The Association between CRP Levels with Comorbidities, Species, and Complications of Severe Malaria

Background: Malaria remains a leading cause of mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (including Sudan). C-reactive protein (CRP) is useful as   a marker of severity in malaria. African studies have shown that serum CRP levels correlate with parasite burden and complications in malaria, especially falciparum. However, there are no data on CRP levels in Sudanese malaria patients. This study aims to evaluate the association between CRP levels with comorbidities, species, and complications of severe malaria Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study enrolled 65 severe malaria patients at Khartoum state hospitals during the period from April to June2021. Manifestations of severe malaria were defined according to WHO criteria. Data regarding demographics, presenting symptoms & signs, laboratory investigations, complications, length of hospital stay and outcomes were collected. CRP was classified as elevated when the measured level was >10 mg/l. Results: Among 65 patients, 33(50.8%) were females and 32(49.2%) were males, and mean age was 48±21 years. The main manifestation of severe malaria diagnosis criteria was anemia in 26(40%) patients. Most of the patients had density 1+ (n=53; 81.5%) and were infected by P. falciparum (n=61; 93.8%). The overall case fatality rate for malaria was 8% (n=15 patients). The mean of CRP was 72±57 mg/L and 84% (n=55) of patients had elevated levels above 10 mg/L (ranged from 10-100 mg/L in 52%, and above 100 mg/L in 32%). The elevated CRP levels were significantly DM (P= 0.048), high malaria parasite density in blood film (P= 0.001), P. falciparum (P= 0.33), presence of complications (P= 0.001) and death (P= 0.003) Conclusion: Elevated CRP levels were found in a considerable proportion of severe malaria patients. CRP is an effective biomarker in assessing malaria severity and poor prognosis in term of complications development and mortality

Single crystal of a one-dimensional metallo-covalent organic framework.

Although polymers have been studied for well over a century, there are few examples of covalently linked polymer crystals synthesised directly from solution. One-dimensional (1D) covalent polymers that are packed into a framework structure can be viewed as a 1D covalent organic framework (COF), but making a single crystal of this has been elusive. Herein, by combining labile metal coordination and dynamic covalent chemistry, we discover a strategy to synthesise single-crystal metallo-COFs under solvothermal conditions. The single-crystal structure is rigorously solved using single-crystal electron diffraction technique. The non-centrosymmetric metallo-COF allows second harmonic generation. Due to the presence of syntactic pendant amine groups along the polymer chains, the metallopolymer crystal can be further cross-linked into a crystalline woven network

Survival of ART restorations assessed using selected FDI and modified ART restoration criteria

A new set of criteria for assessing the quality of restorations using modern restorative materials, named FDI criteria, was recently introduced. This study tested the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference in survival estimate percentages of ART restorations assessed using selected FDI and modified ART criteria after 1 and 5 years. One operator placed a total of 60 class I and 30 Class II high-viscosity glass-ionomer ART restorations in ninety 14- to15-year-olds. Two calibrated and independent evaluators using both criteria evaluated restorations on diestone replicas at baseline and after 1 and 5 years. Statistical analyses were done using the Kaplan–Meier method and log-rank test. The survival results of ART restorations assessed using both sets of criteria after 1 and 5 years (p = 0.27) did not differ significantly. Three ART restorations were assessed as failures according to the ART criteria, while they were assessed as survived using the FDI criteria. We conclude that the modified ART criteria enable reliable assessment of ART restorations in permanent teeth from diestone replicas and that there was no significant difference in survival estimates of ART restorations assessed using both sets of criteria. The null hypothesis was accepted

Using Data-mining Techniques for the prediction of the severity of road crashes in Cartagena, Colombia

Objective: Analyze the road crashes in Cartagena (Colombia) and the factors associated with the collision and severity. The aim is to establish a set of rules for defining countermeasures to improve road safety. Methods: Data mining and machine learning techniques were used in 7894 traffic accidents from 2016 to 2017. The severity was determined between low (84%) and high (16%). Five classification algorithms to predict the accident severity were applied with WEKA Software (Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis). Including Decision Tree (DT-J48), Rule Induction (PART), Support Vector Machines (SVMs), Naïve Bayes (NB), and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP). The effectiveness of each algorithm was implemented using cross-validation with 10-fold. Decision rules were defined from the results of the different methods. Results: The methods applied are consistent and similar in the overall results of precision, accuracy, recall, and area under the ROC curve. Conclusions: 12 decision rules were defined based on the methods applied. The rules defined show motorcyclists, cyclists, including pedestrians, as the most vulnerable road users. Men and women motorcyclists between 20–39 years are prone in accidents with high severity. When a motorcycle or cyclist is not involved in the accident, the probable severity is low

Highly toughened polylactide with novel sliding graft copolymer by in situ reactive compatibilization, crosslinking and chain extension

