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The selection of group features is a critical aspect in reducing model complexity by choosing the most essential group features, while eliminating the less significant ones. The existing group feature selection methods select a set of important group features, without providing the relative importance of all group features. Moreover, few methods consider the relative importance of group features in the selection process. This study introduces a permutation-based group feature selection approach specifically designed for high-dimensional multiclass datasets. Initially, the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (lasso) method was applied to eliminate irrelevant individual features within each group feature. Subsequently, the relative importance of the group features was computed using a random-forest-based permutation method. Accordingly, the process selected the highly significant group features. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated using machine learning algorithms and compared with the performance of other approaches, such as group lasso. We used real-world, high-dimensional, multiclass microarray datasets to demonstrate its effectiveness. The results highlighted the capability of the proposed method, which not only selected significant group features but also provided the relative importance and ranking of all group features. Furthermore, the proposed method outperformed the existing method in terms of accuracy and F1 score.

Group feature selection methods select the important group features by removing the irrelevant group features for reducing the complexity of the model. To the best of our knowledge, there are few group feature selection methods that provide the relative importance of each feature group. For this purpose, we developed a sparse group feature ranking method based on the dimension reduction technique for high dimensional data. Firstly, we applied relief to each group to remove irrelevant individual features. Secondly, we extract the new feature that represents each feature group. To this end, we reduce the multiple dimension of the group feature into a single dimension by applying Fisher linear discriminant analysis (FDA) for each feature group. At last, we estimate the relative importance of the extracted feature by applying random forest and selecting important features that have larger importance scores compared with other ones. In the end, machine-learning algorithms can be used to train and test the models. For the experiment, we compared the proposed with the supervised group lasso (SGL) method by using real-life high-dimensional datasets. Results show that the proposed method selects a few important group features just like the existing group feature selection method and provides the ranking and relative importance of all group features. SGL slightly performs better on logistic regression whereas the proposed method performs better on support vector machine, random forest, and gradient boosting in terms of classification performance metrics.

The global burden of cancer is increasing rapidly, and nanomedicine offers promising prospects for enhancing the life expectancy of cancer patients. Janus nanoparticles (JNPs) have garnered considerable attention due to their asymmetric geometry, enabling multifunctionality in drug delivery and theranostics. However, achieving precise control over the self-assembly of JNPs in solution at the nanoscale level poses significant challenges. Herein, a low-temperature reversed-phase microemulsion system was used to obtain homogenous Mn3O4-Ag2S JNPs, which showed significant potential in cancer theranostics. Structural characterization revealed that the Ag2S (5–10 nm) part was uniformly deposited on a specific surface of Mn3O4 to form a Mn3O4-Ag2S Janus morphology. Compared to the single-component Mn3O4 and Ag2S particles, the fabricated Mn3O4-Ag2S JNPs exhibited satisfactory biocompatibility and therapeutic performance. Novel diagnostic and therapeutic nanoplatforms can be guided using the magnetic component in JNPs, which is revealed as an excellent T1 contrast enhancement agent in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with multiple functions, such as photo-induced regulation of the tumor microenvironment via producing reactive oxygen species and second near-infrared region (NIR-II) photothermal excitation for in vitro tumor-killing effects. The prime antibacterial and promising theranostics results demonstrate the extensive potential of the designed photo-responsive Mn3O4-Ag2S JNPs for biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rotavirus is one of the main pathogens that causes severe diarrhea in children under the age of 5, primarily infecting the enterocytes of the small intestine. Currently, there are no specific drugs available for oral rehydration and antiviral therapy targeting rotavirus. However, metformin hydrochloride, a drug known for its antiviral properties, shows promise as it accumulates in the small intestine and modulates the intestinal microbiota. Therefore, we formulated a hypothesis that metformin hydrochloride could inhibit rotavirus replication in the intestine. To validate the anti-rotavirus effect of metformin hydrochloride, we conducted infection experiments using different models, ranging from in vitro cells and organoids to small intestines in vivo. The findings indicate that a concentration of 0.5 mM metformin hydrochloride significantly inhibits the expression of rotavirus