Spinal N13 versus cortical N20 and dermatomal somatosensory evoked potential studies in patients with cervical radiculopathy

Introduction: Most studies on somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in cases of cervical radiculopathy routinely analyze scalp (cortical) responses (mixed or dermatomal SEPs), depending mainly on evaluation of N20 whose origin is the primary somatosensory cortex. It was suggested that selective study of the N13 potential, might be a useful technique to improve both accuracy and sensitivity of the diagnosis of cervical radiculopathy.Aim: The aim of our study was to test the sensitivity of the spinal N13 potential in uncovering lesions of cervical nerve root; and to compare it to dermatomal and mixed nerve SEPs.Methods: Forty patients with clinical suspicion of cervical nerve root lesion had been selected. Twenty normal subjects constituted the control group. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the cervical spine was performed for all patients to reveal the presence of any cervical nerve root compression. The following electrophysiological studies were done (sensory and motor conduction studies of the median and ulnar nerves, mixed SEP of median nerve, dermatomal SEP and spinal N13 SEP study of the median nerve.Results: There was a positive correlation between the mixed and the dermatomal SEPs and between the mixed SEP and N13. On the other hand there was a positive correlation between the dermatomal SEPs and N13. There was a positive correlation between the MRI and the mixed SEP, the dermatomal SEP and N13, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity of N13, dermatomal somatosensory evoked potentials (DSEP) and mixed SEP were determined using MRI as a gold standard. N13 is the most sensitive  followed by DSEP and the least was the mixed somatosensory evoked potentials (MSEP). They were all specific with a high positive predictive value. N13 had the highest negative predictive value followed by DSEP and the least was MSEP and we concluded from this study that N13 is a sensitive technique which is suitable for detecting early and mild symptomatic cervical nerve root lesion.Keywords: Spinal SEP; N13; Cervical Radiculopath

Impact Of Pester Power and Cultural Factor on Parental Buying Decision: Changing Food Preferences in Pakistan

This study\u27s four primary aims are as follows. First, it examines the impact of children\u27s pester power on parental buying behavior, especially regarding fast food demands. Fast food is becoming more popular, especially in advertisements targeting younger people. Second, it looks at cultural variables, especially in the Asian setting, and how parents make fast-food purchasing choices. Third, it examines parents\u27 socioeconomic status, influencing their purchasing decisions. Finally, the shop atmosphere may impact parents\u27 buying behavior (s). A causal link between the independent and dependent variables was established by an exploratory investigation. This study was cross-sectional and usually related to numerical data belonging to variables (independent, dependent) and target groups. The data were gathered via a poll of parents of school-aged children (aged 12 to 18 years). PROCESS macro was used to test the hypothesized framework. The findings demonstrated a sound and robust association between pestering power and parental purchase decisions, both directly and in an in-store setting. Similar to this, there is a strong and positive correlation between cultural traits and parental buying choices, both directly and indirectly via the in-store environment

Pengaruh Penambahan Sari Temulawak (Curcuma Xanthorrhiza) Terhadap Total Fenol, Kadar Garam, Kadar Lemak Dan Tekstur Telur Asin

The purpose of this research were to analyze the best Curcuma xanthorrhiza juice on salted egg. The method used in this research was experimental research using completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 4 replications. The curcuma juice were divided into P0 (0%), P1 (25%), P2 (50%) and P3 (75%). The variables observed in this research were total phenol, salt content, fat content and texture. The data were analyzed by analysis of variance. The analysis was continued by Honestly Significant Difference Test if there were significant differences among variables. The results showed that the addition of curcuma juice did not significantly affect (p>0.05) the total phenol and texture. The result showed that the addition of curcuma juice gave highly significant difference (p≤0.01) on salt content and had significant difference effect (p≤0.05) on fat content. The best treatment was the addition of curcuma juice 75% which provided 0.125% of total phenol, 1.31% of salt, 36.98% of fat and 7.05 N of texture. The addition of curcuma juice could reduce the level of salt content and fat content, but did not affect the total phenol and texture

Optimal design of pumped storm water systems.

