Search Results (22)

The Drake Goldfield, also known as Mount Carrington, is located in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. It contains a number of low–intermediate-sulfidation epithermal precious metal deposits with a current total resource of 724.51 metric tons of Ag and 10.95 metric tons of Au. These deposits occur exclusively within the Drake Volcanics, a 60 × 20 km NW-SE trending sequence of Late Permian volcanics and related epiclastics. Drilling of the Copper Deeps geochemical anomaly suggests that the volcanics are over 600 m thick. The Drake Volcanics are centered upon a geophysical anomaly called “the Drake Quiet Zone” (DQZ), interpreted to be a collapsed volcanic caldera structure. A total of 105 fresh carbonate samples were micro-drilled from diamond drillcores from across the field and at various depths. A pXRD analysis of these carbonates identified five types as follows: ankerite, calcite, dolomite, magnesite, and siderite. Except for three outlier values (i.e., −21.32, −19.48, and 1.42‰), the δ¹³C_VPDB generally ranges from−15.06 to −5.00‰, which is less variable compared to the δ¹⁸O_VSMOW, which varies from −0.92 to 17.94‰. μ-XRF was used to analyze the elemental distribution, which indicated both syngenetic/epigenetic relationships between calcite and magnesite. In addition, a total of 53 sulfide samples (primarily sphalerite and pyrite) from diamond drillcores from across the Drake Goldfield were micro-drilled for S isotope analysis. Overall, these have a wide range in δ³⁴S_CDT values from −16.54 to 2.10‰. The carbon and oxygen isotope results indicate that the fluids responsible for the precipitation of carbonates from across the Drake Goldfield had complex origins, involving extensive mixing of hydrothermal fluids from several sources including those of magmatic origin, meteoric fluids and fluids associated with low-temperature alteration processes. Sulfur isotope ratios of sulfide minerals indicate that although the sulfur was most likely derived from at least two different sources; magmatic sulfur was the dominant source while sedimentary-derived sulfur was more significant for the deposits distal from the DQZ, with the relative importance of each varying from one deposit to another. Our findings contribute to a greater understanding of Au-Ag formation in epithermal environments, particularly in collapsed calderas, enhancing exploration strategies and models for ore deposition. Full article

Context: Calls to collect patients’ race/ethnicity (RE) data as a measure to promote equitable health care among vulnerable patient groups are increasing. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how a public health crisis disproportionately affects racialized patient groups. However, less is known about the uptake of RE data collection in the context of mental health care services. Methodology: A qualitative case study used surveys with mental health patients (n = 47) and providers (n = 12), a retrospective chart review, and a focus group to explore healthcare providers’ and patients’ perspectives on collecting RE data in Canada. Results: The patient survey data and focus groups show that patients avoid providing identifying information due to perceived stigma and discrimination and a lack of trust. Providers did not feel comfortable asking patients about RE, leading to chart review data where RE information was not systematically collected. Conclusions: The uptake and implementation of RE data collection in mental health care contexts require increased training and support, systematic implementation, and further evaluation and measurement of how the collection of RE data will be used to mitigate systemic racism and improve mental health outcomes. Full article

Background/Objectives: New-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) after cardiac surgery is associated with patient-important outcomes. Uncertainty persists regarding its prevention, detection, and management. This review seeks to identify, compile, and describe ongoing registered research studies involving patients with or at risk for post-operative AF (POAF) after cardiac surgery. Methods: We searched clinical trial registries in January 2023 for studies focusing on POAF prediction, prevention, detection, or management. We extracted data from each record and performed descriptive analyses. Results: In total, 121 studies met the eligibility criteria, including 82 randomized trials. Prevention studies are the most common (n = 77, 63.6%), followed by prediction (n = 21, 17.4%), management (n = 16, 13.2%), and detection studies (n = 7, 5.8%). POAF after cardiac surgery is an area of active research. Conclusions: There are many ongoing randomized prevention studies. However, two major clinical gaps persist; future randomized trials should compare rate and rhythm control in patients who develop POAF, and long-term follow-up studies should investigate strategies to monitor for AF recurrence in patients with POAF. Full article

