Total Number Of Accesses Research Articles

Assessment of Genetic Diversity in Corchorus olitorius Accessions by Simple Sequence Repeat Markers (SSR)

Indigenous leafy vegetables such as Corchorus olitorius (jew’s mallow) have potential in contributing to food security as they can provide important nutritional requirements needed for human nourishment. However, in Botswana, this plant is not yet domesticated and its utilization is minimal due to lack of knowledge. To have the crop fully domesticated it is important to document important information on the available landraces and wild species. One of the important information is understanding the variation among the available genotypes as this will help not only in domestication but also in breeding purposes. Thus this study aimed to assess the genetic diversity of 49 accessions of jews mallow collected in Botswana and other African countries. Simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers were used to characterize fourty nine accessions. The results revealed that, out of 49 SSR primer pairs used, 46 showed scorable polymorphism by producing clear amplified products. The average polymorphic loci rate was 82.44% with the lowest rate (33.33%) detected in MJM-536 and the highest was 100% recorded by 27 of the primers. The polymorphism information content (PIC) potential ranged from 0.398 for MJM-475 primer to 0.979 for the primer MJM-623 with an average of 0.719. With the Shannon diversity index, an average of 3.626 was recorded under the studied accessions and this confirmed a very high diversity. In addition, a dendrogram was generated to illustrate the genetic diversity and possible relationships among the 49 Corchorus olitorius accessions using the unweighted pair group method (UPGM) with arithmetic means. This UPGM cluster analysis distinctively divided the accessions into five (5) groups at a cophenetic correlation coefficient 0.977. The total number of accessions per cluster varied from one group to the other. These results reinforced the effectiveness of the SSR markers in discriminating individuals within species even within a narrow genetic background.

DESIGN AND ORGANIZATION OF AN INTERPROFESSIONAL NETWORK FOR HOME MANAGEMENT OF PATIENTS IMPLEMENTED DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC AT ASL NAPOLI 2 NORD, SUITABLE ALSO IN THE DAILY MANAGEMENT OF CHRONIC PATIENTS LIVING IN THE SAME AREA

Introduction: The Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has altered the perception of the current National Health Service (SSN). On one hand, the importance of a free and always accessible SSN for everyone has been strengthened. On the other hand, the fragility of a system with a too specialized and hospital-centered approach has become evident. In the pandemic context, the need to reverse the model by focusing on the needs of the community has become clear, with the main aim of promoting home-based management as much as possible for both chronic and acute conditions. This can be achieved through the creation of an integrated network involving all stakeholders in the care and assistance process, utilizing new technologies and telemedicine systems.Materials and Methods: The aim of this activity was to delve into an integrated network model for home care of Covid patients, within ASL Napoli 2 Nord. This model utilizes interconnected and functionally integrated structures and nodes, with defined pathways and operational procedures based on dedicated telemedicine platforms. These platforms facilitate the comprehensive management and care of Covid-19 patients by all network stakeholders. Results were monitored using specific and dedicated indicators, collecting and analysing data from the period when the care of positive Covid patients began (November 2020), whose management did not require hospitalization.Results: From November 2020 to December 2021, the number of patients living in the ASL Napoli 2 Nord territory under home management included Home Health Care Units (USCA), non-ambulatory residential facilities undergoing non-pharmacological therapy (TNF), non-ambulatory vaccinated individuals receiving home vaccination, and vaccinated individuals in residential facilities, amounted to 38,223. Among these, 37.8% (14,476) tested positive for Covid.The total number of accesses during this period was approximately 94,000, encompassing various types of care provided (TNF at home, TNF in facilities, home management of Covid+ patients, vaccinations in facilities, vaccinations at home for non-ambulatory patients). The shift has been significant, transitioning from managing the entirety of patients in hospitals to slightly over 4.5% of the total managed from December 2020 to December 2021. Conclusions: The sensitivity of healthcare managers during the pandemic period translated into the realization that the focus of the National Health System (SSN) and the Regional Health System (SSR) needed to shift, directing efforts increasingly towards the implementation of local healthcare policies.The high number of hospitalizations recorded was not solely due to the increased number of infections, but also to the challenges faced in providing home care. Creating, developing, and continually implementing an interdisciplinary and interprofessional network, coupled with the development of technological infrastructures and more, ensured the ability to address the emergency. This guaranteed that all citizens received the necessary care and assistance to navigate this historically critical and unexpected moment.The reproducibility of this system assures the possibility of further network implementation, not only in emergencies but also for the daily management of chronic patients. Moreover, in a time when, among other things, Mission 6 of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) has allocated resources amounting to 15.63 billion euros to be invested in the healthcare sector, most of which are dedicated to revolutionizing our SSN and ensuring its greater efficiency and effectiveness in the territor.

Information-seeking behaviour of community pharmacists during the COVID-19 pandemic: an ecological study

ObjectiveTo evaluate the information-seeking behaviour of pharmacists during the COVID-19 pandemic and its relation to COVID-19 and related infections and deaths within the local prefecture.DesignEcological study.SettingJapan—47 prefectures.MethodsThe number of accesses...

Alternative trans-parenchymal access for percutaneous contact nephrolithotripsy

Introduction. An actual issue of modern endoscopic surgery for urolithiasis is the development of techniques for optimal access to the stone. Percutaneous access during contact nephrolithotripsy (PCNL) is believed to reach the pyelocalyceal system (PCS) along the shortest trajectory and pass through the small calyces. It assumes multi-accessibility, as well as interventional cascading. Anatomically, the kidney is divided into five relatively independent segments in terms of blood supply. The thickness of the posterior one is only a quarter of the thickness of the kidney, which allows us to assume a significantly smaller number of vessels in this segment even outside the Zondek (Brödel) bloodless line.Purpose of the study.To prove the possibility of using an optimized transparenchymal approach in PCNL based on the renal vascular structure.Material and methods. A prospective analysis of the treatment of 41 patients with urolithiasis who hadPCNL. Before surgery, patients were randomized by gender, age, average stone size, and urolithiasis forms. Subjects were divided into two groups. Group 1 (study) —20 (48.8%) patients underwent PCNL through trans-parenchymal access to the inferior-lateral parts of the pelvis or the large lower renal calyx due to the ventral orientation of the lower small calyces. Group 2 (control) — 21 (51.2%) patients underwent standard PCNL. The creation of access to PCS was provided simultaneously with Doppler ultrasound of the renal vessels to prevent damage to the segmental and interlobular vessels of the kidney.Results. In 73.2% of patients, the blood supply in the region of standard access to the PCS goes through the posterior segmental artery, which does not supply blood to the lower half of the kidney (type 1 blood supply). In 26.8% of patients, branches of the posterior segmental artery cross the projection of the inferior calyces (type 2 blood supply). In cases where it is impossible to perform a standard puncture of the PCL (patients of the first group), type 1 blood supply allows you to safely make an alternative trans-parenchymal access directly to the lower calyx or pelvis through the inferior-lateral dorsal wall. The optimization of the access decreasesthe average operation time by 1.4 times and the average number of accesses by 1.3 times.Conclusion. Doppler ultrasound scanning allows to visualize of arterial vessels, which helps to provide safe trans-cutaneous puncture access to PCS. In 73.2% of patients, the region of the posterior surface of the pelvis and the lower calyx was identified with the possibility of an anatomically justified low-traumatic trans-parenchymal access. It significantly expands the area of the parts of the PCS accessible for direct intervention. The creation of a trans-parenchymal access to the lower lateral parts of the renal pelvis allows reducing the total number of accesses to the PCS, which reduces the operation time and the number of complications.

Between the first and second wave of the 2019 coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19): Presentation and crowding of attenders for mentale disorder and intossication/substance abuse

IntroductionDuring the 1st wave of CoViD-19 pandemic there was a drastic reduction in total number of accesses, with more serious cases and a exorbitant increase in crowding, due to access block.Objectivesevaluate population who went to ED for (1) mental disorders requesting a psychiatric visit and for (2) intossication and substance abuse, between the first and second wave of the coronavirus pandemicMethodsWe enrolled all patients who went at our ED from May 1 to October 20, 2020 and during the same period of 2019. We analized: vital parameters, age, sex, exit severity codes, hospitalization rate, Crowding input factors (number of access, waiting time, priority time to doc), Crowding throughput factors (LOS: Length Of ED Stay), Crowding output factors (percentage of access block; Total Access Block Time).ResultsThe results are shown in table 1Table 1Mental-disorderintossication/substance-abuseMay1-October 20,2020May1- October 20,2019May1-October 20,2020May1- October 20, 2019number of ED access543564182254higher (yellow and red) priority time to doc (%)28%29%50%39%worse exit severity codes (%)10%6%16%11%rate of hospitalization (%)26%20%16%9%average waiting times (min)60647679LOS lenght of stay (min)369326629506access block (%)3%2%5%4%Total Access Block Time: examination rooms (min)11.5388.3848.0598.889Total Access Block Time: holding area (min)8.3823.963182254ConclusionsWe would like to thank all employees of the IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo Foundation for their extraordinary efforts during the pandemic.

