A STUDY OF HEART DISEASE DIAGNOSIS USING MACHINE LEARNING AND DATA MINING

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people around the world today. Diagnosis for various forms of heart disease can be detected with numerous medical tests, however, predicting heart disease without such tests is very difficult. Machine learning can help process medical big data and provide hidden knowledge which otherwise would not be possible with the naked eye. The aim of this project is to explore how machine learning algorithms can be used in predicting heart disease by building an optimized model. The research questions are; 1) What Machine learning algorithms are used in the diagnosis of heart disease? 2) How can Machine Learning techniques be used to minimize misdiagnosis (additional tests, and wrong treatment all resulting in greater monetary impact to the patient), 3) How can Machine Learning be used to detect early abnormalities, thus benefiting both patients and the healthcare system? We collected our dataset from the UCI repository and used Random Forest Classification algorithm for predicting heart disease. Then, we modified one of the hyperparameters called ‘N_Estimator’ to improve the model further. The findings and conclusion for each question are; 1) Machine learning algorithms used in predicting heart disease are Naïve Bayes, Decision Trees, Support Vector Machine, Bagging and Boosting, and RandomForest, concluding that these algorithms can achieve high accuracy in predicting heart disease. 2) Machine learning algorithms can analyze a large amount of data to assist medical professionals in making more informed decisions cost-effectively. 3) Machine Learning algorithms allowed us to analyze clinical data, draw relationships between diagnostic variables, design the predictive model, and tests it against the new case. The predictive model achieved an accuracy of 89.4 percent using RandomForest Classifier’s default setting to predict heart diseases. Furthermore, emerging areas for future research that emerged from this study include the opportunity for training and testing using our model with a larger dataset and modifying different hyperparameters for further improvement

COVID-19 presenting with spontaneous pneumothorax

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease mainly affects respiratory system. Its common clinical findings include fever, cough and shortness of breath. Characteristic radiological features of the disease include peripherally distributed, bilateral ground-glass opacities, predominantly involving the lower lung zones. In this report, we present a case of COVID-19 disease presenting with spontaneous pneumothorax. A 26-year male patient was admitted to the Emergency Department with fever, dry cough, shortness of breath and right-sided chest pain. Radiographic imaging of the patient revealed pneumothorax on the right and peripherally distributed non-homogenous opacification. The patient underwent right lateral tube thoracostomy. COVID-19 was diagnosed on testing of nasopharyngeal swab. In conclusion, spontaneous pneumothorax is one of the rare presentations of COVID-19 pneumonia and should be kept in mind in patients presenting with shortness of breath and chest pain

Clinical presentation, cardiac magnetic resonance findings, and prognosis of patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy - An experience from Pakistan

Objectives: Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is an inherited heart-muscle disease, characterized by fibro-fatty replacement and ventricular arrhythmias, that primarily affects the right ventricle (RV). We aimed to look at the clinical presentation, cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging findings and prognosis of patients with ARVC in Pakistan.Material and methods: It is a retrospective observational study, 17 consecutive patients with CMR and other findings consistent with ARVC, were enrolled from 2010 to 2019 at a single center.Results: Out of 17 patients, 12 (70.6%) were male with a mean age of 33.5 ± 17.5 years. Family history of sudden cardiac death was present in 3 (17.7%) patients while one (5.9%) patient had family history of ARVC. Syncope was the first presenting symptom in eight (47.1%) patients. On 12 leads ECG, T wave inversion in precordial leads was found in 6 (35.4%) patients, and epsilon wave was present in only 3 (17.7%) patients. On echocardiogram, 13 (76.5%) patients had dilated RV with reduced systolic function. On CMR, majority of patients (n = 14, 82.4%) were found to have RV dilatation with regional dyskinesia and fatty infiltration, 9 (52.9%) of them had left ventricular involvement also. Follow-up was available for 14 patients (82.4%) with a mean follow-up period of 35.5 ± 19.7 months. Three (21.4%) of them died and 10 (71.4%) got admissions for heart failure during follow-up period.Conclusion: Arrhythmia related events are the main presenting symptoms of ARVC in this region, and left ventricular involvement in ARVC is not rare in this population. The mortality is relatively high, probably due to advanced disease at the time of presentation and less medical facilities available

