Time Limit Research Articles

Full time-dependent SOLPS-ITER simulation of the SPARC tokamak: actuator design for particle and divertor condition control *

This paper presents the application of full time-dependent SOLPS-ITER simulations for actuator design in the SPARC tokamak. This study employs both the EIRENE module, a neutral solver, and the B2.5 plasma module in a time-dependent mode. This is in contrast to most SOLPS simulations, which focus on steady-state solutions, where the neutral distribution is evolved without any time limit or for a time step of 1 ⋅10−3 second, which is several orders of magnitude larger than the fluid plasma time step. The time-dependent EIRENE was tested with a fixed B2.5 background and compared with a simple conductance based model in a simplified pump chamber geometry. This comparison aimed to verify the reliability of the neutral relaxation timescale derived from the time-dependent EIRENE. Subsequently, a full time-dependent simulation was performed in a realistic geometry, with the Monte-Carlo neutral time step synchronized with the plasma fluid time step. The numerical setup of the code, including relative time steps and the size of the census data used to store Monte-Carlo particle information is considered. The full-time dependent simulations are then applied to inform the design of the SPARC louver structure, which affects divertor plasma parameters by regulating the neutral conductance from the divertor to the pump. The response of the plasma and neutral parameters was captured on a timescale that enables the design of the actuator to consider time-dependent control capability. It was found that changing the louver opacity has an equivalent effect as varying the gas throughput via puff actuation. Therefore, equivalent divertor plasma conditions can be obtained from both actuators, while the neutral pressure distribution in the pump and divertor differs for each actuator.

Management and Construction of University Books and Materials Under the Background of the Internet

The rapid development and popularization of Internet technology has provided important support for the informatization reform of various industries. University books and materials have the characteristics of large quantities and difficult storage and management. Its digital storage and management platform construction can effectively realize the digital storage and real-time retrieval of books and materials, and help students and teachers to find and use books and materials more quickly. Especially in recent years, with the update of intelligent platforms and other technologies, the resource-sharing platform of university books and materials can realize more convenient book information retrieval without the limitation of time and space. This paper mainly explores the optimization path and platform construction scheme of university libraries and information management under the background of the Internet, hoping to provide some theoretical references for university library managers.

A Learnheuristic Algorithm Based on Thompson Sampling for the Heterogeneous and Dynamic Team Orienteering Problem

The team orienteering problem (TOP) is a well-studied optimization challenge in the field of Operations Research, where multiple vehicles aim to maximize the total collected rewards within a given time limit by visiting a subset of nodes in a network. With the goal of including dynamic and uncertain conditions inherent in real-world transportation scenarios, we introduce a novel dynamic variant of the TOP that considers real-time changes in environmental conditions affecting reward acquisition at each node. Specifically, we model the dynamic nature of environmental factors—such as traffic congestion, weather conditions, and battery level of each vehicle—to reflect their impact on the probability of obtaining the reward when visiting each type of node in a heterogeneous network. To address this problem, a learnheuristic optimization framework is proposed. It combines a metaheuristic algorithm with Thompson sampling to make informed decisions in dynamic environments. Furthermore, we conduct empirical experiments to assess the impact of varying reward probabilities on resource allocation and route planning within the context of this dynamic TOP, where nodes might offer a different reward behavior depending upon the environmental conditions. Our numerical results indicate that the proposed learnheuristic algorithm outperforms static approaches, achieving up to 25% better performance in highly dynamic scenarios. Our findings highlight the effectiveness of our approach in adapting to dynamic conditions and optimizing decision-making processes in transportation systems.

Criteria for storage of cord blood units at Japan's largest cord blood bank.

