scholarly journals Can lifestyle factors be the key in deciding the COVID-19 outcome?

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramakrishnan Angarai ◽  
Kanishka Sharma ◽  
B. N. Gangadhar
Keyword(s):  
Black Pepper ◽  
Medical Intervention ◽  
Processed Food ◽  
Breathing Exercises ◽  
Indian Gooseberry ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Excessive Consumption ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Sizable Number

The COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.3% and the death per million of 345 in India are better than the corresponding values in the USA and most of Europe despite better health infrastructure in these countries. The mean COVID fatality rate of Europe and a few countries in America is seven times that of India. This warrants a systematic study of the factors behind this conspicuous disparity. It is time to study lifestyle and other factors that may be related to recovery with minimal medical intervention or serious complications, leading to belated recovery and sometimes mortality. Obesity and excessive consumption of soft drinks, red meat and processed food may have a role to play in the European and American countries. On the other hand, the use of turmeric, black pepper, ginger in daily cooking, consumption of Indian gooseberry, Tulasi, different decoctions (Kashaya) and practice of various immune-boosting breathing exercises including yoga might have had a role in India. A detailed study involving a sizable number of cases of recovery and death in India, USA and some European countries will throw light on these factors behind the significant differences. The results shall provide crucial learning to the world for managing future waves and pandemics.

Quantitative analysis of static equilibrium in women after mastectomy

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-87
Author(s):  
Maciej Rachwał ◽  
Justyna Drzał-Grabiec ◽  
Katarzyna Walicka-Cupryś ◽  
Aleksandra Truszczyńska
Keyword(s):  
Mean Amplitude ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Foot Pressure ◽  
Locomotor System ◽  
Center Of Foot Pressure ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Posture Stability ◽  
Mastectomy Group ◽  
Better Than

Abstract Background: The post-mastectomy changes to the locomotor system are related to the scar and adhesion or to the lymphatic edema after amputation which, in turn, lead to local and global distraction of the work of the muscles. These changes lead to body statics disturbance that changes the projection of the center of gravity and worsens motor response due to changing of the muscle sensitivity. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the static balance of women after undergoing mastectomy. Methods: The study included 150 women, including 75 who underwent mastectomy (mean age: 60±7.6) years, mean body mass index (BMI): 26 (±3.6) kg/m2) and 75 who were placed in the control group with matched age and BMI. The study was conducted using a tensometric platform. Results: Statistically significant differences were found for almost all parameters between the post-mastectomy group and group of healthy women, regarding center of foot pressure (COP) path length in the Y and X axes and the mean amplitude of COP. Conclusions: First, the findings revealed that balance in post-mastectomy women is significantly better than in the control group. Second, physiotherapeutic treatment of post-mastectomy women may have improved their posture stability compared with their peers.

scholarly journals Heterobeltiosis in French Marigold (Tagetes patula L.)

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 182
Author(s):  
Kanwar Priyanaka ◽  
Y. C. Gupta ◽  
S. R. Dhiman ◽  
R. K. Dogra ◽  
Sharma Madhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rainy Season ◽  
Quantitative Traits ◽  
Block Design ◽  
Tagetes Patula ◽  
Male Sterile ◽  
Randomized Block Design ◽  
Parental Material ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Parental Lines ◽  
Better Than

<p>The studies on heterosis were carried with four male sterile lines namely; ms<sub>7</sub>, ms<sub>8</sub>, ms<sub>9,</sub> ms<sub>10</sub> and 18 diverse pollinators as tester by using line × tester crossing programme. The 72 F<sub>1</sub> hybrids were produced and evaluated along with 22 parental lines during summer 2009 and rainy season 2009 in Randomized Block Design. Observations were recorded on nine quantitative traits during both the seasons. Highly significant variances for all the traits indicated the sufficient variability in the parental material for all the characters under study. The performance of F<sub>1</sub> hybrids was much better than the mean performance of parents during both the crop seasons. Appreciable heterosis was observed in all the characters, except flower weight in summer and plant height in rainy season.</p>

The Race for Online Reputation: Implications for Platforms, Firms, and Consumers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingwen Yang ◽  
Zhiqiang (Eric) Zheng ◽  
Vijay Mookerjee
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Event ◽  
Marketing Mix ◽  
Digital Economy ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Online Reputation ◽  
Better Than

