An Investigation into how concepts of modularity affect the evolution of complex morphologies

There are many different ways in which complex morphologies can be represented. While a simple string representation could be sufficient, often the most impressive artificial life simulations utilise. Context Free Grammars (1994, Karl Sims) or Recursive Tree Structures. When modelling a complex morphology using these encodings, it is possible to harness the creatures complex modularity to create more sensible and fit individuals. This article aims to compare and contrast the varying affects of evolutionary algorithms which utilise or disregard the organisms modularity

Project Triton : A study into delivering targeted information to an individual based on implicit and explicit data.

The World Wide Web is frequently seen as a source of knowledge, however much of this remains undiscovered by its users. In recent times, recommender systems (e.g. Digg and Last.fm) have attempted to bridge this gap, alerting users to previously untapped knowledge. As more socially oriented services appear on the Web (e.g. Facebook and MySpace), it has never been easier to obtain information pertaining to an individual’s interests. At present, solutions for automated data recommendation tend to be highly topic specific (recommending only a certain topic such as news) and often only allow access to the system using monolithic interfaces. This report hopes to detail the stages from research to evaluation involved in creating an extensible framework, which will operate without the need for human intervention. The framework will feature several proof-of-concept plugins residing in a custom workflow, which target information that is useful to the user. Information will be retrieved automatically through plugins involved with data gathering (such as feed processing and page scraping), while users’ interests will be obtained implicitly (for example, using header information to derive location) or explicitly (taking advantage of Social Network APIs such as Facebook Connect). Finally, Third Parties will be able to integrate the framework into their own solutions using the customisable XML API (written in PHP), so that their products can provide custom user interfaces without style constraints

noteEd - A web-based lecture capture system

Electronic capture and playback of lectures has long been the aim of many academic projects. Synote is an application developed under MACFoB (Multimedia Annotation and Community Folksonomy Building) project to synchronise the playback of lecture materials. However, Synote provides no functionality to capture such multimedia. This project involves the creation of a system called noteEd, which will capture a range of multimedia from lectures and make them available to Synote. This report describes the evolution of the noteEd project throughout the design and implementation of the proposed system. The performance of the system was checked in a user acceptance test with the customer, which is discussed after screenshots of our solution. Finally, the project management is presented containing a final project evaluation

A rare variant of the superficial ulnar artery, and its clinical implications: a case report

The superficial ulnar artery is a rare variation of the upper limb arterial system that arises from the brachial or axillary artery and runs superficial to the muscles arising from the medial epicondyle [1-3]. The incidence is about 0.7 to 7% [1,4,5]. In our routine dissections we found a superficial ulnar artery, which crossed the cubital fossa superficial to the bicipital aponeurosis making it highly vulnerable to intra-arterial injection. This is a rare variation that every medical and nursing staff member should know about

Children’s and adolescents’ rising animal-source food intakes in 1990–2018 were impacted by age, region, parental education and urbanicity

Animal-source foods (ASF) provide nutrition for children and adolescents’ physical and cognitive development. Here, we use data from the Global Dietary Database and Bayesian hierarchical models to quantify global, regional and national ASF intakes between 1990 and 2018 by age group across 185 countries, representing 93% of the world’s child population. Mean ASF intake was 1.9 servings per day, representing 16% of children consuming at least three daily servings. Intake was similar between boys and girls, but higher among urban children with educated parents. Consumption varied by age from 0.6 at <1 year to 2.5 servings per day at 15–19 years. Between 1990 and 2018, mean ASF intake increased by 0.5 servings per week, with increases in all regions except sub-Saharan Africa. In 2018, total ASF consumption was highest in Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Turkey, and lowest in Uganda, India, Kenya and Bangladesh. These findings can inform policy to address malnutrition through targeted ASF consumption programmes.publishedVersio

Incident type 2 diabetes attributable to suboptimal diet in 184 countries

The global burden of diet-attributable type 2 diabetes (T2D) is not well established. This risk assessment model estimated T2D incidence among adults attributable to direct and body weight-mediated effects of 11 dietary factors in 184 countries in 1990 and 2018. In 2018, suboptimal intake of these dietary factors was estimated to be attributable to 14.1 million (95% uncertainty interval (UI), 13.8–14.4 million) incident T2D cases, representing 70.3% (68.8–71.8%) of new cases globally. Largest T2D burdens were attributable to insufficient whole-grain intake (26.1% (25.0–27.1%)), excess refined rice and wheat intake (24.6% (22.3–27.2%)) and excess processed meat intake (20.3% (18.3–23.5%)). Across regions, highest proportional burdens were in central and eastern Europe and central Asia (85.6% (83.4–87.7%)) and Latin America and the Caribbean (81.8% (80.1–83.4%)); and lowest proportional burdens were in South Asia (55.4% (52.1–60.7%)). Proportions of diet-attributable T2D were generally larger in men than in women and were inversely correlated with age. Diet-attributable T2D was generally larger among urban versus rural residents and higher versus lower educated individuals, except in high-income countries, central and eastern Europe and central Asia, where burdens were larger in rural residents and in lower educated individuals. Compared with 1990, global diet-attributable T2D increased by 2.6 absolute percentage points (8.6 million more cases) in 2018, with variation in these trends by world region and dietary factor. These findings inform nutritional priorities and clinical and public health planning to improve dietary quality and reduce T2D globally.publishedVersio

