Enhanced K-means Color Clustering Based on SLIC Superpixels Merging incorporated within the Entomology Software: AInsectID

Superpixel-based segmentation is an important pre-processing step for the simplification of image processing. The subjective nature behind the determination of optimal cluster numbers in segmentation algorithms can result in either underor over-segmentation burdens, depending on the image type. Insect wings, with their intricate color patterns, pose significant challenges for the accurate capture of color diversity in clustering algorithms, assuming a spherical and isotropic cluster distribution is used. This paper introduces a hybrid approach for color clustering in insect wings, integrating the Simple Linear Iterative Clustering (SLIC) method to generate the initial superpixels, and a DeltaE 2000 function the precisely discriminated merging of superpixels. Color differences between superpixels serve to measure homogeneity during the merging process. The proposed new algorithm demonstrates enhanced segmentation as it overcomes the issue of over-segmentation and under-segmentation, as evidenced by the results derived from the Boundary Recall, Rand index, Under-segmentation Error, and Bhattacharyya distance using ground truth data. The Silhouette score and Dunn Index are also used to quantitatively evaluate the efficacy of our new proposed clustering technique.<br/

Increased body mass index may lead to hyperferritinemia irrespective of body iron stores

Objective: Obesity causes subclinical inflammation which results in the secretion of various bioactive peptides that are key players in metabolic regulation of iron homeostasis. We sought to establish correlation of one such peptide (ferritin) with marker of subclinical inflammation (CRP) in various BMI.Methods: Total 150 subjects between the ages of 20-60 years were included in the cross-sectional study conducted at Basic Medical Sciences Institute, Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre, Karachi, Pakistan. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated by weight (kg) /height (m(2)). The given values were used as reference for Group A: normal weight (18.0-22.9 kg/m2), Group B: overweight (23.0-24.9 kg/m2), Group C: obese ( \u3e 25.0 kg/m2) according to South Asian criteria. Serum Iron, Total Iron Binding Capacity, serum Transferrin Saturation, serum Ferritin and C-reactive protein were measured by commercially available kits. ANNOVA with Tukey\u27s minimum significant difference and Spearman Rho correlation were used considering p \u3c 0.05 significant.Results: The results identified an increased serum Ferritin and CRP in obese versus lean subjects (p \u3c 0.001). BMI showed significantly positive correlation with serum CRP (r = 0.815; p-value \u3c 0.01) and Ferritin (r = 0.584; p-value \u3c 0.01). However, serum Iron levels and Transferrin saturation decreased in obese versus normal weight individuals (p \u3c 0.001).Conclusion: This integrated new data reveals that individuals with high BMI had high levels of Serum Ferritin despite low levels of iron with high levels of C- reactive protein. This might be caused due to inflammatory conditions prevailing in the presence of increased adipose tissue

The crisis, disasters and catastrophes afflicting Yemen and its people

It would be inaccurate to state that Yemen’s difficulties began with the current civil war in September of 2014. While the war brought about its own list of insurmountable tribulations, it also exacerbated already present disasters. This article explores the many dynamics that have led to what has been referred to as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis (1). These include war, internal displacement, economic disaster, healthcare collapse, outbreaks in refugee camps, vaccination concerns, malnutrition, food insecurity, water sparsity, and infectious disease catastrophes. Along with accurate depictions of what is happening on the ground, this article suggests a few potential solutions worth investigating further, ranging from national and international efforts. With an ever-changing climate, this article serves to provide the most up to date impression of the current crisis and disasters

AHSG rs4918 Polymorphism poses a weak predisposition to insulin resistance during pregnancy

Objective: To identify the association between Fetuin-A levels and genetic polymorphism with gestational diabetes mellitus among pregnant women visiting a tertiary care centre. Methods: This cross-sectional case-control study was conducted at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from December 2015 to September 2016, and comprised pregnant women in their second trimester. Those with gestational diabetes mellitus were considered the cases while the rest acted as controls. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to quantify Fetuin-A levels while genotyping for alpha-2-Heremans-Schmidglycoprotein rs4918 was performed using restriction fragment length polymorphism technique. Blood samples were collected and serum and deoxyribonucleic acid were extracted and stored at -80°C. SPSS 21 was used to analyse the findings. Results: Of the 88 subjects, there were 44(50%) in each group. Serum Fetuin-A concentration was higher in cases compared to the controls (p\u3c0.01). The genotype data for the cases was 0.668 and for the controls 0.840 (p\u3e0.05). However, the G allele showed a weak risk or predisposition towards gestational diabetes mellitus (p=0.038). Conclusion: Increased Fetuin-A levels were found to be related to the occurrence of gestational diabetes mellitus, indicating that Fetuin-A possibly contributes towards insulin resistance

Car Parking Availability Prediction: A Comparative Study of LSTM and Random Forest Regression Approaches

Drivers spend an enormous amount of time searching for parking spots every year. Waste of time, emission of carbon and air pollution have been issues in hunting for parking spots without proper prediction. In this paper, we have proposed to build a framework based on Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) using Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) and Random Forest Regression model to provide prediction of parking availability and compared results afterwards. A real-world case of parking spots availability consisting of 5,500 parking spots in Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), Malaysia, has been used for regression implementation in this comparative analysis. The results showed that random forest outperformed LSTM approach based on performance metrics

Industry-4, Big Data, and Blockchain Research Prospects in Supply Chain Domain: A Bibliometric Review

