Backward induction-based deep image search.

Conditional image retrieval (CIR), which involves retrieving images by a query image along with user-specified conditions, is essential in computer vision research for efficient image search and automated image analysis. The existing approaches, such as composed image retrieval (CoIR) methods, have been actively studied. However, these methods face challenges as they require either a triplet dataset or richly annotated image-text pairs, which are expensive to obtain.

Emerging and upcoming therapies in insomnia.

Insomnia, commonly treated with benzodiazepine (BZD) receptor agonists, presents challenges due to associated serious side effects such as abuse and dependence. To address these concerns, many researches have been conducted to develop and advance both pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions. Dual orexin receptor antagonists (DORAs), which include suvorexant, daridorexant and lemborexant, have recently been approved by United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) as a novel pharmacotherapeutic alternative.

Clean-In-Place (CIP) wastewater management using nanofiltration (NF)-forward osmosis (FO)-direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD): Effects of draw salt.

A substantial amount of water is being used during Clean-in-Place (CIP) operation, and is transformed into wastewater that can cause eutrophication to the nearby ecosystem. The present study proposed the Nanofiltration (NF) - Forward Osmosis (FO) - Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD) to recover the cleaning agents and reclaim freshwater from the model CIP wastewater. NF steps were suggested as prefiltration steps to remove organic compounds from the CIP wastewater.

Recovery of cleaning agents from Clean-In-Place (CIP) wastewater using nanofiltration (NF) and direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD).

Increasing concerns about freshwater sources necessitate the management of wastewater, such as the wastewater generated from Clean-in-Place (CIP) operations. In this investigation, a membrane system composed of nanofiltration (NF) and direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) was proposed to manage model dairy CIP wastewater that contained NaOH as an alkaline cleaning agent. During the NF step, prefiltration by a 4 kDa membrane or a 4 kDa membrane followed by a 200 Da membrane (4 kDa/200 Da) was used to remove the whey protein and lactose.

Penoscrotal defect reconstruction using loco-regional flaps in treatment of extramammary Paget's disease: Experience and suggestion of a simplified algorithm.

Background: Reconstruction of penoscrotal defects resulted from margin-controlled excision of extramammary Paget's disease (EMPD) remains challenging, due to its unpredictably varying extents. The present study aimed to investigate outcomes of reconstruction of penoscrotal defects following radical excision of EMPD and to introduce a simplified algorithm for selecting reconstruction strategies.

Methods: Patients with penoscrotal EMPD who were treated with wide excision and subsequent reconstruction from 2009 to 2020 were reviewed.

Nanogap-containing thermo-plasmonic nano-heaters for amplified photo-triggered tumor ablation at low laser power density.

Herein, nanogap amplified plasmonic heat-generators are fabricated by decorating Pt nanodots on gold nanospheres (GNSs@Pt@mPEG) by maintaining strategic nano-gaps (1-2 nm) and studied precisely for plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT) of colon cancer by passive tumor targeting. The surface modification of GNSs@Pt with poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether thiol (mPEG) increases their accumulation in tumor cells and hence the GNSs@Pt@mPEG stay at the tumor site for a longer time. The nanogap amplified GNSs@Pt@mPEG (O.

Is Elective Nighttime Operation Associated With Adverse Outcomes? Analysis in Immediate Tissue Expander-Based Breast Reconstruction.

Background: Despite the long-standing presumption that nighttime surgery could affect adverse outcomes, its association independent of patient's general condition and disease severity remains unclear. We hypothesized that conducting elective surgery for subjects with good physical status at nighttime was not associated with increased risks of postoperative complications and aimed to examine it in tissue-expander-insertion (TEI) operation for breast reconstruction.

Method: Patients who underwent immediate unilateral TEI-based breast reconstruction between 2014 and 2019 were enrolled.

Evolution of Morphological and Chemical Properties at p-n Junction of Cu(In,Ga)Se Solar Cells with Zn(O,S) Buffer Layer as a Function of KF Postdeposition Treatment Time.

We carried out KF postdeposition treatment (PDT) on a Cu(In,Ga)Se (CIGS) layer with a process time varying from 50 to 200 s. The highest CIGS solar-cell efficiency was achieved at a KF PDT process time of 50 s; in this condition, we observed the highest level of K element at the near-surface of the CIGS layer and the perfectly passivated pinholes on the CIGS surface. At process times above 150 s, the oversupplied KF agglomerated into large islands and was subsequently eliminated during the deposition of the chemical bath deposition (CBD)-Zn(O,S) buffer layer owing to the islands' water-soluble characteristics.

Erythropoiesis stimulating agent recommendation model using recurrent neural networks for patient with kidney failure with replacement therapy.

In patients with kidney failure with replacement therapy (KFRT), optimizing anemia management in these patients is a challenging problem because of the complexities of the underlying diseases and heterogeneous responses to erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs). Therefore, we propose a ESA dose recommendation model based on sequential awareness neural networks. Data from 466 KFRT patients (12,907 dialysis sessions) in seven tertiary-care general hospitals were included in the experiment.

Comparison of flow characteristics in a bench-scale system with commercial-scale pipelines: Use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

The challenges for scale-up are often encountered in cleaning operations during the interpretation of data from clean-in-place (CIP) research. The objective of this investigation was to design and characterize flow characteristics in a bench-scale system in a manner that evaluates scale-up to a commercial-scale CIP operation. A bench-scale temperature-controlled vessel was designed for evaluation of in-place cleaning, and for development of scale-up parameters.

Thermal and non-thermal treatment effects on Staphylococcus aureus biofilms formed at different temperatures and maturation periods.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of temperature and maturation period on the resistance of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms to thermal and non-thermal treatments. First, biofilm development was compared at three different temperatures (15, 25, and 37°C) for 5 days. The cell population at 15 and 25°C remained relatively consistent approximately at 6.

Synergistic effect of 222-nm krypton-chlorine excilamp and mild heating combined treatment on inactivation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Typhimurium in apple juice.

Simultaneous treatment with 222-nm KrCl excilamp and mild heating (EX-MH) at 45, 50 and 55 °C showed synergistic bactericidal effects on non-acid and acid adapted cells of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Typhimurium in apple juice. In particular, acid-adapted pathogens exhibited increased resistance to EX-MH compared to pathogenic bacteria that were not acid-adapted. Also, elucidation of the synergistic bactericidal mechanism of EX-MH was performed through several assays and this mechanism was described as follows: (i) when KrCl excilamp (EX) and mild heating (MH) are applied simultaneously, MH reversibly inactivates the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase (SOD), thereby increasing accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by EX and thus inducing synergistic ROS generation, (ii) ROS production induces lipid peroxidation occurrence in the cell membrane, (iii) this lipid peroxidation occurrence in the cell membrane induces synergistic destruction of cell membrane, resulting in synergistic cell death.

Inhibition of Initial Attachment of Injured Salmonella Typhimurium onto Abiotic Surfaces.

Following sanitation interventions in food processing facilities, sublethally injured bacterial cells can remain on food contact surfaces. We investigated whether injured Salmonella Typhimurium cells can attach onto abiotic surfaces, which is the initial stage for further biofilm development. We utilized heat, UV, hydrogen peroxide, and lactic acid treatments, which are widely utilized by the food industry.

Dynamic steering of in vitro cortical neurons using field stimulation.

Neurological disorders are often characterized by abnormal neuronal activity. In the case of epilepsy, this can manifest itself in the form of uncontrolled synchronous activity often in the form of bursting. Pattern steering is the ability to apply stimulation to a network that effectively changes its dynamical firing pattern.

Hybrid Si-LiNbO₃ microring electro-optically tunable resonators for active photonic devices.

Hybrid Si-LiNbO₃ electro-optic tunable ring resonators have been proposed and demonstrated as a path to achieving ultracompact and high-speed electro-optic devices. Free standing single crystal LiNbO₃ microplatelets (~mm long and ~1 μm thick) were obtained from a z-cut LiNbO₃ substrate by ion implantation and thermal treatment. The platelets were transferred and thermally bonded on top of Si resonators that were fabricated in a Si-on-insulator platform by a 0.