Identification of voice pathologies in an elderly population

Ageing is associated with an increased risk of developing diseases, including a greater pre- disposition to develop diseases such as Sepsis. Also, with ageing, human voices undergo a natural degradation gauged by alterations in hoarseness, breathiness, articulatory ability, and speaking rate. Nowadays, perceptual evaluation is widely used to assess speech and voice impairments despite its high subjectivity. This dissertation proposes a new method for detecting and identifying voice patholo- gies by exploring acoustic parameters of continuous speech signals in the elderly popula- tion. Additionally, a study of the influence of gender and age on voice pathology detection systems’ performance is conducted. The study included 44 subjects older than 60 years old, with the pathologies Dyspho- nia, Functional Dysphonia, and Spasmodic Dysphonia. In the dataset originated with these settings, two gender-dependent subsets were created, one with only female samples and the other with only male samples. The system developed used three feature selection methods and five Machine Learning algorithms to classify the voice signal according to the presence of pathology. The binary classification, which consisted of voice pathology detection, reached an accuracy of 85,1%±5,1% for the dataset without gender division, 83,7%±7,0% for the male dataset, and 87,4%±4,2% for the female dataset. As for the multiclass classifica- tion, which consisted of the classification of different pathologies, reached an accuracy of 69,0%±5,1% for the dataset without gender division, 63,7%± 5,4% for the male dataset, and 80,6%±8,1% for the female dataset. The obtained results revealed that features that describe fluency are important and discriminating in these types of systems. Also, Random Forest has shown to be the most effective Machine Learning algorithm for both binary and multiclass classification. The proposed model proves to be promising in detecting pathological voices and identifying the underlying pathology in an elderly population, with an increase in its performance when a gender division is performed.O envelhecimento está associado a um maior risco de desenvolvimento de doenças, nome- adamente a uma maior predisposição para a evolução de doenças como a Sepsis. Inclusiva- mente, com o envelhecimento, a voz sofre uma degradação natural aferindo-se alterações na rouquidão, respiração, capacidade articulatória e no ritmo do discurso. Atualmente, a avaliação percetual é amplamente utilizada para avaliar as perturbações da fala e da voz, possuindo elevada subjetividade. Esta dissertação propõe um novo método de deteção e identificação de patologias da voz através da exploração de parâmetros acústicos de sinais de fala contínua na população idosa. Adicionalmente, é realizado um estudo da influência do género e da idade no desempenho dos sistemas de detecção de patologias da voz. A amostra deste estudo é composta por 44 indivíduos com idades superiores a 60 anos referentes às patologias Disfonia, Disfonia Funcional e Disfonia Espasmódica. No conjunto de dados originados com esta configuração, foram criados dois subconjuntos de- pendentes do género: um com apenas amostras femininas e o outro com apenas amostras masculinas. O sistema desenvolvido utilizou três métodos de seleção de atributos e cinco algoritmos de Aprendizagem Automática de modo a classificar o sinal de voz de acordo com a presença de patologias da voz. A deteção de patologia de voz alcançou uma exatidão de 85,1%±5,1% para os da- dos sem divisão de género, 83,7%±7,0% para os dados masculinos, e 87,4%±4,2% para os dados femininos. A classificação de diferentes patologias alcançou uma exatidão de 69,0%±5,1% para os dados sem divisão de género, 63,7%±5,4% para os dados masculinos, e 80,6%±8,1% para os dados femininos. Os resultados obtidos revelaram que os atributos que caracterizam a fluência são importantes e discriminatórios nestes tipos de sistemas. Ademais, o classificador Random Forest demonstrou ser o algoritmo mais eficaz na deteção e identificação de patologias da voz. O modelo proposto revelou-se promissor na deteção de vozes patológicas e identifi- cação da patologia subjacente numa população idosa, aumentando o seu desempenho quando ocorre uma divisão de género

Severe ocular involvement in hereditary gelsolin amyloidosis

Hereditary gelsolin amyloidosis is a rare subtype of hereditary systemic amyloidosis. An old male presented with the characteristic triad of symptoms, including bilateral facial palsy, cutis laxa, and corneal lattice amyloidosis. The diagnosis was confirmed by the detection of the mutation in gelsolin gene located on chromosome 9. Although the presenting symptoms were highly suggestive of the disease, reports of severe ocular involvement are scarce in the literature.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Wild animals housed at the IBAMA triage center in Southern Brazil, 2005–2021: a glimpse into the endless conflicts between man and other animals

Spurred on by the illegal billion-dollar revenue, the capture and trade of wild fauna remain the leading illegal activities in Brazil, and elsewhere. We present and discuss insights into the wild animals housed at the Wild Animal Triage Center in Southern Brazil. Recorded data from 2005 to 2021 were used. A total of 36,950 animals were sheltered in that period, and most of them were common passerines (24,182) such as the Saffron Finch, and Red-crested Cardinal, among many others confiscated after inspections or reports. Passerines have long been the top trafficked species in Brazil and abroad, where birdkeeping has strong cultural and economic values. The totals per class were 29,784 birds (80.6%), 2,584 (7.0%) insects, 2,237 (6.1%) reptiles, and 2,170 (5.9%) mammals. Since they were mostly surrendered by the population rather than seized, most mammals, insects, and reptiles were probably unwanted guests in human spaces, tendency that illustrates the human difficulty in coexisting with wildlife. A total of 3,085 animals exhibited some threat or risk of extinction, which, as a general rule, grants them conservation priority. However, regardless of class, most animals (31,142) in this study were rated as least concern on the red lists, a trend in wildlife trafficking linked to the category criteria of being widely distributed species with abundant populations, and often, in close contact with human neighbors. Maintaining an abundance of common and nonthreatened species can be justified by the greater extent of their ecosystem services, from a local to global scale. Our results further highlight the urgent need to change our ways of interacting with wildlife, outstandingly the irresponsible ownership of animals

Reduction in the Risk of Peripheral Neuropathy and Lower Decrease in Kidney Function with Metformin, Linagliptin or Their Fixed-Dose Combination Compared to Placebo in Prediabetes: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: To compare the effect of glucose-lowering drugs on peripheral nerve and kidney function in prediabetes. Methods: Multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 658 adults with prediabetes treated for 1 year with metformin, linagliptin, their combination or placebo. Endpoints are small fiber peripheral neuropathy (SFPN) risk estimated by foot electrochemical skin conductance (FESC < 70 μSiemens) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Results: Compared to the placebo, the proportion of SFPN was reduced by 25.1% (95% CI:16.3-33.9) with metformin alone, by 17.3% (95% CI 7.4-27.2) with linagliptin alone, and by 19.5% (95% CI 10.1-29.0) with the combination linagliptin/metformin (p < 0.0001 for all comparisons). eGFR remained +3.3 mL/min (95% CI: 0.38-6.22) higher with the combination linagliptin/metformin than with the placebo (p = 0.03). Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) decreased more with metformin monotherapy -0.3 mmol/L (95%CI: -0.48; 0.12, p = 0.0009) and with the combination metformin/linagliptin -0.2 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.37; -0.03) than with the placebo (p = 0.0219). Body weight (BW) decreased by -2.0 kg (95% CI: -5.65; -1.65, p = 0.0006) with metformin monotherapy, and by -1.9 kg (95% CI: -3.02; -0.97) with the combination metformin/linagliptin as compared to the placebo (p = 0.0002). Conclusions: in people with prediabetes, a 1 year treatment with metformin and linagliptin, combined or in monotherapy, was associated with a lower risk of SFPN, and with a lower decrease in eGFR, than treatment with placebo.This research was funded by European Commission, FP7 EC-GA No. 279074; Boehringher Ingelheim, Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany (IIS Program. Grant number 1218.166); Merck Healthcare KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany (IIS number: EMR200084_621), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain PI11/01653. The study funders were not involved in the design of the study, the collection, analysis and interpretation of data or writing the report and did not impose any restrictions regarding the publication of the report.S

Antibacterial activity of some selected medicinal plants of Pakistan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Screening of the ethnobotenical plants is a pre-requisite to evaluate their therapeutic potential and it can lead to the isolation of new bioactive compounds.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The crude extracts and fractions of six medicinal important plants (<it>Arisaema flavum</it>, <it>Debregeasia salicifolia</it>, <it>Carissa opaca</it>, <it>Pistacia integerrima</it>, <it>Aesculus indica</it>, and <it>Toona ciliata</it>) were tested against three Gram positive and two Gram negative ATCC bacterial species using the agar well diffusion method.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The crude extract of <it>P. integerrima </it>and <it>A. indica </it>were active against all tested bacterial strains (12-23 mm zone of inhibition). Other four plant's crude extracts (<it>Arisaema flavum</it>, <it>Debregeasia salicifolia</it>, <it>Carissa opaca</it>, and <it>Toona ciliata</it>) were active against different bacterial strains. The crude extracts showed varying level of bactericidal activity. The aqueous fractions of <it>A. indica </it>and <it>P. integerrima </it>crude extract showed maximum activity (19.66 and 16 mm, respectively) against <it>B. subtilis</it>, while the chloroform fractions of <it>T. ciliata </it>and <it>D. salicifolia </it>presented good antibacterial activities (13-17 mm zone of inhibition) against all the bacterial cultures tested.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The methanol fraction of <it>Pistacia integerrima</it>, chloroform fractions of <it>Debregeasia salicifolia </it>&<it>Toona ciliata </it>and aqueous fraction of <it>Aesculus indica </it>are suitable candidates for the development of novel antibacterial compounds.</p

Multi-messenger searches via IceCube’s high-energy neutrinos and gravitational-wave detections of LIGO/Virgo

We summarize initial results for high-energy neutrino counterpart searches coinciding with gravitational-wave events in LIGO/Virgo\u27s GWTC-2 catalog using IceCube\u27s neutrino triggers. We did not find any statistically significant high-energy neutrino counterpart and derived upper limits on the time-integrated neutrino emission on Earth as well as the isotropic equivalent energy emitted in high-energy neutrinos for each event

A muon-track reconstruction exploiting stochastic losses for large-scale Cherenkov detectors

IceCube is a cubic-kilometer Cherenkov telescope operating at the South Pole. The main goal of IceCube is the detection of astrophysical neutrinos and the identification of their sources. High-energy muon neutrinos are observed via the secondary muons produced in charge current interactions with nuclei in the ice. Currently, the best performing muon track directional reconstruction is based on a maximum likelihood method using the arrival time distribution of Cherenkov photons registered by the experiment\u27s photomultipliers. A known systematic shortcoming of the prevailing method is to assume a continuous energy loss along the muon track. However at energies >1 TeV the light yield from muons is dominated by stochastic showers. This paper discusses a generalized ansatz where the expected arrival time distribution is parametrized by a stochastic muon energy loss pattern. This more realistic parametrization of the loss profile leads to an improvement of the muon angular resolution of up to 20% for through-going tracks and up to a factor 2 for starting tracks over existing algorithms. Additionally, the procedure to estimate the directional reconstruction uncertainty has been improved to be more robust against numerical errors