Mining network-level properties of Twitter altmetrics data

© 2019, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary. Social networking sites play a significant role in altmetrics. While 90% of all altmetric mentions come from Twitter, the known microscopic and macroscopic properties of Twitter altmetrics data are limited. In this study, we present a large-scale analysis of Twitter altmetrics data using social network analysis techniques on the ‘mention’ network of Twitter users. Exploiting the network-level properties of over 1.4 million tweets, corresponding to 77,757 scholarly articles, this study focuses on the following aspects of Twitter altmetrics data: (a) the influence of organizational accounts; (b) the formation of disciplinary communities; (c) the cross-disciplinary interaction among Twitter users; (d) the network motifs of influential Twitter users; and (e) testing the small-world property. The results show that Twitter-based social media communities have unique characteristics, which may affect social media usage counts either directly or indirectly. Therefore, instead of treating altmetrics data as a black box, the underlying social media networks, which may either inflate or deflate social media usage counts, need further scrutiny

Biochemical markers as diagnostic/prognostic indicators for ischemic disease

Objective: The use of a biomarker was extremely useful in clinical emergencies such as stroke to aid in triage and early management of cases. The diagnostic accuracy of laboratory biomarkers is run to approve the identification of easy, cheap and fast tests associated with cerebral ischemia and intracranial hemorrhage. The present study was designed to screen serum enolase activity, activities of CK-BB, LDH and lipid profile in patients with ischemic or related diseases as good diagnostic/ prognostic indicator for ischemic diseases. Methods: Sixty male subjects in the age range of (45 ±2years) were divided into four groups each with 15 participants: Group (I) normal . Group (II) patients recently diagnosed as ischemic disease; Group (III) hypertensive patients and Group (IV); diabetic patients enolase activity (p<0.001) and CK-BB (p<0.01) in ischemic and hypertensive patients compared with control and diabetic groups. LDH level was significantly elevated in ischemic, hypertensive and diabetic patients compared with controls (p<0.001). The cut -off value for serum enolase was 62.5 nmol/l showing 90% sensitivity and 93% specificity for differentiation of ischemic disease. Positive correlations were observed between serum enolase (r = 0.56), and CK-BB (r = 0.53). Conclusion: Serum enolase can be considered as a more sensitive and specific marker and used as a sensitive diagnostic or prognostic marker for ischemic related diseases.Keywords: Serum enolase, ischemia, hypertension, diagnosis, prognostic

The Effect of Simulation on Iranian Elementary EFL Learners’ Willingness to Communicate

Little research has so far concentrated on the virtual reality settings for elementary learners using language effectively in real situations. Although previous research has focused on the benefits of using simulation in EFL classrooms by using real objects or visual games by providing these objects, it is costly and difficult for teachers. This study is intended to explore an applicable and effective model of simulated situations for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners and investigate the effects of the simulated environment on the learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC). For this research, 300 elementary-level EFL learners were chosen. A Key English Test (KET) was performed to ascertain homogeneity among the learners. Having done so, the learners were classified into experimental and control groups. A WTC questionnaire created by Macintyre et al. (2001) was employed, after validation through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and modeling, as an instrument to obtain primary data. The outcomes of Mann-Whitney U test revealed that the simulated environment had positive effects on the participants' WTC. The findings of this study suggest that understanding how a simulated environment affects EFL learners' success in speaking proficiency can help institutes to provide such environments for EFL learners and instructors. This method can be presented at various levels of English proficiency. The focus of this research was mainly on speaking skills; therefore, similar studies can be conducted regarding other language skills, e.g., writing, listening, and reading

Sacred activism through seva and khidmat: Contextualising management and organisations in South Asia

What if our actions were imbued with the sacred? What if activism in organisations evokes better local society and responsible global community? What if sacred activism signals the performance of a deeper understanding and mindful actions for contextualising management and organisations in South Asia? These are some of the questions we pose to scholars and practitioners as we seek to present the multiplexities and singularities that epitomise South Asia. We address the braided realities and opportunities presented by religion, culture, ethnicity, gender and governance to contextualise organisations and management among the 1.67 billion people who constitute South Asia. We calligraph our interpretations and future possibilities based on historical traditions and extant data, mindful that some parts of this vast region are grappling with religious radicalisation, East-West tensions, underdevelopment, low literacy rates, violence against women, and international debts and handouts. This heterogeneous region also has a major BRICS country (i.e., India), provides CEOs to the world, scientists to NASA, outsourcing facilities to global corporations, has a young population, a huge middle class, and is actively participating in mergers and acquisitions in the global corridors of commerce. Our poignant hope is to inform and suggest possibilities for constructing enriching engagements and research in this region

