| 1. |
- Ademuyiwa, Adesoji O., et al.
(författare)
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Determinants of morbidity and mortality following emergency abdominal surgery in children in low-income and middle-income countries
- 2016
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Ingår i: BMJ Global Health. - : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 2059-7908. ; 1:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Child health is a key priority on the global health agenda, yet the provision of essential and emergency surgery in children is patchy in resource-poor regions. This study was aimed to determine the mortality risk for emergency abdominal paediatric surgery in low-income countries globally.Methods: Multicentre, international, prospective, cohort study. Self-selected surgical units performing emergency abdominal surgery submitted prespecified data for consecutive children aged <16 years during a 2-week period between July and December 2014. The United Nation's Human Development Index (HDI) was used to stratify countries. The main outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality, analysed by multilevel logistic regression.Results: This study included 1409 patients from 253 centres in 43 countries; 282 children were under 2 years of age. Among them, 265 (18.8%) were from low-HDI, 450 (31.9%) from middle-HDI and 694 (49.3%) from high-HDI countries. The most common operations performed were appendectomy, small bowel resection, pyloromyotomy and correction of intussusception. After adjustment for patient and hospital risk factors, child mortality at 30 days was significantly higher in low-HDI (adjusted OR 7.14 (95% CI 2.52 to 20.23), p<0.001) and middle-HDI (4.42 (1.44 to 13.56), p=0.009) countries compared with high-HDI countries, translating to 40 excess deaths per 1000 procedures performed.Conclusions: Adjusted mortality in children following emergency abdominal surgery may be as high as 7 times greater in low-HDI and middle-HDI countries compared with high-HDI countries. Effective provision of emergency essential surgery should be a key priority for global child health agendas.
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| 2. |
- Lozano, Rafael, et al.
(författare)
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Measuring progress from 1990 to 2017 and projecting attainment to 2030 of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals for 195 countries and territories: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
- 2018
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Ingår i: The Lancet. - : Elsevier. - 1474-547X .- 0140-6736. ; 392:10159, s. 2091-2138
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Efforts to establish the 2015 baseline and monitor early implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight both great potential for and threats to improving health by 2030. To fully deliver on the SDG aim of “leaving no one behind”, it is increasingly important to examine the health-related SDGs beyond national-level estimates. As part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017 (GBD 2017), we measured progress on 41 of 52 health-related SDG indicators and estimated the health-related SDG index for 195 countries and territories for the period 1990–2017, projected indicators to 2030, and analysed global attainment. Methods: We measured progress on 41 health-related SDG indicators from 1990 to 2017, an increase of four indicators since GBD 2016 (new indicators were health worker density, sexual violence by non-intimate partners, population census status, and prevalence of physical and sexual violence [reported separately]). We also improved the measurement of several previously reported indicators. We constructed national-level estimates and, for a subset of health-related SDGs, examined indicator-level differences by sex and Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintile. We also did subnational assessments of performance for selected countries. To construct the health-related SDG index, we transformed the value for each indicator on a scale of 0–100, with 0 as the 2·5th percentile and 100 as the 97·5th percentile of 1000 draws calculated from 1990 to 2030, and took the geometric mean of the scaled indicators by target. To generate projections through 2030, we used a forecasting framework that drew estimates from the broader GBD study and used weighted averages of indicator-specific and country-specific annualised rates of change from 1990 to 2017 to inform future estimates. We assessed attainment of indicators with defined targets in two ways: first, using mean values projected for 2030, and then using the probability of attainment in 2030 calculated from 1000 draws. We also did a global attainment analysis of the feasibility of attaining SDG targets on the basis of past trends. Using 2015 global averages of indicators with defined SDG targets, we calculated the global annualised rates of change required from 2015 to 2030 to meet these targets, and then identified in what percentiles the required global annualised rates of change fell in the distribution of country-level rates of change from 1990 to 2015. We took the mean of these global percentile values across indicators and applied the past rate of change at this mean global percentile to all health-related SDG indicators, irrespective of target definition, to estimate the equivalent 2030 global average value and percentage change from 2015 to 2030 for each indicator. Findings: The global median health-related SDG index in 2017 was 59·4 (IQR 35·4–67·3), ranging from a low of 11·6 (95% uncertainty interval 9·6–14·0) to a high of 84·9 (83·1–86·7). SDG index values in countries assessed at the subnational level varied substantially, particularly in China and India, although scores in Japan and the UK were more homogeneous. Indicators also varied by SDI quintile and sex, with males having worse outcomes than females for non-communicable disease (NCD) mortality, alcohol use, and smoking, among others. Most countries were projected to have a higher health-related SDG index in 2030 than in 2017, while country-level probabilities of attainment by 2030 varied widely by indicator. Under-5 mortality, neonatal mortality, maternal mortality ratio, and malaria indicators had the most countries with at least 95% probability of target attainment. Other indicators, including NCD mortality and suicide mortality, had no countries projected to meet corresponding SDG targets on the basis of projected mean values for 2030 but showed some probability of attainment by 2030. For some indicators, including child malnutrition, several infectious diseases, and most violence measures, the annualised rates of change required to meet SDG targets far exceeded the pace of progress achieved by any country in the recent past. We found that applying the mean global annualised rate of change to indicators without defined targets would equate to about 19% and 22% reductions in global smoking and alcohol consumption, respectively; a 47% decline in adolescent birth rates; and a more than 85% increase in health worker density per 1000 population by 2030. Interpretation: The GBD study offers a unique, robust platform for monitoring the health-related SDGs across demographic and geographic dimensions. Our findings underscore the importance of increased collection and analysis of disaggregated data and highlight where more deliberate design or targeting of interventions could accelerate progress in attaining the SDGs. Current projections show that many health-related SDG indicators, NCDs, NCD-related risks, and violence-related indicators will require a concerted shift away from what might have driven past gains—curative interventions in the case of NCDs—towards multisectoral, prevention-oriented policy action and investments to achieve SDG aims. Notably, several targets, if they are to be met by 2030, demand a pace of progress that no country has achieved in the recent past. The future is fundamentally uncertain, and no model can fully predict what breakthroughs or events might alter the course of the SDGs. What is clear is that our actions—or inaction—today will ultimately dictate how close the world, collectively, can get to leaving no one behind by 2030.
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| 3. |
- Jabbar, Abdul, et al.
