Category: Nevin Manimala

Cogn Neurodyn. 2021 Oct;15(5):897-914. doi: 10.1007/s11571-021-09667-0. Epub 2021 Feb 22.

ABSTRACT

This paper shows solicitude for the quantization synchronization of delayed chaotic master and slave neural networks under an dynamic event-triggered strategy. In virtue of a generalized Halanay-type inequality, a theoretical criterion for quasi-synchronization of master and slave neural networks is derived. Meanwhile, we can obtain an exact upper bound of synchronization error by using this criterion. Compared with output feedback controller with event triggering and quantization, the case where the controller only affected by quantization is also considered. Then, we exclude the Zeno behavior of the event-triggered controller. A sufficient criterion for the existence of the quantized output feedback controllers is also provided. A numerical example is cited to illustrate the efficiency of our theoretical criteria. In addition, some experiments of secure image communication are conducted under quasi-synchronization of master and slave neural networks.

PMID:34603550 | PMC:PMC8448828 | DOI:10.1007/s11571-021-09667-0

J Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone Syst. 2021 Sep 15;2021:5509280. doi: 10.1155/2021/5509280. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), that is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has spread rapidly worldwide since December 2019. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has a great affinity for the angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE-2) receptor, which is an essential element of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). This study is aimed at assessing the impact of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene insertion (I)/deletion (D) polymorphisms, on the susceptibility and clinical outcomes of the COVID-19 immunoinflammatory syndrome. Patients and Methods. A total of 112 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between 1 and 15 May 2020 were enrolled in the study. ACE gene allele frequencies were compared to the previously reported Turkish population comprised of 300 people.

RESULTS: The most common genotype in the patients and control group was DI with 53% and II with 42%, respectively. The difference in the presence of the D allele between the patient and control groups was statistically significant (67% vs. 42%, respectively, p < 0.0001). Severe pneumonia was observed more in patients with DI allele (31%) than DD (8%) and II (0%) (p = 0.021). The mortality rate, time to defervescence, and the hospitalization duration were not different between the genotype groups.

CONCLUSION: Genotype DI of ACE I/D polymorphism is associated with the infectious rate particularly severe pneumonia in this study conducted in the Turkish population. Therefore, ACE D/I polymorphism could affect the clinical course of COVID-19.

PMID:34603503 | PMC:PMC8448604 | DOI:10.1155/2021/5509280

J Ambient Intell Humaniz Comput. 2021 Sep 25:1-27. doi: 10.1007/s12652-021-03493-2. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Dominant emergency action should be adopted in the case of an emergency situation. Emergency is interpreted as limited time and information, harmfulness and uncertainty, and decision-makers are often critically bound by uncertainty and risk. This framework implements an emergency decision-making approach to address the emergency situation of COVID-19 in a spherical fuzzy environment. As the spherical fuzzy set (SFS) is a generalized framework of fuzzy structure to handle more uncertainty and ambiguity in decision-making problems (DMPs). Keeping in view the features of the SFSs, the purpose of this paper is to present some robust generalized operating laws in accordance with the Einstein norms. In addition, list of propose aggregation operators using Einstein operational laws under spherical fuzzy environment are developed. Furthermore, we design the algorithm based on the proposed aggregation operators to tackle the uncertainty in emergency decision making problems. Finally, numerical case study of COVID-19 as an emergency decision making is presented to demonstrate the applicability and validity of the proposed technique. Besides, the comparison of the existing and the proposed technique is established to show the effectiveness and validity of the established technique.

PMID:34603537 | PMC:PMC8475448 | DOI:10.1007/s12652-021-03493-2

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021 Sep 24;2021:6709725. doi: 10.1155/2021/6709725. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To explore the diagnostic value of homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), visceral fat index (VAI), and prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) in gestational metabolic syndrome (GMS).

METHODS: From December 2019 to March 2021,122 GMS high-risk pregnant women who received routine antenatal clinic visits and planned to give birth in our hospital were selected as the research objects. Pregnant women were divided into the GMS group (n = 79) and the control group (n = 43) according to GMS diagnostic criteria during the gestation period of 32-36 weeks. The general information such as age and gestational week of pregnant women as well as HOMA-IR, VAI, and BMI before pregnancy were compared between the two groups. The glucose and lipid metabolism indexes of pregnant women in two groups were analyzed, the detection rates of HOMA-IR, VAI, and prepregnancy BMI in GMS between the two groups were compared. Logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors for GMS in pregnant women, and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to analyze the diagnostic value of HOMA-IR, VAI, prepregnancy BMI, and the combination of the three for GMS.

RESULTS: The body weight, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure of the GMS group were higher than those of the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in age, gestational week, and height between the two groups (P > 0.05). The levels of FPG, FINS, TC, TG, LDL-C, and FFA in the GMS group were higher than the control group, the level of HDL-C in the GMS group was lower than the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The levels of HOMA-IR, VAI, and prepregnancy BMI in the GMS group were higher than those in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The positive detection rates of HOMA-IR, VAI, and prepregnancy BMI in the GMS group were 83.54%, 86.07%, and 81.01%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the positive detection rates of HOMA-IR, VAI, and prepregnancy BMI between the two groups (P > 0.05). High levels of HOMA-IR, VAI, and prepregnancy BMI were risk factors for GMS in pregnant women (P < 0.05). ROC curve showed area under the curve for HOMA-IR was 0.810, area under the curve for VAI was 0.771, and area under the curve for prepregnancy BMI was 0.749. The AUC for the combination of HOMA-IR, VAI, and prepregnancy BMI was 0.918.

CONCLUSION: HOMA-IR, VAI, and prepregnancy BMI in GMS have a high detection rate and certain diagnostic value, and the combination of the three has higher clinical value.

PMID:34603475 | PMC:PMC8486542 | DOI:10.1155/2021/6709725

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021 Sep 22;2021:9508061. doi: 10.1155/2021/9508061. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To determine the key objectives of WFAS “Technical Specifications of Acupuncture and Moxibustion: General Rules for the Drafting” (hereinafter referred to as General Rules).

METHODS: From the medical institutions, colleges, and scientific research organizations at major levels in China and overseas, leading researchers and experts in the field of acupuncture-moxibustion standardization, as well as some experienced foreign specialists in acupuncture-moxibustion, were selected as the respondents. The questionnaire was prepared by using the website of Questionnaire Star, and 60 links of the questionnaire were sent out through e-mail. Excel was used to set up the database and conduct statistical analysis.

RESULTS: Fifty-one valid questionnaires were collected with effective recovery rate of 85%, involving 9 countries (China, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, United States, and Canada) from 3 continents. Most experts agreed with us on the target people, structural elements, and text structure proposed in General Rules and held that the General Rules should emphasize the safety and international applicability and should stipulate in details the common problems (contraindications, indications, taboo crowd, target people, therapeutic effects) of various techniques and the specific contents of technical operation (manipulating techniques, selection of patient’s body position and treated areas, disinfection and environmental requirements, selection of acupuncture-moxibustion instruments, cautions, needle retention time, treatment frequency, precise location of the acupoints, treatment course) in order to enhance the practicality and operability.

CONCLUSION: The key objectives of General Rules mainly include target people, structural elements, text structure, safety requirements, common technical problems of acupuncture-moxibustion, and specific details of technical manipulations.

PMID:34603478 | PMC:PMC8483902 | DOI:10.1155/2021/9508061

J Oncol. 2021 Sep 24;2021:9959946. doi: 10.1155/2021/9959946. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The most effective treatment of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is restricted in microsatellite instability (MSI-H) subsets of advanced colorectal cancer, but MSI-H only accounts for 4-5% among them. ICIs are completely ineffective in advanced colorectal cancer patients with microsatellite stable (MSS), according to literatures published. Regorafenib is a novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKIs) that could normalize tumor blood vessels by inhibiting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor and its downstream, thus improving cytotoxic T cell infiltration in tumor microenvironment, which has a synergistic effect with ICIs. Toripalimab is a type of anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody produced by Junshi Biosciences in China. Herein, we aimed to explore the efficacy and safety of regorafenib combined with toripalimab in the third-line and beyond treatment of advanced colorectal cancer.