In Japan, cord blood transplantations exceed those done with adult-sourced unrelated stem cells. This study analyses cord blood (CB) storage criteria to maintain high-quality CB units. The Kanto-Koshinetsu Cord Blood Bank received 29,795 units from 2014 to 2021, mostly >60 mL, and 5486 (18.4%) were stored as transplantable units. We investigated the mother's gestational period, CB volume, total nucleated cells (TNCs), CD34+ cells, total colony-forming units (CFUs), time from collection to reception and cryopreservation, cell viability, and the reasons for not storing a unit. The average time from collection to reception of 29,795 units was 18.0 h. The most common reason for not storing a CB unit was low cell numbers (pre-processing TNC count <1.2 billion), accounting for 67.9% of the units received. There was no correlation between the CB volume and the CD34+ cell count. The shorter the gestational period, the lower the TNC count, but the higher the CD34+ cell count. There was no correlation between the time from collection to cryopreservation, within a 36-h time limit, and the CD34+ cell recovery rate. We could accept units with a TNC count <1.2 billion and a CB volume <60 mL from a gestational period of 38 weeks or less if we did a pre-processing CD34+ cell count. This would secure more units rich in CD34+ cells.

Drone-Based Instant Delivery Hub-and-Spoke Network Optimization

Drone-based transportation is emerging as a novel mode in city logistics, featuring first-mile pickup and last-mile instant delivery using drones and truck transshipment. A fundamental challenge involves coordinating merchants, drones, transshipment hubs, trucks, and consumer communities through the hub-and-spoke network (HSN). This study formulated the optimization problem for HSN to minimize logistics costs and loss of orders constrained by service time limits. The ε-constraint model, two evolutionary algorithms based on Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) using permutation (EAp) and rand key-based (EAr) encoding/decoding schemes were devised to solve the bi-objective mathematical program. Three groups of twelve experiments were conducted using ideal datasets and datasets generated from Shenzhen city to validate the models and algorithms. Relaxing the logistics objective by 10% and subsequently minimizing the loss of orders can significantly reduce average unmet orders by 24.61%; when spokes were beyond 20, the ε-constraint model failed to achieve solutions within an acceptable time. While EAp and EAr demonstrated competence, EAr proved to be more competitive in computation time, hypervolume, spacing metric, and the number of non-dominated solutions on the Pareto fronts. Key parameters influencing the HSN solutions include drone and truck speeds, acceptable delivery times, and the processing and waiting time at hubs.

Enhancing Skin Cancer Diagnosis Using Swin Transformer with Hybrid Shifted Window-Based Multi-head Self-attention and SwiGLU-Based MLP.

Skin cancer is one of the most frequently occurring cancers worldwide, and early detection is crucial for effective treatment. Dermatologists often face challenges such as heavy data demands, potential human errors, and strict time limits, which can negatively affect diagnostic outcomes. Deep learning-based diagnostic systems offer quick, accurate testing and enhanced research capabilities, providing significant support to dermatologists. In this study, we enhanced the Swin Transformer architecture by implementing the hybrid shifted window-based multi-head self-attention (HSW-MSA) in place of the conventional shifted window-based multi-head self-attention (SW-MSA). This adjustment enables the model to more efficiently process areas of skin cancer overlap, capture finer details, and manage long-range dependencies, while maintaining memory usage and computational efficiency during training. Additionally, the study replaces the standard multi-layer perceptron (MLP) in the Swin Transformer with a SwiGLU-based MLP, an upgraded version of the gated linear unit (GLU) module, to achieve higher accuracy, faster training speeds, and better parameter efficiency. The modified Swin model-base was evaluated using the publicly accessible ISIC 2019 skin dataset with eight classes and was compared against popular convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and cutting-edge vision transformer (ViT) models. In an exhaustive assessment on the unseen test dataset, the proposed Swin-Base model demonstrated exceptional performance, achieving an accuracy of 89.36%, a recall of 85.13%, a precision of 88.22%, and an F1-score of 86.65%, surpassing all previously reported research and deep learning models documented in the literature.