(författare)
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Epidemiology and antibiogram of common mastitis-causing bacteria in Beetal goats
- 2020
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Ingår i: Veterinary World. - : Veterinary World. - 0972-8988 .- 2231-0916. ; 13:12, s. 2596-2607
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and Aim: Mastitis has been identified as the most prevalent and economically imperative disease among dairy animals. Thus, understanding its common bacterial pathogens and risk factors is necessary to improve udder health at herd, region, or country level. However, scientific research on caprine mastitis, especially on Beetal breed, has remained to be insufficient in Pakistan. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the epidemiology and antibiogram assay of common mastitis-causing bacterial agents, that is, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, and Escherichia coli, in dairy goats.Materials and Methods: In total, 500 Beetal goats, irrespective of age and those that were not treated with any kind of antimicrobial agents during the past 120 h, were screened using California Mastitis Test in Pattoki, Kasur District, whereas epidemiological factors were recorded. The milk samples of mastitic goats were then collected and processed using standard methods. Each sample was primarily cultured on nutrient agar. Using a specific medium, each bacterial colony was separated using several streak methods. Six antibiotic disks belonging to different antibiotic groups were used for antibiogram profiling of bacterial isolates. Chi-square test was used to assess the association of baseline characteristics and mastitis occurrence. Meanwhile, multivariable logistic regression (p<0.001) was utilized to determine the risk factors associated with positive and negative dichotomous outcome of mastitis.Results: The results revealed that the overall prevalence of goat mastitis was 309 (61.8%), in which 260 (52%) and 49 (9.8%) cases were positive for subclinical mastitis (SCM) and clinical mastitis (CM), respectively. Streptococcus and E. coli were found to be the predominant isolates causing SCM and CM, respectively (p<0.001). It was observed that amoxicillin+clavulanic acid was highly sensitive to isolates of Staphylococcus and Streptococcus and ceftiofur sodium to isolates of Streptococcus and E. coli, while enrofloxacin was found to be sensitive to isolates of Streptococcus and E. coli. Risk factors such as herd structure, deworming, vaccination, presence of ticks, use of teat dip and mineral supplements, feeding type, age, parity, housing, blood in the milk, milk leakage, milk taste, and milk yield were found to have the strongest association with mastitis occurrence, while ease of milking has moderate association.Conclusion: In the area examined, cases of SCM were found to be higher compared with that of CM, and ceftiofur sodium has been identified as the preferred treatment in both clinical and subclinical forms of caprine mastitis in Beetal goats. Risk factors for mastitis that was identified in this study can form the basis for the creation of an udder health control program specific for dairy goats. We hope our findings could raise awareness of the risk factors and treatment approaches for common mastitis-causing bacterial agents.
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| 4. |
- Stanaway, Jeffrey D., et al.
(författare)
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Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
- 2018
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Ingår i: The Lancet. - 1474-547X .- 0140-6736. ; 392:10159, s. 1923-1994
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 comparative risk assessment (CRA) is a comprehensive approach to risk factor quantification that offers a useful tool for synthesising evidence on risks and risk-outcome associations. With each annual GBD study, we update the GBD CRA to incorporate improved methods, new risks and risk-outcome pairs, and new data on risk exposure levels and risk- outcome associations. Methods We used the CRA framework developed for previous iterations of GBD to estimate levels and trends in exposure, attributable deaths, and attributable disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), by age group, sex, year, and location for 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or groups of risks from 1990 to 2017. This study included 476 risk-outcome pairs that met the GBD study criteria for convincing or probable evidence of causation. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from 46 749 randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL), we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We explored the relationship between development and risk exposure by modelling the relationship between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and risk-weighted exposure prevalence and estimated expected levels of exposure and risk-attributable burden by SDI. Finally, we explored temporal changes in risk-attributable DALYs by decomposing those changes into six main component drivers of change as follows: (1) population growth; (2) changes in population age structures; (3) changes in exposure to environmental and occupational risks; (4) changes in exposure to behavioural risks; (5) changes in exposure to metabolic risks; and (6) changes due to all other factors, approximated as the risk-deleted death and DALY rates, where the risk-deleted rate is the rate that would be observed had we reduced the exposure levels to the TMREL for all risk factors included in GBD 2017.
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| 5. |
- Shakoor, Awais, et al.
(författare)
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A global meta-analysis of greenhouse gases emission and crop yield under no-tillage as compared to conventional tillage
- 2020
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Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 1879-1026 .- 0048-9697.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- No-tillage (NT) practice is extensively adopted with aims to improve soil physical conditions, carbon (C) sequestration and to alleviate greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions without compromising crop yield. However, the influences of NT on GHGs emissions and crop yields remains inconsistent. A global meta-analysis was performed by using fifty peer-reviewed publications to assess the effectiveness of soil physicochemical properties, nitrogen (N) fertilization, type and duration of crop, water management and climatic zones on GHGs emissions and crop yields under NT compared to conventional tillage (CT) practices. The outcome reveals that compared to CT, NT increased CO2, N2O, and CH4 emissions by 7.1, 12.0, and 20.8%, respectively. In contrast, NT caused up to 7.6% decline in global warming potential as compared to CT. However, absence of difference in crop yield was observed both under NT and CT practices. Increasing N fertilization rates under NT improved crop yield and GHGs emission up to 23 and 58%, respectively, compared to CT. Further, NT practices caused an increase of 16.1% CO2 and 14.7% N2O emission in the rainfed areas and up to 54.0% CH4 emission under irrigated areas as compared to CT practices. This meta-analysis study provides a scientific basis for evaluating the effects of NT on GHGs emissions and crop yields, and also provides basic information to mitigate the GHGs emissions that are associated with NT practice.
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| 6. |
- Abdullah, Muhammad Imran, et al.
(författare)
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Quantum Chemical Designing of Efficient Sensitizers for Dye Sensitized Solar Cells
- 2013
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Ingår i: Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society (Print). - : Korean Chemical Society. - 0253-2964 .- 1229-5949. ; 34:7, s. 2093-2098
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Density functional theory (DFT) was used to determine the ground state geometries of indigo and new design dyes (IM-Dye-1 IM-Dye-2 and IM-Dye-3). The time dependant density functional theory (TDDFT) was used to calculate the excitation energies. All the calculations were performed in both gas and solvent phase. The LUMO energies of all the dyes were above the conduction band of TiO2, while the HOMOs were below the redox couple (except IM-Dye-3). The HOMO-LUMO energy gaps of new design dyes were smaller as compared to indigo. All new design dyes were strongly red shifted as compared to indigo. The improved light harvesting efficiency (LHE) and free energy change of electron injection Delta G(inject) of new designed sensitizers revealed that these materials would be excellent sensitizers. The broken coplanarity between the benzene near anchoring group having LUMO and the last benzene attached to TPA unit in all new design dyes consequently would hamper the recombination reaction. This theoretical designing will the pave way for experimentalists to synthesize the efficient sensitizers for solar cells.
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| 7. |
- Ashraf, Waqar Muhammad, et al.
(författare)
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Artificial intelligence based operational strategy development and implementation for vibration reduction of a supercritical steam turbine shaft bearing
- 2022
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Ingår i: Alexandria Engineering Journal. - 1110-0168 .- 2090-2670. ; 61:3, s. 1864-1880
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The vibrations of bearings holding the high-speed shaft of a steam turbine are critically controlled for the safe and reliable power generation at the power plants. In this paper, two artificial intelligence (AI) process models, i.e., artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector machine (SVM) based relative vibration modeling of a steam turbine shaft bearing of a 660 MW supercritical steam turbine system is presented. After extensive data processing and machine learning based visualization tests performed on the raw operational data, ANN and SVM models are trained, validated and compared by external validation tests. ANN has outperformed SVM in terms of better prediction capability and is, therefore, deployed for simulating the constructed operating scenarios. ANN process model is tested for the complete load range of power plant, i.e., from 353 MW to 662 MW and 4.07% reduction in the relative vibration of the bearing is predicted by the network. Further, various vibration reduction operating strategies are developed and tested on the validated and robust ANN process model. A selected operating strategy which has predicted a promising reduction in the relative vibration of bearing is selected. In order to confirm the effectiveness of the prediction of the ANN process model, the selected operating strategy is implemented on the actual operation of the power plant. The resulting reduction in the relative vibrations of the turbine's bearing, which is less than the alarm limit, are confirmed. This cements the role of ANN process model to be used as an operational excellence tool resulting in vibration reduction of high-speed rotating equipment. (c) 2021 THE AUTHORS. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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| 8. |
- Goraya, Mohsan Ullah, et al.
(författare)
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Isolation of buffalo poxvirus from clinical case and variations in the genetics of the B5R gene over fifty passages
- 2015
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Ingår i: Virus genes. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0920-8569 .- 1572-994X. ; 51:1, s. 45-50
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Outbreaks of buffalopox affect udder and teats, which may ultimately lead to mastitis in dairy buffalo and can significantly compromise the production. In this study, we report isolation of buffalo poxvirus and sequence analysis of the B5R gene collected from the buffalo clinically suspected to be poxvirus infected. The virus was isolated on BHK-21 cell line and was passaged for 50 times, B5R gene was amplified and sequenced using gene-specific primers, and analyzed at both nucleotide and amino acid levels. Phylogenetically, the isolate can be classified close to the previously reported Pakistani and Indian isolates with certain level of differential clustering patterns. Three significant putative mutations (I2K, N64D, and K111E) were observed in the B5R protein. The K111E was common with previous human isolate from Karachi, Pakistan in 2005. These mutations differed from pox-viruses reported from the neighboring countries. Some deletion mutations were observed which were recovered in upcoming passages. The K111E mutation suggests potential to cause zoonotic infection in human all over the country.
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| 9. |
- Kalsoom, Aasia, et al.
(författare)
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In Vitro Evaluation of Cytotoxic Potential of Caladium lindenii Extracts on Human Hepatocarcinoma HepG2 and Normal HEK293T Cell Lines
- 2022
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Ingår i: BioMed Research International. - : Hindawi Limited. - 2314-6133 .- 2314-6141. ; 2022
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Data regarding the therapeutic potential of Caladium lindenii (C. lindenii) are insufficient. It becomes more important to explore plants as an alternative or palliative therapeutics in deadly diseases around the globe. The current study was planned to explore C. lindenii for its anticancer activity of ethanolic and hexane extracts of C. lindenii leaves against hepatic carcinoma (HepG2) and human embryonic kidney (HEK293T) cell lines. HepG2 and HEK293T cells were treated with 10, 50, 100, 200, and 400 μg/mL of ethanolic and hexane extracts of C. lindenii and were incubated for 72 h. Antiproliferative activity was measured by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl)-2,5-biphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, and percentage viability were calculated through crystal violet staining and cellular morphology by Floid Cell Imaging Station. The study showed ethanolic extract exhibiting a significantly higher antiproliferative effect on HepG2 (IC50=31 μg/mL) in a concentration-dependent manner, while HEK293T (IC50=241 μg/mL) cells showed no toxicity. Hexane extract exhibited lower cytotoxicity (IC50=150 μg/mL) on HepG2 cells with no effect on HEK293T (IC50=550 μg/mL). On the other hand, the percentage viability of HepG2 cells was recorded as 78%, 67%, 50%, 37%, and 28% by ethanolic extracts, and 88%, 80%, 69%, 59%, and 50% by hexane extracts at tested concentrations of both extracts. Toxicity assay showed significantly safer ranges of percentage viabilities in normal cells (HEK293T), i.e., 95%, 90%, 88%, 76%, and 61% with ethanolic extract and 97%, 95%, 88%, 75%, and 62% with hexane extract. The assay validity revealed 100% viability in the control negative (dimethyl sulfoxide treated) and less than 45% in the control positive (cisplatin) on both HepG2 and HEK293T cells. Morphological studies showed alterations in HepG2 cells upon exposure to >50 μg/mL of ethanolic extracts and ≥400 μg/mL of hexane extracts. HEK293T on the other hand did not change its morphology against any of the extracts compared to the aggressive changes on the HepG2 cell line by both extracts and positive control (cisplatin). In conclusion, extracts of C. lindenii are proved to have significant potential for cytotoxicity-induced apoptosis in human cancer HepG2 cells and are less toxic to normal HEK293T cells. Hence C. lindenii extracts are proposed to be used against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after further validations.
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| 10. |
- Asif, Muhammad, et al.
