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Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Noda

Aiming to identify the potentially reduced malaria cases by stagnation of international traffic after the COVID-19 pandemic, a longitudinal analysis of malaria cases as well as entries of Japanese and foreigners was conducted using data from 5 April 1999 to 30 September 2021 in Japan. Multivariable risk ratios were calculated with the Poison regression model as a predictive model of malaria cases by the number of entries for Japanese and foreigners. A generalized regression model was used to examine an association of time trend with entries for Japanese and foreigners using data before 2019, to estimate the potentially reduced number of entries after 2020. The potentially reduced number of malaria cases was estimated by the potentially reduced number of entries for Japanese and foreigners after 2020 using a multivariable Poison regression model. The multivariable risk ratio (95% confidence intervals) of malaria case numbers per 100,000 persons increment of entries per day was 3.41 (1.50–7.77) for Japanese and 1.47 (0.92–2.35) for foreigners. During 2020, a potential reduction of 28 (95% confidence limit: 22–34) malaria cases was estimated, which accounted for 58% (52–63%) of malaria cases in Japan. These finding suggest that the stagnation of international traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the number of malaria cases in Japan. This model may be helpful for countries without indigenous malaria to predict future trends of imported malaria cases.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anteneh Wondimu ◽  
Yehualashet Bayu

Abstract Gastrointestinal parasites and their anthelmintic resistance are major constraints to goat production in Ethiopia. Experimental investigation by faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) and larval cultures were used to assess the occurrence of anthelmintic resistance in naturally infected goats with gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) in Haramaya, Ethiopia. One hundred goats with a minimum of 150 eggs per gram (EPG) count were selected and randomly divided into five groups; 20 goats in each group; four treated and one untreated group. The result of the faecal egg count reduction test percentage (FECRT%) and the lower 95% confidence limit showed the presence of anthelmintic resistance for all tested drugs except tetramisole. FECRT% and lower 95% confidence limit were 69.9% and 36.9 for albendazole, 84.3% and 66.1 for tetraclozan, 95.7% and 87.4 for tetramisole and 71.1% and 38.2 for ivermectin respectively. Trichostrongylus, Teladorsagia and Haemonchus showed anthelmintic resistance for tested drugs. Coproculture from different treatment group revealed Trichostrongylus (69.2% in ivermectin and 59.6% in albendazole) were the predominant nematode followed by Teladorsagia (21.9% in albendazole and 14.7% in ivermectin). In tetraclozan treatment group, Trichostrongylus (42%) and Teladorsagia (41.3%) were comparable, followed by Haemonchus (13%). In group treated with tetramisole, Teladorsagia (54.3%) were the most frequently detected nematode followed by Trichostrongylus (25.7%) and Haemonchus (11.4%). Therefore, this study demonstrated the presence of multi-drug resistant nematodes that may limit the productivity of goats. Moreover, further studies covering wider areas of Ethiopia and mechanisms of nematode resistance need to be studied in future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2145 (1) ◽  
pp. 012049
Author(s):  
R Supakulopas

Abstract Archaeological dating is crucial in archaeology as it is a key to understand human history. However, traditional dating methods used by archaeologists such as potassium-argon dating and luminescence dating can provide ambiguous age results, e.g., argon loss during the dating returns young apparent ages. Therefore, I plan to establish an archaeomagnetic secular variation (ASV) curve to resolve this problem and use the ASV curve as an alternative tool to date archaeological artefacts. However, archaeomagnetic data in Thailand are absent from literature. Therefore, the ASV curve cannot be constructed from the archaeomagnetic data for this locality. To provide archaeomagnetic data to construct the ASV curve, the directions of the Earth’s magnetic field recorded in kiln walls from Ban Ko Noi (KN123, age 1,370 ± 100 A.D.), Si Satchanalai were measured. The mean declination and inclination of 49.6° and 32.6° with 95% confidence limit of 5.4° were determined from 10 samples from kiln KN123. Mean directions from this study were also compared with the directions of the Earth’s magnetic field in Thailand during 1,370 A.D. from the global archaeomagnetic field model ARCH3k.1. Declination and inclination from this study show significant departure from the field predicted by the ARCH3k.1 model.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 11317
Author(s):  
Xia Cai ◽  
Liang Yan ◽  
Yan Li ◽  
Yutong Wu

Reliability performance, especially the lower confidence limit of reliability, plays an important role in system risk and safety assessment. A good estimator of the lower confidence limit of system reliability can help engineers to make the right decisions. Based on the lifetime of the key component in a typical satellite intelligent power distribution system, the generalized fiducial method is adopted to estimate the lower confidence limit of the system reliability in this paper. First, the generalized pivotal quantity and the lower confidence limit of reliability for the key component are derived for the lifetimes of the exponential-type and Weibull-type components. Simulations show that the sample median is more appropriate than the sample mean when the lower confidence limit of reliability is estimated. Moreover, the lower confidence limit of reliability is obtained for the typical satellite intelligent power distribution system through the pseudo-lifetime data of the metallic oxide semiconductor field effect transistor. The lower confidence limit of reliability for this power distribution system at 15 years is 0.998, which meets the factory’s reliability requirement. Finally, through the comparison, a hot standby subsystem can be substituted with a cold standby subsystem to increase the lower confidence limit of the system reliability.


2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 141-142
Author(s):  
Shane R Hernandez ◽  
Dylan B Davis ◽  
Jennifer J Tucker ◽  
Brent Credille ◽  
R Lawton Stewart

Abstract This experiment measured the effect of three different deworming strategies on animal performance and Egg per gram (EPG) reduction during a pre-conditioning phase of beef calves using a completely random block designed with n = 797 calves (Year 1 = 263 ± 39 kg; Year 2 = 257 ± 37 kg) randomly assigned to one of four treatments: orally suspended oxfendazole (1ml/55 kgs; ORAL), transdermal eprinomectin (1ml/10 kgs; POUR), both anthelmintic (BOTH), and no treatment (CONT). Weaned calves at four University of Georgia research stations (Calhoun, Alapaha, Eatonton, JPC) were blocked by weight, age, and sex. Calves were weighed at weaning prior to treatment d 0 and on d 42. Fecal samples were collected on d 0 and d 14 from 40 calves per treatment. Anthelmintic resistance was determined if percent EPG reduction and Upper 95% confidence limit were below 95% and the lower 95% confidence limit were below 90%. The ADG was lowest (P < 0.001) for CONT (0.262 kg/d) compared to POUR, ORAL, and BOTH (0.370, 0.412, and 0.387 kg/d, respectively) Anthelmintic resistance to POUR was detected at Eatonton and Alapaha (47.4% and 15.4% reduction respectively), and deemed inconclusive at JPC and Calhoun (51.1% and 50.3% reduction respectively). Only ORAL and BOTH effectively reduced EPG counts across all four research units (> 97.9% reduction). While the POUR option improved animal performance, it was not effective at reducing EPG within the herd. This study demonstrated that the ORAL and BOTH treatments increased ADG compared to CONT and were effective at reducing EPG counts; however, BOTH costs, on average, $3.00 more than ORAL. Producers must consider the cost of each option when choosing a deworming strategy. Based on these results, using orally suspended oxfendazole is a more economical, and effective options to treat parasites during a pre-conditioning phase.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Tsai ◽  
Elizabeth Traub ◽  
Kymberly Aoki ◽  
Kelsey Oyong ◽  
Heidi Sato ◽  
...  

We aimed to determine the percentage of COVID-19–associated hospitalizations reported to Los Angeles County (LAC) Public Health that might have been misclassified because of incidentally detected SARS-CoV-2. We retrospectively reviewed medical records from a randomly selected set of hospital discharges reported to LAC Public Health from August to October 2020 for a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 or a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result. Among the 13,813 discharges from 85 hospitals reported to LAC Public Health as COVID-19–associated hospitalizations from August to October 2020, 346 were randomly selected and reviewed. SARS-CoV-2 detection was incidental to the reason for hospitalization in 12% (95% confidence limit, 9%-16%) of COVID-19 classified hospital discharges. Adjusting COVID-19–associated hospitalization rates to account for incidental SARS-CoV-2 detection could help public health policymakers and emergency preparedness personnel improve resource planning.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Manzari ◽  
Cosimo Marzo ◽  
Eleonora Ammannito

Abstract While analyzing NIR-IR CRISM data on a site in Oxia Planum area, in the view of the ExoMars2022 mission, absorptions around 3.3 µm were noted in some pixel spectra. Absorptions in the range 3.1–3.6 mm are under the spotlight in planetary contexts since hydrocarbons molecules show bands in this range. Consequently, we started to search eventual hydrocarbon compounds on Mars surface, using CRISM data in the range 3.2–3.4 mm. To date, methane has been the unique hydrocarbon detected on Mars. Like other hydrocarbons, methane shows absorptions around 3.3 mm. Hence, we begun the investigation on CRISM data, on that locations where methane was detected and where it could form on the basis of the mineralogy of the specific site. The datasets chosen for this study include some sites of observations in Oxia Planum area, Gale Crater and Nili Fossae area. Beside the study of CRISM IR data, in the event that some observed absorptions were related to methane, we tried to calculate a theoretical lower limit of detection for each observation in CRISM data. This was performed using the Planetary Spectrum Generator, simulating the CRISM spectra of the different sites, with the diverse concentrations of CH4. These simulations served to establish the relation between concentration and methane band depths, as seen by CRISM spectrometer. Then, mapping the Modified Gaussian Model (MGM) fit on CRISM data, we extracted the band parameters of the absorptions in the 3.3 µm spectral region. Aside rare, suspected absorptions, an artifact was highlighted. Therefore, we took measures to avoid, as more as possible, this artifact from the interpretation of the 3.3 mm absorptions: distribution of clusters of pixels not vertically stacked and a rather conservative threshold on depth value. As result, we found interesting clusters of pixels which spectra overcome the imposed threshold. Furthermore, the threshold value varies from one observation to another, in a range between 0.0136–0.0237, that would correspond to a range of theoretical lower limits of concentration between 180 and 600 ppbv. Despite all the precautions, we consider that part of these absorptions could still be an artifact. Nevertheless, the aim of this paper is to show that CRISM data can show theoretically absorptions of hydrocarbons, and methane, in such quantities that in some observations are compatible with the order of the methane spikes effectively detected on Mars. Even if this work does not confirm nor deny the occurrences of methane seepages or hydrocarbons in the investigated images, it shows a possible method for searching hydrocarbons in CRISM data and for assessing a confidence limit in the detection methane band in CRISM data.


Author(s):  
Akash R. Murmu ◽  
Mubarak R.

Background: Serum ferritin is an acute phase protein and elevated levels of ferritin have been associated with the pathogenesis of many inflammatory infectious viral diseases. Dengue is a mosquito-borne tropical infection that caused by the dengue virus. TNFα and interleukin 1α, another proinflammatory cytokine, transcriptionally induce the H-chain of ferritin. Therefore, serum ferritin can be used as a prognostic marker for dengue severity.Methods: This is a case control study conducted between July 2017 to December 2018.Results: On the 3rd day of fever, the median values of serum ferritin in dengue, fever without warning signs, with warning signs, and severe dengue were 513.5 ng/ml, 1002 ng/ml and 2352.4 ng/ml respectively. On the 7th day of fever, the median values were 474 ng/ml, 900 ng/ml, and 2949 ng/ml respectively. Serum ferritin 1247 ng/ml on day 3 has a sensitivity of 96.4% and specificity of 91% for prediction of severity. Area under the curve for serum ferritin on day 3 was 0.963 (95% confidence limit: 0.934-0.991). Serum ferritin 1050 ng/ml on day 7 has a sensitivity of 98.2 % and specificity of 93% for prediction of severity. Area under the curve for serum ferritin on day 7 was 0.977 (95% confidence limit: 0.957-0.998).Conclusions: Elevation of serum ferritin was significantly seen in those with severe dengue. Serum ferritin can be used as a prognostic marker for dengue severity. Day 3 serum ferritin can be used as a prognostic marker for dengue severity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Orizola-Cáceres ◽  
Hugo Cerda-Kohler ◽  
Carlos Burgos-Jara ◽  
Roberto Meneses-Valdes ◽  
Rafael Gutierrez-Pino ◽  
...  

Abstract Background To validate the traditional talk test (TTT) and an alternative talk test (ATT; using a visual analog scale) in overweight/obese (OW-OB) patients and to establish its accuracy in determining the aerobic training zones. Methods We recruited 19 subjects aged 34.9 ± 6.7 years, diagnosed with overweight/obesity (BMI 31.8 ± 5.7). Every subject underwent incremental cycloergometric tests for maximal oxygen consumption, and TTT in a randomized order. At the end of each stage during the TTT, each subject read out loud a 40 words text and then had to identify the comfort to talk in two modalities: TTT which consisted in answering “Yes,” “I don’t know,” or “No” to the question Was talking comfortable?, or ATT through a 1 to 10 numeric perception scale (visual analog scale (VAS)). The magnitude of differences was interpreted in comparison to the smallest worthwhile change and was used to determine agreement. Results There was an agreement between the power output at the VAS 2–3 of ATT and the power output at the ventilatory threshold 1 (VT1) (very likely equivalent; mean difference − 1.3 W, 90% confidence limit (CL) (− 8.2; 5.6), percent chances for higher/similar/lower values of 0.7/99.1/0.2%). Also, there was an agreement between the power output at the VAS 6–7 of ATT and the power output at the ventilatory threshold 2 (VT2) (very likely equivalent; mean difference 11.1 W, 90% CL (2.8; 19.2), percent chances for higher/similar/lower values of 0.0/97.6/2.4%). Conclusions ATT is a tool to determine exercise intensity and to establish aerobic training zones for exercise prescription in OW-OB patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 503 (2) ◽  
pp. 2754-2762
Author(s):  
Nicolas Longeard ◽  
Nicolas Martin ◽  
Rodrigo A Ibata ◽  
Else Starkenburg ◽  
Pascale Jablonka ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present a new spectroscopic study of the faint Milky Way satellite Sagittarius II. Using multiobject spectroscopy from the Fibre Large Array Multi-Element Spectrograph, we supplement the data set of Longeard et al. with 47 newly observed stars, 19 of which are identified as members of the satellite. These additional member stars are used to put tighter constraints on the dynamics and the metallicity properties of the system. We find a low velocity dispersion of $\sigma _\mathrm{v}^\mathrm{SgrII} = 1.7 \pm 0.5$ km s−1, in agreement with the dispersion of Milky Way globular clusters of similar luminosity. We confirm the very metal-poor nature of the satellite ([Fe/H]$_\mathrm{spectro}^\mathrm{SgrII} = -2.23 \pm 0.07$) and find that the metallicity dispersion of Sgr II is not resolved, reaching only 0.20 at the 95 per cent confidence limit. No star with a metallicity below −2.5 is confidently detected. Therefore, despite the unusually large size of the system (r$_h = 35.5 ^{+1.4}_{-1.2}$ pc), we conclude that Sgr II is an old and metal-poor globular cluster of the Milky Way.


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