Main Course Research Articles

Locked and Loaded: β-Galactosidase Activated Photodynamic Therapy Agent Enables Selective Imaging and Targeted Treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme Cancer Cells.

Selective detection and effective therapy of brain cancer, specifically, the very aggressive glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), remains one of the paramount challenges in clinical settings. While radiotherapy combined surgery is proposed as the main treatment course, it has several drawbacks such as complexity of the operation and common development of recurrent tumors in this course of patient care. Unique opportunities presented by photodynamic therapy (PDT) offer promising, effective, and precise therapy against GBM cells along with simultaneous imaging opportunities. However, activatable, theranostic molecular systems in PDT modality for GBM remained scarce. Specifically, even though elevated β-galactosidase (β-gal) activity in glioblastoma cells is well-documented, targeted, activatable therapeutic PDT agents have not been realized. Herein, we report a β-galactosidase (β-gal) activatable phototheranostic agent based on an iodinated resorufin core (RB-1) which was realized in only three steps with commercial reagents in 29% overall yield. RB-1 showed very high singlet oxygen (1O2) quantum yield (54%) accompanied by a remarkable turn-on response in fluorescence upon enzymatic activation. RB-1 was tested in different cell lines and revealed selective photocytotoxicity in U-87MG glioblastoma cells. Additionally, thanks to almost 7% fluorescence quantum yield (ΦF) despite extremely high 1O2 generation yield, RB-1 was also demonstrated as a successful agent for fluorescence imaging of U-87MG cells. Due to significantly lower (β-gal) activity in healthy cells (NIH/3T3), RB-1 stayed in a passive state and showed minimal photo and dark toxicity. RB-1 marks the first example of a β-gal activatable phototheranostic agent toward effective treatment of glioblastoma.

Laser-induced forces on atoms during ultrafast demagnetization

Laser-induced femtosecond demagnetization has attracted a broad attention as a possible candidate for information storage technology. However, whether or not lattice vibration directly participates in demagnetization has been highly controversial over a decade. A recent electron diffraction experiment attributed the demagnetization to the polarized phonon effect, but a similar x-ray diffraction experiment attributed it to the Einstein–de Haas effect. Common to both experiments is that neither the angular momentum of the lattice nor the rotation of the sample was directly probed. Here, we report our first first-principles calculation of forces on atoms induced by an ultrafast laser during ultrafast demagnetization. We employ two complementary methods: (i) the frozen lattice with electronic excitation and (ii) frozen excitation but moving the lattice. We find that the forces on atoms start at −50 fs and peak around 30 fs. The magnitude of the force is far smaller than the empirical estimates. Within the limit of our theory, our results suggest that the polarized phonon effect and the Einstein–de Haas effect are unlikely to be the main course of demagnetization. We expect that our finding has a profound impact on the future direction of laser-induced dynamics in magnetic and quantum materials.

Deep Learning-Based Correlation Analysis between the Evaluation Score of English Teaching Quality and the Knowledge Points.

As one of the three main courses from primary school to senior high school, improving the quality of English teaching in and out of class has become the top priority of colleges and universities. English knowledge points are complex, and domestic scholars have studied vocabulary knowledge and grammatical awareness from various perspectives, but there is still a lack of research on the correlation between vocabulary knowledge, grammatical awareness, and cloze test scores of senior high school students. Therefore, this paper carries out empirical research from the depth of English vocabulary, English grammar, reading comprehension, cloze test, and composition, aiming at exploring the relationship between teaching quality and English knowledge points. Classroom teaching quality evaluation is the basic content of education quality evaluation, which not only needs to evaluate the effect of class hours but also needs a student's long-term learning effect. In order to improve the quality of classroom English teaching, enrich the content of classroom English, and ultimately make the quality of students' learning to a higher level, the combination model of the teaching quality evaluation index is established by combining the decision tree with the knowledge point rule association method and the evaluation results are verified by association rule analysis. This paper selects the effective indicators that affect the evaluation of English teaching quality, determines the weight of the indicators by using the analytic hierarchy process, effectively constructs the combination model of the decision tree and rule association method, and establishes the evaluation model of students' English learning ability in the classroom. Taking students as the main object and combining them with the requirements of digital teaching, the evaluation index system is formed, the index weight is determined by using the analytic hierarchy process, and the classroom teaching quality evaluation model based on the decision tree and English knowledge point correlation analysis is constructed to truly reflect the teaching level of teachers, and the correlation analysis is carried out between English teachers' own quality and students' learning effects and knowledge points. By testing the model performance of English vocabulary depth, reading comprehension, grammar, writing, and other knowledge points, we can well evaluate and analyze students' mastery of English learning and the correlation of English knowledge points.

