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  • Gordon posted an update 1 year, 6 months ago

    The market share of Tietê-Paraná inland waterway (TPIW) in the transport matrix of the São Paulo state, Brazil, is currently only 0.6%, but it is expected to increase to 6% over the next 20 years. In this scenario, to identify and explore potential undesired events a risk assessment is necessary. Part of this involves assigning the probability of occurrence of events, which usually is accomplished by a frequentist approach. However, in many cases, this approach is not possible due to unavailable or nonrepresentative data. This is the case of the TPIW that even though an expressive accident history is available, a frequentist approach is not suitable due to differences between current operational conditions and those met in the past. Therefore, a subjective assessment is an option as allows for working independently of the historical data, thus delivering more reliable results. In this context, this article proposes a methodology for assessing the probability of occurrence of undesired events based on expert opinion combined with fuzzy analysis. This methodology defines a criterion to weighting the experts and, using the fuzzy logic, evaluates the similarities among the experts’ beliefs to be used in the aggregation process before the defuzzification that quantifies the probability of occurrence of the events based on the experts’ opinion. Moreover, the proposed methodology is applied to the real case of the TPIW and the results obtained from the elicited experts are compared with a frequentist approach evidencing the impact on the results when considering different interpretations of the probability. © 2020 Society for Risk Analysis.This paper aims to investigate the constituent phytochemicals and biological activities of six Lithocarpus litseifolius (Hance) Chun (L. litseifolius) cultivars. Processed by UPLC-MS/MS and untargeted metabolomics analysis software (MS-DIAL and MS-FINDER), components of different L. litseifolius cultivars were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. By conducting a comprehensive analysis of spectra, MS/MS fragmentation, and retention time, 40 compounds (including 6 phenolic glycosides and 34 flavonoids) were identified rapidly and accurately. Moreover, the total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), antioxidant, antimicrobial effects, and pheochromocytoma (PC12) cell viability of different L. litseifolius varieties were evaluated. Tosedostat datasheet Purple small leaf (PSL) was found to be the most superior variety with the highest antioxidant activities (8.27, 10.09, and 10.80 mg TE/g for DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP assays, respectively), broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, and lowest cell cytotoxicity. The results showed that these bioactivities were closely related to phytochemicals among the six cultivars. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS L. litseifolius is well known as an important folk drink in the Southern China folklore for its specific efficacy in preventing diabetes. However, there is still a paucity of information on L. litseifolius, as other active components and bioactivities of it remain to be investigated. The wide range of flavonoids discovered in L. litseifolius provides abundant natural health-promoting agents for further applications in medicine and functional food. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.INTRODUCTION Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase-L3 (UCH-L3) is a deubiquitinase, which have a role in oncogenesis. This study was aim to explore the biological function of UCH-L3 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). MATERIALS AND METHODS Bioinformatics analysis was used to detect UCH-L3 expression in NSCLC tissues and normal lung tissues, and to analyze the relationship between UCH-L3 expression and survival of patients. qRT-PCR and western blotting assays were used to detect UCH-L3 expression in NSCLC tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues. CCK-8 assay was performed to examine the effect of UCH-L3 on NSCLC cell proliferation. Flow cytometry assay was conducted to examine the effect of UCH-L3 on NSCLC cell cycle and apoptosis. RESULTS The expression of UCH-L3 in NSCLC tissues was markedly higher than in normal lung tissues, and high expression of UCH-L3 was positively associated with poor survival of patients. UCH-L3 knockdown significantly inhibited the proliferation of NSCLC cells, whereas UCH-L3 overexpression had the opposite effect. Moreover, UCH-L3 promoted NSCLC cells proliferation via accelerating cell cycle and inhibiting cell apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS UCH-L3 is upregulated in NSCLC and positively associated with the poor survival, and its expression contributes to NSCLC cell proliferation by accelerating cell cycle and inhibiting cell apoptosis. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.AIMS To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Perceived Implicit Rationing of Nursing Care (PIRNCA) instrument and to report the prevalence of rationed care at university and faculty hospitals. DESIGN A cross-sectional study. METHODS The study was carried out at two university and five faculty hospitals in the Slovak Republic. Participants were 895 Registered Nurses recruited by the purposive sampling method between December 2017 and July 2018. Data were collected using the PIRNCA instrument. Construct validity and reliability of the instrument were tested. RESULTS The prevalence of rationed care at university and faculty hospitals was identified as being 42.1 %. Furthermore, 87.6 % of nurses reported rationing one or more nursing care activities. Using both statistical methods when evaluating the PIRNCA resulted in the confirmation that the tool is valid and reliable. CONCLUSION Rationed care is a common phenomenon at university and faculty hospitals. The PIRNCA is a suitable instrument to measure the phenomenon in adult acute care units because of its high reliability and validity. We recommend using the instrument in different contexts, not only for specific conditions that were presented for this study. IMPACT Rationed care at university and faculty hospitals has never been reported. Psychometric properties of the instrument that measures nurses’ perception of rationed care have never been evaluated by using different approaches. The most frequently rationed nursing care activities are those that nurses are competent to initiate on the basis of their knowledge and skills – the independent ones. The PIRNCA is a valid and reliable instrument. Hospital management can use the instrument to explore the prevalence of rationed care, followed by the application of prevention strategies. Our findings represent the base for further exploration of rationed care using the PIRNCA. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

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