Biclustering Algorithm for Embryonic Tumor Gene Expression Dataset: LAS Algorithm

An important step in considering of gene expression data is obtained groups of genes that have similarity patterns. Biclustering methods was recently introduced for discovering subsets of genes that have coherent values across a subset of conditions. The LAS algorithm relies on a heuristic randomized search to find biclusters. In this paper, we introduce biclustering LAS algorithm and then apply this procedure for real value gene expression data. In this study after normalized data, LAS performed. 31 biclusters were  discovered that 26 of them were for positive gene expression values and others were for negative. Biological validity for LAS procedure in biological process, in molecular function and in cellular component were 77.96% , 62.28% and 74.39% respictively. The result of biological validation of LAS algorithm in this study had shown LAS algorithm effectively convenient in discovering good biclusters

Microtensile Bond Strength of Composite to Enamel Using Universal Adhesive with/without Acid Etching Compared To Etch and Rinse and Self-Etch Bonding Agents

AIM: Considering the recent introduction of universal adhesives and the controversy regarding the use/no use of etchant prior to their application, this study sought to assess the microtensile bond strength of composite to enamel using universal adhesive with/without acid etching compared to three-step etch and rinse, two-step etch and rinse and two-step self-etch bonding agents. METHODS: This in vitro, an experimental study was conducted on 80 extracted sound human molars in five groups (16 each): Scotchbond Universal adhesive (3M) with/without prior etching, Adper Scthe otchbond Multi-Purpose, Single Bond and Clearfil SE Bond. Etching was performed with 37% phosphoric acid for 20 seconds followed by rinsing and drying. The bonding agent was then applied and light-cured. The e-lite composite was bonded to surfaces and light-cured. The teeth were then mounted, sectioned and subjected to microtensile bond strength test in a universal testing machine. The mode of failure was, determined under a stereomicroscope. Data were analysed using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s test. RESULTS: Universal adhesive with prior etching yielded the highest bond strength (P = 0.03). Pairwise comparisons showed that the bond strength of this group was significantly higher than that of universal adhesive without prior etching (P = 0.04). No other significant differences were noted (P > 0.05). The modes of failure were significantly different among the groups (P = 0.003). CONCLUSION: Enamel etching with phosphoric acid can significantly increase the bond strength to universal adhesive. Universal adhesive without prior etching provided the bond strength as high as that provided by etching and rinse and self-etch bonding agents

The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010-19 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Understanding the magnitude of cancer burden attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors is crucial for development of effective prevention and mitigation strategies. We analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 to inform cancer control planning efforts globally. Methods The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate cancer burden attributable to behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risk factors. A total of 82 risk-outcome pairs were included on the basis of the World Cancer Research Fund criteria. Estimated cancer deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 2019 and change in these measures between 2010 and 2019 are presented. Findings Globally, in 2019, the risk factors included in this analysis accounted for 4.45 million (95% uncertainty interval 4.01-4.94) deaths and 105 million (95.0-116) DALYs for both sexes combined, representing 44.4% (41.3-48.4) of all cancer deaths and 42.0% (39.1-45.6) of all DALYs. There were 2.88 million (2.60-3.18) risk-attributable cancer deaths in males (50.6% [47.8-54.1] of all male cancer deaths) and 1.58 million (1.36-1.84) risk-attributable cancer deaths in females (36.3% [32.5-41.3] of all female cancer deaths). The leading risk factors at the most detailed level globally for risk-attributable cancer deaths and DALYs in 2019 for both sexes combined were smoking, followed by alcohol use and high BMI. Risk-attributable cancer burden varied by world region and Socio-demographic Index (SDI), with smoking, unsafe sex, and alcohol use being the three leading risk factors for risk-attributable cancer DALYs in low SDI locations in 2019, whereas DALYs in high SDI locations mirrored the top three global risk factor rankings. From 2010 to 2019, global risk-attributable cancer deaths increased by 20.4% (12.6-28.4) and DALYs by 16.8% (8.8-25.0), with the greatest percentage increase in metabolic risks (34.7% [27.9-42.8] and 33.3% [25.8-42.0]). Interpretation The leading risk factors contributing to global cancer burden in 2019 were behavioural, whereas metabolic risk factors saw the largest increases between 2010 and 2019. Reducing exposure to these modifiable risk factors would decrease cancer mortality and DALY rates worldwide, and policies should be tailored appropriately to local cancer risk factor burden. Copyright (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.Peer reviewe

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Partitocratic state (Party Oriented State) and the reaction between Democracy & Partitocracy

Purpose: A fundamental salubrious feature of western liberal democratic system of government is political parties which compete for power. Parties in western liberal democracies are crucial in that the political systems are divided into different bipartisan, single-party, and multiparty categories according to criteria as number of parties, role and special functions, and interactions among parties. The sheer diversity of the parties and ideological rift, which are closely related, indicates the health and vitality of the democratic system. With this in mind, it is argued that political behavior and competition in elections are interpreted in a framework informed by a single most important entity, i.e., political party. In the third millennium, with party system and political success and stability of states tightly associated, a question looming around relates the new mechanizations of democracy and party system. This is the major focus of the present article. Design/Methodology/Approach: To achieve the major focus of the present article which is an attempt to provide some answers to the above questions through bringing into the light issues as democracy and party system, the place and role of parties in legislative process in western democracies, power transition between parties, and typology of political parties, in a qualitative undertaking. Findings: In West, political parties are formed due to democratization and liberalization processes of the societies; and formation of party system is an essential stage in political development trend. It is believed that in liberal-democratic systems, political pluralism is abridged in political partisanship and peaceful competition among parties for gaining power. If, nowadays partisanship is an inseparable element of western political life, however it has not completely responded towards requirements and could be problem in democracy, their presence could be also considered as a barrier against political pluralism; because today, political pluralism is limited to competition of certain state parties which are not able to provide real democracy due to burdening their political will on national and nation’s will. Actually, state parties foreclose equality of opportunities and parity of facilities and accordingly, chance of any kind of power from other political groups and biases and thus prevent continues and real flow of power by concentrating power in their own hands. If partisanship has been dual of liberal-democratic system at first, however, according to enhancement of role and power of political parties and their internalization, democracy or ruling of people on people is gradually replaced by ruling of parties. Originality/Value: The main logic of the present research is laid on the hypothesis that “increasing governmental political parties” and “partisanship of western governments” has caused the establishment of “partitocratic state (party oriented state)” and challenging “democracy” by “partitocracy”. In present era, individual and plural thoughts are replaced by party reasoning; and national and public will is turned to party will. Therefore, today, national politics and policy of the nation are prescribed by political parties which are turned to part of governments, and those governments which are abridged in political parties. This process is called as foundation of “partitocratic state (party oriented state)” in western communities

Legal Nature of the Contract of Surrogate Mother

The contract of surrogate mother is a contract in which a woman accepts to carry an embryo made of sperm and ovule of intended couple in her womb and delivers child after the birth. This new contract has posed a lot of questions, as far as jurists and lawyers are concerned. One of the most important issues in this regard is the determination of the legal nature of the surrogate contract, since the issue of the legal framework of the contract adaptable with the common will of the parties has a significant impact on the determination of the legal relationship between the parties.  Jurists and lawyers suggest and examine some legal structures, such as lease, award, loan, deposit and innominate contracts, as proper structures for this contract. This article discusses conclusion of the surrogate mother contract through the above-mentioned legal structures. It argues that the legal nature of this contract cannot be based on nominate contracts, and therefore, it can be justified on the basis of article 10 of the Iranian Civil Code

Parametric Comparison of Rectangular and Circular Pontoons Performance as Floating Breakwater Numerically

Rectangular and circular pontoons are one of the most widely cross-sections used as floating breakwaters (FB). Although, there are several articles on comparison of behavior of rectangular and circular floating breakwaters however, the Authors try to show some details of difference between these two types where they have not been addressed before. To do so, transmission coefficient (Ct), as a measure of merit, of similar rectangular and circular sections is numerically compared. A computer code is developed for two-dimensional hydrodynamic analysis of floating breakwater based on diffraction theory in frequency domain in regular waves with any configuration of mooring line. The numerical method is the finite element method and validated by comparing with experimental and numerical results. Three types of rectangular sections are defined equivalent to circular section and a numerical comparison is made between 100 similar sections. The Ct versus wave frequency has been considered in detail and three new points called LMinF, LMaxF and LMaxCt are introduced. It has been shown that LMinF and LMaxF of circular section are greater and LMaxCt is much smaller than equivalent rectangular section. The LMaxCt of both sections are very dependent to new non-dimensional parameter B/D (Breadth/Draft). Although, rectangular sections are more common for floating breakwater, however the results of this study show that possibility of using circular sections must be also considered