandemic. mRNA-based vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is implemented to counteract the mortality from COVID-19 in MM patients. Ambiguous results regarding sufficient humoral and cellular responses to mRNA-based vaccination were reported for patients with MM.1,2 To date, there is no conclusive data allowing a molecular understanding of the differences in the functional immune response of such patients. Therefore, we implemented a comprehensive immune phenotyping framework to monitor the humoral and cellular immune responses against the relevant virus variants at different timepoints following three doses of mRNA-based vaccination in 100 patients with MM and 23 healthy controls. Compared to healthy controls, the humoral immune response of patients with MM was reduced and further impaired by concomitant anti-MM therapy. Low CD19+ lymphocyte counts were associated with diminished humoral immune response. After the third dose, anti-SARS-CoV-2 serum antibody levels and neutralization titers were increased relative to the second dose but were still impaired in comparison to healthy controls. T-cell response levels were also reduced in patients with MM after two doses but displayed no significant differences after three doses compared to healthy individuals. Both antibody and T-cell response levels were markedly diminished against Omicron variant-of-concern (VOC) compared to the wild-type (WT) strain. Remarkably, most patients with MM achieved a sufficient T-cell response against the WT strain after three doses of vaccination (86.7% CD4+ responder, 76.7% CD8+ responder) highlighting an adequate immunogenicity despite the disease-associated immunological impairment.3 To gain detailed molecular insight, we next performed single-cell RNA sequencing combined with surface proteome analysis of peripheral mononuclear blood cell-derived B-, T- and NK-cells from humoral and cellular (non)-responders. Thereby, the different B-, T- and NK-cell subpopulations were characterized in the context of vaccination response after the second and third vaccination dose and in case of breakthrough infections after three doses. The generated immune response single-cell data highlighted relevant alterations in gene and surface protein expression as well as cell type abundancy between healthy and MM individuals. Patients with MM and breakthrough infections showed prominent humoral and cellular response levels with characteristic molecular patterns at single-cell resolution. Further, the functional response levels were associated with differences in the CD8+ central and effector memory compartment. Together, patients with MM exhibited ambiguous humoral immune responses but sufficient T-cell responses against the WT strain after three doses of mRNA-based vaccination against SARS-CoV-2. Importantly, both response levels were reduced for the Omicron VOC calling attention to the immune escape of emerging VOCs and the need for variant-adapted vaccination trials. Our recent molecular analysis by single-cell sequencing of the peripheral immune cell compartment further identified characteristic patterns that may be beneficial for the design of improved and variant-adapted vaccination strategies in such immunocompromised patients.

Environmental optimization of the charge of battery electric vehicles

The battery electric vehicle’s environmental impacts are highly influenced by the emissions attributed to the electricity used to recharge the battery. The electricity generation’s environmental assessment, however, is mainly based on static yearly mean shares of primary energy sources. To overcome this uncertainty, we develop a mixed-integer linear programming model to couple variable, hourly environmental impacts of electricity generation with representative user behavior in Germany. The model is then used to quantify and optimize the mitigation potential of environmental impacts for 2019, 2025, 2030, and 2050. Focusing on one method that minimizes the overarching environmental impacts could lead to ambiguous results. Instead, we aim to optimize charging behavior regarding each midpoint category and reveal the conflicting objectives among all the environmental categories that arise when aiming to minimize environmental impacts holistically. Considering greenhouse gas emissions, a reduction of 38% can be achieved through optimized demand timing for 2019. This charging strategy, however, increases the depletion of material resources by 72% compared to an optimal reference charging profile. The results for the future energy generation scenarios show that deviation between environmental impact categories can deviate and differences increase over the investigated time horizon. Nevertheless, by analyzing the differences between all impact category pairs, we found six categories, including climate change, within which differences are found to be less than 10%.