Comparison of structure analyses and core collections for themanagement of walnut genetic resources

The preservation of maximum diversity within the smallest number ofaccessions is one of the challenges of germplasm management, and the assessment ofthe population structure, the relationships between the accessions, and theconstruction of core collections are the key steps. The choice of suitable molecularmarkers is often the starting point. In this study, we analyzed a part of the INRAEwalnut germplasm collection, which is highly diverse and unique in Europe,consisting of 150 accessions from American, European, and Asian continents. Based ongenotypic data already available, using 13 SSRs or 364,275 SNPs, we showed that thefirst level of structure is detected equally. We also highlighted empirically thatapproximately 100 SNPs are needed to obtain similar clustering to 13 SSRs inPrincipal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA). We constructed eight core collectionsfollowing two strategies (percentage of total allelic diversity or number ofaccessions) and two construction methods based on different algorithms (“maximumlength subtree” and “entry-to-nearest-entry” methods). We showed that corecollections based on few SSR markers are able to capture at least 99.5% of the SNPallelic diversity, irrespective of the construction method used. Then, corecollections based on each marker type are highly similar, using both constructionmethods. All these steps are crucial to identify the suitable tools and methods toimprove plant genetic resources management.

Evaluating the representativeness of the bentgrass (Agrostis L.) gene pool collected across the Russian Federation and neighboring countries in the VIR collection

Various species of bentgrass (Agrostis L.) are an important component of natural pastures. They are used to prepare forage grass mixtures or set up lawns; there are released cultivars. The collection of bentgrass held by VIR currently consists of 576 accessions. A. gigantea Roth is represented mainly by wild accessions; A. stolonifera L., A. canina L., and A. tenuis Sibth. by cultivars and breeding material of foreign origin. The representativeness of the gene pool and the distribution of germplasm collecting sites over the territory of the ex-USSR have been evaluated, and the species diversity has been analyzed within the collection. The regions have been identified that need to be addressed by collecting missions to fill ‘the gaps’ in the geographic, environmental and taxonomic range of bentgrass species. The passport database of VIR’s bentgrass collection and electronic maps of the ex-USSR administrative subdivisions served as the material for the research. A total of 176 administrative subdivisions were accepted as operational units and studied. For each of them, the total number of Agrostis spp. and the total number of accessions collected in its territory were taken into account. Among the eleven species collected, A. gigantea was analyzed in more detail. It appeared that the Northwest of the European part of Russia, Western Siberia, Sakhalin Province, and the Republic of Yakutia were most fully explored by collecting teams. However, the taxonomic and population diversity of bentgrass has not practically been mobilized so far in the southern parts of the Non-Black-Soil and Black-Soil zones, Middle and Lower Volga regions, North Caucasus, Eastern Siberia, and the Far East of Russia. Poorly represented in the collection is the taxonomic diversity of wild bentgrass accessions. The Russian Far East, mountainous areas of the Central Asian Republics, and the Northern and Central Urals are of the greatest interest for filling this gap.

Etoram: A More Efficient ORAM for Secure Computation

When scaling a distributed ORAM to a two-party secure computation, the overhead is dominated by the number of pseudo-random generator (PRG) calls in generation and evaluation of a distributed point function (DPF), which are O(logn) and O(n) respectively, where n is the number of data blocks. We propose a distributed ORAM scheme, in which the PRG calls are reduced to O(log(zn/λ)) for generation and O(2 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">log(zn/λ)</sup> ) for evaluation, where λ is the secure parameter and z is the length of outputs in DPF. Technically, we first extend the optimization of Function Secret Sharing (FSS), early termination for functions with small output groups, to the context of ORAM for secure computation. Then, we design a scheme named etoram to exploit the high efficiency achieved by early termination. In etoram, we introduce an access counter for each data block. Then, instead of {0,1} <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">λ</sup> , the output of the point function becomes the maximum value of these counters, i.e.,{0,1} <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">z</sup> . Data blocks are privately updated by masking random strings generated by their counters. In practice, according to different access rates, z ranges from 1 to logn in sequential mode and from 3 to logn in random mode if the total number of accesses is n.

REPRODUCTIVE POTENTIAL OF POTATO ACCESSIONS FROM THE VIR COLLECTION IN MURMANSK PROVINCE

Background. Knowledge of the reproductive potential in plants is of vital importance for potato cultivation in the Arctic environments.Materials and methods. From 2008 through 2017, 1594 potato cultivars with diverse maturation schedules from VIR’s collection were studied at the Polar Experiment Station of VIR. The material was evaluated according to the timing of their phenological phases (germination, budding, and flowering) and the possibility of their reproductive organs’ development.Results: With the same agricultural practice applied, cultivars of different maturation groups began to germinate and produce shoots at about the same time within the growing season, with a slight difference from 0.2 days (2010) to 3.3 days (2015). Further passing of phenological phases under the conditions of the Arctic depended on the mean daily air temperature and precipitation. The duration of the period from germination to flowering was largely affected by the temperature regime. The emergence of mass shoots was observed on average 18.5 ± 2.9 days after planting. The budding phase started 31.9 ± 4.7 to 43.0 ± 6.9 days after planting. The beginning of flowering occurred at the beginning of the third decade of July or 46.8 ± 4.9 to 57.5 ± 7.5 days after planting. The duration of the mass flowering of potato plants on average covered the time frame from the end of July to the middle of the third ten-day period of August. To move a potato plant from the budding phase to the flowering/mass flowering phase, a sum of effective July temperatures of 300°C is required. During the growing season, for all the years of the study, 97% of the varieties, as related to the total number of accessions, were able to set up buds; 85.7% entered the flowering stage; 63.3% moved to the stage of mass flowering; and 22.2% were able to set berries from self-pollination. According to the data of the long-term analysis of perennial agrometeorological data, the most favorable conditions for setting berries after potato self-pollination recurred every five years in the north. These conditions were formed under the sum of active air temperatures from 1170 to 1300°С (for June, July, and August), combined with insufficient provision of precipitation. Under the natural conditions in the north, the lack of moisture stimulates plants to enter the stages of flowering and fruit setting quicker and more intensively.Conclusion: The study made it possible to identify the optimal conditions for the fruit to be set by a potato plant in the north and also to acquire more data on the reproduction characteristics of potato cultivars.

BUILDING UP THE COLLECTION HOLDINGS OF PERENNIAL ORNAMENTAL PLANTS FROM THE FAMILY ROSACEAE AT THE POLAR EXPERIMENT STATION OF VIR

The article discusses the prospects of building up a collection of ornamental plants belonging to the rose family (Rosaceae Juss.) from local cultivated and wild plant forms in order to expand the zonal assortment of ornamentals for urban landscape gardening in Murmansk Province. Since 2017, the Polar Experiment Station of the Vavilov Institute (VIR) has been engaged in systematic research activities aimed at introduction of ornamental perennial ornamental herbs and shrubs. A promising collection stock has been formed of ornamental plants, currently totaling 198 accessions (160 species) from 40 plant families, including 132 accessions of perennial herbaceous plants (77 genera), 58 of ornamental shrubs (10 genera), and 8 of woody plants (4 genera). Representatives of the family Rosaceae make up 25% of the total number of accessions. The Polar Experiment Station maintains wild and cultivated perennial plants of the genera Geum L., Filipendula L., Potentilla L., Sanguisorba L., Alchimilla L., Dryas L., Spiraea L., Rosa L., Sorbus L., Dasifora Rafin., etc., having ornamental qualities, characterized by high winter hardiness, and not requiring high expenditures for their maintenance. Further expansion of the Rosaceae collection is going to be based on the introduction of ornamentals from the rose family identified in the local vegetation of the Kola Peninsula as well as through the acquisition of accessions from botanical gardens and nurseries located in the areas with climate conditions close to those of the Polar Experiment Station of VIR.

High-speed GPU implementation of a secret sharing scheme based on cellular automata

Parallel implementation provides a solution for the problem of accelerating cellular automata (CA)-based secret sharing schemes and make them appropriate for bulk data sharing and real-time applications. By presenting new platforms, we need new implementation techniques to run algorithms as fast as possible on the platform. In this paper, we present a new implementation of a CA-based secret sharing scheme using the Graphic Processing Unit (GPU). We propose a new data arrangement that reduces the total number of accesses to the memories in GPU. Our algorithm further reduces the amount of data required by each thread and at the same time achieves a high cache hit rate. Also, it can achieve coalesced memory accesses to optimal use of the global memory bandwidth. The proposed method obtains speedup up to four times faster than the best previous GPU implemented CA-based multi-secret sharing schemes.