(författare)
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Comprehensive genomic analysis of Bacillus paralicheniformis strain BP9, pan-genomic and genetic basis of biocontrol mechanism
- 2023
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Ingår i: Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal. - : Elsevier B.V.. - 2001-0370. ; 21, s. 4647-4662
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many Bacillus species are essential antibacterial agents, but their antibiosis potential still needs to be elucidated to its full extent. Here, we isolated a soil bacterium, BP9, which has significant antibiosis activity against fungal and bacterial pathogens. BP9 improved the growth of wheat seedlings via active colonization and demonstrated effective biofilm and swarming activity. BP9 sequenced genome contains 4282 genes with a mean G-C content of 45.94% of the whole genome. A single copy concatenated 802 core genes of 28 genomes, and their calculated average nucleotide identity (ANI) discriminated the strain BP9 from Bacillus licheniformis and classified it as Bacillus paralicheniformis. Furthermore, a comparative pan-genome analysis of 40 B. paralicheniformis strains suggested that the genetic repertoire of BP9 belongs to open-type genome species. A comparative analysis of a pan-genome dataset using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Cluster of Orthologous Gene groups (COG) revealed the diversity of secondary metabolic pathways, where BP9 distinguishes itself by exhibiting a greater prevalence of loci associated with the metabolism and transportation of organic and inorganic substances, carbohydrate and amino acid for effective inhabitation in diverse environments. The primary secondary metabolites and their genes involved in synthesizing bacillibactin, fencing, bacitracin, and lantibiotics were identified as acquired through a recent Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) event, which contributes to a significant part of the strain`s antimicrobial potential. Finally, we report some genes essential for plant-host interaction identified in BP9, which reduce spore germination and virulence of multiple fungal and bacterial species. The effective colonization, diverse predicted metabolic pathways and secondary metabolites (antibiotics) suggest testing the suitability of strain BP9 as a potential bio-preparation in agricultural fields.
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| 11. |
- Micah, Angela E., et al.
(författare)
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Tracking development assistance for health and for COVID-19 : a review of development assistance, government, out-of-pocket, and other private spending on health for 204 countries and territories, 1990-2050
- 2021
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Ingår i: The Lancet. - : Elsevier. - 0140-6736 .- 1474-547X. ; 398:10308, s. 1317-1343
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background The rapid spread of COVID-19 renewed the focus on how health systems across the globe are financed, especially during public health emergencies. Development assistance is an important source of health financing in many low-income countries, yet little is known about how much of this funding was disbursed for COVID-19. We aimed to put development assistance for health for COVID-19 in the context of broader trends in global health financing, and to estimate total health spending from 1995 to 2050 and development assistance for COVID-19 in 2020. Methods We estimated domestic health spending and development assistance for health to generate total health-sector spending estimates for 204 countries and territories. We leveraged data from the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database to produce estimates of domestic health spending. To generate estimates for development assistance for health, we relied on project-level disbursement data from the major international development agencies' online databases and annual financial statements and reports for information on income sources. To adjust our estimates for 2020 to include disbursements related to COVID-19, we extracted project data on commitments and disbursements from a broader set of databases (because not all of the data sources used to estimate the historical series extend to 2020), including the UN Office of Humanitarian Assistance Financial Tracking Service and the International Aid Transparency Initiative. We reported all the historic and future spending estimates in inflation-adjusted 2020 US$, 2020 US$ per capita, purchasing-power parity-adjusted US$ per capita, and as a proportion of gross domestic product. We used various models to generate future health spending to 2050. Findings In 2019, health spending globally reached $8. 8 trillion (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 8.7-8.8) or $1132 (1119-1143) per person. Spending on health varied within and across income groups and geographical regions. Of this total, $40.4 billion (0.5%, 95% UI 0.5-0.5) was development assistance for health provided to low-income and middle-income countries, which made up 24.6% (UI 24.0-25.1) of total spending in low-income countries. We estimate that $54.8 billion in development assistance for health was disbursed in 2020. Of this, $13.7 billion was targeted toward the COVID-19 health response. $12.3 billion was newly committed and $1.4 billion was repurposed from existing health projects. $3.1 billion (22.4%) of the funds focused on country-level coordination and $2.4 billion (17.9%) was for supply chain and logistics. Only $714.4 million (7.7%) of COVID-19 development assistance for health went to Latin America, despite this region reporting 34.3% of total recorded COVID-19 deaths in low-income or middle-income countries in 2020. Spending on health is expected to rise to $1519 (1448-1591) per person in 2050, although spending across countries is expected to remain varied. Interpretation Global health spending is expected to continue to grow, but remain unequally distributed between countries. We estimate that development organisations substantially increased the amount of development assistance for health provided in 2020. Continued efforts are needed to raise sufficient resources to mitigate the pandemic for the most vulnerable, and to help curtail the pandemic for all. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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| 12. |
- Yaseen, Azeema, et al.
(författare)
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Dimensionality Reduction for Internet of Things Using the Cuckoo Search Algorithm : Reduced Implications of Mesh Sensor Technologies
- 2020
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Ingår i: Wireless Communications & Mobile Computing. - : WILEY-HINDAWI. - 1530-8669 .- 1530-8677. ; 2020
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The internet of things is used as a demonstrative keyword for evolution of the internet and physical realms, by means of pervasive distributed commodities with embedded identification, sensing, and actuation abilities. Imminent intellectual technologies are subsidizing internet of things for information transmission within physical and autonomous digital entities to provide amended services, leading towards a new communication era. Substantial amounts of heterogeneous hardware devices, e.g., radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, sensors, and various network protocols are exploited to support object identification and network communication. Data generated by these digital objects is termed as "Big Data" and incorporates high dimensional space with noisy, irrelevant, and redundant features. Direct execution of mining techniques onto such kind of high dimensionality attribute space can increase cost and complexity. Data analytic mechanisms are embedded into internet of things to permit intelligent decision-making capabilities. These notions have raised new challenges regarding internet of things from a data and algorithm perspective. The proposed study identifies the problem in the internet of things network and proposes a novel cuckoo search-based outdoor data management. The technique of the feature extraction is used for the extraction of expedient information from raw and high-dimensional data. After the implementation for the cuckoo search-based feature extraction, few test benchmarks are introduced to evaluate the performance of mutated cuckoo search algorithms. The consequential low-dimensional data optimizes classification accuracy along with reduced complexity and cost.
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| 13. |
- Yusuf, Muhammad Fakhrul, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring the Impact of Contingency Theory on Sustainable Innovation in Malaysian Manufacturing Firms
- 2023
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - 2071-1050. ; 15:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study looks at the impact of contingency theory on sustainable innovation in Malaysian manufacturing firms. A quantitative approach was used, with convenience sampling to select participants from a target population of Malaysian manufacturing employees. An online survey distributed via email was used to collect 101 sets of data for the study. PLS-SEM (Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling) was used to analyze the collected data. According to the findings, corporate sustainable support policies and sustainable incentives have a significant positive impact on sustainable innovation in Malaysian manufacturing firms, whereas top management commitment was found to be insignificant. Companies that prioritize sustainable practices through policies and incentives are more likely to promote sustainable innovation, according to the findings. As a result, businesses should prioritize developing these two attributes in order to foster sustainable innovation, thereby improving sustainability practices and contributing to the country’s long-term development goals. Future research should, however, investigate why top management commitment may not be a significant driver of sustainable innovation in Malaysian manufacturing firms.
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| 14. |
- Zaman, Musharaf, et al.
(författare)
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Prevalence of gaming addiction and its impact on sleep quality : A cross-sectional study from Pakistan
- 2022
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Ingår i: Annals of Medicine and Surgery. - : Elsevier. - 2049-0801. ; 78
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Gaming addiction has become a topic of increasing research interest worldwide but little research has been carried out in Pakistan.Aims: The present study assessed the prevalence of gaming addiction among a Pakistani sample of adults in the general population. It also explored the effects of online gaming addiction upon sleep quality.Method: A cross-sectional survey was carried out during a national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan. Using a convenience sampling technique, an online survey comprising demographic information, the Game Addiction Scale (GAS), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was completed by 618 participants (67.5% male) aged 18-56 years (M = 24.53 years, SD = ±5.016).Results: Out of 618 participants, 57.0% (n=352) played online games. Among gamers, 12.5% (n = 44) were classed as addicted to the gaming based on GAS scores. Compared to those not addicted to gaming, participants with gaming addiction had significantly poorer subjective sleep quality, higher sleep disturbance, lesser sleep duration, and higher daytime dysfunction. Gaming addiction was also more prevalent among males compared to females.Conclusion: Gaming addiction among the Pakistani general population is significantly associated with poor sleep quality. This problem needs to be addressed at both individual and societal levels to avoid adverse long-term health impacts.
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| 15. |
- Amjad, M., et al.
(författare)
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Efficacy of Quinapyramine Sulphate, Isometamedium Chloride and Diminazene Aceturate For Treatment of Surra
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences. - : Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum. - 1018-7081. ; 32:3, s. 663-669
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Trypanosomiasis (Surra) is a parasitic and zoonotic disease caused by Trypanosoama evansi, transmitted by insect vectors Tabanus and Stomoxys mechanically. The aim of the present study was to determine the therapeutic efficacy of various trypanosidal drugs against trypanosomiasis in Thoroughbred horses. Horses having clinical signs of trypanosomiasis were diagnosed through blood smear through a microscope were selected for this study. The infected horses were divided into three experimental groups for therapeutic trials. Animals in group A were treated with a single dose of quinapyramine sulphate @ 3000mg/ml per 50/kg body weight; group B was treated with a single dose of isometamedium chloride Hydrochloride@ 0.5 mg/2.5 ml of 1% solution per 50/kg body weight; group C was treated with a single dose of diminazene aceturate@ 2360 mg/15 ml per 100/kg. Results revealed that significant (P<0.0001) de cline in the values of erythrocyte counts (RBC), hemoglobin concentration (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), platelets (PLT) and a significant (P<0.0001) increase in white blood cells (WBC), granulocytes, and monocytes in infected horses as compared to healthy ones. Therapeutic trials indicated that quinapyramine sulphate that showed 100% efficacy at 21th days had significantly higher than isometamedium chloride and diminazene aceturate (95.83 and 75% efficacy, respectively). The hematological parameters of recovered horses were significantly restored to normal values on day 21 after treatment. It is concluded that quinapyramine sulphate is the drug of choice against trypanosomiasis in Thoroughbred horses.
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| 16. |
- Ashraf, Imtiaz, et al.
(författare)
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Nanoarchitectonics and Kinetics Insights into Fluoride Removal from Drinking Water Using Magnetic Tea Biochar
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 19:20
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Fluoride contamination in water is a key problem facing the world, leading to health problems such as dental and skeletal fluorosis. So, we used low-cost multifunctional tea biochar (TBC) and magnetic tea biochar (MTBC) prepared by facile one-step pyrolysis of waste tea leaves. The TBC and MTBC were characterized by XRD, SEM, FTIR, and VSM. Both TBC and MTBC contain high carbon contents of 63.45 and 63.75%, respectively. The surface area of MTBC (115.65 m2/g) was higher than TBC (81.64 m2/g). The modified biochar MTBC was further used to remediate the fluoride-contaminated water. The fluoride adsorption testing was conducted using the batch method at 298, 308, and 318 K. The maximum fluoride removal efficiency (E%) using MTBC was 98% when the adsorbent dosage was 0.5 g/L and the fluoride concentration was 50 mg/L. The experiment data for fluoride adsorption on MTBC best fit the pseudo 2nd order, rather than the pseudo 1st order. In addition, the intraparticle diffusion model predicts the boundary diffusion. Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubnin–Radushkevich isotherm models were fitted to explain the fluoride adsorption on MTBC. The Langmuir adsorption capacity of MTBC = 18.78 mg/g was recorded at 298 K and decreased as the temperature increased. The MTBC biochar was reused in ten cycles, and the E% was still 85%. The obtained biochar with a large pore size and high removal efficiency may be an effective and low-cost adsorbent for treating fluoride-containing water.
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| 17. |
- Ashraf, Muhammad Zubair, et al.
(författare)
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Comparative gut proteomics study revealing adaptive physiology of Eurasian spruce bark beetle, Ips typographus (Coleoptera: Scolytinae)
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Frontiers in Plant Science. - 1664-462X. ; 14
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The bark beetle, Ips typographus (L.), is a major pest of Norway spruce, Picea abies (L.), causing enormous economic losses globally. The adult stage of the I. typographus has a complex life cycle (callow and sclerotized); the callow beetles feed ferociously, whereas sclerotized male beetles are more aggressive and pioneers in establishing new colonies. We conducted a comparative proteomics study to understand male and female digestion and detoxification processes in callow and sclerotized beetles. Proteome profiling was performed using high-throughput liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. A total of >3000 proteins were identified from the bark beetle gut, and among them, 539 were differentially abundant (fold change ±2, FDR <0.05) between callow and sclerotized beetles. The differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) mainly engage with binding, catalytic activity, anatomical activity, hydrolase activity, metabolic process, and carbohydrate metabolism, and hence may be crucial for growth, digestion, detoxification, and signalling. We validated selected DAPs with RT-qPCR. Gut enzymes such as NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase (CYC), glutathione S-transferase (GST), and esterase (EST) play a crucial role in the I. typographus for detoxification and digesting of host allelochemicals. We conducted enzyme activity assays with them and observed a positive correlation of CYC and GST activities with the proteomic results, whereas EST activity was not fully correlated. Furthermore, our investigation revealed that callow beetles had an upregulation of proteins associated with juvenile hormone (JH) biosynthesis and chitin metabolism, whereas sclerotized beetles exhibited an upregulation of proteins linked to fatty acid metabolism and the TCA cycle. These distinctive patterns of protein regulation in metabolic and functional processes are specific to each developmental stage, underscoring the adaptive responses of I. typographicus in overcoming conifer defences and facilitating their survival. Taken together, it is the first gut proteomic study comparing males and females of callow and sclerotized I. typographus, shedding light on the adaptive ecology at the molecular level. Furthermore, the information about bark beetle handling of nutritionally limiting and defence-rich spruce phloem diet can be utilized to formulate RNAi-mediated beetle management.
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| 18. |
- Ashraf, Shoaib, et al.
(författare)
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Proteomic Comparison of Ivermectin Sensitive and Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Clinical Isolates Reveals Key Efflux Pumps as Possible Resistance Determinants
- 2022
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Ingår i: Antibiotics. - : MDPI AG. - 2079-6382. ; 11:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ivermectin (IVM) is a versatile drug used against many microorganisms. Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most devastating microorganisms. IVM sensitive and resistant S. aureus strains were recently reported. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of resistance are unknown. Clinical isolates of S. aureus were used for determination of the sensitivities against IVM by growth curve analysis and time-kill kinetics. Then, proteomic, and biochemical approaches were applied to investigate the possible mechanisms of resistance. Proteomic results showed a total of 1849 proteins in the dataset for both strains, 425 unique proteins in strain O9 (IVM sensitive), and 354 unique proteins in strain O20 (IVM resistant). Eight proteins with transport functions were differentially expressed in the IVM resistant strain. Among them, three efflux pumps (mepA, emrB, and swrC) were confirmed by qPCR. The IVM resistant S. aureus may overexpress these proteins as a key resistance determinant. Further experiments are required to confirm the exact mechanistic relationship. Nevertheless, the possibility of blocking these transporters to reverse or delay the onset of resistance and reduce selection pressure is potentially appealing.
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| 19. |
- Basir, Rabeea, et al.
(författare)
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Fog Computing Enabling Industrial Internet of Things : State-of-the-Art and Research Challenges
- 2019
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Ingår i: Sensors. - : MDPI AG. - 1424-8220. ; 19:21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Industry is going through a transformation phase, enabling automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies and processes, and this transformation is called Industry 4.0. Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) applications require real-time processing, near-by storage, ultra-low latency, reliability and high data rate, all of which can be satisfied by fog computing architecture. With smart devices expected to grow exponentially, the need for an optimized fog computing architecture and protocols is crucial. Therein, efficient, intelligent and decentralized solutions are required to ensure real-time connectivity, reliability and green communication. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of methods and techniques in fog computing. Our focus is on fog infrastructure and protocols in the context of IIoT applications. This article has two main research areas: In the first half, we discuss the history of industrial revolution, application areas of IIoT followed by key enabling technologies that act as building blocks for industrial transformation. In the second half, we focus on fog computing, providing solutions to critical challenges and as an enabler for IIoT application domains. Finally, open research challenges are discussed to enlighten fog computing aspects in different fields and technologies.
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| 20. |
- Ebrahimian, Farinaz, et al.
(författare)
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Iron limitation effect on H2/CO2 biomethanation : Experimental and model analysis
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering. - : Elsevier. - 2213-3437. ; 11:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Trace metals are indispensable for the metalloenzymes involved for efficient H2/CO2 biomethanation. In-depth understanding of trace metals requirements of methanogens cannot only lead to robust and stable operation, but also can enhance CH4 productivity. In this study, the effect of Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Se, Mo and W on the H2/CO2 biomethanation was examined. In a period of nutrient deprivation, suppression of hydrogenotrophic archaea was revealed at higher feed gas rates, leading to a significant drop in CH4 content and a concomitant rise in acetic acid concentration. After nutrient supplementation, the increase in Co, Ni and Fe concentrations were pivotal factors for enhanced methanogenic activity, leading to a CH4 content of more than 98% in the outlet biogas and a sharp drop in acetic acid concentration. Moreover, mathematical modeling was employed to simulate the influence of the most prominent element, iron, on the biomethanation process. The amended BioModel demonstrated that Fe limitation suppresses hydrogenotrophic archaea which consequently leads to H2 accumulation and growth of homoacetogenic bacteria.
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| 21. |
- Farash, Mohammad Sabzinejad, et al.
(författare)
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A Provably Secure RFID Authentication Protocol Based on Elliptic Curve for Healthcare Environments
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of medical systems. - : Springer-Verlag New York. - 0148-5598 .- 1573-689X. ; 40:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To enhance the quality of healthcare in the management of chronic disease, telecare medical information systems have increasingly been used. Very recently, Zhang and Qi (J. Med. Syst. 38(5):47, 32), and Zhao (J. Med. Syst. 38(5):46, 33) separately proposed two authentication schemes for telecare medical information systems using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. They claimed that their protocols achieve all security requirements including forward secrecy. However, this paper demonstrates that both Zhang and Qi’s scheme, and Zhao’s scheme could not provide forward secrecy. To augment the security, we propose an efficient RFID authentication scheme using elliptic curves for healthcare environments. The proposed RFID scheme is secure under common random oracle model.
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| 22. |
- Feigin, Valery L., et al.
