Digital Media using Android Device for Japanese Grammar Learning

This study aims to determine the application of digital media impact as a grammar learning media. The method used in this study is quantitative descriptive method, which is supported by questionnaire. This study's results were based on calculation of the survey results from Google Docs, which are distributed to 12 final-year students of the Japanese literature department, Universitas Komputer Indonesia. This study shows the Japanese grammar learning application and discusses its features. The conclusion obtained in this study is that the application is very useful and has complete features. This study's conclusion shows that 100% of respondents use digital learning applications as their learning media.  They stated that the application is very useful, more practical, easier to carry, and easier to use, and very helpful in learning Japanese, even though several features need to be improved. The use of this application media can increase motivation and Japanese grammar skills. The development and improvement of the quality of application media to get better learning outcomes are needed

Thermal Performance of Exposed Composed Roofs in Very Hot Dry Desert Region in Egypt (Toshky)

Thermal performance for any building in hot dry region depend on the external climatic factor, the ability of the construction materials used in gained heat through day time and loss this heat through night time through the nocturnal radiation. Roof is considered the major part of the building envelop which exposed to high thermal load due to the high solar intensity and high outdoor air temperature through summer season which reach to 6 months. In Egypt the thermal effect of roof is increased as one go towards from north to south. This study evaluate the thermal performance of different test rooms with different roofs construction; uninsulated concrete, insulated concrete, double, plant, and active concrete roofs, constructed under the effect of external climatic condition of very hot and dry region in Egypt (Toshky region). The external climatic conditions and the temperature distribution inside the roof construction and the indoor air temperature were measured. The results of this study recognized that the thermal transmittance (UValue) has a major role in chosen the constructed materials. Also the thermal insulation considered the suitable manner for damping the thermal stresses through day time and makes the interior environment of the building near the comfort zone during most months of the year. Natural night and forced ventilation are more important in improving the internal conditions. The construction roof systems show that the indoor air temperature thermal damping reach to 96%, 90%, 89%, and 76% for insulated concrete, double, planted and uninsulated concrete roofs. The results also investigate the importance of using the earth as a cooling source through the active concrete system. Evaporative cooling and movable shading which are an integrated part of the guidelines for building design in hot dry region must be using

Mediterranean Tapeweed \u3cem\u3ePosidonia oceanica\u3c/em\u3e (L.) Delile, an Endangered Seagrass Species

THE MOST plentiful and important seagrass in the Mediterranean Sea is Posidonia oceanica L. (Delile) because of its ability to create a three-dimensional habitat with high biodiversity and to build the “matte”(a terrace of interlaced rhizomes and roots trapping sediment). This matte highly influences coast features in terms of wave attenuation and shoreline stabilization. In addition, P. oceanica meadows, which could extend along the coast, from the shoreline until 40m depth, are directly exposed to anthropic pressure coming from the coastal zones and it is particularly sensitive to the environmental conditions. In the last decades, human activities in coastal areas impacted sedimentary processes severely affecting P. oceanica meadows with consequent seagrass loss. This review aims to shed light on the importance of this plant, the extent of its dangerous status, and to urge the international community and governments to try to protect it in all possible ways, especially in Egypt

Validation of low-dose lung cancer PET-CT protocol and PET image improvement using machine learning

PURPOSE: To conduct a simplified lesion-detection task of a low-dose (LD) PET-CT protocol for frequent lung screening using 30% of the effective PETCT dose and to investigate the feasibility of increasing clinical value of low-statistics scans using machine learning. METHODS: We acquired 33 SD PET images, of which 13 had actual LD (ALD) PET, and simulated LD (SLD) PET images at seven different count levels from the SD PET scans. We employed image quality transfer (IQT), a machine learning algorithm that performs patch-regression to map parameters from low-quality to high-quality images. At each count level, patches extracted from 23 pairs of SD/SLD PET images were used to train three IQT models - global linear, single tree, and random forest regressions with cubic patch sizes of 3 and 5 voxels. The models were then used to estimate SD images from LD images at each count level for 10 unseen subjects. Lesion-detection task was carried out on matched lesion-present and lesion-absent images. RESULTS: LD PET-CT protocol yielded lesion detectability with sensitivity of 0.98 and specificity of 1. Random forest algorithm with cubic patch size of 5 allowed further 11.7% reduction in the effective PETCT dose without compromising lesion detectability, but underestimated SUV by 30%. CONCLUSION: LD PET-CT protocol was validated for lesion detection using ALD PET scans. Substantial image quality improvement or additional dose reduction while preserving clinical values can be achieved using machine learning methods though SUV quantification may be biased and adjustment of our research protocol is required for clinical use

Clinical and Epidemiological Characteristics of 1,420 European Patients with mild-to-moderate Coronavirus Disease 2019

Background: The clinical presentation of European patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19 infection is still unknown. Objective: To study the clinical presentation of Covid-19 in Europe. Methods: Patients with positive diagnosis of Covid-19 were recruited from 18 European hospitals. Epidemiological and clinical data were obtained through a standardized questionnaire. Bayesian analysis was used for analyzing the relationship between outcomes. Results: 1,420 patients completed the study (962 females, 30.7% of health care workers). The mean age of patients was 39.17\ub112.09 years. The most common symptoms were headache (70.3%), loss of smell (70.2%), nasal obstruction (67.8%), cough (63.2%), asthenia (63.3%), myalgia (62.5%), rhinorrhea (60.1%), gustatory dysfunction (54.2%) and sore throat (52.9%). Fever was reported by on 45.4%. The mean duration of Covid-19 symptoms of mild-to-moderate cured patients was 11.5\ub15.7 days. The prevalence of symptoms significantly varied according to age and sex. Young patients more frequently had ear, nose, and throat complaints, whereas elderly individuals often presented fever, fatigue and loss of appetite. Loss of smell, headache, nasal obstruction and fatigue were more prevalent in female patients. The loss of smell was a key symptom of mild-to-moderate Covid19 patients and was not associated with nasal obstruction and rhinorrhea. Loss of smell persisted at least 7 days after the disease in 37.5% of cured patients. Conclusion: The clinical presentation of mild-to-moderate Covid-19 substantially varies according to the age and the sex characteristics of patients. Olfactory dysfunction seems to be an important underestimated symptom of mild-to-moderate Covid-19 that needs to be recognized as such by the WHO

Development and Validation of Nomograms Predictive of Overall and Progression-Free Survival in Patients With Oropharyngeal Cancer

Purpose Treatment of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) is evolving toward risk-based modification of therapeutic intensity, which requires patient-specific estimates of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Methods To develop and validate nomograms for OS and PFS, we used a derivation cohort of 493 patients with OPSCC with known p16 tumor status (surrogate of human papillomavirus) and cigarette smoking history (pack-years) randomly assigned to clinical trials using platinum-based chemoradiotherapy (NRG Oncology Radiation Therapy Oncology Group [RTOG] 0129 and 0522). Nomograms were created from Cox models and internally validated by use of bootstrap and cross-validation. Model discrimination was measured by calibration plots and the concordance index. Nomograms were externally validated in a cohort of 153 patients with OPSCC randomly assigned to a third trial, NRG Oncology RTOG 9003. Results Both models included age, Zubrod performance status, pack-years, education, p16 status, and T and N stage; the OS model also included anemia and age × pack-years interaction; and the PFS model also included marital status, weight loss, and p16 × Zubrod interaction. Predictions correlated well with observed 2-year and 5-year outcomes. The uncorrected concordance index was 0.76 (95% CI, 0.72 to 0.80) for OS and 0.70 (95% CI, 0.66 to 0.74) for PFS, and bias-corrected indices were similar. In the validation set, OS and PFS models were well calibrated, and OS and PFS were significantly different across tertiles of nomogram scores (log-rank P = .003;\u3c .001). Conclusion The validated nomograms provided useful prediction of OS and PFS for patients with OPSCC treated with primary radiation-based therapy

Genome-Wide Hypomethylation in Head and Neck Cancer Is More Pronounced in HPV-Negative Tumors and Is Associated with Genomic Instability

Loss of genome-wide methylation is a common feature of cancer, and the degree of hypomethylation has been correlated with genomic instability. Global methylation of repetitive elements possibly arose as a defense mechanism against parasitic DNA elements, including retrotransposons and viral pathogens. Given the alterations of global methylation in both viral infection and cancer, we examined genome-wide methylation levels in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), a cancer causally associated with human papilloma virus (HPV). We assayed global hypomethylation levels in 26 HNSCC samples, compared with their matched normal adjacent tissue, using Pyrosequencing-based methylation assays for LINE repeats. In addition, we examined cell lines derived from a variety of solid tumors for LINE and SINE (Alu) repeats. The degree of LINE and Alu hypomethylation varied among different cancer cell lines. There was only moderate correlation between LINE and Alu methylation levels, with the range of variation in methylation levels being greater for the LINE elements. LINE hypomethylation was more pronounced in HPV-negative than in HPV-positive tumors. Moreover, genomic instability, as measured by genome-wide loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis, was greater in HNSCC samples with more pronounced LINE hypomethylation. Global hypomethylation was variable in HNSCC. Its correlation with both HPV status and degree of LOH as a surrogate for genomic instability may reflect alternative oncogenic pathways in HPV-positive versus HPV-negative tumors