Impact of rational and experiential thinking styles on interpersonal conflict resolution among young adults

This research aimed to find the relationship between thinking styles (rational or experiential) and interpersonal conflict resolution (ICR) in young adults. A sample of 99 females and 103 males, age range 18 to 40 years, was selected via convenient and snow-ball sampling. Thinking styles were assessed using Rational-Experiential Inventory-40, and ICR was measured using Conflict Resolution Questionnaire. Regression analysis was used to predict ICR based on thinking style covariates and several relevant demographic covariates, including gender and family birth order. Rational thinking style (RTS) was most prevalent among young adults and was the strongest predictor of ICR. In addition, gender was a significant predictor. These findings may help in coaching young adults toward a well-integrated personality by using rational thinking for effective ICR

Evaluation of \u27CKD-EPI Pakistan\u27 equation for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR): a comparison of eGFR prediction equations in Pakistani population

Objective: To evaluate the results of 24-hour urinary creatinine clearance (CrCl) with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) using the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI), CKD-EPI Pakistan (CKD-EPI Pak), Cockcroft Gault (CG) and 4-variable Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equations.Study Design: Descriptive, cross-sectional study.Place and Duration of Study: Section of Clinical Chemistry, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, from June to October 2013. Methodology: Laboratory data of subjects ≥18 years ordering 24-hour urinary CrCl from June to October 2013 was retrieved. Statistical comparison of eGFR using CKD-EPI, CKD-EPI Pak, CG and MDRD with the timed urine collection CrCl was done using regression analysis. Result: The mean age of the group (n=670) was 51.3 ±15.4 years with a median of 53 (IQR:22.3) years, 55.7% being males. Median BMI of males and females was 26.98 kg/m2(IQR: 7.09) and 26.16 kg/m2(IQR: 6.97), respectively. Mean GFR using 24-hour creatinine clearance was 57.1 ±35.9 ml/min/1.73m2 with a median of 51 ml/min/1.73m2. Urinary creatinine clearance showed strong correlation with CG, MDRD, CKD-EPI and CKD-EPI Pak, showing r=0.78, r=0.79, r=0.82, and r=0.82, respectively. Sensitivity was highest for the CKD-EPI Pakistan (84.7%). Similarly, CKD-EPI Pakistan equation showed the highest agreement (88.7%) with CrCl compared to the other formulae. Conclusion: The CKD-EPI Pak equation is more accurate and precise than the CG, CKD-EPI and MDRD in estimating GFR in Pakistani population

Frequency signatured directly printable humidity sensing tag using organic electronics

In this paper chipless RFID tag, capable of carrying 9-bit data is presented. The tag is optimized for several flexible substrates. With growing information and communication technology, sensor integration with data transmission has gained significant attention. Therefore, the tag with the same dimension is then optimized using paper substrate. For different values of permittivity, the relative humidity is observed. Hence, besides carrying information bits, the tag is capable of monitoring and sensing the humidity. The overall dimension of the tag comprising of 9 ring slot resonators is 7 mm. Due to its optimization on the paper substrate, the tag can be an ideal choice for deploying in various low-cost sensing application

Coding Genome Sequence and Protein Sequence Analysis of Dengue Strains: In Silico Correlation

Background: DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4 are the four serotypes of dengue viruses (DENV) that are transferred from person to person through the bite of Aedes mosquitoes. Dengue fever has surged 30-fold in occurrence over the last 50 years, making it one of the world's most serious arboviral diseases. The aim of this study is to bioinformatically correlate the coding sequences of four DENV strains to check their genetic & functional diversity on the basis of the similarity of the sequences.Methods: The coding sequences (CDs) and protein sequences of newly reported dengue strains (DENV 1, DENV 2, DENV 3, and DENV 4) were obtained from the National center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) nucleotide and protein databases. We compare the genetic and functional compatibility of selected gene sequences from four dengue strains by using various bioinformatics tools and software such as BLAST, MEGA 11.0, ProtParam, GOR4 and SWISS Model.Results: The total number of amino acids in dengue strains DENV1, 2, 3, and 4 is 3392, 3391, 3390, and 3387, according to physiochemical analysis. The phylogenetic analysis reveals that DENV-1 and DENV-2 have more genetic similarity than DENV-2 and DENV-3, with bootstrap values greater than 90%. While different percentages of alpha helices were predicted in secondary structure, such as 33.23 %, 36.51 %, 31.21%, and 32.27% of DENV1, 2, 3, and 4 show little variation. The non-structural proteins NS1 and NS5 of all four DENV strains show more than 65 percent similarity index in 3D structure analysis.Conclusion: This study first presented a bioinformatics comparison of all four DENV strains. The 3D and 2D structures of DENV strains (1-4) show some similarity and dissimilarity index, however the four DENV strains differ in their 2D structure's alpha helix (H), random coil, and number of amino acids.Keywords: Bioinformatics; Dengue strains; Non-structural protein; Coding sequence; viral pathogenesis   

Directly printable compact chipless RFID tag for humidity sensing

In this letter, 8-bit paper based printable chipless tag is presented. The tag not only justifies the green electronic concept but also it is examined for sensing functionality. The compact tag structure comprises of seven L-shaped and one I-shaped dipole structure. These conducting tracks/dipole structures are of silver nano-particle based ink having a conductivity of 1.1 × 107 S/m. Each conducting track yields one bit corresponding to one peak. The tag design is optimized and analyzed for three different flexible substrates i.e. paper, Kapton® HN, and PET. The tag has ability to identify 28 = 256 objects, by using different binary combinations. The variation in length of particular conducting strip results in a shift of peak for that specific conducting track. This shift corresponds to logic state-1. The response of the tag for paper, Kapton® HN, and PET substrates is observed in the frequency band of 2.2–6.1 GHz, 2.4–6.3 GHz, and 2.5–6.5 GHz, respectively. The tag has an attractive nature because of its easy printability and usage of low-cost, flexible substrates. The tag can be deployed in various low-cost sensing applications

Dual-polarized chipless humidity sensor tag

In this letter, a miniaturized, flexible and high data dense dual-polarized chipless radio frequency identification (RFID) tag is presented. The tag is designed within a minuscule footprint of 29 × 29 mm2 and has the ability to encode 38-bit data. The tag is analyzed for flexible substrates including Kapton® HN DuPont™ and HP photopaper. The humidity sensing phenomenon is demonstrated by mapping the tag design, using silver nano-particle based conductive ink on HP photopaper substrate. It is observed that with the increasing moisture, the humidity sensing behavior is exhibited in RF range of 4.1–17.76 GHz. The low-cost, bendable and directly printable humidity sensor tag can be deployed in a number of intelligent tracking applications

Association of Beta-2 Adrenoreceptor Single Nucleotide Polymorphism with Risk of Type II Diabetes Mellitus

Objective: To determine the genotype of Arg16Gly & Gln27Glu polymorphism in type-2 diabetes mellitus and to find possible association of ADRβ2with type-2 diabetes mellitus. Methodology: A case control study was designed and a total of 192 subjects (98 in each group) were included. After formal approval, subjects were recruited from North West General Hospital (NWGH) Peshawar. After taking consent blood samples were collected from the participants and DNA analysis was done using commercially available kits by salting out protocols, while other biochemical parameters were analyzed using normal laboratory protocols for respective tests. Results: The comparative analysis of SNP rs1042713 indicates that allele G/A was 42(49.4%) in diabetic and 43(50.6%) in non-diabetic subjects. While GG was more frequent 22(59.5%) in diabetic as compare to non-diabetic 15(40.5%). Among AA allele, 19 (65.5%) were non-diabetic while 10(34.5%) were diabetic. However the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.22). In case of “rs1042714” gene the commonest allele was C/C 80 (41.7%) out of which, 47(58.8%) was found in diabetic and 33(41.2%) were non-diabetic. Similarly CG was second common allele out of which diabetics were 27(44.3%) while non-diabetics were 34(55.7%). Allele G/G was found only among 11 subjects (p=0.085). Conclusion: Based on the result of the present study, it is concluded that polymorphism in ADRB2 genes rs1042713 (Arg16Gly) and rs1042714 (Gln27Glu) is associated with susceptibility of T2DM through alteration in BMI & HbA1c

Polarization Insensitive Compact Chipless RFID Tag

This research article proposes a highly dense, inexpensive, flexible and compact 29 x 29 mm(2) chipless radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. The tag has a 38-bit data capacity, which indicates that it has the ability to label 238 number of different objects. The proposed RFID tag has a bar-shape slot/resonator based structure, which is energized by dual-polarized electromagnetic (EM) waves. Thus, portraying polarization insensitive nature of the tag. The radar cross-section (RCS) response of the proposed tag design is analyzed using different substrates, i.e., Rogers RT/duroid (R)/5880, Taconic (TLX-0), and Kapton (R) HN (DuPont (TM)). A comparative analysis is done, which reveal the changes observed in the RCS curve, as a result of using different substrates and radiators. Moreover, the effect on the RCS response of the tag is also examined, by bending the tag at different bent radii. The compactness and flexible nature of the tag makes it the best choice for Internet of things (IoT) based smart monitoring applications

Recognition of different types of leukocytes using YOLoV2 and optimized bag-of-features

White blood cells (WBCs) protect human body against different types of infections including fungal, parasitic, viral, and bacterial. The detection of abnormal regions in WBCs is a difficult task. Therefore a method is proposed for the localization of WBCs based on YOLOv2-Nucleus-Cytoplasm, which contains darkNet-19 as a basenetwork of the YOLOv2 model. In this model features are extracted from LeakyReLU-18 of darkNet-19 and supplied as an input to the YOLOv2 model. The YOLOv2-Nucleus-Cytoplasm model localizes and classifies the WBCs with maximum score labels. It also localize the WBCs into the blast and non-blast cells. After localization, the bag-of-features are extracted and optimized by using particle swarm optimization(PSO). The improved feature vector is fed to classifiers i.e., optimized naïve Bayes (O-NB) & optimized discriminant analysis (O-DA) for WBCs classification. The experiments are performed on LISC, ALL-IDB1, and ALL-IDB2 datasets