Persistence Index Research Articles

Bio-efficacy, persistence and residual toxicity of different insecticides against girdle beetle, Obereopsis brevis (Swedenborg) infesting soybean

An investigation was undertaken to study the bio-efficacy, persistence and residual toxicity of different insecticides viz., chlorantraniliprole 0.004 per cent, ethion 0.100 per cent, triazophos 0.050 per cent, indoxacarb 0.010 per cent, emamectin benzoate 0.001 per cent, quinalphos 0.050 per cent and profenophos 0.100 per cent against Obereopsis brevis (Swedenborg) infesting soybean at the Research Farm of Department of Agril. Entomology, College of Agriculture, Latur (MS). The result revealed that all the insecticidal treatments were significantly superior over untreated control in minimizing the per cent plant infestation due to O. brevis. Among the treatments, chlorantraniliprole 0.004 per cent was found to be the most effective insecticide in minimizing infestation due to O. brevis on soybean (6.10 and 3.77 per cent per mrl) followed by ethion 0.100 per cent (6.52 and 4.58 per cent per mrl), triazophos 0.050 per cent (7.33 and 4.60 per cent per mrl), indoxacarb 0.010 per cent (7.44 and 4.63 per cent per mrl), emamectin benzoate 0.001 per cent (7.44 and 5.11 per cent per mrl), quinalphos 0.050 per cent (7.59 and 5.33 per cent per mrl) and profenophos 0.100 per cent (8.55 and 5.99 per cent per mrl) after first and second sprays, respectively. The highest grain yield was achieved by chlorantraniliprole 0.004 per cent (34.87 q per ha) while quinalphos 0.050 per cent (1:19.72) documented highest incremental cost benefit ratio. The results on residual toxicity of different insecticides against O. brevis infesting soybean indicated that chlorantraniliprole 0.004 per cent and ethion 0.100 per cent illustrated highest persistent toxicity index (PT) (851.86 and 817.14 and; 833.80 and 827.96, respectively) and LT50 values (6.48 and 6.14 and; 6.48 and 6.10 days, respectively) against early instar grubs of O. brevis after first and second sprays as compared to the other insecticides.

Description of an indirect method (IDPR) to determine spatial distribution of infiltration and runoff and its hydrogeological applications to the French territory

It is commonly accepted in geospatial analysis that automated calculation of thalweg networks from a digital elevation model produces a theoretical flow system that overall represents the branching of in-place hydrographic networks. However, in detail this theoretical network is too different from the natural river network to substitute for the systematic digitization of rivers. Numerous papers seek to optimize numeric calculations to reduce this discrepancy but none has proposed to use this difference as data specific to the context under study.Toward this end, the principal idea behind the IDPR (Network Development and Persistence Index) is to apply a particular metric to disparity measurements between the theoretical drainage system produced by the raw automatic analysis of a digital model and the field reality represented by branching rivers. By measuring the difference between a simplified modeling of water pathways based on a hypothesis of homogeneous and isotropic terrain and the complexity of a natural network subject to the properties of the land surface it crosses, this metric makes it possible to determine spatial distribution of infiltration and runoff.

Weed indices as influenced by different weed management practices in fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.)

A field experiment conducted at Instructional farm, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur during rabi 2016-17 and 2017-18 to study the effect of weed management practices on weed control and seed yield of fenugreek. The experiment consists of thirteen weed management treatments comprising imazethapyr (70 g ha-1, 70 g ha-1 fb hoeing at 40 DAS), imazethapye 50 g ha-1 at 2-4 leaf stage of weeds, imazethapyr + imazamox 50 and 60 g ha-1 at 2-4 leaf stage of weeds, pendimethalin 750 g ha-1 PE, oxyfluorfen (120, 150 g ha-1 and 120 g ha-1 fb hoeing at harvest, oxadiargyl (100 g ha-1 and 100 g ha-1 fb hoeing at 40 DAS) including weed free and weedy check in main plot treatments and levels of vermicompost, viz. control and 5 t ha-1 in sub plot treatments. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. The soil of experimental field was clay loam in texture, slightly alkaline in reaction, medium in organic carbon, available nitrogen, available phosphorus and high in available potassium. Fenugreek variety RMT-305 was sown at 30 cm distance with 25 kg ha-1 seed rate and fertilize with recommended dose of fertilizers. Pre-emergence application of oxadiargyl 100 g ha-1 followed by hoeing at 40 DAS recorded significantly lower weed density (15.00 m-2) and weed dry matter (54.20 g m-2), higher weed control efficiency (86.29% ), crop resistance index (10.20), weed persistence index (1.79%) and lowest weed index (3.03% ). Also the same treatment recorded higher growth, yield attributes and seed yield (2820 kg ha-1) of fenugreek however this treatment was remained at par with weed free check.