The effect of non-pharmacological prenatal interventions on fear of childbirth: an overview of systematic reviews and meta-analysis

BackgroundDuring pregnancy and childbirth, alongside positive feelings, women undergo feelings such as fear of childbirth (FoC) and worry about its consequences, which could leave negative effects on the mother and her child during pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum. The study was carried out to determine the effectiveness of prenatal non-pharmacological interventions on reducing the FoC.MethodsThe protocol of the study was registered in PROSPERO (ID: CRD42023468547). PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane, Scopus, SID (Scientific Information Database) and Google Scholar search engine databases were systematically searched until July 27, 2023 with no limitation of time and limited to Persian and English studies in order to perform this overview. Certainty of evidence was assessed using GRADE, methodological quality using AMSTAR 2 and reporting quality using PRISMA score. Meta-analysis was performed on the data extracted from the original trials to evaluate the effect of different interventions on reducing the FoC. Sub-group analysis and meta-regression models were used to examine high heterogeneity, and sensitivity analysis was used to eliminate the effect of high risk of bias studies on the study findings.ResultsOverall, 15 systematic reviews (SRs) were included in the overview, among which meta-analysis was performed in 9 studies. Considering methodological quality, these SRs were in low to critically low status and had relatively complete reports regarding reporting quality. Meta-analysis findings indicated that psychological interventions (SMD -2.02, 95% CI -2.69 to -1.36, 16 trials, 1057 participants, I2 = 95%) and prenatal educations (SMD -0.88, 95% CI -1.16 to -0.61, 4 trials, 432 participants, I2 = 72.8%) cause a significant reduction in FoC relative to prenatal usual cares with low certainty of evidence. Distraction techniques lead to a significant reduction in FoC relative to prenatal usual care with high certainty of evidence (SMD -0.75, 95% CI -1.18 to -0.33, 4 trials, 329 participants, I2 = 69%), but enhanced cares do not result in a significant decrease FoC relative to prenatal usual care with very low certainty of evidence (SMD -1.14, 95% CI -2.85 to 0.58, 3 trials, 232 participants, I2 = 97%).ConclusionsDistraction techniques are effective in reducing FoC. Regarding the effect of psychological interventions and prenatal educations on the reduction of FoC, the findings indicated that the interventions may result in the reduction of FoC. Very uncertain evidence showed that enhanced cares are not effective in reducing the FoC.

Reliability Assessment for a Stochastic Air Transport Network with Multiple Demands

Air transport networks play a significant role in the modern tourism industry, and their operational performance and stability can be measured by reliability analysis. This study, from the perspective of a travel agency, attempts to assess the reliability of a stochastic air transport network (SATN) by considering multiple passenger demands generated by both the starting airport and several connection airports. The SATN is modeled as a stochastic flow network comprised of several nodes and arcs where nodes represent airports, and arcs represent flights connecting two airports. Each flight is associated with a predetermined stochastic capacity following a specific probability distribution, departure time, arrival time, and discount fare. Accordingly, network reliability refers to the probability that the network can successfully transport passengers from their respective source airports to the destination airport within the given travel time and travel cost limit. An algorithm in terms of the concept of lower boundary point is developed to compute network reliability. Furthermore, a simple example and a case study are presented to demonstrate the proposed reliability method and the managerial implications of reliability for travel agencies.

Omani Students’ Familiarity with IELTS-based Reading Exam Format and Strategies: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study

This study aims to investigate Omani students’ familiarity with the IELTS-based reading exam’s time limit, format, and reading strategies. It also aims to explore the extent to which Omani students adopt independent learning strategies and the challenges they face while taking the IELTS-based reading exams. Omani students need help with their reading skills, as is shown in their below-average scores in IELTS or IELTS-based reading exams conducted by the British Council and the University of Technology and Applied Sciences (UTAS-Ibra). Hence, this study seeks to answer the research questions of whether Omani students studying at level four are familiar with the IELTS-based reading exam’s time limit, format, and reading strategies, and adopt independent learning strategies. The study employed a qualitative research method, and data was collected from eight students (N=8) studying at level four in the preparatory studies center of UTAS-Ibra. This study is significant because it has implications for the stakeholders. The study results show that participants generally possessed a positive comprehension of the time constraints and overall structure of the Level 4 IELTS-based reading exam. Nevertheless, a notable distinction emerged between high and moderate achievers in utilizing reading strategies, proficiency in comprehending complex vocabularies, and sustained engagement in independent learning. To address the challenges high and moderate achievers face, the study suggests implementing specific interventions tailored to their needs.

