Quantifying Uncertainty in Deep Learning Classification with Noise in Discrete Inputs for Risk-Based Decision Making

The use of Deep Neural Network (DNN) models in risk-based decision-making has attracted extensive attention with broad applications in medical, finance, manufacturing, and quality control. To mitigate prediction-related risks in decision making, prediction confidence or uncertainty should be assessed alongside the overall performance of algorithms. Recent studies on Bayesian deep learning helps quantify prediction uncertainty arises from input noises and model parameters. However, the normality assumption of input noise in these models limits their applicability to problems involving categorical and discrete feature variables in tabular datasets. In this paper, we propose a mathematical framework to quantify prediction uncertainty for DNN models. The prediction uncertainty arises from errors in predictors that follow some known finite discrete distribution. We then conducted a case study using the framework to predict treatment outcome for tuberculosis patients during their course of treatment. The results demonstrate under a certain level of risk, we can identify risk-sensitive cases, which are prone to be misclassified due to error in predictors. Comparing to the Monte Carlo dropout method, our proposed framework is more aware of misclassification cases. Our proposed framework for uncertainty quantification in deep learning can support risk-based decision making in applications when discrete errors in predictors are present.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figure

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND PROPHYLACTIC EFFECTS OF SATURJA KHUZESTANICA ESSENTIAL OIL ON ACUTE TOXOPLASMOSIS IN MICE

Background: Toxoplasma gondii is a widespread zoonotic protozoan that infects approximately one third of the global human population and all other warm-blooded animals. The present study aims to evaluate the prophylactic effects of Satureja khuzestanica essential oil (SKEO) on infected mice with acute toxoplasmosis. Materials and Methods: The components of the SKEO were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS). To evaluate the prophylactic effects of SKEO, mice were divided into four groups. (i) non-treated group, (ii) mice treated with olive oil once a day for two weeks, (iii) mice treated with SKEO at the dose of 0.2ml/kg once a day for two weeks, (iv) and mice orally treated with SKEO at the dose of 0.3 ml/kg once a day for two weeks. After 24 h (fifteenth day) mice in the groups of two-four were infected intraperitonealy with 10-4 tachyzoite of T. gondii, RH strain. The mortality rate in all infected mice and the number of tachyzoites from infected mice were recorded. Results: The main components of SKEO were carvacrol (78.8%), thymol (7.5%), and beta-Bisabolene (1.2%). Findings of prophylactic effects revealed that mortality rate of infected mice was 8 days after oral administration of SKEO at the concentration of 0.2 and 0.3ml/kg (

The assessment of Qazvin Dental School students’ interest in their field of study and the educational environment (2016-17)

Background: Interest and motivation toward field of study is necessary for success in that field and educational environment is an effective factor on this interest. Objective: The aim of present study was to assess Qazvin Dental School students’ interest in their field of study and its relationships with the educational environment. Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive trial study, 96 students with the entering years of 2010- 2013 were selected by the census sampling method in the Qazvin Dental School and assessed by questionnaire that validity and reliability confirmed in previous studies. Demographic data, interests toward field of study and factor of education environments were determined and reported by frequency and percent indices. Scores of 0-4 were assigned to answers of the participants. The effects of the parameters on the interest and education environments scores were analyzed by the regression analysis. Findings: Among students, 56.4% were interested in their field of study. Also, 56.4% believed that most of the member of staff used new methods in their educational program. 86.1% of students considered their participation on the educational decision-makings regarding their own status less. The parameters of gender (P<0.023) and native or non-native of the students (P<0.012) had significant effects on the students’ attitudes towards educations environment. Conclusion: Totally Qazvin Dental Students were interested in their field of study and educational environment of the school had its own advantages in different areas. However, in some areas some revisions must be done

Improving the neuronal differentiation efficiency of umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells cultivated under appropriate conditions