Analisi socio-economica degli accessi ripetuti al pronto soccorso pediatrico: il caso dell'Istituto G. Gaslini di Genova

The use of Emergency Departments (EDs) is continuously increasing and the challenge of guaranteeing an efficient and effective service is threatened by the phenomena of inappropriate and frequent use. Most of the literature on the topic focuses on adult population; in this study we analyse the issue of frequent use of ED among paediatric patients, with the aim of detecting the most significant socio-demographic and clinical predictors of frequent use of emergency services. Results, based on data collected from the ED of one of the most important paediatric Italian Hospital, show that children aged less than 12 months, foreign and chronic patients (particularly those suffering from mental illness, respiratory diseases and circulatory system problems) have a higher risk of becoming frequent and highly frequent ED users. It emerges that frequent users, although they only represent the 8% of total number of accesses, they account for 19% of total costs.

Power-Saving in Storage Systems for Cloud Data Sharing Services with Data Access Prediction

SUMMARY We present a power-saving method for large-scale storage systems of cloud data sharing services, particularly those providing media (video and photograph) sharing services. The idea behind our method is to periodically rearrange stored data in a disk array, so that the workload is skewed toward a small subset of disks, while other disks can be sent to standby mode. This idea is borrowed from the Popular Data Concentration (PDC) technique, but to avoid an increase in response time caused by the accesses to disks in standby mode, we introduce a function that predicts future access frequencies of the uploaded files. This function uses the correlation of potential future accesses with the combination of elapsed time after upload and the total number of accesses in the past. We obtain this function in statistical analysis of the real access patterns of 50,000 randomly selected publicly available photographs on Flickr over 7,000 hours (around 10 months). Moreover, to adapt to a constant massive influx of data, we propose a mechanism that effectively packs the continuously uploaded data into the disk array in a storage system based on the PDC. To evaluate the effectiveness of our method, we measured the performance in simulations and a prototype implementation. We observed that our method consumed 12.2% less energy than the static configuration (in which all disks are in active mode). At the same time, our method maintained a preferred response time, with 0.23% of the total accesses involving disks in standby mode.

Extending the interval for port-a-cath maintenance

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the outcome of port-a-cath (PAC) maintenance every three months in patients with gynecologic malignancies with the goal of standardizing a safe and appropriate interval that would maintain patency and minimize side effects. Methods: We performed a retrospective medical record review and evaluation of all patients with a Bard? PAC who were noted to have no evidence of disease (NED) during the years 2003 to 2010. The interval between accessions and any complications related to the presence of the PAC were recorded. Relevant complications included skin infections, bacteremia, thrombosis, and occlusions. Statistical analysis was done using the Fisher’s exact test. Results: A total of 201 patients had PAC placed and 43 patients underwent PAC accessions to maintain patency. The total number of accessions was 150 with a median number per patient of 2.0 (range 1 - 10). The mean time between flushes was 112 days (SD = 57). When comparing women in maintenance who had flushes within 90 days versus those who had flushes over 90 days apart, there was no difference in infection or occlusion rates between these groups (p = 0.515). In the Conclusion: Infections and occlusions are rare in women with gynecologic malignancies undergoing maintenance of their PAC. Longer intervals between PAC flushes do not appear to affect the outcome in our patients. Our ongoing data and follow-up confirm that extending the interval of PAC accession to every 3 months, rather than monthly, is safe, effective and convenient in the patient population with gynecologic malignancies.

Core Collection of Sorghum: II. Comparison of Three Random Sampling Strategies

Since 1972, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi‐Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has maintained a large collection of sorghum in India. The collection size has continuously increased, and the total number of accessions at present conserved in the gene bank has reached about 36 000 accessions. The need to help management was considered, and this study was conducted to establish core collections. This sorghum collection was earlier stratified into four clusters according to the photoperiod sensitivity. Then, considering the core collection strategy, we used three random sampling procedures to determine the specific accessions to be included in the core [i.e., a constant portion (Core C), a proportional (Core P), and a proportional to the logarithm (Core L)] of the photoperiod group size sampling strategy. Both the Core C and L were significantly different from the landrace collection with better representation of the smallest groups, such as landraces insensitive to photoperiod. Despite differences between the three core collections, estimates of global diversity through the Shannon‐Weaver Diversity Indices were of the same magnitude as the landrace collection. When compared, the Core C and L were significantly different. Core L sampled better for the characters, the race, and the latitudinal classes that were related to the photoperiod‐sensitive landraces. Thus, for establishing a core collection with the widest range of adaptation to photoperiod, we propose the use of a logarithmic sampling strategy, which identifies a broadly adapted set of genotypes.