Efficacy of ω-3 supplementation in patients with psoriasis:a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Several studies have been conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of Omega(�)-3 on different psoriasis indices including Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score, erythema, scaling, itching, area involved, and infiltration. Nevertheless, a pooled analysis of trials that evaluated these variables has not been conducted. Therefore, the aim of this meta-analysis was to assess the efficacy of �-3 fatty acids in treating patients with psoriasis. We searched through different electronic, references of retrieved articles, and previous related reviews databases up to November 2018. Both combined and stratified analyzes were conducted. A fixed-effects or random effects model was used to assess the mean effect sizes. An eventual 10 studies involving 560 participants were considered as eligible for inclusion in the present meta-analysis. The meta-analysis indicated a significant reduction in PASI score by � 1.58 (95 confidence interval (CI), � 2.24, � 0.92; P < 0.001) in favor of �-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) group. The random effects model showed a statistically significant beneficial effect of �-3 PUFA supplementation on reducing erythema by � 1.66 unit and reducing scaling (weighted mean difference (WMD), � 0.69; 95 CI, � 1.26, � 0.13; P = 0.02). Significant improvements in erythema, itching, and scale were observed in the trials which used the higher dosage of �-3 supplementation. The results of current meta-analysis study support the use of �-3 PUFA supplementation for the improvement of the evaluated parameters in psoriatic patients. However, well-controlled and randomized studies are needed to confirm the veracity of non-significant and/or equivocal findings. © 2019, International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR)

Machine Learning-based Methods for Driver Identification and Behavior Assessment: Applications for CAN and Floating Car Data

The exponential growth of car generated data, the increased connectivity, and the advances in artificial intelligence (AI), enable novel mobility applications. This dissertation focuses on two use-cases of driving data, namely distraction detection and driver identification (ID). Low and medium-income countries account for 93% of traffic deaths; moreover, a major contributing factor to road crashes is distracted driving. Motivated by this, the first part of this thesis explores the possibility of an easy-to-deploy solution to distracted driving detection. Most of the related work uses sophisticated sensors or cameras, which raises privacy concerns and increases the cost. Therefore a machine learning (ML) approach is proposed that only uses signals from the CAN-bus and the inertial measurement unit (IMU). It is then evaluated against a hand-annotated dataset of 13 drivers and delivers reasonable accuracy. This approach is limited in detecting short-term distractions but demonstrates that a viable solution is possible. In the second part, the focus is on the effective identification of drivers using their driving behavior. The aim is to address the shortcomings of the state-of-the-art methods. First, a driver ID mechanism based on discriminative classifiers is used to find a set of suitable signals and features. It uses five signals from the CAN-bus, with hand-engineered features, which is an improvement from current state-of-the-art that mainly focused on external sensors. The second approach is based on Gaussian mixture models (GMMs), although it uses two signals and fewer features, it shows improved accuracy. In this system, the enrollment of a new driver does not require retraining of the models, which was a limitation in the previous approach. In order to reduce the amount of training data a Triplet network is used to train a deep neural network (DNN) that learns to discriminate drivers. The training of the DNN does not require any driving data from the target set of drivers. The DNN encodes pieces of driving data to an embedding space so that in this space examples of the same driver will appear closer to each other and far from examples of other drivers. This technique reduces the amount of data needed for accurate prediction to under a minute of driving data. These three solutions are validated against a real-world dataset of 57 drivers. Lastly, the possibility of a driver ID system is explored that only uses floating car data (FCD), in particular, GPS data from smartphones. A DNN architecture is then designed that encodes the routes, origin, and destination coordinates as well as various other features computed based on contextual information. The proposed model is then evaluated against a dataset of 678 drivers and shows high accuracy. In a nutshell, this work demonstrates that proper driver ID is achievable. The constraints imposed by the use-case and data availability negatively affect the performance; in such cases, the efficient use of the available data is crucial

Measurement of Nitric Oxide Production from Lymphatic Entothelial Cells Under Mechanical Stimuli

