Worse Performance Research Articles

Wearing Hearing Protection Makes Me Worse at My Job: Impacts of Hearing Protection Use on Sensorimotor Tracking Performance.

Occupational hearing loss is a significant problem worldwide despite the fact that it can be mitigated by the wearing of hearing protection devices (HPDs). When surveyed, workers frequently report that worsened work performance while wearing HPDs is one reason why they choose not to wear them. However, there have been few studies to supplement these subjective reports with objective measures. Where they do exist, assessed performance measures have mostly characterized auditory situational awareness in gross terms (e.g., average speech comprehension scores over an entire session). The temporal dynamics of performance and HPD impacts on nonauditory aspects of work performance are largely unknown. In the present study, we aimed to fill this gap in the literature by measuring how HPD usage impacted sensorimotor tracking performance in relation to ongoing auditory events. In two experiments, listeners heard commands sourced from the coordinate response measure (CRM) corpus (i.e., sentences of the form "Ready <call sign> go to <color> <number> now"). These commands informed listeners of which of nine moving on-screen objects to track with a computer mouse (e.g., "blue four" refers the listener to a blue square). The commands were presented in background street noise and were heard under either "No HPD" or "HPD" conditions. In experiment 1, HPD wearing was simulated with a digital filter designed to mimic the attenuation profile of a passive HPD. In experiment 2, actual HPDs were worn by listeners. Continuous recording of tracking error allowed us to simultaneously examine how HPD wearing impacted speech comprehension, the accuracy of tracking, and how tracking accuracy varied as a function of time on task and ongoing auditory events (e.g., the presentation of a critical CRM sentence). In both experiments, listeners spent less time tracking the correct object in the HPD condition. After trimming data to those time points in which the target object was known, worse performance was exhibited by the HPD condition than the No HPD condition. In the examination of the temporal dynamics of tracking error, it was apparent that differences arose strongly during the presentation of CRM sentences. Workers' complaints of poorer performance while wearing HPDs are justified and extend beyond just diminished auditory situational awareness. The negative impact on nonauditory aspects of work performance may be strongest around critical listening periods. Addressing these aspects of performance will be an important part of addressing HPD nonuse in occupational settings.

Early functional and structural hippocampal impairment in a bilateral common carotid artery stenosis mouse model.

Subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (SIVD) is a common subtype of vascular dementia. Currently, the bilateral common carotid artery stenosis (BCAS) mouse model is the most suitable SIVD rodent model. In this study, we investigated the functional and structural impairments in the hippocampus 1 month after BCAS. We used behavioral tests, laser speckle flowmetry, long-term potentiation, histochemical staining, molecular experiments, and voxel-based morphometry to evaluate the hippocampal impairments. Behavioral studies revealed that BCAS mice exhibited worse performance. Laser speckle flowmetry detected an obvious decrease in cerebral blood flow. The synaptic plasticity of the perforant path-dentate gyrus pathway was inhibited. Decreased fractional anisotropy and increased mean diffusivity were detected in the hippocampus via diffusion tensor imaging data. A reduction in gray matter volume, which was most prominent in the hippocampus and its surrounding areas, was detected via voxel-based morphometry analysis. Impairments in cell morphology and myelin integrity were validated using histochemical staining and molecular biology techniques. In addition, the numbers of GFAP+ astrocytes and Iba1+ microglia increased in the hippocampus. Overall, our study demonstrates early functional and structural impairments in the hippocampus contributing to learning and memory deficits after 1 month of BCAS, indicating that the hippocampus is vulnerable to chronic cerebral ischemia.