Environmental features drive lineage diversification in the Aricidea assimilis species complex (Annelida, Paraonidae) in the Mediterranean Sea

Individuals identified as Aricidea assimilis Tebble, 1959 were collected from ten localities across the Mediterranean Sea from 0.5 to 225 m depth in order to have a wide coverage of the species habitats and geographic range and to assess the effects of environmental factors and biogeographical barriers on molecular and morphological diversity. Two mitochondrial and one nuclear markers were used to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships and test the occurrence of cryptic species. We observed two highly divergent lineages, one including all individuals from shallow, sandy environments (<10 m depth) and the other with the individuals from deeper muddy bottoms (30–225 m depth). Less pronounced divergence was detected between morphologically distinct brackish-water individuals and the remaining shallow-water individuals. The divergence observed between deep-water and shallow-water lineages is consistent with the hypothesis of distinct species. The ambiguous results of species delimitation tests applied to the two shallow-water sub-lineages might instead suggest a process of incipient speciation, even if this hypothesis needs additional evidence. These results suggest that sediment represents the main factor driving genetic divergence and ultimately cryptic speciation in A. assimilis, while other depth-associated factors and geographical barriers do not seem to significantly contribute to the genetic architecture of this species, suggesting the occurrence of wide-range larval dispersal.

A New Symbolic Time Series Analysis Method Based on Time-to-Space Mapping, through a Symmetric Magnetic Field, Quantized by Prime Numbers

This work presents a new analysis method for two-symbol symbolic time series based on the time-to-space mapping achieved through a device of current carrying circular rings. An algorithm based on the theory of prime numbers is proposed for the approximate estimation of the stratified magnetic field produced by the aforementioned device. The main property of the specific algorithm is that it quantizes the stratified magnetic field. If a two-symbol symbolic time series is used to determine the flow directions of the rings’ currents, a time-to-space mapping of the dynamics of the system producing the time series is observed. A unique “fingerprint” of the symbolic dynamics is shaped by the spatial allocation of the values of the six-valued symmetric quantized magnetic field produced by the device. This allows for the quantitative evaluation of the original system’s dynamics by analyzing the resultant quantized magnetic field values space allocation, in a spectrum ranging from the lack of dynamics (randomness) to the presence of dynamics at all scales (criticality). Two examples of application–corresponding to the extremes of the dynamics spectrum, specifically, for symbolic time series resulting from (a) a random numbers generator and (b) the spin alternation of 2D-Ising in its critical state, verify the reliable time-to-space mapping of the involved symbolic dynamics. Moreover, an application to the symbolic sequence produced by the DNA of the GAPDH (Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase) human gene is presented as a real-world, intermediate dynamics case. The proposed symbolic time series analysis method presents the advantage that can take into account information related to both symbols, which is particularly useful in analyzing two-symbol time series of relatively short length where the probabilities of occurrence of the two symbols are not equal. By inferring the universality class of an artificial-neural-network-based hybrid spin model through the value of the critical exponent δ, it is shown that for such time series, the proposed method provides a unique way to expose the real dynamics of the underlying complex system, in contrast to the analysis of waiting times in the time domain that leads to an ambiguous quantitative result.

The Effects of Silencing PTX3 on the Proteome of Human Endothelial Cells.

The human long pentraxin PTX3 has complex regulatory roles at the crossroad of innate immunity, inflammation, and tissue repair. PTX3 can be produced by various cell types, including vascular endothelial cells (ECs), in response to pro-inflammatory cytokines or bacterial molecules. PTX3 has also been involved in the regulation of cardiovascular biology, even if ambiguous results have been so far provided in both preclinical and clinical research. In this study, we compared the proteomic profiles of human ECs (human umbilical vein ECs, HUVECs), focusing on differentially expressed proteins between the control and PTX3-silenced ECs. We identified 19 proteins that were more abundant in the proteome of control ECs and 23 proteins that were more expressed in PTX3-silenced cells. Among the latter, proteins with multifunctional roles in angiogenesis, oxidative stress, and inflammation were found, and were further validated by assessing their mRNAs with RT-qPCR. Nevertheless, the knock down of PTX3 did not affect in vitro angiogenesis. On the contrary, the lack of the protein induced an increase in pro-inflammatory markers and a shift to the more oxidative profile of PTX3-deficient ECs. Altogether, our results support the idea of a protective function for PTX3 in the control of endothelial homeostasis, and more generally, in cardiovascular biology.

