Prevalence of hepatopancreatic injury and clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19 in USA

Background (1) To determine the prevalence of hepatopancreatic injury in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. (2) To correlate hepatopancreatic injury in COVID-19 with mortality, disease severity, and length of stay in this cohort. Results Forty-five thousand three hundred sixty patients were included in the analysis, 62.82% of which had either hepatic or pancreatic injury. There was a significant upward trend in transaminases, alkaline phosphatase, prothrombin time, bilirubin, lactate dehydrogenase, and lipase and a downward trend in albumin with an increase in disease severity. COVID-19-positive patients with hepato-pancreatic injury have a significantly higher mortality (OR 3.39, 95%CI 3.15–3.65) after controlling for the differences in age, sex, race/ethnicity, liver cirrhosis, and medication exposures. They also have increased disease severity (OR 2.7, 95%CI 2.5–2.9 critical vs mild/moderate; OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.3–1.5 severe vs mild/moderate) and longer hospital length of stay (2 days). Conclusion COVID-19 can cause liver injury. Mortality, disease severity, and hospital length of stay are increased in COVID-19 patients with hepatopancreatic injury. Graphical Abstract

Prevalence of Hepatopancreatic Injury and Clinical Outcomes in Patients with COVID-19 in United States

Background: 1) To determine the prevalence of hepatopancreatic injury in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. 2) To correlate hepatopancreatic injury in COVID-19 with mortality, disease severity and length of stay in this cohort.Results: 45,360 patients were included in the analysis, 62.82% of which had either hepatic or pancreatic injury. There was a significant upward trend in transaminases, alkaline phosphatase, prothrombin time, bilirubin, lactate dehydrogenase and lipase and a downward trend in albumin with increase in disease severity. COVID-19 positive patients with hepato-pancreatic injury have a significantly higher mortality (OR 3.39, 95%CI 3.15-3.65) after controlling for the differences in age, sex, race/ethnicity, liver cirrhosis and medication exposures. They also have increased disease severity (OR 2.7, 95%CI 2.5-2.9 critical vs mild/moderate; OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.3-1.5 severe vs mild/moderate) and longer hospital length of stay (2 days).Conclusion: COVID-19 can cause liver injury. Mortality, disease severity and hospital length of stay are increased in COVID-19 patients with hepatopancreatic injury.

Tanggapan Alkitab dan Gereja Terhadap Faktor Pemicu Terjadinya Perceraian

The divorce rate in Indonesia is increasingly showing a significant upward trend. Therefore, this study aims to describe the factors of divorce, the response of Lakit and the church to the divorce. Divorce doesn't just happen. Divorce is triggered by various factors. These factors are used as justification for conducting a divorce. Those reasons are used as the basis for suing and carrying out a divorce. The Bible is against divorce. God hates divorce. God never designed a marriage for divorce. Biblical marriage is marriage for life. Marriage must be built on a strong foundation, namely love. Like the bond of love between Christ and His church, so is the bond of husband and wife in a marriage. The church is in line with the Bible / Word of God, does not tolerate divorce. The church must strive to prevent its people from divorcing. Because divorce does not solve problems, but in Christ and His love all problems that arise in marriage can be resolved. He is in Christ and in His love there must be a way out. The method used by researchers in this writing is descriptive qualitative by using literature sources that support the writing of this article. Hopefully the results of this research can be a reference for pastors and churches and people to solve every problem in marriage wisely so that it doesn't end in divorce. Angka perceraian di Indonesia semakin menunjuk tren peningkatan yang signifikan. Karena itu penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memaparkan faktor-faktor perceraian, tanggapan Alkitab dan gereja terhadap perceraian tersebut. Perceraian dipicu oleh berbagai faktor. Alasan-alasan itulah yang dijadikan sebagai dasar untuk menuntut dan melakukan perceraian. Alkitab menentang perceraian. Tuhan tidak pernah merancang sebuah pernikahan untuk perceraian. Pernikahan Alkitabiah adalah pernikahan seumur hidup. Pernikahan harus dibangun dasar yang kuat yaitu kasih. Seperti ikatan kasih antara Kristus dan jemaatNya. Gerejapun sejalan dengan Alkitab/Firman Allah, tidak mentolerir adanya perceraian. Gereja harus berjuang untuk menghindarkan umatnya dari perceraian. Sebab perceraian tidak menyelesaikan masalah, tetapi di dalam Kristus dan kasihNya semua persoalan yang muncul dalam pernikahan bisa diselesaikan. Adapun metode yang dipergunakan peneliti dalam penulisan ini adalah deskriptif kualitatif dengan menggunakan sumber-sumber literatur yang mendukung penulisan artikel ini. Kiranya hasil penelitian ini, dapat menjadi acuan bagi Pendeta dan gereja serta umat untuk menyelesaikan setiap masalah dalam pernikahan secara bijak sehingga tidak berakhir dengan perceraian.

