Tendances parmi les candidats en ophtalmologie non jumelés dans le cadre du Service canadien de jumelage des résidents

Background: Applicants to ophthalmology have high rates of going unmatched during the CaRMS process, but how this compares to other competitive or surgical specialties remains unclear. Our research aims to examine this phenomenon by identifying trends and comparing match data with other specialties, to identify disparities that may inform the need for future interventions to improve the match process for applicants. Methods: We used a cross-sectional analysis of data provided by CaRMS on the residency match from 2013 to 2022. Results: We obtained data from 608 ophthalmology, 5,153 surgery, and 3,092 top five (most competitive) specialty first choice applicants from 2013-2022. Ophthalmology applicants were more likely to go unmatched (18.9% [120/608]) than applicants to the top five (11.9% [371/3,092]) and surgical (13.5% [702/5,153]) specialties (p<0.001) and were twice as likely to rank no alternate disciplines (31.8%, p < 0.001) over the study period. In the first iteration, when alternate disciplines were ranked, the match rate to alternate disciplines was highest for ophthalmology applicants (0.41, p < 0.001). The majority (57.8%) of unmatched ophthalmology applicants do not participate in the second iteration. Conclusion: Compared to other competitive specialties, first choice ophthalmology applicants were more likely to go unmatched, rank no alternate disciplines, and choose not to participate in the second iteration. Ophthalmology applicant behaviours should be further studied to help explain these study findings.Contexte : Les candidats à l'ophtalmologie ont un taux élevé de non-jumelage au cours du processus CaRMS, mais une comparaison avec d'autres spécialités compétitives ou chirurgicales reste à faire. Notre travail a pour but d’examiner ce phénomène en identifiant des tendances et en comparant les données de jumelage avec celles d'autres spécialités, à la recherche de disparités susceptibles d'éclairer le besoin d'interventions futures pour améliorer le processus de jumelage pour les candidats. Méthodes : Nous avons procédé à une analyse transversale des données fournies par CaRMS sur le jumelage des résidents de 2013 à 2022. Résultats : Nous avons obtenu des données sur 608 candidats en ophtalmologie, 5 153 en chirurgie et 3 092 candidats dont le premier choix était l’une des cinq spécialités les plus compétitives de 2013 à 2022. Les candidats en ophtalmologie étaient plus susceptibles de ne pas être jumelés (18,9 % [120/608]) que les candidats aux cinq spécialités les plus compétitives (11,9 % [371/3 092]) et aux spécialités chirurgicales (13,5 % [702/5 153]) (p<0,001), et étaient deux fois plus susceptibles de ne classer aucune autre discipline (31,8 %, p<0,001) au cours de la période d'étude. Lors du premier tour, lorsque des disciplines alternatives ont été classées, le taux de jumelage avec les disciplines alternatives était le plus élevé pour les candidats en ophtalmologie (0,41, p<0,001). La majorité (57,8 %) des candidats non jumelés en ophtalmologie ne participent pas au deuxième tour. Conclusion : Comparativement à d'autres spécialités compétitives, les candidats dont le premier choix étaient l’ophtalmologie étaient plus susceptibles de ne pas être jumelés, de ne pas classer d'autres disciplines et de choisir de ne pas participer au deuxième tour. Les comportements des candidats en ophtalmologie devraient faire l'objet d'études plus approfondies afin d'expliquer nos résultats

Gender trends in match rate to surgical specialties in Canada: A retrospective study from 2003-2022

Background: In Canada, there is a recognized underrepresentation of women in the field of surgery. However, the extent to which this trend applies across various surgical specialties is not well delineated. The aim of this study is to identify existing disparities and trends over time to inform the need for future interventions to make the match process more equitable for applicants.Methods: Data regarding surgical specialty applicants was extracted from the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS)\u27s 2003 to 2022 reports.Results: A total of 9,488 applicants ranked surgical specialties as their first choice from 2003-2022. Increases in the proportion of women applicants comparing periods 2003-2007 to 2018-2022 were significant for cardiac surgery (22% to 43%, p = 0.03), general surgery (46% to 60%, pConclusions: While the proportion of women applicants to surgical specialties in Canada has been increasing, women remain underrepresented in several surgical specialties. This underrepresentation cannot be solely attributed to fewer women applying to these specialties, as women experience lower success rates when matching to specific surgical specialties. Further research is essential to identify and address the underlying causes of these disparities

COVID-19 risk in patients with substance use disorders at Kuwait addiction treatment center

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is creating major issues for healthcare and broad social structures, exposing societal vulnerabilities. Patients with substance use disorder are considered at increased risk of COVID-19 and its more serious complications, however data on the impact of COVID-19 are lacking. The study aimed to describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 on patients with substance use disorders seen at Kuwait addiction treatment center. Method: A cross sectional study was carried including all patients seen in outpatient department and/or admitted in the inpatient wards of Kuwait Addiction Treatment Center, diagnosed as substance use disorder with history of COVID-19 infection during the period from June 2021 to December 2021. Results : Among 660 substance use disorder patients, the mean age was 36± 10.1 years (94%) were men and (91.1%) were Kuwaiti. The main substance used were Opioid in (41.1%) of patients, stimulant in (25.5%) and synthetics in (11.2%) of patients. One or more comorbidities associated to COVID-19 risk were observed in (29 %) of patients. (9.1%) of patients got COVID-19 infection and 61.5% were vaccinated.&nbsp

Malva parviflora seed oil; Isolation, gas chromatographic profiling and its cardioprotective activity against myocardial infraction in animal model

Myocardial infarction (MI), one of the most perilous types of cardiac illness, carries a significant burden of mortality and morbidity. This study aims to shed light on the impact of Malva parviflora seed oil (MPSO) on plasma cardiac function tests, levels of cardiac inflammatory mediators, and the expression of cardiac miRNA140-5p and miRNA208b genes in a rat model of MI induced by isoproterenol (ISO). The methods involved the extraction of MPSO using hexane, with the determination of fatty acid contents accomplished through GC spectrometry. Adult albino rats, weighing 185 ± 7 g, were divided into five groups (n = 6): normal control rats, ISO-treated rats, ISO-treated rats with MPSO (157 and/or 314 mg/kg, respectively), and ISO-treated rats with omega (100 mg/kg, respectively) for a duration of four weeks. The results revealed that Malva parviflora seeds yielded 3.3 gm/100 dry seeds. Among the nine fatty acid components identified, coriolic acid was the most abundant (31.60 %), followed by pentadecanoic acid (30.05 %). The cardioprotective potential of MPSO was assessed in rats subjected to ISO-induced cardiac injury. Following 24 h of ISO treatment, rats displayed elevated levels of plasma cardiac troponin I (cTnI), troponin T (cTnT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and B-Type Natriuretic Peptide (BNP), as well as cardiac BcL-2, P53, toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), NF-κB (Nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs), reduced glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), miRNA-140-5p, and miRNA-208b gene expression. Histopathological examination confirmed cardiac injury in ISO-treated rats. Furthermore, MPSO mitigated the elevation of cardiac enzymes and TBARS, as well as cardiac inflammatory mediators, while concurrently downregulating the expression levels of miRNA-140-5p and miRNA-208b genes. Conversely, the enhancement of cardiac GSH, SOD, and CAT activity demonstrated the antioxidant capabilities of MPSO against ISO-induced cardiac injury. Histopathological findings underscored MPSO's protective effect on cardiac tissue against oxidative damage in ISO-treated rats. In nutshel, the findings of this study unveil the cardioprotective and free radical scavenging attributes of MPSO in rats with ISO-induced cardiac damage. MPSO appears to provide cardiac protection against free radicals and inflammation induced by xenobiotics, potentially owing to its rich content of polyphenols, flavonoids, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and cyclopropenoid fatty acids

