Major Categories Research Articles

Are There Two Kinds of Reasoners?

There is little consensus about the underlying parameters of human reasoning. Two major theories have been proposed that suppose very different mechanisms. The mental model theory proposes that people use working memory intensive processes in order to construct limited models of problem parameters. Probabilistic theories propose that reasoning is a process by which people use the sum of their existing knowledge in order to generate an estimate of the probability of a conclusion given problem parameters. Following an initial proposition by Verschueren et al., the dual-strategy model supposes that these different approaches to reasoning are in fact an important individual difference. Specifically, a recently developed diagnostic questionnaire has identified two major categories of reasoners: Counterexample reasoners use a mental model form of processing, while Statistical reasoners use a probabilistic form of processing. In the following, I describe results that show that the Counterexample/Statistical distinction affects information processing across a variety of reasoning and judgment tasks. In addition, strategy use correlates with performance on very different kinds of thinking, such as contingency judgments, processing of negative emotions, or susceptibility to social biases. Although this distinction is related to differences in cognitive ability, it has been found to predict performance over and above these differences. More recent results have shown that it is possible to experimentally modify strategy use. These results suggest that strategy use is an important individual difference that can affect performance in a wide variety of contexts.

Identification and characterization analysis of the HDM gene family in melon (Cucumis melo L.).

Histone demethylase (HDM) play crucial roles in regulating plant growth and environmental adaptation. In this study, the HDM gene family in melon was identified by bioinformatics methods and the expression patterns of the CmHDM family members in different melon tissues were analyzed using transcriptome data. The results showed that 20 CmHDM genes were identified in the melon genome, which were unevenly distributed across each chromosome. These members fall into two major categories: LSD1 and JmjC. The JmjC group could be further divided into five subgroups with different numbers. The results of collinearity analysis of intraspecific and interspecific relationships showed that there were only one pair of segmental duplication in melon HDM genes, and more collinearity in genetic relationship of HDM genes between melon and tomato. The numbers of conserved domains, exons and introns in each member vary and various cis-acting elements responding to hormones and environmental signals existed in the respective promoter regions. Expression analysis showed that the respective gene members were expressed at different levels in male flowers, female flowers, roots, stems, leaves, ovary, and mature fruits of melon. These results will contribute to the understanding on the potential functions of the HDM genes and their potential functions in regulating melon growth and environmental adaptation.

Current status and challenges of immunotherapy for multiple myeloma

Multiple myeloma (MM) is the second most common hematologic malignancy and the incidence of MM in mainland China in 2016 was 1.15/100 000.With the development of China's aging society, the incidence of MM is expected to increase year by year. Immunotherapy for MM has become the fourth pillar of therapy after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, immunomodulators, and proteasome inhibitors, and is the most active area of MM treatment. Nine new drugs have been approved for multiple myeloma treatment in China, and three are expected to be approved in 2024, which will focus on immunotherapy. There are many ambiguities about the current status of research and utilization in this emerging field in China. Determining the optimal integration of these therapies into the treatment regimen for Chinese MM patients constitutes a critical challenge for clinicians. Immunotherapy for MM primarily encompasses two major categories: antibody-based drug therapy and cellular immunotherapy. Antibody-based medications primarily include monoclonal antibodies, T-cell engagers, IgG-like bispecific antibodies, and trispecific antibodies. Cellular immunotherapy mainly consists of chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells, as well as other immune cells such as chimeric antigen receptor natural killer (CAR-NK) cells, dendritic cells, T cell receptor-engineered T cells, and peptide vaccines.This article mainly focuses on the current research status and existing issues of the aforementioned immunotherapy methods, with the aim of providing references for the treatment of MM.

Identification of aging fingerprint of base asphalt by ATR-FTIR combined with chemometrics

In this work, attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) combined with chemometric analysis was used to classify and characterise aged asphalt. The full spectra of asphalt samples with 5 types at 6 aging states (30 samples) were determined using ATR-FTIR and the data matrix of the full spectra was analysed chemometrically. Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) outcomes demonstrate that the asphalts of five oil sources are divided into three major categories. The samples of asphalt prior to and following aging with comparable oil sources are still grouped into one category. With up to 100% accuracy, one can discriminate between the asphalt samples from these three oil sources using Fisher's discriminant function based on PCA and HCA cluster analysis.This indicates that the aging characteristics of asphalt depend on the oil source, and the "genetic framework" of asphalt will not change with aging.

EDNA Metabarcoding: Gaps of Publicly Available Reference Databases of Freshwater Vertebrates in Sri Lanka

Environmental DNA (eDNA) has become a rapidly emerging technology during the last decade. Although eDNA applications are used worldwide, none of the eDNA metabarcoding studies have been conducted solely in Sri Lanka yet. Detection rate of species through DNA metabarcoding technique varies with the availability of gene sequences in reference databases. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the data gaps of local species in two selected reference databases (the NCBI database and the BOLD database). Local freshwater vertebrates were considered for this analysis by dividing them into three major categories as freshwater fish (97 species), freshwater amphibians (40 species) and freshwater reptiles (7 species). The availability of COI gene sequence and CytB gene sequence of each species were recorded. In the NCBI database, reference gene sequences were available only for 17.53% (17 species) of freshwater fish, 7.50% (3 species) of freshwater amphibians and 14.29% (1 species) of freshwater reptiles. In the BOLD database, reference gene sequences were available for 52.58% (51 species) of freshwater fish, 17.50% (7 species) of freshwater amphibians and 42.86% (3 species) of freshwater reptiles. Endemic species were analyzed separately. This revealed the availability of reference gene sequences for 4.92% (3 species) of endemic freshwater fish in the NCBI database. However, none of the reference gene sequence was found for endemic freshwater amphibians and reptiles. In the BOLD database, reference gene sequences were available for 36.07% (22 species) of endemic freshwater fish and 33.33% (1 species) of endemic freshwater reptiles but none for endemic freshwater amphibians. According to the results, large gaps of publicly available reference CO1 gene sequences were observed in both NCBI and BOLD databases. Not only the availability of reference gene sequences, but also the submitted countries of those sequences were also analyzed as a part of this study. Asia has contributed the most according to the country-vice analysis. Among them, many are in the South Asian region. Therefore, this study highlights the need of expanding reference databases for greater local representation as well as the importance of forging collaborations with the developed countries in the same region in order to increase international cooperation and funding to carry on further studies on neglected taxa and under‐represented taxa in Sri Lanka. 
 Keywords: eDNA (environmental DNA), Metabarcoding, Reference databases, Reference gene sequences

Awareness of the General Public within the District of Gampaha, Regarding the Biomedical Waste Disposed by Clinical Laboratories and its Consequences

The Waste management is a primary concern in a clinical laboratory for overall laboratory safety as biomedical wastes generated in medical laboratories are hazardous for humans and the environment. This study aimed to assess the awareness regarding biomedical waste and its consequences among the public in the Gampaha district and to observe the correlation between the level of education with this extent. 150 people between the ages of 18 and 55 years were considered for inclusion criteria, while current, retired, and minor healthcare workers were excluded. The convenience sampling method was used when selecting the target population, and data was collected through online surveys (google forms) with close-ended questionnaires. The age groups have been divided into four major categories: (18-25), (25-35), (35-45) and (45-55). SPSS software was used to analyze and evaluate the results. The results showed that people aged 18-25 years and 45-55 years have a low awareness of biomedical waste and its consequences, whereas people aged 25-35 years have good awareness. Individuals between the ages of 35 and 45 had the highest level of awareness. The responses obtained revealed that the highest level of awareness regarding the biomedical wastes disposed of by clinical laboratories and its consequences was given by 90% of the 35-45 age group, 60% of the 25-35 age group, 58% of the 45-55 age group, and 52% of the 18- 25 age group. Except for a few exceptions, many participants in the 35-45 age groups were educated as most of them had completed their studies at least up to advanced level. Having a doctorate was the highest education level observed in the sample. According to the findings, the analyzed P value was 0.026, with a correlation coefficient of 0.6631 indicating that the results are statistically significant. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a clear correlation between the levels of education and age regarding the awareness of biomedical waste. Therefore, strengthening the waste management systems and educating the public regarding biomedical waste would be recommended.
 Keywords: Biomedical wastes, Awareness, Level of Education, General Public, Gampaha District

Extension VM: Interleaved Data Layout in Vector Memory

While vector architecture is widely employed in processors for neural networks, signal processing, and high-performance computing; however, its performance is limited by inefficient column-major memory access. The column-major access limitation originates from the unsuitable mapping of multidimensional data structures to two-dimensional vector memory spaces. In addition, the traditional data layout mapping method creates an irreconcilable conflict between row- and column-major accesses. Ideally, both row- and column-major accesses can take advantage of the bank parallelism of vector memory. To this end, we propose the Interleaved Data Layout (IDL) method in vector memory, which can distribute vector elements into different banks regardless of whether they are in the row- or column-major category, so that any vector memory access can benefit from bank parallelism. Additionally, we propose an Extension Vector Memory (EVM) architecture to achieve IDL in vector memory. EVM can support two data layout methods and vector memory access modes simultaneously. The key idea is to continuously distribute the data that needs to be accessed from the main memory to different banks during the loading period. Thus, EVM can provide a larger spatial locality level through careful programming and the extension ISA support. The experimental results showed a 1.43-fold improvement of state-of-the-art vector processors by the proposed architecture, with an area cost of only 1.73%. Furthermore, the energy consumption was reduced by 50.1%.

Determining Formaldehyde Phytoremediation Efficacy of Selected Ornamental Plants

In the recent past, deterioration of indoor air quality has become a serious concern due to the increased energy efficiency and reduced air exchange rate inside urban buildings. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are a major category of indoor air pollutants that can lead to adverse health outcomes such as headaches, allergies and asthma in those exposed for prolonged periods. Formaldehyde, the VOC used in the present study is a common contaminant of indoor air which originates from particle board, plywood, paper products, certain adhesives, tobacco smoke and other sources. The use of plants for the mitigation of indoor air pollution is viewed as a cost effective and eco-friendly method with untapped potential. The main objective of the present study was to determine the formaldehyde removal efficacy of selected plant species while investigating the mechanisms used by these plants in the removal process. The selected plant species were Zamioculcas zamiifolia, Hedera helix, Dracaena sanderiana and Ficus sp. Plants of the same age were used with three replicates from each species. Phytoremediation potential was assessed by exposing the plants for 24 hours to gaseous formaldehyde (2.0 μL L-1) in air tight chambers made of Plexiglass (an inert material for VOCs) with dimensions of 0.9 m height×0.58 m length×0.55 m width. Formaldehyde removal was measured using GC-MS and the result was expressed as removal percentages. Several leaf anatomical characters (cuticle thickness, epidermal thickness and mesophyll layer thickness), stomatal characters (stomatal density, stomatal index, guard cell length and potential conductance index) and physiological characters (stomatal conductance and photosynthetic rate) were measured to study the possible mechanisms involved in the formaldehyde removal process. The data were subjected to ANOVA and Pearson correlation test. According to the results obtained, Ficus sp. had the highest formaldehyde removal percentage (92.80%) while Hedera helix had the lowest (56.86%). The study further showed that stomatal density and stomatal conductance play a major role in formaldehyde removal by these plants while cuticle and epidermal thickness act as hindrances to this process. This conclusion was further confirmed by Pearson‘s correlation values in correlation analysis. The current study was carried out for 24 hours of exposure and it would be of interest to explore, the long term behavior of the plants through further studies. Overall, the results justify future studies on a cross-section of diverse plant species for formaldehyde removal efficiency to determine species with superior removal efficiencies for a better phytoremediation process. 
 Keywords: Phytoremediation, VOCs, Formaldehyde, GC-MS technology

Amyloids, amorphous aggregates and assemblies of peptides – Assessing aggregation

Amyloid and amorphous aggregates represent the two major categories of aggregates associated with diseases, and although exhibiting distinct features, researchers often treat them as equivalent, which demonstrates the need for more thorough characterization. Here, we compare amyloid and amorphous aggregates based on their biochemical properties, kinetics, and morphological features. To further decipher this issue, we propose the use of peptide self-assemblies as minimalistic models for understanding the aggregation process. Peptide building blocks are significantly smaller than proteins that participate in aggregation, however, they make a plausible means to bridge the gap in discerning the aggregation process at the more complex, protein level. Additionally, we explore the potential use of peptide-inspired models to research the liquid-liquid phase separation as a feasible mechanism preceding amyloid formation. Connecting these concepts can help clarify our understanding of aggregation-related disorders and potentially provide novel drug targets to impede and reverse these serious illnesses.