Patterns and Progress of Peninsular Malaysia's Amphibian Research in the 21st Century (2000-2020)

We review the status, patterns, and progress of Peninsular Malaysia's amphibian research in the 21st century with the main goal of identifying areas for improvement that can help focus and prioritize future research initiatives. Between 2000-2020 we found 130 publications that can be broadly categorized into four groups: 1) checklists and biodiversity; 2) new species and taxonomy; 3) ecology and natural history; and 4) evolution and phylogenetics. An average of 6.5 papers was published per year and although the number of papers fluctuated, there was a significant upward trend in the number of papers published. Almost half (49%) of all papers published comprised checklists and biodiversity-related papers. This was followed by new species and taxonomy (25%, 33 papers), evolution and phylogenetics (14%, 18 papers), and ecology and natural history (12%, 16 papers). Amphibian research was conducted most frequently in the states of Kedah, Pahang, and Perak, and most infrequently in the states of Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor/Kuala Lumpur, Perlis, and Kelantan. Despite being a megadiverse country and a biodiversity hotspot, not a single conservation-centric paper has ever been published on Peninsular Malaysian amphibians, highlighting the urgent need for future research to focus on conservation.

Increase of Collectivistic Expression in China During the COVID-19 Outbreak: An Empirical Study on Online Social Networks

The pathogen-prevalence hypothesis postulates that collectivism would be strengthened in the long term in tandem with recurrent attacks of infectious diseases. However, it is unclear whether a one-time pathogen epidemic would elevate collectivism. The outbreak of COVID-19 and the widespread prevalence of online social networks have provided researchers an opportunity to explore this issue. This study sampled and analyzed the posts of 126,165 active users on Weibo, a leading Chinese online social network. It used independent-sample t-tests to examine whether COVID-19 had an impact on Chinese collectivistic value-related behaviors by comparing the usage frequency of personal pronouns, group-related words, and relationship-related words before and after the outbreak. Overall, most collectivist words exhibited a significant upward trend after the outbreak. In turn, this tendency pointed to a rising sense of collectivism (versus individualism). Hence, this study confirmed the pathogen-prevalence hypothesis in real settings, finding that an outbreak of an infectious disease such as COVID-19 could exert an impact on collectivism and may deliver a theoretical basis for psychological protection against the threat of COVID-19. However, further evaluation is required to ascertain whether this trend is universal or culture-specific.

THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE LOSS OF CAPACITY OF THE FOUM EL GHERZA DAM

The study of climate impacts takes on an importance in scientific research, particularly on water resources. The present study highlights the situation of the capacity of Foum El Gherza dam in relation to the observed climate changes. Located in an arid zone of south-eastern Algeria, this dam is a typical example of a region fragile to climate variability. The methodology adopted in this work is based on the analysis of the evolution of the climatic parameters (precipitation and evaporation) as well as the hydrological parameters (flow yields, and leaks) in relation to the losses of stored water volume of the studied dam. The monthly values of climatic and hydrological data contain a 60-year time series (1950 to 2010). The results obtained show that the losses in capacity coincide with the negative trend of precipitation. Thus, a significant upward trend in evaporation is responsible for the decline in the volumes of water stored within the dam. The correlation analysis expresses that the losses in capacity of the Foum El Gherza dam have a strong impact with leakage and with liquid inflows.

Epidemiologic trends of infants with orofacial clefts in a multiethnic country: a retrospective population-based study

Cleft births surveillance is essential in healthcare and prevention planning. Data are needed in precision medicine to target upstream management for at-risk individuals. This study characterizes Singapore’s population-based orofacial cleft topography by ethnicity and gender, and establishes the cleft cohort’s infant mortality rate. Data, in the decade 2003 to 2012, were extracted by the National Birth Defects Registry. Trend testing by linear regression was at p < 0.05 significance level. Prevalence per 10,000 for population-based cleft live births was 16.72 with no significant upward trend (p = 0.317). Prevalence rates were 8.77 in the isolated cleft group, 7.04 in the non-isolated cleft group, and 0.91 in the syndromic cleft group. There was significant upward trend in infants with non-isolated clefts (p = 0.0287). There were no significant upward trends in infants with isolated clefts and syndromic clefts. Prevalence rates were sexually dimorphic and ethnic-specific: male 17.72; female 15.78; Chinese group 17.17; Malay group 16.92; Indian group 10.74; and mixed ethnic origins group 21.73. The overall infant mortality rate (IMR) was 4.8% in the cohort of 608 cleft births, which was more than double the population-based IMR of 2.1% in the same period. Infants with non-isolated and syndromic clefts accounted for 96.6% of the deaths.

Export Trend of Ready Made Garments (RMG) Sector of Bangladesh

Ready-Made Garments (RMG) sector has greater importance than any other sector in Bangladesh in terms of growth, employment, foreign exchange earnings and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The objective of this study is to determine the export trend of the RMG sector in Bangladesh by using different trend models. To serve the objectives of the study, time-series data of RMG sectors has been used for the period 1985-2018. Among several trend models, the Semi-log Parabolic Trend model is found to be the best-fitted model for determining the trend of RMG exports. From the empirical results of the study, it is observed that RMG exports have a significant upward trend for the period 1985-2018 with a growth rate of 8.76 % in 2018. The forecasted RMG export will be nearly 31712.82 million USD in the financial year 2022-23. The findings of the study will help the government, NGO’s and policymakers to undertake necessary steps for the progress of this sector.

Trends and Variabilities of Thunderstorm Days over Bangladesh on the ENSO and IOD Timescales

Thunderstorms (TS) are one of the most devastating atmospheric phenomena, which causes massive damage and adverse losses in various sectors, including agriculture and infrastructure. This study investigates the spatiotemporal variabilities of TS days over Bangladesh and their connection with El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). The TS, ENSO and IOD years’ data for 42 years (1975–2016) are used. The trend in TS days at the spatiotemporal scale is calculated using Mann Kendall and Spearman’s rho test. Results suggest that the trend in TS days is positive for all months except December and January. The significant trends are found for May and June, particularly in the northern and northeastern regions of Bangladesh. In the decadal scale, most of the regions show a significant upward trend in TS days. Results from the Weibull probability distribution model show the highest TS days in the northeastern region. The connection between TS days and ENSO/IOD indicates a decrease in TS activities in Bangladesh during the El Niño and positive IOD years.

The incidence of central serous chorioretinopathy in the population of Kazan: Results of a retrospective epidemiological analysis for 2009–2018

Objective: To assess the incidence of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) through the example of a large industrial Russian city.Methods: A retrospective analysis of CSC of Kazan population for 2009–2018 has been done.Results: From 2019 to 2018, 831 new cases of CSC were registered in Kazan. A statistically significant upward trend with growth rate 105.2% and accession rate 5.2% was typical for the annual track record. The mean age of patients was 50 years, the minimum age was 14 years, the maximum age was 87 years. A statistically significant upward trend was detected in track record of incidence in groups of 30–39-year-old and 40–49-year-old. Seasonal increase of the incidence was recorded in February, March, April, October, and November.Conclusions: The upward trend and seasonal prevalence are typical for longterm morbidity of CSC in Kazan. The highest morbidity rate of CSC and statistically significant upward trend of its incidence in track record were recorded in the age of 30–39.