Evaluating and diagnosing ecosystem health of the "three-lake" watershed in Yuxi, Yunnan, China from 2010 to 2020 by PSR-KDE.

To carry out the diagnosis and evaluation of the ecosystem health in Yuxi three-lake watershed, this paper presents the changing trend of its health state, and predicts the future development. This also provides ideas for maintaining the regional ecosystem health, and then gradually improves the ecological environment quality. Taking Fuxian Lake, Qilu Lake and Xingyun Lake (the three-lake watershed) in Yuxi City, Yunnan Province, Southwest China as the research object, a model combining pressure-state-response and kernel density estimation (PSR-KDE) adopts to diagnose and evaluate the ecosystem health of the "three lake" watershed from 2010 to 2020, and the distribution map of ecosystem health index has obtained by the evaluation indexes integration based on GIS spatial analysis. Hence, the evaluation results have visualized on the map. The results show that: The distribution of ecosystem health index in the study area was 0.1530-0.7045 in 2010, 0.2056-0.7512 in 2015, and 0.2248-0.7662 in 2020. 0.12% was in the pathological area in 2010. After 2015, the pathological condition of ecosystem health has completely solved, and the proportion of unhealthy ecosystems was 11.95% in 2010, 7.38% in 2015, and 5.97% in 2020. The ecosystem health index of the study region was 0.5523 in 2010, 0.5807 in 2015, and 0.5815 in 2020, it indicates that the ecosystem was in a sub-health state. From 2010 to 2020, the ecosystem health around Qilu Lake was the most worrying, followed by the northwest of Fuxian Lake and the northern and southern regions of Xingyun Lake. The ecosystem health of the three-lake watershed showed significant improvement from 2010 to 2020. The study ecosystem health assessment and early warning in the three-lake watershed is significant to the ecological environment protection and management of the plateau lake basin, the restoration of the territorial space ecology and the economic development of the surrounding area.

Using Mendelian randomization provides genetic insights into potential targets for sepsis treatment.

Sepsis is recognized as a major contributor to the global disease burden, but there is a lack of specific and effective therapeutic agents. Utilizing Mendelian randomization (MR) methods alongside evidence of causal genetics presents a chance to discover novel targets for therapeutic intervention. MR approach was employed to investigate potential drug targets for sepsis. Pooled statistics from IEU-B-4980 comprising 11,643 cases and 474,841 controls were initially utilized, and the findings were subsequently replicated in the IEU-B-69 (10,154 cases and 454,764 controls). Causal associations were then validated through colocalization. Furthermore, a range of sensitivity analyses, including MR-Egger intercept tests and Cochran's Q tests, were conducted to evaluate the outcomes of the MR analyses. Three drug targets (PSMA4, IFNAR2, and LY9) exhibited noteworthy MR outcomes in two separate datasets. Notably, PSMA4 demonstrated not only an elevated susceptibility to sepsis (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.20-1.45, p = 1.66E-08) but also exhibited a robust colocalization with sepsis (PPH4 = 0.74). According to the present MR analysis, PSMA4 emerges as a highly encouraging pharmaceutical target for addressing sepsis. Suppression of PSMA4 could potentially decrease the likelihood of sepsis.

Green Synthesis and Biosafety Assessment of MXene.

The rise of MXene-based materials with fascinating physical and chemical properties has attracted wide attention in the field of biomedicine, because it can be exploited to regulate a variety of biological processes. The biomedical applications of MXene are still in its infancy, nevertheless, the comprehensive evaluation of MXene's biosafety is desperately needed. In this review, the composition and the synthetic methods of MXene materials are first introduced from the view of biosafety. The evaluation of the interaction between MXene and cells, as well as the safety of different forms of MXene applied in vivo are then discussed. This review provides a basic understanding of MXene biosafety and may bring new inspirations to the future applications of MXene-based materials in biomedicine.

