Body Sections Research Articles

Fabrication progress of the prototype spoke cavity for the JAEA-ADS linac

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been proposing an accelerator-driven nuclear transmutation system (ADS) as a future nuclear system. In preparation for the actual design of the CW proton linac for the JAEA-ADS, we are now prototyping a low-β (≈ 0.2) single-spoke cavity. The cavity fabrication started in 2020. Most of the cavity parts were shaped in fiscal year 2020 by press-forming and machining. In 2021, we started welding the shaped cavity parts together. By preliminarily investigating the optimum welding conditions using mock-up test pieces, each cavity part was joined together with smooth welding beads. So far, we have fabricated the body section and the beam port sections. By measuring the resonant frequency of the temporarily assembled cavity, it was confirmed that there were no significant problems with the cavity fabrication.

Simple Hybrid Camera-Based System Using Two Views for Three-Dimensional Body Measurements

Using a single RGB camera to obtain accurate body dimensions, rather than measuring these manually or via more complex multicamera systems or more expensive 3D scanners, has a high application potential for the apparel industry. We present a system that estimates upper human body measurements using a hybrid set of techniques from both classic computer vision and recent machine learning. The main steps involve (1) using a camera to obtain two views (frontal and side); (2) isolating in the image pair a set of main body parts; (3) improving the image quality; (4) extracting body contours and features from the images of body parts; (5) indicating markers on these images; (6) performing a calibration step; and (7) producing refined final 3D measurements. We favour a unique geometric shape, that of an ellipse, to approximate human body main horizontal cross-sections. We focus on the more challenging parts of the body, i.e., the upper body from the head to the hips, which, we show, can be well represented by varying an ellipse’s eccentricity for each individual. Then, evaluating each fitted ellipse’s perimeter allows us to obtain better results than the current state-of-the-art methods for use in the fashion and online retail industry. In our study, we selected a set of two equations, out of many other possible choices, to best estimate upper human body section circumferences. We experimented with the system on a diverse sample of 78 female participants. The results for the upper human body measurements in comparison to the traditional manual method of tape measurements, when used as a reference, show ±1 cm average differences, which are sufficient for many applications, including online retail.

The Escape Intensity and Its Influencing Factors in Antarctic Krill (Euphausia superba) Passing through Large Mesh at the Front End of a Commercial Trawl

The purpose of this study was to comprehend the escape intensity and its influencing factors in Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) that escaped through large mesh located at the front end of commercial trawl nets. Two pocket nets were employed to collect escaped krill that passed through the mesh opening in the first section (400 mm mesh size, without liner) and second section (16 mm mesh size liner) of the trawl body. The results show that krill escape primarily took place in the first section of the trawl body. Meanwhile, there was almost no krill escape observed in the second section of the trawl body, primarily attributable to the presence of a 16 mm mesh size liner. In terms of body length composition, the average PSI (percentage similarity index) was 67.31 (95% CI: 61.86–72.87) for krill from the pocket net on the larger mesh part and the codend. In addition, the PSI was significantly different (p < 0.05) between the day (60.96, 95% CI: 55.68–66.71) and night (83.62, 95% CI: 76.80–89.46). The escape intensity of krill ranged from 20.83 to 213.13 g·m−2 per ton per hour in the area at the front end of trawl body, with a mean value of 76.52 (95% CI: 55.22–101.09) g·m−2 per ton per hour during the daytime, and 144.66 (95% CI: 110.44–180.03) g·m−2 per ton per hour at night. These results indicate that krill can see and avoid contacting the netting easily during the day, particularly for larger individuals. This provides insight into the design of krill trawls, specifically on the arrangement of liners, which should be integrated from the front part of the trawl body.

AN ANALYSIS OF ERGONOMIC RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE WOOD BLOCK MAKING CRAFT OF PETHAPUR, GUJARAT, INDIA

The handicrafts sector in India provides employment to a vast number of people contributing to the country's economy; by the vary nature of woodblock making craft, the produce is made with hand- making it labour intensive; spending hours in the same place, health hazards associated occupation. Woodblock makers of Pethapur served as the focal point of the ergonomic study; to render the craft person to be more efficient and productive. The semi structured interview schedule was developed containing a detailed check list for analyzing occupational health hazards using musculoskeletal disorder scale and RULA scale.The results showed that the senior craftsmen experienced pain at various body parts such as joint pain, neck and shoulder pain. It was also discovered that working posture has relation to the body sections that are in pain. It was concluded that there is a need for implementing change in working pattern, workspace arrangement as well as creating awareness amongst the craftsmen about the ergonomic risk factors. The craftsmen need to undergo some physical exercises before performing work which would help in reducing pains.

