A Unified Health Information System Framework for Connecting Data, People, Devices, and Systems

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the necessity for pervasive data and system interoperability to manage healthcare information and knowledge. There is an urgent need to better understand the role of interoperability in improving the societal responses to the pandemic. This paper explores data and system interoperability, a very specific area that could contribute to fighting COVID-19. Specifically, the authors propose a unified health information system framework to connect data, systems, and devices to increase interoperability and manage healthcare information and knowledge. A blockchain-based solution is also provided as a recommendation for improving the data and system interoperability in healthcare

Analysis of the Travel Intent for Park and Ride Based on Perception

As a multimodal travel behavior, park and ride includes several trip modes such as car, walking, bus, or railway. And people’s choice of park and ride is influenced by many factors. This paper, based on the park and ride behavior survey in Beijing, will analyze the relationship between the perception of the influencing factors and the behavior intent for park and ride by using structural equation modeling. The conclusions suggest that the park and ride choice for travelers is a passive behavior which means giving up driving the car is mainly caused by the serious traffic congestion. Furthermore, improving the service level of the park and ride facilities and the comfort for riding bus or railway will increase the utilization of park and ride facilities. The perceptions of the influencing factors have both direct and indirect effects on the travel intent for park and ride by the interaction among the influencing factors

Vitamin A Concentration in Human Milk: A Meta-Analysis

Humans require vitamin A (VA). However, pooled VA data in human milk is uncommon internationally and offers little support for dietary reference intake (DRIs) revision of infants under 6 months. As a result, we conducted a literature review and a meta-analysis to study VA concentration in breast milk throughout lactation across seven databases by August 2021. Observational or intervention studies involving nursing mothers between the ages of 18 and 45, with no recognized health concerns and who had full-term infants under 48 months were included. Studies in which retinol concentration was expressed as a mass concentration on a volume basis and determined using high-, ultra-, or ultra-fast performance liquid chromatography (HPLC, UPLC, or UFLC) were chosen. Finally, 76 papers involving 9171 samples published between 1985 and 2021 qualified for quantitative synthesis. Results from the random-effects model showed that the VA concentration of healthy term human milk decreased significantly as lactation progressed. VA (µg/L) with 95% CI at the colostrum, transitional, early mature and late mature stages being 920.7 (744.5, 1095.8), 523.7 (313.7, 733.6), 402.4 (342.5, 462.3) and 254.7 (223.7, 285.7), respectively (X2 = 71.36, p < 0.01). Subgroup analysis revealed no significant differences identified in VA concentration (µg/L) between Chinese and non-Chinese samples at each stage, being 1039.1 vs. 895.8 (p = 0.64), 505.7 vs. 542.2(p = 0.88), 408.4 vs. 401.2 (p = 0.92), 240.0 vs. 259.3 (p = 0.41). The findings have significant implications for the revision of DRIs for infants under six months