METHODS: We evaluated the outcomes of MSS patients with advanced colorectal cancer who received regorafenib combined with toripalimab in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from June 2019 to January 2021. These patients had previously received at least second-line treatment; the regimens were oxaliplatin and irinotecan-based chemotherapy and/or accompanied with bevacizumab or cetuximab. Thirty-three patients were treated orally with regorafenib 80 mg or 120 mg once daily for 21 days, 28 days as a cycle, combined with intravenous toripalimab until disease progression or intolerant to adverse reactions. We used the Kaplan-Meier method to estimate the rate of progression-free survival (PFS) and log-rank method to do a statistical test of the survival curve. The Cox regression model was used to analyze the influence of multiple factors on PFS. The primary endpoints were objective remission rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR). The secondary endpoints were the incidence of adverse reactions and median progression-free survival (mPFS).

RESULTS: The evaluation of treatment effects was assessed according to RECIST 1.1. Four patients (12.12%) got partial response, twelve patients (36.36%) experienced stable disease, and seventeen patients (51.52%) suffered progressive disease. ORR was 12.12% and DCR was 48.48%. mPFS was 113 days (95% CI: 0-272.1). In univariate analysis, patients who had previously received second-line treatment were significantly better than those who had received third-line or more treatment (p=0.005). Lung metastasis was a negative factor in combined therapy (p=0.032). Five patients without previous treatment of bevacizumab were effective. Previous treatment without bevacizumab showed a trend of effective when combination therapy (p=0.034). It was also a positive factor that the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG) score was 0 (p=0.034). Multivariable Cox regression analysis showed the number of previous chemotherapy lines and excision of primary lesions were independent prognostic factors. The most common treatment-related adverse reactions were hand-foot syndrome (33.33%), liver dysfunction (27.27), hypothyroidism (24.24%), fever (24.24%), fatigue (21.21%), leukopenia (15.15%), hypertension (12.12%), platelet count decreased (6.06%), diarrhea (3.03%), and myocarditis (3.03%); one patient stopped treatment as myocarditis. The incidence of grade 3/4 adverse reactions was 9.09%.

CONCLUSIONS: Regorafenib combined with toripalimab has a promising effect in the third-line and beyond treatment of advanced colorectal cancer. In the early use of combination therapy, excision of primary lesions can have a positive impact in regorafenib and toripalimab combination. This treatment-related adverse reactions are tolerant in combined therapy.

PMID:34603452 | PMC:PMC8486501 | DOI:10.1155/2021/9959946

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021 Sep 23;2021:6637810. doi: 10.1155/2021/6637810. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

Traditional Chinese drugs (TCDs) have been widely used in clinical practice in China and many other regions for thousands of years. Nowadays TCD’s bioactive ingredients and mechanisms of action are being identified. However, the lack of standardized terminologies or ontologies for the description of TCDs has hindered the interoperability and deep analysis of TCD knowledge and data. By aligning with the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO), an ISO-approved top-level ontology, we constructed a community-driven TCD ontology (TCDO) with the aim of supporting standardized TCD representation and integrated analysis. TCDO provides logical and textual definitions of TCDs, TCD categories, and the properties of TCDs (i.e., nature, flavor, toxicity, and channel tropism). More than 400 popular TCD decoction pieces (TCD-DPs) and Chinese medicinal materials (CMMs) are systematically represented. The logical TCD representation in TCDO supports computer-assisted reasoning and queries using tools such as Description Logic (DL) and SPARQL queries. Our statistical analysis of the knowledge represented in TCDO revealed scientific insights about TCDs. A total of 36 TCDs with medium or high toxicity are most densely distributed, primarily in Aconitum genus, Lamiids clade, and Fabids clade. TCD toxicity is mostly associated with the hot nature and pungent or bitter flavors and has liver, kidney, and spleen channel tropism. The three pairs of TCD flavor-nature associations (i.e., bitter-cold, pungent-warm, and sweet-neutral) were identified. The significance of these findings is discussed. TCDO has also been used to support the development of a web-based traditional Chinese medicine semantic annotation system that provides comprehensive annotation for individual TCDs. As a novel formal TCD ontology, TCDO lays out a strong foundation for more advanced TCD studies in the future.

PMID:34603473 | PMC:PMC8483929 | DOI:10.1155/2021/6637810

Rev Bras Med Trab. 2021 Aug 4;19(2):140-150. doi: 10.47626/1679-4435-2020-545. eCollection 2021 Apr-Jun.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Teachers belong to a risk group for the onset of musculoskeletal disorders, which may be justified by some work-related factors, with a direct impact on their lives.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders among elementary school teachers in Jequié, state of Bahia, Brazil, and to investigate the association of these disorders with sociodemographic, occupational, organizational and health variables.

METHODS: A cross-sectional epidemiological study with a sample of 304 elementary school teachers in Jequié. A standardized collection instrument was applied and the instrument data were analyzed using descriptive statistics procedures, with prevalence ratios and 95% confidence interval.

RESULTS: The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was 24.3% for any of the body segments, 15.5% for the back, 16.1% for the upper limbs and 12.5% for the lower limbs. There was a statistically significant association between musculoskeletal disorders and female sex, older age, black, brown and red skin, time working as a teacher of more than 14 years, presence of comorbidities, irregular sleeping pattern, consumption of alcohol and tobacco, and a regular lifestyle.

CONCLUSIONS: Teachers presented a high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in upper limbs, back, and lower limbs. In addition, associations with the investigated factors demonstrate that inadequate teaching conditions contribute negatively to teachers’ health.

PMID:34603409 | PMC:PMC8447634 | DOI:10.47626/1679-4435-2020-545

Comput Intell Neurosci. 2021 Sep 21;2021:4227346. doi: 10.1155/2021/4227346. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

For the first time and by using an entire sample, we discussed the estimation of the unknown parameters θ ₁, θ ₂, and β and the system of stress-strength reliability R=P(Y < X) for exponentiated inverted Weibull (EIW) distributions with an equivalent scale parameter supported eight methods. We will use maximum likelihood method, maximum product of spacing estimation (MPSE), minimum spacing absolute-log distance estimation (MSALDE), least square estimation (LSE), weighted least square estimation (WLSE), method of Cramér-von Mises estimation (CME), and Anderson-Darling estimation (ADE) when X and Y are two independent a scaled exponentiated inverted Weibull (EIW) distribution. Percentile bootstrap and bias-corrected percentile bootstrap confidence intervals are introduced. To pick the better method of estimation, we used the Monte Carlo simulation study for comparing the efficiency of the various estimators suggested using mean square error and interval length criterion. From cases of samples, we discovered that the results of the maximum product of spacing method are more competitive than those of the other methods. A two real-life data sets are represented demonstrating how the applicability of the methodologies proposed in real phenomena.

PMID:34603431 | PMC:PMC8481059 | DOI:10.1155/2021/4227346

Trop Med Int Health. 2021 Oct 3. doi: 10.1111/tmi.13685. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness and safety of tocilizumab, a humanized anti-interleukin-6 receptor antibody, in the treatment of critical or severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients.

METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of severe or critical COVID-19 patients (≥18 years) admitted to one hospital in Kuwait. Fifty-one patients received intravenous tocilizumab, while 78 patients received the standard of care at the same hospital. Both groups were compared for clinical improvement and in-hospital mortality.

RESULTS: The tocilizumab (TCZ) group had a significantly lower 28-day in-hospital mortality rate than the standard of care group (21.6% vs. 42.3%, respectively; p= 0.015). 55% of patients in the TCZ group clinically improved vs. 11.5% in the standard-of-care group (p< 0.001). Using Cox-proportional regression analysis, TCZ treatment was associated with a reduced risk of mortality (adjusted hazard ratio 0.25; 95% CI: 0.11 – 0.61) and increased likelihood of clinical improvement (adjusted hazard ratio 4.94; 95% CI: 2.03 – 12.0), compared to the standard of care. The median C-reactive protein, D-dimer, procalcitonin, lactate dehydrogenase, and ferritin levels in the tocilizumab group decreased significantly over the 14 days of follow-up. Secondary infections occurred in 19.6% of the TCZ group, and in 20.5% of the standard-of-care group, with no statistical significance (p =0.900).

CONCLUSION: Tocilizumab was significantly associated with better survival and greater clinical improvement in severe or critical COVID-19 patients.

PMID:34601803 | DOI:10.1111/tmi.13685