Melodic track identification in MIDI files considering the imbalanced context

In this paper, the problem of identifying the melodic track of a MIDI file in imbalanced scenarios is addressed. A polyphonic MIDI file is a digital score that consists of a set of tracks where usually only one of them contains the melody and the remaining tracks hold the accompaniment. This leads to a two-class imbalance problem that, unlike in previous work, is managed by over-sampling the melody class (the minority one) or by under-sampling the accompaniment class (the majority one) until both classes are the same size. Experimental results over three different music genres prove that learning from balanced training sets clearly provides better results than the standard classification proces

Menstrual health management: Knowledge and practices among adolescent girls

Objectives: To assess the knowledge and attitude of adolescent girls regarding menstruation and menstrual hygiene.Material and Methods: After approval by the ethical committee , the study was conducted on 340 adolescent girls aged 12-19 years, belonging to an urban slum area of Delhi. This was a questionnaire based cross-sectional study conducted over a period of 9 months in a tertiary hospital. Confidentiality of the subjects was ensured.Results: Out of 340 girls 69 % were between 16-19 years. Source of information about menstruation in majority of the cases was mother (60%). Only 48% girls knew menstruation before menarche and 24% girls knew uterus as the organ for menstruation. 71 % girls used sterile sanitary napkins as absorbent. Satisfactory changing of pads (>2pads/day) was done by 68 % and 77% girls cleaned the genitalia satisfactorily (>2 times/day). 41% girls were aware of the fact that unhygienic use of pad could be a source of genital infection and 8% girls had associated vaginal discharge. Social restrictions during menses in the form of religious activities, drop out from school, avoiding certain foods etc were practiced in many families.Conclusion: Although the menstrual practices appear to be satisfactory in major percentage of girls but knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene is worrisome, as maximum girls are unaware of menarche and physiology of menstruation. Inclusion of such information in the school curriculum and wider coverage in mass media will help to bridge this gap.Keywords: Adolescence; hygiene; menstruation healt

Dynamic changes in biochemical markers of renal function with thyroid status- A study in Indian population

Thyroid dysfunction is known to cause significant changes in glomerular filtration rate. The present cross-sectional study was performed to evaluate the changes in biochemical markers of renal function in hypothyroid subjects before and after treatment. Thyroid function tests (T3, T4 and TSH levels) were assayed in 385 subjects. Based on TSH levels, subjects were classified as euthyroid (n=198), sub-clinical hypothyroid (n=98; TSH 6.1 to 19.9 μIU/ml) and overt hypothyroid (n=89; TSH ≥ 20 μIU/ml, abnormally low T4 levels). Forty-eight hypothyroid patients were re-evaluated after 3 months of thyroxine replacement therapy. Renal function tests were carried out in all subjects and statistically analyzed. Serum creatinine was significantly increased in subclinical and overt hypothyroid groups as compared to euthyroid subjects. Serum creatinine showed a significant negative correlation with T3 &T4 levels in overt group(r = -0.372 and r = - 0.371), whereas a positive correlation was observed with TSH (r=0.283). Uric acid levels were significantly increased in the overt group as compared to euthyroid subjects. Uric acid levels showed a significant negative correlation with T3 levels in the overt group (r= -0.298). After 3 months of thyroxine replacement therapy, creatinine and uric acids levels decreased significantly and were comparable to euthyroid levels. Hypothyroidism leads to reversible changes in renal function

VITO combineert sensorplatformen met aardobservatie voor een betere monitoring van water

De huidige systemen om de toestand van het water op te volgen, voldoen vaak niet aan de noden van waterbeheerders, baggeraars, waterbedrijven, havenbeheerders, enzovoort. De data schieten tekort in kwaliteit en kwantiteit. Daarom ontwikkelt VITO een monitoringssysteem dat geautomatiseerde sensoren op onbemande vaartuigen combineert met aardobservatie: SAVEWATER. Ook het beschikbaar stellen van de data maakt deel uit van dit systeem. Het project wordt samen met de Europese ruimtevaartorganisatie ESA uitgewerkt

