A formula-driven scalable benchmark model for ABM, applied to FLAME GPU

Agent Based Modelling (ABM) systems have become a popular technique for describing complex and dynamic systems. ABM is the simulation of intelligent agents and how these agents communicate with each other within the model. The growing number of agent-based applications in the simulation and AI fields led to an increase in the number of studies that focused on evaluating modelling capabilities of these applications. Observing system performance and how applications behave during increases in population size is the main factor for benchmarking in most of these studies. System scalability is not the only issue that may affect the overall performance, but there are some issues that need to be dealt with to create a standard benchmark model that meets all ABM criteria. This paper presents a new benchmark model and benchmarks the performance characteristics of the FLAME GPU simulator as an example of a parallel framework for ABM. The aim of this model is to provide parameters to easily measure the following elements: system scalability, system homogeneity, and the ability to handle increases in the level of agent communications and model complexity. Results show that FLAME GPU demonstrates near linear scalability when increasing population size and when reducing homogeneity. The benchmark also shows a negative correlation between increasing the communication complexity between agents and execution time. The results create a baseline for improving the performance of FLAME GPU and allow the simulator to be contrasted with other multi-agent simulators

Attitudes of doctors and nurses toward patient safety within emergency departments of two Saudi Arabian hospitals

Background: A hospital culture that promotes and insures patient safety is a critical aspect for the effective delivery of hospital services and patient care. Yet there are significant patient health and safety issues in hospitals worldwide. This study aims to investigate doctors’ and nurses’ attitudes toward patient safety in the emergency departments (ED) of two Saudi hospitals. Method: A cross-sectional survey using a validated Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) was used. Total of 503 ED doctors and nurses completed SAQ. Correlation analysis, using Spearman’s Rho, was performed between the number of incidents reported and each dimension of the SAQ. Results: The mean score of each SAQ dimension was \u3c 75%, indicating that nurses and doctors generally had less than a positive safety attitudes. This was especially prominent with dimensions of stress recognition (58.1%) and perceptions of hospital management (56.9%). Furthermore, nurses reported significantly lower on the teamwork climate dimension than doctors (p \u3c .01), whereas doctors reported significantly lower on the hospital work conditions dimension than nurses (p \u3c .01). There was a significant negative correlation between the number of errors reported and teamwork climate, job satisfaction, and work conditions. Conclusion: Safety attitudes of doctors and nurses employed in EDs of Saudi hospitals are less than positive and correlate with the number of reported errors. Safety training interventions and management support would appear to be the most likely avenues to improve the safety attitudes and performance within Saudi ED’s

Safety attitudes in hospital emergency departments: A systematic review

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to perform and report a systematic review of published research on patient safety attitudes of health staff employed in hospital emergency departments (EDs). DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: An electronic search was conducted of PsychINFO, ProQuest, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed and CINAHL databases. The review included all studies that focussed on the safety attitudes of professional hospital staff employed in EDs. FINDINGS: Overall, the review revealed that the safety attitudes of ED health staff are generally low, especially on teamwork and management support and among nurses when compared to doctors. Conversely, two intervention studies showed the effectiveness of team building interventions on improving the safety attitudes of health staff employed in EDs. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Six studies met the inclusion criteria, however, most of the studies demonstrated low to moderate methodological quality. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: Teamwork, communication and management support are central to positive safety attitudes. Teamwork training can improve safety attitudes. Given that EDs are the front-line of hospital care and patients within EDs are especially vulnerable to medical errors, future research should focus on the safety attitudes of medical staff employed in EDs and its relationship to medical errors

A novel analytical ultracentrifugation based approach to the low resolution structure of gum arabic

Under investigation are the structural properties of gum arabic, an industrially important biopolymer for use as a stabilizer or in drug delivery, using Analytical Ultracentrifugation—a well-established, matrix-free probe for macromolecular size and shape. These results are combined with chromatographically-coupled methods (multi-angle light scattering, differential press imbalance viscometry) to provide a global analysis of its structure in varying ionic strength conditions. This analysis indicates that gum Arabic may have a compact, elliptical structure in solution, the significance of which for biotechnological use is indicated. This modelling method can be applied to other biopolymers and synthetic polymers

