Prevalence of Bicuspid Aortic Valve in Turner Syndrome Patients Receiving Cardiac MRI and CT: A Meta-Analysis

Turner syndrome (TS) is a rare disorder affecting 25–50 in 100000 female newborns. Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is assumed to be the most common congenital heart defect (CHD) in TS. In literature, reported BAV prevalence in TS ranges between 14% and 34%. The specific BAV prevalence in TS is still unknown. The aim of this study was to give a more precise estimation of BAV prevalence in TS by conducting a meta-analysis of TS-studies, which detected BAV by either cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or cardiac computed tomography (CT). We searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases to collect observational studies including the prevalence of BAV identified by cardiac MRI or cardiac CT in TS patients up to June 4th, 2021. After screening for inclusion, data extraction, and quality assessment by two independent reviewers, the meta-analysis was performed with R 4.1.1 software. Results are shown as proportion and weighted mean difference with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). In total, 11 studies involving 1177 patients were included. Pooled data showed that the prevalence of BAV in TS patients was 23.7% (95% CI: 21.3% to 26.1%). No high heterogeneity was found between the included studies. The current meta-analysis reveals that BAV can be detected in 23.7% of TS patients receiving cardiac MRI or cardiac CT. Therefore, BAV can be considered as the most common CHD in TS. Compared to TTE, cardiac MRI and cardiac CT might represent superior imaging modalities in BAV assessment of adult TS patients

Energy Drinks and Their Acute Effects on Arterial Stiffness in Healthy Children and Teenagers: A Randomized Trial

Adolescents are the main consumer group of energy drinks (ED). Studies suggest that acute ED consumption is associated with increased peripheral blood pressure. Little is known of the ED-induced effects on arterial stiffness. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the acute effects of ED consumption on arterial stiffness in healthy children and teenagers by conducting a prospective, randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover clinical trial. Study participants (n = 27, mean age = 14.53 years) consumed a body-weight-adjusted amount of an ED or a placebo on two consecutive days. Arterial stiffness was evaluated sonographically by two-dimensional speckle tracking of the common carotid artery (CCA) at baseline and up to four hours after beverage consumption. The ED intake led to a significantly decreased peak circumferential strain of the CCA (11.78 +/- 2.70% vs. 12.29 +/- 2.68%, p = 0.043) compared with the placebo. The results of this study indicate that the acute ED consumption might be associated with increased arterial stiffness in healthy children and teenagers. Minors, particularly those with increased cardiovascular morbidity, should be discouraged from ED consumption

Trends for nanotechnology development in China, Russia, and India

China, Russia, and India are playing an increasingly important role in global nanotechnology research and development (R&D). This paper comparatively inspects the paper and patent publications by these three countries in the Thomson Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI) database and United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database (1976–2007). Bibliographic, content map, and citation network analyses are used to evaluate country productivity, dominant research topics, and knowledge diffusion patterns. Significant and consistent growth in nanotechnology papers are noted in the three countries. Between 2000 and 2007, the average annual growth rate was 31.43% in China, 11.88% in Russia, and 33.51% in India. During the same time, the growth patterns were less consistent in patent publications: the corresponding average rates are 31.13, 10.41, and 5.96%. The three countries’ paper impact measured by the average number of citations has been lower than the world average. However, from 2000 to 2007, it experienced rapid increases of about 12.8 times in China, 8 times in India, and 1.6 times in Russia. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) were the most productive institutions in paper publication, with 12,334, 6,773, and 1,831 papers, respectively. The three countries emphasized some common research topics such as “Quantum dots,” “Carbon nanotubes,” “Atomic force microscopy,” and “Scanning electron microscopy,” while Russia and India reported more research on nano-devices as compared with China. CAS, RAS, and IIT played key roles in the respective domestic knowledge diffusion

Inter-organizational governance and trilateral trust building: a case study of crowdsourcing-based open innovation in China

In a case study of a Chinese crowdsourcing intermediary, we explore the impact of inter-organizational governance on trilateral trust-building. We show that formal control and relational governance mechanisms are essential for swift and knowledge-based trust in R&D crowdsourcing. The case also indicates that Chinese businesses continue to use guanxi (informal personal connections) as a relational and contingent mechanism to maintain affect-based trust, but guanxi is shown to inhibit the growth of Internet-based crowdsourcing for open innovation in China

The Operating Cost in a Tele-working Organization

In this paper, we develop a model of the operating cost in a teleworking organization and describe the components and the changes of the operating costs. Then we give the application of the model for the decision-making in an organization willing to adopt teleworking

An exploration in remote blood pressure management: Application of daily routine pattern based on mobile data in health management

Blood pressure (BP) is an important indicator of an individual's health status and is closely related to daily behaviors. Thus, a continuous daily measurement of BP is critical for hypertension control. To assist continuous measurement, BP prediction based on non-physiological data (ubiquitous mobile phone data) was studied in the research. An algorithm was proposed that predicts BP based on patients’ daily routine, which includes activities such as sleep, work, and commuting. The aim of the research is to provide insight into the application of mobile data in telemonitoring and the continuous unobtrusive daily measurement of BP. A half-year data set from October 2017 of 320 individuals, including telecom data and BP measurement data, was analyzed. Two hierarchical Bayesian topic models were used to extract individuals’ location-driven daily routine patterns (topics) and calculate probabilities among these topics from their day-level mobile trajectories. Based on the topic probability distribution and patients’ contextual data, their BP were predicted using different models. The prediction model comparison shows that the long short-term memory (LSTM) method exceeds others when the data has a high dependency. Otherwise, the Random Forest regression model outperforms the LSTM method. Also, the experimental results validate the effectiveness of the topics in BP prediction

A SYSTEM TO SUPPORT TEAM CREATION

Creation has been regarded as the most valuable advantage of corporations since the 1990s. However, team creation generally lacks effective support methods and support tools at present. It is important to research how to support team creation. In this paper, we design a system to support team creation, the main functions of which are team information record, knowledge visualization, and information relationship recognition.New product development, team creation, knowledge structure

Energy Drinks and Their Acute Effects on Heart Rhythm and Electrocardiographic Time Intervals in Healthy Children and Teenagers: A Randomized Trial

Beyond their effect on blood pressure, the effect of energy drinks on heart rate in children and teenagers has not been evaluated until now. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the acute cardiovascular effects of energy drinks in healthy children and teenagers. Twenty-six children and adolescents (mean age 14.49 years) received a commercially available energy drink (ED) and placebo on two consecutive days based on the maximum caffeine dosage as proposed by the European Food Safety Authority. Heart rhythm and electrocardiographic time intervals were assessed in a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover clinical study design. ED consumption resulted in a significantly increased number of supraventricular extrasystoles (SVES) compared to the placebo, whereas supraventricular tachycardia or malignant ventricular arrhythmias were not observed. The mean heart rate (HR) was significantly lower following consumption of EDs. In contrast, QTc intervals were not affected by EDs. Being the first of its kind, this trial demonstrates the cardiovascular and rhythmological effects of EDs in minors. Interestingly, EDs were associated with adverse effects on heart rhythm. Whether higher dosages or consumption in children with preexisting conditions may cause potentially harmful disorders was beyond the scope of this pilot study and remains to be determined in future trials. Trial Registration Number (DRKS-ID): DRKS00027580