YesThe “sliding graft copolymer” (SGC), in which many linear poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) side chains are bound to cyclodextrin rings of a polyrotaxane (PR), was prepared and employed to toughen brittle polylactide (PLA) with methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) by reactive blending. The SGC was in situ crosslinked and therefore transformed from a crystallized plastic into a totally amorphous elastomer during reactive blending. Meanwhile, PLA-co-SGC copolymer was formed at interface to greatly improve the compatibility between PLA and SGC, and the chain extension of PLA also occurred, were confirmed by FTIR, GPC, SEM, and TEM. The resulting PLA/SGC/MDI blends displayed super impact toughness, elongation at break and nice biocompatibility. It was inferred from these results the crosslinked SGC (c-SGC) elastomeric particles with sliding crosslinking points performed as stress concentrators and absorbed considerable energy under impact and tension process.This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (50933001, 51221002 and 51320105012)

Isolation of Flow and Nonflow Correlations by Two- and Four-Particle Cumulant Measurements of Azimuthal Harmonics in sNN=\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}} = 200 GeV Au+Au Collisions

A data-driven method was applied to measurements of Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}} =$ 200 GeV made with the STAR detector at RHIC to isolate pseudorapidity distance $\Delta\eta$-dependent and $\Delta\eta$-independent correlations by using two- and four-particle azimuthal cumulant measurements. We identified a component of the correlation that is $\Delta\eta$-independent, which is likely dominated by anisotropic flow and flow fluctuations. It was also found to be independent of $\eta$ within the measured range of pseudorapidity $|\eta|<1$. The relative flow fluctuation was found to be $34\% \pm 2\% (stat.) \pm 3\% (sys.)$ for particles of transverse momentum $p_{T}$ less than $2$ GeV/$c$. The $\Delta\eta$-dependent part may be attributed to nonflow correlations, and is found to be $5\% \pm 2\% (sys.)$ relative to the flow of the measured second harmonic cumulant at $|\Delta\eta| > 0.7$

Sustained proliferation in cancer: mechanisms and novel therapeutic targets

Proliferation is an important part of cancer development and progression. This is manifest by altered expression and/or activity of cell cycle related proteins. Constitutive activation of many signal transduction pathways also stimulates cell growth. Early steps in tumor development are associated with a fibrogenic response and the development of a hypoxic environment which favors the survival and proliferation of cancer stem cells. Part of the survival strategy of cancer stem cells may manifested by alterations in cell metabolism. Once tumors appear, growth and metastasis may be supported by overproduction of appropriate hormones (in hormonally dependent cancers), by promoting angiogenesis, by undergoing epithelial to mesenchymal transition, by triggering autophagy, and by taking cues from surrounding stromal cells. A number of natural compounds (e.g., curcumin, resveratrol, indole-3-carbinol, brassinin, sulforaphane, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, genistein, ellagitannins, lycopene and quercetin) have been found to inhibit one or more pathways that contribute to proliferation (e.g., hypoxia inducible factor 1, nuclear factor kappa B, phosphoinositide 3 kinase/Akt, insulin-like growth factor receptor 1, Wnt, cell cycle associated proteins, as well as androgen and estrogen receptor signaling). These data, in combination with bioinformatics analyses, will be very important for identifying signaling pathways and molecular targets that may provide early diagnostic markers and/or critical targets for the development of new drugs or drug combinations that block tumor formation and progression

f(R) theories

Over the past decade, f(R) theories have been extensively studied as one of the simplest modifications to General Relativity. In this article we review various applications of f(R) theories to cosmology and gravity - such as inflation, dark energy, local gravity constraints, cosmological perturbations, and spherically symmetric solutions in weak and strong gravitational backgrounds. We present a number of ways to distinguish those theories from General Relativity observationally and experimentally. We also discuss the extension to other modified gravity theories such as Brans-Dicke theory and Gauss-Bonnet gravity, and address models that can satisfy both cosmological and local gravity constraints.Comment: 156 pages, 14 figures, Invited review article in Living Reviews in Relativity, Published version, Comments are welcom

Modified Gravity and Cosmology

In this review we present a thoroughly comprehensive survey of recent work on modified theories of gravity and their cosmological consequences. Amongst other things, we cover General Relativity, Scalar-Tensor, Einstein-Aether, and Bimetric theories, as well as TeVeS, f(R), general higher-order theories, Horava-Lifschitz gravity, Galileons, Ghost Condensates, and models of extra dimensions including Kaluza-Klein, Randall-Sundrum, DGP, and higher co-dimension braneworlds. We also review attempts to construct a Parameterised Post-Friedmannian formalism, that can be used to constrain deviations from General Relativity in cosmology, and that is suitable for comparison with data on the largest scales. These subjects have been intensively studied over the past decade, largely motivated by rapid progress in the field of observational cosmology that now allows, for the first time, precision tests of fundamental physics on the scale of the observable Universe. The purpose of this review is to provide a reference tool for researchers and students in cosmology and gravitational physics, as well as a self-contained, comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the subject as a whole.Comment: 312 pages, 15 figure