DNA methylation mediates the effect of cocaine use on HIV severity

BackgroundCocaine use accelerates human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) progression and worsens HIV outcomes. We assessed whether DNA methylation in blood mediates the association between cocaine use and HIV severity in a veteran population.MethodsWe analyzed 1435 HIV-positive participants from the Veterans Aging Cohort Study Biomarker Cohort (VACS-BC). HIV severity was measured by the Veteran Aging Cohort Study (VACS) index. We assessed the effect of cocaine use on VACS index and mortality among the HIV-positive participants. We selected candidate mediators that were associated with both persistent cocaine use and VACS index by epigenome-wide association (EWA) scans at a liberal p value cutoff of 0.001. Mediation analysis of the candidate CpG sites between cocaine’s effect and the VACS index was conducted, and the joint mediation effect of multiple CpGs was estimated. A two-step epigenetic Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was conducted as validation.ResultsMore frequent cocaine use was significantly associated with a higher VACS index (β = 1.00, p = 2.7E−04), and cocaine use increased the risk of 10-year mortality (hazard ratio = 1.10, p = 0.011) with adjustment for confounding factors. Fifteen candidate mediator CpGs were selected from the EWA scan. Twelve of these CpGs showed significant mediation effects, with each explaining 11.3–29.5% of the variation. The mediation effects for 3 of the 12 CpGs were validated by the two-step epigenetic MR analysis. The joint mediation effect of the 12 CpGs accounted for 47.2% of cocaine’s effect on HIV severity. Genes harboring these 12 CpGs are involved in the antiviral response (IFIT3, IFITM1, NLRC5, PLSCR1, PARP9) and HIV progression (CX3CR1, MX1).ConclusionsWe identified 12 DNA methylation CpG sites that appear to play a mediation role in the association between cocaine use and HIV severity.

Multi-Site and Multi-Year Remote Records of Operative Temperatures with Biomimetic Loggers Reveal Spatio-Temporal Variability in Mountain Lizard Activity and Persistence Proxy Estimates

Commonly, when studies deal with the effects of climate change on biodiversity, mean value is used more than other parameters. However, climate change also leads to greater temperature variability, and many papers have demonstrated its importance in the implementation of biodiversity response strategies. We studied the spatio-temporal variability of activity time and persistence index, calculated from operative temperatures measured at three sites over three years, for a mountain endemic species. Temperatures were recorded with biomimetic loggers, an original remote sensing technology, which has the same advantages as these tools but is suitable for recording biological organisms data. Among the 42 tests conducted, 71% were significant for spatial variability and 28% for temporal variability. The differences in daily activity times and in persistence indices demonstrated the effects of the micro-habitat, habitat, slope, altitude, hydrography, and year. These observations have highlighted the great variability existence in the environmental temperatures experienced by lizard populations. Thus, our study underlines the importance to implement multi-year and multi-site studies to quantify the variability and produce more representative results. These studies can be facilitated by the use of biomimetic loggers, for which a user guide is provided in the last part of this paper.

Why Temporal Persistence of Biometric Features, as Assessed by the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient, Is So Valuable for Classification Performance.