Purpose: Utilizing technologies becomes a prerequisite in the operations of supply chain management. Research in digitalized supply chain management (SCM) is now trending as a new arena of research. This study investigates and summarizes the research that has been performed so far in this area, and also explains what the future research scopes in the integration of digitalization and supply chain management are. Method: To execute this study, we carry out a systematic literature review by using numerous software (i.e., BiBexcel, Gephi, and VOSviewer) for clustering existing literature in digitalized SCM from the Web of Science. Result: Our findings suggest that Industry 4.0, Big data, Blockchain, and supply chain resilience are the four key categories in the research on digitalized SCM. Implications: This study explains the reasons behind the research in these four categories. This literature review helps researchers to build a comprehensive knowledge of the research status of digitalized SCM and contributes to the direction of future research in digitalized SCM that helps researchers to explore their further investigations in the combination of SCM and Industry 4.0, Big data, Blockchain, and supply chain resilience

Stages of chronic kidney disease and soluble Transferrin Receptor (sTfR), Ferritin, ratio

Objective: To assess the ratio of soluble transferrin receptor to ferritin in different stages of chronic kidney disease.Methods: This case-control study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital and the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, from January to September 2014, and comprised chronic kidney disease patients and healthy controls. Group 1 comprised controls, whereas groups 2, 3 and 4 had patients based on their mean glomerular filtration rate. SPSS 19 was used for data analysis.Results: Of the 170 participants, 126(74.1%) were cases and 44(25.9%) were controls. The overall mean age was 55.87±3.48 years and the mean body mass index was 24.25±2.9 kg/m2. Decreased levels of iron and haemoglobin were observed in cases compared to controls (p\u3c0.001), while high serum ferritin was seen in cases compared to the controls (p\u3c0.001). Correspondingly, the soluble transferrin receptor-to-ferritin ratio was significantly decreased in groups 2, 3 and 4 (p\u3c0.001).Conclusions: The ratio of soluble transferrin receptor to ferritin was lower in higher stages of chronic kidney disease

Association of circulatory kisspeptin levels and hormonal interplay with male infertility: A cross-sectional study in Karachi, Pakistan

Objectives: To determine the impact of Kisspeptin on male reproductive axis in a selected urban population.Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Sindh Institute of Reproductive Medicine in collaboration with Aga Khan University, Karachi, from July, 2017, to February, 2018, and comprised infertile males with abnormal sperm parameters who were placed in Group A and fertile males with normal sperm parameters placed in Group B. Serum samples were estimated for Kisspeptin, follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Data was analysed using SPSS 22.Results: Of the 313 male subjects, 178(57%) were in Group A and 135(43%) in Group B. Median Kisspeptin levels were higher among fertile males compared to infertile males (p\u3c0.001). Mean follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone and testosterone values were higher among the fertile males (p\u3c0.001). There was significant interaction between follicle stimulating hormone and testosterone (p\u3c0.1).Conclusions: Fertility in males depended on optimal secretion of Kisspeptin which exert edits effect on hypothalamic pituitary gonadal axis to increase male reproductive hormone production

Role of Leptin and dyslipidemia in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients are at an increased risk of cardiovascular complications and plasma leptin level is elevated in cardio renal syndrome. We wanted to explore leptin levels in patients with different stages of CKD and find its association with risk of cardiovascular disease. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Nephrology Department of Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) from January 2014 to September 2014. Group I comprised of controls (GFR=116±8.3, n = 44) acquired from general population, CKD patients were grouped as II, III and IV respectively with GFR; 85.77±9.9 (n = 42), 53.84±9.9 (n=42) and 20.22±8.4 (n = 42).CKD patients with any inflammatory disease, Diabetes Mellitus and on steroid therapy were excluded. Serum leptin, lipid profile and C reactive proteins (CRP) were measured. Leptin and CRP levels increased significantly with progression of CKD. High density lipoproteins (HDL) to low density lipoproteins (LDL) ratio was significantly high in control as compared to CKD groups (

Anti mullerian hormone: Ovarian response indicator in young patients receiving long GnRH agonist protocol for ovarian stimulation

Objective: Anti Mullerian hormone (AMH) is gaining place as ovarian marker, chiefly in infertility assistance. We explored its correlation with oocytes retrieval after long GnRH agonist protocol for stimulation, in younger and older infertile population.Methods: This retrospective analysis compiled data of 166 females, receiving ICSI treatment from June 2014 to March 2015. Serum FSH, LH, Estadiol, AMH and antral follicle count were assessed. Outcomes were measured as good (5 to 19 oocytes) and bad responders.Results: Higher discriminatory power of AMH (AUROC; 0.771; p \u3c 0.05) was seen in comparison to FSH (0.692; p \u3c 0.05) and AFC (0.690; p \u3c 0.01). AMH reported strongest association with oocyte retrieved (odds ratio of 15.06). Subgroup analysis reported 68.6 % risk of bad response with AMH levels of less than 1.37ng/ml. This association was observed more significant in young infertile patients \u3c35 year of age (r=0.245; p=0.012) versus older population \u3e35 year (r=0.169; p\u3e0.05).Conclusion: Our study reaffirms that serum AMH correlates well with oocytes retrieved, particularly in females younger than 35 years. We suggest incorporation of AMH in baseline assessment of infertile females, who are falsely advised to postpone interventions based on their age and normal FSH levels