mRNA and protein in Caco-2 cells, small intestinal organoids, and suckling mice models. Rotavirus infections lead to noticeable pathological changes, but treatment with metformin has been observed to mitigate the lesions caused by rotavirus infection in the treated group. Our study establishes that metformin hydrochloride can inhibit rotavirus replication, while also affirming the reliability of organoids as a virus model for in vitro research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology has played a vital part in improving quality of life, especially in healthcare. Artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) are extensively employed to link accessible medical resources and deliver dependable and effective intelligent healthcare. Body wearable devices have garnered attention as powerful devices for healthcare applications, leading to various commercially available devices for multiple purposes, including individual healthcare, activity alerts, and fitness. The paper aims to cover all the advancements made in the wearable Medical Internet of Things (IoMT) for healthcare systems, which have been scrutinized from the perceptions of their efficacy in detecting, preventing, and monitoring diseases in healthcare. The latest healthcare issues are also included, such as COVID-19 and monkeypox. This paper thoroughly discusses all the directions proposed by the researchers to improve healthcare through wearable devices and artificial intelligence. The approaches adopted by the researchers to improve the overall accuracy, efficiency, and security of the healthcare system are discussed in detail. This paper also highlights all the constraints and opportunities of developing AI enabled IoT-based healthcare systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robotic devices for rehabilitation and training is a promising and challenging research topic with a potentially huge social impact. The availability of tools for autonomously performing physiotherapy exercises increases their efficiency, provides supplementary information about results and progress, reduces physiotherapists’ efforts and the need of their physical presence during exercise sessions, and encourages autonomy and independence in people with disabilities. Nevertheless, supportive technologies developed without the inputs and feedback of the end-user throughout the design process are less likely to be adopted for their intended purpose and use case. In this article, we propose a modular hand/wrist exoskeleton that actuates the wrist flexion/extension and adduction/abduction motions and hand fingers flexion/extension motions. It is designed to be wearable and easy to control and manage and can be used by the patient in collaboration with the physiotherapist or autonomously. A user-centered design perspective has been employed in all the design and development phases. This article introduces the main features of the device and presents some tests conducted with a user having limited hand and wrist mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant attention is paid to the design of magnetoplasmonic nanohybrids, which exploit synergistic properties for biomedical applications. Here, a facile method was employed to prepare plasmonic magnetic Au-MnO heterostructured hybrid nanoparticles for imaging-guided photothermal therapy of cancers in vitro, with the view to reducing the serious drawbacks of chemotherapy and gadolinium-based contrast agents. The biocompatibility of the prepared Au-MnO nanocomposites was further enhanced by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved triblock copolymers Pluronic® F-127 and chitosan oligosaccharide (COS), with complementary support to enhance the absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) region. In addition, synthesized COS-PF127@Au-MnO nanocomposites exhibited promising contrast enhancement in T1 MR imaging with a good r1 relaxivity value (1.2 mM−1 s−1), demonstrating a capable substitute to Gd-based toxic contrast agents. In addition, prepared COS-PF127@Au-MnO hybrid nanoparticles (HNPs) produced sufficient heat (62 °C at 200 μg/mL) to ablate cancerous cells upon 808 nm laser irradiation, inducing cell toxicity, and apoptosis. The promising diagnostic and photothermal therapeutic performance demonstrated the appropriateness of the COS-PF127@Au-MnO HNPs as a potential theranostic agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study attempts to refresh the academic understanding on how often an armed conflict like Jammu and Kashmir is framed in a humane and compassionate manner by the mainstream media of the two nuclear neighboring states. A quantitative content analysis of the media coverage is carried out in terms of how frequently the perspectives of 'Others' and the less visible effects of conflict including the psychological, emotional and economic aspects are given media coverage. Ethnocentrism and framing approaches are employed as the theoretical foundation. The study concluded that majority of the news items published by all four selected English dailies of Pakistan and India were 'Us' related and covered visible aspects more frequently in comparison to the less visible aspects of J&K conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fin-Ray principle, inspired by the physiology of fish rays, represents the foundation of a large number of robotic devices. However, despite their popularity, there is not any ad-hoc theoretical model technique for the analysis of this family of fingers. This lack is