It is generally accepted that relatively more permanent (i.e., more temporally persistent) traits are more valuable for biometric performance than less permanent traits. Although this finding is intuitive, there is no current work identifying exactly where in the biometric analysis temporal persistence makes a difference. In this paper, we answer this question. In a recent report, we introduced the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) as an index of temporal persistence for such features. Here, we present a novel approach using synthetic features to study which aspects of a biometric identification study are influenced by the temporal persistence of features. What we show is that using more temporally persistent features produces effects on the similarity score distributions that explain why this quality is so key to biometric performance. The results identified with the synthetic data are largely reinforced by an analysis of two datasets, one based on eye-movements and one based on gait. There was one difference between the synthetic and real data, related to the intercorrelation of features in real data. Removing these intercorrelations for real datasets with a decorrelation step produced results which were very similar to that obtained with synthetic features.

B 3 -Tree

In this work, we propose B 3 -tree , a hybrid index for persistent memory that leverages the byte-addressability of the in-memory index and the page locality of B-trees. As in the byte-addressable in-memory index, B 3 -tree is updated by 8-byte store instructions. Also, as in disk-based index, B 3 -tree is failure-atomic since it makes every 8-byte store instruction transform a consistent index into another consistent index without the help of expensive logging. Since expensive logging becomes unnecessary, the number of cacheline flush instructions required for B 3 -tree is significantly reduced. Our performance study shows that B 3 -tree outperforms other state-of-the-art persistent indexes in terms of insert and delete performance. While B 3 -tree shows slightly worse performance for point query performance, the range query performance of B 3 -tree is 2x faster than FAST and FAIR B-tree because the leaf page size of B 3 -tree can be set to 8x larger than that of FAST and FAIR B-tree without degrading insertion performance. We also show that read transactions can access B 3 -tree without acquiring a shared lock because B 3 -tree remains always consistent while a sequence of 8-byte write operations are making changes to it. As a result, B 3 -tree provides high concurrency level comparable to FAST and FAIR B-tree.

Temporary analysis of land use changes in Pine and mixed forests in Mexico

Objective: to evaluate the changes in land use that occurred in Pine and mixed forests, at the national level during the period 2001 to 2013.Design/Methodology/Approach: layers of Land Use and Vegetation (Sp. equ. USV) of Series II (from 2001) and V (from 2013) of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, scale 1: 250,000 were used. Different categories of vegetation under study were reclassified and homogenized for both covers. Rates of change and indicators of transitions were estimated for the spatial-temporary analysis: surfaces of estimated losses and gains, indices of persistence, exchanges and net changes; also, indices of gain and loss to persistence.Results: the rate of negative change for primary forests (Pine and mixed) ranges from 0.80 to 1.84. It was observed that 120 047 km2 (57.72%) were stable surfaces. However, 36 986 km2 (18.00%) were losses, 14 369 km2 gains and 28 738 km2 (14.00%) between categories. It was observed from 2001 to 2013 that 13.69% of the area corresponding to primary forests which existed in 2001 became part of secondary vegetation in 2013.Study limitations/Implications: in order to observe the influence of other categories, it would be important to incorporate more classes throughout the study to be analyzed globally in the system throughout the country.Findings/Conclusions: The persistence of the coverage of primary forests is important to design conservation policies

Bio-efficacy, persistence and residual toxicity of different insecticides against soybean leaf eating caterpillar Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) infesting soybean

The investigations on bio-efficacy, persistence and residual toxicity of different insecticides viz., chlorantraniliprole 0.004 per cent, ethion 0.100 per cent, triazophos 0.050 per cent, indoxacarb 0.010 per cent, emamectin benzoate 0.001 per cent, quinalphos 0.050 per cent and profenophos 0.100 per cent against Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) infesting soybean were conducted at the Experimental Farm of Department of Agril. Entomology, College of Agriculture, Latur (MS) during Kharif 2015. The overall results exhibited that among the insecticide treatments, chlorantraniliprole 0.004 per cent was found to be the most effective insecticide in minimizing population of S. litura infesting soybean (0.81 larva per mrl) followed by emamectin benzoate 0.001 per cent (1.07 larvae per mrl), indoxacarb 0.010 per cent (3.27 larvae per mrl), quinalphos 0.050 per cent (3.33 larvae per mrl), profenophos 0.100 per cent (3.81 larvae per mrl), triazophos 0.050 per cent (4.11 larvae per mrl) and ethion 0.100 per cent (4.22 larvae per mrl) after application of insecticides. The maximum grain yield was obtained by the treatment with chlorantraniliprole 0.004 per cent (34.87 q per ha) while quinalphos 0.050 per cent (1:19.72) registered highest incremental cost benefit ratio. The results on residual toxicity of different insecticides against S. litura infesting soybean indicated that chlorantraniliprole 0.004 per cent and emamectin benzoate 0.001 per cent had highest persistent toxicity index (PT) (913.01 and 860.89, respectively) and LT50 values (7.59 and 6.69, respectively) against early instar larvae of S. litura after spray as compared to the other insecticides.

Effects of sowing dates and weed management on productivity of irrigated wheat (Triticum aestivum)

A field experiment was conducted during rabi 2012–13 and 2013–14 at research farm of SKUAST-Jammu to study the effect of sowing dates and weed management practices on productivity of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Among sowing dates, 15th November sown crop recorded lowest total weed density and total dry weight of weeds as compared to crop sown on 25th December. Crop sown on 15th November also recorded highest yield attributes and grain yield which ultimately led to maximum net returns of ₹51316/ha and B:C ratio (1.06). Significantly low weed density and dry matter of weeds and higher grain yield were recorded with ready mix application of sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron 30 g/ha + 2 g/ha. Maximum weed control efficiency, crop resistance index and lowest weed index, weed persistence index were observed with the application of sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron 30 g/ha + 2 g/ha. Significantly highest sedimentation value, crude protein and glutenin content was also recorded with the ready mix application of sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron 30 g/ha + 2 g/ha as post emergence. Maximum benefit:cost ratio was also obtained with the application of sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron 30 g/ha + 2 g/ha

Oral Corticosteroid Treatment Patterns of Patients in the United States with Persistent Asthma

Patients with poor asthma control may receive oral corticosteroid (OCS) therapy despite the risk for adverse effects. We assessed OCS use frequency and treatment patterns in patients with persistent asthma in the United States(US). We used the IBM MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters, Medicare Supplemental, and Medicaid Multistate Claims research databases to identify patients from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2017, who were ≥12 years old, met the 2-year Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set criteria for persistent asthma, and were continuously enrolled ≥6 months before (baseline) and ≥24 months after (follow-up) the persistent asthma index date. Patients were classified as high OCS use (defined as ≥450 mg of OCS prescribed within a 90-day period during follow-up), low use (use OCS but not meeting high use criteria), or no OCS use. We identified 435,675 patients, of whom 65% used OCS and 19% were classified as high OCS users at some point during follow-up. The annual prevalence of high OCS use ranged from 5.3% in 2013 to 7.6% in 2017. During the entire follow-up, high and low OCS users filled an average of 2.2 and 0.8 OCS prescriptions and received an average daily dosage of 2.2 and 0.3 mg, respectively. Once the patients became high OCS users, the average daily OCS dosage was relatively stable (5.1-7.1 mg) over 3 years. Patients with persistent asthma in the US have substantial exposure to OCS. OCS therapy should be considered carefully to avoid associated adverse effects.

Weed Persistence, Crop Resistance and Phytotonic Effects of Herbicides in Maize (Zea mays) Production Under Different Weed Control Method and Poultry Manure in Kano State Nigeria

The research is financed by centre for dry land Agriculture Bayero University Kano for providing financial support and the management of Agronomy Department Bayero University, for providing technical support throughout the duration of the study (Sponsoring information). Abstract Results of experiment conducted during rainy season of 2016 and 2017 at teaching and research farm of Bayero university Kano, Livestock development centre Dangora with two different pre-emergence herbicides and two post-emergence herbicides all applied at two different rates, (S-Metolachlor 290 g/l + Atrazine 370 g/l at 2.0 kg a.i. ha -1 followed by Nicosulfuron at 100 g a.i.ha -1 , S-Metolachlor 290 g/l + Atrazine 370 g/l 2.0 kg a.i. ha -1 followed by Bentazone at 2.5 kg a.i. ha -1 , Metolachlor 375 g/l + Terbuthylazine 125 g/l + Mesotrione 37.5 g/l at 2.5 kg a.i ha -1 followed by Nicosulfuron at 100 g a.i. ha -1 , Metolachlor 375 g/l + Terbuthylazine 125 g/l + Mesotrione 37.5 g/l at 2.5 kg a.i ha -1 followed by Bentazone at 2.5 kg a.i. ha -1 , Two hoe weeded at 3 and 6 WAS and weedy check) three levels of poultry manure (0, 4, and 8 t ha -1 ) and NPK at the rate of 120kg N, 60kg P and 60kg K ha -1 and three maize varieties (SAMMAZ 15, SAMMAZ 21 and SAMMAZ 35). The experiments was laid out in a split-split plot design with variety allocated to the main plot, poultry manure to the sub-plot and weed control method to the sub-sub plot, and was replicated three times. The result from the study showed that two hoe weeding at 3 and 6WAS and Application of 3Maizeforce at 2.5 kg a.i. ha -1 followed by Bentazone at 2.5 kg a.i. ha -1 , significantly revealed higher crop resistance index with medium persistence index of the weeds indicating broad spectrum effect in controlling the weeds, the said treatments were best herbicides for maize production. Furthermore the said treatment is recommended for weed control that can improve maize grain yield. Keywords: Weed Occurrence level, Weed persistence index, Crop resistance index and Phytotonic effect. DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/10-10-03 Publication date: May 31 st 2020

Persistence toxicity and field evaluation of Spinetoram 12 SC against Spodoptera litura Fabricius on okra

Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) is a destructive defoliating polyphagous pest on various crops throughout India especially in vegetable crops. Experiments were undertaken to investigate the persistence of spinetoram 12 SC against larval stage of S. litura in the laboratory and to evaluate the effectiveness in the field in two seasons. The results of persistence toxicity revealed that there was continuous larval reduction upto 14 DAT under the laboratory condition in different doses of biological green insecticide spinetoram (36, 45 and 54 g a.i/ha). This reinforces the need to reapply spinetoram 10 – 14 days after the first application (peak of biological activity) for effective control. The order of relative efficacy (ORE) of the insecticides based on the persistent toxicity index (PTI) values was spinetoram 12 SC 54 g a.i./ha > spinetoram 12 SC 45 g a.i./ha > cypermethrin 25 EC 50 g a.i/ha > emamectin benzoate 5 SG 8.5 g a.i/ha > spinetoram 12 SC 36 g a.i./ha > quinalphos 25 EC 200 g a.i/ha. In field experiments spinetoram 12 SC was significantly effective at 45 and 54 g a.i./ha when sprayed thrice at 15 days interval and minimized the incidence of Spodoptera litura.

In vitro immune responses of human PBMCs against Candida albicans reveals fungal and leucocyte phenotypes associated with fungal persistence

Although there is a growing understanding of immunity against Candida albicans, efforts need to be pursued in order to decipher the cellular mechanisms leading to an uncontrolled immune response that eventually oppose disease eradication. We describe here significant intra- and inter-subject variations in immune response patterns of major human leucocyte subsets following an in vitro challenge with C. albicans clinical isolates. We also observed that there are Candida isolate-dependent changes in leucocyte phenotypes. Through a combination of multiple fungal growth and flow cytometric measurements, coupled to the tSNE algorithm, we showed that significant proliferation differences exist among C. albicans isolates, leading to the calculation of a strain specific persistent index. Despite substantial inter-subject differences in T cells and stability of myeloid cells at baseline, our experimental approach highlights substantial immune cell composition changes and cytokine secretion profiles after C. albicans challenge. The significant secretion of IL-17 by CD66+ cells, IFN-γ and IL-10 by CD4+ T cells 2 days after C. albicans challenge was associated with fungal control. Fungal persistence was associated with delayed secretion of IFN-γ, IL-17, IL-4, TNF-α and IL-10 by myeloid cells and IL-4 and TNF-α secretion by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Overall, this experimental and analytical approach is available for the monitoring of such fungal and human immune responses.