AN EXTENSIVE REVIEW ON THE ROLE OF METAL MATRIX NANOCOMPOSITES IN THE RECENT RESEARCH AREAS

Metal matrix nanocomposites have received more focus in the last two decades because of their desirable alternative features. Many researchers have made several attempts to identify the suitable nanoreinforcement particles for getting improved results in various applications. Many of them tried to improve the properties of several metal matrix nanocomposite materials including mechanical properties, electrical properties, barrier properties, structural properties, moisture permeability, etc., with the help of a variety of techniques. Research study results revealed that the addition of nanosized reinforcement particles improved the mechanical and wear characteristics of aluminum-based metal matrix composites. Metal matrix nanocomposites are being employed in many application areas such as in biomedical field, self-cleaning marble coating application, antimicrobial application and wear-resistant coating application. This review workhas gone through a bulk of research works related to metal matrix nanocomposites. The entire study has been grouped under a few major categories such as synthesis of nanocomposites, characterization study on various nanocomposites, application areas of various nanocomposites, optimization works carried out on nanocomposites, and risk management of nanocomposites.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Utilization of Healthcare Services and Spending Patterns in Dubai, United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the utilization of healthcare services in many parts of the world. The response to the healthcare burden imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with ensuring the provision of optimum healthcare services. This study aimed to estimate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on health services utilization and spending patterns in Dubai, the UAE. This cross-sectional study used secondary data on healthcare utilization and spending to compare between 2019 and 2020. The data was extracted from the health insurance claims on the eClaimLink platform. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to calculate the percent change of service utilization and spending and percentages of total claims by each encounter type across major diagnostic categories (MDCs). In 2020, there was an overall reduction in outpatient visits and inpatient admissions of 27% and 21%, respectively, compared to 2019. Outpatient visits and prescriptions decreased across all the MDCs except mental and behavioral disorders, which showed an increase of 8% in outpatient visits and 29% in prescriptions. The admissions to the healthcare facilities were also reduced significantly across various MDCs, ranging from 10% to 44%. Similarly, a downward trend was seen in diagnostics for different MDCs. An increase in expenditure on diagnostics and drugs for neoplasm was reported, despite a corresponding decrease in outpatient and inpatient admissions for the same. A significant decrease in overall healthcare utilization and corresponding healthcare spending, resulting from a decline in outpatient and inpatient volume in healthcare facilities at all the levels (hospitals, clinics, speciality centres), was reported during the pandemic. The impact of the pandemic on mental health was reported by this study, as it showed an upward trend in utilization and spending. For the neoplasms, although the utilization declined, the expenditure on diagnostics and drugs during each encounter increased significantly.

Participants With Acquired Brain Injury Realized They "Could Still Do Things" After a Yoga Intervention: A Qualitative Descriptive Study.

Occupational therapy practitioners use yoga in practice to achieve holistic care, and the American Occupational Therapy Association has provided guidance on the use of yoga in occupational therapy. For people with acquired brain injury (ABI), however, it is unknown whether yoga affects occupational performance. To explore the perceived impact of an adapted yoga intervention on occupational performance using the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process (4th ed.; OTPF-4) for participants with ABI. Qualitative descriptive study using virtual, semistructured interviews. An inductive, holistic, open-coding process, followed by a deductive process to map open codes to the OTPF-4. Nine individuals with ABI were recruited from a yoga intervention study. The theme generated from the data-"Yoga participants with ABI realized that they could still do quite a bit"-was supported by two major categories from the OTPF-4: Occupations and Performance Skills. Participants described improvements in their functional performance (i.e., motor skills, process skills) and how these factors were synergistically connected to their occupational performance (i.e., self-care, leisure). This study provides novel insight into how functional performance improved so participants could "still do things," such as engaging in occupations. When participants described improved performance skills, they simultaneously described re-engagement with their meaningful occupations. Participants also perceived an improvement in their mind-body connection, which should be further explored in future studies. This study generated original findings about participants' perceptions of an adapted yoga intervention as they relate to the OTPF-4. Plain-Language Summary: This study reports individuals' perceptions of their re-engagement with occupations and changes in occupational performance skills after participating in an adaptive yoga intervention. We highlight the distinct contribution that adaptive yoga-an intervention modality that can be used by occupational therapy practitioners-may have, using the OTPF-4 to connect the participants' perceptions about their improvements in occupational performance.