A critical review on organophosphate esters in drinking water: Analysis, occurrence, sources, and human health risk assessment.

Organophosphate esters (OPEs) are ubiquitous in the environment. Copious studies assessed OPEs in various environmental media. However, there is limited summative information about OPEs in drinking water. This review provides comprehensive data for the analytical methods, occurrence, sources, and risk assessment of OPEs in drinking water. In general, liquid-liquid extraction and solid-phase extraction are the most common methods in the extraction of OPEs from drinking water, while gas chromatography and liquid chromatography are the most commonly used instrumental methods for detecting OPEs in drinking water. On the basis of these techniques, a variety of methods on OPEs pretreatment and determination have been developed to know the pollution situation of OPEs. Studies on the occurrence of OPEs in drinking water show that the total concentrations of OPEs vary seasonally and regionally, with tris(1-chloro-2-isopropyl) phosphate and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate dominant among different kinds of drinking water. Source identification studies show that there are three main sources of OPEs in drinking water: 1) source water contamination; 2) residual in drinking water treatment process; 3) leakage from device or pipeline. Besides, risk assessments indicate that individual and total OPEs pose no or negligible health risk to human, but this result may be significantly underestimated. Finally, the current knowledge gaps on the research of OPEs in drinking water are discussed and some suggestions are provided for future environmental research.

Assessment of refeeding syndrome definitions and 30-day mortality in critically ill adults: A comparison study.

BACKGROUND: Patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) are at high risk for refeeding syndrome (RFS), yet there is uncertainty regarding how RFS should be operationalized in the ICU. We evaluated different definitions for RFS and tested how they associated with patient-centered outcomes in the ICU. METHODS: This was a retrospective comparison study. Patients age ≥18 years were eligible if they were newly initiated on enteral feeding while hospitalized in the ICU. Eight definitions for RFS were operationalized, including that from the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN), all based on electrolyte levels from immediately before until up to 5 days after the initiation of enteral nutrition. Patients were followed for death or for ICU-free days, a measure of healthcare utilization. RESULTS: In all, 2123 patients were identified, including 406 (19.1%) who died within 30 days of ICU admission and 1717 (80.9%) who did not. Prevalence of RFS varied from 1.5% to 88% (ASPEN definition) depending on the RFS definition used. The excess risk for death associated with RFS varied from 33% to 92% across definitions. The development of RFS based on the ASPEN definition was associated with a greater decrease in ICU-free days compared with other definitions, but the relationship was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Eight definitions for RFS were evaluated, none of which showed strong associations with death or ICU-free days. It may be challenging to achieve a standardized definition for RFS that is based on electrolyte values and predicts mortality or ICU-free days.

Distribution, driving forces, and risk assessment of 2-MIB and its producer in a drinking water source-oriented shallow lake.

Freshwater blooms of harmful cyanobacteria in drinking water source-oriented shallow lakes affect public health and ecosystem services worldwide. Therefore, identifying 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB)-producing cyanobacteria and predicting the risks of 2-MIB are critical for managing 2-MIB-infected water sources. Previous studies on the potential producers and risks of 2-MIB have focused on reservoirs or have been limited by the ecosystems of phytoplankton-dominated areas. We investigated the producers, distribution, and occurrence of 2-MIB in East Taihu Lake-a drinking water source-oriented shallow lake with macrophyte- and phytoplankton-dominated areas-from August 2020 to November 2021. We observed that Pseudanabaena sp. produces 2-MIB in this lake, as determined by the maximum correlation coefficient (R = 0.71, p < 0.001), maximum detection rate, and minimum false positive/negative ratio exhibited by this genus. Extreme odor events occurred in this lake during late summer and early autumn in 2021, with the mean 2-MIB concentration increasing to 727 ± 426 ng/L and 369 ± 176 ng/L in August and September, respectively. Moreover, the macrophyte-dominated area, particularly the wetland area, exhibited a significant decrease (p < 0.01) in bloom intensity and 2-MIB production during these extreme odor events. Pseudanabaena sp. outbreak was likely owing to eutrophication, seasonal gradients, and macrophyte reduction, considering that temporal trends were consistent with high water temperature, high total phosphorus levels, and low-light conditions. Moreover, 2-MIB production was sensitive to short-term hydrometeorological processes, with high water levels and radiant intensity enhancing 2-MIB production. The risk assessment results showed that the probability of 2-MIB concentration exceeding the odor threshold (10 ng/L) is up to 90% when the cell density of Pseudanabaena sp. reaches 1.8 × 107 cell/L; this risk is reduced to 50 and 25% at densities of < 3.8 × 105 cell/L and 5.6 × 104 cell/L, respectively. Our findings support calls for shallow lake management efforts to maintain a macrophyte-dominated state and control odorous cyanobacteria growth.

