Altered Taste Function in Young Individuals With Type 1 Diabetes

Past studies on altered taste function in individuals with type 1 diabetes have yielded inconsistent results. We therefore evaluated taste recognition and possible association with personal and diseases characteristics in young individuals with type 1 diabetes and healthy controls. Taste recognition and intensity for 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP), quinine, citric acid, sucrose, and sodium chloride were assessed using a filter paper method in 276 participants with type 1 diabetes and 147 healthy controls. Personal and clinical data were recorded for all participants during a baseline visit. Regression analysis was adjusted for sex, age, and standardized BMI. Overall, 47% of participants with type 1 diabetes vs. 63.5% of healthy controls recognized all tastes (p = 0.006). Moreover, a lower capacity for recognizing the bitter taste of PROP and the sour taste of citric acid was found in participants with type 1 diabetes compared to healthy controls (p = 0.014 and p = 0.003, respectively). While no significant effect of glycemic control on taste recognition was found, an association with lower age at onset emerged. Our findings suggest an impaired taste perception in individuals with type 1 diabetes, possibly linked to age at onset.

The Effect of 3D Image Virtual Reconstruction Based on Visual Communication

Considering the problems of poor effect, long reconstruction time, large mean square error (MSE), low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and structural similarity index (SSIM) of traditional methods in three-dimensional (3D) image virtual reconstruction, the effect of 3D image virtual reconstruction based on visual communication is proposed. Using the distribution set of 3D image visual communication feature points, the feature point components of 3D image virtual reconstruction are obtained. By iterating the 3D image visual communication information, the features of 3D image virtual reconstruction in visual communication are decomposed, and the 3D image visual communication model is constructed. Based on the calculation of the difference of 3D image texture feature points, the spatial position relationship of 3D image feature points after virtual reconstruction is calculated to complete the texture mapping of 3D image. The deep texture feature points of 3D image are extracted. According to the description coefficient of 3D image virtual reconstruction in visual communication, the virtual reconstruction results of 3D image are constrained. The virtual reconstruction algorithm of 3D image is designed to realize the virtual reconstruction of 3D image. The results show that when the number of samples is 200, the virtual reconstruction time of this paper method is 2.1 s, and the system running time is 5 s; the SNR of the virtual reconstruction is 35.5 db. The MSE of 3D image virtual reconstruction is 3%, and the SSIM of virtual reconstruction is 1.38%, which shows that this paper method can effectively improve the ability of 3D image virtual reconstruction.

Childhood imaginary companion and schizotypy in adolescents

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the role of childhood Imaginary Companion (IC) in schizotypy levels of adolescents within the framework of the Hierarchical Taxonomy Of Psychopathology (HiTOP).Method: Subjects were 96 adolescents (15 to 18 years old) voluntarily participating via either e-questionnaires on a website (N=56) or pen-paper method (N=40). Participants (61 females) were grouped based on the status of their childhood IC (with or without). Schizotypy dimensions scores were compared between these two groups. Thought Problems and Withdrawn/Depressed scores of ASEBA-YSR questionnaire were used as two scales to measure Thought Disorder and Detachment spectra of HiTOP model. Scores of these two spectra were compared between IC and non-IC groups. These two spectra were also correlated with Unusual Experiences (UnEx) and Introvertive Anhedonia (IntAn) dimensions of O-LIFE schizotypy inventory. Data collection was administered using a researcher-made questionnaire for IC status, Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE) for schizotypy dimensions, and Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment-Youth Self-Report (ASEBA-YSR) for Thought Disorder and Detachment spectra of HiTOP model.Results: UnEx dimension and overall schizotypy score of IC group were higher than non-IC group. There is positive correlation between UnEx dimension and Thought disorder spectrum.

Soil water characteristic curve of a compacted A-7-5 tropical red earth soil

Soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) is a very important property of unsaturated soil and by extension tropical red earth soils. This is because several other important soils’ properties can be related to it. The Filter paper method was employed in the determination of the A-7-5(5) tropical red earth WCC. The gravimetric water content was utilized in the computation of the SWCC. Four models, Fredlund and Xing (1994), FX; Van Genuchten (1980), VG; Brooks and Corey (1964), BC; and Kosugi (1996), K were used to estimate the SWCCs of the soil and the minimum SSEnorm (MSSE), Average Relative Error (ARE), and R2 values were used to determine the most suitable model for predicting the SWCC. Results show that all four models can be used to predict A-7-5(5) WCC as they all had R2 value greater than 89% although BC and K models perform best with coefficient of determination of over 97%. MSSE and ARE% were also significantly low for BC and K models.

Smartphone assisted oral health data recording – an android based software application development

Background. Smartphone compared to the traditional pen-paper method could enhance oral health data recording procedure by reducing the cost of data collection, risk of data loss, early detection of errors and reducing data entry time. The present research developed a mobile/tablet-based software application to capture oral health data and test its adaptability and operations in oral health surveys. Methods. A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among the general population of Sanwer town, Indore district. The initial testing of the application was done on 120 individuals. A random sampling (lottery method) followed by a systematic sampling strategy was employed to select 120 households. A “one per household” design was implemented for the survey. The initial oral health data collection was done using mobile-assisted software application followed by a second examination scheduled after 15 days on the same participants using the conventional Pen-paper method to collect oral health data. Results. Six Investigator Recorder (IR) teams conducted the oral health data collection. Data collection through Smartphone-based application displayed less meantime (3.57 minutes) in comparison to pen-paper method (4.87 minutes) (p≤0.001). Survey team response showed the majority of investigators having strong agreement on user satisfaction and speed of data entry using software application. Conclusion. The initial testing of mobile-assisted recording system (MARS) efficiently captured oral health data among the general population with wide variations in oral disease level. The application facilitated minimal or no wastage of paper and had a high level of user-satisfaction, accuracy, speed of entry and low potential for any data loss.

The Influence of Drying-Wetting Cycles on the Suction Stress of Compacted Loess and the Associated Microscopic Mechanism

To better understand and analyze the unsaturated stability of loess filling body, it is necessary to study the changes in suction stress before and after the drying-wetting cycles. In this study, the SWCC of compacted loess before and after drying-wetting cycles was tested using the filter paper method. Then, the suction stress was calculated and the microstructure of the loess sample was determined by the SEM and NMR. The results showed that the drying-wetting cycles had an important influence on the SSCC and microstructure of compacted loess. The change in suction stress before and after the drying-wetting cycles can be well explained by the loess microstructure. The drying-wetting cycles did not significantly change the basic trend of the compacted loess’s SSCC, but it increased the porosity and the dominant pore diameter of loess, and reduced the suction stress under the same matric suction. The main significant change in suction stress with matric suction occurred within the range of the dominant soil pores. The larger the dominant pore diameter, the smaller the suction stress under the same matric suction. In addition, this study proposes a new method for calculating suction stress based on the PSD parameters.