Beach litter pollution along the odisha coast: Composition, abundance, biodiversity impact and management practices

Beach litter pollution at Puri, Gopalpur, and the world-famous turtle nesting beach at Rushikulya along the Odisha coast are studied during 2018, 2019, and 2021. The composition, abundance, colour and sources of the litters revealed five major categories; plastic, foam, metal, rubber and glass in all three beaches. Pollutant load shows an increasing trend with maximum at Gopalpur followed by Rushikulya and Puri. Litter of ten colours were observed with a maximum percentage of white and translucent litter. Plastics were the most abundant litter in Puri and Gopalpur while rubber was most abundant in Rushikulya. Tourism activities are identified as the major source of pollution at Puri and Gopalpur, while river discharge contributes the maximum to beach litter pollution at Rushikulya. The study discusses on the impacts of these litters on sea turtle nesting habitat and population. Clean Coast Index (CCI) for Puri, Rushikulya and Gopalpur indicates the beaches under the very clean category. Beach litter management practices along the Odisha coast are discussed and methods for improvement are suggested.

Fast Real-Time Brain Tumor Detection Based on Stimulated Raman Histology and Self-Supervised Deep Learning Model.

In intraoperative brain cancer procedures, real-time diagnosis is essential for ensuring safe and effective care. The prevailing workflow, which relies on histological staining with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) for tissue processing, is resource-intensive, time-consuming, and requires considerable labor. Recently, an innovative approach combining stimulated Raman histology (SRH) and deep convolutional neural networks (CNN) has emerged, creating a new avenue for real-time cancer diagnosis during surgery. While this approach exhibits potential, there exists an opportunity for refinement in the domain of feature extraction. In this study, we employ coherent Raman scattering imaging method and a self-supervised deep learning model (VQVAE2) to enhance the speed of SRH image acquisition and feature representation, thereby enhancing the capability of automated real-time bedside diagnosis. Specifically, we propose the VQSRS network, which integrates vector quantization with a proxy task based on patch annotation for analysis of brain tumor subtypes. Training on images collected from the SRS microscopy system, our VQSRS demonstrates a significant speed enhancement over traditional techniques (e.g., 20-30min). Comparative studies in dimensionality reduction clustering confirm the diagnostic capacity of VQSRS rivals that of CNN. By learning a hierarchical structure of recognizable histological features, VQSRS classifies major tissue pathological categories in brain tumors. Additionally, an external semantic segmentation method is applied for identifying tumor-infiltrated regions in SRH images. Collectively, these findings indicate that this automated real-time prediction technique holds the potential to streamline intraoperative cancer diagnosis, providing assistance to pathologists in simplifying the process.

Roles and Autonomous Motivation of Safety Officers: The Context of Construction Sites

Safety officers have been underlined as key individuals in the implementation of safety programmes at construction sites. However, previous research mentioned that some project managers predominantly focus on other aspects, such as the productivity of construction and the management of time and cost. Such emphases may potentially demotivate safety officers from fully engaging in safety initiatives for construction projects. Moreover, scholars have devoted piecemeal discussions to the motivation of such practitioners. These problems were addressed in the current work through the development of a conceptual paradigm that captures the actual situation between project managers and safety officers. To this end, four constructs were extensively examined: (1) autonomy-oriented support from project managers; (2) the motivation of safety officers; (3) the engagement of safety officers in safety programmes (covering four major categories of safety-related tasks); and (4) safety performance. From August to September 2022, valid data from 195 safety officers working in construction projects were considered, after which the proposed paradigm was analysed via structural equation modelling. The results showed that the autonomous motivation of safety officers was activated by autonomy-oriented support from project managers (β = 0.520, sig. = 0.000). Such motivation significantly affected their safety performance (β = 0.231, sig. = 0.007) and levels of engagement with safety initiatives (β = 0.529, sig. = 0.000). These findings indicate that in the implementation of safety programmes, the autonomous motivation of safety officers serves as the engine, while autonomy-oriented support from project managers functions as the ignition key. Policymakers in construction companies can use the results as a reference for decision-making on initiating safety policy that highlights methods of training project managers in supporting safety officers.

Interdisciplinary integration of land use and drainage planning for urban adaptation under the climate change scenario

ABSTRACT The challenge posed by urbanization often revolves around effectively integrating land use and comprehensive drainage planning. The empirical results of urban layout on stormwater management are summarized into two major categories: (1) decrease of runoff volume and (2) decrease of peak flows. Interdisciplinary incorporation of urban design and hydraulic engineering should be employed for reducing upstream runoff volumes and a regional downstream detention system to mitigate peak flow releases. This study proposes a framework that combines the distribution of flow loading and the control of flow releases to formulate the adaptation strategy by synthesizing land use and comprehensive drainage planning. The study leverages environmental and land use data to investigate Dapu township, Taiwan. The presented paper designs a detention and low-impact development (LID) method based on relative land use layout. It identifies the relationships between land use and master drainage planning (MDP) in watershed areas. It contributes to an integrated framework for the urban planners' flood mitigation adaptation strategy. Most importantly, it provides insights into MDP practices under slight, medium, and even climate change scenarios.

Towards harmonized standards for freshwater biodiversity monitoring and biological assessment using benthic macroinvertebrates

Monitoring programs at sub-national and national scales lack coordination, harmonization, and systematic review and analysis at continental and global scales, and thus fail to adequately assess and evaluate drivers of biodiversity and ecosystem degradation and loss at large spatial scales. Here we review the state of the art, gaps and challenges in the freshwater assessment programs for both the biological condition (bioassessment) and biodiversity monitoring of freshwater ecosystems using the benthic macroinvertebrate community. To assess the existence of nationally- and regionally- (sub-nationally-) accepted freshwater benthic macroinvertebrate protocols that are put in practice/used in each country, we conducted a survey from November 2022 to May 2023. Responses from 110 respondents based in 67 countries were received. Although the responses varied in their consistency, the responses clearly demonstrated a lack of biodiversity monitoring being done at both national and sub-national levels for lakes, rivers and artificial waterbodies. Programs for bioassessment were more widespread, and in some cases even harmonized among several countries. We identified 20 gaps and challenges, which we classed into five major categories, these being (a) field sampling, (b) sample processing and identification, (c) metrics and indices, (d) assessment, and (e) other gaps and challenges. Above all, we identify the lack of harmonization as one of the most important gaps, hindering efficient collaboration and communication. We identify the IUCN SSC Global Freshwater Macroinvertebrate Sampling Protocols Task Force (GLOSAM) as a means to address the lack of globally-harmonized biodiversity monitoring and biological assessment protocols.

Deltas: New paradigms

AbstractDeltas are deposits directly accumulated by land‐generated gravity flows in a standing body of water. The paradigm of deltaic sedimentation has dramatically changed during recent years, from the popular very simplified ternary models of marine littoral deltas towards more realistic and comprehensive models, considering the importance of sediment‐laden river discharges. Ternary delta models were designed for clean rivers, where a stream flow drags the sediments. Depending on the basin dynamics, these littoral deposits can be modified, forming tidal‐dominated, wave‐dominated or fluvial‐dominated littoral deltas. In recent years, a new classification of delta systems was proposed, based on contrasting the salinity of the receiving water body with the bulk density of the incoming fluvial discharge. Rivers are highly dynamic systems, and their discharges can be very variable in terms of flow duration and sediment concentration. Additionally, the salinity of the receiving water body can exhibit significant variability, especially in closed lakes and epicontinental seas, ranging from freshwater to brines. This scenario allows the distinction of three major delta categories (hypopycnal, homopycnal and hyperpycnal deltas) which can be in turn subdivided, defining seven delta types. Hypopycnal deltas form when the bulk density of the incoming flow is lower than the density of the water in the basin, allowing the definition of three delta types, corresponding to hypersaline littoral deltas, marine littoral deltas and brackish littoral deltas. Homopycnal deltas form when the bulk density of the incoming flow is similar to the density of the water in the basin, defining a delta type termed homopycnal littoral deltas. Hyperpycnal deltas form when the bulk density of the incoming flow is higher than the density of the water in the basin, allowing the definition of three categories termed hyperpycnal littoral deltas, hyperpycnal subaqueous deltas and hyperpycnal fan deltas.

Abstract HUP1: Health Inequities in Preeclampsia and Maternal Ischemic Stroke: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the National Inpatient Sample

Introduction: Maternal stroke affects 30 per 100,000 pregnancies, a 3-fold higher risk as compared to stroke rate in young adults. One study reported that preeclampsia (PE) or eclampsia was seen in 36% of pregnant patients with ischemic stroke. The objective of this study is to evaluate the odds of PE and maternal ischemic stroke (MIS) in a national sample. Methods: We utilized the National Inpatient Sample from Q4 2015 to 2020 to examine the rates of PE and MIS in women aged 20-44. To be included in the analysis, the primary Major Diagnostic Category (MDC) code on the record was for Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Puerperium (n=3,921,672) or Newborn and Other Neonates, Perinatal Period (n=178). Univariate analysis provided crude odds of relevant variables. Multivariate logistic regression models were fitted to determine the odds of PE based on known PE risk factors; a second model was fitted to determine the odds of maternal stroke in women who had PE. Covariates in both models were age, primary payer, gestational diabetes, and obesity. Results: Consistent with previous knowledge, univariate analysis showed that Black women had 69% higher odds of PE compared to white women (cOR=1.69, 95%CI=1.66-1.71), while Latinas had 8% higher odds of PE compared to white women (cOR=1.08, 95%Ci=1.06-1.11). Compared to white women, Black women had 42% increased odds of MIS (cOR=1.42, 95%CI=1.14-1.78), while Latinas had 24% decreased odds of MIS (cOR=0.76, 95%CI=0.59-0.99). In multivariate analysis, PE was associated with increased odds of MIS, aOR=1.74 (95% CI=1.31-2.31). When stratified by race, this result was only found among white women (aOR=1.85, 95% CI=1.26-2.75). Having PE was not associated with odds of MIS in Black women when compared to Black women without PE (aOR=1.52, 95% CI=0.90-2.56). Conclusion: This study found that preeclampsia increases the odds of MIS overall. These odds are higher if patients also have other risk factors such as gestational diabetes, history of hypertension, and history of stroke. Our results also found no significant difference in MIS among Black women or Latinas based on PE status. Future directions could address other potential contributing factors, including structural factors that contribute to health inequities.

REPORT-SCS: minimum reporting standards for spinal cord stimulation studies in spinal cord injury.

Objective.Electrical spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has emerged as a promising therapy for recovery of motor and autonomic dysfunctions following spinal cord injury (SCI). Despite the rise in studies using SCS for SCI complications, there are no standard guidelines for reporting SCS parameters in research publications, making it challenging to compare, interpret or reproduce reported effects across experimental studies.Approach.To develop guidelines for minimum reporting standards for SCS parameters in pre-clinical and clinical SCI research, we gathered an international panel of expert clinicians and scientists. Using a Delphi approach, we developed guideline items and surveyed the panel on their level of agreement for each item.Main results.There was strong agreement on 26 of the 29 items identified for establishing minimum reporting standards for SCS studies. The guidelines encompass three major SCS categories: hardware, configuration and current parameters, and the intervention.Significance.Standardized reporting of stimulation parameters will ensure that SCS studies can be easily analyzed, replicated, and interpreted by the scientific community, thereby expanding the SCS knowledge base and fostering transparency in reporting.