The global burden of adolescent and young adult cancer in 2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background In estimating the global burden of cancer, adolescents and young adults with cancer are often overlooked, despite being a distinct subgroup with unique epidemiology, clinical care needs, and societal impact. Comprehensive estimates of the global cancer burden in adolescents and young adults (aged 15-39 years) are lacking. To address this gap, we analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019, with a focus on the outcome of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), to inform global cancer control measures in adolescents and young adults. Methods Using the GBD 2019 methodology, international mortality data were collected from vital registration systems, verbal autopsies, and population-based cancer registry inputs modelled with mortality-to-incidence ratios (MIRs). Incidence was computed with mortality estimates and corresponding MIRs. Prevalence estimates were calculated using modelled survival and multiplied by disability weights to obtain years lived with disability (YLDs). Years of life lost (YLLs) were calculated as age-specific cancer deaths multiplied by the standard life expectancy at the age of death. The main outcome was DALYs (the sum of YLLs and YLDs). Estimates were presented globally and by Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintiles (countries ranked and divided into five equal SDI groups), and all estimates were presented with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). For this analysis, we used the age range of 15-39 years to define adolescents and young adults. Findings There were 1.19 million (95% UI 1.11-1.28) incident cancer cases and 396 000 (370 000-425 000) deaths due to cancer among people aged 15-39 years worldwide in 2019. The highest age-standardised incidence rates occurred in high SDI (59.6 [54.5-65.7] per 100 000 person-years) and high-middle SDI countries (53.2 [48.8-57.9] per 100 000 person-years), while the highest age-standardised mortality rates were in low-middle SDI (14.2 [12.9-15.6] per 100 000 person-years) and middle SDI (13.6 [12.6-14.8] per 100 000 person-years) countries. In 2019, adolescent and young adult cancers contributed 23.5 million (21.9-25.2) DALYs to the global burden of disease, of which 2.7% (1.9-3.6) came from YLDs and 97.3% (96.4-98.1) from YLLs. Cancer was the fourth leading cause of death and tenth leading cause of DALYs in adolescents and young adults globally. Interpretation Adolescent and young adult cancers contributed substantially to the overall adolescent and young adult disease burden globally in 2019. These results provide new insights into the distribution and magnitude of the adolescent and young adult cancer burden around the world. With notable differences observed across SDI settings, these estimates can inform global and country-level cancer control efforts. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

Effects of the “plate model” as part of dietary intervention on modification of selected cardiometabolic risk factors in post-myocardial infarction patients: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and there is a rising global burden. The effects of diet on cardiometabolic risk factors have been studied extensively. Healthy eating as a cost-effective approach to risk reduction in post-myocardial infarction patients is proven to be beneficial, and the “plate model” is one of the practical methods to achieve this objective. Methods/design The study will be conducted as a randomized, single-blind, controlled clinical trial for a period of 3 months. A total of 120 overweight (body mass index >23 kg/m2) inpatients (aged 20–70 years) with a history of troponin-positive acute coronary syndrome (ACS) within the 1 month preceding the study will be recruited. Simple randomization will be used in participant allocation. The intervention group will receive the model plate diet. The control group will be provided with routine dietary advice. Other domains, such as advice on exercise and lifestyle modification, will be equalized among patients in both the groups. The visits and evaluations will be done at recruitment (visit 0), 4 weeks, and 12 weeks after the intervention. The primary outcome will be a mean body weight reduction of 10%, and the secondary outcomes will include mean reduction of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, improvement of anthropometric parameters, and improvement of lipid profile and liver enzymes in the test group compared with the control group at 12 weeks following the plate model diet. Discussion This study protocol is designed to establish the effects of the plate model diet on modification of cardiometabolic risk factors in patients with ACS. This will also be a pioneering study designed to investigate the practicality of the model plate in local settings and in the South Asian region. Trial registration Sri Lanka Clinical Trials Registry identifier: SLCTR/2016/22. Registered on 22 September 2016 ( http://www.slctr.lk/trials/483 )