A double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study evaluating the impact of dates vinegar consumption on blood biochemical and hematological parameters in patients with type 2 diabetes

Purpose: To determine the effects of dates vinegar on blood biochemical and hematological parameters in type 2 diabetic subjects.Methods: Current research focused on fifty-five subjects having blood sugar more than126 mg/dL. Participants ingested dates vinegar (20 mL) daily into their normal diets for a period of 10 weeks. Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting blood sugar (FBS), total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), creatinine (Cr), urea, complete blood count (CBC), alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), potassium and folate levels were analyzed before, after 5 weeks and after the experiment Results: Dates vinegar improved the blood concentrations of HbA1c (6.80 ±2.34 to 6.17 ± 2.14 (%)), FBS (171.43 ±36.74 to 147.56 ± 38.86 mg/dL,p=0.001), TC (218.10 ± 16.9 to 191.14 ± 14.23 mg/dL, p<0.001), ALT (24.94 ± 5.03 to 21.88±5.08 IU/L, p=0.002) and ALP (264.32± 45.26 to 257.30 ±44.21 IU/L) and folate (34.6 ± 6.6 to 41.7 ± 6.5 nmol/ L, p<0.001).Conclusion: Dates vinegar significantly improved the total cholesterol.The other blood biochemical and hematological factors were also improved however; the improvements were not significant.Keywords: Dates vinegar, diabetes, glycated hemoglobin, hyperlipidemi

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Preliminary study to evaluate the phytochemicals and physiochemical properties in red and black date's vinegar

Antioxidant activity, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoids, carotenoids, pH, and total titratable acidity of red and black date's vinegar were analyzed. The extraction method was designed and optimized for this purpose with respect to the variety and solvent concentrations along with the time of ultrasonication. The results showed that red dates' vinegar has significantly (p < 0.05) higher total phenols (3.38 ± 0.13 mg GAE/ml) and antioxidant activity as compared to black dates' vinegar, which had a higher amount of carotenoids (3.43 ± 0.11 mg/100 ml). Similarly, red dates' vinegar has more flavonoids as compared to commercially available Zhenjiang vinegar. In terms of physiochemical properties, both red and black date's vinegar were not significantly different (p > 0.05). Use of 50% and 80% methanol with 25 min of ultrasonication for extraction seemed more effective. The total phenols, flavonoids, antioxidant activity, carotenoids, and physiochemical analysis of the red and black date's vinegar indicated that vinegar from dates (red or black dates) is a competitive product in the marketplace

Intracranial Hemorrhage Detection Using Parallel Deep Convolutional Models and Boosting Mechanism

Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) can lead to death or disability, which requires immediate action from radiologists. Due to the heavy workload, less experienced staff, and the complexity of subtle hemorrhages, a more intelligent and automated system is necessary to detect ICH. In literature, many artificial-intelligence-based methods are proposed. However, they are less accurate for ICH detection and subtype classification. Therefore, in this paper, we present a new methodology to improve the detection and subtype classification of ICH based on two parallel paths and a boosting technique. The first path employs the architecture of ResNet101-V2 to extract potential features from windowed slices, whereas Inception-V4 captures significant spatial information in the second path. Afterwards, the detection and subtype classification of ICH is performed by the light gradient boosting machine (LGBM) using the outputs of ResNet101-V2 and Inception-V4. Thus, the combined solution, known as ResNet101-V2, Inception-V4, and LGBM (Res-Inc-LGBM), is trained and tested over the brain computed tomography (CT) scans of CQ500 and Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) datasets. The experimental results state that the proposed solution efficiently obtains 97.7% accuracy, 96.5% sensitivity, and 97.4% F1 score using the RSNA dataset. Moreover, the proposed Res-Inc-LGBM outperforms the standard benchmarks for the detection and subtype classification of ICH regarding the accuracy, sensitivity, and F1 score. The results prove the significance of the proposed solution for its real-time application

Spatiotemporal Patterns in Large-Scale Traffic Speed Prediction

The ability to accurately predict traffic speed in a large and heterogeneous road network has many useful applications, such as route guidance and congestion avoidance. In principle, data-driven methods, such as support vector regression (SVR), can predict traffic with high accuracy because traffic tends to exhibit regular patterns over time. However, in practice, the prediction performance can significantly vary across the network and during different time periods. Insight into those spatiotemporal trends can improve the performance of intelligent transportation systems. Traditional prediction error measures, such as the mean absolute percentage error, provide information about the individual links in the network but do not capture global trends. We propose unsupervised learning methods, such as k-means clustering, principal component analysis, and self-organizing maps, to mine spatiotemporal performance trends at the network level and for individual links. We perform prediction for a large interconnected road network and for multiple prediction horizons with an SVR-based algorithm. We show the effectiveness of the proposed performance analysis methods by applying them to the prediction data of the SVR.Singapore. National Research Foundation (Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology Center. Future Urban Mobility Program

Nanoengineering of NiO/MnO₂/GO Ternary Composite for Use in High-Energy Storage Asymmetric Supercapacitor and Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER)

Designing multifunctional nanomaterials for high performing electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices has been very challenging. A number of strategies have been reported to introduce multifunctionality in electrode/catalyst materials including alloying, doping, nanostructuring, compositing, etc. Here, we report the fabrication of a reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-based ternary composite NiO/MnO2/rGO (NMGO) having a range of active sites for enhanced electrochemical activity. The resultant sandwich structure consisted of a mesoporous backbone with NiO and MnO2 nanoparticles encapsulated between successive rGO layers, having different active sites in the form of Ni-, Mn-, and C-based species. The modified structure exhibited high conductivity owing to the presence of rGO, excellent charge storage capacity of 402 F·g−1 at a current density of 1 A·g−1, and stability with a capacitance retention of ~93% after 14,000 cycles. Moreover, the NMGO//MWCNT asymmetric device, assembled with NMGO and multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as positive and negative electrodes, respectively, exhibited good energy density (28 Wh·kg−1), excellent power density (750 W·kg−1), and capacitance retention (88%) after 6000 cycles. To evaluate the multifunctionality of the modified nanostructure, the NMGO was also tested for its oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity. The NMGO delivered a current density of 10 mA·cm−2 at the potential of 1.59 V versus RHE. These results clearly demonstrate high activity of the modified electrode with strong future potential

Splice-site mutations identified in PDE6A responsible for retinitis pigmentosa in consanguineous Pakistani families.

PurposeThis study was conducted to localize and identify causal mutations associated with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in consanguineous familial cases of Pakistani origin.MethodsOphthalmic examinations that included funduscopy and electroretinography (ERG) were performed to confirm the affectation status. Blood samples were collected from all participating individuals, and genomic DNA was extracted. A genome-wide scan was performed, and two-point logarithm of odds (LOD) scores were calculated. Sanger sequencing was performed to identify the causative variants. Subsequently, we performed whole exome sequencing to rule out the possibility of a second causal variant within the linkage interval. Sequence conservation was performed with alignment analyses of PDE6A orthologs, and in silico splicing analysis was completed with Human Splicing Finder version 2.4.1.ResultsA large multigenerational consanguineous family diagnosed with early-onset RP was ascertained. An ophthalmic clinical examination consisting of fundus photography and electroretinography confirmed the diagnosis of RP. A genome-wide scan was performed, and suggestive two-point LOD scores were observed with markers on chromosome 5q. Haplotype analyses identified the region; however, the region did not segregate with the disease phenotype in the family. Subsequently, we performed a second genome-wide scan that excluded the entire genome except the chromosome 5q region harboring PDE6A. Next-generation whole exome sequencing identified a splice acceptor site mutation in intron 16: c.2028-1G>A, which was completely conserved in PDE6A orthologs and was absent in ethnically matched 350 control chromosomes, the 1000 Genomes database, and the NHLBI Exome Sequencing Project. Subsequently, we investigated our entire cohort of RP familial cases and identified a second family who harbored a splice acceptor site mutation in intron 10: c.1408-2A>G. In silico analysis suggested that these mutations will result in the elimination of wild-type splice acceptor sites that would result in either skipping of the respective exon or the creation of a new cryptic splice acceptor site; both possibilities would result in retinal photoreceptor cells that lack PDE6A wild-type protein.Conclusionswe report two splice acceptor site variations in PDE6A in consanguineous Pakistani families who manifested cardinal symptoms of RP. Taken together with our previously published work, our data suggest that mutations in PDE6A account for about 2% of the total genetic load of RP in our cohort and possibly in the Pakistani population as well

Correction: Deletion at the GCNT2 Locus Causes Autosomal Recessive Congenital Cataracts.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0167562.]