Insights Into Excess Mortality During the First Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic From a Rural, Demographic Surveillance Site in Bangladesh

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread globally, and the government of each affected country is publishing the number of deaths every day. This official figure is an underestimate as it excludes anybody who did not die in a hospital, who did not test positive, who had a false result, or those who recovered on their own without a test.Objective: This study aimed to measure the community level excess mortality using health and demographic surveillance in a rural area of Bangladesh.Method: The study was conducted in Matlab, in a rural area of Bangladesh, with a Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) covering a population of 239,030 individuals living in 54,823 households in 142 villages. We examined the mortality in January-April from 2015 to 2020 and compared the mortality in 2020 with the historical trend of 2015–2019. Between 2015 and 2020, we followed 276,868 people until migration or death, whichever occurred first. We analyzed mortality using crude mortality rate ratio (MRR) and adjusted MRR (aMRR) from a Cox proportional hazard model. Mortality was analyzed according to age, sex, and period.Results: During follow-up, 3,197 people died. The mortality rate per 1,000 person-years increased from 10 in 2019 to 12 in 2020. Excess mortality was observed among the elderly population (aged 65 years and above). The elderly mortality rate per 1,000 person-years increased from 80 in 2019 to 110 in 2020, and the aMRR was 1.40 (95% CI: 1.19–1.64). Although an increasing tendency in mortality was observed between 2015 and 2019, it was statistically insignificant.Conclusions: The study reported a 28% increase in excess deaths among the elderly population during the first months of the pandemic. This all-cause mortality estimation at the community level will urge policymakers, public health professionals, and researchers to further investigate the causes of death and the underlying reasons for excess deaths in the older age-group.

Well Log Petrophysical Analysis and Fluid Characterization of Reservoirs, Rio Del Rey Basin, Cameroon (West African Margin, Gulf of Guinea)

The quick-look and gas chromatography analyses were used for formation evaluation of four depth intervals in a well (well A) located within the offshore of the Rio Del Rey basin. The results show 3 water reservoirs (R1 to R3) and 1 hydrocarbon reservoir (R4). The quick-look reveals that the hydrocarbon (oil and gas) reservoir is a shaley sandstone or a radioactive sandstone located between 4898-4932 Mmd which is filled by oil and gas and with a good porosity. The chromatographic gas ratio analysis reveals that the hydrocarbon reservoir is filled by a productive gas which may be a wet gas. The result provided by the gas chromatography is a false result probably due to its limitation which is that the hydrocarbon component must exist at the gaseous phase (C1-C5) to be detected and analyzed. The gas chromatography based its analysis only in the C1 to C5 range, in oil we have from C1 to C8.

PCR Detection of HHV8 DNA in the Saliva of Removable Denture Wearers Compared to Dentate Cases in Shiraz, South of Iran

Background and aim. Removable dentures may act as reservoir for pathogens that can cause serious infections. Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) is an oncogenic virus that was found in the saliva more than genital secretions. Thus, this study was designed to evaluate HHV8 in the saliva of patients with removable dentures. Method and material. In this cross-sectional study from March-July 2019, saliva samples were collected from 50 denture wearers as a case group and 50 ages and gender matched dentate subjects as a control. Whole-mouth saliva, parotid saliva, buccal, and palatal exfoliates were collected and processed for HHV8-DNA amplification by nested PCR. A confirmatory real-time PCR was also performed in order to prevent false result. Result. In the denture wearers, HHV8 DNA was detected in 11 cases. Two of the controls amplified HHV8 DNA. Fisher’s exact test demonstrates a significant difference between virus infection and using removable dentures (p=0.015). Conclusion. Our findings suggested that HHV8 detection could be associated with use of denture.

How to objectively determine the color of beer?

Beer color is an important sensory attribute, the first one that the consumer observes. There are two standard methods accepted for determining the color of these products, one related to the European Brewery Convention (EBC) and the other is the Standard Reference Method (SRM). Both methods are based on absorbance, but in case of the more and more popular fruit beers these methods give false result since these products appear in varied colors and have different spectra than regular beers. In this study 39 different types of beers were investigated, including fruit beers and beer based mixed drinks to compare their color in CIE 1976 L*a*b* color space, absorption-based colors and transmission spectra. ΔE*ab values of products with less than 5% EBC difference ranged from 4.5 to 17.4. There were magnitude differences in the transmission spectra of these products, fruit beers showed different tendencies due to the added fruit or fruit juice. The highest ΔE*ab value belonged to two traditional Weissbiers. Absorption-based methods are not able in many cases to differentiate between products which have nearly the same EBC or SRM color but visually are different. A multi-wavelength method would be reasonable to be developed for more objective and accurate beer color determination.

False Negative D Vitamin Measurement in LC-MS/MS Method Due to Hyperlipidemia: Case Report

Background: Lipemia can influence laboratory test results by different mechanisms. Although the liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is considered the reference method for 25(OH)D3, some compounds (carbohydrate, lipids, proteins, etc.) in the blood may cause a false result indicating a negative or positive deviation rate from the correct blood level of the test. Case Report: In this paper, we report a case of D vitamin intoxication due to a false negative result caused by lipemia. A young woman with a complaint of pain in multiple joints applied to the physical therapy clinic and was found to have some cystic bone lesions. She was eventually diagnosed with DM tip 1, familial hyperlipidemia, and nephrolithiasis. Although she had D vitamin replacement therapy, low levels of blood 25(OH)D3 concentration, measured by an LC-MS/MS device, were detected. After blood dilution, a high level of 25(OH)D3 and blood intoxication due to lipid interference were indicated. Conclusion: From this case, we can conclude that analytical errors caused by the ingredients of a blood sample may lead to unnecessary treatment and intoxication. While evaluating the blood 25(OH)D3 levels, clinicians should guard against false-negative results due to interference in patients with familial hyperlipidemia.