Online reputation has become a key marketing-mix variable in the digital economy. Our study helps managers decide on the effort they should use to manage online reputation. We consider an online reputation race in which it is important not just to manage the absolute reputation, but also the relative rating. That is, to stay ahead, a firm should try to have ratings that are better than those of its competitors. Our findings are particularly significant for platform owners (such as Expedia or Yelp) to strategically grow their base of participating firms: growing the middle of the market (firms with average ratings) is the best option considering the goals of the platform and the other stakeholders, namely incumbents and consumers. For firms, we find that they should increase their effort when the mean market rating increases. Another key insight for firms is that, sometimes, adversity can come disguised as an opportunity. When an adverse event strikes the industry (such as a reduction in sales margin or an increase in the cost of effort), a firm’s profit can increase if it can manage this event better than its competitors.

Important factors in the tracking of tropical cyclones in operational models

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Marchok
Keyword(s):  
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory ◽  
Surface Layers ◽  
Individual Parameter ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Parameter Configuration ◽  
Multiple Variables ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Tropical Cyclone Center ◽  
Multiple Configurations ◽  
Better Than

AbstractMultiple configurations of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory vortex tracker are tested to determine a setup that produces the best representation of a model forecast tropical cyclone center fix for the purpose of providing track guidance with the highest degree of accuracy and availability. Details of the tracking algorithms are provided, including descriptions of both the Barnes analysis used for center-fixing most variables and a separate scheme used for center-fixing wind circulation. The tracker is tested by running multiple configurations on all storms from the 2015-2017 hurricane seasons in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Basins using forecasts from two operational National Weather Service models, the Global Forecast System (GFS) and the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecast (HWRF) model. A configuration that tracks only 850 mb geopotential height has the smallest forecast track errors of any configuration based on an individual parameter. However, a configuration composed of the mean of eleven parameters outperforms any of the configurations that are based on individual parameters. Configurations composed of subsets of the eleven parameters and including both mass and momentum variables provide results comparable to or better than the full 11-parameter configuration. In particular, a subset configuration with thickness variables excluded generally outperforms the 11-parameter mean, while one composed of variables from only the 850 mb and near-surface layers performs nearly as well as the 11-parameter mean. Tracker configurations composed of multiple variables are more reliable in providing guidance through the end of a forecast period than are tracker configurations based on individual parameters.

Spinal Surgery During COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia

2021 ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Faisal Konbaz ◽  
Taif Alqahtani ◽  
Nada Alharthi ◽  
Mohammad Baraja ◽  
Nazish Masud ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hospital Admission ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Case Series ◽  
Medical Intervention ◽  
Care Hospital ◽  
Hospital Data ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Chi Square Test ◽  
The Mean ◽  
American Society

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the healthcare system’s capacities around the world. Due to the alarming situation, medical activities have been restricted to allocate resources to treat COVID-19-infected patients. However, medical emergencies still need urgent medical intervention. Considering the lack of reliable data regarding spinal surgeries during the COVID-19 pandemic, the present study sought to analyze the pattern of spinal surgeries in KSA. Methodology: A case series of patients who had urgent spine surgeries during COVID-19 pandemic was conducted in a tertiary care hospital. Data on patients’ demographics, COVID-19 test result, American Society of Anesthesia Score, SSS grade, diagnosis, and data related to surgery and postoperative findings were collected. All collected data were then processed and analyzed. Surgical outcomes based on source of admission were compared using Chi-square test. Result: A total of 63 patients who underwent spine surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic were included. The mean age of the patients was 53 ± 18 years and males were predominant (59%). The positive COVID-19 patients were 3%. Almost half of the patients were classified into ASA II. The majority were categorized into grade B (65%) according to SSS. The frequently diagnosed condition was fracture (33%), followed by spinal stenosis (18%) and metastatic (10%), while the most mentioned location was lumbar (61%). Postoperative complications were found in 11% of the patients. The readmission rate within 30 days, unplanned return to OR and ICU admission were 19%, 13%, and 11%, respectively. While the mean duration between admission and surgery was 8 ± 20 days, the mean duration of length of stay was 20 ± 29 days. Further, a significant association was seen between the admission source and the surgical procedure performed and surgical indication. Conclusion: It has been demonstrated that the surgical intervention was only provided to patients requiring immediate or urgent spinal management. However, the length of hospitalization and duration between hospital admission and surgery was substantially prolonged. Further studies are warranted to determine the factors leading to prolonged hospitalization and time between hospital admission and surgery.