Multimodal mapping of spatial attention for unilateral spatial neglect in VR: a proof of concept study using eye-tracking and mobile EEG

Unilateral spatial neglect (USN) is a complex spatial attentional disorder consisting of a failure to attend to the contralesional side of space, frequently seen after a stroke. However, the majority of cases go undiagnosed due to the lack of a valid and reliable tool that is able to assess USN and its many variants. Recent technological advances in virtual reality (VR) and physiological sensors, allow for the study of this disorder under controlled, and ecologically-valid environments, which hold the promise of reliable and early detection. This proof of concept study aims to evaluate the feasibility of a system for discriminating different attentional states using a multimodal dataset derived from a spatial attention task conducted in VR. Nine healthy young adults underwent two experimental conditions: a Control condition and a Left Occlusion condition. Participants performed a visual search task while their behavioral data, including performance metrics, eye-gaze, head, and controller movement data, were recorded. Additionally, electroencephalography data was synchroniously collected to capture neural correlates of attentional processing. Analysis of results of this within-subjects study found worse performance (higher RT), changes in behavior (right-ward gaze bias, left-ward bias in head and controller movement) in the Left Occlusion condition. Neural differences were found (parieto-occipital mean alpha band power and event related potentials) between the two conditions. If validated, this system could be utilized as a diagnostic VR tool, while it holds the potential to facilitate the participation of stroke patients with USN in VR-driven rehabilitation.

Comparing secondary school students’ foreign language anxiety and academic achievement in face-to-face and online settings: a case study in China

ABSTRACT The present study investigated foreign language anxiety (FLA) and foreign language (FL) achievement of 151 secondary school students in traditional face-to-face (F2F) and online English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The quantitative data revealed that the participants reported a lower leve l of FLA in online settings than that in traditional F2F settings, significantly in two dimensions (communication apprehension and test anxiety); and FLA was negatively correlated with FL achievement in online EFL classes, with better academic achievements due to decline of anxiety. The qualitative data revealed that FLA in F2F settings was primarily related to the participants themselves, such as bad performance in dictations, failure in quizzes, and poor homework, while FLA in online settings was more correlated with teachers (i.e. teacher questioning, teaching method and teacher’s roll call) and environment (i.e., camera monitoring, internet instability, and usage of teaching platforms). The factors contributing to such results have been thoroughly analysed and explored to offer pedagogical implications for online and offline EFL education.

Malignant Hematologic Oncology Referrals to an Outpatient Palliative Care Clinic at a Tertiary Cancer Center.

Hematological malignancies represent a heterogeneous group of diseases with variable and often unpredictable illness trajectories. Comparisons between hematological and solid tumor malignancy referrals to an outpatient palliative care clinic have not been explored. This study compared characteristics, referral trends, and time from first palliative care clinic visit to death between patients with hematological and solid tumor malignancies. A retrospective review of palliative care clinic referrals at a tertiary cancer center from January 1st, 2018 to December 31st, 2022 was conducted. Clinical and demographic data, symptom burden, performance status, and time from first palliative care clinic visit to death were compared. Of 5230 outpatients, 283 (5.4%) had a hematological malignancy (107 [38%] leukemia, 98 [35%] lymphoma, and 78 [28%] multiple myeloma). Patients with leukemia and lymphoma had similar symptom burden to solid tumor malignancies; patients with multiple myeloma had significantly more pain (P < 0.0001) and constipation (P = 0.005). Patients with hematological malignancies had worse performance status compared with solid tumor malignancies (ECOG ≥3 for 37.9% leukemia, 35.0% lymphoma, and 31.6% multiple myeloma vs. 19.6% solid tumor malignancies, P < 0.0001). At 12-months from first palliative care clinic visit, survival probabilities were 27.6% for leukemia, 42.2% lymphoma, and 69.5% multiple myeloma vs. 39.5% solid tumor malignancies. Patients with hematological malignancies experience at least similar symptom burden to those with solid tumor malignancies referred to a palliative care clinic, and worse performance status, factors that should be considered when designing palliative care clinic interventions for patients with hematological malignancies.

Pharmacokinetic exposure and treatment outcomes of lenvatinib in patients with renal cell carcinoma and differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

After initial approval of lenvatinib for radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), it has also shown promising outcomes in among others metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). Given that trial populations typically do not represent routine clinical care populations, questions arise about how applicable trial outcomes are in clinical practice. This study aims to compare the pharmacokinetics (PK), toxicity patterns, and survival data of lenvatinib in a real-world cohort with DTC and mRCC to those observed in pivotal clinical trials. Patients were included when diagnosed with DTC or mRCC, had received current or prior treatment with lenvatinib, and had at least one available lenvatinib plasma concentration measurement. A descriptive comparison was made between the baseline characteristics, PK data, toxicity and survival data in this real-world cohort and those described in the phase III trials. Overall, 29 patients with mRCC and 35 patients with DTC were included. For mRCC, median time to treatment discontinuation (mTTD) was shorter than observed in the phase III trial (7.5 versus 11.0 months) with fewer dose-limiting toxicities, likely because 66% of the patients started with a reduced dose. mRCC patients were more pretreated and had a worse performance status than trial participants. This was resembled in overall lower PK exposure in mRCC patients. For DTC, mTTD was longer in our cohort (17.1 versus 13.8 months), with similar toxicity patterns and PK exposure as in the phase III trial. Our data suggests that patient characteristics and outcomes in routine clinical care deviate from clinical trials and show the need for alternative treatment strategies to manage tolerability to lenvatinib.

Intraocular lens calculation formula selection for short eyes: based on axial length and anterior chamber depth

PurposeTo evaluate the predictive accuracy of 11 intraocular lens (IOL) calculation formulas in eyes with an axial length (AL) less than 22.00 mm.MethodsNew-generation formulas (Barrett Universal II [BUII], Emmetropia Verifying Optical [EVO] 2.0, Hill-Radial Basis Function [Hill-RBF] 3.0, Hoffer QST, K6, Kane, Pearl-DGS) and traditional formulas (Haigis, Hoffer Q, Holladay 1 and SRK/T) were evaluated for predictive accuracy. Subgroup analyses were performed based on AL and anterior chamber depth (ACD).ResultsThe study enrolled a total of 184 eyes from 184 patients. The BUII, Hoffer QST, Hoffer Q, Holladay 1, and SRK/T showed myopic shifts (-0.49 to -0.18 diopters [D], P < 0.05), whereas K6 displayed a hyperopic shift (0.11 D, P = 0.03). The Kane exhibited no systematic bias (-0.07 D), and yielded lower mean absolute error (MAE) (0.48 D, P < 0.05) and root mean square absolute error (RMSAE) (0.65 D, P < 0.01). For eyes with an AL ≤ 21.5 mm and an ACD > 2.5 mm, the Pearl-DGS displayed the smallest MAE (0.43 D) and lowest RMSAE (0.57 D), while other new-generation formulas showed relatively worse performance (MAE: 0.46 to 0.67 D; RMSAE: 0.60 to 0.84 D).ConclusionThe Kane formula showed the highest accuracy in short eyes, whereas the Pearl-DGS had superior performance in eyes with a relatively shorter AL and deeper ACD.Clinical trial numberNot applicable.

Association of plasma biomarkers of Alzheimer’s pathology and neurodegeneration with gait performance in older adults

BackgroundDeclining gait performance is seen in aging individuals, due to neural and systemic factors. Plasma biomarkers provide an accessible way to assess evolving brain changes; non-specific neurodegeneration (NfL, GFAP) or evolving Alzheimer’s disease (Aβ 42/40 ratio, P-Tau181).MethodsIn a population-based cohort of older adults, we evaluate the hypothesis that plasma biomarkers of neurodegeneration and Alzheimer’s Disease pathology are associated with worse gait performance. A sample of 2641 Mayo Clinic Study of Aging participants with measurements of plasma biomarkers and gait parameters was analyzed in this cross-sectional study. Linear regression models using plasma biomarkers as predictors of gait parameters and adjusted for age, sex, BMI, Charlson Comorbidity Index, and cognitive diagnosis were evaluated.ResultsIn this study multiple statistically significant relationships are observed for GFAP, NfL, and P-Tau181 with gait parameters. Each standard deviation increase in GFAP, NfL, and P-Tau181 is associated with a reduction in velocity of 2.100 (95% CI: −3.004, −1.196; p = 5.4 × 10−6), 4.400 (−5.292, -3.507; p = 9.5 × 10−22), and 2.617 (−3.414, −1.819; p = 1.5 × 10−10) cm/sec, respectively. Overall, NfL has the strongest associations with poor gait performance. Models with age interactions show that the strength of associations between the plasma biomarkers and the gait parameters became stronger with increasing age. There are no specific gait parameters that associate with individual plasma biomarkers.ConclusionPlasma biomarkers of neurodegeneration and Alzheimer’s Disease pathology are not only markers of cognitive decline but also indicate motor decline in the aging population.

Tele-mentorship versus in-person mentorship for trainee performance of cricothyroidotomy

Introduction Physicians and other first-line medical care providers may find themselves in an airway management emergency where they cannot ventilate, cannot oxygenate, and have limited resources to aid them. The rise in use of tele-health and other virtual interfaces creates the opportunity to bring experienced guidance to a resource-poor critical airway situation. We aimed to compare in-person mentoring (IPM) by an emergency medicine (EM) physician to tele-mentoring (TM) by a trauma surgeon for an emergent surgical airway. Methods Thirty EM residents were randomized to cricothyroidotomy on a model with IPM or TM. The IPM preceptor was an EM attending, and TM preceptors were trauma surgeons. The procedure was timed and graded on a Global Rating Scale (GRS). Post-procedure, mentor and trainee completed a NASA Task Load Index (TLX). Results There was no difference in procedure success; however, the IPM group took longer (163.6 vs. 107.6 s, p &lt; 0.05). TM trainees experienced greater temporal demand (4.27 vs. 2.73, p = 0.03). Telementors recorded improved performance compared to in-person mentors (2.30 vs. 4.17, p &lt; 0.05). Comparing mentors and trainees in each arm, IPM trainees felt more temporal demand than their mentors (4.63 vs. 2.73, p &lt; 0.05) while TM trainees felt they had worse performance than their mentors perceived (4.23 vs. 2.3, p = 0.01). Discussion Performance based on GRS between groups was equal; however, those with telementors secured the airway more rapidly. Telementors reported higher performance and lower time pressure than in-person preceptors. This data suggests that TM is effective for precepting cricothyroidotomy and may be the superior option in some settings.

In children with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder, less task‐related up‐modulation of motor cortex during response inhibition

AbstractObjectiveThe aim of this study was to identify a quantitative, brain‐based measure reflecting impaired response inhibition in children with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).MethodsIn this cross‐sectional study, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to evoke potentials in hand muscle during both a simple reaction time and a response inhibition task in 8‐to‐12‐year‐old children, 41 with ADHD (42% girls, 76% white, mean age 10.3 years) and 38 typically developing controls (53% girls, 74% white, mean age 9.8 years). We used mixed‐model linear regressions of evoked potential amplitudes to compare motor cortex excitability at (1) task‐onset (“START”: 550 ms prior to action); (2) preparing‐to‐go (“GO”: 150 ms prior to action); and (3) selecting‐to‐stop (“STOP”: 150 ms after stop cue). We hypothesized that task‐related up‐modulation of motor cortex excitability (motor evoked potential amplitudes) would depend both on task (STOP &gt; GO &gt; START) and on diagnosis (controls &gt; patients).ResultsMotor cortex up‐modulation was significantly greater for STOP trials than during GO or START. Children with ADHD had both worse response inhibition performance (longer stop‐signal reaction times) and significantly less task effect on motor cortex up‐modulation. The largest diagnostic difference in motor cortex activation occurred during STOP trials. Reduced up‐modulation during stopping was also associated with higher parent‐rated symptom severity.InterpretationOur findings suggest that motor cortex up‐modulation of excitability, assessed indirectly by TMS motor evoked potentials, reflects the cognitive load during response inhibition tasks and may be a quantitative, brain‐based indicator of impaired response inhibition in children with ADHD.

Comparison of Dimensionality Reduction Techniques to Improve Performance and Efficiency of Logistic Regression in Network Anomaly Detection

Network anomaly detection is a crucial process to identify abnormal network traffic, which may pose a security threat. This research aims to improve the performance and efficiency of Logistic Regression (LR) in network anomaly detection by applying dimension reduction techniques, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Truncated Singular Value Decomposition (TSVD), t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE), and Independent Component Analysis (ICA). The performance of each dimension reduction method is evaluated based on accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and computation time. The results show that TSVD provides the best performance with 95.86% accuracy, 0.96 precision, 0.96 recall, 0.95 F1-score, and 13.83 seconds computation time. In contrast, ICA showed the worst performance, especially in precision, recall, and F1-score, with values of 0.73, 0.83, and 0.78, respectively. Meanwhile, although t-SNE produces competitive accuracy, it has a high computational cost with an execution time of 1698.54 seconds. These findings show that choosing the right dimension reduction algorithm not only improves detection performance but also supports data processing efficiency, making it highly relevant for large-scale network security scenarios. Keywords: dimensionality reduction, Logistic Regression, network anamoly detection, performance evaluation, Truncated Singular Value Decomposition.

Standardised activities in wheelchair rugby, comparison between athletes with coordination impairment and athletes with other impairments

IntroductionTo determine if athletes with coordination impairment (CI) can continue playing wheelchair rugby (WR), while an evidence-based classification system, including impairment tests for CI is not yet available. This is a defensible practise if they show similar activity limitations as athletes with other eligible impairment types (OI) within the same sports class.MethodsStandardised activities were measured in 58 elite WR athletes; 14 with CI and 44 with OI. Wheelchair activities consisted of 20-meter sprint, 12-meter sprint with full stop, intermittent sprint (3-meter sprint, stop, 3-meter sprint, stop, 6-meter sprint with full stop), sprint-curve-slalom-curve, turn on the spot 180°, turn on the spot 90°, stop, turn 90°in the same direction, X-test (short circuit with sharp turns) without the ball. Ball activities consisted of maximal throwing distance, precision throwing short (25% of maximum throw) and long (75% of maximal throw) distance and X-test with the ball (pick-up the ball and dribble whilst pushing). Descriptive statistics were used and Spearman’s Rank correlation was assessed for athletes with CI and OI for each outcome measure. Differences between athletes with CI and OI were assessed using a Mann-Whitney U test.ResultsMost activities showed a high correlation with the athlete class in both athletes with CI and athletes with OI. Furthermore, outcome measures of athletes with CI overlapped with athletes with OI in the same sports class for all activities. There was a trend for worse performance in athletes with CI in turn on the spot 90°, stop, turn 90°in the same direction, the short distance one handed precision throw (P 0.11)and in the X-test with the ball (P 0.10).DiscussionDespite the current lack of evidence based impairment tests for CI, it is a defensible practise to not exclude athletes with CI from WR with the current classification system. The trends for differences in performance that were found can support athletes and coaches in optimising performance of athletes with CI.

A Method for Sensitivity Analysis of Automatic Contouring Algorithms Across Different MRI Contrast Weightings Using SyntheticMR.