Data aware simulation of complex systems on GPUs

GPUs have been demonstrated to be highly effective at improving the performance of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). One of the major limitations of further performance improvements is in the memory bandwidth required to move agent data through the GPU's memory hierarchy. This paper presents a formal model for data aware simulation and an empirical study into the impact of minimising data movement on performance. This study proposes a method that can be applied to the simulation of complex systems on GPUs to extract required data from agent behaviour during simulation time and how this information can be used to reduce data movement. The FLAME GPU software has been extended to demonstrate this technique. Three benchmark experiments have been applied to evaluate the overall reduction in simulation execution time under specific criteria. The results of the comparison between the current and new system show that reducing data movement within a simulation improves overall performance with up to 4.8x speedup reported

Identification and Characterization of Novel Mutations in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) in Saudi Subjects by Whole-Exome Sequencing

Background: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a condition usually caused by a single gene mutation and manifested by both renal and extrarenal features, eventually leading to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) by the median age of 60 years worldwide. Approximately 89% of ADPKD patients had either PKD1 or PKD2 gene mutations. The majority (85%) of the mutations are in the PKD1 gene, especially in the context of family history. Objectives: This study investigated the genetic basis and the undiscovered genes that are involved in ADPKD development among the Saudi population. Materials and Methods: In this study, 11 patients with chronic kidney disease were enrolled. The diagnosis of ADPKD was based on history and diagnostic images: CT images include enlargement of renal outlines, renal echogenicity, and presence of multiple renal cysts with dilated collecting ducts, loss of corticomedullary differentiation, and changes in GFR and serum creatinine levels. Next-generation whole-exome sequencing was conducted using the Ion Torrent PGM platform. Results: Of the 11 Saudi patients diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and ADPKD, the most common heterozygote nonsynonymous variant in the PKD1 gene was exon15: (c.4264G > A). Two missense mutations were identified with a PKD1 (c.1758A > C and c.9774T > G), and one patient had a PKD2 mutation (c.1445T > G). Three detected variants were novel, identified at PKD1 (c.1758A > C), PKD2L2 (c.1364A > T), and TSC2 (deletion of a'a at the 3'UTR, R1680C) genes. Other variants in PKD1L1 (c.3813_381 4delinsTG) and PKD1L2 (c.404C > T) were also detected. The median age of end-stage renal disease for ADPK patients in Saudi Arabia was 30 years. Conclusion: This study reported a common variant in the PKD1 gene in Saudi patients with typical ADPKD. We also reported (to our knowledge) for the first time two novel missense variants in PKD1 and PKD2L2 genes and one indel mutation at the 3'UTR of the TSC2 gene. This study establishes that the reported mutations in the affected genes resulted in ADPKD development in the Saudi population by a median age of 30. Nevertheless, future protein-protein interaction studies to investigate the influence of these mutations on PKD1 and PKD2 functions are required. Furthermore, large-scale population-based studies to verify these findings are recommended

Use of the Corail stem for revision total hip arthroplasty: Evaluation of clinical outcomes and cost

© 2019 Joule Inc. or its licensors. Background: With the growing number of total hip arthroplasty (THA) procedures performed, revision surgery is also proportionately increasing, resulting in greater health care expenditures. The purpose of this study was to assess clinical outcomes and cost when using a collared, fully hydroxyapatite-coated primary femoral stem for revision THA compared to commonly used revision femoral stems. Methods: We retrospectively identifed patients who underwent revision THA with a primary stem between 2011 and 2016 and matched them on demographic variables and reason for revision to a similar cohort who underwent revision THA. We extracted operative data and information on in-hospital resource use from the patients\u27 charts to calculate average cost per procedure. Patient-reported outcomes were recorded preoperatively and 1 year postoperatively. Results: We included 20 patients in our analysis, of whom 10 received a primary stem and 10, a typical revision stem. There were no signifcant between-group differences in mean Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index score, Harris Hip Score, 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) Mental Composite Scale score or Physical Composite Scale score at 1 year. Operative time was signifcantly shorter and total cost was signifcantly lower (mean difference -3707.64, 95% confdence interval -5532.85 to -1882.43) with a primary stem than with other revision femoral stems. Conclusion: We found similar clinical outcomes and signifcant institutional cost savings with a primary femoral stem in revision THA. This suggests a role for a primary femoral stem such as a collared, fully hydroxyapatite-coated stem for revision THA

