Evaluation of The Food Effect On a Drospirenone Only Contraceptive Containing 4 mg Administered With and Without High-Fat Breakfast

Background:The objective of the present trial was to assess the difference in pharmacokinetics of an oral test preparation containing 4 mg drospirenone. under fasting conditions compared to food intake after single dose administration.Methods:Open label, single centre, two-treatment, two-sequence, crossover study in 24 healthy female volunteers, with duration of 1 day per sequence and with a real wash-out period of 14 days to investigate the relative bioavailability of DRSP with both forms of administration. The 90% confidence intervals were calculated for the intra-individual ratio (test with food vs. without food) of the pharmacokinetic endpoints AUC(0-72h) and Cmax of drospirenone. Results:The 90% CI calculated by means of ANOVA-log for the endpoint, intra-individual ratio (Test ‘A’ = with food intake) vs. Test ‘B’ = without food intake) of AUC(0-72h) of drospirenone was between 104.72% and 111.36%. The 90% CI calculated by means of ANOVA- log for the endpoint intra-individual ratio (Test ‘A’ vs. Test ‘B’) of Cmax of drospirenone was between 118.58% and 141.10%.The mean relative bioavailability of the Test with food ‘A’ compared to the Test without food ‘B’ after single dose administration based on the endpoints AUC(0-72h) was 107.99%; for the endpoint Cmax it was 129.35%.Conclusions:The rate of absorption, based on the endpoint Cmax of drospirenone was increased by about 30% under fed conditions which differs to a COC containing 0,02 mg EE and 3 mg drospirenone in a 24/4 regimen where the rate of absorption was reduced by about 40% for both components. Implications: Our results suggest that the food intake has no impact on the absorption of 4 mg drospirenone in the management for contraception.This raises up the contraceptive efficacy as no interference with food is expected in real life use when consuming the oral formulation

Clinical versus Dental Laboratory Survey Regarding Modern Fixed Implant Supported Prosthetic in Romania

(1) Background: The success of prosthetic treatment with implant support depends on the combined effort of the team doctor-technician, each of them being responsible for the validation of execution stages. (2) Methods: we composed an online questionnaire with 18 multiple choice questions, using the Google Forms application. It was filled out by an equal number of prosthodontic specialists and dental technicians. Differences and associations were evaluated by Likelihood Ratio test, Linear by Linear association test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, Pearson Chi-Square test and the Fisher’s Exact test. (3) Results: Differences and similarities were found between the statements of prosthodontic specialists and dental technicians. Years of experience are correlated with the number of restorations, impression techniques and types of restoration (p ≤ 0.05). Similar answers for both groups were registered for preferred screw retained type of prosthetic abutment and most frequently reported complications. (4) Conclusions: The different perspectives of the two members of the prosthodontic team regarding the leading role in the treatment plan, type of abutment, impression technique and prosthetic design of implant fixed restorations has been revealed in our study. Similar education curricula and standards for continuing training courses after graduation are necessary for prosthodontic specialists and technicians in Romania.

Optimal Tests for Combining p-Values

Combining information (p-values) obtained from individual studies to test whether there is an overall effect is an important task in statistical data analysis. Many classical statistical tests, such as chi-square tests, can be viewed as being a p-value combination approach. It remains challenging to find powerful methods to combine p-values obtained from various sources. In this paper, we study a class of p-value combination methods based on gamma distribution. We show that this class of tests is optimal under certain conditions and several existing popular methods are equivalent to its special cases. An asymptotically and uniformly most powerful p-value combination test based on constrained likelihood ratio test is then studied. Numeric results from simulation study and real data examples demonstrate that the proposed tests are robust and powerful under many conditions. They have potential broad applications in statistical inference.

Risk Factors of Stunting in Toddlers in the Work Area Health Center Bone Rombo

The incidence of stunting in toddlers aged 24-59 months at the Bone Rombo Health Center in 2018 was 18.12% and in 2019 it was 19.01%. The study aims to determine the risk factors for stunting in children aged 24-59 months in the work area at the Bone Rombo Health Center. This research is a quantitative research with Case-Control design. The population in this study were 45 children under five with a sample size of 31, with a comparison of the case sample and control sample 1:1. Data collection through microtoice measurements and scales, as well as questionnaires. Analysis using the Odds Ratio test. The results showed that nutritional status with an OR value=5.769, birth weight with an OR value=6.314, breastfeeding status with an OR value=4.552, family economic status obtained an OR value=4.444. The conclusion of the study is that nutritional status, birth weight, breastfeeding status, and economic status are risk factors for stunting in children aged 24-59 months at the Bone Rombo Health Center. It is recommended for parents to always pay attention to the nutritional balance for children through fulfilling nutrition from an early age starting from the mother's pregnancy and giving exclusive breastfeeding to prevent stunting.

Embedded System Intelligent Platform Design Based on Digital Multimedia Artistic Design

With the ever-changing times, technological progress, media transformation, and innovation, the soil for the growth of digital media art has been cultivated. The rapid development of the mobile Internet combines multimedia communications such as pictures, text, audio, video, and data, which greatly enriches people’s life experience. Embedded systems have strong processing capabilities, small size, and convenient use. In recent years, they have become the mainstream of multimedia research. Therefore, this paper proposes a research on the design of an embedded system intelligent platform based on digital multimedia artistic design. This paper adopts the literature research method to study the development and evolution of digital multimedia and the characteristics and applications of embedded systems and other related theoretical research and design an embedded system intelligent platform based on the artistic design of digital multimedia, from software and hardware design and application The platform design research is carried out in three aspects of the program, and the effect comparison of system’s scheduling test, real-time test, peak signal-to-noise ratio test, and digital multimedia art design is analyzed. The experimental results show that when the pixel values are the same (both are 6), the signal-to-noise ratio of this method reaches 48.5, which is higher than the output value of other method platforms, and the system setting performance is better.

Factors of parental COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: A cross sectional study in Japan

The eligibility of COVID-19 vaccines has been expanded to children aged 12 and above in several countries including Japan, and there is a plan to further lower the age. This study aimed to assess factors related to parental COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. A nationwide internet-based cross-sectional study was conducted between May 25 and June 3, 2021 in Japan. The target population was parents of children aged 3–14 years who resided in Japan, and agreed to answer the online questionnaire. Parental COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (their intention to vaccinate their child) and related factors were analyzed using logistic regression models. Interaction effects of gender of parents and their level of social relationship satisfaction related to parental vaccine hesitancy was tested using log likelihood ratio test (LRT). Social media as the most trusted information source increased parental vaccine hesitancy compared to those who trusted official information (Adjusted Odds Ratio: aOR 2.80, 95% CI 1.53–5.12). Being a mother and low perceived risk of infection also increased parental vaccine hesitancy compared to father (aOR 2.43, 95% CI 1.57–3.74) and those with higher perceived risk of infection (aOR 1.55, 95% CI 1.04–2.32) respectively. People with lower satisfaction to social relationships tended to be more hesitant to vaccinate their child among mothers in contrast to fathers who showed constant intention to vaccinate their child regardless of the level of satisfaction to social relationship (LRT p = 0.021). Our findings suggest that dissemination of targeted information about COVID-19 vaccine by considering means of communication, gender and people who are isolated during measures of social distancing may help to increase parental vaccine acceptance.

AtheroSpectrum Reveals Novel Macrophage Foam Cell gene Signatures Associated with Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Background: While several interventions can effectively lower lipid levels in people at risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), cardiovascular event (CVE) risks remain, suggesting an unmet medical need to identify factors contributing to CVE risk. Monocytes and macrophages play central roles in atherosclerosis, but previous work has yet to provide a detailed view of macrophage populations involved in increased ASCVD risk. Methods: A novel macrophage foaming analytics tool, AtheroSpectrum, was developed using two quantitative indices depicting lipid metabolism and the inflammatory status of macrophages. Next, a machine-learning algorithm was developed to analyze gene expression patterns in the peripheral monocyte transcriptome of Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis participants (MESA-set1, n=911). A list of 30 genes was generated and integrated with traditional risk factors to create an ASCVD risk prediction model (CR-30), which was subsequently validated in the remaining MESA-set2 (n=228); performance of CR-30 was also tested in two independent human atherosclerotic tissue transcriptome datasets (GTEx and GSE43292). Results: Using single-cell transcriptomic profiles (GSE97310, GSE116240, GSE97941, FR-FCM-Z23S), AtheroSpectrum detected two distinct programs in plaque macrophages: homeostatic-foaming and inflammatory pathogenic-foaming, the latter was positively associated with severity of atherosclerosis in multiple studies. A pool of 2209 pathogenic foaming genes was extracted and screened to select a subset of 30 genes correlated with CVE in MESA-set1. A CVD risk score model (CR-30) was then developed by incorporating this gene-set with traditional variables sensitive to CVE in MESA-set1 after cross-validation generalizability analysis. The performance of CR-30 was then tested in MESA-set2 (p=2.60×10 −4 , AUC=0.742), and two independent datasets (GTEx, p=7.32×10 −17 , AUC=0.664; GSE43292, p=7.04×10 −2 , AUC=0.633). Model sensitivity tests confirmed the contribution of the 30-gene panel to the prediction model (likelihood ratio test, df=31, p=0.03). Conclusions: Our novel computational program (AtheroSpectrum) identified a specific gene expression profile associated with inflammatory macrophage foam cells. A subset of 30 genes expressed in circulating monocytes jointly contributed to prediction of symptomatic atherosclerotic vascular disease. Incorporating a pathogenic foaming gene-set with known risk factors can significantly strengthen the power to predict ASCVD risk. Our programs may facilitate both mechanistic investigations and development of therapeutic and prognostic strategies for ASCVD risk.