The recent introduction of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus serotype O (O/EA-2 topotype) in Southern Africa has changed the epidemiology of the disease and vaccine requirements of the region. Commercial and subsistence cattle herds in Zambia were vaccinated with an FMD virus serotype O Manisa vaccine according to a double- or single-dose vaccination schedule. Heterologous antibody responses induced by this vaccine against a representative O/EA-2 virus from Zambia were determined. Virus neutralisation tests (VNTs) showed double-dosed cattle had a mean reciprocal log virus neutralisation titre of 2.02 (standard error [SE] = 0.16, n = 9) for commercial herds and 1.65 (SE = 0.17, n = 5) for subsistence herds 56 days after the first vaccination (dpv). Significantly lower mean titres were observed for single-dosed commercial herds (0.90, SE = 0.08, n = 9) and subsistence herds (1.15, SE = 0.18, n = 3) 56 dpv. A comparison of these results and those generated by solid-phase competitive ELISA (SPCE) tests showed a statistically significant positive correlation by Cohen’s kappa coefficient. Therefore, SPCE might be used in assessing the immunogenicity of vaccines in place of VNT. Furthermore, for this vaccine and field strain, a vaccination regime employing a two-dose primary course and revaccination after 4–6 months is likely to be appropriate. Full article

Targeting the intrinsic apoptotic pathway regulated by B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) antiapoptotic proteins can overcome the evasion of apoptosis in cancer cells. BCL-2 inhibitors have evolved into an important means of treating cancers by inducing tumor cell apoptosis. As the most extensively investigated BCL-2 inhibitor, venetoclax is highly selective for BCL-2 and can effectively inhibit tumor survival. Its emergence and development have significantly influenced the therapeutic landscape of hematological malignancies, especially in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia, in which it has been clearly incorporated into the recommended treatment regimens. In addition, the considerable efficacy of venetoclax in combination with other agents has been demonstrated in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma and certain lymphomas. Although venetoclax plays a prominent antitumor role in preclinical experiments and clinical trials, large individual differences in treatment outcomes have been characterized in real-world patient populations, and reduced drug sensitivity will lead to disease recurrence or progression. The therapeutic efficacy may vary widely in patients with different molecular characteristics, and key genetic mutations potentially result in differential sensitivities to venetoclax. The identification and validation of more novel biomarkers are required to accurately predict the effectiveness of BCL-2 inhibition therapy. Furthermore, we summarize the recent research progress relating to the use of BCL-2 inhibitors in solid tumor treatment and demonstrate that a wealth of preclinical models have shown promising results through combination therapies. The applications of venetoclax in solid tumors warrant further clinical investigation to define its prospects. Full article

The Hanjiang River is one of the major tributaries of the Yangtze River, and the Hanjiang River Basin serves as an important link connecting the western and eastern regions of China. As a significant tourist destination, the development of the tourism industry in the Hanjiang River Basin is of great significance for promoting local economic, social, and environmental sustainability. The study of the spatiotemporal evolution of the ecological efficiency of tourism in the Hanjiang River Basin is beneficial for optimizing the investment of tourism resource elements and promoting ecological protection and high-quality development in the area. In this paper, we used the Super-Efficiency Slacks-Based Measure Model to calculate the tourism ecological efficiency of 12 cities in the Hanjiang River Basin from 2010 to 2019 and measured its spatiotemporal evolution and spatial agglomeration using ArcGIS software. The results show that during the study period, the ecological efficiency of tourism in the Hanjiang River Basin presented a phased characteristic of first rising and then falling over time and a heterogeneity characteristic of decreasing in a downward-middle-upward staircase pattern spatially. In addition, the distribution of tourism ecological efficiency exhibited obvious spatial clustering and dependence, with significant low-level homogenization phenomena, which requires strengthening cooperation and coordination among neighboring cities to achieve more efficient resource utilization and higher-quality tourism product development. Full article

A goal of land change modelers should be to communicate scenarios of future change that show the variety of possible future landscapes based on the consequences of management decisions. This study employs the Markov-FLUS model to simulate land-use changes in Hubei Province in multiple scenarios that consider social, economic, and ecological policies using 18 driving factors, including point-of-interest data. First, the Markov-FLUS model was developed and validated with historical data from 2000 to 2020. The model was then used to simulate land-use changes from 2020 to 2035 in four scenarios: natural development, economic priority, ecological protection, and cultivated land protection. The results show that the Markov-FLUS model effectively simulates the land-use change pattern in Hubei Province, with an overall accuracy of 0.93 for land use simulation in 2020. The Kappa coefficient and FOM index also achieved 0.86 and 0.139, respectively. In all four scenarios, cultivated land remained the primary land use type in Hubei Province from 2020 to 2035, while construction land showed an increasing trend. However, there were large differences in the simulated land use patterns in different scenarios. Construction land expanded most rapidly in the economic priority scenario, while it expanded more slowly in the cultivated land protection scenario. We designed the protection scenario to restrict the rapid expansion of construction land. In the natural development and economic priority scenarios, construction land expanded and encroached on cultivated land and forests. In contrast, in the ecological protection scenario, forests and water areas were well-preserved, and the decrease in cultivated land and the increase in construction land were effectively suppressed, resulting in a large improvement in land use sustainability. Finally, in the cultivated land protection scenario, the cultivated land showed an increasing trend. The spread and expansion of construction land were effectively curbed. In conclusion, the Markov-FLUS model applied in this study to simulate land use in multiple scenarios has substantial implications for the effective utilization of land resources and the protection of the ecological environment in Hubei Province. Full article

