Validation and Classification of the 9-Item Voice Handicap Index (VHI-9i)

The international nine-item Voice Handicap Index (VHI-9i) is a clinically established short-scale version of the original VHI, quantifying the patients’ self-assessed vocal handicap. However, the current vocal impairment classification is based on percentiles. The main goals of this study were to establish test–retest reliability and a sound statistical basis for VHI-9i severity levels. Between 2009 and 2021, 17,660 consecutive cases were documented. A total of 416 test–retest pairs and 3661 unique cases with complete multidimensional voice diagnostics were statistically analyzed. Classification candidates were the overall self-assessed vocal impairment (VHIs) on a four-point Likert scale, the dysphonia severity index (DSI), the vocal extent measure (VEM), and the auditory–perceptual evaluation (GRB scale). The test–retest correlation of VHI-9i total scores was very high (r = 0.919, p < 0.01). Reliability was excellent regardless of gender or professional voice use, with negligible dependency on age. The VHIs correlated best with the VHI-9i, whereas statistical calculations proved that DSI, VEM, and GRB are unsuitable classification criteria. Based on ROC analysis, we suggest modifying the former VHI-9i severity categories as follows: 0 (healthy): 0 ≤ 7; 1 (mild): 8 ≤ 16; 2 (moderate): 17 ≤ 26; and 3 (severe): 27 ≤ 36

Manageability comparison: Oracle database 10g and Oracle 9i database

In this paper we performed a basic and common DBA tasks on the two products and measured the time taken and the steps required to complete each task, to assess their relative manageability. The time taken to complete the tasks was then weighted according to their frequency of use in a typical DBA workday to arrive at an overall time savings percentage.[manageability comparison] [software application] [management system]

PFGE diversity within the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus clonal lineage ST398

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Livestock has recently been identified as a new reservoir of methicillin-resistant <it>Staphylococcus aureus </it>(MRSA). Most isolates belong to ST398 and are non-typeable with PFGE using <it>Sma</it>I, making it difficult to study transmission and outbreaks. Therefore, a new PFGE using <it>Cfr</it>9I, a neoschizomer of <it>Sma</it>I was optimized and evaluated to investigate ST398 isolates.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After optimizing and evaluating the <it>Cfr</it>9I PFGE, clear and reproducible banding patterns were obtained from all previously non-typeable MRSA (NT_{<it>Sma</it>I}-MRSA) isolates. The PFGE patterns of ST398 isolates showed more diversity than with <it>spa</it>-typing and/or MLST. The PFGE results showed diversity within and between the two most prevalent <it>spa</it>-types of NT_{<it>Sma</it>I}-MRSA (t011 and t108). No match was found, when comparing banding patterns of the NT_{<it>Sma</it>I}-MRSA with 700 different PFGE types, obtained with <it>Sma</it>I digestion, in our database of more than 4000 strains. Furthermore, possible transmission among veterinarians and their family members was investigated and an outbreak of ST398 MRSA in a residential care facility was confirmed with the <it>Cfr</it>9I PFGE.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The adjusted PFGE can be used as a method for selecting important and distinct ST398 isolates for further research. The adjustments in the PFGE protocol using <it>Cfr</it>9I are easy to implement to study the ST398 clonal lineage in laboratories which already have a PFGE facility.</p

Synthesis and biological evaluation of phthalimide dithiocarbamate and dithioate derivatives as anti-proliferative and anti-angiogenic agents-I

A facile synthesis of new phthalimide dithiocarbamate and dithioate analogs 8a-j, 9a-e and 9g-j were achieved by the reaction of N-chloromethyl and N-bromoethylphthalimide with carbon disulfide (CS2) and various amines. The structures of the synthesized analogs were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, including IR, 1H NMR and 13C NMR, and ESI-HRMS techniques. The antiproliferative activity of the newly synthesized compounds was also evaluated against various human cancer cell lines. The compound 9e and 9i exhibited the highest activity against human breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 and hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. Compound 8f showed better antiproliferative effect against colon carcinoma HCT-116 and cervical carcinoma HeLa compared to thalidomide. The binding affinity to vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) of some compounds was assessed in addition to molecular docking study. Compounds 9e and 9i showed high docking score values and they significantly declined the concentration of VEGFR

Object Persistency for HEP data using an Object-Relational Database

We present an initial study of the object features of Oracle 9i - the first of the market-leading object-relational database systems that supports a true object model on the server side as well as an ODMG-style C++ language binding on the client side. We discuss how these features can be used to provide persistent object storage in the HEP environment

Computing Permutation Encodings

We consider some encodings of permutations of the first N natural numbers, discuss some relations among them and how one can be computed from others. We show a short proof of an existing efficient algorithm for one encoding, and present two new efficient algorithms for encoding permutations. One of these algorithms is constructed as the inverse of an existing algorithm for decoding, making it the first efficient permutation encoding algorithm obtained that way

Substitution of Paid Leave

Part one of this memorandum provides a summary of questions asked and comments submitted in response to the DOL request for information ( RFI ) about the substitution of paid leave for FMLA leave. Part two of this memorandum contains the relevant statutory and regulatory text. Part two also lists other sources cited in the comments about this topic