Reinforced MCTS for non-intrusive online load identification based on cognitive green computing in smart grid.

Cognitive green computing (CGC) is widely used in the Internet of Things (IoT) for the smart city. As the power system of the smart city, the smart grid has benefited from CGC, which can achieve the dynamic regulation of the electric energy and resource integration optimization. However, it is still challenging for improving the identification accuracy and the performance of the load model in the smart grid. In this paper, we present a novel algorithm framework based on reinforcement learning (RL) to improve the performance of non-invasive load monitoring and identification (NILMI). In this model, a knowledge base of load power facilities (LPF-KB) architecture is designed to facilitate the load data-shared collection and storage; utilizing deep convolutional neural networks (DNNs) structure based on the attentional mechanism to enhance the representations learning of load features; using RL-based Monte-Carlo tree search (MCTS) method to construct an optimal strategy network, and to realize the online combined load prediction without relying on the prior knowledge. We use the massive experiment on the real-world datasets of household appliances to evaluate the performance of our method. The experimental results show that our approach has remarkable performance in reducing the load online identification error rate. Our model is a generic model, and it can be widely used in practical load monitoring identification and the power prediction system.

Comprehensively screening of citric acid ester (CAE) plasticizers in Chinese foodstuffs, and the food-based assessment of human exposure risk of CAEs.

An increasing number of studies on the toxicities of citric acid esters (CAEs)-a class of so-called "safe" alternative plasticizers-have highlighted the urgent need to understand their contamination profiles in foodstuffs and the corresponding potential risks to human health. This study determined the concentrations of 8 target CAEs in 105 foodstuff samples, grouped into 6 food categories, collected from Nanjing City, China, in 2020. All eight CAEs were detected in at least one of the analyzed samples and had detection frequencies (DFs) of 5-47%. The DFs and distribution profiles of the target CAEs varied among different food categories; for example, cereals had the highest DF (92%), while meat/fish contained the highest mean total concentration of CAEs (8.35 ng/g wet weight (ww)). Among the target CAEs, acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC) had the highest DF (47%), and tributyl citrate (TBC) exhibited the highest mean concentration (1.24 ng/g ww). Based on the food ingestion route, the estimated total daily intake (EDI) values of the target CAEs for adults under average- and high-exposure scenarios were 38.3 ng/kg of body weight (bw) and 111 ng/kg bw, respectively, which were attributed to the high percentage contributions of TBC (50.6%) and ATBC (23.7%). In addition, a suspect and characteristic fragment-dependent screening strategy was applied to the foodstuff data, and a novel CAE, monoethyl citrate (MEC, CAS: 4552-00-5), with a DF of 34% was tentatively identified. Overall, this study provides novel and comprehensive information regarding the pollution status of CAEs in foodstuffs.

Evaluation of screening strategies for pulmonary tuberculosis among hospitalized patients in a low-burden setting: cost-effectiveness of GeneXpert MTB/RIF compared to smear microscopy.

