Systematics of local pion optical model parameters

A simple six-parameter local optical potential has been used to fit the global supply of pion-nucleus elastic scattering data, with good success. The resulting real and imaginary well-depths show a striking resonant structure, derived from the underlying pion-nucleon resonances

A global study on the correlates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and COVID-19 vaccine distribution

This study aimed to explore the association between the GDP of various countries and the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations; to explore how the global pattern holds in the continents, and investigate the spatial distribution pattern of COVID-19 vaccination progress for all countries. We have used consolidated data on COVID-19 vaccination and GDP from Our World in Data, an open-access data source. Data analysis and visualization were performed in R-Studio. There was a strong linear association between per capita income and the proportion of people vaccinated in countries with populations of one million or more. GDP per capita accounts for a 50% variation in the vaccination rate across the nations. Our assessments revealed that the global pattern holds in every continent. Rich European and North-American countries are most protected against COVID-19. Less developed African countries barely initiated a vaccination program. There is a significant disparity among Asian countries. The security of wealthier nations (vaccinated their citizens) cannot be guaranteed unless adequate vaccination covers the less affluent countries. Therefore, the global community should undertake initiatives to speed up the COVID-19 vaccination program in all countries of the world, irrespective of their wealth

Understanding biological mechanisms underlying adverse birth outcomes in developing countries: Protocol for a prospective cohort (AMANHI bio-banking) study

Objectives: The AMANHI study aims to seek for biomarkers as predictors of important pregnancy-related outcomes, and establish a biobank in developing countries for future research as new methods and technologies become available.Methods: AMANHI is using harmonised protocols to enrol 3000 women in early pregnancies (8-19 weeks of gestation) for population-based follow-up in pregnancy up to 42 days postpartum in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Tanzania, with collection taking place between August 2014 and June 2016. Urine pregnancy tests will be used to confirm reported or suspected pregnancies for screening ultrasound by trained sonographers to accurately date the pregnancy. Trained study field workers will collect very detailed phenotypic and epidemiological data from the pregnant woman and her family at scheduled home visits during pregnancy (enrolment, 24-28 weeks, 32-36 weeks & 38+ weeks) and postpartum (days 0-6 or 42-60). Trained phlebotomists will collect maternal and umbilical blood samples, centrifuge and obtain aliquots of serum, plasma and the buffy coat for storage. They will also measure HbA1C and collect a dried spot sample of whole blood. Maternal urine samples will also be collected and stored, alongside placenta, umbilical cord tissue and membrane samples, which will both be frozen and prepared for histology examination. Maternal and newborn stool (for microbiota) as well as paternal and newborn saliva samples (for DNA extraction) will also be collected. All samples will be stored at -80°C in the biobank in each of the three sites. These samples will be linked to numerous epidemiological and phenotypic data with unique study identification numbers.Importance of the study: AMANHI biobank proves that biobanking is feasible to implement in LMICs, but recognises that biobank creation is only the first step in addressing current global challenges

Effect of a self-care educational intervention to improve self-care adherence among patients with chronic heart failure: a clustered randomized controlled trial in Northwest Ethiopia

Background: As the burden of cardiovascular disease increases in sub-Saharan Africa, there is a growing need for low-cost interventions to mitigate its impact. Providing self-care health education to patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) is recommended as an intervention to prevent complications, improve quality of life, and reduce financial burdens on fragile health systems. However, little is known about health education’s effectiveness at improving CHF self-management adherence in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore the present study aimed to assess the effectiveness of an educational intervention to improve self-care adherence among patients with CHF at Debre Markos and Felege Hiwot Referral Hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: To address this gap, we adapted a health education intervention based on social cognitive theory comprising of intensive four-day training and, one-day follow-up sessions offered every four months. Patients also received illustrated educational leaflets. We then conducted a clustered randomized control trial of the intervention with 186 randomly-selected patients at Debre Markos and Felege Hiwot referral hospitals. We collected self-reported data on self-care behavior before each educational session. We analyzed these data using a generalized estimating equations model to identify health education's effect on a validated 8-item self-care adherence scale. Results: Self-care adherence scores were balanced at baseline. After the intervention, patients in the intervention group (n = 88) had higher adherence scores than those in the control group (n = 98). This difference was statistically significant (β = 4.15, p < 0.05) and increased with each round of education. Other factors significantly associated with adherence scores were being single (β = − 0.25, p < 0.05), taking aspirin (β = 0.76, p < 0.05), and having a history of hospitalization (β = 0.91, p < 0.05). Conclusions: We find that self-care education significantly improved self-care adherence scores among CHF patients. This suggests that policymakers should consider incorporating self-care education into CHF management

CoV-TI-Net: Transferred Initialization with Modified End Layer for COVID-19 Diagnosis

This paper proposes transferred initialization with modified fully connected layers for COVID-19 diagnosis. Convolutional neural networks (CNN) achieved a remarkable result in image classification. However, training a high-performing model is a very complicated and time-consuming process because of the complexity of image recognition applications. On the other hand, transfer learning is a relatively new learning method that has been employed in many sectors to achieve good performance with fewer computations. In this research, the PyTorch pre-trained models (VGG19\_bn and WideResNet -101) are applied in the MNIST dataset for the first time as initialization and with modified fully connected layers. The employed PyTorch pre-trained models were previously trained in ImageNet. The proposed model is developed and verified in the Kaggle notebook, and it reached the outstanding accuracy of 99.77% without taking a huge computational time during the training process of the network. We also applied the same methodology to the SIIM-FISABIO-RSNA COVID-19 Detection dataset and achieved 80.01% accuracy. In contrast, the previous methods need a huge compactional time during the training process to reach a high-performing model. Codes are available at the following link: github.com/dipuk0506/SpinalNe

‘We need to share our stories’: the lives of Pakistanis with intellectual disability and their guardians

© 2020 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd Introduction: The experiences of Pakistanis with intellectual disabilities (IDs) and their family members have been underexplored empirically. Method: The present study sought to address this gap by understanding the lives of five Special Olympics Pakistan athletes and their guardians through PhotoVoice. Findings: Through thematic analysis, we present the primary theme concerning Pakistan\u27s cultural context that provides an empirical exploration of cultural beliefs about intellectual disability, cultural expectations and support received by people with intellectual disabilities and their guardians. Discussion: We discuss implications for research and practice

COMPARATIVE EFFECT OF BETA BLOCKERS AND ANGIOTENSIVE RECEPTOR BLOCKERS ON BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVEL IN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS IN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

Objective: There is highly co-incidence between hypertension and insulin resistance which is the important causative factor to develop diabetes mellitus (DM). There is paucity of data to establish the effect of beta-blockers and ARB on blood glucose level in Indian population. Therefore the present study was planned to search so that confederation among Indian population in a teaching hospital. Methods: The research study was carried out in 85 hypertensive patients without diabetes visiting the OPD of University teaching hospital (Majeedia hospital) New Delhi. Blood glucose levels and drug history of hypertensive patients were observed during four month of study. Results: The gender distribution of hypertensive patients reveals a higher percentage of incidences in males (53%) as compared to females (47%). Hypertensive patient without diabetes mellitus (DM) on beta blockers shows higher incidence of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) (13.3%) and DM (5%) as compared to patient receiving ARBs as antihypertensive therapy. There was proportionate increase in incidence as the duration of therapy. None of the patients who were on angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) reported any incidence of IGT or DM. Conclusion: Beta blockers  may be the risk factor to develop diabetes mellitus type 2 on long term use as an antihypertensive therapy. There were no any incidence of impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes mellitus found in case of patients taking ARBs as an antihypertensive therapy so it can be safely prescribe in hypertensive patients associated with diabetes mellitus type 2. Key Words: Hypertension, Diabetes mellitus, Impaired glucose tolerance, Beta blockers and ARBs

Evaluation of envelope domain III-based single chimeric tetravalent antigen and monovalent antigen mixtures for the detection of anti-dengue antibodies in human sera

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Flavivirus cross-reactive antibodies in human sera interfere with the definitive identification of dengue virus (DENV) infections especially in areas with multiple co-circulating flaviviruses. Use of DENV envelope domain-III (EDIII) can partially resolve the problem. This study has examined the effect of (i) incorporating the EDIIIs of four DENV serotypes into a single chimeric antigen, and (ii) immobilizing the antigen through specific interaction on the sensitivity and specificity of anti-DENV antibody detection.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A sera panel (n = 164) was assembled and characterized using commercial kits for infection by DENV and a host of other pathogens. Anti-DENV antibodies of both IgM and IgG classes in this panel were detected in indirect ELISAs using a mixture of monovalent EDIIIs, a chimeric EDIII-based tetravalent antigen, EDIII-T, and a biotinylated version of the latter as coating antigens. The sensitivity and specificity of these assays were compared to those obtained using the PanBio Dengue IgG/IgM ELISAs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The performance of dengue IgG and IgM indirect ELISAs, using either a physical mixture of four EDIIIs or the single chimeric EDIII-T antigen, were comparable. Coating of a biotinylated version of the tetravalent antigen on streptavidin plates enhanced sensitivity without compromising specificity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The incorporation of the EDIIIs of the four DENV serotypes into a single chimeric antigen did not adversely affect assay outcome in indirect ELISAs. Oriented, rather than random, immobilization of the tetravalent antigen enhanced sensitivity of detection of anti-DENV antibodies with retention of 100% specificity.</p

Socio-demographic differentials of adult health indicators in Matlab, Bangladesh: self-rated health, health state, quality of life and disability level

Background: Mortality has been declining in Bangladesh since the mid- twentieth century, while fertility has been declining since the late 1970s, and the country is now passing through the third stage of demographic transition. This type of demographic transition has produced a huge youthful population with a growing number of older people. For assessing health among older people, this study examines self-rated health, health state, quality of life and disability level in persons aged 50 and over. Data and methods: This is a collaborative study between the World Health Organization Study on global AGEing and adult health and the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health in developing countries which collected data from eight countries. Two sources of data from the Matlab study area were used: health indicator data collected as a part of the study, together with the ongoing Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) data. For the survey, a total of 4,000 randomly selected people aged 50 and over (HDSS database) were interviewed. The four health indicators derived from these data are self-rated health (five categories), health state (eight domains), quality of life (eight items) and disability level (12 items). Self-rated health was coded as dummy while scores were calculated for the rest of the three health indicators using WHO-tested instruments. Results: After controlling for all the variables in the regression model, all four indicators of health (self-rated health, health state, quality of life and disability level) documented that health was better for males than females, and health deteriorates with increasing age. Those people who were in current partnerships had generally better health than those who were single, and better health was associated with higher levels of education and asset score. Conclusions: To improve the health of the population it is important to know health conditions in advance rather than just before death. This study finds that all four health indicators vary by socio-demographic characteristics. Hence, health intervention programmes should be targeted to those who suffer and are in the most need, the aged, female, single, uneducated and poor