Monotherapy of acetylsalicylic acid or warfarin for prevention of ischemic stroke in low-risk atrial fibrillation: A Easter Asian population-based study

Background: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of monotherapy acetylsalicylic acid(ASA) and warfarin for stroke prevention in low-risk atrial fibrillation (AF) by using a population--based cohort study in Taiwan.Methods: A newly diagnosed low-risk AF patient cohort were identified by using National HealthInsurance Research Database (NHIRD) in Taiwan in 2008. The study cohort was observed witha follow-up of 2 years to examine the onset of ischemic stroke (IS) (to 2010). The longitudinal data wereanalyzed by using generalized estimation equations (GEE).Results: A total of 8,065 newly-diagnosed low-risk AF patients were identified in 2008. 7.4% wereprescribed with ASA and 4.6% were prescribed with warfarin. The GEE results showed that low-riskAF patients with hypertension who received warfarin were associated with a statistically significant58.4% reduction of IS risk (OR = 0.416, p = 0.024, 95% CI 0.194–0.891). Additionally, low-risk AFpatients with hyperlipidemia who received warfarin were associated with a 69.3% reduction of IS risk(OR = 0.307, p = 0.044, 95% CI 0.097–0.969).Conclusions: Warfarin is suggested to be prescribed in preventing IS for low-stroke-risk AF patientswith hypertension and hyperlipidemia

The Relationship and Interaction Process of Taiwanese Couples Having Undergone Assisted Reproductive Technology- A Systemic Perspective

Approximately 10-15% of married couples in Taiwan encounter the challenge of infertility, which significantly impacts their lives and relationships. However, the nature and extent of this impact vary across different social and cultural contexts. Recognising the complex and wide-ranging nature of infertility issues, integrated interventions have emerged as a novel approach to assist infertile couples effectively. Drawing upon Helms et al.'s (2011) modified three-level model of marriage, Huston's model, and Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory (1986), a comprehensive framework is constructed within this thesis to explore various aspects of infertile couples' experiences in Taiwan as they are undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART). This framework encompasses the couples' interpersonal relationships, their interactions with the medical system, and the influence of their family of origin and cultural systems. The study employs mixed methods, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, to address the following research questions:1. What is the societal and cultural context in which Taiwanese infertile couples have undergone assisted reproductive technology? 2. What does the medical system in Taiwan provide infertile couples with in terms of resources and assistance, how the infertile couples feel about the medical system, and how does the treatment process affect marital life and relationships? 3. Under the Taiwanese cultural context, how aware are the couples of other perspectives (original family system, interpersonal system) to infertility, and how do these perspectives influence them? 4. How do infertile couples cope with and face infertility within the Taiwanese cultural context? Firstly, the findings reveal that Taiwanese infertile couples undergoing ART live within the societal context of traditional negative perceptions and modern rich information interactions. Secondly, the medical system focuses on providing physical assistance and professional equipment to infertile couples. However, the treatment process comes with great physical, psychological and spiritual difficulties that are not addressed. The Taiwanese infertile couples believe in medical professionals but are eager for more humanisation and supportive medical assistance. Thirdly, traditional cultural values pervade in general social contexts and emerge in family gatherings. The rising external pressure tests Taiwanese infertile couples' relationships and coping techniques. Lastly, infertile couples in Taiwan tend to be perfunctory and evasive in maintaining interpersonal safety and harmony and use contextual strategies to protect their partners. In summary, this study provides a systemic framework for investigating the contextual experiences of infertile couples across diverse cultural contexts. It offers valuable insights into the specific needs of Taiwanese infertile couples, enabling medical and mental health practitioners to design appropriate integrated psychosocial support programs

How Do Virtual Teams Work- A Social Relationship Model By SEM

Virtual teams have been brought the need for organizations to improve the performance of virtual teams. Among these key issues to be successful, social dimensions have been catching researchers and mangers’ attentions. Hence, this study derives a preliminary social relationship model from Powell et al’s (2004) virtual team framework and conduct an experiment to validate it by SEM. The results reveal: (1) Communication has a positive impact on relationship building; (2) Relationship building has a positive impact on cohesion; (3) Relationship building has a positive impact on trust; (4) cohesion and trust have positive impacts on performance

Evaluation Issues in Managing and Realizing Benefits in B2BEC/IT Investments

Organizations have invested substantial amount of financial resources in information technology (IT) over the last few decades. However, there is still a lack of understanding of the impact of IT investment evaluation processes and practices in these organizations. This study extends the Limits-to-Value model to examine the relationship between the levels of IT maturity and the adoption of IT investment evaluation and benefits realization methodologies as well as their effects on B2BEC benefits. The study has found that IT maturity has a direct positive relationship with the adoption of these evaluation methodologies. A number of issues and problems have also emerged from the analysis of the data collected. These findings will assist organizations in making better evaluation of B2BEC/IT investment

When Causal Intervention Meets Adversarial Examples and Image Masking for Deep Neural Networks

Discovering and exploiting the causality in deep neural networks (DNNs) are crucial challenges for understanding and reasoning causal effects (CE) on an explainable visual model. "Intervention" has been widely used for recognizing a causal relation ontologically. In this paper, we propose a causal inference framework for visual reasoning via do-calculus. To study the intervention effects on pixel-level features for causal reasoning, we introduce pixel-wise masking and adversarial perturbation. In our framework, CE is calculated using features in a latent space and perturbed prediction from a DNN-based model. We further provide the first look into the characteristics of discovered CE of adversarially perturbed images generated by gradient-based methods \footnote{~~https://github.com/jjaacckkyy63/Causal-Intervention-AE-wAdvImg}. Experimental results show that CE is a competitive and robust index for understanding DNNs when compared with conventional methods such as class-activation mappings (CAMs) on the Chest X-Ray-14 dataset for human-interpretable feature(s) (e.g., symptom) reasoning. Moreover, CE holds promises for detecting adversarial examples as it possesses distinct characteristics in the presence of adversarial perturbations.Comment: Noted our camera-ready version has changed the title. "When Causal Intervention Meets Adversarial Examples and Image Masking for Deep Neural Networks" as the v3 official paper title in IEEE Proceeding. Please use it in your formal reference. Accepted at IEEE ICIP 2019. Pytorch code has released on https://github.com/jjaacckkyy63/Causal-Intervention-AE-wAdvIm

Factors associated with the utilization of antenatal care services among pregnant women in Eswatini - A cross-sectional study

The study aimed to assess the utilization of antenatal care services and its associated factors among pregnant women in Eswatini. A cross-sectional study was adopted. Convenience sampling was conducted in a public referral hospital in central Eswatini from 1st of August to the 30 of September 2021. A total of 400 newly delivered women who met the inclusion criteria were recruited. SPSS version 22.0 was used to analyze data including descriptive and bivariate analysis. Results indicated that only 13% of pregnant women booked their first ANC in the first trimester and 24.8% of them attended less than four ANC visits. Maternal education, gestational age, gravity, pregnant-related complications, medical history, and maternal health literacy were significantly associated with the utilization of ANC services (p< .05). To increase the utilization of ANC service, healthcare professionals should pay special attention to pregnant women with tertiary education, gave birth below 38 weeks, multi-gravities, medical history, and poor maternal health literacy. (Afr J Reprod Health 2022; 26[12]: 67-77). L'étude visait à évaluer l'utilisation des services de soins prénatals et ses facteurs associés chez les femmes enceintes en Eswatini. Une étude transversale a été retenue. Un échantillonnage de commodité a été effectué dans un hôpital public de référence du centre d'Eswatini du 1er août au 30 septembre 2021. Un total de 400 femmes nouvellement accouchées qui répondaient aux critères d'inclusion ont été recrutées. La version SPSS 22.0 a été utilisée pour analyser les données, y compris l'analyse descriptive et bivariée. Les résultats ont indiqué que seulement 13 % des femmes enceintes ont réservé leur première CPN au cours du premier trimestre et 24,8 % d'entre elles ont assisté à moins de quatre visites CPN. L'éducation de la mère, l'âge gestationnel, la gravité, les complications liées à la grossesse, les antécédents médicaux et les connaissances en matière de santé maternelle étaient significativement associés à l'utilisation des services de soins prénatals (p < 0,05). Pour accroître l'utilisation des services de soins prénatals, les professionnels de la santé doivent accorder une attention particulière aux femmes enceintes ayant fait des études supérieures, ayant accouché à moins de 38 semaines, multigravités, ayant des antécédents médicaux et une faible littératie en matière de santé maternelle. (Afr J Reprod Health 2022; 26[12]: 67-77)

A feasibility study on the three-dimensional reconstruction of high voltage and lightning descharge channels using digital images

The work presented extends and contributes to research in the visualisation of discharge channels with an expectation to extend to lightning channels. Although previous work in this area has produced three-dimensional (3D) information of discharge channels, there has not been a method to visualise the channel and the characteristics of its shape in a 3D environment. In the research presented, photographed discharge channels are reconstructed in a virtual interactive 3D envi- ronment. It is found that single-channelled discharges produce models that correctly follow the inferred channel paths from the photograph datasets. Single-channelled discharges have also been veri ed in the controlled laboratory environment, providing con - dence in the two-image reconstruction algorithm. The algorithm is shown to fail for an angular separation of cameras less than 15 , which produces thicker channel segments. It is further shown that branched discharge channels can produce models that correctly follow the channel paths. If images are not accurately normalised for lens correction and slight camera tilts, missing segments and duplication of reconstructed branches are evident in the models. Furthermore, it is shown that the algorithm also fails for image perspectives with angular separations less than 15 , additional redundant branches are produced in addition to thicker channel segments

Nursing Students’ Clinical Confidence In Caring Tuberculosis: Indonesian Version Of The U.S Tuberculosis Curriculum Consortium Survey Using Rasch Analysis

Background: Nursing students who are prepared in clinical practicums to comprehend the knowledge, reflect their beliefs about tuberculosis instruction, and perceive their abilities in caring for tuberculosis patients are also at risk. Nursing students’ clinical confidence in caring for tuberculosis patients is essential to be assessed. Knowledge, beliefs, and clinical confidence, as unidimensional constructs based on Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy, had been used in the US National Tuberculosis Curriculum Consortium (NTCC) survey for nursing students. This study's objective was to investigate the Indonesian version of the NTCC survey among nursing students' experiences caring for tuberculosis patients.   Methods: A quantitative study with cross-sectional using an online survey among 250 students 1st to 3rd-yearrd year students in one faculty of nursing in Banten, Indonesia. Prior to data collection, NTCC surveys were translated backward and forward, reviewed by experts, and tested in a pilot project.   Results: Internal consistency using Rasch analysis on each subscale showed good results and gave strong evidence that three subscales are unidimensional. There was an item separation index and reliability score, in that order: knowledge about tuberculosis (8.68 and 0.99), beliefs regarding tuberculosis instructions (6.50 and 0.98), and clinical confidence in caring for tuberculosis patients (6.29 and 0.98).   Conclusion: The Indonesian version of the NTCC survey has excellent internal consistency. This instrument might be improved since the original instrument is 13 years old and there is a cultural gap between the US and Indonesia. Moreover, this instrument might be needed for improving tuberculosis teaching in the nursing curriculum in Indonesia

Mitochondrial targeting of human NADH dehydrogenase (ubiquinone) flavoprotein 2 (NDUFV2) and its association with early-onset hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and encephalopathy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>NADH dehydrogenase (ubiquinone) flavoprotein 2 (NDUFV2), containing one iron sulfur cluster ([2Fe-2S] binuclear cluster N1a), is one of the core nuclear-encoded subunits existing in human mitochondrial complex I. Defects in this subunit have been associated with Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Bipolar disorder, and Schizophrenia. The aim of this study is to examine the mitochondrial targeting of NDUFV2 and dissect the pathogenetic mechanism of one human deletion mutation present in patients with early-onset hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and encephalopathy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A series of deletion and point-mutated constructs with the <it>c-myc </it>epitope tag were generated to identify the location and sequence features of mitochondrial targeting sequence for NDUFV2 in human cells using the confocal microscopy. In addition, various lengths of the NDUFV2 N-terminal and C-terminal fragments were fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein to investigate the minimal region required for correct mitochondrial import. Finally, a deletion construct that mimicked the IVS2+5_+8delGTAA mutation in <it>NDUFV2 </it>gene and would eventually produce a shortened NDUFV2 lacking 19-40 residues was generated to explore the connection between human gene mutation and disease.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We identified that the cleavage site of NDUFV2 was located around amino acid 32 of the precursor protein, and the first 22 residues of NDUFV2 were enough to function as an efficient mitochondrial targeting sequence to carry the passenger protein into mitochondria. A site-directed mutagenesis study showed that none of the single-point mutations derived from basic, hydroxylated and hydrophobic residues in the NDUFV2 presequence had a significant effect on mitochondrial targeting, while increasing number of mutations in basic and hydrophobic residues gradually decreased the mitochondrial import efficacy of the protein. The deletion mutant mimicking the human early-onset hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and encephalopathy lacked 19-40 residues in NDUFV2 and exhibited a significant reduction in its mitochondrial targeting ability.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The mitochondrial targeting sequence of NDUFV2 is located at the N-terminus of the precursor protein. Maintaining a net positive charge and an amphiphilic structure with the overall balance and distribution of basic and hydrophobic amino acids in the N-terminus of NDUFV2 is important for mitochondrial targeting. The results of human disease cell model established that the impairment of mitochondrial localization of NDUFV2 as a mechanistic basis for early-onset hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and encephalopathy.</p