An efficient cuckoo-inspired meta-heuristic algorithm for multiobjective short-term hydrothermal scheduling

This paper proposes an efficient Cuckoo-Inspired Meta-Heuristic Algorithm (CIMHA) for solving multi-objective short-term hydrothermal scheduling (ST-HTS) problem. The objective is to simultaneously minimize the total cost and emission of thermal units while all constraints such as power balance, water discharge, and generation limitations must be satisfied. The proposed CIMHA is a newly developed meta-heuristic algorithm inspired by the intelligent reproduction strategy of the cuckoo bird. It is efficient for solving optimization problems with complicated objective and constraints because the method has few control parameters. The proposed method has been tested on different systems with various numbers of objective functions, and the obtained results have been compared to those from other methods available in the literature. The result comparisons have indicated that the proposed method is more efficient than many other methods for the test systems in terms of total cost, total emission, and computational time. Therefore, the proposed CIMHA can be a favorable method for solving the multi-objective ST-HTS problems

An Evaluation of Programmatic Community-Based Chest X-ray Screening for Tuberculosis in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Across Asia, a large proportion of people with tuberculosis (TB) do not report symptoms, have mild symptoms or only experience symptoms for a short duration. These individuals may not seek care at health facilities or may be missed by symptom screening, resulting in sustained TB transmission in the community. We evaluated the yields of TB from 114 days of community-based, mobile chest X-ray (CXR) screening. The yields at each step of the TB screening cascade were tabulated and we compared cohorts of participants who reported having a prolonged cough and those reporting no cough or one of short duration. We estimated the marginal yields of TB using different diagnostic algorithms and calculated the relative diagnostic costs and cost per case for each algorithm. A total of 34,529 participants were screened by CXR, detecting 256 people with Xpert-positive TB. Only 50% of those diagnosed with TB were detected among participants reporting a prolonged cough. The study's screening algorithm detected almost 4 times as much TB as the National TB Program's standard diagnostic algorithm. Community-based, mobile chest X-ray screening can be a high yielding strategy which is able to identify people with TB who would likely otherwise have been missed by existing health services

Safety and efficacy of fluoxetine on functional outcome after acute stroke (AFFINITY): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background Trials of fluoxetine for recovery after stroke report conflicting results. The Assessment oF FluoxetINe In sTroke recoverY (AFFINITY) trial aimed to show if daily oral fluoxetine for 6 months after stroke improves functional outcome in an ethnically diverse population. Methods AFFINITY was a randomised, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial done in 43 hospital stroke units in Australia (n=29), New Zealand (four), and Vietnam (ten). Eligible patients were adults (aged ≥18 years) with a clinical diagnosis of acute stroke in the previous 2–15 days, brain imaging consistent with ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke, and a persisting neurological deficit that produced a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 1 or more. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 via a web-based system using a minimisation algorithm to once daily, oral fluoxetine 20 mg capsules or matching placebo for 6 months. Patients, carers, investigators, and outcome assessors were masked to the treatment allocation. The primary outcome was functional status, measured by the mRS, at 6 months. The primary analysis was an ordinal logistic regression of the mRS at 6 months, adjusted for minimisation variables. Primary and safety analyses were done according to the patient's treatment allocation. The trial is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12611000774921. Findings Between Jan 11, 2013, and June 30, 2019, 1280 patients were recruited in Australia (n=532), New Zealand (n=42), and Vietnam (n=706), of whom 642 were randomly assigned to fluoxetine and 638 were randomly assigned to placebo. Mean duration of trial treatment was 167 days (SD 48·1). At 6 months, mRS data were available in 624 (97%) patients in the fluoxetine group and 632 (99%) in the placebo group. The distribution of mRS categories was similar in the fluoxetine and placebo groups (adjusted common odds ratio 0·94, 95% CI 0·76–1·15; p=0·53). Compared with patients in the placebo group, patients in the fluoxetine group had more falls (20 [3%] vs seven [1%]; p=0·018), bone fractures (19 [3%] vs six [1%]; p=0·014), and epileptic seizures (ten [2%] vs two [<1%]; p=0·038) at 6 months. Interpretation Oral fluoxetine 20 mg daily for 6 months after acute stroke did not improve functional outcome and increased the risk of falls, bone fractures, and epileptic seizures. These results do not support the use of fluoxetine to improve functional outcome after stroke

Personalization in Mobile Activity Recognition System Using -Medoids Clustering Algorithm

Nowadays mobile activity recognition (AR) has been creating great potentials in many applications including mobile healthcare and context-aware systems. Human activities could be detected based on sensory data that are available on today's smart phone. In this study, we consider mobile phones as an independent device since sending the data to central server can generate privacy issues. Furthermore, applying AR on mobile phone does not only require an effective accuracy rate but also the lowest power consumption. Normally, an AR model learnt from acceleration data of a specific person is distributed to other people to recognize the same activities instead of generating different models individually. This work often cannot create accurate results on the prediction in broad range of participants. Moreover, such AR model also has to allow each user to update his new activities independently. Therefore, we propose an algorithm that integrates Support Vector Machine classifier and K -medoids clustering method to resolve completely the demand

Sacroiliac joint injection for management sacroiliac joint pain after lumbosacral spinal fusion surgery: A prospective study at the single center in Vietnam

Study design: Prospective observational study. Objective: Sacroiliac joint (SIJ) pain after lumbar spinal fusion surgery is a common problem. This study aims to evaluate the response to intra-articular SIJ injection. Summary of background data: Following the fusion surgery, some patients may have recurrent and new low back pain that is different from that seen before the lumbosacral spinal surgery. SIJ-related pain is a possible cause of persistent postoperative pain. SIJ injection could be an effective option for these patients. Methods: This prospective study includes 56 patients who had lumbosacral fusion from February 2018 to June 2022 and developed postoperative SIJ pain that was not responding to conservative treatment. These patients underwent intra-articular SIJ injection and were followed up for three months after injection. Patients were assessed with the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). Results: Of the 56 patients, 12 (21.4%) were male and 44 (78.6%) were female. Lumbar spinal stenosis was a common cause of prior surgery (78.6%). Up to 57.1% of patients had 2-level fusion surgery and 71.4% received fusion to S1. The mean age was 58.5 ± 10.7 years. Low-back pain and low-back pain radiating to the legs accounted for 64.3% and 37.5% respectively. Thirty-three patients (58.9%) had positive provocative tests and 27 (48.2%) had severe pre-injection pain with VAS and ODI scores. There was a significant improvement in post-injection VAS and ODI scores (p < 0.05). Patients with shorter fusion surgery had a better response to SIJ injection. Conclusions: SIJ pain is common following spinal fusion surgery. Significant improvement in disability and pain could be achieved within 3 months after intra-articular injection. We had realized a correlation between the level of fusion and the resultant treatment effect. SIJ injection could be an effective, safe option to improve the outcomes in patients who failed conservative management

Silk Fibroin-Based Biomaterials for Biomedical Applications: A Review

Since it was first discovered, thousands of years ago, silkworm silk has been known to be an abundant biopolymer with a vast range of attractive properties. The utilization of silk fibroin (SF), the main protein of silkworm silk, has not been limited to the textile industry but has been further extended to various high-tech application areas, including biomaterials for drug delivery systems and tissue engineering. The outstanding mechanical properties of SF, including its facile processability, superior biocompatibility, controllable biodegradation, and versatile functionalization have allowed its use for innovative applications. In this review, we describe the structure, composition, general properties, and structure-properties relationship of SF. In addition, the methods used for the fabrication and modification of various materials are briefly addressed. Lastly, recent applications of SF-based materials for small molecule drug delivery, biological drug delivery, gene therapy, wound healing, and bone regeneration are reviewed and our perspectives on future development of these favorable materials are also shared