The Nocturnal Frontal Lobe Epilepsy (NFLE) is a form of epilepsy in which seizures occur predominantly during sleep. In other forms of epilepsy, the commonly used clinical approach mainly involves manual inspection of encephalography (EEG) signals, a laborious and time-consuming process which often requires the contribution of more than one experienced neurologist. In the last decades, numerous approaches to automate this detection have been proposed and, more recently, machine learning has shown...
An adult with surgically corrected Tetralogy of Fallot presented with profoundly elevated central venous pressure (CVP) and acute renal dysfunction thought secondary to acute on chronic right heart failure. Treatment with dopamine promoted diuresis and a stabilization of renal function. Repeated attempts to wean the patient from dopamine were associated with hypotension and worsening renal failure. Invasive hemodynamic assessment unexpectedly demonstrated high cardiac output with low systemic vascular...
Takotsubo or stress cardiomyopathy is a non ischemic disease affecting the myocardium, which presents with typical features of myocardial ischemia. Although the presentation with acute central chest pain and shortness of breath mimics acute myocardial ischemia, there is an absence of actual disruption of cardiac blood supply via the coronaries due to acute plaque rupture or vascular spasm. The underlying pathophysiology of this clinical entity remains largely unclear, but a definite association with...
Background. Intimate partner violence during pregnancy is the most common and major public health problem and human rights issue worldwide and has a negative effect on the lives of both mother and fetus. Despite its prominence, this issue has received little attention in Ethiopia as well as many sub-Saharan African countries. This study assessed the magnitude of intimate partner violence and associated factors among pregnant women in Ofla District, Tigray, Ethiopia. Methods. A facility-based cross-sectional...
Aims. This study is aimed at assessing the association of previously developed indices of glucose homeostasis derived from principal component analysis (PCA) with parameters of insulin action, secretion, and beta cell function during pregnancy. Methods. In this prospective longitudinal study, an oral glucose tolerance test was performed in sixty-seven pregnant women at two prepartum (12+0 to 22+6 and 24+0 to 28+6) and one postpartum (2 to 11 months) visits. Three principal component scores (PCS)...
Periodontitis is an infectious disease whereby the chronic inflammatory process of the periodontium stimulated by bacterial products induces specific host cell responses. The activation of the host cell immune system upregulates the production of inflammatory mediators, comprising cytokines and proteolytic enzymes, which contribute to inflammation and bone destruction. It has been well known that periodontitis is related to systemic inflammation which links to numerous systemic diseases, including...
In this paper, thermo-diffusion (Soret effect) and diffusion-thermo (Dufour effect) effects on double-diffusive natural convection induced in a horizontal Brinkman porous layer with a stress-free upper boundary are investigated. The cavity is filled with a binary fluid and subjected to uniform fluxes of heat and mass on its long sides. An analytical solution based on the parallel flow approximation is developed for the problem considered in order to allow prompt determination of the thresholds of...
The present study investigated the effect of Chinese medicine Sini-San (SNS) on visceral hypersensitivity in a rat model of functional dyspepsia (FD), and it explored related underlying mechanisms. The rat model of FD was developed by combining neonatal iodoacetamide (IA) treatment and adult tail-clamping. After SNS treatment, the behavior and electromyographic testing were performed to evaluate the visceromotor responses of rats to gastric distention. Immunofluorescence was used to detect the distribution...
The soft computing models used for predicting land surface temperature (LST) changes are very useful to evaluate and forecast the rapidly changing climate of the world. In this study, four soft computing techniques, namely, multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), wavelet neural network (WNN), adaptive neurofuzzy inference system (ANFIS), and dynamic evolving neurofuzzy inference system (DENFIS), are applied and compared to find the best model that can be used to predict the LST changes of...
Objective. To evaluate epidemiologic, clinical, cytological, and ultrasonographic features of thyroid nodules in a sample French Afro-Caribbean population to determine if the standard criteria for predicting malignancy risk are applicable to this specific ethnic population. Methods and Design. This retrospectively designed study consisted of 442 patients who had consulted with the Endocrinology Department in Martinique (French overseas department) between 2007 and 2011. Of the 442 patients, 641 ultrasound-guided...
The fatigue properties of concrete beams reinforced with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer-optical fiber Bragg grating (CFRP-OFBG) plates under three-point bending constant cyclic loading were experimentally studied. According to the experimental findings, the mechanism of fatigue failure in reinforced beams was presented, and the corresponding empirical equations were established for the prediction of the fatigue lives of these components. Besides, based on the real-time monitoring data of the intelligent...
Cholesterol oxidase is an alcohol oxidoreductase flavoprotein with wide biotechnological applications. The current work describes the isolation of a potential cholesterol oxidase producing streptomycete from Egyptian soil. The isolated strain produced cholesterol oxidase in submerged culture using a medium containing glucose, yeast extract, malt extract, and CaCO3 with the addition of cholesterol as an inducer. The isolated strain was identified as Streptomyces rochei NAM-19 based on 16S rRNA sequencing...
In order to improve the efficiency of conformance checking in business process management, a business alignment approach is presented based on transition systems between relation matrices and Petri nets. Firstly, a log-based relation matrix of the events is obtained according to the event log. Then, the events in the relation matrix are observed and the transitions in the model are firing, and the activities in the log and in the model are compared. Next, the states of the log and the model are recorded...
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short and noncoding RNA fragments that bind to the messenger RNA. They have different roles in many physiological or pathological processes. MicroRNA-21, one of the first miRNAs discovered, is encoded by the MIR21 gene and is located on the chromosomal positive strand 17q23.2. MicroRNA-21 is transcribed by polymerase II and has its own promoter sequence, although it is in an intron. It is intra- and extracellular and can be found in many body fluids, alone or combined with...
CXCL14 is a relatively novel chemokine with a wide spectrum of biological activities. The present study was designed to investigate whether CXCL14 overexpression attenuates sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) in mice. Sepsis model has been established by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). CLP induced AKI in mice as assessed by increased renal neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) expression and serum creatinine levels. We found that renal CXCL14 expression in the kidney was significantly...
This work is part of the dynamic of proposing a solution to the problem of access to electricity in Chad, which has a rate of access to electricity of 3%. N’Djamena has significant solar potential that can be harnessed to generate electricity. In this paper, we present a theoretical study of the performances of the Dish/Stirling system with the purpose of producing electricity, based on a mathematical model taking into account each of the subparts of the system (concentrator, solar cavity receiver,...
Inflammatory markers are susceptible to changes over time. Thus, we observed changes in inflammatory markers correlating with age-related increases in blood pressure (BP) through a prospective study. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in inflammatory markers that correlate with age-related increases in BP. The study included 1,500 nondiabetic and normotensive healthy subjects at baseline. Of these, 121 individuals who developed hypertension (defined as systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic...
Colon cancer is the third most common cancer, with a high incidence and mortality. Construction of a specific and sensitive prediction model for prognosis is urgently needed. In this study, profiles of patients with colon cancer with clinical and gene expression data were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). CXC chemokines in patients with colon cancer were investigated by differential expression gene analysis, overall survival analysis, receiver operating characteristic...
This study proposes an efficient and fast method of scanning (e.g., television (TV) scan) coupled with digital image processing technology to replace the conventional slow-scan mode as a standard model of acquisition for general-purpose scanning electron microscopy (SEM). SEM images obtained using the proposed method had the same quality in terms of sharpness and noise as slow-scan images, and it was able to suppress the adverse effects of charging in a full-vacuum condition, which is a challenging...
In this article, we introduce some of the mathematical properties of the second Appell hypergeometric matrix function F2(A, B1, B2, C1, C2; z, ) including integral representations, transformation formulas, and series formulas.
Chronic cough is a frequently encountered condition with multiple etiologies. In patients with neurogenic chronic cough, peripheral laryngopharyngeal hypersensitivity of the vagus nerve stimulates the cough reflex. We present three cases of “Oto-tricho-tussia,” describing hair within the ear canal stimulating Arnold’s branch of the vagus nerve and triggering the urge-to-cough. All three patients experienced significant improvement or complete resolution of their cough symptoms after removal of the...
Spontaneous ruptures of dermoid cysts are a rare occurrence due to their thick capsules. This is the first systematic review on spontaneously ruptured dermoid cysts. A comprehensive literature search was performed from PubMed, Google Scholar, and MEDLINE. The cases were analysed for patient demographics, presenting signs and symptoms, imaging modalities used, management methods, and outcomes. The majority of cases report an idiopathic cause with symptoms of abdominal pain, distension, and fever....
Primary thyroid angiosarcoma is a rare malignant tumor and characterized by its prevalence in Alpine regions of Central Europe, close relation to longstanding goiter, and aggressive clinical course with dismal prognosis. We describe the case of an 83-year-old Chinese female who lives in the coastal area of Taiwan. She came to our hospital due to a progressively enlarged mass at her anterior neck. The sonography of the thyroid revealed a well-circumscribed mass in the left lobe. She underwent left...
Objectives. The primary aim of our study was to evaluate long-term efficacy of secukinumab (SCK) in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA); secondary aims were to evaluate drug retention rate and to identify differences in the clinical and laboratory assessment according to axSpA clinical features, dosage administered, and biologic treatment lines. Patients and Methods. We collected clinical, demographical, and treatment data from 39 patients affected by axSpA consecutively treated with SCK....
Background. Parkinson’s disease is associated with impaired ability to recognize emotional facial expressions. In addition to a visual processing disorder, a visual recognition disorder may be involved in these patients. Pareidolia is a type of complex visual illusion that permits the interpretation of a vague stimulus as something known to the observer. Parkinson’s patients experience pareidolic illusions. N170 and N250 waveforms are two event-related potentials (ERPs) involved in emotional facial...
Background. Recent studies have suggested that cell death might be involved in the pathophysiology of metabolic disorders. The cytokeratin 18 (CK18) fragment, as a cell death marker, plays an important role in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, only a limited number of studies have found elevated serum levels of CK18 in patients with type 2 diabetes. Moreover, no studies have been conducted yet to investigate the role of CK18 in hypertension or dyslipidemia. In particular, CK18 M65ED...
Weathering is one of the important geological hazards to many stone cultural relics carved on feldspar sandstone (such as the Datong Yungang Grottoes). To study the mechanical properties of the weathered Yungang Grottoes, feldspar sandstone was subjected to comparative dry-wet cycle tests with water-rock interaction (Group A) and salt-rock interaction (Group B). The variation patterns of the macroscopic physical and mechanical parameters as well as the micro/mesoscopic structures of the two groups...
The dynamics of protection processes has been a fundamental challenge in systemic risk analysis. The conceptual principle and methodological techniques behind the mechanisms involved (in such dynamics) have been harder to grasp than researchers understood them to be. In this paper, we show how to construct a large variety of behaviors by applying a simple algorithm to networked agents, which could, conceivably, offer a straightforward way out of the complexity. The model starts with the probability...
Introduction. There is a higher prevalence of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in rural Australia and a poorer perceived quality of life of rural Australians with PD. Coordinated multidisciplinary teams specialised and experienced in the treatment of PD are recommended as the preferred model of care best able to manage the complexities of this disorder. There remains a lack of team-based specialised PD services in rural Australia available to people living with PD. This study aims to explore how the lack...
The paper studies the influence of piezoelectric materials and structural parameters on the electromechanical conversion characteristics of the piezoelectric vibrator. Employing the mechanical theory of Euler–Bernoulli beam, the mechanical vibration and circuit balance equation are obtained about the single-step variable cross-section bimorph piezoelectric vibrator under the condition of external resistance, and the analytical equations are derived for the displacement, output voltage, and conversion...
The present work aims to elaborate many juice formulas (F1 to F8) from two dried fruits (jujubes: Ziziphus lotus L. and dates: Phoenix dactylifera L.). Physicochemical and biochemical characterization of the formula juices shows that juices rich in dates fruits (F1, F3, F5, and F7) are loaded, on average, in total sugars (129.5 g/l), proteins (3.02 g/l), lipids (1.08 g/l), and carotenoid (0.02 mg/l), while juices rich in jujube fruits (F2, F4, F6, and F8) are overloaded, on average, in phenolic compounds...
Objectives. Statin-induced myopathy is one of the major causes of poor adherence and discontinuation of this medication. There are contrary results regarding association of vitamin D insufficiency with statin-induced myopathy. This study was done to determine the effect of the vitamin D3 analogue alfacalcidol on Rosuvastatin-induced myopathy in rats. Methodology. Animals were divided into six groups with 6 rats in each group. Groups I and II acted as controls, Group III and Group IV were administered...
Background. Organic tin compounds (OTCs), a group of high-risk hazardous substances, are highly concerned in safety regulation of consumer products especially for toys because they can cause serious damage to organs after prolonged or repeated exposure. Gastric juice migration is nowadays widely implemented to assess organic tin intake from toys or food-contact materials; however, the followed up detection method using sodium tetraethylborate [NaB(Et4)] as a derivatization agent may directly lead...
The αvβ3 integrin receptors have high expression on proliferating growing tumor cells of different origins including non-small-cell lung cancer. RGD-containing peptides target the extracellular domain of integrin receptors. This specific targeting makes these short sequences a suitable nominee for theranostic application. DOTA-E(cRGDfK)2 was radiolabeled with 68Ga efficiently. The in vivo and in vitro stability was examined in different buffer systems. Metabolic stability was assessed in mice urine....
The Model Predictive Control technique is widely used for optimizing the performance of constrained multi-input multi-output processes. However, due to its mathematical complexity and heavy computation effort, it is mainly suitable in processes with slow dynamics. Based on the Exact Penalization Theorem, this paper presents a discrete-time state-space Model Predictive Control strategy with a relaxed performance index, where the constraints are implicitly defined in the weighting matrices, computed...
A method for identifying software data flow vulnerabilities is proposed based on the dendritic cell algorithm and the improved convolutional neural network to effectively solve the transmission errors in software data flow. In this method, we first gave the software data flow propagation model and constructed the data propagation tree structure. Secondly, we analyzed the running characteristics of the software, took the interaction among indexes into account, and identified data flow vulnerabilities...
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