Countering Evasion Attacks for Smart Grid Reinforcement Learning-Based Detectors

Fraudulent customers in smart power grids employ cyber-attacks by manipulating their smart meters and reporting false consumption readings to reduce their bills. To combat these attacks and mitigate financial losses, various machine learning-based electricity theft detectors have been proposed. Unfortunately, these detectors are vulnerable to serious cyber-attacks, specifically evasion attacks. The objective of this paper is to investigate the robustness of deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based detectors against our proposed evasion attacks through a series of experiments. Firstly, we introduce DRL-based electricity theft detectors implemented using the double deep Q networks (DDQN) algorithm. Secondly, we propose a DRL-based attack model to generate adversarial evasion attacks in a black box attack scenario. These evasion samples are generated by modifying malicious reading samples to deceive the detectors and make them appear as benign samples. We leverage the attractive features of reinforcement learning (RL) to determine optimal actions for modifying the malicious samples. Our DRL-based evasion attack model is compared with an FGSM-based evasion attack model. The experimental results reveal a significant degradation in detector performance due to the DRL-based evasion attack, achieving an attack success rate (ASR) ranging from 92.92% to 99.96%. Thirdly, to counter these attacks and enhance detection robustness, we propose hardened DRL-based defense detectors using an adversarial training process. This process involves retraining the DRL-based detectors on the generated evasion samples. The proposed defense model achieves outstanding detection performance, with a degradation in ASR ranging from 1.80% to 9.20%. Finally, we address the challenge of whether the DRL-based hardened defense model, which has been adversarially trained on DRL-based evasion samples, is capable of defending against FGSM-based evasion samples, and vice versa. We conduct extensive experiments to validate the effectiveness of our proposed attack and defense models

Fronto-temporal connectivity in never-medicated patients with first-episode schizophrenia: A DTI study

Purpose: To assess fronto-temporal connectivity in never-medicated patients with first episode schizophrenia (FES). Material and methods: Twelve never-medicated patients (median age = 25.5 y) with first episode schizophrenia (according to DSM-IV system) and sixteen demographically matched controls were enrolled in the study. Conventional MRI sequences were obtained. Single shot echo-planar DTI was acquired in 32 non-collinear directions. Tractography of the direct pathway of the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLFd) and uncinate fasciculus of both hemispheres was performed, and ROIs at the anterior cingulum and external capsule of both hemispheres were drawn. Fractional anisotropy (FA), radial diffusivity (RD), axial diffusivity (AD) and Trace of the ROIs and reconstructed tracts were calculated. Group comparison was performed using independent sample t-test and Fisher’s exact test. Results: Compared to healthy participants, there was significant reduction of FA of the left external capsule (p = 0.001) with increase in RD and Trace (p = .004, .048 respectively). However, the right SLFd showed significant reduction of AD (p = 0.005) and the left SLFd showed significant reduction of its volume (p = 0.02). Conclusion: In patients with FES, impaired white matter connectivity was recognized in the right SLFd and left external capsule associated with reduction in the volume of the left SLFd

The effect of cholinesterase inhibition on liver dysfunction in experimental acute liver failure

Introduction: Acute liver failure (ALF), like sepsis, is associated with an overwhelming activation of the immune response in which hepatic and circulating inflammatory cytokines play a pivotal role. Cholinesterase inhibition has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties in experimental sepsis. We investigated the role of neostigmine in attenuating d-galactosamine (d-GalN)-induced ALF. Methods: Thirty-six female wistar rats were randomly allocated to three groups: a control group, a d-GalN group receiving a single i.p. injection of d-galactosamine (400 mg kg−1 BW) and a neostigmine-treated d-GalN group receiving a single i.p. injection of d-galactosamine followed 24 h later by i.p. injection of neostigmine methylsulfate 0.25% (80 μg kg−1 BW) three times daily for 3 successive days. Rats were sacrificed 24 h after the last injection. Plasma levels of liver transaminases, total proteins, albumin, prothrombin, total bilirubin and hepatic levels of superoxide dismutase and malondialdehyde were measured. Liver expression of cytokines (HMGB-1, TNF-α and IL-10) and histopathology were evaluated. Results: Neostigmine attenuated liver dysfunction and improved liver synthetic and excretory functions, reduced proinflammatory cytokine HMGB1 (95% CI 0.33–1.09) and TNF-α (95% CI 1.26–2.06) expression compared to d-GalN group (95% CI 2.67–4.73 and 7.33–14.53, respectively, P < 0.001) and increased expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in liver tissue (95% CI 2.49–4.17 vs 0.04–0.21 in d-GalN group, P < 0.001). Neostigmine also significantly increased antioxidant level, and decreased oxidative burden caused by d-GaIN. Conclusion: Neostigmine improved liver function in a rat ALF model through an anti-inflammatory activity

Exogenous Application of Nitric Oxide Mitigates Water Stress and Reduces Natural Viral Disease Incidence of Tomato Plants Subjected to Deficit Irrigation

The present work reveals the beneficial role of sodium nitroprusside (SNP; NO donor concentration: 50 and 100 &micro;M) in mitigation of water stress accompanied by a reduction in viral disease incidence in tomato plants subjected to deficit irrigation. The plants were grown under two irrigation regimes: well-watered (WW; irrigated after the depletion of 55&ndash;60% of available soil water) and water deficit (WD; irrigated after the depletion of 85&ndash;90% of available soil water) in two seasons of 2018 and 2019. The results indicated that under water stress conditions, plant growth, chlorophyll, relative water content (RWC), and fruit yield were decreased. Conversely, water stress significantly increased the MDA, proline, soluble sugars, and antioxidant enzymes&rsquo; activities. Moreover, it was obvious a negligible increase in the fruit content from NO2 and NO3. Water-deficit stress, however, had a positive impact on reducing the percentage of viral disease (TMV and TYLCV) incidence on tomato plants. Similarly, SNP application in the form of foliar spray significantly reduced the disease incidence, the severity, and the relative concentrations of TMV and TYLCV in tomato plants raised under both WW and WD conditions. The treatment of SNP at 100 &micro;M achieved better results and could be recommended to induce tomato plant tolerance to water stress. Thus, the present work highlights the role of NO (SNP) in the alleviation of water stress in tomato plants and subsequent reduction in viral disease incidence during deficit irrigation

Image_1_Postharvest physiology and biochemistry of Valencia orange after coatings with chitosan nanoparticles as edible for green mold protection under room storage conditions.jpeg

Because of their unique features, nanomaterials have been proposed and have gained acceptance in postharvest applications in fruit. Increasing the storage life and improving the quality of Valencia oranges was investigated using nano-chitosan. A chitosan nanoparticle was prepared by using high-energy ball milling. Chitosan nanoparticles were characterized by Dynamic light scattering, FTIR spectroscopy and Surface morphology by transmission electron microscopy. Fully mature Valencia oranges were harvested and then coated with one of these concentrations (0.2, 0.4, and 0.8% nano-chitosan) and control. The fruits were stored under room storage conditions for 75 days. The quality parameters (fruit weight losses, fruit decay percentage, fruit firmness, total acidity, total soluble solids percentage and T.S.S./acid ratio, ascorbic acid content) were taken in biweekly intervals after 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 days. Beside the in vitro testing of antifungal activity of chitosan nanoparticles. According to the findings of the two succeeding seasons, the nano-chitosan 0.8% treatment showed the best effects and had the lowest rate of fruit weight loss, fruit deterioration, and T.S.S./acid ratio in comparison to the other treatments in both seasons. Furthermore, the 0.8% nano-chitosan reveled the highest levels of fruit hardness and fruit pulp firmness. Fruit weight loss, fruit deterioration, TSS, and TSS/acid ratio, as well as other metrics, were steadily elevated prior to the storage time. The best results were obtained when Valencia oranges fruits were treated with 0.8% nano-chitosan for 75 days at room temperature.</p