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1977 .I626. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-07, page: . Thesis (M.A.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1977

A novel suture button construct for acute ankle syndesmotic injuries; A prospective clinical and radiological analysis

Background: The importance of the syndesmosis in ankle stability is well recognized. Numerous means of fixation have been described for syndesmotic injuries including the suture button technique. Significant cost limits the use the commercially available options. We, therefore, designed a cheap and readily available alternative construct. We aim to assess the results of using a novel suture-button construct in treatment of syndesmotic ankle injuries. Methods: Fifty-two patients (34 males and 18 females) fulfilled our inclusion/exclusion criteria. Five patients were lost to follow-up. The remaining 47 patients were successfully followed up for a minimum of 24 months. The pre and post-surgery American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society scores (AOFAS) together with reported complications and post-operative radiological analysis were assessed. In this innovative construct, we utilized polyester braided surgical sutures jointly with double mini two- holed plates, a No.2 polygalactin 910 suture, a 4 mm drill bit, together with a 15 cm long suture needle with slotted end. This technique was supported with the use of the image intensifier. Results: The AOFAS score improved significantly from a mean of 32.4 to 94.2 (P < 0.004). Radiologically, the medial clear space (MCS), tibio-fibular clear space (TFCS) (P=0.05) and tibio-fibular overlap (TFO) measurements showed a significant improvement postoperatively (P=0.02). Patients reported good satisfaction rates with a 96% success rate (95% CI: 94.0% to 99.3%). Conclusion: We have observed that this low cost suture button construct is a simple, safe and cost effective treatment option for acute syndesmotic injuries

Cyberattacks detection in iot-based smart city applications using machine learning techniques

In recent years, the widespread deployment of the Internet of Things (IoT) applications has contributed to the development of smart cities. A smart city utilizes IoT-enabled technologies, communications and applications to maximize operational efficiency and enhance both the service providers’ quality of services and people’s wellbeing and quality of life. With the growth of smart city networks, however, comes the increased risk of cybersecurity threats and attacks. IoT devices within a smart city network are connected to sensors linked to large cloud servers and are exposed to malicious attacks and threats. Thus, it is important to devise approaches to prevent such attacks and protect IoT devices from failure. In this paper, we explore an attack and anomaly detection technique based on machine learning algorithms (LR, SVM, DT, RF, ANN and KNN) to defend against and mitigate IoT cybersecurity threats in a smart city. Contrary to existing works that have focused on single classifiers, we also explore ensemble methods such as bagging, boosting and stacking to enhance the performance of the detection system. Additionally, we consider an integration of feature selection, cross-validation and multi-class classification for the discussed domain, which has not been well considered in the existing literature. Experimental results with the recent attack dataset demonstrate that the proposed technique can effectively identify cyberattacks and the stacking ensemble model outperforms comparable models in terms of accuracy, precision, recall and F1-Score, implying the promise of stacking in this domain. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Psychological Capital: A Comprehensive Review and Classification

The purpose of the current study is to review the academic literature in the field of psychological capital, and to conduct a content analysis in order to classify and provide a comprehensive bibliography. Emerald Insight, Science Direct and Willey Online Library and ProQuest databases were used to review the available literature on psychological capital. The database search showed 239 publications after mentioning psychological capital as the primary search topic. The publication sample was further reduced to only include empirical research studies. A sample of 83 research publications were classified in to mutually exclusive categories. The content analysis led to classification of literature on the basis of five categories, i.e. Research type, publication year, publication journal, research region, publication subject area. The study identifies ten years’ history of research on psychological capital starting from 2007 to present and hints towards future research prospects in research. Current study provides a comprehensive bibliography that will be useful to both academicians and practitioners for studying existing research as well as for anticipating future research