Smartphone enabled upconversion nanoparticle-based lateral flow strip for ultra-low concentration of methamphetamine detection

The combination of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) and Lateral Flow Assays (LFAs) is becoming one of the most desirable quantitative assays for point-of-care testing (POCT) due to their excellent chemical and optical properties, which make them commercially viable as fast, sensitive and portable. We propose upconversion nanoparticle-based lateral flow assays (UCNP-LFAs) combined with computer vision for the instantaneous detection of small molecule targets in a commercial medical device. The device overcomes the traditional lengthy pre-processing and ambiguous qualitative results, where computer vision algorithms improve the sensitivity and robustness of quantitative results. Compared with the standard quantitative testing process, the accuracy of its quantitative test results was improved by 17.4%. The device detected and reported the quantitative results of Methamphetamine (MET) concentration with the lower limit of detection (LOD) of 0.1 ng/ml in 20 s in field tests. Its success demonstrated good sensitivity, repeatability, and robustness. Most importantly, the entire device measures only 100 mm * 120 mm* 74 mm and weighs 351.2 g, combining portability and immediacy and providing quantitative data for small molecule targets at a lower concentration. This makes our system an extraordinarily creative and attractive approach, especially for applications in complex field environments with chaotic personnel and special emergencies.

Development of the LCPDb-MET database facilitating selection of PCR primers for the detection of metal metabolism and resistance genes in bacteria

Bacterial metal metabolism and resistance genes are important indicators for microbial ecology, biogeochemistry, and biotechnology. Their investigation enables understanding how bacteria influence the geochemical cycles of elements and how bacteria can be employed in the bioremediation of polluted areas. For environmental screening, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique has been used as the method of choice for the detection of metal metabolism and resistance genes, and subsequently, many different PCR primer pairs have been developed for such screening. The aim of this study was the development of a database of PCR primers suitable for the screening of metal metabolism and resistance genes in environmental samples. We conducted an in silico benchmark of 291 previously published PCR primer pairs designed to amplify genes involved in bacterial metabolism and resistance to arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, gold, iron, lead, mercury, nickel, silver, and zinc. Our analysis showed that only 16 PCR primer pairs can be considered well designed and suitable for reliable screening in an environmental setup. Furthermore, 55 primer pairs delivered ambiguous results, while the remaining 220 pairs showed no in silico PCR product within their expected product size range. Based on the obtained results, we developed a ranked database (LCPDb-MET; http://lcpdb.ddlemb.com/met/) of primers suitable for the screening of bacterial metal metabolism and resistance genes in various environmental settings. Moreover, since in the course of the study we recognized a serious problem with the classification of metal metabolism and resistance reference sequences, we developed also the METGeneDb database (http://lcpdb.ddlemb.com/downloads). This database covers 106 genes with 7,624 unique sequences divided into 137 potential gene subclusters and it can be used as the reference database in the genomic and metagenomic studies.