(författare)
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Global, regional, and national burden of stroke and its risk factors, 1990-2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
- 2021
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Ingår i: Lancet Neurology. - : Elsevier. - 1474-4422 .- 1474-4465. ; 20:10, s. 795-820
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Regularly updated data on stroke and its pathological types, including data on their incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability, risk factors, and epidemiological trends, are important for evidence-based stroke care planning and resource allocation. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) aims to provide a standardised and comprehensive measurement of these metrics at global, regional, and national levels. Methods We applied GBD 2019 analytical tools to calculate stroke incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and the population attributable fraction (PAF) of DALYs (with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals [UIs]) associated with 19 risk factors, for 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019. These estimates were provided for ischaemic stroke, intracerebral haemorrhage, subarachnoid haemorrhage, and all strokes combined, and stratified by sex, age group, and World Bank country income level. Findings In 2019, there were 12.2 million (95% UI 11.0-13.6) incident cases of stroke, 101 million (93.2-111) prevalent cases of stroke, 143 million (133-153) DALYs due to stroke, and 6.55 million (6.00-7.02) deaths from stroke. Globally, stroke remained the second-leading cause of death (11.6% [10.8-12.2] of total deaths) and the third-leading cause of death and disability combined (5.7% [5.1-6.2] of total DALYs) in 2019. From 1990 to 2019, the absolute number of incident strokes increased by 70.0% (67.0-73.0), prevalent strokes increased by 85.0% (83.0-88.0), deaths from stroke increased by 43.0% (31.0-55.0), and DALYs due to stroke increased by 32.0% (22.0-42.0). During the same period, age-standardised rates of stroke incidence decreased by 17.0% (15.0-18.0), mortality decreased by 36.0% (31.0-42.0), prevalence decreased by 6.0% (5.0-7.0), and DALYs decreased by 36.0% (31.0-42.0). However, among people younger than 70 years, prevalence rates increased by 22.0% (21.0-24.0) and incidence rates increased by 15.0% (12.0-18.0). In 2019, the age-standardised stroke-related mortality rate was 3.6 (3.5-3.8) times higher in the World Bank low-income group than in the World Bank high-income group, and the age-standardised stroke-related DALY rate was 3.7 (3.5-3.9) times higher in the low-income group than the high-income group. Ischaemic stroke constituted 62.4% of all incident strokes in 2019 (7.63 million [6.57-8.96]), while intracerebral haemorrhage constituted 27.9% (3.41 million [2.97-3.91]) and subarachnoid haemorrhage constituted 9.7% (1.18 million [1.01-1.39]). In 2019, the five leading risk factors for stroke were high systolic blood pressure (contributing to 79.6 million [67.7-90.8] DALYs or 55.5% [48.2-62.0] of total stroke DALYs), high body-mass index (34.9 million [22.3-48.6] DALYs or 24.3% [15.7-33.2]), high fasting plasma glucose (28.9 million [19.8-41.5] DALYs or 20.2% [13.8-29.1]), ambient particulate matter pollution (28.7 million [23.4-33.4] DALYs or 20.1% [16.6-23.0]), and smoking (25.3 million [22.6-28.2] DALYs or 17.6% [16.4-19.0]). Interpretation The annual number of strokes and deaths due to stroke increased substantially from 1990 to 2019, despite substantial reductions in age-standardised rates, particularly among people older than 70 years. The highest age-standardised stroke-related mortality and DALY rates were in the World Bank low-income group. The fastest-growing risk factor for stroke between 1990 and 2019 was high body-mass index. Without urgent implementation of effective primary prevention strategies, the stroke burden will probably continue to grow across the world, particularly in low-income countries.
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| 23. |
- Irshad, Azeem, et al.
(författare)
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A secure and provable multi-server authenticated key agreement for TMIS based on Amin et al. scheme
- 2017
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Ingår i: Multimedia tools and applications. - : Springer. - 1380-7501 .- 1573-7721. ; 76:15, s. 16463-16489
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The security for Telecare Medicine Information Systems (TMIS) has been crucial for reliable dispensing of the medical services to patients at distant locations. Security and privacy element needs to be there for any physician or caregiver to make certain an appropriate diagnosis, medical treatment or any other exchange of critical information. In this connection, many relevant TMIS-based authentication schemes have been presented, however various forms of attacks and inefficiencies render these schemes inapplicable for a practical scenario. Lately, Amin et al. proposed a scheme based on a multi-server authentication for TMIS. However, the Amin et al., scheme has been found vulnerable to user and server impersonation attacks. We have proposed an improved model with higher performance and efficiency, as evident from the forthcoming sections. Besides, the scheme has been backed up by formal security analysis using BAN logic to ensure the resilience of the proposed scheme.
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| 24. |
- Khan, Muhammad Gufran, et al.
(författare)
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Measurements and Analysis of UWB Channels in Industrial Environments
- 2005
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Communication in industrial environments is an important scenario for ultra wideband (UWB) systems. The characteristics of this environment differ considerably from office environments, where most of the channel measurements reported in the literature are performed. In this paper, we present the results and analysis of UWB channel measurements in an industrial environment. We investigate both peer-to-peer non-line-of-sight (P-P NLOS) and base station NLOS (BS NLOS) scenarios. The measurements are performed in the frequency range 3.1 to 8 GHz, at distances 2-16 m, using a vector network analyzer in conjunction with virtual antenna arrays. From these measurements, we extract channel model parameters such as power delay profiles, pathloss exponents, rms delay spread and the percentage of energy captured by RAKE receivers with a finite number of fingers. In addition, Saleh- Valenzuela parameters such as ray and cluster power decay constants and distribution of cluster interarrival times are extracted.
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| 25. |
- Mahmood, Aamir, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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Time Synchronization in 5G Wireless Edge : Requirements and Solutions for Critical-MTC
- 2019
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Ingår i: IEEE Communications Magazine. - 0163-6804 .- 1558-1896. ; 57:12, s. 45-51
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The wireless edge is about distributing intelligence to wireless devices wherein the distribution of accurate time reference is essential for time-critical machine-type communication (cMTC). In 5G-based cMTC, enabling time synchronization in the wireless edge means moving beyond the current synchronization needs and solutions in 5G radio access. In this article, we analyze the device-level synchronization needs of potential cMTC applications: industrial automation, power distribution, vehicular communication, and live audio/video production. We present an overthe- air synchronization scheme comprising 5G air interface parameters and discuss their associated timing errors. We evaluate the estimation error in device-to-base-station propagation delay from timing advance under random errors and show how to reduce the estimation error. In the end, we identify the random errors specific to dense multipath fading environments and discuss countermeasures.
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| 26. |
- Mahmood, Khalid, et al.
(författare)
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A seamless anonymous authentication protocol for mobile edge computing infrastructure
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Computer Communications. - : Elsevier. - 0140-3664 .- 1873-703X. ; 186, s. 12-21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) accommodates processing and data storage and manipulation capabilities across the scope of wireless network. In MEC environment, MEC servers along with the computing and storage capabilities are distributed at the edge of the network. However, due to the broad range of wireless communication, the fulfillment of security requirements still remain a challenging task in the for MEC environment. With the expeditious traffic expansion and growing end user requirements, the classic security protocols cannot encounter the innovative requirements of lightweightness and real-time communication. To meet these requirements, we have proposed an authentication protocol for the MEC environment. Our proposed protocol stipulates secure and efficient communication for all of the intended entities. Meanwhile, during its execution user anonymity remains intact. Moreover, our protocol is proven to be secure under the assumptions of formal security model. Additionally in this article, we have described the security properties of our protocol that it offers resistance against impersonation, session key computation and forward and backward secrecy attacks. The comparative analysis of time consumption and computation overheads are presented at the end of the paper, which is an evidence that our proposed protocol outperforms prior to various existing MEC protocols.
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| 27. |
- Malik, Shairyar, et al.
(författare)
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A Hybrid Preprocessor DE-ABC for Efficient Skin-Lesion Segmentation with Improved Contrast
- 2022
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Ingår i: Diagnostics. - : MDPI. - 2075-4418. ; 12:11, s. 2625-2625
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Rapid advancements and the escalating necessity of autonomous algorithms in medical imaging require efficient models to accomplish tasks such as segmentation and classification. However, there exists a significant dependency on the image quality of datasets when using these models. Appreciable improvements to enhance datasets for efficient image analysis have been noted in the past. In addition, deep learning and machine learning are vastly employed in this field. However, even after the advent of these advanced techniques, a significant space exists for new research. Recent research works indicate the vast applicability of preprocessing techniques in segmentation tasks. Contrast stretching is one of the preprocessing techniques used to enhance a region of interest. We propose a novel hybrid meta-heuristic preprocessor (DE-ABC), which optimises the decision variables used in the contrast-enhancement transformation function. We validated the efficiency of the preprocessor against some state-of-the-art segmentation algorithms. Publicly available skin-lesion datasets such as ??2, ISIC-2016, ISIC-2017, and ISIC-2018 were employed. We used Jaccard and the dice coefficient as performance matrices; at the maximum, the proposed model improved the dice coefficient from 93.56% to 94.09%. Cross-comparisons of segmentation results with the original datasets versus the contrast-stretched datasets validate that DE-ABC enhances the efficiency of segmentation algorithms.
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| 28. |
- Nawaz, Muhammad, et al.
(författare)
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The emerging role of extracellular vesicles as biomarkers for urogenital cancers.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nature reviews. Urology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1759-4820 .- 1759-4812. ; 11, s. 688-701
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The knowledge gained from comprehensive profiling projects that aim to define the complex genomic alterations present within cancers will undoubtedly improve our ability to detect and treat those diseases, but the influence of these resources on our understanding of basic cancer biology is still to be demonstrated. Extracellular vesicles have gained considerable attention in past years, both as mediators of intercellular signalling and as potential sources for the discovery of novel cancer biomarkers. In general, research on extracellular vesicles investigates either the basic mechanism of vesicle formation and cargo incorporation, or the isolation of vesicles from available body fluids for biomarker discovery. A deeper understanding of the cargo molecules present in extracellular vesicles obtained from patients with urogenital cancers, through high-throughput proteomics or genomics approaches, will aid in the identification of novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, and can potentially lead to the discovery of new therapeutic targets.
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| 29. |
- Nikonowicz, Jakub, et al.
(författare)
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Indoor Positioning in 5G-Advanced : Challenges and Solution toward Centimeter- Level Accuracy with Carrier Phase Enhancements
- 2024
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Ingår i: IEEE wireless communications. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 1536-1284 .- 1558-0687.
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Like robust connectivity, precise positioning is evolving into an innovative component of 5G service offerings for industrial use-cases and verticals with challenging indoor radio environments. Therefore, the 3GPP Rel-16 standard has been a tipping point in specifying critical innovations, followed by enhancements in Rel-17 and Rel-18. In this article, we discuss the 5G positioning framework, measurements, and procedures before shifting the focus to recently identified carrier-phase (CP) measurements in Rel-18 as a complementary measure for time- and angular-based positioning methods. We discuss the associated challenges and potential solutions for exploiting CP, including integer ambiguity, multipath sensitivity, and signaling aspects. Furthermore, we study the ways in which phase-continuous reference signaling can counter noisy phase measurements using realistic simulations to achieve centimeter-level accuracy in indoor factory (InF) scenarios.
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| 30. |
- Rahiminejad, Sofia, 1987, et al.
(författare)
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Micromachined gap waveguide devices for above 100 GHz
- 2014
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Ingår i: Swedish Microwave Days March 11-12, 2014.
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gap waveguide technology is a fundamentally new highfrequencywaveguide technology [1]. It does not need anyelectrical contact between the split blocks which gives it anadvantage, compared to the rectangular waveguide.Rectangular waveguides are often fabricated by milling.However there are issues with milling when constructingwaveguides above 100 GHz. MEMS technology can offerhigh-precision fabrication and thus enables the path for newtypes of high-frequency components. An overview of themicromachined gap waveguide devices that has beenfabricated for above 100 GHz are presented here.
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| 31. |
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| 32. |
- Ricciarelli, Damiano, et al.
(författare)
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Reaction Mechanism of Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production at Water/Tin Halide Perovskite Interfaces
- 2022
-
Ingår i: ACS Energy Letters. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2380-8195. ; 7, s. 1308-1315
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While instability in aqueous environment has long impeded employment of metal halide perovskites for heterogeneous photocatalysis, recent reports have shown that some particular tin halide perovskites (THPs) can be water-stable and active in photocatalytic hydrogen production. To unravel the mechanistic details underlying the photocatalytic activity of THPs, we compare the reactivity of the water-stable and active DMASnBr3 (DMA = dimethylammonium) perovskite against prototypical MASnI3 and MASnBr3 compounds (MA = methylammonium), employing advanced electronic-structure calculations. We find that the binding energy of electron polarons at the surface of THPs, driven by the conduction band energetics, is cardinal for photocatalytic hydrogen reduction. In this framework, the interplay between the A-site cation and halogen is found to play a key role in defining the photoreactivity of the material by tuning the perovskite electronic energy levels. Our study, by elucidating the key steps of the reaction, may assist in development of more stable and efficient materials for photocatalytic hydrogen reduction.
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| 33. |
- Shahid, Shereena, et al.
(författare)
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A Review on the Scope of TFDO-Mediated Oxidation in Organic Synthesis-Reactivity and Selectivity
- 2018
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Ingår i: Current Organic Synthesis. - : Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.. - 1570-1794 .- 1875-6271. ; 15:8, s. 1091-1108
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dioxiranes are three-membered strained ring peroxides that are typical archetype examples of electrophilic entities. A dioxirane-based oxidant named 3-methyl(trifluoromethyl)dioxirane (TFDO) is a fluorinated analogue of the extremely valuable oxidant dimethyldioxirane (DMDO). Owing to the strained three-membered ring and presence of electron-withdrawing trifluoromethyl group, TFDO is several times more reactive than DMDO and acts as a significant chemical reagent. Moreover, TFDO exhibits high regio-, chemo- and stereo-selectivity even under unusual reaction conditions, i.e. at pH values close to neutrality and at sub-ambient temperatures. The TFDO transfers an oxygen atom to "unactivated" carbon-hydrogen bonds of alkanes as well as to the double bonds of alkenes and also helps in oxidation of compounds containing heteroatoms having a lone pair of electrons, such as sulfides and amines. TFDO-mediated oxidation is considered to be one of the main procedures in the 21st century for the synthesis of oxygen-containing organic molecules. This review throws light on the applications of TFDO in organic syntheses to provide an insight into the future research and gives a comprehensive summary of the selective functionalization of activated and non-activated organic compounds.
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