Tea culture tourism is a product of the combination of agricultural tourism and ecotourism. After the COVID-19 period, this product is more and more popular. Tourism performance is an important index for measuring the development level of tourist destinations, and research on the influencing factors of tourism performance is an important way to promote the high-quality development of tea culture tourism. Using the tea tourism town of Wushan as a case study, 452 valid questionnaires were used as research data, and exploratory factor analysis, paired sample t-test and IPA analysis were applied. The results indicate that: (1) tourism performance is mainly divided into 5 dimensions and 22 specific indicators, including service quality, resource environment, tourism transportation, tourism-supporting facilities and tea tourism products; (2) there is a significant difference between the degree of importance and performance of visitors to each indicator, and the overall tourism performance of the case sites at an average level; (3) convenient service, professional service, business management, park traffic, parking conditions, environmental design, shopping environment, tea quality, and tea culture characteristics are potential advantageous factors, and ‘service with a smile’, accessibility, trail layout, overall image, air quality, natural scenery, landscape vignettes, network communication, public toilets, sanitation facilities, tourist service centers, tea travel activities, and tourism souvenirs are areas in need of improvement. Full article

Background. Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common type of cancer and the fourth most common cause of cancer-related mortality. Although the risk of GC and peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is known to be increased by H. pylori infection, evidence regarding the direct relationship between PUD and GC across ethnicities is inconclusive. Therefore, we investigated the association between PUD and GC in the Stomach cancer Pooling (StoP) consortium. Methods. History of peptic ulcer disease was collected using a structured questionnaire in 11 studies in the StoP consortium, including 4106 GC cases and 6922 controls. The two-stage individual-participant data meta-analysis approach was adopted to generate a priori. Unconditional logistic regression and Firth’s penalized maximum likelihood estimator were used to calculate study-specific odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between gastric ulcer (GU)/duodenal ulcer (DU) and risk of GC. Results. History of GU and DU was thoroughly reported and used in association analysis, respectively, by 487 cases (12.5%) and 276 controls (4.1%), and 253 cases (7.8%) and 318 controls (6.0%). We found that GU was associated with an increased risk of GC (OR = 3.04, 95% CI: 2.07–4.49). No association between DU and GC risk was observed (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.77–1.39). Conclusions. In the pooled analysis of 11 case–control studies in a large consortium (i.e., the Stomach cancer Pooling (StoP) consortium), we found a positive association between GU and risk of GC and no association between DU and GC risk. Full article

Both Trapa L. and the extinct Hemitrapa Miki are aquatic plants in the family Lythraceae, with abundant fossil records in Eurasia and North America in the Cenozoic. However, documented materials are mainly based on fruit and pollen grains without reliable leaf fossils. Here, we report fossil leaves, fruit, and roots of Trapa and fruit of Hemitrapa from the late Eocene of Weinan, the Weihe Basin of central China. The fossil leaves are identified as a new species, Trapa natanifolia Z. C. Han et H. Jia sp. nov., which represents the earliest known record of a Trapa leaf fossil. It is remarkably similar to extant species of Trapa, mostly due to the unique inflated petiole structures found in both of them. While displaying prominent intergeneric differences, the incomplete fossil fruits are assigned to Trapa sp. indet. and Hemitrapa sp. indet. The former is the earliest fossil fruit record of Trapa, and the latter represents the earliest fossil record of Hemitrapa found in Asia. These new fossil discoveries suggest that the divergence of Trapa and Hemitrapa occurred at least by the late Eocene. It is believed that modern Trapa most likely originated in China. Furthermore, this unexpected aquatic plant fossil assemblage indicates that central China was warm and humid, with freshwater ponds or lakes, in the late Eocene and not as arid as previously thought. Full article

Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) is a powerful tool that provides unique quantitative information for biomedical research. In this study, we propose a multi-layer-perceptron-based mixer (MLP-Mixer) deep learning (DL) algorithm named FLIM-MLP-Mixer for fast and robust FLIM analysis. The FLIM-MLP-Mixer has a simple network architecture yet a powerful learning ability from data. Compared with the traditional fitting and previously reported DL methods, the FLIM-MLP-Mixer shows superior performance in terms of accuracy and calculation speed, which has been validated using both synthetic and experimental data. All results indicate that our proposed method is well suited for accurately estimating lifetime parameters from measured fluorescence histograms, and it has great potential in various real-time FLIM applications. Full article

The Neogene environment and paleovegetation of today’s semi-arid and arid Central Asia remain elusive. Little is known about the effect of paleoclimatic change on the distribution and ecological response mechanisms of aquatic plants, especially on the Tibetan Plateau. Here, we report a new species of Nelumbo Adanson, including leaves, receptacles, and fruits, namely Nelumbo delinghaensis sp. nov., from the Upper Youshashan Formation of the upper Middle Miocene in the northern Qaidam Basin on the Tibetan Plateau. The new species comprises centrally peltate leaves with 12–15 actinodromous primary veins and a receptacle embedded with ca. 15–30 fruits, with an unlobed central disc. Megafossils of lotus from northwest China broaden the geographical and stratigraphic ranges of Nelumbo. Our findings suggest that a large freshwater lake body surrounded by temperate forests and grassland developed in the Qaidam Basin during the late Middle Miocene, in sharp contrast to the present desert vegetation. The climate used to be sufficiently warm and moist enough to support a forest-steppe ecosystem with abundant freshwater bodies. Full article

We present a fast and accurate analytical method for fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), using the extreme learning machine (ELM). We used extensive metrics to evaluate ELM and existing algorithms. First, we compared these algorithms using synthetic datasets. The results indicate that ELM can obtain higher fidelity, even in low-photon conditions. Afterwards, we used ELM to retrieve lifetime components from human prostate cancer cells loaded with gold nanosensors, showing that ELM also outperforms the iterative fitting and non-fitting algorithms. By comparing ELM with a computational efficient neural network, ELM achieves comparable accuracy with less training and inference time. As there is no back-propagation process for ELM during the training phase, the training speed is much higher than existing neural network approaches. The proposed strategy is promising for edge computing with online training. Full article

The novel corona virus that is now known as (SARS-CoV-2) has killed more than six million people worldwide. The disease presentation varies from mild respiratory symptoms to acute respiratory distress syndrome and ultimately death. Several risk factors have been shown to worsen the severity of COVID-19 outcomes (such as age, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity). Since many of these risk factors are known to be influenced by obstructive sleep apnea, this raises the possibility that OSA might be an independent risk factor for COVID-19 severity. A shift in the gut microbiota has been proposed to contribute to outcomes in both COVID-19 and OSA. To further evaluate the potential triangular interrelationships between these three elements, we conducted a thorough literature review attempting to elucidate these interactions. From this review, it is concluded that OSA may be a risk factor for worse COVID-19 clinical outcomes, and the shifts in gut microbiota associated with both COVID-19 and OSA may mediate processes leading to bacterial translocation via a defective gut barrier which can then foster systemic inflammation. Thus, targeting biomarkers of intestinal tight junction dysfunction in conjunction with restoring gut dysbiosis may provide novel avenues for both risk detection and adjuvant therapy. Full article

Antibiotic administration is associated with worse clinical outcomes and changes to the gut microbiome in cancer patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). However, the effects of antibiotics on systemic immune function are unknown. We, therefore, evaluated antibiotic exposure, therapeutic responses, and multiplex panels of 40 serum cytokines and 124 antibodies at baseline and six weeks after ICI initiation, with p < 0.05 and false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.2 considered significant. A total of 251 patients were included, of whom the 135 (54%) who received antibiotics had lower response rates and shorter survival. Patients who received antibiotics prior to ICI initiation had modestly but significantly lower baseline levels of nucleolin, MDA5, c-reactive protein, and liver cytosol antigen type 1 (LC1) antibodies, as well as higher levels of heparin sulfate and Matrigel antibodies. After ICI initiation, antibiotic-treated patients had significantly lower levels of MDA5, CENP.B, and nucleolin antibodies. Although there were no clear differences in cytokines in the overall cohort, in the lung cancer subset (53% of the study population), we observed differences in IFN-γ, IL-8, and macrophage inflammatory proteins. In ICI-treated patients, antibiotic exposure is associated with changes in certain antibodies and cytokines. Understanding the relationship between these factors may improve the clinical management of patients receiving ICI. Full article