Abstraction and Refinement: Towards Scalable and Exact Verification of Neural Networks

As a new programming paradigm, deep neural networks (DNNs) have been increasingly deployed in practice, but the lack of robustness hinders their applications in safety-critical domains. While there are techniques for verifying DNNs with formal guarantees, they are limited in scalability and accuracy. In this article, we present a novel counterexample-guided abstraction refinement (CEGAR) approach for scalable and exact verification of DNNs. Specifically, we propose a novel abstraction to break down the size of DNNs by over-approximation. The result of verifying the abstract DNN is conclusive if no spurious counterexample is reported. To eliminate each spurious counterexample introduced by abstraction, we propose a novel counterexample-guided refinement that refines the abstract DNN to exclude the spurious counterexample while still over-approximating the original one, leading to a sound, complete yet efficient CEGAR approach. Our approach is orthogonal to and can be integrated with many existing verification techniques. For demonstration, we implement our approach using two promising tools, Marabou and Planet , as the underlying verification engines, and evaluate on widely used benchmarks for three datasets ACAS , Xu , MNIST , and CIFAR-10 . The results show that our approach can boost their performance by solving more problems in the same time limit, reducing on average 13.4%–86.3% verification time of Marabou on almost all the verification tasks, and reducing on average 8.3%–78.0% verification time of Planet on all the verification tasks. Compared to the most relevant CEGAR-based approach, our approach is 11.6–26.6 times faster.

The efficacy of photobiomodulation on dental injection pain: a systematic review of randomized clinical trials.

Dental injections are routinely performed and can result in pain and anxiety in patients. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the efficacy of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) in dental injections for pain management in patients undergoing dental treatment. Indexed databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, ISI Web of Knowledge, and Cochrane Library, were electronically searched without a time limit up to February 2024. A risk of bias evaluation was performed using the Cochrane tool. A preliminary investigation using electronic and manual methods yielded 4,920,881 manuscripts. Based on the eligibility requirements, 13 randomized control trials (RCTs) were included. Self-assessed pain was determined using the visual analog scale, Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Controllability scale, or Wong-Baker face pain scale. Eight RCTs demonstrated a notable decrease in needle pain in patients undergoing dental needle injections using PBMT. Based on current evidence, PBMT may help reduce needle pain related to dental anesthesia. Further standardized studies are needed to assess the significance of PBMT for postoperative pain in patients undergoing dental injections.

Vitamin E for the Prevention of Contrast-Induced Nephropathy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is a serious condition that may develop in patients undergoing diagnostic radiologic procedures. Several treatments have been assessed to prevent CIN development. This study aims to assess the efficacy and safety of vitamin E in the prevention of CIN compared to intravenous (IV) saline hydration. The literature search included MEDLINE/PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the Web of Science, ProQuest, and Scopus for articles published until May 11, 2024, without language or time limits. The outcomes included the incidence of CIN, new-onset dialysis, and death (primary), as well as the change in serum creatinine and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) (secondary). Numerical and dichotomous outcomes were presented as standardized mean difference (SMD) and risk ratio (RR), respectively, with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Six clinical trials were included. Vitamin E was administered orally in varying doses, but one study used IV infusion. Vitamin E decreased the risk of developing CIN by 59% (n=5;pooled RR: 0.41; 95% CI: 0.25, 0.65; P<0.001) compared to IV hydration. None of the patients required renal replacement therapy. One patient on vitamin E died due to the occurrence of acute coronary syndrome. Vitamin E is a promising effective prophylaxis against CIN. However, the number of included studies and their sample sizes are small. The studies showed several limitations. There is a need for further high-quality clinical trials to ascertain the effectiveness of vitamin E compared to IV hydration and to compare vitamin E to other therapies, such as N-acetyl cysteine.

Anthocyanins as Adjuvant Treatment for Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Recent studies suggest a role for anthocyanins in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The purpose of the present review was to assess the effect of anthocyanins as an adjuvant treatment in patients with NAFLD. The literature search was conducted on MEDLINE/PubMed, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), the Web of Science, and Scopus without language or time limits up to March 27, 2024. The primary outcomes included the severity of liver fibrosis and the level of liver transaminases. Secondary outcomes included obesity and lipid profile assessments. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% CIs were calculated for numerical outcomes. Five studies were included. The pooled effect sizes showed lower levels of liver fibrosis and liver transaminases in the anthocyanin group, but the difference was nonsignificant and small in size. The same result was obtained with anthropometric measurements of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, and serum triglycerides, where effect sizes ranged from negligible to medium in magnitude but were all nonsignificant. The anthocyanin group showed a significantly lower body fat percentage (SMD = -0.41 (95%CI: -0.76; -0.06), P = 0.021). Currently, no evidence is available on the efficacy of anthocyanins in improving liver fibrosis or dyslipidemia in patients with NAFLD. There is limited evidence that anthocyanins can lower body fat percentages, but the effect was not reflected in the pooled results of other obesity indices. The few available clinical trials showed several limitations and variations regarding the doses of anthocyanins. Future clinical trials should avoid the limitations of the current studies and provide evidence supporting or refuting the use of anthocyanins in NAFLD patients.

A systematic review of assisted and third-party reproduction guidelines regarding management and care of donors

BackgroundGamete and embryo donors face complex challenges affecting their health and quality of life. Healthcare providers need access to well-structured, evidence-based, and needs-based guidance to care for gamete and embryo donors. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to synthesize current assisted and third-party reproduction guidelines regarding management and care of donors.MethodsThe databases of ISI, PubMed, Scopus, and websites of organizations related to the assisted reproduction were searched using the keywords of “third party reproduction”, “gamete donation”, “embryo donation”, “guidelines”, “committee opinion”, and “best practice”, without time limit up to July 2023. All the clinical or ethical guidelines and best practice statements regarding management and care for gamete and embryo donors written in the English language were included in the study. Quality assessment was carried using AGREE II tool. Included documents were reviewed and extracted data were narratively synthesized.ResultsIn this systematic review 14 related documents were reviewed of which eight were guidelines, three were practice codes and three were committee opinions. Five documents were developed in the United States, three in Canada, two in the United Kingdom, one in Australia, and one in Australia and New Zealand. Also, two guidelines developed by the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology were found. Management and care provided for donors were classified into four categories including screening, counseling, information provision, and ethical considerations.ConclusionWhile the current guidelines include some recommendations regarding the management and care of gamete/embryo donors in screening, counseling, information provision, and ethical considerations, nevertheless some shortcomings need to be addressed including donors’ psychosocial needs, long-term effects of donation, donors’ follow-up cares, and legal and human rights aspects of donation. Therefore, it is needed to conduct robust and well-designed research studies to fill the knowledge gap about gamete and embryo donors’ needs, to inform current practices by developing evidence-based guidelines.

Diffusion with a broad class of stochastic diffusion coefficients.

In many physical or biological systems, diffusion can be described by Brownian motions with stochastic diffusion coefficients (DCs). In the present study, we investigate properties of the diffusion with a broad class of stochastic DCs with an approach that is different from subordination. We show that for a finite time, the propagator is non-Gaussian and heavy tailed. This means that when the mean square displacements are the same, for a finite time, some of the diffusing particles with stochastic DCs diffuse farther than the particles with deterministic DCs or exhibiting a fractional Brownian motion. We also show that when a stochastic DC is ergodic, the propagator converges to a Gaussian distribution in the long time limit. The speed of convergence is determined by the autocovariance function of the DC.

Clinical Impact of C-myc Oncogenic Diversity on Solid and Lymphoid Malignancies.

Onset and progression of malignant tumors is a multistep process including a variety of gross chromosomal and specific genes' deregulation. Among oncogenes that are frequently altered in solid and also in hematological malignancies, the C-myc (gene locus: 8q24.21) plays a pivotal role. C-myc is a proto-oncogene encoding for a nuclear phosphoprotein implicated in cell cycle progression, apoptosis and cellular differentiation and transformation. The purpose of the current molecular review was to explore the differences of C-myc oncogenic activity in solid and lymphoid malignancies that modify its clinical impact on them. A systematic review of the literature in the international database PubMed was carried out. The year 2010 was set as a prominent time limit for the publication date of articles in the majority of them, whereas specific references of great importance and historical value in the field of C-myc gene discovery and analysis were also included. The following keywords were used: C-myc, oncogene, signaling pathway, malignancies, carcinoma, lymphoma. A pool of 43 important articles were selected for the present study at the basis of combining molecular knowledge with new targeted therapeutic strategies. C-myc oncogene demonstrates two different mechanisms of deregulation: amplification, mutation and translocation patterns. These particular aspects of gene alteration are unique for solid and non-solid (hematological) malignancies, respectively. C-myc is characterized by diversity regarding its deregulation mechanisms in malignancies derived from different tissues. C-myc translocation is sporadically combined with amplification ("complicon" formation) or mutations creating exotic genetic signatures. This "bi-phasic" C-myc deregulation model in the corresponding malignant tumor categories clinically affects the corresponding patients, also modifying the targeted therapeutic strategies on them.

Preliminary investigation and invalidity of investigative actions

Abstract Time limits for preliminary investigation and it’s duration is part of the right to a regular legal process, provided for by Article 42 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania.1 The deadline of the preliminary investigation begins from the date that the name of the person whom the criminal offence is attributed to has been written in the register of notification of criminal offence and ends at the moment the investigations are completed with the relevant acts, the end of the investigations, etc. The duration of the preliminary investigations are different, depending on the prosecution, so in the general jurisdiction prosecution, the preliminary investigation period is 3 months and in the special jurisdiction prosecution it is 6 months. Extension of the preliminary investigation can be done periodically every 3 months, with a maximum term of 2 years, by the prosecutor of the concrete case. In addition to this 2-year period, the deadline can be extended by one more year by the General Prosecutor for the prosecutors of the general jurisdiction and by the Head of the Special Prosecution against Organized Crime and Corruption, for the prosecutors of this prosecution. The goal of the legislator who has set deadlines for the preliminary investigation is not only the completion of the investigation within a reasonable period, but also the legality, validity of all acts and the usefulness of all the evidence obtained during this period of the preliminary investigation. In this way, the legislator has disciplined the preliminary investigation and its validity. Thus, in order for the investigation to be valid, all evidence and procedural acts must be done within this validity period. But what happens if the investigative actions are carried out after the preliminary investigation period? What about the procedural acts that the prosecutor compiles at the end and beyond the deadline of the preliminary investigation, will they be valid and usable? These and other will be part of the analysis of this article.

Monitoring emergency and urgent surgery: an improvement in a Healthcare Management Unit at a third-level hospital in Italy.

At San Martino IRCCS Hospital in Genoa, Italy, emergency and urgent surgery is classified according to the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) classification, whereby cases are divided into two categories and colour-coded accordingly: - EMERGENCY - (Colour-code: RED) "Surgery to be performed within minutes"; - URGENCY - (colour-code: YELLOW) "Surgery to be performed within hours". In this context, it is essential that the emergency surgical team gets clear and complete information from the proposing surgeon, in order to complete the surgical list. Between 14th April 2023 and 23th July 2023, a new method of requesting urgent and emergency surgery by filling out an online form was tested. A total of 406 online requests were made, resulting in 367 E/U surgeries. The greatest number of emergency operations concerned thoracic-abdominal surgery (45%), followed by urology (19%). The requests analysed classified 18% of cases as red and 71% as yellow. The remaining 11% contained compilation errors. Moreover, 11% of the interventions were not performed within the time limits defined according to the severity code. By means of this new tool, San Martino IRCCS Hospital's Healthcare Management Unit can monitor requests for surgery in real time, thereby achieving greater efficiency and implementing corrective measures in the use of Operating Room resources.

