Positive Loadings Research Articles

Frailty is characterized by biomarker patterns reflecting inflammation or muscle catabolism in multi-morbid patients.

Frailty development is partly dependent on multiple factors like low levels of nutrients and high levels of oxidative stress (OS) and inflammation potentially leading to a muscle-catabolic state. Measures of specific biomarker patterns including nutrients, OS and inflammatory biomarkers as well as muscle related biomarkers like 3-methylhistidine (3MH) may improve evaluation of mechanisms and the complex networks leading to frailty. In 220 multi-morbid patients (≥ 60years), classified as non-frail (n=104) and frail (n=116) according to Fried's frailty criteria, we measured serum concentrations of fat-soluble micronutrients, amino acids (AA), OS, interleukins (IL) 6 and 10, 3MH (biomarker for muscle protein turnover) and serum spectra of fatty acids (FA). We evaluated biomarker patterns by principal component analysis (PCA) and their cross-sectional associations with frailty by multivariate logistic regression analysis. Two biomarker patterns [principal components (PC)] were identified by PCA. PC1 was characterized by high positive factor loadings (FL) of carotenoids, anti-inflammatory FA and vitamin D3 together with high negative FL of pro-inflammatory FA, IL6 and IL6/IL10, reflecting an inflammation-related pattern. PC2 was characterized by high positive FL of AA together with high negative FL of 3MH-based biomarkers, reflecting a muscle-related pattern. Frail patients had significantly lower factor scores than non-frail patients for both PC1 [median: -0.27 (interquartile range: 1.15) vs. 0.27 (1.23); P=0.001] and PC2 [median: -0.15 (interquartile range: 1.13) vs. 0.21 (1.38); P=0.002]. Patients with higher PC1 or PC2 factor scores were less likely to be frail [odds ratio (OR): 0.62, 95% CI: 0.46-0.83, P=0.001 for PC1; OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.48-0.86, P=0.003 for PC2] compared with patients with lower PC1 or PC2 factor scores. This indicates that increasing levels of anti-inflammatory biomarkers and increasing levels of muscle-anabolic biomarkers are associated with a reduced likelihood (38% and 36%, respectively) for frailty. Significant associations remained after adjusting the regression models for potential confounders. We conclude that two specific patterns reflecting either inflammation-related or muscle-related biomarkers are both significantly associated with frailty among multi-morbid patients and that these specific biomarker patterns are more informative than single biomarker analyses considering frailty identification.

Impact of “sachet water” microplastic on agricultural soil physicochemistry, antibiotics resistance, bacteria diversity and function

Nigeria's most consumed potable water plastic wastes are indiscriminately dumped into agricultural soil despite their ability to become microplastics. The study evaluates the potential impacts of these microplastics on soil physico-chemical parameters, soil bacterial diversity and functions as well as antibiotic resistance. Soil sample was collected using a sterile hand-held auger and its physico-chemical parameters evaluated. Baseline microplastic concentration was determined via the flotation method while microbial isolates were obtained from the test (enriched with microplastics) and control samples using cultural technique and metagenomics. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) was done using the Illumina Miseq platform. The cluster of orthologous genes (COG) tool was used in the prediction of bacterial functional roles. Replicate readings were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means compared using the student’s t test. Observed baseline microplastic concentration was 0.08 particles/g of soil. The addition of the microplastics to the soil sample decreased the concentrations of some metals (iron, zinc, lead and nickel) while cobalt concentration, pH level and microbial counts increased. Microbial count and pH clustered together while iron, magnesium, nitrate, nitrite, chromium, cobalt, total organic carbon, zinc, lead, and nickel showed positive loading values suggesting that the addition of microplastics could alter them. Dominant taxa were proteobacteria, unknown, firmicutes at the phyla level. At the level of species, Pseudomonas species dominated microplastics incubated soil while potential pathogenic species such as Klebsiella dominated the control sample. A higher level of multi-drug resistance and altered metabolisms was observed in the test sample. Sachet water microplastics could have serious implications for public health and food security.