A new histopathological phenomenon: Pancreatic islet cell loss in the elderly population

BackgroundWe observed the phenomenon of pancreatic islet cell loss (ICL) in our previous histopathological study. Multiple studies have reported that a decrease in β-cells is correlated with diabetes or chronic pancreatitis. Few studies have reported ICL in a healthy population. MethodsThirty-three pancreatic tissue samples were obtained from cadavers (age: 65–104 years) who had never been diagnosed with any pancreatic diseases before death. The pancreatic body sections were used for an immunohistochemical study of pancreatic islet cells, and area calculations were performed using ImageJ to determine the degree of ICL and islet cell proportions. ResultsThe proportion of β-cells showed a downward trend as the degree of ICL increased (r=−0.414, P = 0.011), and the proportion of women with severe ICL was significantly higher than that of men with severe ICL (P = 0.016). The probability of severe ICL decreased with age in the population over 70 years of age (P = 0.069, linear correlation). Severe ICL may be associated with higher pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia lesions (P = 0.059). ConclusionThe phenomenon of ICL in the elderly population was mainly due to pancreatic β-cell reduction. It may be one of the direct causes of age-related diabetes.

Candida isolation and identification from pregnant women in Kirkuk city

Abstract Background: One of the most common fungal species that have been discovered as a component of the normal flora in different human body sections is Candida spp. it is the only major opportunistic fungus that exists in both commensal and pathogenic forms. Objective: This study was prepared to find out the prevalence of candidiasis among pregnant women in Kirkuk city in addition to diagnose and identify its important species. Materials and Methods: This study was carried out on 154 patients whom suspected of having candidiasis and attended at (Azadi Teaching, Kirkuk General, and Al-Nasar Maternity) hospitals from December 2021 till April 2022. Specimens were carried out by taking a vaginal swab from all pregnant women. The swabs were first examined directly by using potassium hydroxide (10%) then inoculated onto Sabouraud’s dextrose agar supported with Amikacine antibiotic. The mycological examination has revealed 62.33% positive candidiasis, by direct microscopy examination through the recognition of pseudohyphae or yeasts. Hi Chrom agar medium was used to detect Candidal species identification. Results: Four species have been isolated each with an incidence of 67.7% for Candida albicans, 13.5% for Candida glabrata, 11.5% for Candida tropicalis, 7.3% for Candida krusie. Conclusion: It can be concluded that Candida is very common among pregnant women and being the most predominant species.

Podia histology and ultrastructure of tropical sea cucumber Phyllophorus sp. (Phyllophoridae) and Colochirus quadrangularis (Cucumaridae) from Madura Strait, Indonesia

Abstract. Winarni D, Eridianti SA, Suhargo L, Khaleyla F, Wirawati I. 2023. Podia histology and ultrastructure of tropical sea cucumber Phyllophorus sp. (Phyllophoridae) and Colochirus quadrangularis (Cucumaridae) from Madura Strait, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 24: 5685-5692. Phyllophorus sp. and Colochirus quadrangularis are sea cucumber species found in Madura Strait, East Java, Indonesia. Both species possess distinctive podia structures, which are protrusions on their body walls resembling spines. These structures serve as tube feet for movement (ventral podia) and sensory organs (dorsal papillae). This research aimed to compare the podia structures of Phyllophorus sp. and Colochirus quadrangularis. Five samples of each species were collected from the Madura Strait. Histological slides were prepared for the papillae (dorsal) and podia (ventral) on the anterior, median, and posterior body sections. Simultaneously, an examination of the ultrastructure was conducted using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Analysis revealed differences between the podia of the two species. Phyllophorus sp. papillae had semi-flat tips, were non-suckered (SFNS), and exhibited squamous to short columnar epithelia, while their tube feet had flat tips, were non-suckered, and had columnar epithelia. Papillae were denser than tube feet. Conversely, C. quadrangularis papillae were pointed and non-suckered (PNS), and tube feet were flat and non-suckered (FNS). Notably, ossicle-dense areas in C. quadrangularis papillae had a pyramidal shape. In summary, the histology and ultrastructure of podia in these species displayed significant differences, highlighting their unique characteristics. They also imply to the adaptation biology of sea cucumber in Indonesian waters.

