The need for efficient video coding technology is more important than ever in the current scenario where video applications are increasing worldwide, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices are becoming widespread. In this context, it is necessary to carefully review the recently completed MPEG-5 Essential Video Coding (EVC) standard because the EVC Baseline profile is customized to meet the specific requirements needed to process IoT video data in terms of low complexity. Nevertheless, the EVC Baseline profile has a notable disadvantage. Since it is a codec composed only of simple tools developed over 20 years, it tends to represent numerous coding artifacts. In particular, the presence of blocking artifacts at the block boundary is regarded as a critical issue that must be addressed. To address this, this paper proposes a post-filter using a block partitioning information-based Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). The proposed method in the experimental results objectively shows an approximately 0.57 dB for All-Intra (AI) and 0.37 dB for Low-Delay (LD) improvements in each configuration by the proposed method when compared to the pre-post-filter video, and the enhanced PSNR results in an overall bitrate reduction of 11.62% for AI and 10.91% for LD in the Luma and Chroma components, respectively. Due to the huge improvement in the PSNR, the proposed method significantly improved the visual quality subjectively, particularly in blocking artifacts at the coding block boundary.

BACKGROUND: Health professionals\' engagement in translational health and medical research (HMR) is fundamental to evidence-based practice leading to better patient health outcomes. However, there is a decline in the number of health professionals undertaking research which has implications for patient health and the economy. Informed by the motivation-based expectancy-value-cost (EVC) and self determination theories (SDT), this systematic literature review examined the barriers and facilitators of health professionals\' (HPs) motivation to undertake research.
METHODS: The literature was searched between 2011 and 2021 for relevant peer-reviewed articles written in English, using CINAHL Complete, Informit, Medline Ovid, Medline (PubMed), Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases. This systematic review was performed and reported in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines.
RESULTS: Identified barriers to HPs\' engagement with research included the lack of knowledge, skills, and competence to conduct research, lack of protected research time, lack of funding and lack of organisational support. Integration of the findings of this review based on the EVC and SDT theories indicate that research capacity, ie, expectancy and competence is highly influenced by attitude, ie, the type of value (attainment, intrinsic or utility) and connection attributed to research. HPs who had very positive attitude towards research demonstrated all three values and were keen to take up research despite the barriers. Those who had a positive attitude were only motivated to do research because of its utility value and did not necessarily see it as having personal relevance for themselves. HPs who were unmotivated did not see any personal connection or relatedness to the research experience and saw no value in research.
CONCLUSIONS: The attitude HPs hold in their value of research is a catalyst for motivation or amotivation to engage in research as it directly influences the relevance of barriers. Facilitators that expedite the research journey have been attributed to research training, mentorship programs and supportive organisational research culture. Motivation of HPs explored through EVC and SDT is critical to the maintenance of a research culture and the clinician-researcher development pipeline.

Ellis-van Creveld syndrome (EVC) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by chondral and ectodermal dysplasia. Clinical features may include polydactyly, growth retardation, short ribs, and heart defects. The exact prevalence is still unclear; however, the Amish community in the United States is the most common community to report this rare disease. Until now, only six cases have been reported in Saudi Arabia so far. This is the first case to be reported in the Jazan region. Jazan covers an area of 11,671 km² and has a population of 1,567,547 at the 2017 census. This region has the highest population density with a high consanguinity marriage rate. We present a case of EVC with typical clinical findings, which was confirmed by homozygous mutation in the EVC2 gene in the region of Jazan, Saudi Arabia. Besides the six cases that were reported from Saudi Arabia, this makes it a total of seven cases. The prenatal findings are considered a good predictor of the disease outcome. More effort is needed in making a national registry of rare disorders to report such cases and provide more awareness among highly consanguinity marriage communities.

Ellis-van Creveld (EvC) syndrome is an autosomal recessive disease, characterized by ectodermal, skeletal, and cardiac anomalies. We report intrafamilial phenotypic variability in three new EvC syndrome cases. Affected males in this study showed only ectodermal abnormalities, whereas an affected female showed the classical presentation of EvC Syndrome, including bilateral postaxial polydactyly of hands and feet, and congenital heart defects. Whole exome sequencing was performed to identify the causative variant, followed by validation and segregation analysis using Sanger sequencing. A homozygous deletion variant (c.731_757del) was identified in exon 6 of the EVC gene (NM_153717.2). The identified variant is considered to be the most likely candidate variant for the EvC syndrome in the family based on previous reports validating the role of EVC variants in the EvC syndrome. The disease correctly segregated in the family members, as all affected members were homozygous, and obligate carriers were heterozygous. Our family is remarkable in highlighting the variable expressivity of the EvC phenotype within the same family, due to a homozygous deletion mutation in the EVC gene. The variable expressivity might be due to the hypomorphic nature of mutation, or the presence of additional variants in modifier genes or in the regulatory regions of the EVC/EVC2 genes.

Ellis van Creveld syndrome (EVC) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder also called chondroectodermal dysplasia. This study reports on a 40-year-old woman from Iran with a syndromic appearance consisting of a coarse face, conical anterior teeth, dental agenesis and permanent teeth at birth, several small extralabial, nonmidline frenula with a high-arched palate, and a large maxillary labial frenulum. The patient had cyanosis on her lips since childhood and a history of adenoid tonsillectomy surgery. She also had androgenic alopecia, an elongated trunk with excessive lordosis and pectus excavatum, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and a history of two periods in a month. She also had multiple fibrocystic cysts in her breasts, lower extremity deformity, dysplastic genu valgum, and short limb dwarfism; she had undergone left knee surgery four times and had severe osteoporosis in some of her bones and some hyperpigmented patches on the dorsal of the left hand. Her hands and feet were also wide and markedly deformed with hypoplastic fingernails and toenails, and she had bimanual hexadactyly on the ulnar side of the hands. She also had a history of severe hypotension and cyanosis during surgery and suffered from congenital heart failure and had undergone open heart surgery for correcting her atrial heart defect. In this study pectus excavatum, Phrygian cap gallbladder, liver hemangioma, polycystic ovarian disease, and breast fibrocystic cysts was reported for first time in this case of EVC syndrome. This case was reported and all articles regarding common, uncommon, rare, and extremely rare presentations of this syndrome were reviewed.

Clinical expression of Ellis-van Creveld syndrome (EvC) is variable and mild phenotypes have been described, including patients with mostly cardiac and limb involvement. Whether these cases are part of the EvC phenotypic spectrum or separate conditions is disputed. Herein, we describe a family with vertical transmission of atrioventricular canal defect (AVCD), common atrium, and postaxial polydactyly. Targeted sequencing of EVC, EVC2, WDR35, DYNC2LI1, and DYNC2H1 identified different compound heterozygosity in EVC genotypes in the two affected members, consisting of a nonsense (p.Arg622Ter) and a missense (p.Arg663Pro) variant in the father, and the same nonsense variant and a noncanonical splice-site in-frame change (c.1316-7A>G) in the daughter. Complementary DNA sequencing, immunoblot, and immunofluorescence experiments using patient-derived fibroblasts and Evc-/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts showed that p.Arg622Ter is a loss-of-function mutation, whereas p.Arg663Pro and the splice-site change c.1316-7A>G are hypomorphic variants resulting in proteins that retain, in part, the ability to complex with EVC2. Our molecular and functional data demonstrate that at least in some cases the condition characterized as \"common atrium/AVCD with postaxial polydactyly\" is a mild form of EvC due to hypomorphic EVC mutations, further supporting the occurrence of genotype-phenotype correlations in this syndrome.

Objective: When 2 vehicles of different sizes collide, the occupants of the smaller vehicle are more likely to be injured than the occupants of the larger vehicle. The larger vehicle is both more protective of its own occupants and more aggressive toward occupants of the other vehicle. However, larger, heavier vehicles tend to be designed in ways that amplify their incompatibility with smaller, lighter vehicles (by having a higher ride height, for example). A 2012 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) concluded that fatalities caused by design incompatibility have decreased in recent years. The current study was conducted to update the 2012 IIHS analysis and to explore trends in vehicle incompatibility over time. Methods: Analyses examined deaths in crashes involving 1- to 4-year-old passenger vehicles from 1989 to 2016 collected from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). Trends in driver risk were examined by comparing driver death rates per million registered vehicle years across vehicle type and size. Trends in aggressivity were examined by comparing partner driver death rates across vehicle type and size. Results: Cars and SUVs have continued their trend toward reduced incompatibility. In 1989-1992, SUVs were 132% more likely to kill the driver in a partner car compared with when a car crashed with another car. By 2013-2016, this value had dropped to 28%. Pickups and cars remain just as incompatible in 2013-2016 as they were in 1989-1992, however (159% vs. 158%). Remaining pickup incompatibility may be largely due to excess curb weight rather than to shape or design features, because light pickups were just 23% more likely to kill the driver in a partner car compared with when a car crashed with another car. Conclusions: The trend toward reduced fleet incompatibility has continued in the latest crash data, particularly for cars and SUVs. Although pickup-car incompatibility has also decreased over time, pickups remain disproportionately aggressive toward other vehicles, possibly due to their greater average curb weight. Reducing the weight of some of the heaviest vehicles and making crash avoidance technology fitment more widespread may be promising means to reduce remaining fleet incompatibility. Identifying the source of remaining incompatibility will be important for safety improvements going forward.

Ellis-van Creveld syndrome (EvC) is a ciliopathy with cardiac anomalies, disproportionate short stature, polydactyly, dystrophic nails and oral defects. To obtain further insight into the genetics of EvC, we screened EVC/EVC2 mutations in eight Vietnamese EvC patients. All the patients had a congenital heart defect with atypical oral and/or skeletal abnormalities. One had compound heterozygous EVC2 mutations: a novel mutation c.769G > T-p.E177X in exon 6 inherited from father and another previously reported c.2476C > T-p.R826X mutation in exon 14 inherited from mother. The EVC2 mRNA expression level was significantly lower in the patient and her parents compared to controls. Another case had a novel heterozygous EVC mutation (c.1717C > G-p.S572X) in exon 12, inherited from his father. Of note, the mother without any EVC mutation on Sanger sequencing showed a lower expression level of EVC mRNA compared with controls. SNP array analysis revealed that the patient and mother had a heterozygous 16.4 kb deletion in EVC. This patient also had a heterozygous novel variant in exon 9 of EFCAB7 (c.1171 T > C-p.Y391H), inherited from his father. The atypical cardiac phenotype of this patient and the father suggested that EFCAB7 may modify the phenotype by interacting with EVC. In conclusion, we detected two novel nonsense mutations and a partial deletion of EVC/EVC2 in two Vietnamese families with EvC. Moreover, we found in one family a missense mutation of EFCAB7, a possible modifier gene in EvC and its related disorders.

Ellis-van Creveld syndrome (EvC) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by disproportionate chondrodysplasia, postaxial polydactyly, nail dystrophy, dental abnormalities and in a proportion of patients, congenital cardiac malformations. Weyers acrofacial dysostosis (Weyers) is another dominantly inherited disorder allelic to EvC syndrome but with milder phenotypes. Both disorders can result from loss-of-function mutations in either EVC or EVC2 gene, and phenotypes associated with the two gene mutations are clinically indistinguishable. We present here a clinical and molecular analysis of a Chinese family manifested specific features of EvC syndrome. Sequencing of both EVC and EVC2 identified two novel heterozygous splice site mutations c.384+5G>C in intron 3 and c.1465-1G>A in intron 10 in EVC, which were inherited from mother and father, respectively. In vitro minigene expression assay, RT-PCR and sequencing analysis demonstrated that c.384+5G>C mutation abolished normal splice site and created a new cryptic acceptor site within exon 4, whereas c.1465-1G>A mutation affected consensus splice junction site and resulted in full exon 11 skipping. These two aberrant pre-mRNA splicing processes both produced in-frame abnormal transcripts that possibly led to abolishment of important functional domains. To our knowledge, this is the first report of EVC mutations that cause EvC syndrome in Chinese population. Our data revealed that EVC splice site mutations altered splicing pattern and helped elucidate the pathogenesis of EvC syndrome.

DNA phenotyping research is one of the most emergent areas of forensic genetics. Predictions of externally visible characteristics are possible through analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms. These tools can provide police with \"intelligence\" in cases where there are no obvious suspects and unknown biological samples found at the crime scene do not result in any criminal DNA database hits. IrisPlex, an eye color prediction assay, revealed high prediction rates for blue and brown eye color in European populations. However, this is less predictive in some non-European populations, probably due to admixing. When compared to other European countries, Portugal has a relatively admixed population, resulting from a genetic influx derived from its proximity to and historical relations with numerous African territories. The aim of this work was to evaluate the utility of IrisPlex in the Portuguese population. Furthermore, the possibility of supplementing this multiplex with additional markers to also achieve skin color prediction within this population was evaluated. For that, IrisPlex was augmented with additional SNP loci. Eye and skin color prediction was estimated using the multinomial logistic regression and binomial logistic regression models, respectively. The results demonstrated eye color prediction accuracies of the IrisPlex system of 90 and 60% for brown and blue eye color, respectively, and 77% for intermediate eye color, after allele frequency adjustment. With regard to skin color, it was possible to achieve a prediction accuracy of 93%. In the future, phenotypic determination multiplexes must include additional loci to permit skin color prediction as presented in this study as this can be an advantageous tool for forensic investigation.