Cumulative Stressors in Preterm Infants Hospitalized in Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Background: Infants’ exposure to stressors in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and its outcomes is a new issue since previous studies have only focused on painful stimuli. Taking into account frequency and severity of the stressors on each infant, short and long-term outcome of these stressors can be improved. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the cumulative stressors in premature infants hospitalized in a NICU. Methods: In this descriptive study, 197 hospitalized preterm infants between 28 to 30 weeks of gestation were studied in terms of cumulative stressors during 10 days at the NICU of Tabriz Alzahra hospital. Consecutive sampling method was used. Demographic questionnaire and neonatal infant stressor scale were used. Descriptive statistics, repeated measures analysis and Pearson’s correlation coefficient tests were used to analyze the data. Results: The total mean of stress scores during 10 days was 99.44 ± 17.37. “Multiple attempts to insert intravenous and intra-arterial catheters and “intubation” were the most frequent procedures in the “extremely stressful” category among four categories of stressors. The highest scores of acute and chronic stress were related to the tenth and third day of hospitalization, respectively. There was no significant difference between infants’ characteristics and total mean stress scores. Repeated measures analysis showed that the mean acute stress scores were significantly different among the 10 subsequent days (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrated the frequent occurrence of various procedures in preterm infants hospitalized at the NICU. Although these procedures were done with the purpose of improving infants’ health, they can lead to problems and complications, which might postpone the infants’ recovery process

Efficient Strategies for Elimination of Phenolic Compounds During DNA Extraction From Roots of Pistacia Vera L.

Optimization of DNA extraction protocols for plant tissues and including endophytic microorganisms is a critical step of advanced plant-microbe interaction in agricultural studies. Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) root tissue contains high levels of polyphenols have been known as major extract contaminants and inhibitors of enzymatic activities during amplification. The present study aimed to develop reliable strategies to purify DNA from Pistachio root samples. Inhibiting substances were removed from DNA through a process including extraction with hot detergent contains SDS-Tris- EDTA, AlNH4(SO4)2.12H2O as chemical coagulating factor and CTAB-NaCl. Following typically organic extraction/alcohol precipitation, denaturing agarose electrophoresis performed to purify probable remain contaminants. The purified DNA was enough free of polyphenols based upon loss of color and spectral quality (260/230&gt;1.6) and efficiently amplified during polymerase chain reaction particularly in the present of GC-clamp primers. This method proved well with detection of Glomus sp. (arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi) associated with Pistacia vera L. using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE)

Analytical Solution for the Free Over-Fall Weir Flow Using Conformal Mapping and Potential Flow Theory

Abstract In this study an analytical approach is presented based on the potential flow theory and conformal mapping technique to solve the problem of an ideal and steady flow over a free over-fall weir. The results are arranged for rectangular sharp-crested over-fall weirs with different vertical aspect ratios (h/P, h is the water head above the weir and P is the weir height). To validate the results of this approach, the free over-fall weir d ischarge equation and the water free-surface profiles obtained with the potential flow theory have been calibrated with the experimental data. In conclusion, the information made available and the close correlation among the results of present analytical ap proach and the experimental data are adequate to warrant the reco mmendation of this method as a valuable supplement to existing methods employed in engineering design

The present status of childhood cancer therapy in Korea.

We have studied the incidence pattern of childhood cancers in Korea. Although the incidence of many tumors in Korea is similar to that in other countries, the incidence of acute myelogenous leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and hepatoma is greater in Korean children. Yonsei Cancer Center commenced a study of multi-modality treatment of childhood cancers in July 1974. The most striking improvement of survival rate was seen in patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia (50% at 5 years), Wilms' tumor (65% at 5 years), neuroblastoma (45% at 2 years), osteogenic sarcoma (55% at 2 years) and malignant histiocytosis (20% at 5 years). This study is an attempt to create a basic framework providing the best possible treatment of childhood cancer in Korea. The data obtained in Korea are briefly compared with those in Japan and the United States.</p

Prediction of overall survival for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer : development of a prognostic model through a crowdsourced challenge with open clinical trial data

Background Improvements to prognostic models in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer have the potential to augment clinical trial design and guide treatment strategies. In partnership with Project Data Sphere, a not-for-profit initiative allowing data from cancer clinical trials to be shared broadly with researchers, we designed an open-data, crowdsourced, DREAM (Dialogue for Reverse Engineering Assessments and Methods) challenge to not only identify a better prognostic model for prediction of survival in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer but also engage a community of international data scientists to study this disease. Methods Data from the comparator arms of four phase 3 clinical trials in first-line metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer were obtained from Project Data Sphere, comprising 476 patients treated with docetaxel and prednisone from the ASCENT2 trial, 526 patients treated with docetaxel, prednisone, and placebo in the MAINSAIL trial, 598 patients treated with docetaxel, prednisone or prednisolone, and placebo in the VENICE trial, and 470 patients treated with docetaxel and placebo in the ENTHUSE 33 trial. Datasets consisting of more than 150 clinical variables were curated centrally, including demographics, laboratory values, medical history, lesion sites, and previous treatments. Data from ASCENT2, MAINSAIL, and VENICE were released publicly to be used as training data to predict the outcome of interest-namely, overall survival. Clinical data were also released for ENTHUSE 33, but data for outcome variables (overall survival and event status) were hidden from the challenge participants so that ENTHUSE 33 could be used for independent validation. Methods were evaluated using the integrated time-dependent area under the curve (iAUC). The reference model, based on eight clinical variables and a penalised Cox proportional-hazards model, was used to compare method performance. Further validation was done using data from a fifth trial-ENTHUSE M1-in which 266 patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer were treated with placebo alone. Findings 50 independent methods were developed to predict overall survival and were evaluated through the DREAM challenge. The top performer was based on an ensemble of penalised Cox regression models (ePCR), which uniquely identified predictive interaction effects with immune biomarkers and markers of hepatic and renal function. Overall, ePCR outperformed all other methods (iAUC 0.791; Bayes factor >5) and surpassed the reference model (iAUC 0.743; Bayes factor >20). Both the ePCR model and reference models stratified patients in the ENTHUSE 33 trial into high-risk and low-risk groups with significantly different overall survival (ePCR: hazard ratio 3.32, 95% CI 2.39-4.62, p Interpretation Novel prognostic factors were delineated, and the assessment of 50 methods developed by independent international teams establishes a benchmark for development of methods in the future. The results of this effort show that data-sharing, when combined with a crowdsourced challenge, is a robust and powerful framework to develop new prognostic models in advanced prostate cancer.Peer reviewe

Long live life : A lexical typological study about the concept of LIFE using a Bible corpus

Det här är en lexikal typologisk pilotstudie som undersöker begreppet LIV i elva olika språk. Huvudmaterialet består av texter från Bibeln, Nya testamentet. Studien utgår ifrån de koine-grekiska lexemen för liv, ζωή (zōḗ), ψυχή (psūkhḗ) och βῐ́ος (bíos). Uti- från huvudmaterial från parallelltexterna har probabilistiska semantiska kartor skapats genom multidimensionell skalering för varje språk och har analyserats med partitio- ning around medoids pam(). Resultatet visar på två intressanta fenomen. För det förs- ta har zōḗ översatts mest enhetligt. psūkhḗ och bíos översätts på ett mer varierande sätt i det flesta språken där fler olika lexem har använts och det här tyder på att deras be- tydelse är mer varierad. De koine-grekiska lexemen bildar en konceptuell struktur, vilket innebär att de olika koncepten för LIV inordnas efter en snävare och bredare be- tydelse. För det andra, visar resultatet även att språken anpassar sitt vokabulär för att efterliknar denna struktur. Det visar sig tydligast i språk med flera lexem för LIV samt hur de används för att översätta de tre koine-grekiska lexemen.This is a lexical typological pilot study that examines the concept of LIFE in eleven different languages. The main material consists of texts retrieved from the Bible, the New Testament. The study is based on the Koine-Greek lexemes for life, ζωή (zōḗ), ψυχή (psūkhḗ) and βῐ́ος (bíos). Probabilistic semantic maps have been created through multidimensional scaling for each language and have been analyzed with partitioning around medoids pam(). The results show two interesting phenomena. Firstly, zōḗ has been translated most consistently. psūkhḗ and bíos have been translated with more va- riation in most languages where several different lexemes have been used, and this indicates that their meaning is more varied. The Koine-Greek lexemes form a concep- tual structure, which means that the various concepts of LIFE is arranged according to a narrower and broader meaning. Secondly the results also show that the languages adapt their vocabulary to mimic this structure, it is most evident in languages with several lexemes for LIFE and how they are used to translate the three Koine-Greek lexemes

Long live life : A lexical typological study about the concept of LIFE using a Bible corpus

Det här är en lexikal typologisk pilotstudie som undersöker begreppet LIV i elva olika språk. Huvudmaterialet består av texter från Bibeln, Nya testamentet. Studien utgår ifrån de koine-grekiska lexemen för liv, ζωή (zōḗ), ψυχή (psūkhḗ) och βῐ́ος (bíos). Uti- från huvudmaterial från parallelltexterna har probabilistiska semantiska kartor skapats genom multidimensionell skalering för varje språk och har analyserats med partitio- ning around medoids pam(). Resultatet visar på två intressanta fenomen. För det förs- ta har zōḗ översatts mest enhetligt. psūkhḗ och bíos översätts på ett mer varierande sätt i det flesta språken där fler olika lexem har använts och det här tyder på att deras be- tydelse är mer varierad. De koine-grekiska lexemen bildar en konceptuell struktur, vilket innebär att de olika koncepten för LIV inordnas efter en snävare och bredare be- tydelse. För det andra, visar resultatet även att språken anpassar sitt vokabulär för att efterliknar denna struktur. Det visar sig tydligast i språk med flera lexem för LIV samt hur de används för att översätta de tre koine-grekiska lexemen.This is a lexical typological pilot study that examines the concept of LIFE in eleven different languages. The main material consists of texts retrieved from the Bible, the New Testament. The study is based on the Koine-Greek lexemes for life, ζωή (zōḗ), ψυχή (psūkhḗ) and βῐ́ος (bíos). Probabilistic semantic maps have been created through multidimensional scaling for each language and have been analyzed with partitioning around medoids pam(). The results show two interesting phenomena. Firstly, zōḗ has been translated most consistently. psūkhḗ and bíos have been translated with more va- riation in most languages where several different lexemes have been used, and this indicates that their meaning is more varied. The Koine-Greek lexemes form a concep- tual structure, which means that the various concepts of LIFE is arranged according to a narrower and broader meaning. Secondly the results also show that the languages adapt their vocabulary to mimic this structure, it is most evident in languages with several lexemes for LIFE and how they are used to translate the three Koine-Greek lexemes

A study of clinical opinion and practice regarding circumcision

AIM—To establish clinical opinion regarding appropriate indications for circumcision and to examine actual clinical practice.
METHODS—A questionnaire was sent to all NHS hospital consultants in the Yorkshire region of the UK identified as having a role to play in the management of boys (under 16 years of age) requiring circumcision. Retrospective data on actual clinical practice during a three month study period were also collected via a simple proforma.
RESULTS—Of 153 questionnaires sent, 64 were returned. Responses revealed varying opinions regarding appropriate indications for circumcision within each consultant group, and between paediatricians and surgeons. Surgeons were generally more inclined to recommend circumcision for each of the indications listed in the questionnaire. Analysis of clinical practice revealed that almost two thirds of procedures were carried out for phimosis, and nearly half of these children were under the age of 5years.
CONCLUSION—There are differences in the clinical opinions of surgeons and paediatricians on what constitutes an appropriate indication for circumcision. Paediatricians' opinions are generally more in line with current evidence than those of surgeons, possibly resulting in many unnecessary circumcisions.


Image clustering with optimization algorithms and color space

In image clustering, it is desired that pixels assigned in the same class must be the same or similar. In other words, the homogeneity of a cluster must be high. In gray scale image segmentation, the specified goal is achieved by increasing the number of thresholds. However, the determination of multiple thresholds is a typical issue. Moreover, the conventional thresholding algorithms could not be used in color image segmentation. In this study, a new color image clustering algorithm with multilevel thresholding has been presented and, it has been shown how to use the multilevel thresholding techniques for color image clustering. Thus, initially, threshold selection techniques such as the Otsu and Kapur methods were employed for each color channel separately. The objective functions of both approaches have been integrated with the forest optimization algorithm (FOA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. In the next stage, thresholds determined by optimization algorithms were used to divide color space into small cubes or prisms. Each sub-cube or prism created in the color space was evaluated as a cluster. As the volume of prisms affects the homogeneity of the clusters created, multiple thresholds were employed to reduce the sizes of the sub-cubes. The performance of the proposed method was tested with different images. It was observed that the results obtained were more efficient than conventional methods

Application of Neural Space Mapping for Modeling Ballistic Carbon Nanotube Transistors

In this paper, using the neural space mapping (NSM) concept, we present a SPICE-compatible modeling technique to modify the conventional MOSFET equations, to be suitable for ballistic carbon nanotube transistors (CNTTs). We used the NSM concept in order to correct conventional MOSFET equations so that they could be used for carbon nanotube transistors. To demonstrate the accuracy of our model, we have compared our results with those obtained by using open-source software known as FETToy. This comparison shows that the RMS errors in our calculated IDS, under various conditions, are smaller than the RMS errors in IDS values calculated by the existing analytical models published by others