Predicting Fire Alarms in Smoke Detection using Neural Networks

Abstract: This research paper presents the development and evaluation of a neural network-based model for predicting fire alarms in smoke detection systems. Using a dataset from Kaggle containing 15 features and 3487 samples, we trained and validated a neural network with a three-layer architecture. The model achieved an accuracy of 100% and an average error of 0.0000003. Additionally, we identified the most influential features in predicting fire alarms

Support for UNRWA's survival

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) provides life-saving humanitarian aid for 5·4 million Palestine refugees now entering their eighth decade of statelessness and conflict. About a third of Palestine refugees still live in 58 recognised camps. UNRWA operates 702 schools and 144 health centres, some of which are affected by the ongoing humanitarian disasters in Syria and the Gaza Strip. It has dramatically reduced the prevalence of infectious diseases, mortality, and illiteracy. Its social services include rebuilding infrastructure and homes that have been destroyed by conflict and providing cash assistance and micro-finance loans for Palestinians whose rights are curtailed and who are denied the right of return to their homeland

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Extraction of Novel Effective Nanocomposite Photocatalyst from Corn Stalk for Water Photo Splitting under Visible Light Radiation

Novel (Ca, Mg)CO3&SiO2 NPs-decorated multilayer graphene sheets could be successfully prepared from corn stalk pith using a simple alkaline hydrothermal treatment process followed by calcination in an inert atmosphere. The produced nanocomposite was characterized by SEM, EDX, TEM, FTIR, and XRD analytical techniques, which confirm the formation of multilayer graphene sheets decorated by inorganic nanoparticles. The nanocomposite shows efficient activity as a photocatalyst for water-splitting reactions under visible light. The influence of preparation parameter variations, including the alkaline solution concentration, hydrothermal temperature, reaction time, and calcination temperature, on the hydrogen evolution rate was investigated by preparing many samples at different conditions. The experimental work indicated that treatment of the corn stalk pith hydrothermally by 1.0 M KOH solution at 170 °C for 3 h and calcinating the obtained solid at 600 °C results in the maximum hydrogen production rate. A value of 43.35 mmol H2/gcat.min has been obtained associated with the energy-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of 9%. Overall, this study opens a new avenue for extracting valuable nanocatalysts from biomass wastes to be exploited in hot applications such as hydrogen generation from water photo-splitting under visible light radiation

Sulforaphane Downregulates Hepatic Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 (FGF21) of Diet Induced Obese Mice

Background: Fibroblast growth factor 21 is a hormone-like protein that plays a critical role as an energy regulator. Sulforaphane (SFN) is expected to have potential therapeutic effects in treating obesity. This study aims to investigate the effect of SFN treatment on hepatic gene expression of FGF-21 of diet induced obese mice. Methods: CD1 male mice and two groups of lean and diet induced obesity (DIO) model after feeding a high fat diet were used. Afterward, both lean and DIO mice were treated for four weeks with either SFN (5mg/kg BW) (n=10) or Vehicle (n=10). After that, blood and liver samples were collected and analyzed. Hepatic FGF-21 gene expression was measured using qRT-PCR. Results: Treatment of DIO mice with SFN causes a significant reduction in body weight gain (15.42%) compared to DIO-vehicle group, which showed a weight gain by (3.86%), p-value<0.0001. In addition, SFN treatment to lean group did not affect body weight. DIO-SFN treated mice showed a significant reduction in fasting glucose, leptin, and insulin levels compared to DIO-vehicle treated group, p-value<0.05. Hepatic FGF-21 gene expression was significantly upregulated in DIO-vehicle compared to lean-vehicle mice with ˜ 3 folds, p-value<0.05. Treatment of DIO with SFN causes a significant downregulation of FGF-21 gene expression by ˜9 folds compared with DIO-vehicle treated group, p-value<0.05. Conclusions: Treatment of DIO mice with SFN causes downregulation of hepatic FGF21 expression in obese mice. The effects of SFN on FGF21 gene expression could be a direct effect or secondary to weight loss, which warrants further studies.QNRF, NPRP 9 -351-3-07

Extraction and characterization of bioactive secondary metabolites from lactic acid bacteria and evaluating their antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic activity

Aflatoxins are toxic carcinogens and mutagens formed by some moulds, specifically Aspergillus spp. Therefore, this study aimed to extract and identify bioactive secondary metabolites from Lactobacillus species, to evaluate their efficacy in reducing fungal growth and aflatoxin production and to investigate their toxicity. The bioactive secondary metabolites of Lactobacillus species showed variable degrees of antifungal activity, whereas L. rhamnosus ethyl acetate extract No. 5 exhibited the highest antifungal activity and, thus, was selected for further identification studies. Data revealed that L. rhamnosus ethyl acetate extract No. 5 produced various organic acids, volatile organic compounds and polyphenols, displayed antifungal activity against A. flavus, and triggered morphological changes in fungal conidiophores and conidiospores. L. rhamnosus ethyl acetate extract No. 5 at a 9 mg/mL concentration reduced AFB1 production by 99.98%. When the effect of L. rhamnosus ethyl acetate extract No. 5 on brine shrimp mortality was studied, the extract attained a 100% mortality at a concentration of 400 µg/mL, with an IC50 of 230 µg/mL. Meanwhile, a mouse bioassay was performed to assess the toxicity of L. rhamnosus ethyl acetate extract No. 5, whereas there were no harmful effects or symptoms in mice injected with L. rhamnosus ethyl acetate extract at concentrations of 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 mg/kg body weight

Corneal-Committed Cells Restore the Stem Cell Pool and Tissue Boundary following Injury

Summary: During morphogenesis, preserving tissue boundaries is essential for cell fate regulation. While embryonic tissues possess high plasticity and repair ability, the questions of whether and how adult tissues cope with acute stem cell (SC) loss or boundary disruption have remained unanswered. Here, we report that K15-GFP transgene labels the murine corneal epithelial boundary and SC niche known as the limbus. K15-GFP+ basal cells expressed SC markers and were located at the corneal regeneration site, as evident by lineage tracing. Remarkably, following surgical deletion of the SC pool, corneal-committed cells dedifferentiated into bona fide limbal SCs that retained normal tissue dynamics and marker expression. Interestingly, however, damage to the limbal stromal niche abolished K15-GFP recovery and led to pathological wound healing. Altogether, this study indicates that committed corneal cells possess plasticity to dedifferentiate, repopulate the SC pool, and correctly re-form the tissue boundary in the presence of intact stroma. : Using a K15-GFP/Confetti transgenic mouse model, Nasser et al. show that the K15-GFP transgene identifies the limbus (i.e., the SC niche and boundary of the corneal epithelium). The authors demonstrate that following SC/boundary depletion, corneal-committed cells dedifferentiate into K15-GFP+ SCs and re-form the tissue boundary in the presence of an intact niche

Giant Third-Order Nonlinear Response of Mixed Perovskite Nanocrystals

Mixed (FAPbI3)0.92(MAPbBr3)0.08 perovskite thin films exhibit strong nonlinear optical responses, rendering them promising candidates for applications in photonics and optical communications. In this work, we present a systematic study on the ultrafast third-order nonlinear optical processes in mixed perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) by exploring the generation of third harmonic radiation and giant two-photon absorption-based photoluminescence (PL) when excited by femtosecond laser pulses of a 1030 nm central wavelength. A comparative analysis of the coherent third harmonic generation in the thin-film-containing perovskite nanocrystals has shown a 40&times; enhancement of the third harmonic signal compared to the signal generated in the pure quartz substrate. The cubic dependence of the third-nonlinear optical response of the (FAPbI3)0.92(MAPbBr3)0.08 perovskites on the intensity of the driving radiation was identified using broadband 38 femtosecond driving pulses. The positive nonlinear refractive index (&gamma; = +1.4 &times; 10&minus;12 cm2&middot;W&minus;1) is found to play an important role in improving the phase-matching conditions of the interacting pulses by generating a strong third order harmonic. The giant two-photon absorption (TPA)-assisted PL peak was monitored and a blue shift of the PL was obtained in the higher intensity range of the laser pulses, with the absorption coefficient &beta; estimated to be~+7.0 cm&middot;MW&minus;1 at a 1030 nm laser wavelength