Prognosis of neonatal tetanus in the modern management era: an observational study in 107 Vietnamese infants.

OBJECTIVES: Most data regarding the prognosis in neonatal tetanus originate from regions where limited resources have historically impeded management. It is not known whether recent improvements in critical care facilities in many low- and middle-income countries have affected indicators of a poor prognosis in neonatal tetanus. We aimed to determine the factors associated with worse outcomes in a Vietnamese hospital with neonatal intensive care facilities. METHODS: Data were collected from 107 cases of neonatal tetanus. Clinical features on admission were analyzed against mortality and a combined endpoint of 'death or prolonged hospital stay'. RESULTS: Multivariable analysis showed that only younger age (odds ratio (OR) for mortality 0.69, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.48-0.98) and lower weight (OR for mortality 0.06, 95% CI 0.01-0.54) were significantly associated with both the combined endpoint and death. A shorter period of onset (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.88-0.99), raised white cell count (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.02-1.35), and time between first symptom and admission (OR 3.77, 95% CI 1.14-12.51) were also indicators of mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Risk factors for a poor outcome in neonatal tetanus in a setting with critical care facilities include younger age, lower weight, delay in admission, and leukocytosis

A novel approach for mining closed clickstream patterns

Closed sequential pattern (CSP) mining is an optimization technique in sequential pattern mining because they produce more compact representations. Additionally, the runtime and memory usage required for mining CSPs is much lower than the sequential pattern mining. This task has fascinated numerous researchers. In this study, we propose a novel approach for closed clickstream pattern mining using C-List (CCPC) data structure. Closed clickstream pattern mining is a more specific task of CSP mining that has been lacking in research investment; nevertheless, it has promising applications in various fields. CCPC consists of two key steps: It initially builds the SPPC-tree and the C-List for each frequent 1-pattern and then determines all frequently closed clickstream 1-patterns; next, it constructs the C-List for each frequent k-pattern and mines the remaining frequently closed k-patterns. The proposed method is optimized by modifying the SPPC-tree structure and a new property is added into each node element in both the SPPC-tree and C-Lists to quickly prune nonclosed clickstream. Experimental results conducted on several datasets show that the proposed method is better than the previous techniques and improves the runtime and memory usage in most cases, especially when using low minimum support thresholds on the huge databases. © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED)National Foundation for Science & Technology Development (NAFOSTED) [02/2019/TN]National Foundation for Science and Technology Development, NAFOSTED: 02/2019/T

New approaches for mining high utility itemsets with multiple utility thresholds

Recently, two research directions have been noticed in data mining: frequent itemset mining (FIM) and high utility itemset mining (HUIM). The FIM process will output itemsets whose number of occurrences together exceeds or equals the required threshold, but this process ignores the beneficial attribute of each item. HUIM algorithms are proposed to overcome the disadvantage of FIM, but these algorithms only use a single threshold, which is unsuitable in the real world when applications often require different utility thresholds. HUIM algorithms with multi-threshold utilities are proposed, but these have high mining time and memory consumption. This paper thus presents an efficient method for Mining High Utility Itemsets with Multiple Utility Thresholds (MHUI-MUT). The article applies upper bounds and the strategy of pruning, thus reducing database scanning, and proposes a cut-off threshold to minimize the mining time.We also present a method to parallelize the algorithm to make the most of the performance of multi-core computers. The experimental results show the superior speed of the MHUI-MUT algorithm compared to the previous one, and the parallel version also outperforms the proposed sequential algorithm.Web of Science54179076

Incremental clickstream pattern mining with search boundaries

Recently, there has been a growing interest in sequential pattern mining in data mining, with a particular focus on clickstream pattern mining. These areas hold the potential for discovering valuable patterns. However, traditional mining algorithms in these domains often assume that databases are static, simplifying the mining process. In reality, databases are updated incrementally over time, partially rendering a portion of the previous results invalid. This necessitates rerunning algorithms on updated databases to obtain accurate frequent patterns. As database size increases, this approach can become time-consuming and affect performance. To tackle this issue, we propose PSB-CUP to mine frequent clickstream patterns in an incremental update manner. PSB-CUP employs the concept of search borders to reduce the search space and the information retained in memory. Furthermore, an IDList generation method called “partial imbalance join” was proposed to reconstruct possibly missing information during the incremental process. This join method, however, requires more extra information to be cached in exchange for speed. We then improve this technique by introducing “recursive imbalance join”, removing the need for extra cached data in the PSB-CUP + algorithm. The experimental results show that our proposed algorithms are efficient for incremental clickstream pattern mining.Faculty of Applied Informatics, Tomas Bata University in Zlin; Internal Grant Agency of Tomas Bata University, (IGA/CebiaTech/2023/004)Internal Grant Agency of Tomas Bata University [IGA/CebiaTech/2023/004

Field trial on a novel control method for the dengue vector, Aedes aegypti by the systematic use of Olyset® Net and pyriproxyfen in Southern Vietnam

BackgroundJars, tanks, and drums provide favorable rearing/breeding sites for Aedes aegypti in Vietnam. However, the use of insecticides to control mosquitoes at such breeding sites has not been approved in Vietnam since they are also often sources of drinking water, making larval vector control difficult. Mosquito nets pre-treated with long-lasting insecticide treated nets (LLITNs) form an effective measure for malaria control. We examined changes in the abundance of immature Aedes aegypti to evaluate the efficacy of covering ceramic jars with lids comprising one type of LLITN, Olyset® Net, in inhibiting oviposition by adult females, and to evaluate the effect of treating other breeding containers, such as flower vases, inside and around the outside of houses with a slow-release pyriproxyfen formulation to kill pupae.MethodsWe selected 313 households for the trial and 363 households for the control in Tan Chanh, Long An province, Vietnam. In the trial area, Olyset® Net lids were used to cover five major types of water container (ceramic jars, cylindrical concrete tanks, other concrete tanks, plastic drums, and plastic buckets), while pyriproxyfen was used to treat flower vases and ant traps. We also monitored dengue virus transmission by measuring anti-dengue IgM and IgG levels in healthy residents in both control and trial areas to estimate the effectiveness of Olyset® Net at controlling the dengue vector, Aedes aegypti.ResultsThe container-index and house-index for immature Ae. aegypti fell steeply one month after treatment in the trial area. Lids with Olyset® Net that fit container openings clearly seemed to reduce the presence of immature Ae. aegypti as the density of pupae decreased 1 month after treatment in the trial area. Pyriproxyfen was also effective at killing pupae in the water containers in the trial area. Although the dengue seroconversion rate was not influenced by Olyset® Net, it was lower in two-five year old children when compared to older children and adults in both control and trial areas.ConclusionsOur study showed that the treatment by Olyset® Net and pyriproxyfen had a strong negative effect on the prevalence of immature Ae. aegypti, which persisted for at least 5 months after treatment