Del's Growth: A Typical Example of Construction of Female Self-consciousness—A Postmodern Feminist Analysis of Lives of Girls and Women

Alice Munro is a famous contemporary Canadian women writer and the winner of 2013 Nobel Prize in literature. She is known as the ""master of contemporary short stories"". Munro is very concerned about the life experience of ordinary women. She always focuses on the daily trifles and details of ordinary women and describes their journey from a girl to a wife in detail, especially focusing on the psychological fluctuations and twists and turns of women. They seem fragile, but they are persistent. Munro's works are full of postmodern feminism, focusing on women's self-awareness and subjective conscious construction.
 From the perspective of postmodern feminism, the thesis focuses on the gradual formation and evolution of the heroine's self-consciousness in Alice Munro's only ""full-length"" novel Lives of Girls and Women in the process of growing up from a girl to a woman, and how female images to jump out of the hierarchy, logical structure and linear narrative surrounded by men's words and begin to express own world.
 The introduction gives an overview of Alice Munro and the novel Lives of Girls and Women, literary reviews at home and abroad, some key elements in postmodern feminism, and the significance of this thesis.
 The body section consists of three chapters: Chapter One focuses on ""Del observes the adult life"". Through Del's observation, the life of Uncle Benny's wife, two aunts, her mother and the teacher unfolded. Chapter Two analyzes ""Self-consciousness of Del begins to construct"". Del gradually began to grow up. The awakening of sexual consciousness, the doubt of belief and the excavation of herself have gradually become the theme of this adolescent girl's life. Chapter Three revolves around ""Establishment and Perfection of her self-consciousness"". Finally, she got rid of her fantasy and self-deception, her past mistakes and perplexity, and left home to start her real life.
 The conclusion part summarizes that from the perspective of postmodern feminism, the self-growth and consciousness awakening of Del is how women break away from the role of ""good women"" who meet the social expectations and find their own real nature. Munro challenges the forces we take for granted and shakes the foundations of our lives. Women perceive the world in a way different from men and resist the grandeur of history with daily trivialities. Munro constructs women's value expresses her voice and embodies her choice of will by transcending feminism and returning to women's ontological experience.

A Pilot Study Examining the Dielectric Response of Human Forearm Tissues.

This work aims to describe the dielectric behaviors of four main tissues in the human forearm using mathematical modelling, including fat, muscle, blood and bone. Multi-frequency bioimpedance analysis (MF-BIA) was initially performed using the finite element method (FEM) with a 3D forearm model to estimate impedance spectra from 10 kHz to 1 MHz, followed by a pilot study involving two healthy subjects to characterize the response of actual forearm tissues from 1 kHz to 349 kHz. Both the simulation and experimental results were fitted to a single-dispersion Cole model (SDCM) and a multi-dispersion Cole model (MDCM) to determine the Cole parameters for each tissue. Cole-type responses of both simulated and actual human forearms were observed. A paired t-test based on the root mean squared error (RMSE) values indicated that both Cole models performed comparably in fitting both simulated and measured bioimpedance data. However, MDCM exhibited higher accuracy, with a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.99 and 0.89, RMSE of 0.22 Ω and 0.56 Ω, mean difference (mean ± standard deviation) of 0.00 ± 0.23 Ω and -0.28 ± 0.23 Ω, and mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.0007 Ω and 0.2789 Ω for the real part and imaginary part of impedance, respectively. Determining the electrical response of multi-tissues can be helpful in developing physiological monitoring of an organ or a section of the human body through MF-BIA and hemodynamic monitoring by filtering out the impedance contributions from the surrounding tissues to blood-flow-induced impedance variations.

