MSF

Meeting the energy and water demands of remote areas has created significant challenges globally. To address this issue, the utilization of hybrid energy-water systems, integrated with renewable energies, has been highlighted as a viable solution. This work has been focused on the multi-objective optimization of a hybrid energy system, encompassing photovoltaic panels, batteries, diesel generators, and desalination units. The design goals to achieve the optimal configuration include minimizing system costs, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, enhancing the renewable factor, and improving reliability...

In humans, sleep is an essential physiological process for life and survival. The main objective of the current study is to determine the behavioural sleep patterns and social jetlag in elderly adults. The second objective is to define the relationship among subjective sleep quality, mid-sleep timings, social jetlag, and sunlight exposure. We recruited 945 female and 1047 male participants aged ≥ 60 years from 65 rural villages in the Sambalpur district of Odisha, India. The Munich Chrono Type Questionnaire (MCTQ) is a self-reported questionnaire that measures a person's behavioral sleep variables, including social jetlag and chronotype, whereas the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) measures the subjective sleep quality of an individual...

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the effect of pressure injury (PI) prophylactic dressings used for patients at high risk of PI development to reduce friction, shear force and pressure, and their combined force, in an original polymer-based skin model. METHOD: A low-friction outer-layer hydrocolloid (LFH) dressing and a multilayered silicone foam (MSF) dressing were used. Before application, compression and friction properties were measured. Our original experimental model-the 'simulated skin-shearing test'-consisted of: a weight; a polyurethane-based skin model containing a three-axis tactile sensor; dressings; a table covered with bedsheets; and a mechanical tester, by which the interface friction force, internal shear force and pressure were measured continuously during skin model movements...

The use of silicon fertilizer (SF) as a means of remediating cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) pollution has proven to be beneficial. However, the mechanism via which SF enhances soil quality and crop productivity under Cd- and Pb-contaminated soil (S) remains unclear. This study investigated the impacts of chemical fertilizer, mineral SF (MSF), and organic SF (OSF) on microbial community structure, activity of nutrient acquisition enzymes, and growth of tobacco in the presence of S condition. SF significantly reduced the contents of Cd and Pb in soil under S condition by 6...

Magnetic spinel ferrite nanoparticles (MSF-NPs) are potential candidates for biomedical applications, especially in cancer diagnosis and therapy due to their excellent physiochemical and magnetic properties. In the current study, MSF-NPs were fabricated by sol-gel auto combustion method. The crystal structure and surface morphology were confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The magnetic properties were studied by VSM (vibrating sample magnetometer). As increasing Gd3+ concentration, the saturation magnetization values decreased from (17...

Retinal vessel segmentation is very important for diagnosing and treating certain eye diseases. Recently, many deep learning-based retinal vessel segmentation methods have been proposed; however, there are still many shortcomings (e.g., they cannot obtain satisfactory results when dealing with cross-domain data or segmenting small blood vessels). To alleviate these problems and avoid overly complex models, we propose a novel network based on a multi-scale feature and style transfer (MSFST-NET) for retinal vessel segmentation...

We propose a workflow for modeling generalized mid-spatial frequency (MSF) errors in optical imaging systems. This workflow enables the classification of MSF distributions, filtering of bandlimited signatures, propagation of MSF errors to the exit pupil, and performance predictions that differentiate performance impacts due to the MSF distributions. We demonstrate the workflow by modeling the performance impacts of MSF errors for both transmissive and reflective imaging systems with near-diffraction-limited performance...

False-negative qualitative Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) result is a phenomenon in which large amounts of β-hCG are produced by molar pregnancy, oversaturating the test's assay system and leading to false-negative results known as the 'prozone phenomenon' or the 'hook effect'. This can lead to misdiagnosis and delay in management despite high suspicious clinical and ultrasound findings. We report a case of an 18-year-old female who presented to our health facility with amenorrhea of 16 weeks, lower abdominal pain, soft and large fundal height for gestational age, and cramping with slight per-vaginal bleeding, and a negative urinary pregnancy test (UPT)...

BACKGROUND: Delayed disclosure is a prevalent and serious issue among victims of child sexual abuse (CSA). Identifying the factors associated with delayed disclosure can identify the profile of children who are at risk of delaying disclosures and inform measures to facilitate timely disclosure. OBJECTIVE: The current study represented a pioneering effort to investigate factors that are related to disclosure of CSA in Singapore. It examined the influence of various victim and abuse characteristics on the time taken for a victim to disclose CSA...

A co-located novel QTL for TFS, FPs, FMs, FFS, FFPs, KWS, and KWPs with potential of improving wheat yield was identified and validated. Spike-related traits, including fertile florets per spike (FFS), kernel weight per spike (KWS), total florets per spike (TFS), florets per spikelet (FPs), florets in the middle spikelet (FMs), fertile florets per spikelet (FFPs), and kernel weight per spikelet (KWPs), are key traits in improving wheat yield. In the present study, quantitative trait loci (QTL) for these traits evaluated under various environments were detected in a recombinant inbred line population (msf/Chuannong 16) mainly genotyped using the 16 K SNP array...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0001995.].

OBJECTIVES: Given the limited research and its potential hazards, the study aimed to determine the prevalence of Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) caused by Rickettsia conorii (R. conorii), a tick-borne disease, in Yunnan Province, China. METHODS: Through stratified sampling across five distinct regions in Yunnan, 5358 blood samples were obtained from the general healthy population. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA), and Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were employed for analysis...

BACKGROUND: The healthcare system in Iran appears to overlook Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) as an endemic disease, particularly in pediatric cases, indicating the need for greater attention and awareness. CASE PRESENTATION: A six-year-old patient with fever, abdominal pain, headache, skin rashes, diarrhea, vomiting, and black eschar (tache noire) from southeast Iran was identified as a rickettsiosis caused by Rickettsia conorii subsp. israelensis through clinical and laboratory assessments, including IFA and real-time PCR...

Elevated temperatures can deactivate tissues in the burn wound area, allowing pathogenic bacteria to multiply on the wound surface, ultimately leading to local or systemic infection. An ideal burn dressing should provide antibacterial properties and facilitate painless dressing changes. We utilized silk microfibers coated with 2, 3, 4-trihydroxybenzaldehyde (referred to as mSF@PTHB) to in situ reduce AgNO3 to silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in a hydrazide hyaluronic acid based hydrogel. The findings indicated a more homogeneous distribution of the silver elements compared to directly doped AgNPs, which also conferred antioxidant and antibacterial properties to the hydrogel...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Portosinusoidal vascular disease (PSVD) is a broad term encompassing varied histological patterns with changes in portal tracts and sinusoids without cirrhosis. We aimed to assess whether there is any clinical and pathological difference among the various histological categories of PSVD. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study included liver biopsy cases classified as PSVD (2020-2022). Clinical and laboratory parameters were obtained from the electronic records...

BACKGROUND: Immune dysregulation has been observed in patients with schizophrenia or first-episode psychosis, but few have examined dysregulation in those at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis. The aim of this study was to examine whether the peripheral blood-based proteome was dysregulated in those with CHR. Secondly, we examined whether baseline dysregulation was related to current and future functioning and clinical symptoms. METHODS: We used data from participants of the North American Prodromal Longitudinal Studies (NAPLS) 2 and 3 (n = 715) who provided blood samples (Unaffected Comparison Subjects (UC) n = 223 and CHR n = 483)...

Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) has been diagnosed clinically in the Crimean Peninsula since the 1930s. We describe the recent illness of an elderly patient from Crimea who had developed a classic triad of MSF symptoms consisting of fever, maculopapular rash, and eschar. Clinical diagnosis of rickettsiosis was confirmed using real-time PCR and sequencing of 4 Rickettsia protein genes. The strain causing clinical illness was characterized as Rickettsia conorii subspecies conorii Malish 7. This report corroborates the utility of eschar swab material as a source of DNA for PCR-based diagnostics that enables timely patient treatment and management ...

To evaluate a new animal model of chronic glaucoma induced using a single injection of fibronectin-loaded biodegradable PLGA microspheres (Ms) to test prolonged therapies. 30 rats received a single injection of fibronectin-PLGA-Ms suspension (MsF) in the right eye, 10 received non-loaded PLGA-Ms suspension (Control), and 17 were non-injected (Healthy). Follow-up was performed (24 weeks), evaluating intraocular pressure (IOP), optical coherence tomography (OCT), histology and electroretinography. The right eyes underwent a progressive increase in IOP, but only induced cohorts reached hypertensive values...

With a suitable milling system, it is achievable to produce wholegrain flours that match the granulation and technological properties of refined flours while maintaining a complete nutritional profile. This process also minimizes the generation of additional industrial waste. This study aimed to characterize wholemeal flours with a fine granulation size of less than 160 µm: wheat (MWF), rye (MRF), spelt (MSF), barley (MBF), buckwheat (MBWF), and sorghum (MSGF). For comparison, the plain wheat flour type 530 (T530) was analyzed...

Magnetorheological polishing (MRF) has emerged as a critical non-contact sub-aperture polishing technology due to its notable attributes of high precision and minimal damage. However, MRF's inherent D-shaped removal function leads to reduced convergence efficiency of surface form error and introduces mid-spatial-frequency (MSF) waviness. To address these challenges, we propose magnetorheological precession finishing (MRPF) technology, which ingeniously combines MRF with bonnet precession polishing to generate a Gaussian-like removal function...