Late Pleistocene to early Holocene ENSO-related hydroclimatic changes revealed by palynological records from the coastal Xixi Basin, eastern China

We report a palaeontological record for the last 37.0 cal kyr BP in the Xixi Basin, eastern China, to better understand the correlation between hydroclimatic change and vegetation history during the late Pleistocene to early Holocene. Principal component analysis based on the 25 main palynological taxa indicated that dominant taxa fall into three groups: conifers that preferred dry conditions on the left of leading principal component (PC) 1, ferns and wetland communities associated with a humid climate responding to the positive loading of PC1, and Quercus-dominated communities principally corresponding to PC2. Based on this analysis, hydroclimatic conditions were relatively warm/dry during the latter Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 with a high abundance of conifers. This was followed by a generally cold/wet MIS 2 with expansion of ferns and herbs, and a warm/dry MIS 1 with more evergreen species. The sporadic occurrence of evergreen species and drier conditions since about 19.0 cal kyr BP coincides with the beginning of the last deglaciation. An increase in sedimentary accumulation rates and changes in vegetation components at the onset of the Holocene are likely related to maximum transgression. Wet conditions coincide with several cold intervals, including Heinrich events and the Last Glacial Maximum. The overall warm/dry and cold/wet climatic patterns agree well with the palaeoclimatic records elsewhere in the middle Yangtze region, showing similar hydroclimatic forcing mechanisms related to the migration of the Meiyu Front modulated by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) activities. Cold/wet conditions probably correspond to enhanced ENSO and reduced insolation while warm/dry conditions correspond to dampened ENSO and increased insolation. The extremely humid conditions that occur during cold events may result from the combined effects of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and ENSO. These results expand our understanding of the monsoonal hydroclimate in eastern China during the late Quaternary period.

Dairy Sheep Grazing Management and Pasture Botanical Composition Affect Milk Macro and Micro Components: A Methodological Approach to Assess the Main Managerial Factors at Farm Level.

Simple SummaryStudies on the management factors that affect milk components at the farm level are important for understanding how to transfer the results from experimental study. Plant phenological stages and partially fresh herbage intakes affect the lactose and milk fatty acid profile. The botanical composition of the grassland partially affects the milk’s phenol content. A few small relationships between plant phenols and milk colour could be of interest to explain the changes in milk colour parameters.The fatty acid profile, vitamins A and E, cholesterol, antioxidant power colour and the phenols profile of Sarda sheep milk from 11 commercial sheep flocks managed under permanent grassland were investigated. In each farm, the structural and managerial data and milk samples were collected during four periods (sampling dates, SD): January, March, May, and July. Data from the milk composition (fat, protein, casein, lactose, and somatic cell count), 68 fatty acids, 7 phenols, 1 total gallocatechin equivalent, ferric reducing antioxidant power, vitamins A and E, cholesterol, degree of antioxidant protection, and the colour (b *, a * and L *) were analyzed by multivariate factorial analysis using a principal component analysis approach. A proc mixed model for repeated measurement to point out the studied factors affecting significant macro and micro milk composition was also used. Only the first five components were detailed in this paper, with approximately 70% of the explained variance detected. PC1 presented the highest positive loadings for milk lactose, de novo FA synthesis and the BH intermediate, whereas OBCFA had negative loadings values. The PC2, LCFA, UFA, MUFA, vitamins E, and DAP showed positive loadings values, while SFA had a negative value. The PC3 showed a high positive loading for total phenols and non-flavonoids. PC4 presented a high positive loading for the milk macro-composition and negative values for n-3 FAs. The PC5 is characterized by high positive loadings for the a * and L * colour parameters whereas negative loadings were detected for the milk flavonoids content. These preliminary results could help to establish future threshold values for the biomarkers in milk sourced from grazing dairy sheep in natural, permanent pasture-based diets.

A Study on Water Quality and Macrophyte Diversity in Three Wetlands of Sambalpur District, Odisha from Ecosystem Management Perspective

Manmade wetlands provide many services that contribute to human well-being and poverty alleviation.Some groups of people, particularly those living near wetlands, are highly dependent on these services andare directly harmed by their degradation. We assessed overall ecological condition of two lentic and onelotic wetlands present in the periphery of Sambalpur town, Odisha, India. Wetland macrophytes weresampled through 1x1m2 quadrates and water quality parameters were studied following “Guide manual:water and wastewater analysis” by CPCB and APHA (1998)”. In the phytosociological study, 43 species ofmacrophytes were recorded belonging to 20 families in the 3 study sites. Both the lentic wetlands showedhighest diversity indices in postmonsoon period with emergent plants outnumbering free floating andsubmerged plants. This indicated that the hydrodynamic forces in lentic wetlands were not enough touproot the emergent plants. The present work showed that macrophytic diversity being negatively correlatedby all most all water quality parameters studied indicating considerable anthropogenic impact on thesesystems. Further PCA biplot showed large positive loadings on component 1 by water conductivity, TSS,TDS, NO3, and BOD that caused regionalization of three wetlands namely Durgapali pond (Site I), Kanjhurinalia/ canal (Site II), and Gobindtola canal (Site III) of Sambalpur town indicating differential antropogenicimpact as per their need. The study emphasized on immediate management of these wetlands specificallythe small lotic wetlands for promoting water health.