OBJECTIVE: Hospitalized patients undergoing evaluation for pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) require airborne isolation while testing for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) to reduce risk of nosocomial transmission. GeneXpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) is more rapid and accurate than sputum smear microscopy, but it is not routinely used to 'rule out' infectious pulmonary TB among hospitalized patients in the United States. We sought to evaluate the diagnostic performance and cost-effectiveness of Xpert-based TB evaluation. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of hospitalized adults evaluated for pulmonary TB at a large academic medical center in New York from 2010 to 2017. Using propensity score matching, we compared hospital length-of-stay among patients undergoing conventional smear-based TB evaluation to a control group with non-TB pneumonia. We performed a probabilistic cost-effectiveness analysis to compare Xpert-based versus conventional TB evaluation. RESULTS: In total 1,421 patients were evaluated for TB with airborne isolation and sputum testing; mycobacterial culture was positive for MTB in 49 (3.4%). Conventional TB evaluation was associated with an increase of 4.4 hospital days compared to propensity-matched controls. Xpert-based testing strategies dominated conventional TB evaluation with a cost savings of $5,947 (95% CI, $1,156-$12,540) and $4,445 (95% CI, $696-$9,526) per patient depending on the number of Xpert tests performed (1 vs 2, respectively) and assumptions about the reduction of length of stay achieved. CONCLUSIONS: In the evaluation of hospitalized patients for pulmonary TB, Xpert-based testing has superior diagnostic performance and is likely cost-effective compared to smear microscopy due to reduced hospital length-of-stay associated with more rapid test results.

The Biological Assessment and Rehabilitation of the World's Rivers: An Overview.

The biological assessment of rivers i.e., their assessment through use of aquatic assemblages, integrates the effects of multiple-stressors on these systems over time and is essential to evaluate ecosystem condition and establish recovery measures. It has been undertaken in many countries since the 1990s, but not globally. And where national or multi-national monitoring networks have gathered large amounts of data, the poor water body classifications have not necessarily resulted in the rehabilitation of rivers. Thus, here we aimed to identify major gaps in the biological assessment and rehabilitation of rivers worldwide by focusing on the best examples in Asia, Europe, Oceania, and North, Central, and South America. Our study showed that it is not possible so far to draw a world map of the ecological quality of rivers. Biological assessment of rivers and streams is only implemented officially nation-wide and regularly in the European Union, Japan, Republic of Korea, South Africa, and the USA. In Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand, and Singapore it has been implemented officially at the state/province level (in some cases using common protocols) or in major catchments or even only once at the national level to define reference conditions (Australia). In other cases, biological monitoring is driven by a specific problem, impact assessments, water licenses, or the need to rehabilitate a river or a river section (as in Brazil, South Korea, China, Canada, Japan, Australia). In some countries monitoring programs have only been explored by research teams mostly at the catchment or local level (e.g., Brazil, Mexico, Chile, China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam) or implemented by citizen science groups (e.g., Southern Africa, Gambia, East Africa, Australia, Brazil, Canada). The existing large-extent assessments show a striking loss of biodiversity in the last 2-3 decades in Japanese and New Zealand rivers (e.g., 42% and 70% of fish species threatened or endangered, respectively). A poor condition (below Good condition) exists in 25% of South Korean rivers, half of the European water bodies, and 44% of USA rivers, while in Australia 30% of the reaches sampled were significantly impaired in 2006. Regarding river rehabilitation, the greatest implementation has occurred in North America, Australia, Northern Europe, Japan, Singapore, and the Republic of Korea. Most rehabilitation measures have been related to improving water quality and river connectivity for fish or the improvement of riparian vegetation. The limited extent of most rehabilitation measures (i.e., not considering the entire catchment) often constrains the improvement of biological condition. Yet, many rehabilitation projects also lack pre-and/or post-monitoring of ecological condition, which prevents assessing the success and shortcomings of the recovery measures. Economic constraints are the most cited limitation for implementing monitoring programs and rehabilitation actions, followed by technical limitations, limited knowledge of the fauna and flora and their life-history traits (especially in Africa, South America and Mexico), and poor awareness by decision-makers. On the other hand, citizen involvement is recognized as key to the success and sustainability of rehabilitation projects. Thus, establishing rehabilitation needs, defining clear goals, tracking progress towards achieving them, and involving local populations and stakeholders are key recommendations for rehabilitation projects (Table 1). Large-extent and long-term monitoring programs are also essential to provide a realistic overview of the condition of rivers worldwide. Soon, the use of DNA biological samples and eDNA to investigate aquatic diversity could contribute to reducing costs and thus increase monitoring efforts and a more complete assessment of biodiversity. Finally, we propose developing transcontinental teams to elaborate and improve technical guidelines for implementing biological monitoring programs and river rehabilitation and establishing common financial and technical frameworks for managing international catchments. We also recommend providing such expert teams through the United Nations Environment Program to aid the extension of biomonitoring, bioassessment, and river rehabilitation knowledge globally.

Traditional and emerging organophosphate esters (OPEs) in indoor dust of Nanjing, eastern China: Occurrence, human exposure, and risk assessment.

Here, fifteen OPEs were investigated in n = 50 floor dust samples collected from six types of indoor spaces in Nanjing, eastern China, in the year 2018. Ten OPEs, including tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), tris(1,3-dichloro-isopropyl) phosphate (TDCIPP), tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (TEHP), tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBOEP), 2-ethylhexyl-diphenyl phosphate (EHDPP), triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), tris(methyl-phenyl) phosphate (TMPP), 4-biphenylyl diphenyl phosphate (4-BPDP) and tris(2-biphenylyl) phosphate (TBPP), were detected in at least one of the analyzed samples (>method limits of quantification). Regardless of indoor spaces, EHDPP (34% of Σ8OPEs, mean: 1.43 µg/g) and TDCIPP (19%, 0.81 µg/g) were the ascendant OPEs in indoor floor dust. 4-BPDP and TBPP were detectable in indoor floor dust samples, but at relatively low detection frequencies with 2% and 10%, respectively. Various indoor microenvironments exhibited different pollution characteristics of OPEs. Floor dust collected from electronic product maintenance centers contained the richest OPE contaminants with highest mean Σ8OPEs concentration of 7.92 µg/g. On the basis of measured Σ10OPEs concentrations in dust sample, we estimated daily intake via floor dust ingestion to be 1.37, 0.75 and 1.24 ng/kg BW/day for electronic engineers, undergraduates, and graduate students under mean-exposure scenario, respectively. Overall, our study reported the occurrence of 4-BPDP and TBPP in environmental samples for the first time, and demonstrated that indoor floor dust ingestion exposure does values were far less than reference dosage values of oral toxicity proposed by United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Integrated Risk Information System.

Transesophageal echocardiography and fluoroscopy for percutaneous closure of atrial septal defects: A comparative study.

The aim of the study was to compare transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and fluoroscopy for percutaneous atrial septal defect (ASD) closure.This was a retrospective analysis of children who underwent percutaneous ASD closure. The procedure was guided by TEE without fluoroscopy in 130 patients (TEE group) and by fluoroscopy in 163 patients (fluoroscopy group). Baseline demographic/clinical characteristics were recorded. Patients were followed until hospital discharge. Outcomes were procedure duration, peri/postoperative complications, hospital stay, and costs.The TEE and fluoroscopy groups showed no significant differences in age (71.7 ±â€Š40.7 vs 62.5 ±â€Š38.8 months), male/female ratio (54/76 vs 66/97), weight (22.0 ±â€Š12.0 vs 20.1 ±â€Š9.0 kg), ASD diameter (9.9 ±â€Š4.2 vs 9.3 ±â€Š3.9 cm), distances to the superior vena cava (13.4 ±â€Š4.6 vs 13.3 ±â€Š4.2 cm), inferior vena cava (13.4 ±â€Š4.3 vs 13.9 ±â€Š4.1 cm) and atrial septal roof (12.1 ±â€Š4.0 vs 12.3 ±â€Š3.2 cm), or atrial septal size (38.2 ±â€Š6.2 vs 39.4 ±â€Š26.6 cm); distance to the mitral valve was greater in the TEE group (13.2 ±â€Š4.4 vs 11.3 ±â€Š3.9 cm; P < .001). The TEE and fluoroscopy groups showed no significant differences in occlusion device size (14.3 ±â€Š4.6 vs 13.8 ±â€Š4.0 cm) or sheath size (8.7 ±â€Š1.8 vs 8.7 ±â€Š0.9 cm), but procedure duration was shorter in the TEE group (21.5 ±â€Š14.6 vs 28.6 ±â€Š10.9 minutes; P < .001). Postoperative fever (>38°C) occurred less frequently in the TEE group than in the fluoroscopy group (0.8% vs 9.2%; P < .001); there were no significant differences for the other complications. No patient had postoperative residual shunt, occlusion device shedding/displacement, or pericardial effusion. The TEE group had longer hospital stay (3.2 ±â€Š0.6 vs 2.9 ±â€Š0.6 days; P < .001) and higher procedure cost (29,687 ±â€Š4218 vs 28,530 ±â€Š1668 CNY (China Yuan); P = .002) than the fluoroscopy group.TEE-guided percutaneous ASD closure can be used as an alternative to fluoroscopy-guided procedures and avoids the use of radiation or contrast agents.

[Application of cameral-type three-dimensional scan in assessment of funnel chest].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the application of cameral-type three-dimensional (3D) scan in the assessment of funnel chest. METHODS: Eighty children with funnel chest were collected from the Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine during June 2016 and December 2017. All patients underwent routine CT scan. In the same selected mediastinal window, the lowest point of the depression to the front of the spine was the anteroposterior diameter (A1), and the maximum left to right diameter was B1 (which was perpendicular to A1). The ratio B1/A1 was calculated to get CT Haller index (CT-HI). In the same period, the chest wall scan was performed by EinScan-Pro 3D scanner, and the image was analyzed by GeoMedic image software. On the plane of the most concave point of the sternum, the distance from the lowest point of the skin to the back skin was the anteroposterior diameter (A2), the maximum plane diameter was measured on the same plane (B2), and the ratio B2/A2 was the 3D-Haller index (3D-HI). Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the consistency of the two measurements. Kappa test was used to analyze the consistency of surgical indication based on cutoff value of CT-HI and 3D-HI. RESULTS: All children were able to cooperate with CT and 3D chest wall surface scan. The mean value of CT-HI was 3.82±0.96, and that of 3D-HI was 1.82±0.23. Pearson correlation analysis showed that the correlation coefficient between CT-HI and 3D-HI was 0.823 (P<0.01). When CT-HI > 3.2 and 3D-HI > 1.7 were set as cutoff values for indication of operation, the sensitivity and specificity of 3D-HI were 90.48% and 100.0%, respectively. 3D-HI was well consistent with CT-HI in surgical indication (Kappa=0.801). CONCLUSIONS: s 3D scan can be used to assess the funnel chest in children, and 3D-HI>1.7 can be used as the cutoff value for surgical indication.

Assessment of ankle muscle activation by muscle synergies in healthy and post-stroke gait.

OBJECTIVE: Impaired ankle dorsal and plantar flexor function is a frequent sequela of stroke. A better assessment of ankle muscle activation would be highly significant for stroke rehabilitation. The challenge in implementing current electromyography (EMG)-based assessments is due to problems with the variability and individuality of ankle muscle EMG profiles during walking. We have been studying a new technique using the muscle synergy method to quantify the characteristics that underlie ankle muscle activation to address this issue. APPROACH: We processed surface EMG signals from ankle muscles and gait parameters collected from 20 healthy and 22 post-stroke subjects during walking. A non-negative matrix factorization algorithm was used to extract muscle synergies. MAIN RESULTS: Our results suggest a featured muscle synergy structure (R = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.83-0.85) underlying ankle muscle activation in both healthy and post-stroke subjects. The structure of the featured muscle synergy was robust in the same subjects across different conditions in the healthy group (R = 0.97, 95% CI: 0.96-0.98) and the post-stroke group (R = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.88-0.97). Compared to the stroke group, the synergy patterns of healthy subjects showed better regularity and higher inter-subject similarity (P = 0.001). In addition, the results of muscle synergies were indicative of locomotor performance. SIGNIFICANCE: The innovative quantitative results of this study can help us to better understand ankle muscle activation and will be a reference for clinical assessments and intervention studies.

Crowd Sensing-Enabling Security Service Recommendation for Social Fog Computing Systems.

Fog computing, shifting intelligence and resources from the remote cloud to edge networks, has the potential of providing low-latency for the communication from sensing data sources to users. For the objects from the Internet of Things (IoT) to the cloud, it is a new trend that the objects establish social-like relationships with each other, which efficiently brings the benefits of developed sociality to a complex environment. As fog service become more sophisticated, it will become more convenient for fog users to share their own services, resources, and data via social networks. Meanwhile, the efficient social organization can enable more flexible, secure, and collaborative networking. Aforementioned advantages make the social network a potential architecture for fog computing systems. In this paper, we design an architecture for social fog computing, in which the services of fog are provisioned based on "friend" relationships. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt at an organized fog computing system-based social model. Meanwhile, social networking enhances the complexity and security risks of fog computing services, creating difficulties of security service recommendations in social fog computing. To address this, we propose a novel crowd sensing-enabling security service provisioning method to recommend security services accurately in social fog computing systems. Simulation results show the feasibilities and efficiency of the crowd sensing-enabling security service recommendation method for social fog computing systems.

Water resources management in the urban agglomeration of the Lake Biwa region, Japan: An ecosystem services-based sustainability assessment.

An innovative ecosystem services-based sustainability assessment was conducted in the important urban agglomeration of the Lake Biwa region, Japan, covering the time period from 1950 to 2014. A 22-indicator system was established that was based on the major ecosystem services of Lake Biwa and its water courses, i.e., provisioning services regarding aquatic products and water; regulating services regarding floods and water quality; cultural services regarding recreation and tourism, scientific research, and environmental education; and supporting services regarding biodiversity. First, changes in the eight ecosystem services were discussed together with the considerable experience and difficult lessons that can be drawn from the development trajectory. Next, with the indicators rearranged according to sustainability principles, the regional sustainability over the past six-plus decades was assessed. In general, this urban agglomeration has been progressing in terms of its sustainability, although economic and social development was achieved at the cost of environmental degradation in the past, and the current economic downturn is hurting the balanced development and integrated benefits. The results lead directly to recommendations for regional development, especially in terms of economic rejuvenation, from the perspective of improving management of Lake Biwa's water resources. Moreover, the relevant knowledge is educational and inspirational for other places in the world that are facing similar development issues. For example, the effective and even pioneering countermeasures that have been taken against environmental degradation, as well as the participation and collaboration of multiple stakeholders, could be useful as a model. Moreover, the study invites increased understanding of ecosystem vulnerability to anthropogenic devastation and emphasizes the priority of precautionary measures over countermeasures in the context of holistic urban planning and sustainable urban development.

A Security Assessment Mechanism for Software-Defined Networking-Based Mobile Networks.

