The Basins of Convergence in the Planar Restricted Four-body Problem with Variable Mass

We have studied the existence, location and stability of the libration points in the model of restricted four-body problem (R4BP) with variable mass. It is assumed that three primaries, one dominant primary and the other two with equal masses, are always forming an equilateral triangle. We have determined the equations of motion of the above mentioned problem for the fourth body which is an infinitesimal mass. The libration points have been determined numerically for different values of the parameters considered. It is found that there are eight or ten libration points out of which six are non-collinear and two or four are collinear depending upon the values of mass parameter and the constant of proportionality occurring in Jeans’ law. The regions of motion of the infinitesimal mass have been drawn and investigated. We have also examined the stability of each libration point and found that all the libration points are unstable. Further, the Newton-Raphson basins of attraction are drawn for different set of parameters used

Comparison of 12-Month Outcomes with Zotarolimus- and Paclitaxel-Eluting Stents: A Meta-Analysis

Revascularization after myocardial infarction is often achieved via percutaneous coronary intervention, which often entails stenting. Drug-eluting stents have shown benefits over bare metal stents in this setting, and a variety of drug-eluting stents are now available, including sirolimus-, paclitaxel-, and zotarolimus-eluting stents. There are studies that have compared the various drug-eluting stents and this meta-analysis pools data comparing 12-month clinical outcomes of zotarolimus- and paclitaxel-eluting stents. End points studied were myocardial infarction, major adverse cardiac events, cardiac death, all-cause death, stent thrombosis, target vessel revascularization, and target lesion revascularization.There was a statistically significant reduction in risk of myocardial infarction (odds ratio, 0.250, confidence interval, 0.160 to 0.392) and statistically insignificant reductions in major adverse cardiac events (odds ratio, 0.813, confidence interval, 0.656 to 1.007), cardiac death (odds ratio, 0.817, confidence interval, 0.359 to 1.857), all cause death (odds ratio, 0.820, confidence interval, 0.443 to 1.516), and target lesion revascularization (odds ratio, 0.936, confidence interval 0.702 to 1.247). There was a statistically significant increase in target vessel revascularization (odds ratio, 1.336, confidence interval, 1.003 to 1.778) and a statistically insignificant increase in stent thrombosis (odds ratio, 1.174, confidence interval, 0.604 to 2.280). These findings are similar to the individual studies although other studies have noted increased late loss with zotarolimus-eluting stents and this current data associated with late loss should be kept in mind when makimg clinical decisions regarding sent selection

FinderNet: A Data Augmentation Free Canonicalization aided Loop Detection and Closure technique for Point clouds in 6-DOF separation

We focus on the problem of LiDAR point cloud based loop detection (or Finding) and closure (LDC) in a multi-agent setting. State-of-the-art (SOTA) techniques directly generate learned embeddings of a given point cloud, require large data transfers, and are not robust to wide variations in 6 Degrees-of-Freedom (DOF) viewpoint. Moreover, absence of strong priors in an unstructured point cloud leads to highly inaccurate LDC. In this original approach, we propose independent roll and pitch canonicalization of the point clouds using a common dominant ground plane. Discretization of the canonicalized point cloud along the axis perpendicular to the ground plane leads to an image similar to Digital Elevation Maps (DEMs), which exposes strong spatial priors in the scene. Our experiments show that LDC based on learnt embeddings of such DEMs is not only data efficient but also significantly more robust, and generalizable than the current SOTA. We report significant performance gain in terms of Average Precision for loop detection and absolute translation/rotation error for relative pose estimation (or loop closure) on Kitti, GPR and Oxford Robot Car over multiple SOTA LDC methods. Our encoder technique allows to compress the original point cloud by over 830 times. To further test the robustness of our technique we create and opensource a custom dataset called Lidar-UrbanFly Dataset (LUF) which consists of point clouds obtained from a LiDAR mounted on a quadrotor

Carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma: a case report and review of literature

Background: Carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma (CA-ex-PA) is extremely unusual in minor salivary glands of oral cavity. CA-ex-PA is a carcinomatous change as a primary or as a recurrence of pleomorphic adenoma. Objective: Due to resemblance of clinical symptoms of Ca ex PA and benign pleomorphic adenoma, it is mandatory for surgeons to keep high degree of clinical alertness, considering the peculiarity of this tumor. Case Report: 54-year-old male presented with swelling on left side in the pre-auricular region from the middle of zygomatic arch to mastoid process and from tragus of the ear up to angle of mandible. Fine needle aspiration cytology revealed a mixture of benign and malignant components. Total left parotidectomy with left radical neck dissection followed by reconstruction with cervicodeltopectoral flap was performed. Combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy were given to patient. Histologic examination and pre-operative fine needle aspiration cytology confirmed the diagnosis of Carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma (CA-ex-PA). Two-year follow-up of patient showed no recurrence of the lesion. Conclusion: Due to the similarity in the clinical symptoms of CA-ex-PA and benign pleomorphic adenoma, it is vital that clinicians maintain a high degree of clinical vigilance, considering the oddity of this malignancy

Literature Review of Omicron: A Grim Reality Amidst COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) first emerged in Wuhan city in December 2019, and became a grave global concern due to its highly infectious nature. The Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus-2, with its predecessors (i.e., MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV) belong to the family of Coronaviridae. Reportedly, COVID-19 has infected 344,710,576 people around the globe and killed nearly 5,598,511 persons in the short span of two years. On November 24, 2021, B.1.1.529 strain, later named Omicron, was classified as a Variant of Concern (VOC). SARS-CoV-2 has continuously undergone a series of unprecedented mutations and evolved to exhibit varying characteristics. These mutations have largely occurred in the spike (S) protein (site for antibody binding), which attribute high infectivity and transmissibility characteristics to the Omicron strain. Although many studies have attempted to understand this new challenge in the COVID-19 strains race, there is still a lot to be demystified. Therefore, the purpose of this review was to summarize the structural or virologic characteristics, burden, and epidemiology of the Omicron variant and its potential to evade the immune response

Assessing COVID-19 Booster Hesitancy and Its Correlates: An Early Evidence from India

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 mutants, waning immunity, and breakthrough infections prompted the use of booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to fight against the pandemic. India started booster doses in January 2022 and it is critical to determine the intention of booster dose uptake and its correlates. Therefore, the current cross-sectional study aimed to investigate booster dose acceptability and associated predictors among the Indian population. A convenience sampling technique was utilized to recruit a sample of 687 Indian residents. A 55-item psychometric validated survey tool was used to assess booster dose acceptability, vaccine literacy and vaccine confidence. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistical methods were used to analyze the data. Over 50% of participants reported their willingness to take the booster dose. Among the group not willing to take the booster dose (n = 303, 44.1%), a significantly larger proportion of respondents were unvaccinated with the primary series (12.2% vs. 5.2%, p \u3c 0.001), had an annual income below 2.96 lacs/annum (52.8% vs. 33.1, p \u3c 0.001), were residents of rural areas (38.0% vs. 23.2%, p \u3c 0.001), were not living with vulnerable individuals (78.5% vs. 65.2%, p \u3c 0.001) and did not have family/friends who had tested positive for COVID-19 (54.6% vs. 35.1%, p = 0.001). Demographic, vaccine variables and multi-theory model subscales to predict the initiation of booster dose among hesitant participants were statistically significant, R2 = 0.561, F (26, 244) = 11.978, p \u3c 0.001; adjusted R2 = 0.514. Findings of this study highlight the need to develop evidence-based interventions to promote vaccine uptake, particularly among hard-to-reach communities living in developing countries

Assessing the Compliance of Dental Clinicians towards Regulatory Infection Control Guidelines Using a Newly Developed Survey Tool: A Pilot Cross-Sectional Study in India

Adherence to the dental practice regulatory guidelines instituted during the COVID- 19 pandemic is essential to minimize the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 strains. Given the lack of a valid and reliable survey tool to assess the adherence to dental practice guidelines, this study aims to develop, validate, and test a survey tool on a pilot sample of dental clinicians practicing in India. A survey tool was developed/validated through a sequential phasic approach: Phase Ideveloping survey using conceptual and literature framework; Phase II: ascertaining its validity and reliability; Phase III: pilot testing; and Phase IV: assessing construct validity by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on the responses collected in Spring 2021. The EFA was achieved using a traditional unweighted least squares extraction method through a varimax rotation with Kaiser normalization. A six-factor solution with 18 items (with the global reliability of 86%) related to screening, regular infection prevention measures, infection control inside the dental operatory, disinfection of the dental unit, disposal, and other COVID-19-specific preventive measures were extracted. Our sample had higher compliance with regard to providing alcohol-based hand scrubs, providing protective gear to attendees, collecting travel/medical history, and screening patients for COVID-19 symptoms. In contrast, less compliance was observed regarding the use of paperless forms of practice and rubber dams in the operatory. The use of a validated survey tool ensures the collection of reliable and valid data, which can serve as baseline data to measure the uptake and effectiveness of dental practice regulatory guidelines in a clinical setting and community dental health clinics

Mapping 123 million neonatal, infant and child deaths between 2000 and 2017

Since 2000, many countries have achieved considerable success in improving child survival, but localized progress remains unclear. To inform efforts towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.2—to end preventable child deaths by 2030—we need consistently estimated data at the subnational level regarding child mortality rates and trends. Here we quantified, for the period 2000–2017, the subnational variation in mortality rates and number of deaths of neonates, infants and children under 5 years of age within 99 low- and middle-income countries using a geostatistical survival model. We estimated that 32% of children under 5 in these countries lived in districts that had attained rates of 25 or fewer child deaths per 1,000 live births by 2017, and that 58% of child deaths between 2000 and 2017 in these countries could have been averted in the absence of geographical inequality. This study enables the identification of high-mortality clusters, patterns of progress and geographical inequalities to inform appropriate investments and implementations that will help to improve the health of all populations

Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors 2017 includes a comprehensive assessment of incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability (YLDs) for 354 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017. Previous GBD studies have shown how the decline of mortality rates from 1990 to 2016 has led to an increase in life expectancy, an ageing global population, and an expansion of the non-fatal burden of disease and injury. These studies have also shown how a substantial portion of the world's population experiences non-fatal health loss with considerable heterogeneity among different causes, locations, ages, and sexes. Ongoing objectives of the GBD study include increasing the level of estimation detail, improving analytical strategies, and increasing the amount of high-quality data. METHODS: We estimated incidence and prevalence for 354 diseases and injuries and 3484 sequelae. We used an updated and extensive body of literature studies, survey data, surveillance data, inpatient admission records, outpatient visit records, and health insurance claims, and additionally used results from cause of death models to inform estimates using a total of 68 781 data sources. Newly available clinical data from India, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Nepal, China, Brazil, Norway, and Italy were incorporated, as well as updated claims data from the USA and new claims data from Taiwan (province of China) and Singapore. We used DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian meta-regression tool, as the main method of estimation, ensuring consistency between rates of incidence, prevalence, remission, and cause of death for each condition. YLDs were estimated as the product of a prevalence estimate and a disability weight for health states of each mutually exclusive sequela, adjusted for comorbidity. We updated the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary development indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and total fertility rate. Additionally, we calculated differences between male and female YLDs to identify divergent trends across sexes. GBD 2017 complies with the Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting

Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980-2017 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background Global development goals increasingly rely on country-specific estimates for benchmarking a nation's progress. To meet this need, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2016 estimated global, regional, national, and, for selected locations, subnational cause-specific mortality beginning in the year 1980. Here we report an update to that study, making use of newly available data and improved methods. GBD 2017 provides a comprehensive assessment of cause-specific mortality for 282 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1980 to 2017. Methods The causes of death database is composed of vital registration (VR), verbal autopsy (VA), registry, survey, police, and surveillance data. GBD 2017 added ten VA studies, 127 country-years of VR data, 502 cancer-registry country-years, and an additional surveillance country-year. Expansions of the GBD cause of death hierarchy resulted in 18 additional causes estimated for GBD 2017. Newly available data led to subnational estimates for five additional countries Ethiopia, Iran, New Zealand, Norway, and Russia. Deaths assigned International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes for non-specific, implausible, or intermediate causes of death were reassigned to underlying causes by redistribution algorithms that were incorporated into uncertainty estimation. We used statistical modelling tools developed for GBD, including the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODErn), to generate cause fractions and cause specific death rates for each location, year, age, and sex. Instead of using UN estimates as in previous versions, GBD 2017 independently estimated population size and fertility rate for all locations. Years of life lost (YLLs) were then calculated as the sum of each death multiplied by the standard life expectancy at each age. All rates reported here are age-standardised. Findings At the broadest grouping of causes of death (Level 1), non-communicable diseases (NC Ds) comprised the greatest fraction of deaths, contributing to 73.4% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 72.5-74.1) of total deaths in 2017, while communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional (CMNN) causes accounted for 186% (17.9-19.6), and injuries 8.0% (7.7-8.2). Total numbers of deaths from NCD causes increased from 2007 to 2017 by 22.7% (21.5-23.9), representing an additional 7.61 million (7. 20-8.01) deaths estimated in 2017 versus 2007. The death rate from NCDs decreased globally by 7.9% (7.08.8). The number of deaths for CMNN causes decreased by 222% (20.0-24.0) and the death rate by 31.8% (30.1-33.3). Total deaths from injuries increased by 2.3% (0-5-4-0) between 2007 and 2017, and the death rate from injuries decreased by 13.7% (12.2-15.1) to 57.9 deaths (55.9-59.2) per 100 000 in 2017. Deaths from substance use disorders also increased, rising from 284 000 deaths (268 000-289 000) globally in 2007 to 352 000 (334 000-363 000) in 2017. Between 2007 and 2017, total deaths from conflict and terrorism increased by 118.0% (88.8-148.6). A greater reduction in total deaths and death rates was observed for some CMNN causes among children younger than 5 years than for older adults, such as a 36.4% (32.2-40.6) reduction in deaths from lower respiratory infections for children younger than 5 years compared with a 33.6% (31.2-36.1) increase in adults older than 70 years. Globally, the number of deaths was greater for men than for women at most ages in 2017, except at ages older than 85 years. Trends in global YLLs reflect an epidemiological transition, with decreases in total YLLs from enteric infections, respirator}, infections and tuberculosis, and maternal and neonatal disorders between 1990 and 2017; these were generally greater in magnitude at the lowest levels of the Socio-demographic Index (SDI). At the same time, there were large increases in YLLs from neoplasms and cardiovascular diseases. YLL rates decreased across the five leading Level 2 causes in all SDI quintiles. The leading causes of YLLs in 1990 neonatal disorders, lower respiratory infections, and diarrhoeal diseases were ranked second, fourth, and fifth, in 2017. Meanwhile, estimated YLLs increased for ischaemic heart disease (ranked first in 2017) and stroke (ranked third), even though YLL rates decreased. Population growth contributed to increased total deaths across the 20 leading Level 2 causes of mortality between 2007 and 2017. Decreases in the cause-specific mortality rate reduced the effect of population growth for all but three causes: substance use disorders, neurological disorders, and skin and subcutaneous diseases. Interpretation Improvements in global health have been unevenly distributed among populations. Deaths due to injuries, substance use disorders, armed conflict and terrorism, neoplasms, and cardiovascular disease are expanding threats to global health. For causes of death such as lower respiratory and enteric infections, more rapid progress occurred for children than for the oldest adults, and there is continuing disparity in mortality rates by sex across age groups. Reductions in the death rate of some common diseases are themselves slowing or have ceased, primarily for NCDs, and the death rate for selected causes has increased in the past decade. Copyright (C) 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe