A Fuzzy Clustering-based Approach for Classifying COVID-19 Patients by Age and Early Symptom Indicators

The devastating illness known as Covid-19 has disrupted the lives of individuals all over the globe and left a trail of devastation in its wake. The fact that we are unable to determine the severity of illness (SOI) class of the patient during the early stages of infection is without a doubt the most challenging aspect of this disease. An accurate classifier model has to be constructed in order to ensure that patients diagnosed with Covid-19 get prompt and individualized therapy. Within the scope of this investigation, we propose a useful fuzzy clustering based model for categorizing Covid-19 patients according to their age and the severity of their early symptoms (fever, dry cough, breathing difficulties, headache, smell, and taste disturbance). This method is superior to previous hard clustering tactics in terms of reducing the number of deaths that occur among patients suffering from coronavirus and increasing the likelihood that they will recover fully

HINDRANCES TOWARDS DISCLOSING THE HIV POSITIVE STATUS AND ITS EFFECTS ON TREATMENT: A CASE STUDY OF RAWALPINDI CITY

This anthropological research investigated the stigmatization of HIV & AIDS and the discrimination in disclosing HIV positive status to family, peers, relatives and coworkers. However, the narratives and in-depth interviews related to its impact on the treatment, from the point of view of people living with HIV&AIDS, and health care workers were also examined and analyzed. In Rawalpindi, not much has been done to explore the effects of stigmatization and discrimination at the ground levels i.e. personal, family, relatives, friends, acquaintances, work place and care facilities. This study includes all these levels at which HIV positive can face stigmatization and discrimination and its impact on the medical treatment. Informal discussion, participant observation, in-depth interviews, case studies and focus group discussion were conducted with a sample of people living with HIV&AIDS in Rawalpindi and health care providers. Findings indicated that due to the fear of rejection from family, peer, relatives, workplace, and society, individuals with HIV-AIDS do not disclose their status with any of their affiliates. Blaming and rejection are the two key aspects which are unbearable for the patients, furthermore, the factor of shaming also plays an important role in resistance of HIV positive status disclosure. Findings suggest that individuals with HIV&AIDS faced the threat of stigmatization and discrimination by family, friends and other institutions of the society. Society does not accept HIV&AIDS patients with ease. That is the reason most of the individuals remained silent about their HIV positive status. This condition has also an effect on the treatment of HIV positive patients. Therefore, many such individuals do not expose their status because of stigma status attached with this never-ending disease.Ultimately, the hiding part causes great harm to the patient as the treatment is hindered by this. When status is not known by the people around, it becomes quite difficult to get proper care and required treatment. This article explained in depth the fears of patients when it comes to disclose their status with family members

Diffuse Imaging: Creating Optical Images With Unfocused Time-Resolved Illumination and Sensing

Conventional imaging uses steady-state illumination and light sensing with focusing optics; variations of the light field with time are not exploited. We develop a signal processing framework for estimating the reflectance of a Lambertian planar surface in a known position using omnidirectional, time-varying illumination and unfocused, time-resolved sensing in place of traditional optical elements such as lenses and mirrors. Our model associates time sampling of the intensity of light incident at each sensor with a linear functional of . The discrete-time samples are processed to obtain -regularized estimates of . Improving on previous work, using nonimpulsive, bandlimited light sources instead of impulsive illumination significantly improves signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and reconstruction quality. Our simulations suggest that practical diffuse imaging applications may be realized with commercially-available temporal light intensity modulators and sensors used in standard optical communication systems.National Science Foundation (U.S.). (Grant number 0643836)United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Information in a Photon Program (United States. Army Research Office)(Award number W911-NF-10-1-0404)Texas Instruments Leadership University Consortium Progra

Clay-Iron Nanocomposite for the Removal of Sulfur as Toxic Pollutant from Fuel by Catalytic Oxidative Desulfurization

