7 research outputs found
Vehicular Networks for Combating a Worldwide Pandemic: Preventing the Spread of COVID-19
As a worldwide pandemic, the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) has caused
serious restrictions in people's social life, along with the loss of lives, the
collapse of economies and the disruption of humanitarian aids. Despite the
advance of technological developments, we, as researchers, have witnessed that
several issues need further investigation for a better response to a pandemic
outbreak. With this motivation, researchers recently started developing ideas
to stop or at least reduce the spread of the pandemic. While there have been
some prior works on wireless networks for combating a pandemic scenario,
vehicular networks and their potential bottlenecks have not yet been fully
examined. This article provides an extensive discussion on vehicular networking
for combating a pandemic. We provide the major applications of vehicular
networking for combating COVID-19 in public transportation, in-vehicle
diagnosis, border patrol and social distance monitoring. Next, we identify the
unique characteristics of the collected data in terms of privacy, flexibility
and coverage, then highlight corresponding future directions in privacy
preservation, resource allocation, data caching and data routing. We believe
that this work paves the way for the development of new products and algorithms
that can facilitate the social life and help controlling the spread of the
pandemic.Comment: 8pages5figure
Comparative effect of oral pulse and intravenous calcitriol treatment in hemodialysis patients: The effect on serum IL-1 and IL-6 levels and bone mineral density
Introduction: Increased serum levels of bone-resorptive cytokines such as interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) have been implicated for changes in bone remodeling in hemodialysis patients. In this prospective randomized study, we aimed to compare the effect of oral and intravenous (IV) pulse calcitriol on serum levels of IL-1beta and IL-6. Patients and Methods: Twenty-eight hemodialysis patients were included and consecutively randomized to receive either oral (n = 14, M/F = 7/7, mean age 42 +/- 15 years) or IV pulse (n = 14, M/F = 6/8, mean age 38 +/- 14 years) calcitriol treatment. No difference was found between groups for age, sex distribution, primary renal disease, mean time on hemodialysis and baseline biochemical parameters including serum levels of IL-1beta and IL-6. Results: The percent fall of intact parathyroid hormone iPTH) was significantly less with oral compared to IV calcitriol between 0 and the 3rd month (32 +/- 21 vs. 56 +/- 28%, p = 0.03). However, the percent fall in iPTH at the 6th month of the therapy was not different in the oral group compared to the IV group (57 +/- 22 vs. 73 +/- 24%, p = 0.12). The increase in bone mineral densities was higher in the IV group than the oral group. Oral and IV calcitriol caused a significant fall in IL-1beta (p =0.02 and p= 0.03, respectively) and IL-6 levels (p = 0.02 and p < 0.001, respectively) at the 6th month of treatment. The percent fall in serum IL-6 levels at the 6th month was significantly greater in the IV compared to the oral group (61 18 vs. 36 +/- 33%, p = 0.04), while the percent changes in serum IL-1beta levels were similar. Conclusion: IV calcitriol therapy has a greater suppression of PTH at the 3rd month of the therapy. Despite no difference in serum PTH levels at the 6th month, IV therapy has a greater increase in bone mineral densities and a greater decrease in serum IL-6 levels. These findings suggest IV calcitriol treatment has a superior effect on bone remodeling by influencing the levels of bone-resorptive cytokines as compared to the oral therapy group, beyond its suppressive effect on iPTH. Copyright (C) 2002 S. KargerAG, Basel
biochemical analytes in Turkey using Abbott analyzers
Background: A nationwide multicenter study was organized to establish reference intervals (RIs) in the Turkish population for 25 commonly tested biochemical analytes and to explore sources of variation in reference values, including regionality.Methods: Blood samples were collected nationwide in 28 laboratories from the seven regions (>= 400 samples/region, 3066 in all). The sera were collectively analyzed in Uludag University in Bursa using Abbott reagents and analyzer. Reference materials were used for standardization of test results. After secondary exclusion using the latent abnormal values exclusion method, RIs were derived by a parametric method employing the modified Box-Cox formula and compared with the RIs by the non-parametric method. Three-level nested ANOVA was used to evaluate variations among sexes, ages and regions. Associations between test results and age, body mass index (BMI) and region were determined by multiple regression analysis (MRA).Results: By ANOVA, differences of reference values among seven regions were significant in none of the 25 analytes. Significant sex-related and age-related differences were observed for 10 and seven analytes, respectively. MRA revealed BMI-related changes in results for uric acid, glucose, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase, and.-glutamyltransferase. Their RIs were thus derived by applying stricter criteria excluding individuals with BMI >28 kg/m(2). Ranges of RIs by non-parametric method were wider than those by parametric method especially for those analytes affected by BMI.Conclusions: With the lack of regional differences and the well-standardized status of test results, the RIs derived from this nationwide study can be used for the entire Turkish population