Risk assessment of nickel through Portuguese homemade baby foods

Children are the most vulnerable population group to food contaminants. Nickel is a human carcinogen and exposure to this metal occurs mainly through ingestion of contaminated food. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the risk posed by the exposure of children to nickel through homemade food in Portugal. The analytical methodology used for the determination of nickel was dry ashing followed by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry which allowed for a method detection limit of 17.4 µg kg−1. Samples (n = 146) of homemade food were analysed, including soups, main courses, fruits and non-commercial paps. From these, 121 (82.9%) were contaminated, with the non-commercial paps presenting the highest average (134 µg kg−1) and maximum (350 µg kg−1) nickel concentrations. These results were similar to those obtained for Portuguese commercial premade baby foods, discarding the possibility of nickel migration from the containers and lids alloys. Moreover, the estimated daily intake did not surpassed the actual tolerable daily intake for the different age groups, when using both average results and the worst case scenario.

ANALISIS MENU DENGAN PENDEKATAN MATRIKS DI EBONI RESTAURANT AKHSAYA HOTEL KARAWANG, JAWA BARAT

Menus drive purchasing and production decisions in all operations of a restaurant. Menu analysis allows restaurant owners to evaluate individual menu items systematically by comparing each menu item to other menu items based on pre-selected criteria. Historical menu analysis should include food costs, contribution margins and the popularity or mix of products over a given period. This research was conducted to analyze 24 maincourse menus in Eboni Restaurant Akhsaya Hotel Karawang, West Java. The analysis conducted is Menu Management with a matrix approach using three approaches, namely menu engineering, the percentage of cost of food approach to popularity and the contribution margin approach to the percentage of the cost of food.
 The results showed that the main course menu at Eboni Restaurant at Hotel Akhsaya Karawang has not produced optimal performance. Based on the three analyzes carried out, the results of the engineering menu analysis show that of the 24 main course menus analyzed, 4 menus (17%) are in the stars category, as many as 6 menus (25%) are in the plowhorses category, as many as 6 menus (25%) are in the puzzle category, and 8 menus (33%) are in the dog category. The results of the Percentage Analysis of Food Cost Percentage show that 5 menus (21%) are in the winners category, 5 menus (21%) are in the marginal II category, 4 menus (17%) are in the marginal III category, and 10 menus (42%) are in the losers category. The results of the contribution margin analysis with the cost of goods showed that of the 26 main course menus analyzed, 5 menus (21%) were in the prime category, as many as 5 menus (21%) were in the standard category, as many as 4 menus (17%) were in the category. sleepers, and 10 menus (42%) are in the problem category.
 The suggested strategies are as follows: maintaining menus in category I, increasing selling prices or making changes to standard recipes by reducing food costs for menus in category II, reducing selling prices and promoting more actively for category III menus and removing menu items in category IV.

Morpho-stratigraphic evolution of a tectonically controlled canyon-channel system in the Gioia Basin (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea)

The Gioia-Mesima Canyon-Channel System (GMS) incises the northern part of the Gioia Basin, a post-Tortonian intra-slope basin located along the south-eastern Tyrrhenian margin. Integration of multibeam, side scan sonar and seismic reflection data allowed to reconstruct the morpho-stratigraphic evolution of the GMS and the main factors controlling its development and maintenance. The GMS drains the entire continental margin and displays a complex morphology consisting in two main courses: the Gioia-Petrace Canyon and the Mesima Canyon-Channel. These courses run parallel to each other, changing from narrow straight to meandering geometry until they merge into a single, relatively straight lower reach, which debouches in the Stromboli Valley. Seismic reflection profiles and morphometric analysis highlight a strong tectonic control on GMS location and morphology throughout its course. At large scale, tectonic structures cross cutting the GMS caused both the formation of a mini-basin in the upper slope and a larger confined sub-basin downslope. These features promote abrupt changes in slope gradients that in turn are reflected on the plan-view morphology and stratigraphic architecture (seismic facies and sediment depocenters) of the GMS. Particularly, the progressive infilling of the confined sub-basin caused changes in the GMS base level, determining a polyphased evolution of the system encompassing repeated erosional and depositional events. The complete infill of the sub-basin promoted a by-pass of turbiditic flows in the lower slope, leading to the development of the lower reach of the GMS and its connection with the Stromboli Valley. This connection favoured a base level lowering of the GMS, causing its rejuvenation by retrogressive upslope erosion. This stage was recorded only in the shelf-indenting Gioia Canyon, characterized by a narrow and entrenched course, with irregular longitudinal profile and multiple knickpoints. Based on these results, we propose an evolutionary architectural model of the GMS to point out how erosional and depositional processes of channel/canyon system in a tectonically controlled margin can rapidly change in space and time in relation to multiple factors.

Progress and prospects of carbon dioxide capture, EOR-utilization and storage industrialization

Carbon dioxide capture, EOR-utilization and storage (CCUS-EOR) are the most practical and feasible large-scale carbon reduction technologies, and also the key technologies to greatly improve the recovery of low-permeability oil fields. This paper sorts out the main course of CCUS-EOR technological development abroad and its industrialization progress. The progress of CCUS-EOR technological research and field tests in China are summarized, the development status, problems and challenges of the entire industry chain of CO2 capture, transportation, oil displacement, and storage are analyzed. The results show a huge potential of the large-scale application of CCUS-EOR in China in terms of carbon emission reduction and oil production increase. At present, CCUS-EOR in China is in a critical stage of development, from field pilot tests to industrialization. Aiming at the feature of continental sedimentary oil and gas reservoirs in China, and giving full play to the advantages of the abundant reserves for CO2 flooding, huge underground storage space, surface infrastructure, and wide distribution of wellbore injection channels, by cooperating with carbon emission enterprises, critical technological research and demonstration project construction should be accelerated, including the capture of low-concentration CO2 at low-cost and on large-scale, supercritical CO2 long-distance transportation, greatly enhancing oil recovery and storage rate, and CO2 large-scale and safe storage. CCUS-EOR theoretical and technical standard system should be constructed for the whole industrial chain to support and promote the industrial scale application, leading the rapid and profitable development of CCUS-EOR emerging industrial chain with innovation.

Innovation for Education and Research Management at Universidad de la Costa in the pandemic era

Universidad de la Costa (UNICOSTA) is an institution in the Colombian Caribbean whose main topic of institutional research is sustainable development. UNICOSTA has participated for just one year in the UI Green Metric World University Ranking. In the year 2020, UNICOSTA was ranked 44th at the country level. The aim of this paper is to present the most relevant activities carried out in Universidad de la Costa (UNICOSTA) in the pandemic era by COVID-19, specifically those related to the indicator of Innovation for Education and Research Management. This paper describes in a quantitative way all main research, courses, webinars, and collaboration networks that have been carried out at UNICOSTA from March 2020 to the present. The conclusions show that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the university has strengthened its national and international academic networks ties with several universities, showing as a result an increase in both collaboration and scientific production.Keyword: academic collaboration networks; COVID-19; indicators; sustainable development

Life Cycle Assessment Model of a Catering Product: Comparing Environmental Impacts for Different End-of-Life Scenarios