C-Jun Transcription Factor Oncogenic Activation in Oral Carcinoma.

Oral carcinogenetic is based on a variety of genomic imbalances (gross chromosome or specific gene alterations) that drive the normal oral mucosa to its neoplastic/dysplastic epithelial form and finally to a totally malignant tissue transformation. In this multi-step procedure, down-regulation of suppressor genes combined with overactivation of oncogenes are two crucial and partially early genetic events involved in the onset and progression of neoplastic/malignant epithelia transformation. More specifically, deregulation of strong transcription factors negatively affects the normal expression of a broad spectrum of genes that are involved in cell proliferation and signalling transduction to the nucleus. The purpose of the current molecular review was to explore the c-Jun (chromosome location: 1p32-p31) transcription factor transformation mechanisms to oncogene in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). A systematic review of the literature was carried out by searching in PubMed international database. The year 2010 was set as a prominent time limit for the publication date of the articles in the majority of them, whereas specific references of great importance and historical value in the field of the c-Jun gene discovery and analysis were also included. The following keywords were used: c-Jun, oncogene, signaling pathway, oral, carcinoma, transcription. A pool of 45 important articles were selected for the present study at the basis of combining molecular knowledge with new targeted therapeutic strategies. C-Jun - as a part of the c-Jun/c-Fos transcription factors' complex -critically regulates the expression levels in a variety of genes inside the cellular microenvironment. A broad spectrum of malignancies, including OSCC, demonstrate c-Jun alterations driving the gene to its oncogenic phenotype. Interestingly, c-Jun oncogenic activation is mediated by high-risk human papilloma virus (HR-HPV) persistent infection in significant subsets of these malignancies. C-Jun was the first oncogene - acting as a strong transcription factor - that was discovered and cloned 35 years ago. C-Jun is the living history of oncogenes and its discovery marks a significant step in the evolution of molecular biology.

Effectiveness of zygomatic-implant fixed rehabilitation for the atrophic edentulous maxilla: protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis

BackgroundAtrophic edentulous maxilla is a debilitating condition caused by the progressive and irreversible bone resorption following loss of teeth, that results in bone of inadequate volume and density. This makes conventional implant therapy extremely challenging without complex reconstructive procedures. Several techniques such as sinus augmentation, short implants, and tilted implants have been used for the rehabilitation of the atrophic maxilla. In recent years, zygomatic implants have emerged as a graftless rehabilitation technique. However, few studies compare zygomatic-implant fixed rehabilitation with other fixed rehabilitation techniques. The existing body of evidence on zygomatic implants is largely based on clinical and disease-oriented outcomes.MethodsA network meta-analysis (NMA) will be conducted in order to compare the effectiveness of zygomatic-implant fixed rehabilitation with the other rehabilitation techniques. Experimental and observational studies comparing different implant-assisted fixed rehabilitation in adults with atrophic maxilla will be included. The primary and secondary outcomes will be patient’s satisfaction and quality of life respectively. Additional outcomes include the implant’s survival/success, and biological and prosthetic complications. An electronic search will be performed through various databases for articles in English and French, without time limits. Risk of bias will be assessed using the Revised Cochrane Risk-of-Bias tool for randomized controlled trials, and ROBINS-I for non-randomized and observational studies. Two independent reviewers will screen the titles and abstracts and extract data. Any discrepancy between reviewers will be discussed and resolved through consensus or with the help of a third reviewer.Pairwise meta-analyses will be performed using a random effects model. I2, τ2, transitivity, subgroup/meta-regression analyses will assess and explain heterogeneity and distribution of effect modifiers. A network plot will be created to connect the different interventions directly and indirectly. Interventions will be ranked using the surface under cumulative ranking curve. Confidence in the results of the NMA will be assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE).DiscussionThis study will be the first to assess the effectiveness of zygomatic-implant fixed rehabilitation for the atrophic maxilla using NMA. The evidence obtained will aid clinical decision-making and will advance the knowledge of the rehabilitation techniques for the atrophic maxilla.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42023353303.