Landslide susceptibility mapping at VAZ watershed (Iran) using an artificial neural network model: a comparison between multilayer perceptron (MLP) and radial basic function (RBF) algorithms

Landslide susceptibility and hazard assessments are the most important steps in landslide risk mapping. The main objective of this study was to investigate and compare the results of two artificial neural network (ANN) algorithms, i.e., multilayer perceptron (MLP) and radial basic function (RBF) for spatial prediction of landslide susceptibility in Vaz Watershed, Iran. At first, landslide locations were identified by aerial photographs and field surveys, and a total of 136 landside locations were constructed from various sources. Then the landslide inventory map was randomly split into a training dataset 70 % (95 landslide locations) for training the ANN model and the remaining 30 % (41 landslides locations) was used for validation purpose. Nine landslide conditioning factors such as slope, slope aspect, altitude, land use, lithology, distance from rivers, distance from roads, distance from faults, and rainfall were constructed in geographical information system. In this study, both MLP and RBF algorithms were used in artificial neural network model. The results showed that MLP with Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno learning algorithm is more efficient than RBF in landslide susceptibility mapping for the study area. Finally the landslide susceptibility maps were validated using the validation data (i.e., 30 % landslide location data that was not used during the model construction) using area under the curve (AUC) method. The success rate curve showed that the area under the curve for RBF and MLP was 0.9085 (90.85 %) and 0.9193 (91.93 %) accuracy, respectively. Similarly, the validation result showed that the area under the curve for MLP and RBF models were 0.881 (88.1 %) and 0.8724 (87.24 %), respectively. The results of this study showed that landslide susceptibility mapping in the Vaz Watershed of Iran using the ANN approach is viable and can be used for land use planning

The Ethnomedicine of the Haya people of Bugabo ward, Kagera Region, north western Tanzania

\ud The Kagera region, in north western Tanzania, is endowed with a strong culture of traditional medicine that is well supported by a rich diversity of medicinal plants. However, most of the plants in this region have not been documented nor evaluated for safety and efficacy. As an initiative in that direction, this study documented the knowledge on medicinal plant use by traditional healers of Bugabo Ward in Bukoba District. Key informants were selected with the help of local government officials and information on their knowledge and use of plants for therapeutic purposes was gathered using a semi-structured interview format. In this study 94 plant species representing 84 genera and 43 families were found to be commonly used in the treatment of a variety of human ailments. The family Asteraceae had the highest number of species being used as traditional medicines. The study revealed that Malaria is treated using the highest number of different medicinal species (30), followed by skin conditions (19), maternal illnesses and sexually transmitted diseases (14), respiratory diseases (11) and yellow fever, Herpes simplex and peptic ulcers (10). Majority of the species are used to treat less than five different diseases/conditions each and leaves were the most commonly used part, comprising 40% of all the reports on use of plant parts. Trees comprised the most dominant growth form among all plants used for medicinal purposes in the study area. Bugabo Ward has a rich repository of medicinal plants and this reinforces the need for an extensive and comprehensive documentation of medicinal plants in the area and a concomitant evaluation of their biological activity as a basis for developing future medicines.\u

Some peace of mind: assessing a pilot intervention to promote mental health among widows of injecting drug users in north-east India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>HIV prevalence in north-east India is high and injecting drug use (IDU) is common. Due to HIV-related deaths there are increasing numbers of IDU widows, many of whom are HIV infected, and experiencing poor health, social isolation, discrimination and poverty, all factors likely to be compromising their mental health. There is increasing recognition of the links between HIV and mental health.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The aim of this study was to pilot a peer-facilitated, participatory action group (PAG) process and assess the impact of the intervention on the mental health of participants. The intervention consisted of 10 PAG meetings involving 74 IDU widows. Changes in quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF), mental health (GHQ12) and somatic symptoms were assessed. The value of the intervention from the perspective of the participants was captured using a qualitative evaluation method (Most Significant Change).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Participants' quality of life, mental health and experience of somatic symptoms improved significantly over the course of the intervention, and the women told stories reflecting a range of 'significant changes'.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This pilot intervention study demonstrated that a participatory approach to mental health promotion can have a positive impact on the lives of vulnerable women, and the potential to contribute to HIV prevention. Further investigation is warranted.</p

25-Hydroxyvitamin D and pre-clinical alterations in inflammatory and hemostatic markers: a cross sectional analysis in the 1958 British Birth Cohort

BACKGROUND: Vitamin D deficiency has been suggested as a cardiovascular risk factor, but little is known about underlying mechanisms or associations with inflammatory or hemostatic markers. Our aim was to investigate the association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D, a measure for vitamin D status] concentrations with pre-clinical variations in markers of inflammation and hemostasis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Serum concentrations of 25(OH)D, C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, D-dimer, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) antigen, and von Willebrand factor (vWF) were measured in a large population based study of British whites (aged 45 y). Participants for the current investigation were restricted to individuals free of drug treated cardiovascular disease (n = 6538). Adjusted for sex and month, 25(OH)D was inversely associated with all outcomes (p or =75 nmol/l compared to < 25 nmol/l. D-dimer concentrations were lower for participants with 25(OH)D 50-90 nmol/l compared to others (quadratic term p = 0.01). We also examined seasonal variation in hemostatic and inflammatory markers, and evaluated 25(OH)D contribution to the observed patterns using mediation models. TPA concentrations varied by season (p = 0.02), and much of this pattern was related to fluctuations in 25(OH)D concentrations (p < or =0.001). Some evidence of a seasonal variation was observed also for fibrinogen, D-dimer and vWF (p < 0.05 for all), with 25(OH)D mediating some of the pattern for fibrinogen and D-dimer, but not vWF. CONCLUSIONS: Current vitamin D status was associated with tPA concentrations, and to a lesser degree with fibrinogen and D-dimer, suggesting that vitamin D status/intake may be important for maintaining antithrombotic homeostasi

The prevalence of stillbirths: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Stillbirth rate is an important indicator of access to and quality of antenatal and delivery care. Obtaining overall estimates across various regions of the world is not straightforward due to variation in definitions, data collection methods and reporting. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of a range of pregnancy-related conditions including stillbirths and performed meta-analysis of the subset of studies reporting stillbirth rates. We examined variation across rates and used meta-regression techniques to explain observed variation. RESULTS: We identified 389 articles on stillbirth prevalence among the 2580 included in the systematic review. We included 70 providing 80 data sets from 50 countries in the meta-analysis. Pooled prevalence rates show variation across various subgroup categories. Rates per 100 births are higher in studies conducted in less developed country settings as compared to more developed (1.17 versus 0.50), of inadequate quality as compared to adequate (1.12 versus 0.66), using sub-national sample as compared to national (1.38 versus 0.68), reporting all stillbirths as compared to late stillbirths (0.95 versus 0.63), published in non-English as compared to English (0.91 versus 0.59) and as journal articles as compared to non-journal (1.37 versus 0.67). The results of the meta-regression show the significance of two predictor variables – development status of the setting and study quality – on stillbirth prevalence. CONCLUSION: Stillbirth prevalence at the community level is typically less than 1% in more developed parts of the world and could exceed 3% in less developed regions. Regular reviews of stillbirth rates in appropriately designed and reported studies are useful in monitoring the adequacy of care. Systematic reviews of prevalence studies are helpful in explaining sources of variation across rates. Exploring these methodological issues will lead to improved standards for assessing the burden of reproductive ill-health

Transcriptome-wide association study of breast cancer risk by estrogen-receptor status

Previous transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) have identified breast cancer risk genes by integrating data from expression quantitative loci and genome-wide association studies (GWAS), but analyses of breast cancer subtype-specific associations have been limited. In this study, we conducted a TWAS using gene expression data from GTEx and summary statistics from the hitherto largest GWAS meta-analysis conducted for breast cancer overall, and by estrogen receptor subtypes (ER+ and ER-). We further compared associations with ER+ and ER- subtypes, using a case-only TWAS approach. We also conducted multigene conditional analyses in regions with multiple TWAS associations. Two genes, STXBP4 and HIST2H2BA, were specifically associated with ER+ but not with ER- breast cancer. We further identified 30 TWAS-significant genes associated with overall breast cancer risk, including four that were not identified in previous studies. Conditional analyses identified single independent breast-cancer gene in three of six regions harboring multiple TWAS-significant genes. Our study provides new information on breast cancer genetics and biology, particularly about genomic differences between ER+ and ER- breast cancer.Peer reviewe

Anisotropic nanomaterials: structure, growth, assembly, and functions

Comprehensive knowledge over the shape of nanomaterials is a critical factor in designing devices with desired functions. Due to this reason, systematic efforts have been made to synthesize materials of diverse shape in the nanoscale regime. Anisotropic nanomaterials are a class of materials in which their properties are direction-dependent and more than one structural parameter is needed to describe them. Their unique and fine-tuned physical and chemical properties make them ideal candidates for devising new applications. In addition, the assembly of ordered one-dimensional (1D), two-dimensional (2D), and three-dimensional (3D) arrays of anisotropic nanoparticles brings novel properties into the resulting system, which would be entirely different from the properties of individual nanoparticles. This review presents an overview of current research in the area of anisotropic nanomaterials in general and noble metal nanoparticles in particular. We begin with an introduction to the advancements in this area followed by general aspects of the growth of anisotropic nanoparticles. Then we describe several important synthetic protocols for making anisotropic nanomaterials, followed by a summary of their assemblies, and conclude with major applications

Discovery of potential causative mutations in human coding and noncoding genome with the interactive software BasePlayer

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is routinely applied in life sciences and clinical practice, but interpretation of the massive quantities of genomic data produced has become a critical challenge. The genome-wide mutation analyses enabled by NGS have had a revolutionary impact in revealing the predisposing and driving DNA alterations behind a multitude of disorders. The workflow to identify causative mutations from NGS data, for example in cancer and rare diseases, commonly involves phases such as quality filtering, case-control comparison, genome annotation, and visual validation, which require multiple processing steps and usage of various tools and scripts. To this end, we have introduced an interactive and user-friendly multi-platform-compatible software, BasePlayer, which allows scientists, regardless of bioinformatics training, to carry out variant analysis in disease genetics settings. A genome-wide scan of regulatory regions for mutation clusters can be carried out with a desktop computer in -10 min with a dataset of 3 million somatic variants in 200 whole-genome-sequenced (WGS) cancers.Peer reviewe