The lymphatic system plays an important role in fluid and protein balance within the interstitial spaces. Its dysfunction could result in a number of debilitating diseases, namely lymphedema. Lymphatic vessels utilize both intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms to pump lymph. Intrinsic pumping involves the active contraction of vessels, a phenomenon that is regulated in part by nitric oxide (NO) produced by lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs). NO production by arterial endothelial cells has been shown to be sensitive to both shear stress and stretch. Therefore, because of the unique mechanical environment of the LECs, we hypothesize that mechanical forces play an important role in regulation of the lymphatic pumping. Parallel-plate flow chambers and indenter-based cyclic stretch devices were constructed and used to apply mechanical loads to LECs. In addition, high-throughput micro-scale channels were developed and tested for shear experiments to address the need to increase the productivity and high- resolution imaging. Twenty-four hours treatment of LECs with different shear stress conditions showed a shear-dependent elevation in NO production. Moreover, 2.5 folds increase in cumulative NO was observed for stretched cells compared to the unstretched cells over six hours period. In conclusion, the upregulation observed in NO production under mechanical stimuli suggest new regulatory mechanisms that can be pharmaceutically targeted. These results provide an unprecedented insight into lymphatic pumping mechanism

Counterpublic Discourses in Facebook Comment Sections — A Comparative Analysis of Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish (Social) Media Discourse on Islam

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The hypotensive effect of salt substitutes in stage 2 hypertension:a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Hypertension (HTN) is a ubiquitous risk factor for numerous non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease and stroke. There are currently no wholly effective pharmacological therapies for subjects with HTN. However, salt substitutes have emerged as a potential therapy for the treatment of HTN. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of salt substitutes on reducing systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP), following a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Methods: Studies were found via systematic searches of the Pubmed/Medline, Scopus, Ovid, Google Scholar and Cochrane library. Ten studies, comprised of 11 trials and 1119 participants, were included in the meta-analysis. Results: Pooled weighted mean differences showed significant reductions of SBP (WMD - 8.87 mmHg; 95 CI - 11.19, - 6.55, p < 0.001) and DBP (WMD - 4.04 mmHg; 95 CI - 5.70, - 2.39) with no statistically significant heterogeneity between the 11 included comparisons of SBPs and DBPs. The stratified analysis of trials based on the mean age of participants showed a significant reduction in the mean difference of SBP in both adults (< 65 years old) and elderly (�65 years old). However, the DBP-lowering effect of salt substitutes was only observed in adult patients (WMD - 4.22 mmHg; 95 CI - 7.85, - 0.58), but not in the elderly subjects. Conclusions: These findings suggest that salt-substitution strategies could be used for lowering SBP and DBP in patients with stage 2 HTN; providing a nutritional platform for the treatment, amelioration, and prevention of HTN. © 2020 The Author(s)

Robust Multi-Objective Sustainable Reverse Supply Chain Planning: An Application in the Steel Industry

In the design of the supply chain, the use of the returned products and their recycling in the production and consumption network is called reverse logistics. The proposed model aims to optimize the flow of materials in the supply chain network (SCN), and determine the amount and location of facilities and the planning of transportation in conditions of demand uncertainty. Thus, maximizing the total profit of operation, minimizing adverse environmental effects, and maximizing customer and supplier service levels have been considered as the main objectives. Accordingly, finding symmetry (balance) among the profit of operation, the environmental effects and customer and supplier service levels is considered in this research. To deal with the uncertainty of the model, scenario-based robust planning is employed alongside a meta-heuristic algorithm (NSGA-II) to solve the model with actual data from a case study of the steel industry in Iran. The results obtained from the model, solving and validating, compared with actual data indicated that the model could optimize the objectives seamlessly and determine the amount and location of the necessary facilities for the steel industry more appropriately.This article belongs to the Special Issue Uncertain Multi-Criteria Optimization Problem

Does soy protein supplementation affect body composition in healthy exerciser adults? A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials

Background objectives: The effects of soy protein supplementation on anthropometric parameters and body composition indices of healthy adults is equivocal. The aims of this systematic review and meta-analysis were to assess the effects of soy protein supplementation on weight and body composition of healthy adults in clinical trial studies. Methods: A systematic search of literature was carried out on clinical trial studies in PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane's library and ISI Web of Science Direct up until November 2017. From 492 studies initially retrieved, only 8 articles with 6, 5 and 4 arms included in the meta-analysis of the effects of soy protein supplementation on body weight, Fat free mass and Fat mass, respectively, with 120 participants in the intervention group and 119 participants in the control group. Results: Results of the fixed effect model meta-analysis showed that soy protein supplementation had no significant effects on body weight (0.94 kg, 95 CI: �2.41, 4.30 kg; P = 0.58), fat-free mass (0.6 kg, 95 CI: �0.21, 1.41; P = 0.14) or fat mass (0.43 kg, 95 CI: �2.18, 3.03; P = 0.74) in healthy exercising adults. Conclusions: Results of this meta-analysis study does not confirm any significant beneficial effects of soy protein supplementation on weight and body composition in healthy adults. © 201

Integration of fuzzy Shannon’s entropy with fuzzy TOPSIS for industrial robotic system section

Purpose: The aim of this study is applying a new method for Industrial robotic system selection. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, the weights of each criterion are calculated using fuzzy Shannon’s Entropy. After that, fuzzy TOPSIS is utilized to rank the alternatives. Then we select the best Industrial Robotic System based on these results. Findings and Originality/value: The outcome of this research is ranking and selecting industrial robotic systems with the help of Fuzzy Shannon’s Entropy and Fuzzy TOPSIS techniques. Originality/value: This paper offers a new integrated method for industrial robotic system selection.Peer Reviewe

n-3 fatty acids as preventive and therapeutic agents in attenuating PCOS complications

To our knowledge, in spite of several trials exploring the beneficial effect of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), no comprehensive evidence has investigated the effects of n-3 PUFA consumption on PCOS complications. Therefore, our aim was to conduct a review to investigate the possible effect and related mechanisms. A comprehensive systematic search was conducted in Embase, MED-LINE/PubMed, Google Scholar, and SCOPUS, to identify studies investigating n-3 fatty acids as a preventative or therapeutic agent for the attenuation of PCOS complications. Subsequently, the impact of omega-3 on PCOS, omega-3 and inflammation, omega-3 and insulin resistance, omega-3 and adipokines, omega-3 and lipid metabolism, omega-3 and endothelial function and omega-3 and hormonal factors were discussed. There are multiple mechanisms by which n-3 PUFAs may exert their beneficial effects on PCOS, including anti-obesity, glycemic and hormonal hemostasis, anti-inflammatory, regulation of adipokine production and enhancement of endothelial function. N-3 PUFAs are a promising agent in relieving complications associated with PCOS. Although most of the studies in patients with PCOS reported an improvement in most complications after administration of omega-3 supplements, there is a distinct dearth of studies investigating the dietary intake of these types of fatty acids. Moreover, favorable effects regarding the improvement of dyslipidemia, regulation of adipokines, regulation of hormonal factors and enhancement of endothelial function are limited. Therefore, more trials are warranted to investigate palatable mechanisms for clarifying the metabolic and hormonal effects of these agents in PCOS. © 2019, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors. All rights reserved

RANKL/RANK/OPG Pathway: A Mechanism Involved in Exercise-Induced Bone Remodeling

Bones as an alive organ consist of about 70 mineral and 30 organic component. About 200 million people are suffering from osteopenia and osteoporosis around the world. There are multiple ways of protecting bone from endogenous and exogenous risk factors. Planned physical activity is another useful way for protecting bone health. It has been investigated that arranged exercise would effectively regulate bone metabolism. Until now, a number of systems have discovered how exercise could help bone health. Previous studies reported different mechanisms of the effect of exercise on bone health by modulation of bone remodeling. However, the regulation of RANKL/RANK/OPG pathway in exercise and physical performance as one of the most important remodeling systems is not considered comprehensive in previous evidence. Therefore, the aim of this review is to clarify exercise influence on bone modeling and remodeling, with a concentration on its role in regulating RANKL/RANK/OPG pathway. © 2020 Mohammad Tobeiha et al