Aseismic and seismic impact on development of soft-sediment deformation structures in deep-marine sand-shaly Crocker fan in Sabah, NW Borneo

Abstract Soft-sediment deformation structures are present within the deep-marine fan of the West Crocker Formation, Sabah Basin, NW Borneo. Focus of this study is to highlight the impact of seismic and aseismic activities on the development of these structures and their distribution in deep-marine fan. Twenty-nine types of deformation structures were identified during the study of twelve exposed sections. These structures were grouped into five categories: i) water-escape structures, ii) sole marks, iii) clastic intrusions, iv) deformed laminations, and v) syn-depositional brittle and ductile deformation structures. The sediment deformation is interpreted to be caused either by aseismic processes like slope failure, gravity collapse, sediment overloading, density gradient, seismic induced mechanisms such as earthquakes, tectonic uplift, or combined effect of seismic and aseismic events. These structures are classified based on type of features developed during semi-consolidated phase of rock deposition. The seismite structures i.e., clastic intrusions, deformed laminations, and syn-depositional structures are correlated with active collisional tectonics during the Late Paleogene times in the Sabah Basin. In the present work, a generalized conceptual model has also been proposed for the development of soft-sediment deformation structures in a submarine fan environment. Dewatering structurers and rapid sedimentation features are associated with inner fan, load and flame structures are present within middle fan, while contorted layers, slumps and mass-transport deposits are linked with distal fan settings

FAMILIAL CAMPTODACTYLY COXA VARA PERICARDITIS SYNDROME MASQUARADING AS JUVUNILE IDIOPATHIC ARTHRITIS

The camptodactyly-arthropathy-coxa vara-pericarditis syndrome (CACP) is a rare autosomal recessive disease characterized by congenital or early-onset camptodactyly, childhood-onset non-inflammatory arthropathy associated with synovial hyperplasia, constrictive pericarditis and coxa vara. This rare disease is caused by mutations in PRG4 Gene which encodes for lubricin, a protein present in synovial fluid responsible for lubrication. The case we are reporting is of 9 and half years old boy who presented to us in pediatric Out Patient Department with early onset camptodactyly and non-inflammatory arthropathy. Synovial biopsy shows synovial hyperplasia with numerous CD68 positive multinucleated giant cells. He was discharged and physiotherapy was advised with regular follow ups

A Robust Color Image Watermarking Scheme using Chaos for Copyright Protection

An exponential growth in multimedia applications has led to fast adoption of digital watermarking phenomena to protect the copyright information and authentication of digital contents. A novel spatial domain symmetric color image robust watermarking scheme based on chaos is presented in this research. The watermark is generated using chaotic logistic map and optimized to improve inherent properties and to achieve robustness. The embedding is performed at 3 LSBs (Least Significant Bits) of all the threecolor components of the host image. The sensitivity of the chaotic watermark along with redundant embedding approach makes the entire watermarking scheme highly robust, secure and imperceptible. In this paper, various image quality analysis metrics such as homogeneity, contrast, entropy, PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio), UIQI (Universal Image Quality Index) and SSIM (Structural Similarity Index Measures) are measures to analyze proposed scheme. The proposed technique shows superior results against UIQI. Further, the watermark image with proposed scheme is tested against various image-processing attacks. The robustness of watermarked image against attacks such as cropping, filtering, adding random noises and JPEG compression, rotation, blurring, darken etc. is analyzed. The Proposed scheme shows strong results that are justified in this paper. The proposed scheme is symmetric; therefore, reversible process at extraction entails successful extraction of embedded watermark

Soft computing paradigms to find the numerical solutions of a nonlinear influenza disease model

The aim of this work is to present the numerical results of the influenza disease nonlinear system using the feed forward artificial neural networks (ANNs) along with the optimization of the combination of global and local search schemes. The genetic algorithm (GA) and active-set method (ASM), i.e., GA-ASM, are implemented as global and local search schemes. The mathematical nonlinear influenza disease system is dependent of four classes, susceptible S(u), infected I(u), recovered R(u) and cross-immune individuals C(u). For the solutions of these classes based on influenza disease system, the design of an objective function is presented using these differential system equations and its corresponding initial conditions. The optimization of this objective function is using the hybrid computing combination of GA-ASM for solving all classes of the influenza disease nonlinear system. The obtained numerical results will be compared by the Adams numerical results to check the authenticity of the designed ANN-GA-ASM. In addition, the designed approach through statistical based operators shows the consistency and stability for solving the influenza disease nonlinear system

Porous and highly responsive polymeric fabricated nanometrices for solubility enhancement of acyclovir; characterization and toxicological evaluation

Solubility is one of the major factors which affects several therapeutic mioeties in terms of their therapeutic efficacy. In the current study, we presented a porous and amorphous nanometrices system for the enhancement of the solubility of acyclovir. The polymeric network was fabricated by crosslinking polyethylene glycol-6000, polycaprolactone, and β-cyclodextrin with methacrylic acid by optimizing free radical polymerization technique using methylene bisacrylamide as a crosslinking agent. The formulated nanometrices were then characterized by zetasizer, FTIR, PXRD, Scanning electron microscopy, Thermogravimetric analysis, swelling, sol-gel fraction, drug loading, stability, solubility, and in-vitro dissolution analysis. Since the formulated system has to be administered orally, therefore to determine the in-vivo biocompatibility, nanometrices were administered orally to experimental animals. SEM images provided a rough and porous structure while PXRD showed an amorphous diffractogram of the unloaded and loaded nanometrices. Moreover, the particle size of the optimum loaded formulation was 25 nm higher than unloaded nanometrices due to the repulsion of the loaded drug. A significant loading of the drug with enhanced solubility and dissolution profiles was observed for the poorly soluble drug. The dissolution profile was quite satisfactory as compared to the marketed brand of drug which depicted that the solubility of the drug has been enhanced. Toxicity study conducted on rabbits confirmed the biocompatibility of the nanometrices. The systematic method of preparation, enhanced solubility and high dissolution profile of the formulated nanometrices may be proved as a promising technique to enhance the solubility of poorly aqueous soluble therapeutic agents

Global, regional, and national under-5 mortality, adult mortality, age-specific mortality, and life expectancy, 1970–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

BACKGROUND: Detailed assessments of mortality patterns, particularly age-specific mortality, represent a crucial input that enables health systems to target interventions to specific populations. Understanding how all-cause mortality has changed with respect to development status can identify exemplars for best practice. To accomplish this, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) estimated age-specific and sex-specific all-cause mortality between 1970 and 2016 for 195 countries and territories and at the subnational level for the five countries with a population greater than 200 million in 2016. METHODS: We have evaluated how well civil registration systems captured deaths using a set of demographic methods called death distribution methods for adults and from consideration of survey and census data for children younger than 5 years. We generated an overall assessment of completeness of registration of deaths by dividing registered deaths in each location-year by our estimate of all-age deaths generated from our overall estimation process. For 163 locations, including subnational units in countries with a population greater than 200 million with complete vital registration (VR) systems, our estimates were largely driven by the observed data, with corrections for small fluctuations in numbers and estimation for recent years where there were lags in data reporting (lags were variable by location, generally between 1 year and 6 years). For other locations, we took advantage of different data sources available to measure under-5 mortality rates (U5MR) using complete birth histories, summary birth histories, and incomplete VR with adjustments; we measured adult mortality rate (the probability of death in individuals aged 15-60 years) using adjusted incomplete VR, sibling histories, and household death recall. We used the U5MR and adult mortality rate, together with crude death rate due to HIV in the GBD model life table system, to estimate age-specific and sex-specific death rates for each location-year. Using various international databases, we identified fatal discontinuities, which we defined as increases in the death rate of more than one death per million, resulting from conflict and terrorism, natural disasters, major transport or technological accidents, and a subset of epidemic infectious diseases; these were added to estimates in the relevant years. In 47 countries with an identified peak adult prevalence for HIV/AIDS of more than 0·5% and where VR systems were less than 65% complete, we informed our estimates of age-sex-specific mortality using the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP)-Spectrum model fitted to national HIV/AIDS prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance systems. We estimated stillbirths, early neonatal, late neonatal, and childhood mortality using both survey and VR data in spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression models. We estimated abridged life tables for all location-years using age-specific death rates. We grouped locations into development quintiles based on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and analysed mortality trends by quintile. Using spline regression, we estimated the expected mortality rate for each age-sex group as a function of SDI. We identified countries with higher life expectancy than expected by comparing observed life expectancy to anticipated life expectancy on the basis of development status alone. FINDINGS: Completeness in the registration of deaths increased from 28% in 1970 to a peak of 45% in 2013; completeness was lower after 2013 because of lags in reporting. Total deaths in children younger than 5 years decreased from 1970 to 2016, and slower decreases occurred at ages 5-24 years. By contrast, numbers of adult deaths increased in each 5-year age bracket above the age of 25 years. The distribution of annualised rates of change in age-specific mortality rate differed over the period 2000 to 2016 compared with earlier decades: increasing annualised rates of change were less frequent, although rising annualised rates of change still occurred in some locations, particularly for adolescent and younger adult age groups. Rates of stillbirths and under-5 mortality both decreased globally from 1970. Evidence for global convergence of death rates was mixed; although the absolute difference between age-standardised death rates narrowed between countries at the lowest and highest levels of SDI, the ratio of these death rates-a measure of relative inequality-increased slightly. There was a strong shift between 1970 and 2016 toward higher life expectancy, most noticeably at higher levels of SDI. Among countries with populations greater than 1 million in 2016, life expectancy at birth was highest for women in Japan, at 86·9 years (95% UI 86·7-87·2), and for men in Singapore, at 81·3 years (78·8-83·7) in 2016. Male life expectancy was generally lower than female life expectancy between 1970 and 2016, an