Sustainable Earnings and Its Forecast: The Case of Vietnam

The study aims to provide better understanding of sustainable earnings by a comprehensive analysis of earnings persistence of business firms in Vietnam as an example of developing economies in South-East Asia. Dataset of 1,278 publicly listed firms (excluding banking and financial services firms) on Vietnam Stock Exchange for the period from 2008 to 2017 was collected. By applying fixed effect regression model, the empirical results provided the basis to measure the persistence index (Pers index) and find low level of their earnings persistence. The literature of earnings quality analysis in developed countries suggests earnings persistence as a noteworthy determinant of future earnings forecast and stock valuation. However, research of sustainable earnings in developing countries is still highly underdeveloped. For Vietnamese listed firms, the average Pers index was estimated for the period from 2008 to 2010, indicating low level of earnings persistence. We also incorporated earnings persistence level into future earnings forecast by running the quintile regression model divided the data into four equal levels and conducted each section independently to see the difference in each percentile, thence assessed the factors' influence on the specific model. The findings provide important information on the expected returns of firms, especially helping investors make sound decisions.

Hemodynamic Predictors for Sepsis-Induced Acute Kidney Injury: A Preliminary Study.

The aim of our study was to assess the association between the macrohemodynamic profile and sepsis induced acute kidney injury (AKI). We also investigated which minimally invasive hemodynamic parameters may help identify patients at risk for sepsis-AKI. We included 71 patients with sepsis and septic shock. We performed the initial fluid resuscitation using local protocols and continued to give fluids guided by the minimally invasive hemodynamic parameters. We assessed the hemodynamic status by transpulmonary thermodilution technique. Sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA score) (AUC 0.74, 95% CI 0.61–0.83, p < 0.01) and cardiovascular SOFA (AUC 0.73, 95% CI 0.61–0.83, p < 0.01) were found to be predictors for sepsis-induced AKI, with cut-off values of 9 and 3 points respectively. Persistent low stroke volume index (SVI) ≤ 32 mL/m2/beat (AUC 0.67, 95% CI 0.54–0.78, p < 0.05) and global end-diastolic index (GEDI) < 583 mL/m2 (AUC 0.67, 95% CI 0.54–0.78, p < 0.05) after the initial fluid resuscitation are predictive for oliguria/anuria at 24 h after study inclusion. The combination of higher vasopressor dependency index (VDI, calculated as the (dobutamine dose × 1 + dopamine dose × 1 + norepinephrine dose × 100 + vasopressin × 100 + epinephrine × 100)/MAP) and norepinephrine, lower systemic vascular resistance index (SVRI), and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) levels, in the setting of normal preload parameters, showed a more severe vasoplegia. Severe vasoplegia in the first 24 h of sepsis is associated with a higher risk of sepsis induced AKI. The SOFA and cardiovascular SOFA scores may identify patients at risk for sepsis AKI. Persistent low SVI and GEDI values after the initial fluid resuscitation may predict renal outcome.

Spectrum of Pulmonary Fibrosis from Interstitial Lung Abnormality to Usual Interstitial Pneumonia: Importance of Identification and Quantification of Traction Bronchiectasis in Patient Management.

Following the introduction of a novel pathological concept of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) by Liebow and Carrington in 1969, diffuse interstitial pneumonia has evolved into UIP, nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP), and interstitial lung abnormality (ILA); the histopathological and CT findings of these conditions reflect the required multidisciplinary team approach, involving pulmonologists, radiologists, and pathologists, for their diagnosis and management. Concomitantly, traction bronchiectasis and bronchiolectasis have been recognized as the most persistent and important indices of the severity and prognosis of fibrotic lung diseases. The traction bronchiectasis index (TBI) can stratify the prognoses of patients with ILAs. In this review, the evolutionary concepts of UIP, NSIP, and ILAs are summarized in tables and figures, with a demonstration of the correlation between CT findings and pathologic evaluation. The CT-based UIP score is being proposed to facilitate a better understanding of the spectrum of pulmonary fibrosis, from ILAs to UIP, with emphasis on traction bronchiectasis/bronchiolectasis.

РОЛЬ ИНФЕКЦИИ В ВОЗНИКНОВЕНИИ, ТЕЧЕНИИ, РЕЗУЛЬТАТАХ ЛЕЧЕНИЯ ТОКСИЧЕСКОГО ЗОБА

To date, the question of the causes of toxic goiter has not been resolved. Purpose: to analyze the role of infection in the occurrence, course, treatment outcome of toxic goiter. Observed in the dynamics of 64 patients with toxic goiter. In 36% of cases, thyrotoxicosis manifested itself after acute infections. Foci of chronic bacterial infection were detected in 59 (92.2%) patients. Serological indices of persistence of herpes simplex virus, Epstein- Barr, cytomegalovirus (HSV, EBV, CMV) were high in all patients with suspected viral persistence (n = 20). In 1/3 of the observations a combined infection was established. The infection was cured in 34 patients. The infection was not cured in 30 patients. The observations showed that acute and chronic bacterial and viral infections can provoke the onset of toxic goiter, worsen its course, reduce the effectiveness of therapy, affecting the main link in the pathogenesis of the disease - the activity of the autoimmune process in the thyroid gland. Infection exacerbations stimulate the production of AT-rTTG, leading to relapses thyrotoxicosis. Conclusion: although infection is not the main etiological factor of toxic goiter, its role in the manifestation, course of toxic goiter, the effectiveness of therapy, and the distant prognosis is undeniable. Starting treatment for toxic goiter, in including planning surgical treatment or radioiodine therapy, it is necessary to identify and sanitize foci of infection, to check the possible persistence of common viruses of herpes simplex, Epstein-Barr, cytomegalovirus. This will improve the prognosis, reduce the high risks of thyrotoxicosis relapses.

Development of Water Level Prediction Models Using Machine Learning in Wetlands: A Case Study of Upo Wetland in South Korea

Wetlands play a vital role in hydrologic and ecologic communities. Since there are few studies conducted for wetland water level prediction due to the unavailability of data, this study developed a water level prediction model using various machine learning models such as artificial neural network (ANN), decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM). The Upo wetland, which is the largest inland wetland in South Korea, was selected as the study area. The daily water level gauge data from 2009 to 2015 were used as dependent variables, while the meteorological data and upstream water level gauge data were used as independent variables. Predictive performance evaluation using RF as the final model revealed 0.96 value for correlation coefficient (CC), 0.92 for Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), 0.09 for root mean square error (RMSE), and 0.19 for persistence index (PI). The results indicate that the water level of the Upo wetland was well predicted, showing superior results compared to that of the ANN, which was used in a previous study. The results intend to provide basic data for development of a wetland management method, using water levels of previously ungauged areas.

DPTree

The emergence of persistent memory (PM) spurs on redesigns of database system components to gain full exploitation of the persistence and speed of the hardware. One crucial component studied by researchers is persistent indices. However, such studies to date are unsatisfactory in terms of the number of expensive PM writes required for crash-consistency. In this paper, we propose a new persistent index called DPTree (Differential Persistent Tree) to address this. DPTree's core idea is to batch multiple writes in DRAM persistently and later merge them into a PM component to amortize persistence overhead. DPTree includes several techniques and algorithms to achieve crash-consistency, reduce PM writes significantly, and maintain excellent read performance. To embrace multi-core processors, we present the design of concurrent DPTree. Our experiments on Intel's Optane DIMMs show that DPTree reduces PM writes by a factor of 1.7x-3x compare to state-of-the-art counterparts. Besides, DPTree has a competitive or better read performance and scales well in multi-core environment.