What is BIM? A Need for A Unique BIM Definition

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has rapidly developed in the construction industry recently; it is also considered as one of the core concepts in the Industry 4.0. However, BIM understanding is always seen as a significant problem for BIM implementation. Therefore, this paper aims to provide the insights into BIM awareness of the construction practitioners with the focus on the BIM definition in the New Zealand construction industry where BIM is still in its early stages. 22 interviews were conducted with 26 construction experts holding important positions in their companies and having at least eight years’ experience in the industry. The results indicated that BIM has a variety of meanings to the interviewees. Four different definitions including Building Information Model, Building Information Modelling, Building Information Management, and Software/Technology were identified which was considered inappropriate, the fallacies of definition, for the construction industry. Also, most of the construction practitioners are seen as not well-aware of BIM, especially the SMEs. Furthermore, the results also indicated that the BIM survey potentially provided a false result at least regarding the BIM adoption rate in the New Zealand construction industry, which urges the BIM survey host to clarify the BIM definition before conducting the survey. The results of this paper are hoped to alarm the government and construction organizations to have a unique BIM definition for BIM development in New Zealand to ensure the consistent understanding among the industry.

Methods of Protecting the Distributed Computation in Multi-Agent System

Currently, there are many different approaches for organization of the distributed calculations in computer network technology grid, metacomputing (BOINC, PVM, and others). The main drawback of most existing approaches is that they are designed to create centralized distributed computing systems. In this article we propose to organize the solution of such problems as multivariate modeling, through the creation of distributed computations in computer networks based on decentralized multi-agent system. When used as a computing environment a computer network on a large scale can cause threats to the security of distributed computing from the intruders. One of these threats is getting the calculation about the result by the attacker. A false result can leads in the modeling process to adopt is not optimal or wrong decisions. We developed a method of protecting distributed computing from the threat of receiving false result.

Typological Safety of the Russian Language as the Necessary Condition of Cultural and Intellectual Self-Identification of the Russian Society

Phenomena characteristic for speech works of all functional styles of the modern Russian literary language, which are traditionally considered from the normative-didactic point of view: violation of case coordination, the appearance of the plural in abstract nouns, the non-identification of voice, the lack of correlation between the subject of the participial construction and the subject of the sentence etc. - are discussed by the authors of the article from the standpoint of modern systemic linguistics. The method of the systemic typology of languages used by researchers makes it possible to reveal a tendency to isolation that is firmly established in modern Russian speech. The deformation of the flectionality of the Russian language, caused by the growth of the cultural heterogeneity of the language collective, while preserving such parameters of the external determinant, which determines the inflectional grammatical type, as the size of the language collective and the communication mode, not only hampers the expression of complex meanings, but also makes them ultimately unclaimed in society, reducing the continuity in the transfer of socially significant experience. If the structures of relations between signs cease to be socially unified, the language collective loses the ability to reproduce and recognize the signs of the speech flow and associate them with certain components of the extra-linguistic thinking content. The external preservation of flexion and grammatical coordination in the event of a violation of the forecast function in the designation of cause-effect relationships of the developing event, does not indicate flexiveness, and therefore statistical methods for determining the degree of flexiveness will give a false result. An objective assessment of the language and socio-cultural situation in society and scientifically grounded adjustment of the language policy could be possible only on the base of research of the measure and nature of the discrepancy between the external determinant and the grammatical type of language.

Biometrics in Healthcare

Biometrics is the discipline to measure physical human characteristics for the identification and authentication of an individual. Since ancient times, people have used voice, face, and other characteristics for the identification of an individual. With evolution, we take the individual characteristics like fingerprint scans, retina and iris images, etc., as inputs to the computer systems and then store or verify them with existing records. This report discusses biometrics and its recent roles found in the field of healthcare, medicine, genetics, and biotechnology. It includes the concept of biometrics, the system used for biometric recognition and its working, types of biometric systems, the different system algorithms applied, and system modules which are well illustrated with flow charts and block diagrams. Some of the health institutes in developed countries have started using biometric systems for checking patients and/or doctors. Biometry has enabled the proper organization and storage of the health records of individuals in medical institutes. Biometric authentication is also finding a distinct role in foiling medical claims fraud highlighting the advantages it. Even after processing via a very accurate biometric system, there is a chance of a false result due to some disease or injury to the body part subjected to biometry or faulty system leading to some error. There is also a possibility that the biometric system may harm our bodies. Moreover, biometric records need really tight system security to prevent any kind of misuse. Biometrics has a great potential to find a lot more uses in the field of healthcare. Many ideas are being proposed for implementation. In the future, biometrics can be used to detect potential disease and risks by using methods like adiposity measurement and Gas Discharge Visualization (GDV).