Effectiveness of RSS feed item duplication detection using word matching

Users of feed aggregators know that duplicated articles are found occasionally on the feeds they subscribe to. It can be time consuming to read all articles and stumble upon duplicated items they have already read. Our work here is to determine the effectiveness of using basic word matching to remove duplicated items and only show the most relevant item, thus saving readers’ time. The method described in this paper to remove duplicates involves word matching heuristics with an appropriate matching percentage. The duplicated feeds are then ranked to only display the highest ranked article. Ranking is done using the number of search items found on the titles of the news feeds where the highest number returned will be considered the highest ranked article. Using Malaysian online news feeds, our method found that with a matching percentage of 40%, our method will be able to minimize duplicates effectively with minimal errors. We did further empirical studies using 9 technology blog feeds over a longer period to provide us with a better averaging results. The matching percentage obtained is also within the same quantum. The method described here has a low overhead in terms of processing for the duplicates and with careful selection of matching percentage, the system will effectively remove the majority of duplicate

Intestinal Perforations in Behçet’s Disease

Behçet’s disease accompanied by intestinal involvement is called intestinal Behçet’s disease. The intestinal ulcers of Behçet’s disease are usually multiple and scattered and tend to perforate easily, so that many patients require emergency operation. The aim of this study is to determine the extent of surgical resection necessary to prevent reperforation and to point out the findings of concurrent oral and genital ulcers and multiple intestinal perforations in all patients of our series. During a 25-year study period, information of 125 Behçet’s disease cases was gathered. Among the 82 patients who were diagnosed with intestinal Behçet’s disease, 22 cases had intestinal perforations needing emergency laparotomy. We investigated and analyzed these cases according to the patients’ demographic characteristics, clinical presentations, laboratory data, and surgical outcome. There were 14 men and 8 women ranging from 22 to 65 years of age. Nine cases were diagnosed preoperatively, and the diagnoses were confirmed in all 22 cases during the surgical intervention. Surgical resection was performed in every patient, with right hemicolectomy and ileocecal resection in 11 cases, partial ileum resection in 8 cases with two reperforations, and ileocecal resection in 3 cases with one reperforation

Laparoscopy in management of appendicitis in high-, middle-, and low-income countries: a multicenter, prospective, cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency worldwide. Differences between high- and low-income settings in the availability of laparoscopic appendectomy, alternative management choices, and outcomes are poorly described. The aim was to identify variation in surgical management and outcomes of appendicitis within low-, middle-, and high-Human Development Index (HDI) countries worldwide. METHODS: This is a multicenter, international prospective cohort study. Consecutive sampling of patients undergoing emergency appendectomy over 6 months was conducted. Follow-up lasted 30 days. RESULTS: 4546 patients from 52 countries underwent appendectomy (2499 high-, 1540 middle-, and 507 low-HDI groups). Surgical site infection (SSI) rates were higher in low-HDI (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.33-4.99, p = 0.005) but not middle-HDI countries (OR 1.38, 95% CI 0.76-2.52, p = 0.291), compared with high-HDI countries after adjustment. A laparoscopic approach was common in high-HDI countries (1693/2499, 67.7%), but infrequent in low-HDI (41/507, 8.1%) and middle-HDI (132/1540, 8.6%) groups. After accounting for case-mix, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.42-0.71, p < 0.001) and SSIs (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.14-0.33, p < 0.001). In propensity-score matched groups within low-/middle-HDI countries, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.23 95% CI 0.11-0.44) and SSI (OR 0.21 95% CI 0.09-0.45). CONCLUSION: A laparoscopic approach is associated with better outcomes and availability appears to differ by country HDI. Despite the profound clinical, operational, and financial barriers to its widespread introduction, laparoscopy could significantly improve outcomes for patients in low-resource environments. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02179112

Pooled analysis of WHO Surgical Safety Checklist use and mortality after emergency laparotomy

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist has fostered safe practice for 10 years, yet its place in emergency surgery has not been assessed on a global scale. The aim of this study was to evaluate reported checklist use in emergency settings and examine the relationship with perioperative mortality in patients who had emergency laparotomy. Methods In two multinational cohort studies, adults undergoing emergency laparotomy were compared with those having elective gastrointestinal surgery. Relationships between reported checklist use and mortality were determined using multivariable logistic regression and bootstrapped simulation. Results Of 12 296 patients included from 76 countries, 4843 underwent emergency laparotomy. After adjusting for patient and disease factors, checklist use before emergency laparotomy was more common in countries with a high Human Development Index (HDI) (2455 of 2741, 89.6 per cent) compared with that in countries with a middle (753 of 1242, 60.6 per cent; odds ratio (OR) 0.17, 95 per cent c.i. 0.14 to 0.21, P <0001) or low (363 of 860, 422 per cent; OR 008, 007 to 010, P <0.001) HDI. Checklist use was less common in elective surgery than for emergency laparotomy in high-HDI countries (risk difference -94 (95 per cent c.i. -11.9 to -6.9) per cent; P <0001), but the relationship was reversed in low-HDI countries (+121 (+7.0 to +173) per cent; P <0001). In multivariable models, checklist use was associated with a lower 30-day perioperative mortality (OR 0.60, 0.50 to 073; P <0.001). The greatest absolute benefit was seen for emergency surgery in low- and middle-HDI countries. Conclusion Checklist use in emergency laparotomy was associated with a significantly lower perioperative mortality rate. Checklist use in low-HDI countries was half that in high-HDI countries.Peer reviewe

Mortality of emergency abdominal surgery in high-, middle- and low-income countries

Background: Surgical mortality data are collected routinely in high-income countries, yet virtually no low- or middle-income countries have outcome surveillance in place. The aim was prospectively to collect worldwide mortality data following emergency abdominal surgery, comparing findings across countries with a low, middle or high Human Development Index (HDI). Methods: This was a prospective, multicentre, cohort study. Self-selected hospitals performing emergency surgery submitted prespecified data for consecutive patients from at least one 2-week interval during July to December 2014. Postoperative mortality was analysed by hierarchical multivariable logistic regression. Results: Data were obtained for 10 745 patients from 357 centres in 58 countries; 6538 were from high-, 2889 from middle- and 1318 from low-HDI settings. The overall mortality rate was 1⋅6 per cent at 24 h (high 1⋅1 per cent, middle 1⋅9 per cent, low 3⋅4 per cent; P < 0⋅001), increasing to 5⋅4 per cent by 30 days (high 4⋅5 per cent, middle 6⋅0 per cent, low 8⋅6 per cent; P < 0⋅001). Of the 578 patients who died, 404 (69⋅9 per cent) did so between 24 h and 30 days following surgery (high 74⋅2 per cent, middle 68⋅8 per cent, low 60⋅5 per cent). After adjustment, 30-day mortality remained higher in middle-income (odds ratio (OR) 2⋅78, 95 per cent c.i. 1⋅84 to 4⋅20) and low-income (OR 2⋅97, 1⋅84 to 4⋅81) countries. Surgical safety checklist use was less frequent in low- and middle-income countries, but when used was associated with reduced mortality at 30 days. Conclusion: Mortality is three times higher in low- compared with high-HDI countries even when adjusted for prognostic factors. Patient safety factors may have an important role. Registration number: NCT02179112 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)

Global variation in anastomosis and end colostomy formation following left-sided colorectal resection

Background End colostomy rates following colorectal resection vary across institutions in high-income settings, being influenced by patient, disease, surgeon and system factors. This study aimed to assess global variation in end colostomy rates after left-sided colorectal resection. Methods This study comprised an analysis of GlobalSurg-1 and -2 international, prospective, observational cohort studies (2014, 2016), including consecutive adult patients undergoing elective or emergency left-sided colorectal resection within discrete 2-week windows. Countries were grouped into high-, middle- and low-income tertiles according to the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI). Factors associated with colostomy formation versus primary anastomosis were explored using a multilevel, multivariable logistic regression model. Results In total, 1635 patients from 242 hospitals in 57 countries undergoing left-sided colorectal resection were included: 113 (6·9 per cent) from low-HDI, 254 (15·5 per cent) from middle-HDI and 1268 (77·6 per cent) from high-HDI countries. There was a higher proportion of patients with perforated disease (57·5, 40·9 and 35·4 per cent; P < 0·001) and subsequent use of end colostomy (52·2, 24·8 and 18·9 per cent; P < 0·001) in low- compared with middle- and high-HDI settings. The association with colostomy use in low-HDI settings persisted (odds ratio (OR) 3·20, 95 per cent c.i. 1·35 to 7·57; P = 0·008) after risk adjustment for malignant disease (OR 2·34, 1·65 to 3·32; P < 0·001), emergency surgery (OR 4·08, 2·73 to 6·10; P < 0·001), time to operation at least 48 h (OR 1·99, 1·28 to 3·09; P = 0·002) and disease perforation (OR 4·00, 2·81 to 5·69; P < 0·001). Conclusion Global differences existed in the proportion of patients receiving end stomas after left-sided colorectal resection based on income, which went beyond case mix alone

SinicView: A visualization environment for . . .

Motivation: Deluged by completed genomic sequences, the need to align longer sequences becomes more urgent, and many more tools have thus become available. In the initial stage of sequence analysis, a biologist usually faces with the questions about how to choose the best tool to align sequences of interest and how to analyze and visualize the alignment results, and then with the question about whether unaligned regions produced by the tool are indeed not homologous or are just results due to inappropriate alignment tools or scoring systems used. Although several systematic evaluations of multiple sequence alignment programs have been proposed, they may not provide a standard-bearer for most biologists because those unaligned regions in these evaluations are never discussed. Thus, a tool that allows cross comparison of the alignment results obtained by different tools could help a biologist evaluate their correctness and accuracy. Results

Transcriptome analysis and prognosis of ALDH isoforms in human cancer

Abstract Overexpression of ALDH is associated with cancer stem-like features and poor cancer prognosis. High ALDH activity has been observed in cancer stem-like cells. There are a total of 19 human ALDH isoforms, all of which are associated with reducing oxidative stress and protecting cells from damage. However, it is unknown whether all ALDHs are associated with poor cancer prognosis and which ones play a significant role in cancer progression. In this study, we used RNA sequencing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to evaluate the differential expression of 19 ALDH isoforms in 5 common human cancers. The 19 ALDH genes were analyzed with an integrating meta-analysis of cancer prognosis. Genotyping and next-generation RNA sequencing for 30 pairwise samples of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma were performed and compared with the TCGA cohort. The analysis showed that each ALDH isoform had a specific differential expression pattern, most of which were related to prognosis in human cancer. A lower expression of ALDH2 in the tumor was observed, which was independent from the ALDH2 rs671 SNP variant and the expression of other mitochondria-associated protein coding genes. This study provides new insight into the association between ALDH expression and cancer prognosis

Correction: Optical imaging of ovarian cancer using a matrix metalloproteinase-3-sensitive near-infrared fluorescent probe.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192047.]