the main motivation of the presented work, which provides the mathematical modeling, analysis, and prototyping of a closed-chain Fin-Ray finger. In this scenario, the contribution of this article is twofold. At one end, we provide a general discrete Cosserat approach for the modeling of closed-chain soft robots which shares the geometrical structure of the rigid robotics counterpart. On the other end, the approach is employed to explore the family of Fin-Ray effect fingers. Finally, an improved design, which is able to conform to contacting surfaces, while maintaining stiffness out of its grasping plane, is fabricated and its performances are compared to those of a previously proposed prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study tries to unfold how the Kashmir conflict is constructed in the Pakistani media after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. To understand the media discourse a Critical discourse analysis of the news stories published about Indian held Kashmir (i.e. that part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir occupied by India post the 1947 partition, notably the valley of Kashmir) in the e-paper of Dawn was carried out. The findings reveal a distinctive narrative strategy employed by Pakistani media in response to the abrogation of Article 370. This strategy accentuates the negative aspects of the Indian government's actions in Kashmir while simultaneously highlighting the voices of Kashmiris advocating for their right of self-determination. The findings also indicated that media discourse revolved around challenging the legitimacy of the Indian Parliament's act of abrogating Article 370 and also focused on the casualties and losses which took place as a result of clashes between the Indian security forces and the Kashmiri separatist fighters. The media also gave significance to social media trends about Indian held Kashmir and also to posts of Kashmiri and Pakistani politicians. Negative actor description was used to highlight Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s propaganda regarding the return of normalcy in the Indian held Kashmir whereas positive actor description was used for the Kashmiri separatist fighters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Muhammad Zubair Iqbal INTRODUCTION Swat is a beautiful valley, some 100 miles from Islamabad, situated in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), formerly known as North Western Frontier Province of Pakistan. [...]

The media-terrorism nexus needs further exploration. This article is a qualitative analysis of the coverage of London Attacks, 2005 by the British TV news channels. It aims to investigate and to empirically ascertain the veracity of the media-terrorism-symbiotic-relationship notion. The research draws a comparison with a similar study of the coverage of Mumbai attacks, 2008 and maintains that when the terrorist event happens on British soil, the symbiotic relationship theory is not verified completely. It concludes that British TV news channels, while reporting the home event of terrorism, do not overly focus on the theme of awe and terror. Instead, they are more responsible, careful, and nationalistic while covering the events of terrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a long-standing debate among scholars, policy-makers, politicians and journalists about the relationship between terrorism and the news media for whom terrorism is usually a newsworthy story. A primary focus of the debate is to investigate the media–terrorism symbiotic relationship. This paper explores this relationship through a qualitative, thematic analysis of how British TV news channels covered a major terrorist incident after the 9/11 – Mumbai attacks 2008. It examines the interpretive theme of ‘awe, terror and chaos’, and how it is selected, prioritized and developed in the presentation of the events which spread over a period of more than 72 hours. Additionally, it considers the kind of political and organizational factors that might shape or modify the editorial decision-making processes and ideological assumptions that may lie behind such coverage. Ultimately, the study maintains that British TV news outlets play an important role in mediating terrorist messages and focus primarily on images of terror and violence during the coverage of Mumbai attacks. While there are key differences between public and commercial TV news in the style and presentation of coverage, with the former being more careful in approach, the news channels concentrate on televising death and injury and the propagation of chaos and confusion in the affected city. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Multilayered nanocrystalline SnO2 hollow microspheres (MHS-SnO2) of a rutile structure with a controllable morphology have been successfully synthesised via a chemically induced self-assembly method by using tin chloride pentahydrate and sucrose as precursors in the glycol-water aided solvothermal synthesis. The morphology, composition, structure and luminescent properties of MHS-SnO2 are characterised by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) with selected area electron diffraction, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The FESEM, TEM and HRTEM images indicate that the as-prepared microspheres show a multilayer structure and the walls of the hollow microspheres are composed of single crystalline nanoparticles. The effect of calcinating temperature on the Raman and optical properties of the product is