Determinants of disordered eating behaviours (DEBs) among adolescent female school students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: a qualitative study

The risk of DEB is more prevalent in girls, particularly during adolescence. The onset of DEB can be triggered by many inter-related factors, including biological, social, parental, and psychosocial. To date, very little is known about the determinants of DEBs in Saudi adolescent girls. Using a qualitative analysis, this study explored potential determinants of DEB among adolescent girls in Riyadh. Eighteen semi-structured interviews were carried out with adolescent girls (mean age = 14.06, SD = 0.87) who reported a high risk of DEB (EAT-26 ≥ 20) in intermediate and secondary schools in Riyadh. The mean weight was 51 kg (SD = 11.8) with BMI ranging from 14.18 kg/m2 to 27.51 kg/m2. EAT-26 scores ranged from 21 to 42 (M = 26.8, SD = 5.6). Data were transcribed and revised, then themes and sub-themes were assigned using MAXQDA 24. The most common DEBs reported were dieting and binging, followed by induced vomiting. Major themes were related to negative cognitions, conscious imitation/copying behaviours, bullying, comparisons, and negative comments. Some participants identified the possibility of biological and familial factors in increasing the likelihood of DEB. Our findings provide a framework that could be used to increase understanding of DEB and inform the development of interventions to address underlying causes of DEB in Saudi adolescent girls

Physicians’ perception and barriers to cardiopulmonary rehabilitation for heart failure patients in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study

Background: Cardiopulmonary rehabilitation (CR) serves as a core component of the management strategy for patients with heart failure (HF). CR is administered by multidisciplinary healthcare providers, but their perceptions toward delivering CR to HF patients, and the factors and barriers that might influence referral, have not been studied. This study aims to assess physicians’ perceptions toward delivering CR programs to HF patients and identify factors and barriers that might influence their referral decisions. Methods: Between 15 February and 5 June 2022, a cross-sectional online survey with ten multiple-choice items was distributed to all general and cardiac physicians in Saudi Arabia. The characteristics of the respondents were described using descriptive statistics. Percentages and frequencies were used to report categorical variables. The statistical significance of the difference between categorical variables was determined using the chi-square (2) test. Logistic regression was used to identify referral factors. Results: Overall, 513 physicians (general physicians (78%) and cardiac doctors (22%)) completed the online survey, of which 65.0% (n = 332) were male. Of the general physicians, 236 (59%) had referred patients with HF to CR. Sixty-six (58%) of the cardiac doctors had referred patients with HF to CR. A hospital-supervised program was the preferred mode of delivering CR programs among 315 (79%) general physicians, while 84 (74%) cardiac doctors preferred to deliver CR programs at home. Apart from the exercise component, information about HF disease was perceived by 321 (80%) general physicians as the essential component of a CR program, while symptom management was perceived by 108 (95%) cardiac doctors as the essential component of a CR program. The most common patient-related factor that strongly influenced referral decisions was “fatigue related to disease” (63.40%). The availability of CR centers (48%) was the most common barrier preventing the referral of patients to CR. Conclusions: CR is an effective management strategy for HF patients, but the lack of CR centers is a major barrier to the referral of patients. A hospital-supervised program is the preferred method of delivering CR from the general physicians’ perspective, while cardiac doctors prefer home-based CR programs. Apart from the exercise component, information about HF disease and symptom management is essential components of CR programs from general physicians’ and cardiac doctors’ perspectives, respectively