Nutritional Properties of Liquid Oats as Affected by Processing and Storage

The cholesterol-lowering effects of oats have led to an increasing interest in them on the food market. Liquid oats has emerged as a new way of consuming oats and has become a commercial product. To produce liquid oats, steam-heated dehulled oat groats are subjected to flaking, wet-milling, enzyme hydrolysis, decanting, formulation, and ultra-high-temperature (UHT) treatment, the resulting beverage being aseptically packaged. The overall aim of the present study was to gain more adequate knowledge of the consequences of processing and storage on the nutritional properties of liquid oats. The retention of vitamins, minerals and phenolic antioxidants (including avenanthramides and hydroxycinnamic acids) was followed in the course of processing. After storage, the fatty acid profile, vitamin retention, dissolved oxygen concentration and sensory attributes of the liquid oats were followed in different prototypes after storage. Its protein quality after processing and storage was investigated in growing rats. The effects of phytase treatment, addition of citric acid and iron fortification either alone or in combination on the non-heme iron absorption from liquid oats in humans were also investigated. A moderate increase on a dry matter basis in the level of native vitamin B6 was observed after the decanting process, whereas much of native phosphorus, zinc, calcium and iron were separated off together with the insoluble fraction. The supplemented vitamins A, B1, B2, niacin, B6 and folate exhibited marked stability during UHT treatment at 140 ?C (holding times 5 s and 20 s), whereas vitamin D3 was lost to about the same extent at both durations, B12 being lost to a moderate extent at the longer duration. The fortified vitamins, except for vitamin A, D3 and B12, remained stable during a year of ambient storage. Phenols were lost to a varying extent after enzyme incubation process, the decanting step causing further losses. During storage, a refrigerating temperature favored the stability of the avenanthramides in the iron-lacking liquid oats. The fatty acid profile changed to only a minor extent after ambient storage for a year, also in an iron-fortified prototype. This could be due to the low dissolved oxygen concentration and also to the presence of antioxidants. Enzyme incubation process together with heating and subsequent decanting reduced the protein content of liquid oats, leading to a slight decrease in the biological value of the proteins in rats, whereas neither UHT treatment nor a year of ambient storage changed the protein quality. The true protein digestibility, biological value and net protein utilization of the various processed and stored forms of liquid oats were comparable to those of casein. The phytase treatment of liquid oats reduced the inositol phosphates to undetectable levels, leading to a significantly improved non-heme iron absorption in humans. A combination of phytase treatment, citric acid addition and iron supplementation increased the iron absorption. Fortification of iron as ferric pyrophosphate or ferric ammonium citrate resulted in similar iron absorption rates but addition of the latter may bring about undesirable sensory attributes. Overall the study showed decanting to change the relative proportions of proteins, vitamins, minerals and phenols, and direct UHT treatment to lead to a good retention of proteins and of most of the vitamins. Ambient storage for a year did not affect the protein quality or the fatty acid profile. The results suggest that the nutritional quality of UHT liquid oats can be improved by phytase treatment, better selection of ingredients, and refrigerated storage

Vitamin A Concentration in Human Milk: A Meta-Analysis

Humans require vitamin A (VA). However, pooled VA data in human milk is uncommon internationally and offers little support for dietary reference intake (DRIs) revision of infants under 6 months. As a result, we conducted a literature review and a meta-analysis to study VA concentration in breast milk throughout lactation across seven databases by August 2021. Observational or intervention studies involving nursing mothers between the ages of 18 and 45, with no recognized health concerns and who had full-term infants under 48 months were included. Studies in which retinol concentration was expressed as a mass concentration on a volume basis and determined using high-, ultra-, or ultra-fast performance liquid chromatography (HPLC, UPLC, or UFLC) were chosen. Finally, 76 papers involving 9171 samples published between 1985 and 2021 qualified for quantitative synthesis. Results from the random-effects model showed that the VA concentration of healthy term human milk decreased significantly as lactation progressed. VA (µg/L) with 95% CI at the colostrum, transitional, early mature and late mature stages being 920.7 (744.5, 1095.8), 523.7 (313.7, 733.6), 402.4 (342.5, 462.3) and 254.7 (223.7, 285.7), respectively (X2 = 71.36, p p = 0.64), 505.7 vs. 542.2(p = 0.88), 408.4 vs. 401.2 (p = 0.92), 240.0 vs. 259.3 (p = 0.41). The findings have significant implications for the revision of DRIs for infants under six months

ABSTRACT Online Event-driven Subsequence Matching over Financial Data Streams

Subsequence similarity matching in time series databases is an important research area for many applications. This paper presents a new approximate approach for automatic online subsequence similarity matching over massive data streams. With a simultaneous online segmentation and pruning algorithm over the incoming stream, the resulting piecewise linear representation of the data stream features high sensitivity and accuracy. The similarity definition is based on a permutation followed by a metric distance function, which provides the similarity search with flexibility, sensitivity and scalability. Also, the metric-based indexing methods can be applied for speed-up. To reduce the system burden, the event-driven similarity search is performed only when there is a potential event. The query sequence is the most recent subsequence of piecewise data representation of the incoming stream which is automatically generated by the system. The retrieved results can be analyzed in different ways according to the requirements of specific applications. This paper discusses an application for future data movement prediction based on statistical information. Experiments on real stock data are performed. The correctness of trend predictions is used to evaluate the performance of subsequence similarity matching. 1

