Search

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Insomnia and snoring are common sleep disorders. The aim was to investigate the association of having a combination of insomnia symptoms and snoring with comorbidity and daytime sleepiness. METHODS: The study population comprised 25,901 participants (16–75 years, 54.4% women) from 4 Swedish cities, who answered a postal questionnaire that contained questions on snoring, insomnia symptoms (difficulties initiating and/or maintaining sleep and/or early morning awakening), smoking, educational level, and respiratory and nonrespiratory disorders. RESULTS: Snoring was reported by 4,221 (16.2%), while 9,872 (38.1%) reported ≥ 1 insomnia symptom. A total of 2,150 (8.3%) participants reported both insomnia symptoms and snoring. The association with hypertension (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2–1.6), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (adjusted OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.3–2.4), asthma (adjusted OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.6–2.3), daytime sleepiness (adjusted OR, 7.9; 95% CI, 7.1–8.8), and the use of hypnotics (adjusted OR, 7.5; 95% CI, 6.1–9.1) was highest for the group with both insomnia symptoms and snoring. CONCLUSIONS: Participants with both snoring and insomnia run an increased risk of hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, daytime sleepiness, and use of hypnotics. It is important to consider snoring in patients seeking medical assistance for insomnia and, vice versa, in patients with snoring inquiring about insomnia. CITATION: Hägg SA, Ilieva E, Ljunggren M, et al. The negative health effects of having a combination of snoring and insomnia. J Clin Sleep Med. 2022;18(4):973–981.

Stairlifts are a widely-used technology in the home that help people with mobility issues to go up and down stairs. However, it is unclear how stairlifts are experienced by all household members and what this understanding implies for home healthcare technologies. We investigated the impact of stairlift installations on older adults' households in the UK through a qualitative study investigating the lived experience of the adoption and acceptance of this technology. Interviews and focus groups with primary users, household residents and service providers showed how the wider household identify misalignments between simplified stairlift installation models from service providers and describe a more complex, nuanced emotional journey which involves decision making, conflict and trauma and catharsis and independence. Findings provide transferrable outcomes for the smart home domain by highlighting the multi-resident home, the emotional intrusiveness of home healthcare technologies and the diversity that comes with providing care, unique to every household.

This study sought to compare the thickness of hard and soft tissues between edentulous and contralateral tooth sites. This split-mouth study evaluated 153 partially edentulous patients. The measurements were made on cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans. The soft tissue thickness was measured at the cementoenamel junctional (CEJ) level, and at 2, 4, and 6 mm apical to the CEJ in the facial and palatal aspects. The bone thickness of the opposite quadrant was also recorded at 2, 4, and 6 mm apical to the CEJ. The Mann–Whitney U test and the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient were applied for further statistical analyses. At the edentulous sites, significant soft tissue loss was noted at the CEJ level (p

Objective This study aimed to investigate level fluctuations of serum biomarkers that are associated with cardiotoxicity risk, such as high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and apolipoprotein-B (Apo-B) in response to chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. Method The serum levels of hs-CRP and Apo-B were evaluated in 56 breast cancer patients with main inclusion criteria: HER2 negative and who received adjuvant chemotherapy AC [A: Adriamycin, C: Cyclophosphamide] or AC→T [A: Adriamycin, C: Cyclophosphamide, T: Taxane] regimes at early II (n = 26) and late IV (n = 30) clinical stages by using particle enhanced turbidimetric assay. Results The results of this study suggest that a high level of pre-treatment hs-CRP is a good prognostic marker in comparison to Apo-B. Moreover, the AC-T chemotherapy regime treatment in both early and late stages exhibited a significantly higher level of hs-CRP compared to that in the AC regime. Hs-CRP was significantly elevated in the early stage in comparison to the late stage among cancer patients, meanwhile Apo-B behaved inversely. Furthermore, the results showed that hs-CRP levels were significantly higher in late-stage cancer patients compared with those in early-stage in both chemotherapy regimens groups. On the other hand, Apo-B showed no significant differences. Conclusion Monitoring hs-CRP level changes in comparison to Apo-B can be used to assist the side effect risk difference among different chemotherapy regimens, and staging reflecting a positive correlation between them more notable in the late stage.

This retrospective study was aimed to compare the clinical and radiographic outcomes of implants with the same body design but different collar surface (laser-microtextured vs. not laser-microtextured) after functional loading. Forty-three patients (29 females, 14 males) with 139 implants (60 laser-microtextured and 79 without laser microtexturing) were included in this study. Patients were consecutively included, and the data were collected during their implant maintenance visit. Clinical and radiographic parameters including probing depth (PD), bleeding on probing (BoP), and marginal bone loss (MBL) were recorded. In addition, the implant success index (ISI) score was determined. Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann–Whitney U test, the Kruskal–Wallis rank test, or the Pearson χ2 test, along with binary logistic regression (p

Given the complexity of modern systems-on-chip, hardware-assisted verification is an integral part of the chip-design process. However, chip designers often need to choose between richly featured but expensive emulation platforms or faster, cheaper, but less debuggable FPGA prototyping solutions. FireSim, an open-source, FPGA-accelerated hardware emulation platform hosted in the public cloud, attempts to accessibly offer the best of both worlds. This article highlights two new FireSim capabilities that help realize this goal: multicycle resource optimizations, which can enable an eight-fold increase emulated core count, and FPGA-agnostic support for multiclock systems. These supplement existing FireSim features which provide a foundation for productive emulation, including a cloud manager to automatically scale out experiments and a rich debug toolkit.

Recently, there has been growing interest in social network analysis. Graph models for social network analysis are usually assumed to be a deterministic graph with fixed weights for its edges or nodes. As activities of users in online social networks are changed with time, however, this assumption is too restrictive because of uncertainty, unpredictability and the time-varying nature of such real networks. The existing network measures and network sampling algorithms for complex social networks are designed basically for deterministic binary graphs with fixed weights. This results in loss of much of the information about the behavior of the network contained in its time-varying edge weights of network, such that is not an appropriate measure or sample for unveiling the important natural properties of the original network embedded in the varying edge weights. stochastic graphs, in which weights associated with the edges are random variables, can be a suitable model for complex social network. In this paper, according to the principle that Social networks are one of the cases where the distribution of links to nodes is according to the power law that we proposed Levy's initial flight automation sampling algorithm for random graphs, which is a good model for complex social networks. Using Levy Flight instead of gait-based learning that guarantees part of the solution is not separate from the present solution, therefore, it endores an optimizer tolerance, local optimal tolerance, and early convergence. In order to study the performance of the proposed sampling algorithms, several experiments are conducted on real and synthetic stochastic graphs. These algorithms ‘performance is evaluated based on the relative cost, Kendall correlation coefficient, Kolmogorov–Smirnov D statistics, and relative error.

Dental implant treatment in the posterior maxilla encounters bone quality and quantity problems. Sinus elevation is a predictable technique to overcome height deficiency in this area. Transalveolar sinus elevation is a technique that is less invasive and less time-consuming, first introduced for ridges with at least 5 mm of bone height. Many modifications and innovative equipment have been introduced for this technique. This review aimed to explain the modifications of this technique with their indications and benefits. An exhaustive search in PubMed Central and Scopus electronic databases was performed until December 2020. Articles were selected that introduced new techniques for the transalveolar maxillary sinus approach that had clinical cases with full texts available in the English language. Finally, twenty-six articles were included. The data were categorized and discussed in five groups, including expansion-based techniques, drill-based techniques, hydraulic pressure techniques, piezoelectric surgery, and balloon techniques. The operator’s choice for transalveolar approach techniques for sinus floor elevation can be based on the clinician’s skill, bone volume, and access to equipment. If possible, a technique with simultaneous implant placement should be preferred.

Road surfaces are exposed to solar radiation that generates thermal gradients and heat flow in the pavement layers. The heat stored can be harvested providing an untapped source of renewable energy...

Background Improvement in implant design has made implant dentistry a challenging treatment modality worldwide. Objectives This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of a xenogeneic collagen matrix in managing 3-4-millimeter gaps in flapless immediate implant placement. Material and methods Twenty-two patients received 39 immediate implants via the flapless approach. Patients with intact bony walls, buccal bone thickness ≥2 mm and a jumping distance of 3-4 mm were included in this study. The gap between the implant and the socket walls was filled with a xenogeneic collagen matrix (Collacone®). The final clinical and radiographic evaluations were performed at least 24 months following functional loading. Results There was no early or late failure, and the implants showed a 100% survival rate. The mean mesial (0.28 ±0.39 mm) and distal (0.28 ±0.39 mm) marginal bone loss (MBL) at the site of incisors was not significantly different from the values at the site of premolars and molars (0.30 ±0.42 mm and 0.34 ±0.48 mm, respectively). The evaluation of the implant success index (ISI) score revealed no difference between the mandible and the maxilla (p = 0.700), or incisors compared with premolars and molars (p = 0.420). The only significant difference was in terms of distal MBL, which was higher in the maxilla (0.39 ±0.49 mm) than in the mandible (0.12 ±0.23 mm) (p = 0.040). Conclusions Within the limitations of this study, it seems that the application of a xenogeneic collagen matrix to manage 3-4-millimeter gaps in carefully selected cases may bring promising outcomes.