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Forouzanfar MH, Afshin A, Alexander LT, et al. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. LANCET. 2016;388(10053):1659-1724.Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 provides an up-to-date synthesis of the evidence for risk factor exposure and the attributable burden of disease. By providing national and subnational assessments spanning the past 25 years, this study can inform debates on the importance of addressing risks in context. Methods We used the comparative risk assessment framework developed for previous iterations of the Global Burden of Disease Study to estimate attributable deaths, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and trends in exposure by age group, sex, year, and geography for 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks from 1990 to 2015. This study included 388 risk-outcome pairs that met World Cancer Research Fund-defined criteria for convincing or probable evidence. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from randomised controlled trials, cohorts, pooled cohorts, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. We developed a metric that allows comparisons of exposure across risk factors-the summary exposure value. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk level, we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We decomposed trends in attributable burden into contributions from population growth, population age structure, risk exposure, and risk-deleted cause-specific DALY rates. We characterised risk exposure in relation to a Socio-demographic Index (SDI). Findings Between 1990 and 2015, global exposure to unsafe sanitation, household air pollution, childhood underweight, childhood stunting, and smoking each decreased by more than 25%. Global exposure for several occupational risks, high body-mass index (BMI), and drug use increased by more than 25% over the same period. All risks jointly evaluated in 2015 accounted for 57.8% (95% CI 56.6-58.8) of global deaths and 41.2% (39.8-42.8) of DALYs. In 2015, the ten largest contributors to global DALYs among Level 3 risks were high systolic blood pressure (211.8 million [192.7 million to 231.1 million] global DALYs), smoking (148.6 million [134.2 million to 163.1 million]), high fasting plasma glucose (143.1 million [125.1 million to 163.5 million]), high BMI (120.1 million [83.8 million to 158.4 million]), childhood undernutrition (113.3 million [103.9 million to 123.4 million]), ambient particulate matter (103.1 million [90.8 million to 115.1 million]), high total cholesterol (88.7 million [74.6 million to 105.7 million]), household air pollution (85.6 million [66.7 million to 106.1 million]), alcohol use (85.0 million [77.2 million to 93.0 million]), and diets high in sodium (83.0 million [49.3 million to 127.5 million]). From 1990 to 2015, attributable DALYs declined for micronutrient deficiencies, childhood undernutrition, unsafe sanitation and water, and household air pollution; reductions in risk-deleted DALY rates rather than reductions in exposure drove these declines. Rising exposure contributed to notable increases in attributable DALYs from high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, occupational carcinogens, and drug use. Environmental risks and childhood undernutrition declined steadily with SDI; low physical activity, high BMI, and high fasting plasma glucose increased with SDI. In 119 countries, metabolic risks, such as high BMI and fasting plasma glucose, contributed the most attributable DALYs in 2015. Regionally, smoking still ranked among the leading five risk factors for attributable DALYs in 109 countries; childhood underweight and unsafe sex remained primary drivers of early death and disability in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Interpretation Declines in some key environmental risks have contributed to declines in critical infectious diseases. Some risks appear to be invariant to SDI. Increasing risks, including high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, drug use, and some occupational exposures, contribute to rising burden from some conditions, but also provide opportunities for intervention. Some highly preventable risks, such as smoking, remain major causes of attributable DALYs, even as exposure is declining. Public policy makers need to pay attention to the risks that are increasingly major contributors to global burden. Copyright (C) The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd