Comparison between Suitable Priors for Additive Bayesian Networks

Additive Bayesian networks are types of graphical models that extend the usual Bayesian generalized linear model to multiple dependent variables through the factorisation of the joint probability distribution of the underlying variables. When fitting an ABN model, the choice of the prior of the parameters is of crucial importance. If an inadequate prior - like a too weakly informative one - is used, data separation and data sparsity lead to issues in the model selection process. In this work a simulation study between two weakly and a strongly informative priors is presented. As weakly informative prior we use a zero mean Gaussian prior with a large variance, currently implemented in the R-package abn. The second prior belongs to the Student's t-distribution, specifically designed for logistic regressions and, finally, the strongly informative prior is again Gaussian with mean equal to true parameter value and a small variance. We compare the impact of these priors on the accuracy of the learned additive Bayesian network in function of different parameters. We create a simulation study to illustrate Lindley's paradox based on the prior choice. We then conclude by highlighting the good performance of the informative Student's t-prior and the limited impact of the Lindley's paradox. Finally, suggestions for further developments are provided.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Knowledge and attitude towards Buruli ulcer disease in Adjumani district, Northwestern Uganda

Background: Buruli ulcer is a devastating skin disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. It produces a necrotissing toxin, which destroys the skin, subcutaneous tissue and bone, often leaving the patients with debilitating deformities. The mode of transmission of the disease is unclear, but water borne vectors may transmit M. ulcerans. Treatment is difficult and often involves extensive surgery, which is the current standard treatment, but it may result in scarring and subsequent physical limitations due to scar retraction. These physical limitations may result in psychosocial and economic problems. It was hypothesised that superstitious beliefs about the illness, and stigma were important determinants for health seeking behaviour. The consequences of the disease include social isolation and economic problems in family life.Objective: To explore the knowledge and attitude of the people affected by Buruli ulcer disease in Adjumani district, in northwestern Uganda.Design: A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to all the selected patients.Setting: Selected Health centres in Adjumani district, which included Adjumani hospital, Pakele HCIII, Dzaipi HCIII, Mungula HCIII and Opinjinji HCIII.Subjects: A total of Nineteen (19) clinically diagnosed patients with Buruli ulcer were consented and interviewed for this study.Results: A total of nineteen (19) patients were interviewed for this study. Of these, 10 (52.6%) were female and nine (47.4%) were male. Majority of the respondents were peasant farmers (N=9, 47.4%), mainly undertaking subsistence farming for home consumption. Most of the patients (N=16, 84.2%) had their lesions on either the upper or lower limbs. The majority (N=13, 68.4%) said they know the disease affecting them and only 6 (31.6%) patients did not know. Majority of patients 17 (89.5%) sought for medical and/or traditional therapy, while only two (10.5%) did not do anything about it. Of those who sought for help, nine (52.9%) opted for traditional herbal treatment, while 8 (47.1%) went for conventional medical treatment at a health unit. Most patients reported a wide range of stigma labeled against them, and these included; fear that they may infect others (N=2, 10.5%), fear that they have been bewitched or cursed (N=2, 10.5%), discrimination at school to the extent that he dropped out of school, and avoidance by others.Conclusion: This study has shown that patients with Buruli ulcer are still stigmatised as members of the community. It is important that educational programme on Buruli ulcer be developed which increases awareness of the disease and may also lower the level of stigma. These programme will also help in disease detection and hopefully improve the health seeking behaviour of patients

Phase of harmonics from strongly driven two-level atoms

Published versio

Effects of Sunlight Exposure on the Quality Parameters of Bottled Water

This study was conducted to determine the physicochemical, heavy metal and microbiological effect of sunlight exposure on bottled water quality. Nine brands of bottled water commonly produced and sold in Benin City were exposed to sunlight for 0 day, 14 days and 28 days and evaluated for physicochemical parameters (pH, EC, TDS, alkalinity, hardness, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, Cl- ), heavy metals levels (Pb, Cd, Zn, As) and microbial content using standard methods. Results obtained showed that 96.30% of the pH values were below the WHO (6.5-8.5), SON (6.5-8.5) and NIS (7.5) standards, a gradual decline in the values was also observed with increasing sunlight exposure. Other physicochemical parameters were within the established standards with steady increments in the values with increasing sunlight exposure, except for alkalinity which declined consistently due to increase in the acidity levels of the water samples. There was a general increase in the Zn concentration for all bottled water brands from 0 day to 28 days, except for brand C which remained the same, while Pb, Cd, As level were not detected. Interestingly, a gradual decrease of the microbial population (total coliform) of the bottled water with increasing exposure to sunlight was observed. In all, the varying exposure to sunlight did not result in statistical significant changes (P< 0.05) in the water quality

Physico-chemical and microbiological profile of bacterial and fungal isolates of Ikpoba River in Benin City: Public health implications

This study examined the physico-chemical and microbiological profile of bacterial and fungal isolates of Ikpoba River between February 2013 and March 2013. The mean bacterial count for upstream water sample obtained in February was 2 × 102 ±1 cfu/ml while 1.09 × 104 ±3.6 was the count for treated industrial effluent sample collected in March. The mean fungal counts for the downstream water sample in February was 2 ×102 ±1 cfu/ml while the count collected at the point of discharge of effluent into the river in March was 2.0 ×103 ±7 cfu/ml. There was a significant statistical difference observed in the mean bacterial and fungal counts (P<0.05). The total coliform counts recorded for samples obtained from downstream was 2 MPN/105 ml while 20 MP/ 105 ml was for sample collected at the point of effluent discharge respectively. Several bacterial and fungal genera were isolated from the River water samples. Water samples collected upstream and downstream points on the river were colorless while samples collected at the point of effluent discharge were light brown in color. The mean pH, turbidity and conductivity of the respective samples ranged from 5.63±0.05 to 6.78±0.05, 4.1±0.21 to 6.81±0.55 NTU and 3.3±0.25 to 73.3±6.56 μs/cm. The biological oxygen demand (BOD), dissolved oxygen (DO) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) varied from 2.6±0.5 to 305.19±43.2 mg/l, 5.5±0.3 to 6.1±0.6 mg/l and 15.8±0.6 to 883.8±28.5 mg/l respectively. The quality of Ikpoba River is being negatively impacted by the disposal of effluent as well as human activities around the area rendering the water unsafe for consumption.Keywords: Physico-chemical, microbiological profile, bacterial, fungal isolate

Short-term effects of angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors on diastolic strain and tissue doppler parameters in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction: A pilot trial

OBJECTIVE: Although sacubitril/valsartan has recently shown its long-term benefits on morbidity and mortality in symptomatic patients with chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), its short-term effects on diastolic function remain uncertain. We sought to assess 30-day effects of sacubitril/valsartan on left ventricular (LV) diastolic paremeters determined by speckle tracking and tissue Doppler imaging (STI and TDI respectively) as well as their association with functional capacity change evaluated by peak oxygen uptake (VO2max) in stable patients with symptomatic HFrEF. METHODS: A total of 35 patients (aged 61 ± 9 years) eligible for sacubitril/valsartan underwent a complete two-dimension (2D) echocardiographic study and a cardiopulmonary exercise test at baseline and 30 days after the initiation of therapy. RESULTS: Significant improvements in ratio of trans-mitral inflow early diastolic velocity E to mitral annulus early diastolic velocity E' (ΔΕ//Ε' = -35.9%, p = 0.001), peak early diastolic strain rate SRE (ΔSRE = +22.5%, p = 0.024) and ratio E/SRE (ΔE/SRE = -33.2%, p = 0.025) were observed after 1-month therapy. Compared with baseline, VO2max also increased significantly by 16.7 % (p = 0.001). Baseline E/SRE and ΔE/SRE were the strongest independent predictors of VO2max improvement (beta = -0.43, p = 0.004 and beta = 0.45, p = 0.021 respectively) in the multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Sacubitril/valsartan was associated with early improvement in LV diastolic function determined by TDI and 2D STI. Baseline E/SRE was stronger than standard echocardiographic parameters in predicting the early benefit of sacubitril/valsartan therapy

Pengembangan Mata Pelajaran Menulis Berbasis Web-Mobile

Jurnal ini bertujuan untuk mempermudah mahasiswa program bahasa inggris dalam kuliah menulis.Penulisan dengan menggunakan Web-Mobile sangat diperlukan bagi mahasiswa karena membantu meningkatkan kemampuan menulis menggunakan web mobile sistem informasi yang dirancang dalam pembelajaran menulis di program studi bahasa inggris.Jurnal ini menggunakan metode SDLC Dengan model pengembangan waterfall.Metode pengajaran menulis menggunakan”SDLC” dimulai dari rencana dan analisis, desain, implementasi, uji coba, penerapan sistem serta pengelolaan. Web Mobile di mata kuliah English Writing di rancang dengan beberapa fitur seperti kuis dan beberapa materi dalam pembelajarannya.Hal ini sebagai upaya mahasiswa dalam mengembangkan kemampuannya.Proses  pembelajaran menulis di web mobile ini dilakukan  dengan pengguna membaca materi terlebih dahulu,setelah itu mengisi beberapa kuis.Hal ini sangat efektif karena web ini membuat para penggunanya bisa belajar dimanapun dan kapan pun.Jadi dalam menggunakan Web Mobile di mata kuliah English Writing, mahasiswa dapat menulis karya tulisnya sendir

Urinary tract infection among apparently healthy commercial transport workers in Ekpoma and its environs within Edo State, Nigeria.

This study was designed to establish the prevalence of Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) among healthy-male commercial transport workers (taxi drivers and motor-cycle riders) in Ekpoma and its environs within Edo State, Nigeria. Eighty (80) urine samples were collected and using standard laboratory procedures, the prevalence of asymptomatic UTI was determined. The results showed that out of the 80 samples investigated, only 9 (11.3%) of them had asymptomatic UTI with a higher occurrence in samples obtained from taxi drivers and those within the age range of 35 - 45 years. None of the 29 motorcycle riders within the age range of 25 – 34 had UTI while 2 out of the 18 taxi drivers with age 25 – 34 had UTI. For those within the age range of 35 – 45, only 3 out of the 21 motorcycle riders and 4 out of the 12 taxi drivers had UTI respectively. In addition, Klebsiella auregenes and Pseudomonas auruginosa were the predominant isolates; with age playing a prominent factor. Therefore, as road safety campaigns are encouraged for transport workers, concerted efforts must also be made to enlighten them on the need to avoid risky sexual behaviours including drug and alcohol abuse. Keywords: Urinary Tract Infections, Asymptomatic UTI, Personal hygiene, Transport workers

Does Faux Pas Detection in Adult Autism Reflect Differences in Social Cognition or Decision-Making Abilities?

43 typically-developed adults and 35 adults with ASD performed a cartoon faux pas test. Adults with ASD apparently over-detected faux pas despite good comprehension abilities, and were generally slower at responding. Signal detection analysis demonstrated that the ASD participants had significantly greater difficulty detecting whether a cartoon depicted a faux pas and showed a liberal response bias. Test item analysis demonstrated that the ASD group were not in agreement with a reference control group (n = 69) about which non-faux pas items were most difficult. These results suggest that the participants with ASD had a primary problem with faux pas detection, but that there is another factor at work, possibly compensatory, that relates to their choice of a liberal response criterion