scholarly journals Day-Ahead Forecasting of Hourly Photovoltaic Power Based on Robust Multilayer Perception

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Huang ◽  
Longpeng Cao ◽  
Nanxin Peng ◽  
Sijia Li ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Mean Squared Error ◽  
Absolute Error ◽  
Multilayer Perception ◽  
Squared Error ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Effectiveness And Efficiency ◽  
Mlp Network ◽  
Grid Operation ◽  
Better Than

Photovoltaic (PV) modules convert renewable and sustainable solar energy into electricity. However, the uncertainty of PV power production brings challenges for the grid operation. To facilitate the management and scheduling of PV power plants, forecasting is an essential technique. In this paper, a robust multilayer perception (MLP) neural network was developed for day-ahead forecasting of hourly PV power. A generic MLP is usually trained by minimizing the mean squared loss. The mean squared error is sensitive to a few particularly large errors that can lead to a poor estimator. To tackle the problem, the pseudo-Huber loss function, which combines the best properties of squared loss and absolute loss, was adopted in this paper. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method was verified by benchmarking against a generic MLP network with real PV data. Numerical experiments illustrated that the proposed method performed better than the generic MLP network in terms of root mean squared error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE).

Relation of blood-free to blood-inclusive postmortem lung water measurements in sheep

1985 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 592-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Collins ◽  
J. H. Newman ◽  
N. E. Wickersham ◽  
W. K. Vaughn ◽  
J. R. Snapper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Extravascular Lung Water ◽  
Weight Ratio ◽  
Lung Homogenate ◽  
Lung Water ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Space Expansion ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Linear Regressions ◽  
Better Than

Our purpose was to see if the postmortem weight ratio of extravascular lung water to blood-free dry lung (blood-free ratio) was related to similar ratios in blood-inclusive lung and in blood. We developed linear regressions of blood-free ratio on ratios for blood-inclusive lung and blood together and for blood-inclusive lung alone for 73 sheep studied under 11 different protocols and for two subgroups of sheep, one with plasma space expansion and the other without expansion. The relation of ratios of blood-free to blood-inclusive lungs was different between the two subgroups. Although all regressions were highly correlated, the fits of the blood-free ratio on ratios for blood-inclusive lung and blood together were better than for blood-inclusive lung alone. The mean error of prediction of extravascular lung water for all sheep was significantly less for the regression of blood-free ratio on ratios for blood and blood-inclusive lung together (11 g) than for blood-inclusive lung alone (18 g). This study shows that weights of lung homogenate and blood samples before and after simple oven drying can be used to provide accurate inexpensive estimates of postmortem extravascular lung water.

Dosage du Sr-90 dans l'eau des lacs et des rivières du Québec par précipitation avec l'oxine et comptage β

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 174-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Haddad ◽  
L. Zikovsky
Keyword(s):  
Detection Limit ◽  
Surface Waters ◽  
New Method ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Better Than

A new method for the determination of Sr-90 dissolved in surface waters has been developed. It is based on the precipitation of Sr with 8-hydroxyquinoline at pH 11.3 and counting of β particles with energy above 150 keV. The detection limit obtained is 0.5 mBq/L and the mean yield is 28%. The decontamination factors from other β emitters achieved are better than 10 000. This method has been used to measure the Sr-90 in 5 lakes and 5 rivers in Québec and activities ranging from 3 to 15 mBq/L were obtained. This new method is as efficient and reliable as conventional techniques while being less tedious.

scholarly journals Multiple drug resistance in hookworms infecting greyhound dogs in the USA

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo D. Jimenez Castro ◽  
Abhinaya Venkatesan ◽  
Elizabeth Redman ◽  
Rebecca Chen ◽  
Abigail Malatesta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Resistance ◽  
Multiple Drug Resistance ◽  
Infection Intensity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Post Treatment ◽  
Multiple Drug ◽  
Fecal Samples ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Β Tubulin

AbstractThe hookworm Ancylostoma caninum is the most prevalent nematode parasite of dogs. Recently, we confirmed multiple-drug resistance (MDR) in several A. caninum isolates to all anthelmintic drug classes approved for the treatment of hookworms in dogs in the United States (USA). Cases of MDR hookworms appear to be highly overrepresented in greyhounds, suggesting that the MDR worms evolved on racing greyhound farms/kennels. The aims of this study were to evaluate the range of drug-resistant phenotypes and genotypes of the A. caninum infecting greyhounds. Fecal samples from recently retired greyhounds originating from geographically diverse areas of the USA were acquired from two greyhound adoption kennels, one active greyhound racing kennel, and three veterinary practices that work with adoption kennels. Fecal egg counts (FECs) were performed on fecal samples from 219 greyhounds, and despite almost all the dogs having been treated with one or more anthelmintics in the previous two to four weeks, the mean FEC was 822.4 eggs per gram (EPG). Resistance to benzimidazoles and macrocyclic lactones were measured using the egg hatch assay (EHA) and the larval development assay (LDA) respectively. We performed 23 EHA and 22 LDA on either individual or pooled feces, representing 81 animals. Mean and median IC50 and IC95 values for the EHA were 5.3 uM, 3.6 uM, and 24.5 uM, 23.4 uM respectively. For the LDA, mean and median IC50 values were 749.8 nM, >1000 nM respectively. These values range from 62 to 68 times higher than those we measured in our susceptible laboratory isolates. Pre-treatment fecal samples could not be obtained, however, post-treatment samples representing 219 greyhounds were collected. For samples collected <10 days post-treatment with albendazole, moxidectin, or a combination of febantel-pyrantel-moxidectin, the mean FEC were 349, 333, and 835 EPG, respectively. Samples collected 10-21 days post-treatment with albendazole, moxidectin, or pyrantel, yielded mean FEC of 1874, 335, and 600 EPG, respectively. Samples collected >21 days post-treatment with albendazole or moxidectin yielded mean FEC of 1819 and 1117 EPG, respectively. We obtained DNA from hookworm eggs isolated from 70 fecal samples, comprised of 60 individual dogs and 10 pools from multiple dogs. Deep sequencing of the isotype 1 β-tubulin gene revealed the presence of the F167Y (TTC>TAC) resistance polymorphism in 99% of these samples, with 69% having ≥75% resistant allele frequency. No resistance-associated polymorphisms were seen at any of the other β-tubulin codons previously reported as associated with benzimidazole resistance in Strongylid nematodes. These clinical, in vitro, and genetic data provide strong evidence that racing and recently retired greyhound dogs in the USA are infected with MDR A. caninum at very high levels in terms of both prevalence and infection intensity.

scholarly journals Steroid switching in dystrophinopathy treatment: a US chart review of patient characteristics and clinical outcomes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica R Marden ◽  
Claudio Santos ◽  
Brian Pfister ◽  
Richard Able ◽  
Henry Lane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Clinical Outcomes ◽  
Clinical Characteristics ◽  
Chart Review ◽  
Patient Characteristics ◽  
Becker Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Slow Disease Progression ◽  
Primary Physician ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Mean

Aim: To describe reasons for switching from prednisone/prednisolone to deflazacort and associated clinical outcomes among patients with Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD and BMD, respectively) in the USA. Methods: A chart review of patients with DMD (n = 62) or BMD (n = 30) who switched from prednisone to deflazacort (02/2017–12/2018) collected demographic/clinical characteristics, reasons for switching, outcomes and common adverse events. Results: The mean ages at switch were 20.1 (DMD) and 9.2 (BMD) years. The primary physician-reported reasons for switching were ‘to slow disease progression’ (DMD: 83%, BMD: 79%) and ‘tolerability’ (67 and 47%). Switching was ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ effective at addressing the primary reasons in 90–95% of patients. Conclusion: Physician-reported outcomes were consistent with deflazacort addressing patients' primary reasons for switching.

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