Biochemical markers as diagnostic/prognostic indicators for ischemic disease

Objective: The use of a biomarker was extremely useful in clinical emergencies such as stroke to aid in triage and early management of cases. The diagnostic accuracy of laboratory biomarkers is run to approve the identification of easy, cheap and fast tests associated with cerebral ischemia and intracranial hemorrhage. The present study was designed to screen serum enolase activity, activities of CK-BB, LDH and lipid profile in patients with ischemic or related diseases as good diagnostic/ prognostic indicator for ischemic diseases. Methods: Sixty male subjects in the age range of (45 \ub12years) were divided into four groups each with 15 participants: Group (I) normal . Group (II) patients recently diagnosed as ischemic disease; Group (III) hypertensive patients and Group (IV); diabetic patients enolase activity (p<0.001) and CK-BB (p<0.01) in ischemic and hypertensive patients compared with control and diabetic groups. LDH level was significantly elevated in ischemic, hypertensive and diabetic patients compared with controls (p<0.001). The cut -off value for serum enolase was 62.5 nmol/l showing 90% sensitivity and 93% specificity for differentiation of ischemic disease. Positive correlations were observed between serum enolase (r = 0.56), and CK-BB (r = 0.53). Conclusion: Serum enolase can be considered as a more sensitive and specific marker and used as a sensitive diagnostic or prognostic marker for ischemic related diseases

Comparative assessment of insecticide resistance phenotypes in two major malaria vectors, Anopheles funestus and Anopheles arabiensis in south-eastern Tanzania

Background: Long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) have greatly reduced malaria transmission in sub-Saharan Africa, but are threatened by insecticide resistance. In south-eastern Tanzania, pyrethroid-resistant Anopheles funestus are now implicated in > 80% of malaria infections, even in villages where the species occurs at lower densities than the other vector, Anopheles arabiensis. This study compared the insecticide resistance phenotypes between the two malaria vectors in an area where pyrethroid-LLINs are widely used. Methods: The study used the World Health Organization (WHO) assays with 1×, 5× and 10× insecticide doses to assess levels of resistance, followed by synergist bioassays to understand possible mechanisms of the observed resistance phenotypes. The tests involved adult mosquitoes collected from three villages across two districts in south-eastern Tanzania and included four insecticide classes. Findings: At baseline doses (1×), both species were resistant to the two candidate pyrethroids (permethrin and deltamethrin), but susceptible to the organophosphate (pirimiphos-methyl). Anopheles funestus, but not An. arabiensis was also resistant to the carbamate (bendiocarb). Both species were resistant to DDT in all villages except in one village where An. arabiensis was susceptible. Anopheles funestus showed strong resistance to pyrethroids, surviving the 5× and 10× doses, while An. arabiensis reverted to susceptibility at the 5× dose. Pre-exposure to the synergist, piperonyl butoxide (PBO), enhanced the potency of the pyrethroids against both species and resulted in full susceptibility of An. arabiensis (> 98% mortality). However, for An. funestus from two villages, permethrin-associated mortalities after pre-exposure to PBO only exceeded 90% but not 98%. Conclusions: In south-eastern Tanzania, where An. funestus dominates malaria transmission, the species also has much stronger resistance to pyrethroids than its counterpart, An. arabiensis, and can survive more classes of insecticides. The pyrethroid resistance in both species appears to be mostly metabolic and may be partially addressed using synergists, e.g. PBO. These findings may explain the continued persistence and dominance of An. funestus despite widespread use of pyrethroid-treated LLINs, and inform new intervention choices for such settings. In short and medium-term, these may include PBO-based LLINs or improved IRS with compounds to which the vectors are still susceptible

Elimination of Schistosomiasis Transmission in Zanzibar: Baseline Findings before the Onset of a Randomized Intervention Trial.

Gaining and sustaining control of schistosomiasis and, whenever feasible, achieving local elimination are the year 2020 targets set by the World Health Organization. In Zanzibar, various institutions and stakeholders have joined forces to eliminate urogenital schistosomiasis within 5 years. We report baseline findings before the onset of a randomized intervention trial designed to assess the differential impact of community-based praziquantel administration, snail control, and behavior change interventions. In early 2012, a baseline parasitological survey was conducted in ∼20,000 people from 90 communities in Unguja and Pemba. Risk factors for schistosomiasis were assessed by administering a questionnaire to adults. In selected communities, local knowledge about schistosomiasis transmission and prevention was determined in focus group discussions and in-depths interviews. Intermediate host snails were collected and examined for shedding of cercariae. The baseline Schistosoma haematobium prevalence in school children and adults was 4.3% (range: 0-19.7%) and 2.7% (range: 0-26.5%) in Unguja, and 8.9% (range: 0-31.8%) and 5.5% (range: 0-23.4%) in Pemba, respectively. Heavy infections were detected in 15.1% and 35.6% of the positive school children in Unguja and Pemba, respectively. Males were at higher risk than females (odds ratio (OR): 1.45; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.03-2.03). Decreasing adult age (OR: 1.04; CI: 1.02-1.06), being born in Pemba (OR: 1.48; CI: 1.02-2.13) or Tanzania (OR: 2.36; CI: 1.16-4.78), and use of freshwater (OR: 2.15; CI: 1.53-3.03) showed higher odds of infection. Community knowledge about schistosomiasis was low. Only few infected Bulinus snails were found. The relatively low S. haematobium prevalence in Zanzibar is a promising starting point for elimination. However, there is a need to improve community knowledge about disease transmission and prevention. Control measures tailored to the local context, placing particular attention to hot-spot areas, high-risk groups, and individuals, will be necessary if elimination is to be achieved

Detection of malaria parasites in dried human blood spots using mid-infrared spectroscopy and logistic regression analysis

Background: Epidemiological surveys of malaria currently rely on microscopy, polymerase chain reaction assays (PCR) or rapid diagnostic test kits for Plasmodium infections (RDTs). This study investigated whether mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy coupled with supervised machine learning could constitute an alternative method for rapid malaria screening, directly from dried human blood spots. Methods: Filter papers containing dried blood spots (DBS) were obtained from a cross-sectional malaria survey in 12 wards in southeastern Tanzania in 2018/19. The DBS were scanned using attenuated total reflection-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectrometer to obtain high-resolution MIR spectra in the range 4000 cm−1 to 500 cm−1. The spectra were cleaned to compensate for atmospheric water vapour and CO2 interference bands and used to train different classification algorithms to distinguish between malaria-positive and malaria-negative DBS papers based on PCR test results as reference. The analysis considered 296 individuals, including 123 PCR-confirmed malaria positives and 173 negatives. Model training was done using 80% of the dataset, after which the best-fitting model was optimized by bootstrapping of 80/20 train/test-stratified splits. The trained models were evaluated by predicting Plasmodium falciparum positivity in the 20% validation set of DBS. Results: Logistic regression was the best-performing model. Considering PCR as reference, the models attained overall accuracies of 92% for predicting P. falciparum infections (specificity = 91.7%; sensitivity = 92.8%) and 85% for predicting mixed infections of P. falciparum and Plasmodium ovale (specificity = 85%, sensitivity = 85%) in the field-collected specimen. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that mid-infrared spectroscopy coupled with supervised machine learning (MIR-ML) could be used to screen for malaria parasites in human DBS. The approach could have potential for rapid and high-throughput screening of Plasmodium in both non-clinical settings (e.g., field surveys) and clinical settings (diagnosis to aid case management). However, before the approach can be used, we need additional field validation in other study sites with different parasite populations, and in-depth evaluation of the biological basis of the MIR signals. Improving the classification algorithms, and model training on larger datasets could also improve specificity and sensitivity. The MIR-ML spectroscopy system is physically robust, low-cost, and requires minimum maintenance

Fine-scale spatial and temporal variations in insecticide resistance in Culex pipiens complex mosquitoes in rural south-eastern Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: Culex mosquitoes cause considerable biting nuisance and sporadic transmission of arboviral and filarial diseases. METHODS: Using standard World Health Organization procedures, insecticide resistance profiles and underlying mechanisms were investigated during dry and wet seasons of 2015 and 2016 in Culex pipiens complex from three neighbouring administrative wards in Ulanga District, Tanzania. Synergist tests with piperonyl butoxide, diethyl maleate, and triphenyl phosphate, were employed to investigate mechanisms of the observed resistance phenotypes. Proportional biting densities of Culex species, relative to other taxa, were determined from indoor surveillance data collected in 2012, 2013, and 2015. RESULTS: Insecticide resistance varied significantly between wards and seasons. For example, female mosquitoes in one ward were susceptible to bendiocarb and fenitrothion in the wet season, but resistant during the dry season, while in neighbouring ward, the mosquitoes were fully susceptible to these pesticides in both seasons. Similar variations occurred against bendiocarb, DDT, deltamethrin, and lambda-cyhalothrin. Surprisingly, with the exception of one ward in the wet season, the Culex populations were susceptible to permethrin, commonly used on bednets in the area. No insecticide resistance was observed against the organophosphates, pirimiphos-methyl and malathion, except for one incident of reduced susceptibility in the dry season. Synergist assays revealed possible involvement of monooxygenases, esterases, and glutathione S-transferase in pyrethroid and DDT resistance. Morphology-based identification and molecular assays of adult Culex revealed that 94% were Cx. pipiens complex, of which 81% were Cx. quinquefasciatus, 2% Cx. pipiens, and 3% hybrids. About 14% of the specimens were non-amplified during molecular identifications. Female adults collected indoors were 100% Cx. pipiens complex, and constituted 79% of the overall biting risk. CONCLUSIONS: The Cx. pipiens complex constituted the greatest biting nuisance inside people's houses, and showed resistance to most public health insecticides possible. Resistance varied at a fine geographical scale, between adjacent wards, and seasons, which warrants some modifications to current insecticide resistance monitoring strategies. Resistance phenotypes are partly mediated by metabolic mechanisms, but require further evaluation through biochemical and molecular techniques. The high densities and resistance in Culex could negatively influence the acceptability of other interventions such as those used against malaria mosquitoes

Thermal slip and radiative heat transfer effects on electro-osmotic magnetonanoliquid peristaltic propulsion through a microchannel

A mathematical study is described to examine the concurrent influence of thermal radiation and thermal wall slip on the dissipative magnetohydrodynamic electro-osmotic peristaltic propulsion of a viscous nano-liquid in an asymmetric microchannel under the action of an axial electric field and transverse magnetic field. Convective boundary conditions are incorporated in the model and the case of forced convection is studied i.e. thermal and species (nanoparticle volume fraction) buoyancy forces neglected. The heat source and sink effects are also included and the diffusion flux approximation is employed for radiative heat transfer. The transport model comprises the continuity, momentum, energy, nanoparticle volume fraction and electric potential equations with appropriate boundary conditions. These are simplified by negating the inertial forces and invoking the Debye–Hückel linearization. The resulting governing equations are reduced into a system of non-dimensional simultaneous ordinary differential equations, which is solved analytically. Numerical evaluation is conducted with symbolic software (MATLAB). The impact of different control parameters (Hartmann number, electroosmosis parameter, slip parameter, Helmholtz-Smoluchowski velocity, Biot numbers, Brinkman number, thermal radiation and Prandtl number) on the heat, mass and momentum characteristics (velocity, temperature, Nusselt number etc.) are presented graphically. Increasing Brinkman number is found to elevate temperature magnitudes. For positive Helmholtz-Smoluchowski velocity (reverse axial electrical field) temperature is strongly reduced whereas for negative Helmholtz-Smoluchowski velocity (aligned axial electrical field) it is significantly elevated. With increasing thermal slip nanoparticle volume fraction is also increased. Heat source elevates temperatures whereas heat sink depresses them, across the micro-channel span. Conversely, heat sink elevates nano-particle volume fraction whereas heat source decreases it. Increasing Hartmann (magnetic) parameter and Prandtl number enhance the nano-particle volume fraction. Furthermore, with increasing radiation parameter the Nusselt number is reduced at the extremities of the micro-channel whereas it is elevated at intermediate distances. The results reported provide a good insight into biomimetic energy systems exploiting electromagnetics and nanotechnology and furthermore they furnish a useful benchmark for experimental and more advanced computational multi-physics simulations