GANDALF: Gated Adaptive Network for Deep Automated Learning of Features

We propose a novel high-performance, interpretable, and parameter \& computationally efficient deep learning architecture for tabular data, Gated Adaptive Network for Deep Automated Learning of Features (GANDALF). GANDALF relies on a new tabular processing unit with a gating mechanism and in-built feature selection called Gated Feature Learning Unit (GFLU) as a feature representation learning unit. We demonstrate that GANDALF outperforms or stays at-par with SOTA approaches like XGBoost, SAINT, FT-Transformers, etc. by experiments on multiple established public benchmarks. We have made available the code at github.com/manujosephv/pytorch_tabular under MIT License.Comment: 7 pages + Reference & Appendi

Fruit rind constituents in nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) morphotypes

Rind or pericarp is the outermost part of nutmeg fruit which is thick and fleshy. Fresh rind, contributing 80 to 85 per cent of total fruit weight, has an astringent taste with aromatic flavour. Due to these qualities, the use of rind for food purpose is restricted. At the same time its therapeutic property, especially its anti-oxidant, anti-microbial and anti-diarrhoeal effects, have generated interest in nutmeg rind. Major interest of the processors is the biochemical constitution of the rind. In the present study, 17 distinctly featured nutmeg accessions selected from core collections in central Kerala were employed for biochemical analysis of rind. A total of 10 constituents of ripe rind were estimated using standard analytical techniques. Data were statistically analysed and sub groups formed using DMRT. The range of variation was 87.1 to 89.1 (mg 100 g-1) for ascorbic acid, 0.2 to 1.08 per cent for pectin content (calcium pectate), 0.21to 1.85 (g 100 g-1) for protein, 0.3 to 1.23 (g 100 g-1) for starch, 27.8 to 57.6 (mg 100 g-1) for total phenol, 143.3 to 750.0 (mg 100 g-1) for tannin, 2.01 to 2.57 per cent for total minerals and 2.06 to 3.65 per cent for crude fibre. Since varied overlapping sub-groups were obtained constituents wise, the method to make decisions jointly on a number of dependant characters was co-opted. The final score is an indicator of the relative superiority of the accessions in terms of the biochemical constituents of rind. The accessions were categorized for various end uses based on the score obtained for each constituent. The variation in biochemical composition may be due to inherent genetic character of the tree as also the geographic location and management practices followed. Based on the composition, the nutmeg rind, which at present is discarded as a farm waste, could be utilized for value addition in the food, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical sectors

Analysis of factors determining thermal changes at osteotomy site in dental implant placement - An in-vitro study

Heat generation during osteotomy site preparation is a crucial factor that determines the success of dental implant placement. Among the factors that affect the heat generation, drilling speed, hand pressure and coolant temperature are independent variab

Efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging in assessment of myometrial invasion of carcinoma endometrium

Background: Endometrial carcinoma is the fourth most common cancer in females and the most common malignancy of the female reproductive tract. The prognosis of endometrial carcinoma depends on a number of factors, including stage, depth of myometrial invasion, lympho-vascular invasion, nodal status and histologic grade. Preoperative assessment with MRI is essential for planning surgery and lymph node sampling. The objectives of this study were to determine the myometrial invasion of endometrial carcinoma by MRI and to obtain histopathology in surgically resected specimen, to compare the MRI findings of myometrial invasion in endometrial carcinoma with histopathology in respectable cases.Methods: Authors analyzed 41 cases in whom, histopathological diagnosis of carcinoma endometrium was established by means of pre-treatment biopsy. Consenting patients were taken up for preoperative MRI FIGO staging. MR images were reviewed for parameters like depth of myometrial invasion. Further surgical management followed by histopathological FIGO staging was done.Results: The study showed MRI was highly sensitive and specific tool for identifying depth of myometrial invasion, cervical invasion, serosal invasion, vaginal and parametrial invasion.Conclusions: There was statistically significant difference between histopathological and MRI assessment of local invasion of endometrial carcinoma

Morbidity Pattern Among The Geriatric Population In South India: An Observational Study

Introduction: India, the second most populous country in the world is expected to have an increase in geriatric population of 37% by 2051.Along with the rise in geriatric population there is also a rise in geriatric related morbidity which requires special attention and care.Methods: This was a community-based study, consisting of house to house survey of all people aged 65 years and above in Ernakulam district. Residents of Ernakulam district who are ambulant and above the age of 65 years formed the study population of this study. Subjects aged 65 years and above were selected for the study using multi stage stratified random cluster sampling method. A total of 1000 samples were collected.Results: Among the 1000 study subjects, 342(34.2%) were diabetic 768(76.8%) were hypertensive and 248(24.8%) were suffering from dyslipidemia. Hypertension (76.8%) followed by visual impairment (59.4%)and knee pain (56.5%) were the most common comorbidities in the present study population.Conclusion: The incidence of all the study parameters among the elderly population was very high in comparison with studies from other parts of India. A substantial impact on this burden, unique preventive health care strategies specific to the elderly need to be clearly formulated and tested

Epidemiology and outcome of burn injuries in tertiary care hospital of Northern India

Background: Burns represent a serious problem around the world especially in low and middle income countries. The aim of this study was to determine epidemiological characteristics, causes and mortality rate of burn deaths in tertiary care hospital of N India as well as to guide future education and prevention programs.Methods: A one year cross-sectional study of all burn patients admitted in Dr. RPGMC Tanda, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India was conducted between January 2014-December 2014.Results: Our study revealed that type II (absence of sutural bones) was commoner than type I (presence of type I) asterion. Total of 210 burn injury patients were admitted majority were males[54.5%] and females were [45.5%] males sustained burn injuries mostly at their work place with electric burns whereas females sustained burn injuries at home with cooking appliances.Conclusions: Burn injuries can be reduced by bringing about regulations to develop safer cooking appliances, promoting less inflammable fabrics to be worn out at home and educating the community especially women.

