A DIGITALLY MANIPULATED GUNSHOT SOUND IDENTIFICATION

It is actual problem to distinguish between real gunshot sound pictures from tactical weapons and from fabricated or manipulated ones. In this work, some possible approaches to digital manipulation detection in gunshot records are described. The study uses methods of temporal and spectral analysis, revealing fine changes in signals, in a comprehensive dataset that consist of the raw data of gunshot sounds. The purpose of the work is to consider some approaches to digital manipulation detection in gunshot records High accuracy in the identification of manipulated sounds is demonstrated, with a low percentage of false positives and a high percentage of true positives. This research lays the groundwork for a comprehensive database of gunshot signals. This database has potential value for further analysis using methods like the Continuous Wavelet Transform. 

INFLUENCE OF THE STERILIZATION PROCESS ON THE PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES OF MEAT VEGETABLE PATE

The aim of this research was to investigate the possibility of meat-vegetable sterilized pate production with reduced fat content and functional ingredient supplementation, as well as to evaluate the thermal effect on physicochemical and lipid content of the final products. In the study, ten experimental groups of poultry pate were produced with different level and type of fat substitution with inulin and lentil power. The residual quantity of fructans was examined to evaluate the thermal effect on functional ingredients. Analysis upon changes in lipid fraction was performed in order to determine the appropriated thermal effect in different pate content. The pate from sample 4 and 6 in which the amount of recipe fat was reduced and partially substituted with inulin or lentil had the most acceptable nutritional characteristics

Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori is still high among symptomatic Bulgarian children

Helicobacter pylori positivity was assessed among 656 symptomatic children in 2010–2017. Overall infection prevalence was 24.5% and a significantly higher rate was detected in girls (28.5%) compared to boys (20.0%). Moreover, in children with duodenal ulcer, H. pylori prevalence was higher (47.4%) compared with the rest (23.9%). On the contrary, the infection was detected 1.9-fold less frequently in patients with GERD (14.5%) compared with the other (27.0%) patients and 2.1-fold less often in the presence of duodenogastric reflux (bile) reflux (13.0%) compared with the absence of the reflux (27.0%). No significant difference was observed between the younger (aged ≤7 years, 20.0%) and the older (aged 8–18 years, 25.5%) patients. H. pylori infection rate in Bulgarian pediatric patients between 2010 and 2017 was 2.5-fold lower than that in 1996–2006. In conclusion, H. pylori infection is still an important concern for Bulgarian children, although having decreased by about 1.8%/yearly over 21 years. This study reveals the importance of H. pylori diagnostics even in the youngest symptomatic children and demonstrates an inverse association between either GERD or bile reflux and H. pylori infection

Cervix carcinoma and incidental finding of medullary thyroid carcinoma by 18F-FDG PET/CT — clinical case

Thyroid nodules are encountered in clinical practice during the diagnostic procedures or patients’ follow-up due to other diseases quite far from the thyroid gland with prevalence 4–50% in general population, depending on age, diagnostic method and race. The prevalence of thyroid nodules increases with age and their clarification should be done for their adequate treatment. An 18F-FDG PET/CT was done with a PET/CT scanner (Philips Gemini TF), consisting of dedicated lutetium orthosilicate full ring PET scanner and 16 slice CT. The PET/CT scan of the whole-body revealed on the CT portion a hypodense nodular lesion in the left lobe of the thyroid gland with increased uptake of 18F-FDG on the PET with SUVmax 10.3 and demonstrated a complete response to the induction therapy of the main oncological disease of the patient — squamous cell carcinoma. This clinical case demonstrates that whole-body 18F-FDG-PET/CT has an increasingly important role in the early evaluation of thyroid cancer as a second independent malignant localization. Focal thyroid lesion with high risk of thyroid malignancy was incidentally found on 18F-FDG PET/CT

Genomic determinants of Furin cleavage in diverse European SARS-related bat coronaviruses

The furin cleavage site (FCS) in SARS-CoV-2 is unique within the Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SrC) species. We re-assessed diverse SrC from European horseshoe bats and analyzed the spike-encoding genomic region harboring the FCS in SARS-CoV-2. We reveal molecular features in SrC such as purine richness and RNA secondary structures that resemble those required for FCS acquisition in avian influenza viruses. We discuss the potential acquisition of FCS through molecular mechanisms such as nucleotide substitution, insertion, or recombination, and show that a single nucleotide exchange in two European bat-associated SrC may suffice to enable furin cleavage. Furthermore, we show that FCS occurrence is variable in bat- and rodent-borne counterparts of human coronaviruses. Our results suggest that furin cleavage sites can be acquired in SrC via conserved molecular mechanisms known in other reservoir-bound RNA viruses and thus support a natural origin of SARS-CoV-2

Analysis and use of neural networks as a tool for a rapid non-invasive estimation

Water deficit is one of the most important environmental factors limiting sustainable crop yields and it requires a reliable tool for fast and precise quantification. In this work we use simultaneously recorded signals of photoinduced prompt fluorescence (PF) and delayed fluorescence (DF) as well as modulated reflection (MR) of light at 820 nm for analysis of the changes in the photosynthetic activity in detached bean leaves during drying. Depending on the severity of the water deficit we identify different changes in the primary photosynthetic processes. When the relative water content (RWC) is decreased to 60% there is a parallel decrease in the ratio between the rate of excitation trapping in the Photosystem (PS) II reaction center and the rate of reoxidation of reduced PSII acceptors. A further decrease of RWC to 20% suppresses the electron transfer from the reduced plastoquinone pool to the PSI reaction center. At RWC below values 15%, the reoxidation of the photoreduced primary quinone acceptor of PSII, QA–, is inhibited and at less than 5%, the primary photochemical reactions in PSI and II are inactivated. Using the collected sets of PF, DF and MR signals, we construct and train an artificial neural network, capable of recognizing the RWC in a series of “unknown” samples with a correlation between calculated and gravimetrically determined RWC values of about R2 ≈ 0.98. Our results demonstrate that this is a reliable method for determination of RWC in detached leaves and after further development it could be used for quantifying of drought stress of crop plants in situ. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Photosynthesis Research for Sustainability: from Natural to Artificial

Primary cutaneous adenoid-cystic carcinoma of thigh found accidentally and presenting with the clinical picture of small pigmented (dark brown) cutaneous fibroma

The primary cutaneous adenoid-cystic carcinoma represents a very rare neoplasm - less than 100 similar cases are reported in the literature until now. It affects persons of middle age or elder the female is involved a little more often the local relapses are observed in about half of the cases and it metastasizes most frequently in the regional lymph nodes and lungs.We present a case of a 31-year-old woman with primary adenoid-cystic carcinoma of skin which was treated for a pigmented cutaneous fibroma. This required reoperating the patient.The clinical manifestation of primary cutaneous adenoid-cystic carcinoma may imitate benign pigmented cutaneous fibroma. The final diagnosis of this disease is made by a pathologist based on the pathomorphological exam and immunohistochemistry. The basic method for treatment in these cases is the extensive local excision in a radius of 2cm from the lesion to avoid the risk of local relapse

Two relatives female patients with primary malignant phyllodes sarcoma and primary stromal sarcoma of breast

The primary sarcoma of breast is a rare malignant tumor, which develops from the mesenchymal tissue of mammary gland. It represents less than 1% of all malignant diseases of breast. The incidence is about 17 new cases per 1 000 000 women. The etiology of that disease is unknown. The main method of treatment is the surgical excision with includes ";;;;safety-margin";;;; of healthy-looking tissues. We present a 57-year-old woman with probably familial, primary, malignat phyllodes sarcoma