Brain abscess caused by lactococcus lactis in a young male

Lactococcus lactis cremoris is one of the gram positive cocci, not known to be pathogenic in humans. We report a case of brain abscess due to lactococcus lactis in an adolescent. An 18-year male with congenitally corrected transposition of great arteries and dextrocardia was admitted with fever, headache and right-sided numbness. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a well circumscribed irregular heterogeneous abnormal signal intensity lesion in left temporo-parietal lobe having central area of diffusion restriction and peripheral wall enhancement on post-contrast images. He underwent mini-craniotomy for abscess drainage. Pus culture revealed growth of lactococcus lactis. He was treated with ceftriaxone and remained disability-free on six month follow-up. To our knowledge, this is one of the few reports of brain abscess caused by lactococcus lactis. Key Words: Brain abscess, Lactococcus lactis, Adolescent

Oscillations of First Order Linear Delay Differential Equations with positive and negative coefficients

Oscillation criteria are obtained for all solutions of the first-order linear delay differential equations with positive and negative coefficients where we established some sufficient conditions so that every solution of (1.1) oscillate. This paper generalized the results in [11]. Some examples are considered to illustrate our main results

Atrial tachycardia associated with a tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that involves multiple organ systems. Cardiovascular involvement in SLE is well described in the literature. Cardiac arrhythmias associated with SLE include sinus tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, and atrial ectopy or atrial tachycardia. In this report, we present the case of a patient with SLE who was found to have focal atrial tachycardia that mimicked sinus tachycardia on a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). She was inappropriately treated as a case of sinus tachycardia initially. But she did not respond to the treatment and developed tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy despite being on antiarrhythmic medications. She subsequently underwent successful radiofrequency catheter ablation and her left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) recovered within three months after the ablation

Evaluation of Efficacy and Safety of Combined Therapy of Melasma by using Azelic, Glycolic and Kojic Acid (Unitone and Neotone)

Background: Melasma is one of the most common disorders of brown hyperpigmentation, which affect primarily the face and later on some other sites of the body , seen most commonly in women during the reproductive period and may seen in men . Many options are used in the treatment of melasma, most commonly: hydroquinone, tretenoin, corticosteroid, azelic acid, glycolic acid, kojic acid, triaximinic acid, ascorbic acid, intralesional glutathione, and lastly medical procedures, like: microdermabrasion, chemical peel, laser and light therapy. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of combined therapy (azelic, glycolic and kojic acids) in the treatment of melasma (UNITONE and NEOTONE) . Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study in which (585) patients complaining of melasma (577 females and 8 males), their age ranged from (17-50) years, with a mean age of 46.15± years. Treated by application of azelic acid (20% cream) for two hours at night, then washed and followed by topical application of combined cream consisted of (5%) glycolic acid and (1%) kojic acid throughout the night and washed in the morning, with application of sun block of ≥50 SPF, and oral ascorbic acid (500mg) tablet twice in the morning and evening . Results: Out of 585, 98% was females with a mean age of (46.15±8) years. Eight percent of the patients of MAIS score-1, (22.05%) of score-2, (51.28%) of score-3 and (18.8%) of score-4. Regarding the response to therapy: (44.78%) of patients showed complete clearance of the disease, (48.85%) with good response, (1.7%) of poor response and (5.47%) showed relapse of the melasma after discontinuation of the therapy, and they were retreated by the same combined formula, (93.75%) of them cleared completely and (6.25%) showed good response. Ninety percent of patients developed a variable degree of irritation, erythema and burning sensation, at the beginning of the treatment and after (10-15) days, most of them tolerated the therapy. Conclusion: Combined therapy of azelic, glycolic and kojic acids was effective and safe in the treatment of melasma and this combination was superior and alternative to the ordinary and corner therapy of hydroquinone and corticosteroid