Clinical adjudication in acute kidney injury studies: findings from the pivotal TIMP-2*IGFBP7 biomarker study

Background The NEPROCHECK test (Astute Medical, San Diego, CA, USA) combines urinary tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-2 (TIMP-2) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 (IGFBP7) to identify patients at high risk for acute kidney injury (AKI). In a US Food and Drug Administration registration trial (NCT01573962), AKI was determined by a three-member clinical adjudication committee. The objectives were to examine agreement among adjudicators as well as between adjudicators and consensus criteria for AKI and to determine the relationship of biomarker concentrations and adjudicator agreement. Methods Subjects were classified as AKI 3/3, 2/3, 1/3 or 0/3 according to the proportion of adjudicators classifying the case as AKI. Subjects were classified as Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) AKI(+) when stage 2 or 3 AKI criteria were met. Results Concordance between adjudicators and between adjudicators and KDIGO criteria were lower for AKI than non-AKI subjects [78.9 versus 97.3% (P \u3c 0.001) and 91.5 versus 97.9% (P = 0.01)]. Subjects who were AKI 3/3 or 2/3 but KDIGO AKI(−) had higher median [TIMP-2]•[IGFBP7] compared with those who were AKI-1/3 or 0/3 but KDIGO AKI(+) {2.78 [interquartile range (IQR) 2.33–3.56] versus 0.52 [IQR 0.26–1.64]; P = 0.008}. [TIMP-2]•[IGFBP7] levels were highest in patients with AKI 3/3 and lowest in AKI 0/3, whereas AKI 2/3 and 1/3 exhibited intermediate values. Conclusions In this analysis, urine [TIMP-2]•[IGFBP7] levels correlated to clinically adjudicated AKI better than to KDIGO criteria. Furthermore, in difficult cases where adjudicators overruled KDIGO criteria, the biomarker test discriminated well. This study highlights the importance of clinical adjudication of AKI for biomarker studies and lends further support for the value of urine [TIMP-2]•[IGFBP7]

Assessment of selenium levels and risk factors for stroke and other cardiovascular disease: a cross sectional study in a seleniferous area of Punjab, India

Background and aims: Rural areas of Punjab in India have been found to have soil rich in selenium (Se); about 2160 hectare area is seleniferous and is populated by about 10,000 inhabitants. Selenium concentrations in these villages were reported to be as high as 65 times over non-seleniferous areas. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate selenium levels in blood, hair and nails in a group of subjects living in this area, and to evaluate the correlation between selenium exposure levels and a relevant cardiovascular risk factor and blood pressure. Methods: In a random sample of rural residents in three districts of a seleniferous area of Punjab, we determined selenium concentration in hair, nail clippings and serum samples. Analyses were carried out using atomic absorption spectrophotometry at National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, India. Data analysis was performed using the STATA 15.0 software (STATA Corp. TX). Results: A total of 680 human subjects were recruited in this study, with a male/female ratio of 0.65 and a median age of 43 (IQR 32-52). Medium selenium levels in blood, hair and nail were 86.7 µg/l (IQR 55.9-200.3), 20.7 µg/g (IQR 12.6-40.3) and 56.9 µg/g (IQR 42.8-83.9), respectively, with lower levels in women in all three kind of samples. Concerning systolic blood pressure, Pearson’s correlation coefficients were 0.102 (95 % CI -0.025 to 0.226, p=0.116); 0.076 (95% CI -0.010 to 0.160, p=0.085); 0.072 (95% CI -0.015 to 0.157, p=0.104) with blood, hair and nail, respectively. For diastolic blood pressure, Pearson’s correlation coefficients are 0.106 (95% CI -0.022 to 0.230, p=0.104), 0.036 (95% CI -0.050 to 0.122, p=0.409), 0.049 (95% CI -0.038 to 0.135, p=0.272), respectively. Conclusions: Our findings indicate a positive correlation between selenium content in blood, hair and nails and increasing systolic and diastolic pressure levels, in line with previous epidemiologic findings, indicating a possible health concern for this highly exposed population. The possible relation between selenium over-exposure and onset of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases deserves further investigation