Prinicipal Component Analysis and Traits Association in Blackgram (Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper)

The present investigation was carried out to assess the genetic variability parameters, correlation and path analysis in the 23 genotypes of Blackgram during Zaid-2021 at the research field, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj. LBG-645 is identified as high seed yielding per plant at Prayagraj agro-climatic condition. The analysis of variance for all the characters revealed that genotypes were highly significant except harvest index (%). Genotypes were highly significant at 5%, 1% level for all the characters, indicating presence of considerable amount of genetic variability in the parental material tested. The characters with high range estimates of GCV and PCV number of clusters per plant, number of pods per plant. Heritability and genetic advance as % of mean values were high for number of pods per plant. The seed yield per plant exhibited positive significant and correlation with number of pods per plant at genotypic and phenotypic level. At genotypic and phenotypic path coefficient analysis revealed that number of pods per plant had greatest positive direct effect on seed yield per plant. Principal component (PC1) contributed maximum towards variability 22.808% was correlated with Seed Index followed by, plant height and number of seeds per pod. The second principal component (PC2) accounted 21.410% per cent of total variance and it reflected positive loading of days to 50% pod initiation, days to 50% flowering, and pod length whereas; the third principal component (PC3) accounted 15.642% per cent of total variance and positive loading of harvest Index followed by seed Index. Fourth principal component (PC4) contributed 11.325% of variability reflected loadings of days to maturity followed by seed yield per plant. The fifth principal component (PC5) contributed 9.489% variability of seed yield per plant, followed by days to 50% flowering.

Will Real Estate Fail When Interest Rates Rise?

The current yield on the 10-year T-bond bottomed out at 49.9 bps in 2020 and has since risen to 316.7 bps, a 535% proportionate increase. Consequently, 7–10-year and 10–20-year US Treasuries delivered total returns of −15.0% and −27.7%, respectively. Institutional and retail investors are actively seeking bond substitutes in response to a fear that the US economy has embarked on a multidecade-long era defined by ever-increasing interest rates. Commercial real estate is the first bond substitute they are considering. Unfortunately, data since 1971 strongly support the conclusion that publicly traded real estate investment trusts (REITs) carry a positive interest rate loading of sufficient size that their use as a bond substitute is likely to make the situation worse. In contrast, data since 1977 support the conclusion that private direct ownership of institutional bricks and mortar carries no such interest rate factor loading. Carried to its logical conclusion, these observations suggest the exploration of something like a 130/30 portfolio (130% long the NFI-ODCE Index and 30% short the FTSE Nareit All REITs Index).

Multivariate Analysis in Blackgram (Vigna mungo L. Hepper) Genotypes in India

The present study was contained black gram, 40 genotypes and experiment will be carried out in Randomized block design with 3 replications. The higher GCV & PCV found in biological yield, harvest index, number of cluster per plant, number of primary branches per plant. The traits were biological yield, harvest index, number of cluster per plant, number of primary branches per plant, seed yield per plant, seed index exposed higher heritability and higher genetic advance as percentage of mean. Regarding on D2 values 40 black gram genotypes grouped in to 5 clusters. The intra cluster distance ranged from 0 to 30.38. The highest intra cluster distance found in cluster II (30.38). The highest inter cluster distance found between clusters III to cluster IV (168.86). The first principal component was more positively related to seed yield and its contributing traits such as days to maturity (0.305), biological yield (0.203), days to 50% flowering (0.180), seed index (0.018). The positive and negative loading shows the presence of positive and negative correlation trends between the components and the variables.

