QSPR study of partition coefficient (Ko/w) of some organic compounds using radial basic function-partial least square (RBF-PLS)

In this work, we introduce a new method ability radial basic function-partial least square (RBF-PLS) with high accuracy and precision in QSPR studies. Three quantitative structure-propertty relationship (QSPR) methods have been compared for the prediction of n-octanol-water partition coefficients (Ko/w) of some organic compounds. The multiple linear regressions (MLR), partial least square (PLS) and radial basis function-partial least squares (RBF-PLS) models were employed to construct linear and nonlinear models to predict of Ko/w. The theoretical descriptors that calculated by Dragon and Gaussian 98 were explored by stepwise regressions, encoding different aspects of the topological, geometrical and electronic molecular structures. The root means square error of prediction (RMSEP) for training and prediction sets by MLR, PLS and RBF-PLS models were 0.4022, 0.4128, 0.3050, 0.3564, 0.0364 and 0.0533, respectively. Also, the relative standard error of prediction (RSEP) for training and prediction sets by MLR, PLS and RBF-PLS models were 13.24, 13.60, 10.04, 11.74, 1.197 and 1.757 respectively. The resultant data explained that RBF-PLS produced better results than PLS and MLR

A Design Support System Using Analogy Based Reasoning

Abstract: This paper represents a procedure to support the designer in his/her process of mechanical system design, by inspiring the knowledge acquired from previous projects. To this end, the proposed method represents an appropriate means to capitalize the know-how of the professional experts. Based on this approach, an interactive programme is implemented, which assist designers in the specification of new products. The data structure of the implemented tool is based on the object oriented modelling. This structure allows several classifications of a same design, using different levels of abstraction. This approach enables designer to begin with a more general description of the product, and to refine the description by referring to similar data in the pattern bases

Viral Outbreaks of SARS-CoV1, SARS-CoV2, MERS-CoV, Influenza H1N1, and Ebola in 21st Century; A Comparative Review of the Pathogenesis and Clinical Characteristics

 Throughout the past twenty years, humankind had its fair share of challenges with viral epidemics. In late December 2019, a zoonotic member of the coronaviruses was responsible for the COVID-19 outbreak of viral pneumonia in Wuhan, China. As a worldwide crisis, meanwhile, conclusive prevention or therapy has yet to be discovered, the death toll of COVID-19 has exceeded 278000 by May 11th, 2020. Alike other members of Coronavirus family such as MERS and SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2 provokes influenza-like syndrome which might further progress to the severe state of acute respiratory disease in some patients. Comparably, in 2009 the H1N1 influenza outbreak affected countless people by manifestations of respiratory system involvement. Additionally, Ebolavirus, as a member of the Filoviridae family, had also made a global catastrophe by causing hemorrhagic diseases in the past twenty years.  The unknown intrinsic nature of SARS-CoV-2, as a great missing piece of this pandemic puzzle, has had physicians to empirically test the possibly efficacious agents of the former viral epidemics on the COVID-19 cases. Here, the current knowledge in SARS-CoV-2 clinical features, transmissibility, and pathogenicity are all summed up as against the other emerging viruses in the last two decades, and the data crucially required for a better management of the illness has been spotlighted

Application of Dispersive Liquid-Liquid Microextraction in Separation and Preconcentration of Silver prior its Determination by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

A simple, sensitive, and rapid dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) method is developed for the preconcentration of silver ions prior to determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). In this work, 1-phenyl-1,2-propanedione-2-oximethiosemicarbazone (PPDOT), chloroform, and methanol are used as the complexing agent, extraction solvent, and disperser solvent, respectively. The effects of different analytical parameters on the complex formation and the extrac-tion efficiency are investigated and optimized. The effects of interfering ions on the determination of silver(I) are also examined. Under the optimized conditions, a linear calibration curve was achieved in the range of 0.60−120.0 µg L−1, with the detection limit of 0.61 µg L−1. The pre-concentration factor calculated as the ratio of the slopes of the calibration graphs with and without the pre-concentration was 35.5. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) for the silver(I) determinations were below 3 %. The proposed separation procedure was successfully applied to the determination of silver(I) in natural water and photographic film samples with satisfactory results (recoveries > 95 %)

When Much Is Too Much—Compared to Light Exercisers, Heavy Exercisers Report More Mental Health Issues and Stress, but Less Sleep Complaints

Background: Physical inactivity has become a global somatic and mental health issue. To counterbalance, promoting regular physical activity appears plausible, above all among adults, where physical inactivity is particularly high. However, some, but sparse, research also indicates that excessive exercising might be associated with unfavorable mental health dimensions. Here, we tested the hypothesis that excessive exercising was associated with more mental health issues. To this end, we assessed mental health issues, stress, mental toughness, and sleep disturbances among heavy and light adult exercisers. Methods: A total of 200 adults (mean age: 35 years; 62% females) took part in the study. Of those, 100 were heavy exercisers (18–22 h/week), and 100 were light exercisers (1–6 h/week). Participants completed questionnaires covering sociodemographic information, mental health issues, perceived stress, mental toughness, and sleep disturbances. Results: Compared with light exercisers, heavy exercisers reported higher mental health issues, more stress, but also higher mental toughness scores and less sleep disturbances. Higher age, lower mental toughness scores, heavy exerciser-status, and more sleep disturbances predicted higher mental health complaints. Conclusions: Compared with light exercising, heavy exercising might be associated with more mental health issues. As such, it appears that the association between exercise frequency, intensity, and duration and psychological well-being might be related to an optimum point, but not to a maximum point. In a similar vein, heavily exercising athletes, their coaches, parents, and representatives of sports associations should get sensitized to possible adverse psychological effects of excessive physical activity patterns

When Much Is Too Much - Compared to Light Exercisers, Heavy Exercisers Report More Mental Health Issues and Stress, but Less Sleep Complaints

Background: Physical inactivity has become a global somatic and mental health issue. To counterbalance, promoting regular physical activity appears plausible, above all among adults, where physical inactivity is particularly high. However, some, but sparse, research also indicates that excessive exercising might be associated with unfavorable mental health dimensions. Here, we tested the hypothesis that excessive exercising was associated with more mental health issues. To this end, we assessed mental health issues, stress, mental toughness, and sleep disturbances among heavy and light adult exercisers. Methods: A total of 200 adults (mean age: 35 years; 62% females) took part in the study. Of those, 100 were heavy exercisers (18–22 h/week), and 100 were light exercisers (1–6 h/week). Participants completed questionnaires covering sociodemographic information, mental health issues, perceived stress, mental toughness, and sleep disturbances. Results: Compared with light exercisers, heavy exercisers reported higher mental health issues, more stress, but also higher mental toughness scores and less sleep disturbances. Higher age, lower mental toughness scores, heavy exerciser-status, and more sleep disturbances predicted higher mental health complaints. Conclusions: Compared with light exercising, heavy exercising might be associated with more mental health issues. As such, it appears that the association between exercise frequency, intensity, and duration and psychological well-being might be related to an optimum point, but not to a maximum point. In a similar vein, heavily exercising athletes, their coaches, parents, and representatives of sports associations should get sensitized to possible adverse psychological effects of excessive physical activity patterns

Individuals with Major Depressive Disorder Report High Scores of Insecure-Avoidant and Insecure-Anxious Attachment Styles, Dissociative Identity Symptoms, and Adult Traumatic Events

Objective: Individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) report more issues in social interaction compared to the general population. Moreover, dimensions of dissociation are considered dysfunctional strategies to cope with adverse life events. In this regard, current symptoms of MDD could be associated with traumatic events that occurred in childhood and in adult life. Given this background, the aim of the present study was to explore the associations between attachment styles as a proxy of quality of social interaction, dimensions of dissociation, and childhood and adult traumatic life events among individuals with MDD. Method: A total of 300 individuals with MDD (mean age: 31.31 years; 58.7% female) took part in this study. They completed a series of questionnaires on sociodemographic information, attachment styles, dimensions of dissociation, and childhood and adult traumatic life events. Results: Prevalence rates for attachment styles were as follows: anxious/ambivalent attachment style—71.7%; avoidant/dependent attachment style—13%; secure/close attachment style—15.3%. Compared to the general population, the participants reported higher prevalence rates of insecure attachment styles. Current symptoms of dissociation were associated with adult but not childhood traumatic life events. An anxious attachment style was associated with higher scores of dissociation. Conclusion: Psychotherapeutic treatment of individuals with MDD should consider the individuals’ challenging attachment styles and their risk of dissociation. While it is important to consider both adult and childhood traumatic events, in this research, more recent trauma occurring in adulthood was associated with current symptoms of dissociation

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation