Search Results (246)

Background: Prematurely born newborns with low birth weight constitute a group of patients who require special care from the first days of life. Prematurity and low birth weight affect about 13.4 million infants. Risk factors include placental disorders but also factors related to the mother, such as smoking, alcohol drinking, drug use, malnutrition, or certain diseases. It is imperative to educate women of reproductive age (15–49) about the basic factors influencing embryonic development, such as oral health, diet, medicine intake, and harmful habits. Even though most women are aware of the negative impact of harmful habits on the fetus, still too little attention is paid to oral health in pregnant women. Poor oral health may influence the well-being of the future mother, as well as of the child. Therefore, women of reproductive age and those who are pregnant must have adequate knowledge on this subject. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of Polish women of reproductive age (15–49) regarding oral health during pregnancy, including the impact of dental treatment, oral hygiene, and maternal oral conditions on pregnancy outcomes and the health of the newborn. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 508 women, in the reproductive age, whose age ranged from 18 to 49 years old. The surveys were conducted from April 2020 to November 2020. The questionnaire was originally developed based on the available literature and consisted of seven sections: basic information, general health and habits, pregnancy status and dental care, knowledge of treatment options during pregnancy, oral health status and its association with the risk of preterm birth, prematurity and the child’s oral health, and breastfeeding and oral development. Results: After excluding incomplete questionnaires, a total of 499 questionnaires were included in the analysis. Women participating in the study had a fairly good understanding of the impact of oral health on the fetus and the role of breastfeeding in the development of the stomatognathic system (from 50% to 70% correct answers). However, even though most respondents had completed higher education (344/68.94%), their knowledge of oral health, preterm birth, and low birth weight was very limited (including the impact of inflammation on the intrauterine development of the child or bacteria and transfer across the placenta). In these sections, the percentage of correct answers ranged from less than 20% to 50%. When analyzing knowledge by age, education, number of births, and place of residence, the highest levels of knowledge were observed among respondents with higher education, particularly those aged 27–32. Conclusions: Respondents had a fairly good understanding of the general impact of oral health during pregnancy and recognition of the importance of breastfeeding for infants. However, their knowledge about the impact of bacteria and inflammation in the mother’s oral cavity on prematurity and low birth weight was limited. Therefore, educating women of reproductive age and pregnant women on this topic is essential, as it may help reduce the adverse consequences of prematurity. Full article

Single-frequency global navigation satellite system/inertial navigation system (GNSS/INS) integration has wide application prospects in urban environments; however, correct integer ambiguity is the major challenge because of GNSS-blocked environments. In this paper, a sequential strategy of partial ambiguity resolution (PAR) of GNSS/INS for tightly coupled integration based on the robust posteriori residual, elevation angle, and azimuth in the body frame using INS aids is presented. First, the satellite is eliminated if the maximum absolute value of the robust posteriori residuals exceeds the set threshold. Otherwise, the satellites with a minimum elevation angle of less than or equal to 35° are successively eliminated. If satellites have elevation angles greater than 35°, these satellites are divided into different quadrants based on their azimuths calculated in body frame. The satellite with the maximum azimuth in each quadrant is selected as the candidate satellite, the candidate satellites are eliminated one by one, and the remaining satellites are used to calculate the position dilution of the precision (PDOP). Finally, the candidate satellite with the lowest PDOP is eliminated. Two sets of vehicle-borne data with a low-cost GNSS/INS integrated system are used to analyze the performance of the proposed algorithm. These experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has the highest ambiguity fixing rates among all the designed PAR methods, and the fixing rates for these two sets of data are 99.40% and 98.74%, respectively. Additionally, among all the methods compared in this paper, the proposed algorithm demonstrates the best positioning performance in GNSS-blocked environments. Full article