The Critical Reflections on Chinese Students Stereotypes

This article analyses the critical thinking of previous studies from various perspectives on the stereotypes of Chinese students. It focuses on three aspects: What are the earlier stereotypes of Chinese students from numerous international scholars? What do they regard as the reasons for these stereotypes, and what are their respective attitudes? What are the new in-depth views of scholars on these stereotypes, and what initiatives have been proposed to improve the stereotypes of Chinese students? These questions are answered in the following main body section. Through the analysis and summary of scholars findings, it is found that stereotypes of Chinese students can be mainly related to learning styles and traditional Chinese cultural characteristics. The cause of stereotypes primarily comes from the influence of cultural differences between China and the West and the lack of understanding of Chinese education. The scholars critical views on Chinese students stereotypes are mainly about the internal and external environmental influences on Chinese students and the consequences of stereotypes. Therefore, this paper contributes to future research on improving Chinese students stereotypes in the context of international education.

New localities and sexual dichromatism in Blue-green eyed Spotted Cuscus Spilocuscus wilsoni Helgen et Flannery, 2004 (Mammalia: Marsupialia: Phalangeridae) from Biak Island, Indonesia

Spotted cuscuses are medium-sized tree-dwelling mammals native to tropical forests of Australo-Papua that primarily feed on fruits and leaves. They belong to the phalangerid genus Spilocuscus (Gray, 1862). The difference in pelage color between male and female Spilocuscus wilsoni has not yet been well described morphologically. In the present study, we describe the coat color of four S. wilsoni individuals: a male adult, a sub-adult male, a sub-adult female, and a juvenile female. Dorsal, lateral, and ventral body section images were captured on camera, and body weight & length, tail & ear length were measured. The adult male S. wilsoni had brown spot and blotch patterns on the dorsal and lateral regions, and the ventral region was plain beige. The sub-adult male had distinct spot patterns without blotches on the dorsal and lateral regions, while the ventral region was plain with a cream base color. The sub-adult female had a mottled pattern that blended with the base color, making a silvery appearance. The female juvenile was spotless throughout, with a foundation hue ranging from creamy to somewhat yellow.

A novel approach to tele-rehabilitation: Implementing a biofeedback system using machine learning algorithms

Tele-rehabilitation (Tele-rehab) is changing the landscape of virtual care by redefining assessment and breaking accessibility barriers as a convenient substitute for conventional rehabilitation. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a rapid uptake of virtual care. Researchers and health professionals have started developing new tele-rehab platforms, e.g., in the form of video conferencing. Albeit useful, these platforms still require the clinicians’ time and energy. Integrating a biofeedback system that can reliably distinguish between “Correctly Executed” from “Incorrectly Executed” exercises into tele-rehab platforms can help patients to perform rehab exercises correctly, avoid injuries, and enhance recovery. To address this gap, this paper proposes an automated system that uses machine learning to classify correct and incorrect executions of 9 rehabilitation gestures. The model is trained on 24 angle signals extracted from different body sections. The angle signals are obtained in 3D space, and 10 features are extracted from each signal. Six different classifiers, including Random Forest, Multi-Layer Perceptron Artificial Neural Networks, Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machine, K-Nearest Neighbors, and Logistic Regression, are used, and evaluated with 10-Fold and Leave One Subject Out (LOSO) cross validations. The best classifiers achieved an average accuracy of 89.86% ± 3.38% and F1-Score of 72.84% ± 11.98% for 10-Fold and an average accuracy of 88.21% ± 3.90% and F1-Score of 68.16%±13.28% for LOSO. The proposed system has great potential to be integrated into tele-rehab platforms to help patients perform their exercises reliably.© 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Suitability of Fish Skins for Making Leather: The Case of Salmo salar and Lates niloticus

Fibre structure, selected chemical and physical properties of Salmo salar (Linnaeus, 1758) and Lates niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758) skins and leathers were studied in order to establish the leathers’ suitability in the manufacture of leather products. Microscopic examination revealed that fibres run as parallel sheets in both longitudinal and transverse sections of the fish body; this arrangement is considered to contribute to the increased strength of fish leather despite being thin. The skins’ collagen content was found to be 61.2% and 72.0% for S. salar and L. niloticus respectively implying their suitability for leather making as this is in the same range as the conventional raw materials used in the leather industry. Due to the poor hydrothermal stability of raw fish skins, the degreasing was carried on wet blue leathers. The grease content was reduced from 23.7% and 13.0% to 5.9% and 5.5% for S. salar and L. niloticus respectively. The chromic oxide content was found to be 2.98% and 2.37% for S. salar and L. niloticus respectively. Shrinkage temperature was measured using DSC and Shrinkage temperature equipment and there was a strong positive correlation between the two approaches; r2 = 0.98. The shrinkage temperature of raw skins was 43.73oC and 60.71oC while that of wet blue leathers was 77.24oC and 88.75oC for S. salar and L. niloticus respectively. The average tensile strength was 14.13 N/mm2 and 21.63 N/mm2 whereas the single-edge tear strength was 21.68 N and 132.20 N for S. salar and L. niloticus respectively. The leathers were generally well stabilized and meet the requirements for various end uses.