Investment Intensity Risk, Investor Irrationality and Stock Returns in Kenya

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of investor irrationality on the relationship between investment intensity risk and stock returns in Kenya.The study utilized monthly time series data for 60 companies listed at the NSE over the recent 9 years from 2011-2019. The study employed time series regression using Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration approach and Error Correction (ECM) estimation techniques to examine whether the effect of investment intensity risk on stock returns will vary with level of investor irrationality. Consistent with theory, investment intensity variable had more positive loadings on small firms with conservative investment policy, implying they have high exposure to investment risk and tend to yield higher returns. The study did not find evidence to support investment intensity risk in Kenya. The Investor irrationality variable is however a significant source of systematic risk and can enhance the predictive power of asset pricing models. The interaction term between investor irrationality and investment intensity was insignificant suggesting lack of moderating effect.The shorter nine year period considered by the study could be a source of small sample bias in the estimation. Sample periods for studies in mature markets span for over decades. In this light, making comparison of the findings in this thesis with those of other related studies may not be feasible. This study is first of its kind to analyze the moderating effect of investor behavior on asset pricing for an emerging market. The paper contributes to portfolio management and asset pricing literature for an emerging market.Practical implication of the findings in this study is that investments at NSE will yield high returns in a bullish market and that portfolio managers can strategically build up their portfolios to allocate more funds in small firms following conservative investment policy to earn higher risk-adjusted returns.

Associations between dietary patterns and cardiovascular disease risk in Canadian adults: a comparison of partial least squares, reduced rank regression and the simplified dietary pattern technique.

ObjectivesWe aimed to compare two data reduction techniques, partial least squares (PLS) and reduced rank regression (RRR), in identifying dietary patterns associated with a high cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in Canadian adults, and to construct PLS- and RRR-based simplified dietary patterns as well as evaluating associations between derived patterns and CVD risk.
 ApproachData were collected from 24-hour dietary recalls of adult respondents in two cycles of the nationally representative Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)-Nutrition: CCHS 2004 linked to health administrative databases (n = 12,313) and CCHS 2015 (n = 14,020). Using 39 food groups, PLS and RRR were applied for the identification of an energy-dense (ED), high-saturated-fat (HSF) and low-fiber-density (LFD) dietary pattern. Associations of derived dietary patterns with lifestyle characteristics and CVD incidence and mortality were examined using weighted multivariate regression and weighted multivariable-adjusted Cox-proportional hazard models, respectively. Random and systematic measurement errors were adjusted for in all statistical analyses.
 ResultsPLS and RRR identified highly similar ED, HSF, LFD dietary patterns with common high positive loadings for fast food, carbonated drinks, salty snacks and solid fats, and high negative loadings for fruit, dark green vegetables, red and orange vegetables, other vegetables, whole grains, legumes and soy (≥|0.17|). Food groups with the highest loadings were summed to form simplified pattern scores. Although the dietary patterns were not significantly associated with CVD risk, they were positively associated with 402 kcal/d higher energy intake (P-trends <0.05) and higher obesity risk [PLS (OR: 2.09; 95% CI: 1.62, 2.7) and RRR (OR: 1.76; 95% CI: 1.44, 2.17)] (P-trends <0.0001) in the fourth quartiles as compared to the first.
 ConclusionPLS and RRR were shown to be equally effective for derivation of a high-CVD-risk dietary pattern among Canadian adults. This research highlights the importance of leveraging linked data to inform public health nutrition policies. Further research is warranted on the role of major dietary components in cardiovascular health.

Modification and Validation of an mHealth App Quality Assessment Methodology for International Use: Cross-sectional and eDelphi Studies.

BackgroundOver 325,000 mobile health (mHealth) apps are available to download across various app stores. However, quality assurance in this field of medicine remains relatively undefined. Globally, around 84% of the population have access to mobile broadband networks. Given the potential for mHealth app use in health promotion and disease prevention, their role in patient care worldwide is ever apparent. Quality assurance regulations both nationally and internationally will take time to develop. Frameworks such as the Mobile App Rating Scale and Enlight Suite have demonstrated potential for use in the interim. However, these frameworks require adaptation to be suitable for international use.ObjectiveThis study aims to modify the Enlight Suite, a comprehensive app quality assessment methodology, to improve its applicability internationally and to assess the preliminary validity and reliability of this modified tool in practice.MethodsA two-round Delphi study involving 7 international mHealth experts with varied backgrounds in health, technology, and clinical psychology was conducted to modify the Enlight Suite for international use and to improve its content validity. The Modified Enlight Suite (MES) was then used by 800 health care professionals and health care students in Ireland to assess a COVID-19 tracker app in an online survey. The reliability of the MES was assessed using Cronbach alpha, while the construct validity was evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis.ResultsThe final version of the MES has 7 sections with 32 evaluating items. Of these items, 5 were novel and based on consensus for inclusion by Delphi panel members. The MES has satisfactory reliability with a Cronbach alpha score of .925. The subscales also demonstrated acceptable internal consistency. Similarly, the confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a positive and significant factor loading for all 32 items in the MES with a modestly acceptable model fit, thus indicating the construct validity of the MES.ConclusionsThe Enlight Suite was modified to improve its international relevance to app quality assessment by introducing new items relating to cultural appropriateness, accessibility, and readability of mHealth app content. This study indicates both the reliability and validity of the MES for assessing the quality of mHealth apps in a high-income country, with further studies being planned to extrapolate these findings to low- and middle-income countries.

Moments of deficit duration and its proportion in general compound binomial model

This paper discusses the deficit duration in the general compound binomial model. We derive the recursive formulas of moments of the deficit duration and its proportion in finite time with and without a dividend barrier, and use operators to design algorithms for finding their solutions. Under the condition of positive safety loading, we discuss the limit of deficit duration and show the convergence of moments of its proportion. In addition, the paper also discusses a sort of reinsurance strategy to significantly reduce the deficit duration. The proposed algorithms and reinsurance strategy are effective and are illustrated by numerical examples.

Principal component analysis for yield and its attributing characters of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum [L.] R.Br.)

An experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research Station, Navgaon (Alwar) during kharif season of 2019 to study the genetic divergence among 31 genotypes of pearl millet based on quantitative data of grain yield and its nine component traits using hierarchical cluster and principal component analysis (PCA). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated that three components with eigen values more than one accounted for about 73.35% of the total variation among nine quantitative characters responsible for seed yield in pearl millet genotypes. The principal components PC1, PC2 and PC3 contributed about 37.44%, 22.63% and 13.28%, respectively to the total variation. The first principal component exhibited high positive loading for grain yield, stover yield, plant height, spike length, spike thickness and 1000-grain weight which contributed more to the diversity. The second principal component showed high loading for days to 50% flowering, days to maturity and 1000-grain weight. Cluster analysis grouped the genotypes into five clusters indicated that grain yield, stover yield, 1000-grain weight and days to maturity contributed maximum towards genetic divergence. The grouping patterns of genotypes in principal component analysis and cluster analysis were almost in agreement with each other with minor deviations. The maximum inter cluster distance between genotypes of cluster V and III with cluster II, indicate that genotypes included in these clusters have high heterotic response and produce better seggregants of used in Pearl millet hybridization programme.

Associations between dietary patterns and cardiovascular disease risk in Canadian adults: a comparison of partial least squares, reduced rank regression, and the simplified dietary pattern technique

Hybrid methodologies have gained continuing interest as unique data reduction techniques for establishing a direct link between dietary exposures and clinical outcomes. We aimed to compare partial least squares (PLS) and reduced rank regression (RRR) in identifying a dietary pattern associated with a high cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in Canadian adults, construct PLS- and RRR-based simplified dietary patterns, and assess associations between the 4 dietary pattern scores and CVD risk. Data were collected from 24-h dietary recalls of adult respondents in the 2 cycles of the nationally representative Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)-Nutrition: CCHS 2004 linked to health administrative databases (n = 12,313) and CCHS 2015 (n = 14,020). Using 39 food groups, PLS and RRR were applied for identification of an energy-dense (ED), high-saturated-fat (HSF), and low-fiber-density (LFD) dietary pattern. Associations of the derived dietary pattern scores with lifestyle characteristics and CVD risk were examined using weighted multivariate regression and weighted multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazard models, respectively. PLS and RRR identified highly similar ED, HSF, and LFD dietary patterns with common high positive loadings for fast food, carbonated drinks, salty snacks, and solid fats, and high negative loadings for fruit, dark green vegetables, red and orange vegetables, other vegetables, whole grains, and legumes and soy (≥|0.17|). Food groups with the highest loadings were summed to form simplified pattern scores. Although the dietary patterns were not significantly associated with CVD risk, they were positively associated with 402-kcal/d higher energy intake (P-trends < 0.05) and higher obesity risk (PLS: OR: 2.09; 95% CI: 1.62, 2.70; RRR: OR: 1.76; 95% CI: 1.44, 2.17) (P-trends < 0.0001) in the fourth quartiles. PLS and RRR were shown to be equally effective for the derivation of a high-CVD-risk dietary pattern among Canadian adults. Further research is warranted on the role of major dietary components in cardiovascular health.

Visceral adiposity-related dietary patterns and the risk of cardiovascular disease in Iranian adults: A population-based cohort study.

BackgroundVisceral obesity is a significant predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Diet may associate with CVD risk through its effects on visceral adiposity. This study aimed to find dietary patterns (DPs) related to indicators of visceral adiposity and to determine whether the DPs were associated with CVD risk.MethodsThis prospective study included 2,496 participants of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS) without CVD, who were followed from the third study examination (2005–2008; baseline) to March 2018. DPs at baseline were determined using reduced rank regression (RRR) and partial least squares regression (PLS). The response variables were age and BMI-adjusted waist circumference (WC) and age-adjusted visceral adiposity index (VAI).ResultsTwo and three DPs were retained with RRR and PLS, respectively. The first patterns of each method were mainly characterized by adjusted-WC (RRR: 10.8%, PLS: 8.6%); none of them were associated with CVD risk. The second pattern of RRR and the third pattern of PLS were mainly explained by adjusted-VAI (RRR: 3.3, PLS: 2.1%). After adjusting for CVD risk factors, the hazard ratios [95% confidence intervals (CI)] for CVD in the second and third tertiles of the RRR-pattern 2 were 1.76 (1.15, 2.69) and 1.55 (1.00, 2.43) vs. the first tertile (p-trend: 0.058). This pattern had high positive loadings for non-leafy vegetables, pickled vegetables, fried vegetables, and bread and high negative loadings for eggs, cakes, butter, jam-honey, red meat, poultry, fish, juice, non-fermented dairy, and fruits. Per one SD increase in PLS-pattern 3 score, the risk of CVD was 19% higher (95%CI = 3–38%). This positive association was also observed across tertiles of the pattern (p-trend: 0.032). This pattern was characterized by high intakes of leafy vegetables, non-leafy vegetables, organ meat, soft drinks, olive oil, pickled vegetables, fried vegetables, and bread and low intakes of biscuits, cakes, butter, eggs, and non-fermented dairy.ConclusionFor each of the RRR and PLS approaches, a visceral-related DP that was positively linked to CVD was identified. These two patterns had a modest correlation. The pattern generated by PLS explained more variations in food groups and offered stronger evidence of association with CVD than the RRR-derived pattern.

Principal component analysis of categorized parameters in periprocedural myocardial injury following percutaneous coronary intervention

Objective: The elevation of troponin-T (Trop-T) or creatinine kinase myocardial isoform (CKMB) is very common during the percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). A study was attempted to determine the correlation between elevated Trop-T or CKMB and the parameters of PCI by using multivariate analysis, especially principal component analysis (PCA). Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study was carried out among 100 patients who underwent PCI for stable coronary artery disease in which 31 and 37 patients were found to have elevated Trop-T and CKMB (&gt;3 times) following PCI. The correlation was studied between Trop-T or CKMB (dependent variable) and different parameters, viz., total stent length (mm), fluoroscopy time (min), lesion strength, left ventricular (LV) function, procedural complications, type of lesions, vessels treated with drug eluting stent (DES), and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) as independent variables. Results: For Trop-T, the principal component (PC)-1 and PC-2 obtained 63.49% and 30.88% of the original variation. For PC-1 and PC-2, maximum positive loading was recorded for stent length followed by fluoroscopy time and for LV but negative loading for the type of lesion and type of stent (DES vs bare metal stent [BMS]). For CKMB, the PC-1 and PC-2 obtained 61.22% and 32.08% of the original variation. For PC-1 and PC-2, maximum positive loading was recorded for stent length and fluoroscopy time followed by vessel treated but negative loading for the type of stent and MACE, and maximum positive loading recorded for LV function but negative loading for the type of lesion. Conclusion: This study indicates which factors are most important in preventing periprocedural myocardial injury during PCI and may be a suitable tool to prevent myocardial injury and for subsequent less MACE and better patient outcomes.