Objective(s): Umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (UCB-MSCs) are ideally suited for use in various cell-based therapies. We investigated a novel induction protocol (NIP) to improve the neuronal differentiation of human UCB-MSCs under appropriate conditions. Materials and Methods: This experimental study was performed in Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO), Tehran, Iran. UCB-MSCs were cultured in DMEM medium supplemented with 10% FBS in a humidified incubator in equilibration with 5% CO2 at 37oC. For neuronal differentiation of UCB-MSCs, DMEM was removed and replaced with pre-induction medium containing RA, bFGF, EGF, and basal medium for two days. Then, NGF, IBMX, AsA, and Neurobasal medium were used for six days for this purpose. Real-time PCR was performed to analyze the neuronal differentiation of UCB-MSCs for the first time in Iran. Results: We found that the maximum and minimum levels of gene expression were related to GFAP and nestin, respectively. In addition, our study showed that compared to other neuronal inducers, RA might play the main role in neuronal differentiation and fate of MSCs compared to other neuronal inducers. Conclusion: Our data showed that the combination of chemical (RA, IBMX, AsA) and growth factors (NGF, EGF, bFGF) in NIP may improve the efficiency of neuronal differentiation of UCB-MSCs and may provide a new method for easy and quick application of UCB-MSCs in regenerative medicine in the future. However, the functionality of neuron-like cells must be carefully assessed in animal experiments prior to use in clinical applications

A news media analysis of economic sanction effects on access to medicine in Iran

Objective: In the past decades economic sanctions have been used by different countries or international organizations in order to deprive target countries of some transactions. While the sanctions do not target health care systems or public health structures, they may, in fact, affect the availability of health care in target countries. In this study, we used media analysis to assess the impacts of recent sanctions imposed by the Central Bank of Iran in 2012 on access to medicines in Iran. Methods: We searched different sources of written news media including a database of nonspecialized weeklies and magazines, online news sources, web pages of daily newspapers and healthcare oriented weeklies from 2011 to 2013. We searched the sources using the general term "medicine" to reduce the chances of missing relevant items. The identified news media were read, and categorized under three groups of items announcing "shortage of medicines," "medicines related issues" and "no shortage." We conducted trend analyzes to see whether the news media related to access to medicines were affected by the economic sanctions. Findings: A total number of 371 relevant news media were collected. The number of news media related to medicines substantially increased in the study period: 30 (8%), 161 (43%) and 180 (49%) were published in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively. While 145 (39%) of media items referred to the shortage of medicines, 97 (26%) reported no shortage or alleviating of concerns. Conclusion: Media analysis suggests a clear increase in the number of news media reporting a shortage in Iran after the sanctions. In 2013, there were accompanying increases in the number of news media reporting alleviation of the shortages of medicines. Our analysis provides evidence of negative effects of the sanctions on access to medicines in Iran

Urinary Calcium/Creatinin Ratio with Different Dosages of Vitamin D3 Prophylaxis in Infants

Objective: The requirement of vitamin D for breast-fed term infants remains an area of controversy. Different dosage is needed according to environmental factors such as sunlight exposure. Reception of more than 400 I.U. of vitamin D daily produces hypercalcemia. A random urine calcium/creatinin ratio (UCa/Cr) is a screening test for detection of hypercalciuria. Setting adequate values of vitamin D3 prophylaxis by random UCa/Cr in infant population of Yazd city in Iran, is the aim of present study. Methods: A total of 90 healthy, full term newborns of both genders were enrolled in the study. They were divided equally into three receiving vitamin D3 prophylaxis groups as follow: (I) 200 IU/daily, (II) 400 IU/daily and (III) 50000 IU two times in fifteen and sixty days after birth. A random urine specimen from each subject was analyzed for calcium, creatinin and serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D at the end of three months of life. Findings: From all 90 studied infants, 25 (83.3%) infants with 200 IU/daily vitamin D3, 23 (76.7%) infants with 400 IU/daily vitamin D3 and 28 (93.3%) who received 50000 IU two times (76 infants, 84.4%) had hypercalciuria and 14 (15.6%) infants remained with low values of Ca/Cr ratios. Conclusion: According to high prevalence of hypercalciuria in this survey, it is recommended to evaluate the vitamin D level in infants and use proper amount of supplemented vitamin D. It seems that 200 IU/daily could be used in infants in our area

Changes in BMD T-score from pre-to post-treatment with biosimilar teriparatide: A single-arm, multi-center study