A Traffic Mode Choice Model for the Bus User Groups based on SP and RP Data

Enhancing the bus share rate is a major measure to relieve the traffic congestion. To analyze the effect of public transit policy, this paper establishes MNL models based on both SP data and combining SP and RP data, which was collected in Jinan city. Then the paper analyzes how the influencing factors affect the choice proportion of bus travel mode for the bus user groups. In the end, the paper obtains some significant conclusions and proposes measures which would enhance the bus attraction

Nutritional properties of oat-based beverages as affected by processing and storage

Oat-based beverages enriched with vitamins and minerals were produced with common hydrothermal treatments and stored at 22 degrees C for 64 weeks. The effects of decanting on the retention of native vitamins, minerals and fatty acids, and different UHT holding time (5 s or 20 s) at 140 degrees C on vitamins were investigated. Fatty acid profile, vitamin retention and dissolved oxygen concentration were monitored during storage. The decanting process caused a 47% increase of vitamin 136 and a 45-74% loss of phosphorus, zinc, calcium and iron. The steam-injection UHT treatment caused a 60% loss of vitamin D-3 for both holding times and a 30% loss of vitamin B-12 for 20 s. During 1 year of storage, oleic and linoleic acids were stable, whereas linolenic acid decreased only slightly, even in the iron-enriched variety. The dissolved oxygen concentration increased to a low value of 0.71 mg L-1 and reached a balance after 16 weeks. Most enriched vitamins except vitamins A, D-3 and B-12 were stable during ambient storage. Oat-based beverages with highly retained vitamins can be manufactured by adding vitamins prior to direct UHT treatment with a shorter holding time. Additionally, iron enrichment of such beverages, without affecting the fatty acid profile, can be achieved by filter sterilisation

Improved iron bioavailability in an oat-based beverage: the combined effect of citric acid addition, dephytinization and iron supplementation

Background Iron deficiency in children is a major worldwide nutritional problem. An oat beverage was developed for 1- to 3-year-old children and different treatments were used to improve the iron bioavailability. Aim of the study To investigate the effects of citric acid addition, phytase treatment and supplementation with different iron compounds on non-heme iron absorption in human from a mineral-supplemented oat-based beverage. Method A 240 g portion of a Fe-55-labeled test product (T) or a Fe-59-labeled reference dose (R) was served as breakfast after overnight fasting on four consecutive days in the order of TRRT. On day 18 the retention of Fe-59 was measured by a whole-body counter and the erythrocytes uptake of Fe-55 and Fe-59 by a liquid-scintillation counter. Forty-two healthy subjects (men and women) were randomized into four study groups, members of each being given one of the studied four products (A, B, C, and D) supplemented with Fe (1.3 mg/portion), Zn, Ca, Se and P. Ferric ammonium citrate (FeAC) was added to products A, B, and C and ferric pyrophosphate (FePP) to product D. Citric acid (60 mg/portion) was added to products B, C, and D and phytase treatment applied to products C and D. Results Citric acid improved iron absorption by 54% from 3.9% in product A to 6.0% in product B (p = 0.051). Phytase treatment increased iron absorption by 78% (from 6.0 to 10.7%, p = 0.003) by reducing the phytate-phosphorus content per portion from 16.3 mg in product B to 2.8 mg in product C. The two compounds gave similar iron absorption rates (p = 0.916). Conclusion A combination of citric acid addition, dephytinization and iron supplementation significantly increased the iron absorption in an oat-based beverage. Such a beverage can be useful in the prevention of iron deficiency in 1- to 3-year-old children