Antibiotic prescriptions for oral diseases in India: evidence from national prescription data

Introduction: The key objective of this research was to describe the prescription rate of various antibiotics for dental problems in India and to study the relevance of the prescriptions by analysing antibiotic types associated with different dental diagnoses, using a large-scale nationally representative dataset. Methods: We used a 12-month period (May 2015 to April 2016) medical audit dataset from IQVIA (formerly IMS Health). We coded the dental diagnosis provided in the medical audit data to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11) and the prescribed antibiotics for the diagnosis to the Anatomic Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) -2020 classification of the World Health Organization. The primary outcome measure was the medicine prescription rate per 1,000 persons per year (PRPY1000). Results: Our main findings were—403 prescriptions per 1,000 persons per year in the year 2015 -2016 for all dental ailments. Across all ATC level 1 classification, ‘Diseases of hard tissues’ made up the majority of the prescriptions. ‘Beta-lactam’, ‘Penicillin,’ and ‘Cephalosporins’ were the most commonly prescribed antibiotics for dental diagnoses followed by ‘Macrolides’ and ‘Quinolones’. ‘Dental caries’, ‘Discoloration of tooth’, and ‘Toothache’ were the most common reasons for ‘Beta-Lactams’ and ‘Penicillin’ prescriptions. Conclusion: To conclude our study reports first ever country (India) level estimates of antibiotic prescription by antibiotic classes, age groups, and ICD-11 classification for dental ailments

Multimorbidity, healthcare use and catastrophic health expenditure by households in India: a cross-section analysis of self-reported morbidity from national sample survey data 2017–18

Background: The purpose of this research is to generate new evidence on the economic consequences of multimorbidity on households in terms of out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures and their implications for catastrophic OOP expenditure. Methods: We analyzed Social Consumption Health data from National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) 75th round conducted in the year 2017–2018 in India. The sample included 1,13,823 households (64,552 rural and 49,271 urban) through a multistage stratified random sampling process. Prevalence of multimorbidity and related OOP expenditure were estimated. Using Coarsened Exact Matching (CEM) we estimated the mean OOP expenditure for individuals reporting multimorbidity and single morbidity for each episode of outpatient visits and hospital admission. We also estimated implications in terms of catastrophic OOP expenditure for households. Results: Results suggest that outpatient OOP expenditure is invariably lower in the presence of multimorbidity as compared with single conditions of the selected Non-Communicable Diseases(NCDs) (overall, INR 720 [USD 11.3] for multimorbidity vs. INR 880 [USD 14.8] for single). In the case of hospitalization, the OOP expenditures were mostly higher for the same NCD conditions in the presence of multimorbidity as compared with single conditions, except for cancers and cardiovascular diseases. For cancers and cardiovascular, OOP expenditures in the presence of multimorbidity were lower by 39% and 14% respectively). Furthermore, around 46.7% (46.674—46.676) households reported incurring catastrophic spending (10% threshold) because of any NCD in the standalone disease scenario which rose to 63.3% (63.359–63.361) under the multimorbidity scenario. The catastrophic implications of cancer among individual diseases was the highest. Conclusions: Multimorbidity leads to high and catastrophic OOP payments by households and treatment of high expenditure diseases like cancers and cardiovascular are under-financed by households in the presence of competing multimorbidity conditions. Multimorbidity should be considered as an integrated treatment strategy under the existing financial risk protection measures (Ayushman Bharat) to reduce the burden of household OOP expenditure at the country level.Publication Funding was obtained from Research England Policy Impact Fund Grant given by Queen Mary University of London

Single locus genotyping to track Leishmania donovani in the Indian subcontinent: Application in Nepal

Background We designed a straightforward method for discriminating circulating Leishmania populations in the Indian subcontinent (ISC). Research on transmission dynamics of visceral leishmaniasis (VL, or Kala-azar) was recently identified as one of the key research priorities for elimination of the disease in the ISC. VL in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal is caused by genetically homogeneous populations of Leishmania donovani parasites, transmitted by female sandflies. Classical methods to study diversity of these protozoa in other regions of the world, such as microsatellite typing, have proven of little use in the area, as they are not able to discriminate most genotypes. Recently, whole genome sequencing (WGS) so far identified 10 different populations termed ISC001-ISC010. Methodology / Principle findings As an alternative to WGS for epidemiological or clinical studies, we designed assays based on PCR amplification followed by dideoxynucleotide sequencing for identification of the nonrecombinant genotypes ISC001 up to ISC007. These assays were applied on 106 parasite isolates collected in Nepal between 2011 and 2014. Combined with data from WGS on strains collected in the period 2002–2011, we provide a proof-of-principle for the application of genotyping to study treatment outcome, and differential geographic distribution. Conclusions / Significance Our method can aid in epidemiological follow-up of visceral leishmaniasis in the Indian subcontinent, a necessity in the frame of the Kala-azar elimination initiative in the region