A Machine-Learning-Based Approach to Predict the Health Impacts of Commuting in Large Cities: Case Study of London

The daily commute represents a source of chronic stress that is positively correlated with physiological consequences, including increased blood pressure, heart rate, fatigue, and other negative mental and physical health effects. The purpose of this research is to investigate and predict the physiological effects of commuting in Greater London on the human body based on machine-learning approaches. For each participant, the data were collected for five consecutive working days, before and after the commute, using non-invasive wearable biosensor technology. Multimodal behaviour, analysis and synthesis are the subjects of major efforts in computing field to realise the successful human–human and human–agent interactions, especially for developing future intuitive technologies. Current analysis approaches still focus on individuals, while we are considering methodologies addressing groups as a whole. This research paper employs a pool of machine-learning approaches to predict and analyse the effect of commuting objectively. Comprehensive experimentation has been carried out to choose the best algorithmic structure that suit the problem in question. The results from this study suggest that whether the commuting period was short or long, all objective bio-signals (heat rate and blood pressure) were higher post-commute than pre-commute. In addition, the results match both the subjective evaluation obtained from the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and the proposed objective evaluation of this study in relation to the correlation between the effect of commuting on bio-signals. Our findings provide further support for shorter commutes and using the healthier or active modes of transportation

Impact of Nutritional Educational Program on the Nutritional Habits and Status among Older Adults at Qena City, Egypt

Background: The age-related changes of the gastrointestinal tract, availability of the food and the functional ability affect the nutritional intake among elderly people. Most of the diseases originate from malnutrition especially among the vulnerable group as older adults. Therefore, the aim of this study is to improve older adults' nutritional habits. The study followed a quesi experimental research design and was carried out in the Elderly Club at Qena City. Sample; One hundred and six older adults who fulfilled the inclusion criteria participated in this study and assigned randomly into fifty-three intervention group and fifty-three control group. Two tools were used to collect the data; Tool I Structured Interview Form and tool II Mini-Nutritional Assessment Scale. The results of this study revealed that there are no statistically significant differences of frequency of usual food consumed per week between pre-test and Posttest among the intervention or control group (P > 0.05). There are significance differences between pre-test and Posttest of food preparation method and the substances used in cooking among only the intervention group. It was concluded from the current study that the intervention improved the nutritional habits. Based on the study results, it will be useful implement the nutritional educational program at all older organizations which provide services to older adults such as elderly homes, elderly clubs, and hospitals in Egypt

Impact of Coronavirus Pandemic on Education

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak poses serious concerns to global education systems. Efforts to contain COVID-19 prompted unscheduled closure of schools in more than 100 countries worldwide. COVID-19 school closures left over one billion learners out of school. The study investigates the impact of COVID-19 on education.  Data were collected through structured questionnaires administered to 200 respondents that consist of teachers, students, parents, and policy makers selected from different countries. The collected data were analyzed using STATA/Regression. The results show that COVID-19 has adverse effects on education including, learning disruptions, and decreased access to education and research facilities, Job losses and increased student debts. The findings also show that many educators and students relied on technology to ensure continued learning online during the Coronavirus pandemic. However, online education was hindered by poor infrastructures including, network, power, inaccessibility and unavailability issues and poor digital skills. The study underscores the damaging effects of COVID-19 on education sector and the need for all educational institutions, educators, and learners to adopt technology, and improve their digital skills in line with the emerging global trends and realities in education. Keywords: Coronavirus, Education, School closure, Technology, Virtual learning, Covidiot. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-13-12 Publication date:May 31st 202

Challenges Facing Iraq to Tackle the Spread of COVID-19: An Overview

On the 31st of December 2019, China reported several pneumonia-like infections in Wuhan's Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. Ten days later, a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was announced by the Chinese center for disease control (CCDC). At that time, the genome sequence was publicly made available. The genome sequence analysis of the newly identified virus was found similar to 75-80% of the SARS-CoV clade and more than 88% of bat corona viruses. On January 30th, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 epidemic. In March 2020, the WHO raised a state of emergency and declared that COVID-19 has become a pandemic. Unfortunately, Iraq confirmed the first cases of COVID-19 in February 2020. On April 25th, 46,135 tests were conducted in Iraq with 1763 positive cases. Although Iraq is making great efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic stimulating all the available capabilities, such as having a full lockdown and teaching people about the sickness danger, the numbers of cases and deaths started to dramatically increase in June. Now, on the 2nd of July, the infection and death cases were around 54 K and 2.2 K, respectively. Herein, we outline the challenges that the Iraqi health sector is facing to control the spread of COVID-19 with procedures followed so far. This could assist in understanding the severity of the situation and end up with a realistic understanding of it

Development of low absorption and high-resistant sodium acetate concrete for severe environmental conditions

This research presents new insight on the performance of concrete when integrated with sodium acetateand cured under extremely harsh environmental conditions: freezing temperature of 25°C and hottemperature of 60°C. Mechanical properties, water absorption, microstructural analysis and interactionmechanism of concrete and sodium acetate were evaluated by conducting the compressive strength test,Initial Surface Absorption Test (ISAT), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis and Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. Despite the harsh curing conditions, results showedan enhancement of 64% in compressive strength when 4% (based on the weight of cement) sodium acet-ate is incorporated within concrete with w/c ratio of 0.32 and cured under temperature of 60°C. Also,water absorption was observed to decrease by more than 79% when 2% sodium acetate is added to con-crete with w/c ratio of 0.32. SEM and FTIR analyses revealed the formation, high distribution and strongbonding of sodium acetate crystals within the concrete’s micropores

The Epidemiology and Outcome of Biliary Atresia: Saudi Arabian National Study (2000–2018)

BackgroundThe epidemiology and outcomes of biliary atresia (BA) have been well-documented in national cohorts from two main ethnicities, namely, the Asian Orientals and Caucasians, with incidence ranging from 1 in 5,000 to 1 in 9,000 live births in East Asia and 1 in 15,000 to 19,000 live births in Europe and North America.ObjectiveWe report the first nationwide BA study outside North America, Europe, and East Asia to describe the epidemiology and outcomes of BA in Saudi Arabia.MethodsA national database of BA cases diagnosed between 2000 and 2018 was analyzed. We assessed clearance of jaundice (bilirubin <20 μmol/L) in all cases that underwent Kasai portoenterostomy (KPE). We then estimated survival using the Kaplan–Meier method with endpoints of liver transplantation (LT), death, or survival with native liver (SNL).ResultsBA was diagnosed in 204 infants (106 females; 10% pre-term). The incidence of BA was 1 in 44,365, or 2.254 in 100,000 live births (range, 0.5–4 in 100,000). Polysplenia was diagnosed in 22 cases (11%). The median age at referral was 65 days. A total of 146 children (71.5%) underwent KPE at a median age of 70 days. Clearance of jaundice was achieved in 66 of the 146 (45%) infants. The 10-year SNL after KPE was 25.5%, and the overall 10-year estimated survival was 72.5%. The Kaplan–Meier survival curves for patients undergoing KPE at the age of <60, 61–90, and >90 days showed a SNL rate at 51.6, 33, and 12.5%, respectively, at 5 years (P < 0.001). The 2-, 5-, and 10-year post-LT survival rates were 92.5, 90.6, and 90%, respectively. Undergoing an initial KPE did not impact negatively on the overall LT survival rate when compared to BA cases that underwent primary LT (P = 0.88).ConclusionThe incidence rate of BA in Saudi Arabia is lower than the incidence reported elsewhere. Late referral of BA cases remains a problem in Saudi Arabia; as a result, the SNL rate was lower than reported by other national registries. Hence, national policies devoted to timely referral and earlier age at KPE are needed

Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

An Anonymous Channel Categorization Scheme of Edge Nodes to Detect Jamming Attacks in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are vulnerable to various security threats. One of the most common types of vulnerability threat is the jamming attack, where the attacker uses the same frequency signals to jam the network transmission. In this paper, an edge node scheme is proposed to address the issue of jamming attack in WSNs. Three edge nodes are used in the deployed area of WSN, which have different transmission frequencies in the same bandwidth. The different transmission frequencies and Round Trip Time (RTT) of transmitting signal makes it possible to identify the jamming attack channel in WSNs transmission media. If an attacker jams one of the transmission channels, then the other two edge nodes verify the media serviceability by means of transmitting information from the same deployed WSNs. Furthermore, the RTT of the adjacent channel is also disturbed from its defined interval of time, due to high frequency interference in the adjacent channels, which is the indication of a jamming attack in the network. The simulation result was found to be quite consistent during analysis by jamming the frequency channel of each edge node in a step-wise process. The detection rate of jamming attacks was about 94% for our proposed model, which was far better than existing schemes. Moreover, statistical analyses were undertaken for field-proven schemes, and were found to be quite convincing compared with the existing schemes, with an average of 6% improvement

Cerebral Invasive Aspergillosis in a Case of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia with Bruton Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor

Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors have become an important therapy for untreated and previously treated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Despite improved outcomes, rare adverse events, such as invasive fungal infections, have been reported with the use of first-generation BTK inhibitors. Invasive fungal infections carry a high morbidity and mortality risk. There have been several case reports describing the association between aspergillosis and ibrutinib treatment, but none with acalabrutinib, to our knowledge. In this case report, we describe a patient with CLL who developed an intracranial Aspergillus fumigatus infection while receiving acalabrutinib