The information system for the liveness detection process using aws

Analysis of recent studies and publications. The analysis of the modern market of software and algorithmic solutions for performing the Liveness detection process showed that the currently existing approaches are completely commercial solutions with closed algorithms of their work. In addition, the Liveness detection algorithm is not yet standardized, and has many implementation options that can sometimes lead to am-biguous results [7]. That is why, it was decided to develop our own algorithm and liveness detection system based on obtaining face characteristics using the AWS API [8], because this service offers a high accuracy of face recognition, which is 99.99%, and provides 10,000 free requests to use every month, which enough to fulfill the purpose of our work. Purpose of the study. Development of the algorithm for the Liveness Detection process using AWS and the construction of a video identification system based on it. Main research material. This paper investigates the video identification of a per-son using the Liveness Detection process. The basis of the question, complexity of the Liveness Detection process and the implementation of biometric human video identifica-tion have been studied. An algorithm for conducting the Liveness Detection process based on the execution of random tasks by an identified person has been developed. Integration with the Amazon DetectFaces API was carried out in order to obtain the character of a digital image of the head, as a result of which it becomes possible to analyze a photo of a person for a wide range of key facial features. A manual test of the Amazon DetectFaces API was conducted, in the process of which, empirically, thresh-olds of facial characteristics in the image for the Liveness Detection process were set. Integration with the Amazon CompareFaces API was implemented to execute the bio-metric video identification. The testing of the developed Liveness Detection application system based on the created Liveness passing algorithm and selected AWS API thresholds consisted of 100 tests of different orientations, from direct user-flow testing to tests with a medical mask, glasses and beard, a photo of a face and a video image of a person for the purpose of forgery his personality. Thanks to the initial accuracy of Amazon API facial recognition of 99.99% and the random selection of tasks in the developed Liveness Detection algo-rithm, all tests gave the expected result - the person was either successfully video-identified at the enterprise, or his identity was faked during the Liveness Detection pro-cess. Conclusions. Based on the research, the software system of biometric human video identification has been developed, which allows to automatically establish the presence of a person in front of a video camera and identify it, preventing the use of fake artifacts to falsify a person's identity.

Accuracy of fat fraction estimation using Dixon: experimental phantom study

Objective. Quantitative assessment of Dixon two-point and three-point technologies operation using phantom modeling in the range from 0 to 70%.Materials and methods. To simulate substances with different concentrations of the fat phase we chose direct oil-in-water emulsions. Tubes with ready-made emulsions were placed in a phantom. Emulsions based on vegetable oils were presented in the range from 0–70%. The phantom was scanned on an Optima MR450w MRI tomograph (GE, USA) in two Dixon modes: the accelerated two-point method “Lava-Flex” and the three-point method “IDEAL IQ”. A scan was performed on a GEM Flex LG Full RF coil. We calculated fat fraction (FF) using two formulas.Results. There is a linear relationship of the determined values when calculating the fat concentration in “IDEAL IQ” mode and using the formula based on Water and Fat. The accuracy of body fat percentage measurement in “IDEAL IQ” mode is higher than in “Lava-Flex” mode. According to the MR-sequence “Lava-Flex” draws attention to the overestimation of the measured values of the concentration of fat in relation to the specified values by an average of 57.6% over the entire range, with an average absolute difference of 17.2%.Conclusion. Using the “IDEAL IQ” sequence, the results of the quantitative determination of fractions by formulas were demonstrated, which are more consistent with the specified values in the phantom. In order to correctly quantify the fat fraction, it is preferable to calculate from the Water and Fat images using Equation 2. Calculations from the In-phase and Out-phase images provide ambiguous results. Phantom modeling with direct emulsions allowed us to detect the shift of the measured fat fraction.

Rapid identification of pyoverdines of fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. by UHPLC-IM-MS

Siderophores are iron-chelating molecules produced by bacteria and other microbes. They are involved with virulence in infections and play key roles in bacterial community assembly and as plant protectants due to their pathogen control properties. Although assays exist to screen whether newly isolated bacteria can produce siderophores, the chemical structures of many of these bio-active molecules remain unidentified due to the lack of rapid analytical procedures. An important group of siderophores are pyoverdines. They consist of a structurally diverse group of chromopeptides, whose amino acid sequence is characteristic for the fluorescent Pseudomonas species that secrets them. Although over 60 pyoverdine structures have been described so far, their characterization is cumbersome and several methods (isoelectrofocusing, iron uptake measurement, mass determination) are typically combined as ambiguous results are often achieved by a single method. Those additional experiments consume valuable time and resources and prevent high-throughput analysis. In this work, we present a new pyoverdine characterisation option by recording their collision cross sections (CCS) using trapped ion mobility spectrometry. This can be done simultaneously in combination with UHPLC and high-resolution MS resulting in a rapid identification of pyoverdines. The high specificity of CCS values is presented for 17 pyoverdines secreted by different Pseudomonas strains. The pyoverdine mass determination by full scan MS was supported by fragments obtained from broadband collision induced dissociation (bbCID). As iron contaminations in laboratories are not uncommon, CCS values of ferripyoverdines were also evaluated. Thereby, unusual and highly characteristic ion mobility patterns were obtained that are suitable as an alternative identification marker.