Objectives: In the neonatal period, 25% of cases with critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) require surgical or interventional palliative and corrective procedures. Prenatal diagnosis and timely intervention can positively impact neonatal mortality and morbidity. This study evaluated the effects of perinatal follow-up on the management of CCHD. Methods: The study was conducted on term neonates diagnosed with CCHD, who were monitored in the neonatology and pediatric cardiac intensive care unit between 1 January 2023 and 1 January 2024. The cases were categorized into CCHD with prenatal follow-up (Group I), CCHD born without follow-up at our hospital (Group II), and CCHD accepted from external centers (Group III). Neonatal mortality and morbidity outcomes of these cases that underwent surgical or interventional procedures were statistically evaluated. Results: During the study period, there were 280 neonatal cases (50% male). Among these cases, 30% were in Group I (n = 84), 20% in Group II (n = 56), and 50% in Group III (n = 140). The cesarean section rate was higher in Group I compared to the other groups (80% vs. 52% vs. 45%), and the preoperative lactate levels were lower (0.9 vs. 1.7 vs. 2.1). The anatomical diagnoses, ventricular physiology, operation time, and interventional procedure time were similar. After interventional or surgical procedures, morbidity (22% vs. 25% vs. 36%) and mortality rates (6% vs. 9% vs. 18%) were lower in Group I and Group II compared to Group III. Conclusions: All infants diagnosed with CCHD before birth should be delivered in a tertiary heart center, which positively contributes to neonatal mortality and morbidity. More effort is needed to improve prenatal screening programs. Full article

Phospholipase C zeta (PLCζ) has emerged as a pivotal sperm-specific factor responsible for triggering oocyte activation, a process essential for successful fertilization and early embryogenesis. A narrative review was conducted to examine the molecular architecture and biochemical features of PLCζ, with particular emphasis on how its distinctive structural domains facilitate the hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP₂) and the induction of calcium (Ca²⁺) oscillations in the oocyte. Notably, PLCζ exhibits unique sensitivity to basal Ca²⁺ levels and the capacity to sustain repetitive intracellular Ca²⁺ transients that drive meiotic progression and block polyspermy. Clinically, PLCζ deficiency—whether caused by genetic mutations, reduced expression, or improper localization—represents a unifying explanation for certain forms of male infertility, including total fertilization failure (TFF) following intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Globozoospermia is a prime example; this condition is characterized by round-headed sperm devoid of acrosomes and exhibiting significantly reduced or absent PLCζ and often results in fertilization failure. Diagnostic methods such as immunofluorescence, Western blotting, and the mouse oocyte-activation test collectively support the identification and characterization of PLCζ-related defects, while genetic testing for mutations in the PLCZ1 gene has proven valuable for identifying hereditary causes of sperm-borne oocyte-activation deficiency (OAD). Therapeutic approaches range from assisted oocyte activation (AOA) with calcium ionophores to emerging interventions that introduce functional PLCζ protein or mRNA directly into the oocyte. These advancements demonstrate the rapid translation of foundational discoveries into clinically actionable interventions. Future investigations are poised to refine diagnostic assays, standardize measurement protocols, and explore the potential of gene therapy or CRISPR/Cas9-mediated correction for heritable PLCζ abnormalities. By addressing both the molecular basis and translational applications of PLCζ, recent findings underscore its indispensable role in fertility care and lay out a path toward further innovation in assisted reproductive technologies. Full article

Background/Objective: Emotional eating is a significant health problem associated with increased obesity and mental health among children and adolescents. Investigating emotional eating and its associated factors is critical, as it coincides with key developmental periods during which eating patterns are formed. This study assessed the contribution of anxiety and sleep quality to emotional eating among 232 Hispanic girls (n = 124, with a mean age of 10.23 years, SD = 1.40) and boys (n = 108, with a mean age of 10.36 years, SD = 1.57). Methods: This study used a correctional research design. Participants completed a series of surveys including demographics, acculturation, McKnight Risk Factor Survey-IV emotional eating subscale, Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Participants also had their objective body height and weight measured. Results: Descriptive analyses showed that most girls (84%) and boys (87%) were born in the United States and were either overweight (n = 24, 19% girls; n = 18, 17% boys) or with obesity (n = 61, 49% girls; n = 61, 56% boys). The hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, for girls, poor sleep quality was the sole significant factor associated with EE (β = 350, p < 0.001), controlling for age and BMI. For boys, poor sleep quality (β = 0.302, p < 0.01) and anxiety (β = 0.247, p < 0.05) were significant. Conclusions: The study’s findings suggest that emotional eating interventions may need to focus on reducing anxiety levels and improving sleep quality in Hispanic children and early adolescents Full article

Rodent-borne diseases threaten global public health, impacting the urban poor. Despite widespread application of rodenticide in rodent/rodent-borne disease control programs, empirical evidence demonstrating their effectiveness is lacking. This review proposed guidelines for designing and implementing empirical studies on rodenticides as public health measures. The recommendations include: (i) the importance of the type of quasi-experimental design adopted, and how it creates robust evidence; (ii) how urban slums present both challenges for control and ideal settings for studies; (iii) partnering with pest control authorities and community engagement for long-term viability; (iv) leveraging zoonotic systems with direct/environmental transmission, reliable diagnosis, and high prevalence for effectivity assessment; (v) pairing human cohort studies to observe epidemiological links; (vi) systematic data collection and management protocols; (vii) short- and long-term goals for critical evaluation and course-correction; (viii) focus on mechanistic approach; (ix) the need for standardized reporting of the findings. Full article

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in pregnant women is one of the most common causes of congenital infection in children. It is often asymptomatic but can lead to serious complications, including progressive sensorineural hearing loss. Profound hearing loss is an indication for cochlear implantation (CI). Electrode impedance and neural response telemetry (NRT) thresholds can be measured to confirm correct electrode placement and speech processor programming. Background/Objectives: The aim of the study is to evaluate the hearing outcome of children with profound sensorineural hearing loss or deafness due to cCMV infection after CI compared to a control group of children born with other causes of congenital hearing loss and to identify prognostic factors predicting the outcome of patients with hearing loss due to cCMV infection after CI. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in patients implanted between 2016 and 2023 at the Department of Otolaryngology of the Institute of the Polish Mother’s Memorial Hospital Research Institute in Łódź. Pre- and postoperative hearing levels, electrode impedance and neural response telemetry (NRT) thresholds were compared. The degree of pre-implantation hearing loss was assessed by the level of the recorded V-wave in the ABR test. Post-implantation hearing assessment was based on the last available free-field tonal audiometry measurement. Impedance measurements were included: intraoperative, 1, 6, 12 months after CI, respectively, and NRT thresholds. Results: The final analysis included 84 patients with profound sensorineural hearing loss and complete audiological follow-up data: 13 patients with congenital CMV (cCMV) infection and 71 patients with other causes of deafnes. The analysis included 175 implanted ears: 17 in the CMV group and 158 in the control group. The age at implantation ranged from 1 to 11 years in the CMV and from 1 to 13 years in the control group. Mean preoperative hearing thresholds were 94.54 dB in the CMV group and 97.04 dB in the control group. At the most recent postoperative evaluation, mean thresholds improved to 33.83 dB and 36.42 dB, respectively. No statistically significant differences were observed between the groups. Mean intraoperative NRT values were 79.74 in the CMV group and 86.90 in the non-CMV group. Final NRT values were 129.77 and 130.76, respectively. Mean impedance values measured intraoperatively and at 1, 6 and 12 months postoperatively were 11.09 kOhm, 13.40 kOhm, 8.35 kOhm and 8.25 kOhm in the CMV group; and 12.28 kOhm, 14.06 kOhm, 9.60 kOhm and 8.00 kOhm in the control group, respectively. Conclusions: CI in children with deafness caused by cCMV infection is an effective treatment option. Initial electrical impedance values of the electrodes increase after implant activation and decrease in subsequent months of follow-up, suggesting the absence of active adhesion processes in the cochlea. Full article

