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Clostrididioides difficile is associated with adverse clinical outcomes and increased morbidity, mortality, length of hospital stay, and health-care costs. Areas Covered: We searched relevant papers in PubMed for the last 10 years. In major papers, we scanned the bibliographies to ensure that important articles were included. This review addresses the evolving epidemiology of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) and discusses novel methods/approaches for improving the diagnosis of this important disease. No single diagnostic test to date has demonstrated optimum sensitivity and specificity for detection of CDI. Many institutions have developed multi-step algorithms consistent with guidelines established by various professional societies. Some institutions have successfully tried to improve the pretest probability of molecular assays by implementing appropriate sample rejection criteria and establishing best practice alerts at the time of electronic order entry. Others have established PCR cycle threshold cutoffs to attempt to differentiate symptomatic patients from asymptomatic carriers or to make predictions about severity of disease with variable success. As research advances our understanding of C. difficile pathogenesis and pathophysiology, more information on CDI specific biomarkers is emerging. Finally, assessments of the microbiome and metabolome may expand the diagnostic armamentarium with advances in mass spectrometry and sequencing technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this work is to find a numerical solution of nonlinear solar cell equation. This equation has been instructed using a single-diode model. The proposed method consists of solving the equation using two iterative methods with the initial value x_0=1. Moreover, the Newton's and Two-step methods are used to determine the required the current, the voltage, and the power of the PV cell in the procedure of the present research. Different values of load resistance have introduced with these methods. The obtained results appeared that the proposed method is the most efficient compare with NRM and all the calculations are achieved using Matlab program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the randomized algorithms for block matrix multiplication from random sampling perspective. Specifically, based on the A-optimal design criterion, we obtain the optimal sampling probabilities and sampling block sizes. To improve the practicability of the block sizes, two modified ones with less computation cost are provided. With respect to the second modified block size, we devise a two step algorithm. Moreover, the probability error bounds for the proposed algorithms are also given. Extensive numerical results show that our methods outperform the state-of-the-art ones given in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the H∞ consensus problem of a group of linear multi‐agent systems with directed communication graph is addressed. To achieve H∞ consensus, a new class of distributed consensus protocols based only on the relative states of the neighbouring agents is proposed. Compared with the existing protocols, the one presented in this study focuses on solving the H∞ consensus problem in strongly connected directed networks. By using tools from algebraic graph theory and Lyapunov stability analysis, it is theoretically shown that distributed H∞ consensus in the closed‐loop multi‐agent systems with strongly connected topology can be achieved if the distributed consensus protocol is appropriately designed. A two‐step algorithm is then presented to construct such a protocol. The H2 consensus problem for networked systems is further investigated. Finally, the effectiveness of the theoretical analysis is verified via numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]