Software-Defined Networking-based Mobile Networks (SDN-MNs) are considered the future of 5G mobile network architecture. With the evolving cyber-attack threat, security assessments need to be performed in the network management. Due to the distinctive features of SDN-MNs, such as their dynamic nature and complexity, traditional network security assessment methodologies cannot be applied directly to SDN-MNs, and a novel security assessment methodology is needed. In this paper, an effective security assessment mechanism based on attack graphs and an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is proposed for SDN-MNs. Firstly, this paper discusses the security assessment problem of SDN-MNs and proposes a methodology using attack graphs and AHP. Secondly, to address the diversity and complexity of SDN-MNs, a novel attack graph definition and attack graph generation algorithm are proposed. In order to quantify security levels, the Node Minimal Effort (NME) is defined to quantify attack cost and derive system security levels based on NME. Thirdly, to calculate the NME of an attack graph that takes the dynamic factors of SDN-MN into consideration, we use AHP integrated with the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) as the methodology. Finally, we offer a case study to validate the proposed methodology. The case study and evaluation show the advantages of the proposed security assessment mechanism.

Mental health and social support among HIV-positive injection drug users and their caregivers in China.

The burden of HIV/AIDS in China is due to injection drug use. Non-clinical caregivers provide much of the care for HIV patients but are often not included in HIV care or research. The objective of this study is to examine the relationships between the caregiver context and mental health of HIV-positive injection drug users and their caregivers. We interviewed 96 patient-caregiver dyads using quantitative methods. A conceptual model was developed as a framework for multivariate linear regression modeling. The strongest predictor of poor patient mental health was lack of social support, which was largely determined by the caregiver's stigma towards HIV/AIDS and caregiver burden. Patient disability and caregiver burden were the primary predictors of poor caregiver mental health. The interrelated nature of caregiver and patient mental health supports the inclusion of caregiver health into the patient's HIV/AIDS treatment to maximize support provision and health for the patient and caregiver.

Assessment of Random Recruitment Assumption in Respondent-Driven Sampling in Egocentric Network Data.

BACKGROUND: One of the key assumptions in respondent-driven sampling (RDS) analysis, called "random selection assumption," is that respondents randomly recruit their peers from their personal networks. The objective of this study was to verify this assumption in the empirical data of egocentric networks. METHODS: We conducted an egocentric network study among young drug users in China, in which RDS was used to recruit this hard-to-reach population. If the random recruitment assumption holds, the RDS-estimated population proportions should be similar to the actual population proportions. Following this logic, we first calculated the population proportions of five visible variables (gender, age, education, marital status, and drug use mode) among the total drug-use alters from which the RDS sample was drawn, and then estimated the RDS-adjusted population proportions and their 95% confidence intervals in the RDS sample. Theoretically, if the random recruitment assumption holds, the 95% confidence intervals estimated in the RDS sample should include the population proportions calculated in the total drug-use alters. RESULTS: The evaluation of the RDS sample indicated its success in reaching the convergence of RDS compositions and including a broad cross-section of the hidden population. Findings demonstrate that the random selection assumption holds for three group traits, but not for two others. Specifically, egos randomly recruited subjects in different age groups, marital status, or drug use modes from their network alters, but not in gender and education levels. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the occurrence of non-random recruitment, indicating that the recruitment of subjects in this RDS study was not completely at random. Future studies are needed to assess the extent to which the population proportion estimates can be biased when the violation of the assumption occurs in some group traits in RDS samples.

Digital partnerships for health: steps to develop a community-specific health portal aimed at promoting health and well-being.

We describe the steps taken by the Harlem Health Promotion Center to develop a community-specific health web portal aimed at promoting health and well-being in Harlem. Methods and results that begin with data collection and move onto elucidating requirements for the web portal are discussed. Sentiments of distrust in medical institutions, and the desire for community specific content and resources were among the needs emanating from our data analysis. These findings guided our decision to customize social software designed to foster connections, collaborations, flexibility, and interactivity; an "architecture of participation". While, we maintain that the leveraging of social software may indeed be the way to build healthy communities and support learning and engagement in underserved communities, our conclusion calls for careful thinking, testing and evaluation research to establish best practice models for leveraging these emerging technologies to support health improvements in the community.