NHANES-GCP: Leveraging the Google Cloud Platform and BigQuery ML for reproducible machine learning with data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Summary: NHANES, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, is a program of studies led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States (U.S.). NHANES data is frequently used by biostatisticians and clinical scientists to study health trends across the U.S., but every analysis requires extensive data management and cleaning before use and this repetitive data engineering collectively costs valuable research time and decreases the reproducibility of analyses. Here, we introduce NHANES-GCP, a Cloud Development Kit for Terraform (CDKTF) Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) and Data Build Tool (dbt) resources built on the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) that automates the data engineering and management aspects of working with NHANES data. With current GCP pricing, NHANES-GCP costs less than $2 to run and less than$15/yr of ongoing costs for hosting the NHANES data, all while providing researchers with clean data tables that can readily be integrated for large-scale analyses. We provide examples of leveraging BigQuery ML to carry out the process of selecting data, integrating data, training machine learning and statistical models, and generating results all from a single SQL-like query. NHANES-GCP is designed to enhance the reproducibility of analyses and create a well-engineered NHANES data resource for statistics, machine learning, and fine-tuning Large Language Models (LLMs). Availability and implementation" NHANES-GCP is available at https://github.com/In-Vivo-Group/NHANES-GCPComment: 7 pages, 1 figur

The Impact of Microfinance Institution on Development of Small and Medium Enterprises: a Case Study of Lagos State

The major target of this study is to evaluate the effect of Microfinance Institution (MFIs) on the development of SMEs (Small and medium enterprises) in Lagos state Nigeria. Simple random techniques of sampling were employed in this study in selecting 70 SMEs which constituted the size of the sample of the research. To facilitate the obtaining of relevant data that was used for analysis in this study, a structured questionnaire was designed. Descriptive statistics involving simple graphical charts and tables were strategically applied in presentation and analysis of data. The outcome of the findings indicates that a large number of SMEs are benefiting from the loans granted by the MFIs, despite the fact that few of them have sufficient ability to secure the needed amount. Interestingly, most of the SMEs admit positive MFIs loans contribution towards advancing their market share, the economic competitive advantage of the company and achieving market excellence through product innovation

The Effect of Mobile Banking on the Performance of Commercial Banks in Nigeria

Today, commercial banks are confronted with challenges that range from debt crises to the tight competition in the market. Customers\u27 impatience has increased considerably as they are more knowledgeable than before. Thus, the introduction of mobile services in the banking industry has added to the challenges facing commercial banks as they have to embrace the new technology or lose business. Mobile banking in Nigeria has completely transformed the banking industry and any commercial bank operating in Nigeria can only ignore that fact at its own risk. This study, therefore, aims to investigate the mobile banking effects on Commercial Banks financial performance in Nigeria. Simple random techniques were employed in this study in selecting 22 commercial banks. To facilitate the obtaining of relevant data that was used for analysis in this study, a structured questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics involving simple graphical charts was applied in the presentation and analysis of data. The study, therefore, concludes that mobile banking positively and significantly affects the financial performance of commercial banks in Nigeria. The study recommends that commercial banks should keep adopting and using mobile banking in their operations because the number of people with access to a mobile handset is increasing every day

Simulation of Turbulent Flocculation and Sedimentation in Flocculent-Aided Sediment Retention Basins

2008 S.C. Water Resources Conference - Addressing Water Challenges Facing the State and Regio

Photocatalytic Z-Scheme Overall Water Splitting: Recent Advances in Theory and Experiments

Photocatalytic water splitting is considered one of the most important and appealing approaches for the production of green H2 to address the global energy demand. The utmost possible form of artificial photosynthesis is a two-step photoexcitation known as “Z-scheme”, which mimics the natural photosystem. This process solely relies on the effective coupling and suitable band positions of semiconductors (SCs) and redox mediators for the purpose to catalyze the surface chemical reactions and significantly deter the backward reaction. In recent years, the Z-scheme strategies and their key role have been studied progressively through experimental approaches. In addition, theoretical studies based on density functional theory have provided detailed insight into the mechanistic aspects of some breathtakingly complex problems associated with hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction. In this context, this critical review gives an overview of the fundamentals of Z-scheme photocatalysis, including both theoretical and experimental advancements in the field of photocatalytic water splitting, and suggests future perspectives