Hounsfield units on abdominal computed tomography: a new tool for predicting osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis can cause bone fractures and disability, but early diagnosis faces challenges. Our proposed diagnostic indicators offer a new approach for early detection, which benefits early identification. To determine the most appropriate threshold for predicting osteoporosis in patients with each section of vertebral body. A retrospective analysis of 210 patients, including 646 vertebrae, who had both abdominal computed tomography (CT) and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) within six months. The correlation between DXA T-score and CT Hounsfield units (HU) values was tested by Pearson. The area under the curve (AUC) was calculated using the threshold obtained from the regression equation. The thresholds matching the T-score of -2.5 were 85, 95, 85, and 90 HU for the upper axial plane of the vertebral body (Lau), the middle axial plane of the vertebral body (Lam), the lower axial plane of the vertebral body (Lad), and the mid-sagittal plane of the vertebral body (Lsm), respectively. Defining osteoporosis using CT as Lau ≤ 85, Lam ≤ 95, Lad ≤ 85, or Lsm ≤ 90 HU had a specificity of 88.1% (116/134) and sensitivity of 90.8% (69/76) for distinguishing DXA osteoporosis of the lumbar spine in 210 patients. T-score ≤-2.5 defined as Lau ≤85 or Lam ≤95 or Lad ≤85 or Lsm ≤90 HU had a specificity of 85.9% (275/320) and sensitivity of 82.8% (270/326) for DXA T-score ≤-2.5 in 646 lumbar vertebrae. CT HU values obtained based on different sections of the vertebral body in abdominal CT can be used as a supplementary measure to assess osteoporosis.

Gall bladder diseases: a study of histopathological spectrum of cholecystectomy specimens from rural tertiary hospital in Telangana state during COVID pandemic

Background: The debate of “is it worth spending the busy pathologist’s time on gall bladder specimens” has been there for decades. The selective approach may result in missing discrete pathologies such as premalignant lesions. We are presenting an interesting series of gall bladder histopathology diagnosed at our institute in the past two years. Methods: This is a retrospective study done at Bhaskar Medical College between 2020-2022 (specifically chosen as this is the period of COVID pandemic). This study included 43 patients who underwent cholecystectomy. All confirmed cases of acute abdomen operated for other reasons and trauma were excluded. Sections were taken from neck, fundus, body and cross section of cystic duct of each cholecystectomy specimen. The whole gallbladder was submitted and screened for the invasion in ICPN case. These sections were processed through routine paraffin embedding, microtome cutting and H&E staining for evaluation of spectrum of various gallbladder lesions. Results: In our study, 25 cases showed lymphoplasmacytic infiltration with fibrosis, 9 cases showed ulceration, congested blood vessels and neutrophilic infiltration. We encountered few rare cases like eosinophilic cholecystitis, xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis, and Intracholecystic papillary neoplasm (ICPN)”. Pyloric metaplasia was seen in 27.9% cases, which is also higher Conclusions: Our study emphasizes the need for the routine examination of these specimens, to have a detailed understanding of the etiology to prevent/predict the other associated medical conditions. We also could find 2% of the cases having pre-malignant lesions and 28% having metaplasia, which if missed shall progress to malignant conditions.

Hounsfield Unit for Evaluating Bone Mineral Density and Strength: Variations in Measurement Methods

To assess the consistency and accuracy of various measurements of the Hounsfield unit (HU) in lumbar vertebrae. The study reviewed lumbar spine computed tomography images of 60 postmenopausal women aged >50years. A total of 240 vertebrae were measured and analyzed for the variations of HU values in different sections and regions. Investigated the relationship between HU values of the lumbar spine under different measurements and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry results and the ability to identify patients with osteoporosis. HU values measured in midsagittal (r=0.763), midcoronal (r=0.768), and midaxial (r=0.786) sections exhibited a strong positive correlation with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry T-scores. HU values measured in midsagittal and midaxial sections of the vertebral body were in good agreement (P>0.1), but decreased in the midcoronal (P<0.001). HU values in the middle of the vertebral body were significantly higher than in the near end plate (P<0.001). HU values varied between L1 and L4 vertebrae, but all had a good ability to identify osteoporosis and did not differ significantly in screening ability (P>0.05). An averaged HU value in axial multilevel is a comprehensive assessment of vertebral bone density. Using the HU value of the lumbar spine can help identify patients with osteoporosis, and the screening ability does not differ significantly across vertebral segments.

Micrococcal nuclease sequencing of porcine sperm suggests enriched co-location between retained histones and genomic regions related to semen quality and early embryo development.

The mammalian spermatozoon has a unique chromatin structure in which the majority of histones are replaced by protamines during spermatogenesis and a small fraction of nucleosomes are retained at specific locations of the genome. The sperm's chromatin structure remains unresolved in most animal species, including the pig. However, mapping the genomic locations of retained nucleosomes in sperm could help understanding the molecular basis of both sperm development and function as well as embryo development. This information could then be useful to identify molecular markers for sperm quality and fertility traits. Here, micrococcal nuclease digestion coupled with high throughput sequencing was performed on pig sperm to map the genomic location of mono- and sub-nucleosomal chromatin fractions in relation to a set of diverse functional elements of the genome, some of which were related to semen quality and early embryogenesis. In particular, the investigated elements were promoters, the different sections of the gene body, coding and non-coding RNAs present in the pig sperm, potential transcription factor binding sites, genomic regions associated to semen quality traits and repeat elements. The analysis yielded 25,293 and 4,239 peaks in the mono- and sub-nucleosomal fractions, covering 0.3% and 0.02% of the porcine genome, respectively. A cross-species comparison revealed positional conservation of the nucleosome retention in sperm between the pig data and a human dataset that found nucleosome enrichment in genomic regions of importance in development. Both gene ontology analysis of the genes mapping nearby the mono-nucleosomal peaks and the identification of putative transcription factor binding motifs within the mono- and the sub- nucleosomal peaks showed enrichment for processes related to sperm function and embryo development. There was significant motif enrichment for Znf263, which in humans was suggested to be a key regulator of genes with paternal preferential expression during early embryogenesis. Moreover, enriched positional intersection was found in the genome between the mono-nucleosomal peaks and both the RNAs present in pig sperm and the RNAs related to sperm quality. There was no co-location between GWAS hits for semen quality in swine and the nucleosomal sites. Finally, the data evidenced depletion of mono-nucleosomes in long interspersed nuclear elements and enrichment of sub-nucleosomes in short interspersed repeat elements.These results suggest that retained nucleosomes in sperm could both mark regulatory elements or genes expressed during spermatogenesis linked to semen quality and fertility and act as transcriptional guides during early embryogenesis. The results of this study support the undertaking of ambitious research using a larger number of samples to robustly assess the positional relationship between histone retention in sperm and the reproductive ability of boars.

DISTRIBUTION PATTERN OF TREMATODES IN A LARGE SETTLEMENT OF THE PONTO-AZOV MOLLUSK LITHOGLYPHUS NATICOIDES (C. PFEIFFER 1828) (GASTROPODA, HYDROBIIDAE) FROM THE UPPER SECTION OF THE UGLICH RESERVOIR (UPPER VOLGA BASIN)

The Ponto-Azov gastropod mollusk Lithoglyphus naticoides (C. Pfeiffer, 1828) naturalized in the Uglich Reservoir relatively recently (in 2013-2015). The main objective of this study is a comparative analysis of the species diversity and structure of trematode communities in different biotopes, occupied by L. naticoides after the initial phase of its spread in the upper section of this water body (downstream the city of Dubna), characterized by a complex hydrological regime. Approximate coordinates of the geographical center of the large settlement of L. naticoides are 56°53ʹN, 37°25ʹE. It is found that by 2019-2021 the average density of L. naticoides in this settlement reached a consistently high value of about 450 ind./m2. Judging by the variability of shell height in adult mature L. naticoides individuals, even within the same settlement, optimum habitat conditions for this mollusk differ significantly in different biotopes. In a comparative aspect, data from two main hydrobiological sampling locations are considered: in the open part of the reservoir and at the mouth of a large tributary - the Dubna River. It is shown that at both locations the species composition of trematodes in L. naticoides is similar and includes, in particular, parthenitae of Apophallus muehlingi (Jägerskiöld, 1899), Apophallus (= Rossicotrema ) donicus (Skrjabin et Lindtrop, 1919), Parasymphylodora markewitschi Kulakowskaja, 1947, Nicolla skrjabini (Iwanitzky, 1928). However, Sanguinicola volgensis (Razin, 1929) parthenitae, dominant in L. naticoides in the open part of the reservoir, is not found in the sample of mollusks from the mouth of the Dubna River. As compared to the sampling site in the open part of the reservoir, at the mouth of the Dubna River the level of infection with parthenitae of other species is significantly lower: N. skrjabini and P. markewitschi - 7 times, Apophallus spp. - 8 times, Xiphidiocercaria sp. - 13 times. The ratio of males to females among mature individuals of L. naticoides turns out to be close to 1:1, which is usual for many freshwater mollusks. In general, the high occurrence (the infection prevalence - the proportion of infected individuals in the host sample P±SE, %) in the open part of the reservoir indicates the presence of prerequisites for serious outbreaks of helminthoses: Xiphidiocercaria sp. (9.16±2.52%), Apophallus spp. (11.45±2.78%), P. markewitschi (7.63±2.32%), N. skrjabini (7.63±2.32%), S. volgensis (63.36±4.21%). At the same time, according to the data obtained, further spread of L. naticoides in some tributaries of reservoirs in the Upper Volga basin may not have such serious parasitological consequences.

Optimization of Mass Spectrometry Imaging for Drug Metabolism and Distribution Studies in the Zebrafish Larvae Model: A Case Study with the Opioid Antagonist Naloxone.

Zebrafish (ZF; Danio rerio) larvae have emerged as a promising in vivo model in drug metabolism studies. Here, we set out to ready this model for integrated mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) to comprehensively study the spatial distribution of drugs and their metabolites inside ZF larvae. In our pilot study with the overall goal to improve MSI protocols for ZF larvae, we investigated the metabolism of the opioid antagonist naloxone. We confirmed that the metabolic modification of naloxone is in high accordance with metabolites detected in HepaRG cells, human biosamples, and other in vivo models. In particular, all three major human metabolites were detected at high abundance in the ZF larvae model. Next, the in vivo distribution of naloxone was investigated in three body sections of ZF larvae using LC-HRMS/MS showing that the opioid antagonist is mainly present in the head and body sections, as suspected from published human pharmacological data. Having optimized sample preparation procedures for MSI (i.e., embedding layer composition, cryosectioning, and matrix composition and spraying), we were able to record MS images of naloxone and its metabolites in ZF larvae, providing highly informative distributional images. In conclusion, we demonstrate that all major ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity) parameters, as part of in vivo pharmacokinetic studies, can be assessed in a simple and cost-effective ZF larvae model. Our established protocols for ZF larvae using naloxone are broadly applicable, particularly for MSI sample preparation, to various types of compounds, and they will help to predict and understand human metabolism and pharmacokinetics.

Numerical analysis of water entry under ocean currents with smoothed particle hydrodynamics method

Water entry is a fluid–structure interaction process closely related to the ocean environment. Repeated water entries take place when ships are sailing in an ocean environment, e.g., ocean currents, which greatly affect the ship's safety and stability in navigation. In this paper, we adopt a smoothed particle hydrodynamics method to numerically study the water entry of a bow-flare ship body section under ocean currents. We simulate the process of water entry under different current velocities and analyze in detail the fluid field regarding the free surface evolution, the velocity and pressure distributions, and the body's forces and motions. It is revealed that the ocean current can induce multidirectional fluid impacts, and a stagnation point with zero velocity occurs at the upstream side. Asymmetric fluid fields including the evolution of the free surface and the velocity and pressure distributions around the body can also be found. In addition, discrepancies are caused in the formation time and the range of the high-pressure region. These fluid field changes greatly affect the ship body's dynamic responses. However, the effects of the ocean current are mainly reflected in the direction of the current flow and are relatively small in the direction perpendicular to the flow.