This paper assesses the primary energy and environmental impacts of a restaurant main course product’s lifecycle, especially focusing on end-of-life (EoL) stage. In the first step, a cradle-to-grave complex life cycle assessment (LCA) model of the product has been set up from the extraction of the required raw materials through the preparation, cooking and use phase to the end-of-life. In the second step, three scenarios (landfilling, incineration, and composting) were compared for the generated food waste in the end-of-life stage given that one of the biggest challenges in waste management is the optimal management of food waste. We calculated eleven environmental impact categories for the examined food product with the help of GaBi 9.0 software. During our research work, the primary energy was examined in each phase. In the third step, a comparison between the traditional and “sous vide” cooking technologies has been created to optimise of the cooking/frying life cycle phase. This paper basically answers three main questions: (1) How can the main environmental impacts and primary energy throughout the whole life cycle of the examined product be characterised? (2) What methods can optimise the different life cycle stages while reducing and recycling energy and material streams? and (3) what is the most optimal waste management scenario at the end-of-life stage? Based on the analysis, the highest environmental impact comes from the preparation phase and the end-of-life scenario for the traditional incineration caused almost twice the environmental load as the landfilling of the food waste. Composting has the lowest environmental impact, and the value of the primary energy for composting is very low. The sous vide cooking technique is advantageous, and the continuously controlled conditions result in a more reliable process. These research results can be used to design sustainable cooking and catering with lower environmental impacts and energy resources in catering units.

Implementation of a patient-teaching workshop to improve pharmacy students’ competencies in patient-centered communication: a case report

BackgroundThe pharmacist-patient relationship has evolved over recent decades and the development of clinical pharmacy requires pharmacists to take patient-centered responsibilities. This requires a specific set of skills, such as patient-centered communication. Evaluation of students’ competencies in patient-centered communication is challenging in academic settings and complementary assessment methods may be designed in order to overcome the limits of traditional preceptors’ ratings or objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). There is increasing interest in a more active patient role in healthcare professional education and there are very few reports about patient-led education in pharmacies. Thus, the objective of this work was to implement a patient-teaching workshop and to assess its impact on pharmacy students’ competencies in patient-centered communication.MethodsThe workshop was developed in collaboration between four patients, a senior clinical pharmacist and a lecturer in education sciences and implemented in the hospital pharmacy residency program. The main course objective was acquiring the three competencies of the Calgary-Cambridge guide to the medical interview: (i) building a relationship, (ii) conducting structured interview and (iii) gathering information. The learning process integrated: working on participants’ perception of pharmacists-patient communication, a first simulated interview, didactic learning and a second simulated interview. After simulated interviews, patients and peer residents assessed learner’s performance with a competency chart and provided individual feedback. Assessment methods included comparisons between the first and second interview scores and an anonymous post-course survey.ResultsForty-seven residents and 19 patient teachers attended the session. Competency scores were higher after the second interview in all three competencies as rated by both patients (+ 25%) and peer residents (+ 29%).Residents expressed a high satisfaction and reported learning about conducting interviews and soft skills contributing to the development of a relationship with patients. “The involvement of patients” was expressed as most appreciated in the majority of the evaluation charts (87%) and the residents valued the importance of collaborative and interprofessional learning during the workshop. Three themes emerged: (1) patients’ expertise, (2) reliability and (3) relationship, which underlined that the students estimated the patients were credible sources of information in this pedagogical context.ConclusionThis patient-teaching approach improved patient-centered competencies of pharmacy residents and promoted partnership between patients and pharmacy students.

L’avancée en âge des personnes atteintes de troubles du spectre de l’autisme. Éléments cliniques et psychopathologiques

ObjectivesThis article attempts, from a psychopathological perspective, to clarify the clinical evolution of patients with ASD during adulthood and into old age, and to assess the risks and the chances. In addition, the article also attempts to address the experiences of these people confronted with their own aging, the death of loved ones, and their own mortality. This study of a cohort of 314 elderly patients can provide some data concerning these changes. MethodThe study of the cohort of 314 adult and aging patients makes it possible to specify several aspects of ASD in adulthood: level of severity, associated disorders and co-morbidities (psychiatric disorders, intellectual deficit, epilepsy, neurosensory disorders, genetics). At the clinical and psychopathological level, the behavioral disorders are described therein with reference to the dominant psychopathological modes of functioning: typical autistic modalities (notion of post-autistic recourse), symbiotic modalities, acute anxious exacerbations, depressive and manic functionings. ResultsPropose an elucidation of challenging behaviors (or problem behaviors) and make it possible to address them; demonstrate that their evolution during advancing age is rather favorable while insisting on the permanent vulnerability of certain subjects. Specify the main courses of action, insisting on spatial, temporal, and relational security; on the central place of care procedures (fundamental physiological needs, consideration of somatic pathologies, specific care with psychotropic drugs, psycho-corporal approaches); and on the attention paid to everyday life, a major therapeutic mediator, through maintaining a reasonable amount of activity. DiscussionThe approach proposed here confirms that the main problem facing adults diagnosed with ASD is that of associated disorders and psychiatric co-morbidities, more than that of the fundamental symptomatic particularities necessary for the diagnosis of ASD (the autistic tripod). This requires going beyond the notion of challenge behavior and adopting a functional perspective that ultimately reveals sometimes major psychic suffering and the adaptive attempts that these patients make to cope with it. ConclusionThe clinical work with this particular population confirms the need for structured institutional work, the only thing that can ensure the coherence of the approaches to working with this diverse patient population, one that is diverse, with generally favorable developments, but which still remains very vulnerable.

PH Grand Rounds: COVID-19 Infection Causing Delayed Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

PH Grand Rounds: COVID-19 Infection Causing Delayed Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

«Риторическая оболочка» в искусстве рациональной аргументации курса высшей математики для студентов- нематематиков

The article discusses how non-mathematical students learn to understand mathematics, or rather help understand, in order to form their general mathematical culture of cognition. Thereby, their mathematical thinking becomes a rational and communicative phenomenon, so elements of higher mathematics should become one of the main courses in the fundamental training of future specialists. With his rhetoric and understood argumentation, a creative teacher leads the student to correct reasoning. The understanding of higher mathematics is characterized by the ability to establish logical connections between accumulated and new knowledge. The cognitive ability to prove is very much demanded by the course of mathematics in geographical and environmental research.

Comparative Phylogeography of Phoxinus, Delminichthys, Phoxinellus and Telestes in Dinaric Karst: Which Factors Have Influenced Their Current Distributions?

The waters of the Dinaric Karst drain into both the Adriatic and the Black Sea basins. Precipitation is high, yet surface waters are scarce, with the exception of sinking streams. Dinaric Karst is a biodiversity hotspot, with diverse speleo- and epigean freshwater fauna. The distribution patterns of taxa in Dinaric Karst have arisen from a combination of vicariance and dispersal and their alteration over time. Within fishes, there are genera that include both species that are widespread and species with restricted ranges (e.g., Phoxinus, Telestes), and genera with only restricted distributions (e.g., Delminichthys, Phoxinellus). Some (Delminichthys, Phoxinellus and Dinaric Telestes) have a similar lifestyle, specialized for dwelling in sinking streams in karst poljes. The present study compares the distribution ranges of Phoxinus, Delminichthys, Phoxinellus and Telestes in Dinaric Karst based upon their mitochondrial genetic lineages, including dating of divergence times and reconstruction of ancestral geographic ranges. The biology of Phoxinus has played a major role in its wider distribution than the other three genera, which exhibit some limited ability to migrate underground, but which cannot disperse along main river courses due to their specific adaptation for dwelling in the sinking streams of karst poljes.

IT-enabled management of project complexity – An Action Design Research project

PurposeProject complexity has been researched much. The majority of publication is searching for law-like relations or development of descriptive frameworks. More prescriptive knowledge is needed to guide the project managers in navigating the project complexity in project managers' pursuit of success. Identifying the complexities of a given project is a real-world problem for project managers (Mikkelsen et al., 2021). The purpose of the paper is to investigate the research of prescriptive knowledge on the management of project complexity.Design/methodology/approachBased on a longitudinally case study, this paper uses Action Design Research (Sein et al., 2011) (ADR) to research the management of project stakeholder complexity. ADR is a variation of action research (AR) with inspiration from design science (Hevner et al., 2004) where an artifact is designed to solve a real-world problem. In this case study, an information system was configured in collaboration with the project managers of the recipient organization.FindingsThe findings from the research project are presented using the affordance theory (Gibson, 1977) as a framing concept and give special attention the affordance perception (Pozzi et al., 2014). Among the project managers, who were very engaged in the co-design, the majority refrained from activating the information system and got the outside view from the stakeholders. Interviews afterward identified “fear of bad project ratings from the stakeholder” as the main course of resistance to deploy the surveying information system.Originality/valueThe paper contributes on two levels. The paper presents a novel approach to researching project complexity based on engaging the stakeholder in generating a common perception of the ongoing state of the projects. The paper also contributes insights into reasons for reluctance on the part of the participants (the project managers) of the recipient organization and hereby adds to the understanding of the organizational change aspect of AR in the research of project management. The paper concludes with the identified benefits of using ADR in research on project complexity management and gives recommendations for future research.

"A Bounded and Incremental Design Approach to Public Administration: 30 Years after Shangraw and Crow’s Revolutionary Approach"

Design is a living phenomenon of public administration, but it has not been thoroughly studied by students of public administration (PA). Based on the pioneering work by Simon in 1969, Shangraw and Crow set forth an approach to intellectual activity about public administration that they presented as a design science approach in 1989. This article explores the reasons for the faltering development of this revolutionary approach, proposes a new bounded and incremental design approach to public administration, and analyses the approach’s basic characteristics and six relevant ideas as well as the main research content and courses of public administration and some recommendations for PA practitioners under this new approach.

CLIMATOLOGICAL WATER BALANCE AND CHARACTERIZATION OF WATER RESOURCES IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF PENTECOSTE, CEARÁ

The present work aimed to analyze the climatological water balance and the characteristics of surface water resources in the municipality of Pentecoste, Ceará. The research was divided into three stages: organization and inventory, field studies, and desk research. For the water balance the historical series of 30 years, 1991 to 2020, was investigated and applied to the Normal Water Balance program with the data referring to the coordinates of the rainfall station and average monthly data of precipitation and temperature. It was obtained as a result the description and detailing of the main water courses present in the municipality. In analyzing the volume of reservoirs for the historical series 2004-2021 it is identified that the water supply decreased with the dry period that began in 2011, being the most critical situation during the year 2017, in which the Sítios Novos weir recorded a volume of 0.12%, followed by the Pentecoste and Caxitoré weir with 0.14% and 3.61%, respectively. In regards to the water balance, it is highlighted that the largest precipitation is concentrated in February, March, and April, with respectively 122.35mm, 188.57mm, and 181.46mm. The potential evapotranspiration reaches its apex in December with 180.05mm, the highest temperature of the series, 28.3°C, occurred in November and December and the lowest was 26.7°C in April. The actual evapotranspiration reached the highest level in March with 145mm. It is also noteworthy that 10 months of the year are of water deficiency, except March and April, marked as a replacement, because they are the rainiest months.

EXPERIENCE OF IMPLEMENTING BIM TECHNOLOGIES IN THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF STEEL AND TIMBER STRUCTURES OF KNUCA

The article is devoted to the experience of implementing modern methods of 3D building information modeling of buildings and structures into the educational process at the Departmentof Steel and Timber Structures of Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture. Starting from the 2016-2017 academic year, the main training courses of the department focus on the design, calculation, detailing and issuance of projectdocumentation using modern 3D building information modeling systems, including software links Autodesk Revit, Robot Structural Analysis Professional, Tekla Structures, IDEA StatiCa. The generalcharacteristic and sequence of work with the specified software concerning creation of information model, selection of sections of steel elements, calculation and detailing of knots, checking of a stressstrain condition of knots and their constituent elements, designing and detailing of elements of steel structures, automatic formation of necessary views, cross-sections and specifications, preparation of drawings of design structural documentation ofsteel frame for printing.Additionally, interdisciplinary end-to-end design and calculation of steel structures using LiraCAD and Robot Structural Analysis Professional have been introduced for a number of disciplines.Based on the experience gained, a method of integrating BIM technologies into the structure of other disciplines has been developed, with an emphasis on performing parallel manual calculations and calculations using specialized software packages, forming drawings using BIM information systems.