Vitamin B12 deficiency common in primary hypothyroidism

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence and clinical features of B12 deficiency in hypothyroid patients and to evaluate clinical response in symptoms to B12 replacement therapy. METHODS: One hundred and sixteen hypothyroid patients from our endocrine clinic were evaluated for signs and symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency. Laboratory parameters including Haemoglobin (Hb), MCV, Vitamin B12 levels and presence of anti thyroid antibodies were analyzed. Patients with low B12 levels were treated with parenteral intramuscular vitamin B12 monthly, and monitored for improvement of symptoms. RESULTS: A total of 116 patients (95 females and 21 males) were evaluated. Forty six (39.6%) hypothyroid patients had low vitamin B12 levels. Males and females had the same prevalence of B12 deficiency. Generalized weakness, impaired memory, depression, numbness and decreased reflexes were more frequently noted in B12 deficient patients, but failed to achieve statistical significance when compared with B12 sufficient patients. The mean Hb in B12 deficient group was 11.9 +/- 1.6 mg/dl and 12.4 +/- 1.7 mg/dl in the B12 sufficient group, however the mean MCV did not differ in the two groups. Patients with B12 deficiency did not have a higher prevalence of anaemia. Thyroid antibodies were checked in half the patients and 67% had positive titers for anti thyroid antibodies. Prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency did not differ in patients with positive antibodies (43.2%) compared to those with negative antibodies (38.9%) (p= 0.759). Twenty four hypothyroid patients with B12 deficiency received intramuscular vitamin B12 injections monthly and improvement in symptoms was noted in 58.3% of these subjects. Additionally, 21 subjects complained of symptoms consistent with B12 deficiency but who had normal range B12, levels and were prescribed monthly B12 injections and 8 (40%) had good subjective clinical response at 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: There is a high (approx 40%) prevalence of B12 deficiency in hypothyroid patients. Traditional symptoms are not a good guide to determining presence of B12 deficiency. Screening for vitamin B12 levels should be undertaken in all hypothyroid patients, irrespective of their thyroid antibody status. Replacement of B12 leads to improvement in symptoms, although a placebo effect cannot be excluded, as a number of patients without B12 deficiency also appeared to respond to B12, administration

Mutational landscape of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas in a South Asian population

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer type globally and contributes significantly to burden of disease in South Asia. In Pakistan, HNSCC is anmong the most commonly diagnosed cancer in males and females. The increasing regional burden of HNSCC along with a unique set of risk factors merited a deeper investigation of the disease at the genomic level. Whole exome sequencing of HNSCC samples and matched normal genomic DNA (n=7) was performed. Significant somatic single nucleotide variants (SNVs) were identified and pathway analysis performed to determine frequently affected signaling pathways. We identified significant, novel recurrent mutations in ASNS (asparagine synthetase) that may affect substrate binding, and variants in driver genes including TP53, PIK3CA, FGFR2, ARID2, MLL3, MYC and ALK. Using the IntOGen platform, we identified MAP kinase, cell cycle, actin cytoskeleton regulation, PI3K-Akt signaling and other pathways in cancer as affected in the samples. This data is the first of its kind from the Pakistani population. The results of this study can guide a better mechanistic understanding of HNSCC in the population, ultimately contributing new, rational therapeutic targets for the treatment of the disease

FORMULATION OPTIMIZATION AND EVALUATION OF GASTRORETENTIVE TABLETS OF ONDANSETRON HCL

The aim of the work is to design Gastroretentive tablets of Ondansetron HCl for gastric retention by using 32 factorial designs. Floating tablets of Ondansetron HCl were prepared by direct compression method using polymers, sodium alginate and excipient. Gastroretentive tablets of Ondansetron HCl were successfully prepared by effervescent technique using different gel forming polymers- HPMC K200M, and sodium alginate. Formulation was optimized by design expert software. Floating tablets were evaluated for floating time, floating lag time, drug content, raft measurement and in vitro dissolution profile. The lag time is between 17-22 sec and floating time of the formulations for 12 hrs. The best fit model is Korsemeyer Peppas Model. From the study it is proof that the sustain release by floating tablets of Ondansetron HCl can be develop. Optimized batch selected was A3, The prepared gastroretentive test formulation was found to exhibit satisfactory physico-chemical characteristics at the end of 3 months, during the stability studies. The optimized formulation A3 was found to be stable at 400C/ 75% RH. Keywords: Gastric retention time, Ondansetron HCl, HPMC, sodium alginate, measurement of raft, Factorial design, stability studies.Â

Experimental and numerical investigation on gas turbine blade with the application of thermal barrier coatings

The engine parts material used in gas turbines (GTs) should be resistant to high-temperature variations. Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) for gas turbine blades are found to have a significant effect on prolonging the life cycle of turbine blades by providing additional heat resistance. This work is to study the performance of TBCs on the high-temperature environment of the turbine blades. It is understood that this coating will increase the lifecycles of blade parts and decrease maintenance and repair costs. Experiments were performed on the gas turbine blade to see the effect of TBCs in different combinations of materials through the air plasma method. Three-layered coatings using materials INCONEL 718 as base coating, NiCoCrAIY as middle coating, and La2Ce2O7 as the top coating was applied. Finite element analysis was performed using a two-dimensional method to optimize the suitable formulation of coatings on the blade. Temperature distributions for different combinations of coatings layers with different materials and thickness were studied. Additionally, three-dimensional thermal stress analysis was performed on the blade with a commercial code. Results on the effect of TBCs shows a significant improvement in thermal resistance compared to the uncoated gas turbine blade