Introduction: Teriparatide is a recombinant analog of the parathyroid hormone and an anabolic treatment modality for osteoporosis. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of biosimilar teriparatide (CinnoPar®, CinnaGen Co., Iran) in osteoporotic patients after at least one year of treatment. Methods: In this multi-center, single-arm study, 239 eligible patients received subcutaneous injections of biosimilar teriparatide 20 μg once daily for at least one year. The main outcome measure was the change in bone mineral density (BMD) T-score from baseline (pre-treatment) to end of the study (post-treatment). In addition, the change in the fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX) score was calculated to estimate the 10-year probability of major and hip fractures pre-and post-treatment. Results: A total of 239 patients (age, 63 ± 12.14 years; female, 88.28 %) were included, of which 27.62 % (66/239), 14.64 % (35/239), and 57.74 % (138/239) received biosimilar teriparatide for 12–16 months, 17–20 months, and 21–24 months, respectively. From baseline to end of the study, the T-score at the lumbar spine increased from −2.67 ± 1.04 to −2.26 ± 1.11 (mean percent change, 13.07 ± 62.89; p-value<0.001). Similarly, the T-score at femoral neck increased from −2.18 ± 0.87 to −2.09 ± 0.93 (mean percent change, 3.81 ± 31.52; p-value = 0.006). The proportions of patients with maintained or improved BMD T-score at the lumbar spine and femoral neck sites were 85.36 % (204/239) and 69.04 % (165/239), respectively. Similar results were obtained in subgroups of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and those with a history of a previous fracture or parental hip fracture. FRAX scores did not change significantly during the study (p-values of 0.551 and 0.973 at the lumbar spine and femoral neck, respectively). Conclusion: We observed considerable improvements in BMD following treatment with the biosimilar teriparatide for one year or more. The biosimilar teriparatide can be considered as an effective treatment option in female and male patients with osteoporosis

Molecular Diagnosis and Characterization of Bacillus subtilis Isolated from Burn Wound in Iran

Background: Bacillus subtilis refers to stretched and sometimes curved, gram-positive, aerobic, and catalase-positive bacilli, which has thermo-resistant endospores. It has been known as a normal flora in the human but can be pathogens In the case of opportunistic. Also, it can be the pathogen of nosocomial infections such as wound among hospitalized patients. Purpose of this study was to identify the type of nosocomial infections in a burn patient suffering from wound infections and septicemia. Materials and Methods: In November 2012, sampling was made from the burn wound of a 26-year-old woman infected with septicemia using a sterile swab. The wound sample was cultured on a blood agar medium. Various routine biochemical tests were performed for species detection and identification. Eventually, PCR was used to increase the reliability and accuracy in the identification of the isolated bacterium. The PCR product was then sequenced.Results: According to the results of different biochemical tests and molecular identification, the bacteria separated from B. subtilis wound were reported. The mentioned gene was recorded under access number AB894357 in the gene bank. Conclusion: According to the conducted studies, although B. subtilis is known as a commensal bacterium, it can be considered a pathogen of nosocomial infection, which subsequently causes secondary infections. Considering that B. subtilis is known as a nonpathogenic bacterium, it is recommended to pay more attention to its diagnosis and treatment as an opportunistic pathogen among hospitalized patients

The Effect of Psychological Empowerment on Enhancing the Potential of Knowledge Creation in the Organizations

In the knowledge-based era, knowledge is considered the most influential asset of successful organizations and knowledge management (KM) is their most important function. Knowledge creation is one of the most important practices of KM and has an influential effect on the innovativeness of organization. Knowledge creation is considerably dependent on the employees’ capabilities and readiness. Employees’ empowerment can develop these capabilities effectively. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to describe the effects of empowering of employees on the knowledge creation by them. The research method is descriptive and correlational. The population of the research consists of 950 managers and senior experts of the NIOPDC. A sample of 270.subjects was selected as statistical sampling. According to the research findings, all of the studied psychological dimensions of employees' empowerment have positive considerable effects on enhancing knowledge creation in organization. Finally, according to research findings, some suggestions are presented

DataSheet1_Assessing compatibility, tansesterification, and disintegration of PET/PLA fiber blend in composting conditions.docx

To recycle a blend of PET and PLA, understanding the challenging issues and crucial parameters that affect the properties and morphology of the blend is key to successful recycling. So, the main focus of this study was to investigate the parameters that influence the processability, compatibility, morphology, properties, and disintegration of PET/PLA blend fibers. Using surface tension measurements, acceptable adhesion between the two components was observed. SEM results showed that the PET/PLA blend fibers have a microfibrillar morphology. Based on 1H NMR analysis, the exchange reaction resulted in a block copolymer. The crystallization process in the fibers became more difficult as the PLA content increased due to the formation of copolymers through transesterification. The presence of oriented crystals in the melt-spun fiber blend was confirmed by X-ray diffraction patterns. As the PLA content increased, the tensile strength of the blends decreased gradually. Furthermore, the sample containing 20 wt% PLA exhibited the highest dimensional stability. The disintegration process in composting conditions for PET was improved by PLA.</p