Experimental study on mechanical behaviors of segmental joints with ductile-iron joint panels for deep-buried shield tunnels bearing high inner water pressure

The mechanical properties of high-stiffness segmental joints (HSSJs) in deep-buried drainage shield tunnels bearing high inner water pressure are different from those of segmental joints that do not face inner pressure; therefore, full-scale bending experiments for two kinds of HSSJs were conducted to reveal the mechanical behaviors of HSSJs under the action of inner water pressure and evaluate the joint type that is applicable for deep-buried drainage shield tunnels. The experimental results show that the joint opening grows and the rotational stiffness diminishes with the increasing inner water pressure, mainly due to the significant decrease of axial force at the joint position. With joint opening increases, local failure in the concrete around hand holes of HSSJs will occur. Moving the anchorage sections of the anchor bars in HSSJs behind the hand holes is an effective method to solve the local failure problem, which results in the improvement of anti-crack capacity of concrete in HSSJs, and also, the opening of HSSJs under the action of positive bending loading will decrease. For deep-buried shield tunnels bearing high inner water pressure, this structural adjustment could be considered if the crack development of concrete in HSSJs or the opening of HSSJs bearing a positive bending moment does not meet the tunnel design requirements.

Experimental and numerical study on steel-concrete composite frames with engineered cementitious composites

Engineered cementitious composites (ECC) is a type of cement-based material with the characteristics of tensile strain-hardening and multiple cracking. In this study, the structural behavior of the composite frame, whose crack resistance is improved by using ECC in the hogging moment region, was investigated. A large-scale steel-concrete composite frame with ECC at the beam end was designed and tested under vertical and lateral hysteretic loads. The test results were reported and compared with those of the traditional steel-concrete composite frame conducted by the authors in a previous study. The application of ECC notably reduced the crack width by 18%-40% in terms of the results under vertical loading cases and enhanced the ductility by 87% in the positive loading direction. The steel-concrete-ECC composite frame exhibited excellent seismic behavior with similar strength, stiffness, energy dissipation, stiffness degradation and strength degradation as the traditional steel-concrete composite frame. In addition, a nonlinear elaborate finite element (FE) model was established to simulate the tested frames, whose results agreed well with the test results. Furthermore, parametric studies on the ECC composite frames were performed via FE simulations, from which the influence of the ECC length, ECC tensile strength, ECC compressive strength and the steel beam height on the bearing capacity and cracking performance were clarified. The design method of the ECC length was also suggested. The test and FE results showed that ECC notably improved the slab anti-cracking performance. The study of this paper will provide a scientific basis for the application of ECC in steel-concrete composite frames to some extent.

Electroelastic Static and Vibration Response Analysis of Sigmoid PZT-5A/ Pt-Based Smart Functionally Graded Plate

The current study is focused on the static and vibration analysis of a sigmoid smart functionally graded (SFG) plate resting on the two parameters elastic foundation exposed to electromechanical loading at different boundary conditions. The sigmoid law (S-Law) is used to evaluate the distribution of SFG properties along the thickness direction. The governing equation of the motion of the SFG plate is obtained using first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and Hamilton’s principle. The derived governing equation is then solved employing the higher-order finite element method (HFEM) using 9-noded Lagrange quadrilateral elements with 54 degrees of freedom (DOFs) per element. Convergence and comparative tests are carried out for the effectiveness and accuracy of the present approach. Non-dimensional frequency increases negative electric loading [Formula: see text] and reduces positive electric loading at a constant side-to-thickness ratio. The effect of the shear layer parameter on the stress and deflection of the SFG plate is more compared to the Winkler foundation. The obtained results are helpful for the accurate design of the SFG-based structures under electromechanical loading.

Fear of Covid-19 Scale:

This study explores some empirical validity of the fear of the Covid-19 scale. The study intends to examine potential validity when the scale is used for young people attending higher education institutions in Indonesia. Researchers invited undergraduate students from five universities in Indonesia. Four hundred fourty five participants fully completed the survey within six weeks of data collection. The study was conducted online through an online survey platform where most participants completed the survey within 20 minutes. Two measures were employed, the fear of Covid-19 and the perceived stress scale. The results supported the theoretical measurement model in which fear of Covid-19 and perceived stress scale each represented a unidimensional construct. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) also found that the fear of the Covid-19 scale generated positive loading factors for its items with an average variance extracted (AVE) higher than 50%. The Pearson's correlation's predictive validity study observed a positive and significant association between fear of Covid-19 and perceived stress. This study has provided initial empirical support for the use of fear of Covid-19 for young people who attend higher education institutions. The fear of the Covid-19 measure was also in line with several studies and the Conservation of Resource theory. People who perceive crisis will experience threats to their resources, and they will be more likely to experience stress if they do not have enough resources to cope with the threats.