The current environmental pollution has great impact on climate change and the present study was aimed at removal of sulfur as a pollutant for environment on combustion of kerosene fuel using clay, namely attapulgite and magnetic iron (ATP)-Fe3O4 nanocomposite. To lower the toxic sulfur and to enhance the property of reduced sulfur fuel specifically the electrical conductivity (EC) was also improved by the addition of quality improver additives. The (ATP)-Fe3O4 nanocomposite was synthesized by co-precipitation method and the structure, and morphology were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The average size of Fe-NPs which helps in the oxidative desulfurization was found to be <100 nm, and the toxic sulfur content in fuel was reduced up to 71% from its original using 05mg/mL of nanocomposite at 150°C for 30 min along with CH3COOH and H2O2 proceed with water washing. The EC of the oxidative desulfurized (ODS) fuel was enhanced by the addition of (0.5, 0.7 and 1.0ppm) STADIS 450 additive as compared to MEROX kerosene fuel (untreated). The ODS kerosene showed greater stability of EC over MEROX kerosene

Neurology training in Pakistan: perspectives From physicians in a neurology unit working At different levels

Pakistan is a developing country of South East Asia. It stands amongst the highest in the list of high disease burden countries including that for neurological diseases. The current number of trained neurologists in the country is extremely low and the facilities not too frequently available

Impact of Investment Efficiency on Cost of Equity: An Empirical Study on Shariah and Non Shariah Compliance Firms Listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange

The primary purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of investment efficiency on cost of the equity of firm. This study further explores whether the relationship of investment efficiency and cost of equity is different for the shariah and non shariah compliance firms. Using sample of 235 non financial firms listed at Pakistan stock exchange (PSX) for the period of 2005-2015, the results revealed that there is a negative significant influence of investment efficiency on the cost of equity. This signifies that investors required rate of return increases with the increase in the level of investment inefficiency. We also found out that the negative association of investment efficiency and cost of equity is weaker for the shariah compliance firms than for non shariah compliance firms. The results of our study also provided evidences that overinvestment is positively associated with the cost of equity. But we are unable to find significant impact of under investment on the cost of equity, this pointed that over investment is considered more serious problem for investors as compared to the underinvestment. The results furnished empirical support to our argument that shariah acts as a mechanism to lower bankruptcy and leverage cost hence reduce the cost of equity. The findings are helpful for academicians, regulators, investors and Shariah board. Further research may be conducted in different economies in order to generalize the findings

A Rare Presentation of Wilson Disease: A Case Report

Wilson Disease results from autosomal recessive mutation in ATP7B gene which leads to reduced formation of ceruloplasmin protein in the body that acts as a copper transporter. Due to its deficiency, there is the build-up of copper in the liver and brain among other organ systems and it leads to the development of various clinical abnormalities but commonly presents either as hepatic dysfunction and/or cirrhosis in young patients with movement disorder. Here we present a case that presented with hypoglycemia and hypothermia in absence of any infection, drug abuse or metabolic abnormality. He was later diagnosed as Wilson disease. Wilson Disease is mostly thought of hepatic /neurological disease. Contrary to this Wilson’s disease is a multisystem disease affecting multiple organ system including, kidneys, endocrine system and musculoskeletal system and can present with manifestations of above-mentioned systems

Risk factors for intensive care unit admission and mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Background: This study investigated the clinical features and outcome of hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients admitted to our quaternary care hospital.Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we included all adult patients with COVID-19 infection admitted to a quaternary care hospital in Pakistan from March 1 to April 15, 2020. The extracted variables included demographics, comorbidities, presenting symptoms, laboratory tests and radiological findings during admission. Outcome measures included in-hospital mortality and length of stay.Results: Sixty-six COVID-19 patients were hospitalized during the study period. Sixty-one percent were male and 39% female; mean age was 50.6±19.1 years. Fever and cough were the most common presenting symptoms. Serial chest X-rays showed bilateral pulmonary opacities in 33 (50%) patients. The overall mortality was 14% and mean length of stay was 8.4±8.9 days. Ten patients (15%) required intensive care unit (ICU) care during admission, of which six (9%) were intubated. Age ≥60 years, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, ICU admission, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio ≥3.3, and INR ≥1.2 were associated with increased risk of mortality.Conclusion: We found a mortality rate of 14% in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. COVID-19 cases are still increasing exponentially around the world and may overwhelm healthcare systems in many countries soon. Our findings can be used for early identification of patients who may require intensive care and aggressive management in order to improve outcomes