Currently, a majority of institution-specific automatic MRI-based contouring algorithms are trained, tested, and validated on one contrast weighting (i.e., T2-weighted), however their actual performance within this contrast weighting (i.e., across different repetition times, TR, and echo times, TE) is under-investigated and poorly understood. As a result, external institutions with different scan protocols for the same contrast weighting may experience sub-optimal performance. The purpose of this study was to develop a method to evaluate the robustness of automatic contouring algorithms to varying MRI contrast weightings. One healthy volunteer and one patient was scanned using SyntheticMR on the MR-Simulation device. The parotid and submandibular glands in these subjects were contoured using an automatic contouring algorithm trained on T2-weighted MRIs. For ground truth manual contours, two radiation oncology residents and one pre-resident physician were recruited and their STAPLE consensus was determined. A total of 216 different MRI TR and TE combinations were simulated across T1-, T2-, and PD-weighted contrast ranges using SyntheticMR's post-processing software, SyMRI. Comparisons between automatic contouring algorithm contours and the ground truth were determined using the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and 95 th percentile Hausdorff distance (HD95). Notable differences in the automatic contouring model's performance were seen across the contrast-weighted range, even within the T2-weighted range. Further, some models even performed as well or better across subsets of the T1-weighted range. The PD-weighted range saw the worst performance. The range of discrepancy in DSC and HD95 exceeded 0.2 and 3.66 mm, respectively, in some structures. In the T2-weighted contrast region where the model was trained, 100%, 40%, 24%, and 57% for the DSC in the left parotid, right parotid, left submandibular, and right submandibular gland, respectively, exceeded interobserver variability. This study demonstrates the variable performance of MRI-based automatic contouring algorithms across varying TR and TE combinations. This methodology could be applied in future studies as a method for evaluating model sensitivity, out of distribution detection ability, and performance drift.

Considerations to forgo systemic treatment in patients with advanced esophageal or gastric cancer: A real-world evidence study.

The majority of patients with advanced esophageal or gastric cancer do not start palliative systemic treatment. To gain insight into the considerations underlying the decision not to start systemic treatment, we analyzed characteristics of patients starting and not starting systemic treatment, reasons for not starting systemic treatment, and receipt of local palliative treatments on a nationwide scale. Patients diagnosed with advanced esophageal or gastric cancer between 2015 and 2021 were included (n = 10,948). Survival was compared using propensity score matching on patient and disease characteristics. Most patients did not start systemic treatment (esophageal cancer 59%; gastric cancer 64%). These patients were generally older, more often female, had more comorbidities and a worse performance status. The main reason for not starting systemic treatment was patient or family preference (35%). Among patients who did not start systemic treatment, 47% (esophageal) and 19% (gastric), received local palliative treatment, most commonly radiotherapy. Patients who did not start systemic treatment had worse median overall survival compared to patients who did start (esophageal cancer 2.9 months vs. 8.9 months; gastric cancer 2.2 vs. 8.2 months). These findings indicate that patient condition and disease burden are important aspects in systemic treatment decisions. However, patient or family preference was the main reason for not starting systemic treatment, highlighting that their priorities also strongly influence the decision. Systemic treatment did show to be associated with improved overall survival in matched patients, and therefore adequately weighing treatment risks and benefits based on real world data against patient preferences is of utmost importance.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease is associated with a more severe interstitial lung disease in systemic sclerosis in the EUSTAR cohort.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is frequent in systemic sclerosis (SSc) and could predict progression of interstitial lung disease (ILD). We aimed to analyse (1) the prevalence of GERD among SSc-ILD patients, (2) its association with disease characteristics and (3) predictive factors for ILD progression in SSc-ILD patients with GERD. SSc patients from the EUSTAR database with ILD were included. GERD was labeled as present if reflux/dysphagia was reported at the baseline visit or before. Disease characteristics of patients with and without GERD were compared at baseline. ILD progression was defined as relative FVC decline ≥10% or relative FVC decline between 5-9% in association with relative DLCO decline of ≥ 15% over 12±3 months of follow-up. Prognostic factors for ILD progression, overall survival and progression-free survival in SSc-ILD patients with GERD were tested by multivariable Cox regression. 5462 SSc-ILD patients were included, 4400 (80.6%) had GERD. Patients with GERD presented more frequently with diffuse cutaneous SSc (OR: 1.44 [1.22-1.69], p < 0.001) and more severe lung involvement with lower FVC (85.8±22.1 vs 90.2±20.1, p < 0.001), lower DLCO (60.8±19.7 vs 65.3±20.6, p < 0.001) and worse performance at the 6-minute walking test. Female sex (HR: 1.39 [1.07-1.80], p = 0.012) and older age (HR: 1.02 [1.01-1.03], p < 0.001) independently predicted ILD progression in SSc-ILD patients with GERD. SSc-ILD patients with GERD appear to suffer from a more severe SSc disease. In this population, female sex may be considered as risk factor for ILD progression.