Circular polarization in atmospheric aerosols

Abstract. Recent technological advances have demonstrated the feasibility of deploying spaceborne optical detectors with full polarimetric capabilities. The measurement of all four Stokes coefficients opens significant new opportunities for atmospheric aerosol studies and applications. While considerable amounts of attention have been dedicated to sensors with sensitivity to the total intensity and linear polarization (represented by Stokes coefficients I, U, Q), there has been less attention to the additional information brought by measuring circular polarization (coefficient V). This report fills this gap in knowledge by providing an overview of aerosol sources of circular polarization in the atmosphere and discusses possible remote sensing signatures. In this paper, circularly polarized radiation that results from the interaction of incident unpolarized radiation is considered in three physical settings: optical activity originating in biogenic aerosols, alignment of non-spherical particles in the presence of electrical fields (such as dust, smoke, and volcanic ash), and aerosol multiple scattering effects. Observational and theoretical evidence of, and the settings and conditions for, non-zero aerosol circular polarization generated from incident unpolarized radiation are here gathered and discussed. In addition, novel radiative transfer simulations are shown to illustrate notable spectral and other features where circular polarization may provide additional information that is possibly independent from total intensity and linear polarization-only observations. Current techniques for the detection of aerosol composition (also referred as aerosol type) from space provide limited information. Remote identification of aerosols such as smoke, volcanic ash, and dust particles can only be accomplished with some degree of confidence for moderate to high concentrations. When the same aerosols are found at lower concentrations (but still high enough to be of importance for air quality and cloud formation), these methods often produce ambiguous results. The circular polarization of aerosols is rarely utilized, and we explore its value for improved determination aerosol composition. This study is presented as an overview with a goal to provide a new perspective on an overlooked optical property and to trigger interest in further exploration of this subject.

Diversity, food web structure and the temporal stability of total plant and animal biomasses

Food‐web complexity and species richness are predicted to have tremendous effects on ecosystem functioning stability. Yet, our understanding of the relation between diversity and the stability of ecosystem functioning is still mainly limited to single trophic level communities and highly simplified food webs. To start filling this knowledge gap, we model allometric food webs and use structural equation modelling (SEM) to investigate the relations between diversity, food web structure and the temporal variability of total plant and animal biomasses and their components, i.e. synchrony and mean population variability. We find that stability responds differently depending on the metric used. When looking at total biomass variability, higher total biomasses and biomass stored at higher trophic level have the strongest stabilising effects, while species richness has lower impact than previously found. We confirm that synchrony among species is important for the stability of the total plant biomass. However, synchrony only weakly explains variations in the stability of total animal biomass among food webs. Species richness and food web variables often have opposite impacts on synchrony and mean population variability, leading to more ambiguous results for the plant community as synchrony matters only for plant stability. Our approach thus provides new insight on the complexity of the stability of ecosystem functioning in complex food webs.

Attention‐based vector quantisation variational autoencoder for colour‐patterned fabrics defect detection

AbstractDefect detection is an essential link in the fabric production process. Due to the diversity of patterns and scarcity of defect samples for colour‐patterned fabrics, reconstruction‐based unsupervised deep learning algorithms have received extensive attention in the field of fabric defect detection. Among them, unsupervised reconstruction models based on variational autoencoders (VAEs) have been shown to be effective. However, there is a problem of posterior collapse in the process of modelling parametric distributions of continuous variables by VAEs. Therefore, VAE‐based defect detection methods for colour‐patterned fabrics usually produce ambiguous reconstruction results, thereby affecting the defect detection performance. In this article, an attention‐based vector quantisation variational autoencoder (AVQ‐VAE) is proposed for colour‐patterned fabric defect detection. The method adopts autoregressive modelling of discrete variables to avoid the posterior collapse problem of traditional VAEs, and utilises attention mechanism to enhance the feature representation ability of the model. AVQ‐VAE consists of encoder, embedding space, decoder and attention mechanism. The encoder is used to map the input image into multiple feature vectors. Vector quantisation in embedding space is used for discretisation and autoregressive modelling of feature vectors. A decoder is used to decode discrete variables into images of the same size as the original input. Furthermore, an attention mechanism is used to capture channel and spatial correlations, which help the model focus on important information by adaptively recalibrating feature maps. Experimental results on public datasets demonstrate that the proposed method is robust and effective for colour‐patterned fabric defect detection.

История применения гомографтов в сосудистой хирургии (литературный обзор)

INTRODUCTION: In the article, problems of use of allografts from a posthumous donor in the practice of a vascular surgeon are analyzed. The need for donor material in special clinical situations is reflected. The main stages of the historical development of the use of homografts are listed. The experience of foreign and domestic authors in reconstructive interventions on the main vessels and aorta using homografts is demonstrated in the historical perspective of the XXth century. Historical milestones in the development of tissue banks in the world are considered on an example of America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Russia. The legal regulation of use of homografts is at present especially relevant for the Russian Federation. The use of homografts as a material for reconstruction is stated to be within the legal framework of the Russian Federation. A large number of modern studies in the 21st century are carried out with choice of cadaveric homografts, both cryopreserved and of wet storage, as the material for reconstruction of the main arteries. Critical ischemia is a probable indication for the use of cadaveric homographs, but their implantation shows ambiguous results. Infection of a permanent vascular access for hemodialysis can also be considered as an indication for the use of a venous homograph as the material for access reconstruction. CONCLUSION: The donor material is currently being actively used in the practice of vascular surgery in many centers, and the hope for the diversification of clinical indications is growing, as well as for homografts finding the place in Russian clinical guidelines in future.

Factor structure of intelligence and divergent thinking subtests: A registered report.

Psychologists have investigated creativity for 70 years, and it is now seen as being an important construct, both scientifically and because of its practical value to society. However, several fundamental unresolved problems persist, including a suitable definition of creativity and the ability of psychometric tests to measure divergent thinking—an important component of creativity—in a way that aligns with theory. It is this latter point that this registered report is designed to address. We administered two divergent thinking tests (the verbal and figural versions of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking; TTCT) with an intelligence test (the International Cognitive Ability Resource test; ICAR). We then subjected the subscores from these tests to confirmatory factor analysis to examine which of nine theoretically plausible models best fits the data. Results show that none of the pre-registered models fit the data well, an ambiguous result that leaves unanswered the question of whether intelligence and divergent thinking tests measure the same construct. Exploratory (i.e., not pre-registered) measurement models of each test separately shows that the TTCT-F may not measure a coherent, unitary construct—leading to model misspecification when TTCT-F subtests were included in larger models. This study was conducted in accordance with all open science practices, including pre-registration, open data and syntax, and open materials (with the exception of copyrighted and confidential test stimuli). Materials are available at https://osf.io/8rpfz/.

Molecular identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria using the rpoB, argH and cya genes analysis

Nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections are growing worldwide especially in immunocompromised individuals. Since treatment of NTM infections is species-specific, the precise identification of NTM to species level is critical for an optimal treatment. This study was aimed to identify different NTM species by sequencing the rpoB gene and evaluating the effectiveness of argH and cya gene markers. In total 64 clinical isolates suspected to NTM were collected. The identification of the isolates was done by standard conventional methods and PCR-based rpoB gene and sequence analysis. PCR sequencing of argH and cya genes was performed to evaluate the efficacy of these genes in identifying and differentiating different species and subspecies of NTM. Among 64 isolates tested, 51 (79.68%) were detected by conventional tests as NTM. The results of rpoB sequence analysis revealed that the 56 clinical isolates were identified in 10 species of NTM and 8 remaining isolates which showed ambiguous results by rpoB sequencing, application of argH and cya sequencing could detect these isolates. Furthermore, by using cya gene sequencing, M. abscessus subspecies were properly differentiated. Although the rpoB sequencing as a standard method, is beneficial for detecting various species of NTM, however, based on our findings, argH and cya gene markers have a superb ability to discriminate closely related species. Further investigations are required to verify our outcomes.