Influence of Cascade Hydropower Development on Water Quality in the Middle Jinsha River on the Upper Reach of the Yangtze River

In recent decades, there has been unprecedented development of hydropower in China, especially in the Yangtze River Basin, which has changed the hydrological and hydraulic conditions of natural rivers and has an impact on water quality. However, the spatial-–temporal extent, factors, and the reasons behind the influence of cascade hydropower development are not clear. The six hydropower stations on the main course of the middle reach of the Jinsha River in Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces have been in joint operation for seven years, and the impact of cascade hydropower development on water quality has begun to appear. In this paper, in order to accurately determine the causal relationship between cascade hydropower development and water quality changes on the middle reaches of the Jinsha River and their trends using regression discontinuity analysis, we collected monitoring data on water quality from 2004 to 2019. The results show that cascade hydropower development on the middle reach of the Jinsha River led to a decrease in TP concentration in that section of the river and an increase in the concentration of CODMn and NH3-N. Furthermore, increase in sedimentation following the impoundment of cascade hydropower development is the main reason for the decrease in TP concentration, and the regional economic and social development driven by cascade hydropower development are external sources of the increase in the concentration of CODMn and NH3-N. In addition, influenced by rainfall, the concentrations of CODMn and TP are higher in the rainy season and lower in the dry season, which is directly related to the input of non-point-source pollutants in the basin during the former. This study established a model to accurately judge the causal relationship between cascade hydropower development and water quality changes in the basin, which was then used to assess the impact of cascade hydropower development on water quality. Our results provide a basis for the formulation and implementation of a water quality protection plan for the middle reach of the Jinsha River and can also provide a basis for the development of cascade hydropower in other river basins.

Correlation between the intensity of Helicobacter pylori colonization and severity of gastritis: Results of a prospective study.

Helicobacter pylori infection is strongly associated with chronic gastritis and is probably the main course of chronic inflammation in the gastric mucosa. Gradually, H.pylori gastritis will result in gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia. Identifying the relationship between intensity of colonization and activity of gastritis helps the clinician in more effective treatment and post-treatment follow-ups. The aim of our work was to analyze the relationship between the density of H.pylori colonization of the gastric mucosa and the severity of histological parameters of gastritis (inflammation activity, gastric atrophy, and intestinal metaplasia). This was a prospective monocentric study conducted from January 2020 to December 2020, collecting patients naive to any anti-H.pylori treatment and having a chronic H.pylori infection documented by histological examination. Epidemiological, endoscopic, and anathomopathological data were collected. Ninety-seven patients with a mean age of 42.6 years [18-65 years] and a sex ratio of M/F=0.64 were included. The density of H.pylori colonization was mild (+) in 43.3% of patients, moderate (++) in 47.4% of patients, and significant (+++) in 9.3% of patients. Nearly, ten per cent of patients had no gastritis, 33% had mild gastritis, 50.5% had moderate gastritis, and 6.2% had severe gastritis. Gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia were found in 44.3% and 10.3% of our population, respectively. Patients with mild H.pylori colonization rates had the highest level of mild activity (59.5%). There was a statistically significant association between the severity of H.pylori infection and gastritis activity (p < .001). Gastric atrophy was significantly associated with the intensity of H.pylori colonization (p=.049). No significant relationship was found between the intensity of colonization and metaplasia (p=.08). Our study shows that there is a statistically significant association between the density of H.pylori and histopathological findings including gastritis activity and intestinal atrophy.