Mason Radial Head Fractures: Surgical Management

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of radial head replacement in Mason Type III and IV radial head fracture. To evaluate the clinical outcomes of patients who received radial head replacement implant. Study design &amp; setting: This is a cross-sectional, analytical study, conducted in the orthopedic department of Doctor’s Hospital Kharian. Methodology: Study was conducted from 15th April 2023 to 15th February 2024, Stability was assessed, radial head replacement was performed, and bone fragments were extracted during surgery. Radiographic evaluations were carried out to confirm the diagnosis at presentation, to determine the surgical outcome post-procedure, and during follow-up. SPSS- 22 was used for data entry and statistical analysis, Cross-tabulation and chi-square test was performed, P-value of &lt; 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The research comprised 70 patients, whose average age was 38.5 ± 9.4 years. Upon presentation, their mean hemoglobin level was 12.1 ± 1.5 mg/d. The mean time of the operation was recorded as 68.5 ± 18.9 minutes, with a minimum of 45 minutes and a maximum of 100 minutes. The frequency of the Mayo elbow performance score was determined using pre-validated categories: &gt;90 for outstanding performance, 89–75 for good performance, 74–60 for fair performance, and &lt;60 for bad performance, the study participants were divided into 38 (54.2%), 18 (25.7%), 10 (14.2%), and 4 (5.7%) groups, respectively. Conclusion: Redo surgery and rate of infection are greater in patients who underwent surgery after 24 hours of injury as compared to patients who were operated within 24 hours.

Scent of COVID-19: Whole-Genome Sequencing Analysis Reveals the Role of ACE2, IFI44, and NDUFAF4 in Long-Lasting Olfactory Dysfunction.

COVID-19-related persistent olfactory dysfunction (OD) presents remarkable interindividual differences, and little is known about the host genetic factors that are involved in its etiopathogenesis. The goal of this study was to explore the genetic factors underpinning COVID-19-related OD through the analysis of Whole Genome Sequencing data of 153 affected subjects, focusing on genes involved in antiviral response regulation. An innovative approach was developed, namely the assessment of the association between a "gene score", defined as the ratio of the number of homozygous alternative variants within the gene to its length, and participants' olfactory function. The analysis highlighted how an increased gene score in the ACE2 gene is associated with a worse olfactory performance, while an increased gene score in the IFI44 and NDUFAF4 genes is associated with a better olfactory function. Considering the physiological role of the proteins encoded by these genes, it can be hypothesized that a reduced expression of ACE2 may be associated with a protracted and severe inflammatory response in the olfactory epithelium, thus worsening patients' smell abilities. Conversely, an increased gene score in IFI44 and NDUFAF4 might be associated with a decreased inflammatory response, thus correlating with a better olfactory performance. Overall, this study identified new host genetic factors that may play a pivotal role in determining COVID-19-related OD heterogeneity, possibly enabling more personalized and effective clinical management for affected individuals.

Random Forest–Based Coal Mine Roof Displacement Prediction and Application

Coal mine roof accident is one of the most important geological disasters faced by coal mine, and roof displacement is an important index to measure the effect of roadway control and construction safety. Therefore, this study puts forward the machine learning method to study the advance prediction of coal roadway roof displacement. By identifying six important influencing indexes of coal roadway roof displacement, the prediction dataset of coal roadway roof displacement is established and the correlation and importance of the indexes are analyzed. Based on Random Forest (RF), XGBoost, and Gradient Boosting Decision Tree (GBDT) algorithms, three kinds of roof displacement prediction models are established respectively. R2, mean absolute error (MAE), mean square error (MSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and root mean square error (RMSE) are selected to evaluate the performance of the models. The results show that the RF model has the best performance while the XGBoost model has the worst performance. When RF model is applied to coal mine roadway, the average R2 is 0.92, and the relative error of prediction is 1.76%–9.11%, which indicates that RF model has greater accuracy and applicability in advance prediction of coal roadway roof displacement. It can be used to predict the roof accidents of coal mines to ensure the safety and stability of the roadway enclosure rock during the construction period. The study will be helpful in planning of mining, improving the recovery rate of resources, and promoting the intelligent development of coal mine.

Testing Phylogenetic Placement Accuracy of DNA Barcode Sequences on a Fish Backbone Tree: Implications of Backbone Tree Completeness and Species Representation.

Advancements in DNA sequencing technology have facilitated the generation of a vast number of DNA sequences, posing opportunities and challenges for constructing large phylogenetic trees. DNA barcode sequences, particularly COI, represent extensive orthologous sequences suitable for phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetic placement analysis offers a promising method to integrate COI data into tree-building efforts, yet the impacts of backbone tree completeness and species composition remain under-explored. Using a dataset comprising 27 genes and 4520 species of bony fishes, we assessed the accuracy of phylogenetic inference by "placing" COI sequences onto backbone trees. The backbone tree completeness was varied by subsampling 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 99% of the total species separately, followed by placement of those missing species based on their COI sequences using software packages EPA-ng and APPLES. We also compared the effects of biased, random, and stratified sampling strategies; the latter ensured the representation of all major lineages (Family) of bony fish. Our findings indicate that the placement accuracy is consistently high across all levels of backbone tree completeness, where 70%-78% missing species are correctly placed (by EPA-ng) in the same locations as the reference tree derived from the complete data. High completeness produces slightly high placement accuracy, although in many cases the differences are nonsignificant. For example, at the 99% completeness level with stratified sampling, EPA-ng placed 78% missing species correctly, and when only considering placement with high confidence (LWR > 0.9), the percentage is 87%. Additionally, stratified sampling outperforms random sampling in most cases, and biased sampling has the worst performance. The likelihood-based EPA-ng consistently provide higher accurate placements than the distance-based APPLES. In conclusion, COI-based placement analysis represents a potential route of using the available vast barcoding data for building large phylogenetic trees.

Functional connectivity abnormalities in clinical variants of progressive supranuclear palsy.

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) can present with different clinical variants which show distinct, but partially overlapping, patterns of neurodegeneration and tau deposition in a network of regions including cerebellar dentate, superior cerebellar peduncle, midbrain, thalamus, basal ganglia, and frontal lobe. We sought to determine whether disruptions in functional connectivity within this PSP network measured using resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) differed between PSP-Richardson's syndrome (PSP-RS) and the cortical and subcortical clinical variants of PSP. Structural MRI and rs-fMRI scans were collected for 36 PSP-RS, 25 PSP-cortical and 34 PSP-subcortical participants who met the Movement Disorder Society PSP clinical criteria. Ninety participants underwent flortaucipir-PET scans. MRIs were processed using CONN Toolbox. Functional connectivity between regions of the PSP network was compared between each PSP group and 83 healthy controls, and between the PSP groups, covarying for age. The effect of flortaucipir uptake and clinical scores on connectivity was assessed. Connectivity was reduced in PSP-RS compared to controls throughout the network, involving cerebellar dentate, midbrain, basal ganglia, thalamus, and frontal regions. Frontal regions showed reduced connectivity to other regions in the network in PSP-cortical, particularly the thalamus, caudate and substantia nigra. Disruptions in connectivity in PSP-subcortical were less pronounced, with the strongest disruption between the pallidum and striatum. There was moderate evidence that elevated subcortical flortaucipir uptake correlated with both increased and reduced connectivity between regions of the PSP network. Lower connectivity within the PSP network correlated with worse performance on clinical tests, including PSP rating scale. Patterns of disrupted functional connectivity revealed both variant-specific and shared disease pathways within the PSP network among PSP clinical variants, providing insight into disease heterogeneity.