analysed and a self-assembly growth mechanism of the MHS-SnO2 is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasmonic nanomaterials with multiple components and designed structures show diverse properties and functions owing to the synergistic effects of the different components. Engineering the compositional and structural complexity of plasmonic nanomaterials is a powerful technique for expanding their range of applications. A facile approach to an unprecedented dart‐like type of nanostructure with AgPd bimetal selectively deposited at one end of Au nanobipyramids, forming AgPd nanodarts, is reported here. The synthetic process involves both galvanic replacement and Ostwald ripening. The morphological evolution of the AgPd nanodarts is thoroughly investigated and the growth mechanism is put forward. The as‐obtained AgPd nanodarts exhibit an outstanding photothermal conversion efficiency and peroxidase activity, which make them powerful for photothermally–catalytically combined tumor organoid ablation. In addition, two types of AgPd nanodart‐derived single‐end nanostructures, AgPd@ZIF‐8, and AgPd@TiO2 nanodarts, are prepared for the first time. The ZIF‐8 and TiO2 shell are preferentially coated at the AgPd end of the AgPd nanodarts, respectively. Both AgPd@ZIF‐8 and AgPd@TiO2 nanodarts show superior antimicrobial activities. The protocol and concept of modulating the structure of the nanodarts in this work can be extended to the development of a new class of plasmonic nanostructures with multifunctionalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public health and its related facilities are crucial for thriving cities and societies. The optimum utilization of health resources saves money and time, but above all, it saves precious lives. It has become even more evident in the present as the pandemic has overstretched the existing medical resources. Specific to patient appointment scheduling, the casual attitude of missing medical appointments (no-show-ups) may cause severe damage to a patient's health. In this paper, with the help of machine learning, we analyze six million plus patient appointment records to predict a patient's behaviors/characteristics by using ten different machine learning algorithms. For this purpose, we first extracted meaningful features from raw data using data cleaning. We applied Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE), Adaptive Synthetic Sampling Method (Adasyn), and random undersampling (RUS) to balance our data. After balancing, we applied ten different machine learning algorithms, namely, random forest classifier, decision tree, logistic regression, XG Boost, gradient boosting, Adaboost Classifier, Naive Bayes, stochastic gradient descent, multilayer perceptron, and Support Vector Machine. We analyzed these results with the help of six different metrics, i.e., recall, accuracy, precision, F1-score, area under the curve, and mean square error. Our study has achieved 94% recall, 86% accuracy, 83% precision, 87% F1-score, 92% area under the curve, and 0.106 minimum mean square error. Effectiveness of presented data cleaning and feature selection is confirmed by better results in all training algorithms. Notably, recall is greater than 75%, accuracy is greater than 73%, F1-score is more significant than 75%, MSE is lesser than 0.26, and AUC is greater than 74%. The research shows that instead of individual features, combining different features helps make better predictions of a patient's appointment status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Newly synthesized Janus-structured Fe 3 O 4 -TiO 2 nanoparticles (NPs) appear to be a promising candidate for the diagnosis and therapy of cancer. Although the toxicity of individual Fe 3 O 4 or TiO 2 NPs has been studied extensively, the toxicity of Janus Fe 3 O 4 -TiO 2 NPs is not clear., Methods: In this study, the biosafety of both Janus Fe 3 O 4 -TiO 2 NPs (20-25 nm) and the maternal material TiO 2 NPs (7-10 nm) were evaluated in Sprague Dawley rats after one intravenous injection into the tail vein. Healthy rats were randomly divided into one control group and six experimental groups. Thirty days after treatment, rats were killed, then blood and tissue samples were collected for hematological, biochemical, element-content, histopathological, and Western blot analysis., Results: The results show that only a slight Ti element accumulation in the heart, spleen, and liver could be found in the Janus Fe 3 O 4 -TiO 2 NP groups ( P >0.05 compared with control). However, significant Ti element accumulation in the spleen, lungs, and liver was found in the TiO 2 NP-treated rats. Both Fe 3 O 4 -TiO 2 NPs and TiO 2 NPs could induce certain histopathological abnormalities. Western blot analysis showed that both NPs could induce certain apoptotic or inflammatory-related molecular protein upregulation in rat livers. A certain degree of alterations in liver function and electrolyte and lipid parameters was also observed in rats treated with both materials. However, compared to Janus structure Fe 3 O 4 -TiO 2 NP-treated groups, TiO 2 NPs at 30 mg/kg showed more severe adverse effects., Conclusion: Our results showed that under a low dose (5 mg/kg), both NP types had no significant toxicity in rats. Janus NPs certainly seem less toxic than TiO 2 NPs in rats at 30 mg/kg. To ensure safe use of these newly developed Janus NPs in cancer diagnosis and therapy, further animal studies are needed to evaluate long-term bioeffects., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.