Various electron impact scattering cross sections of Sevoflurane are reported up to 5 keV. The elastic cross sections (differential and integral) are computed using the single-centre-expansion formalism within a molecular framework. The ground state target wavefunction is determined at the Hartree–Fock (HF) level. Post-HF corrections are incorporated to make a scattering realistic model. The total interacting potential is defined as the sum of static, correlation–polarization and exchange potentials. These potentials are numerically computed using their local forms. The long-range effects affecting the scattering due to the polar nature of the molecule are incorporated using the Born Top-up approach. The ionization cross sections are obtained from the semi-empirical binary-encounter-Bethe model. The total cross sections are estimated from the incoherent sum of Born-corrected elastic integral and ionization cross sections. The computed results show fairly good agreement with the experimental reported cross sections. Full article

This study presents the “Mobile Triaxial Stabilized Water-leaving Reflectance Measurement System” (MTS-WRMS), a ship-borne radiometric system designed for high-precision acquisition of water-leaving radiance (L_w) and remote sensing reflectance (R_rs) in mobile aquatic environments. The system employs a triaxial stabilized gimbal to maintain the orientation of three spectrometers, effectively mitigating angular deviations. The system also features automatic azimuth adjustment to maintain the relative sun-sensor azimuth angle within the optimal range of 90° ≤ φ ≤ 135° and supports long-range wireless telemetry for autonomous real-time monitoring. The system’s accuracy was validated through the “direct approach” experiments, which demonstrated low systematic bias, with a mean weighted absolute percentage deviation (WAPD) of 4.42% in the 440–720 nm range, which covers 90% of radiant energy. Additionally, ground validation involving 296 matched spectra from Gaoyou and Zhuhai revealed that Sentinel-3 A/B OLCI products tend to overestimate R_rs in highly turbid waters, with weighted percentage deviation (WPD) and WAPD values of about 16% and 31%, respectively. The overestimation was particularly pronounced in the 400–443 nm range, likely due to low R_rs and inadequate atmospheric correction. The MTS-WRMS provides an advanced tool for accurate, real-time R_rs measurements, offering valuable insights into temporal and spatial variations in water bodies. Full article

Monitoring dust on plant canopies around open-pit coal mines is crucial to assessing environmental pollution and developing effective dust suppression strategies. This research focuses on the Ha’erwusu open-pit coal mine in Inner Mongolia, China, using measured dust content on plant canopies and UAV-borne VNIR hyperspectral data as the data sources. The study employed five spectral transformation forms—first derivative (FD), second derivative (SD), logarithm transformation (LT), reciprocal transformation (RT), and square root (SR)—alongside the competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) method to extract characteristic bands associated with canopy dust. Various regression models, including extreme learning machine (ELM), random forest (RF), partial least squares regression (PLSR), and support vector machine (SVM), were utilized to establish dust inversion models. The spatial distribution of canopy dust was then analyzed. The results demonstrate that the geometric and radiometric correction of the UAV-borne VNIR hyperspectral images successfully restored the true spatial information and spectral features. The spectral transformations significantly enhance the feature information for canopy dust. The CARS algorithm extracted characteristic bands representing 20 to 30% of the total spectral bands, evenly spread across the entire range, thereby reducing the estimation model’s computational complexity. Both feature extraction and model selection influence the inversion accuracy, with the LT-CARS and RF combination offering the best predictive performance. Canopy dust content decreases with increasing distance from the dust source. These findings offer valuable insights for canopy dust retention monitoring and offer a solid foundation for dust pollution management and the development of suppression strategies. Full article

Maxillary deficiency, a common transversal dentofacial deformity, affects aesthetics and function. Timely intervention during adolescence is crucial, as the growth potential of the maxilla provides an opportunity to optimize treatment outcomes. This review explores various approaches for adolescent maxillary expansion, including orthopedic and surgical methods. Orthopedic appliances effectively address transverse deficiencies without surgery and are particularly beneficial in managing conditions in children and early adolescents. In mid- to late-stage adolescents, bone-borne devices with mini-surgery offer better skeletal expansion outcomes. However, in cases of severe deficiencies, or where skeletal resistance limits non-surgical methods, surgical interventions become essential. Procedures like surgically assisted maxillary expansion and orthognathic surgery offer superior skeletal corrections. These techniques are particularly valuable for late adolescents with complex conditions. This review comprehensively summarizes the applications, outcomes, and limitations of these treatment options, highlighting the importance of selecting individualized, growth stage-appropriate interventions. Full article

Background/Objectives: Infant FreeSurfer was introduced to address robust quantification and segmentation in the infant brain. The purpose of this study is to develop a new model for predicting the long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes of very low birth weight preterm infants using automated volumetry extracted from term-equivalent age (TEA) brain MRIs, diffusion tensor imaging, and clinical information. Methods: Preterm infants hospitalized at Severance Children’s Hospital, born between January 2012 and December 2019, were consecutively enrolled. Inclusion criteria included infants with birth weights under 1500 g who underwent both TEA MRI and Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Second Edition (BSID-II), assessments at 18–24 months of corrected age (CA). Brain volumetric information was derived from Infant FreeSurfer using 3D T1WI of TEA MRI. Mean and standard deviation of fractional anisotropy of posterior limb of internal capsules were measured. Demographic information and comorbidities were used as clinical information. Study cohorts were split into training and test sets with a 7:3 ratio. Random forest and logistic regression models were developed to predict low Psychomotor Development Index (PDI < 85) and low Mental Development Index (MDI < 85), respectively. Performance metrics, including the area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC), accuracy, sensitivity, precision, and F1 score, were evaluated in the test set. Results: A total of 150 patient data were analyzed. For predicting low PDI, the random forest classifier was employed. The AUROC values for models using clinical variables, MR volumetry, and both clinical variables and MR volumetry were 0.8435, 0.7281, and 0.9297, respectively. To predict low MDI, a logistic regression model was chosen. The AUROC values for models using clinical variables, MR volumetry, and both clinical variables and MR volumetry were 0.7483, 0.7052, and 0.7755, respectively. The model incorporating both clinical variables and MR volumetry exhibited the highest AUROC values for both PDI and MDI prediction. Conclusions: This study presents a promising new prediction model utilizing an automated volumetry algorithm to distinguish long-term psychomotor developmental outcomes in preterm infants. Further research and validation are required for its clinical application. Full article

Premature birth (PTB) is the most common cause of perinatal mortality and morbidity. We performed a case–control study to determine whether two selected single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the progesterone receptor gene (PGR) (rs4754732 and rs653752) play a role in the modulation of the risk for spontaneous PTB. This study included 400 mothers (199 with premature delivery and 201 with term delivery) and 400 newborns (201 term-born and 199 premature-born) of European descent. Genotyping was performed with an ABI PRISM 7500 SDS using TaqMan SNP genotyping assays. We found no statistically significant difference in the distribution of genotypes and allele frequencies between prematurely born newborns and newborns at term for either investigated SNP. There was no statistically significant difference in the distribution of genotypes and allele frequencies between groups of mothers with extremely early and early PTB compared to the group of mothers with term births. Potential association of the mothers’ C allele of rs653752 with lower odds of PTB (p = 0.03; odds ratio 1.36; 95% confidence interval 1.02–1.81; Chi-square test), and association of the mothers’ CC genotype of rs653752 in the recessive inheritance model with lower odds of PTB in general (p = 0.02; odds ratio 0.54; 95% confidence interval 0.32–0.91; Chi-square test) and with a late PTB (p = 0.005, odds ratio 0.45, 95% confidence interval 0.23–0.79; Chi-square test), were found. It was also found that the mothers who were carriers of the haplotype T-G combination of rs4754732 and rs653752 were 1.5 times more likely to have PTB, even after correcting the p-value for multiple comparisons (p = 0.008; odds ratio 1.59; 95% confidence interval 1.13–2.24, Chi-square test). Further research on a larger number of subjects of these and other PGR SNPs will be needed in order to confirm the presented results. Full article