Purpose Dental implants are widely used for the rehabilitation of edentulous sites. This study investigated the occurrence of dental implant malpositioning as shown on post-implantation cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and to identify related factors. Materials and methods Samples with at least 1 malpositioned dental implant were collected from a central radiology clinic in Tehran, Iran from January 2017 to January 2019. Variables such as demographic characteristics, length and diameter of implants, type of implant, sites of implant insertion, different types of implant malpositioning problems (cortical plate perforation, interference with anatomical structures), angulation of the implant, and the severity of malpositioning were assessed. In addition, the incidence of implant fracture and over-drilling was evaluated. Data were statistically analyzed using the chi-square test, 1-sample t-test, and Spearman correlation coefficients. Results In total, 252 patients referred for implant postoperative CBCT evaluations were assessed. The cases of implant malpositioning included perforation of the buccal cortical plate (19.4%), perforation of the lingual cortical plate (14.3%), implant proximity to an adjacent implant (19.0%), implant proximity to an adjacent tooth (3.2%), interference with anatomical structures (maxillary sinus: 18.3%, mandibular canal: 11.1%, nasal cavity: 6.3%, mental foramen: 5.6%, and incisive canal: 0.4%). Implant fracture and over-drilling were found in 1.6% and 0.8% of cases, respectively. Severity was categorized as mild (9.5%), moderate (35.7%), severe (37.7%), and extreme (17.1%), and 52.4% of implants had inappropriate angulation. Conclusion CBCT imaging is recommended for detecting dental implant malpositioning. The most common and severe type of malpositioning was buccal cortex perforation.

Welding fumes are composed of fine and ultrafine particles, which when it gained access to the body system either via inhalation or as food or water contaminants can elicit various haematological and biochemical changes. In order to determine the haematological changes elicited by welding fumes and it’s mitigation by ascorbic acid, a total of fifteen male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups (A, B and C) of five animals per group. Group A served as the control while group B were kept in enclosed welding environment for adequate inhalation of the welding fume. Group C were equally kept in the enclosed welding environment but were daily orally administered 100mg of ascorbic acid for two weeks. At the end of two weeks of exposure, blood samples were obtained for haematological analyses. It was observed that exposure to the welding fumes predisposes the rats to macrocytic hypochromic anaemia and stress with evidence of neutrophilia and lymphopenia. These observed haematological perturbations were reversed by ascorbic acid back similar to that of the control group. It can be concluded that haematological perturbation induced by welding fume can be mitigated effectively by ascorbic acid without any deleterious effects.

Peri-implantitis is a biofilm-induced pathological condition, and different approaches have been proposed to manage this condition. This study introduces a surgical technique in accordance with the concept of guided bone regeneration for implants with extensive peri-implant defects. This pilot study was conducted on 7 patients with 11 implants (4 females and 3 males; 32 to 61 years). In this technique, we used a titanium mesh, a combination of autogenous bone, allogenic graft material, and acellular dermal matrix to reconstruct the peri-implant defects. All implants were placed submerged, and the second-stage surgery was conducted after 8 months. Soft tissue augmentation and vestibuloplasty were performed in the second-stage surgery, if required. The mean function time of implants was 60.5 ± 29.4 months. The mean baseline probing pocket depth was 5.7 ± 1.4 mm, and soft tissue recession was observed at two sites (18%). The mean recession and keratinized tissue width (KTW) values were 0.4 ± 0.8 mm and 3 ± 1.6 mm, respectively. The mean marginal bone loss and bone gain were 4.4 ± 1.2 mm and 2.9 ± 0.9 mm, respectively, which showed a significant improvement. Our preliminary evaluations showed favorable results in terms of radiographic defect fill and soft tissue condition. It appears that this technique may lead to promising outcomes in cautiously selected patients seeking to retain their failing implants. However, long-term results following functional loading are required before recommending this technique for daily practice.

This study aimed to assess the quantity and quality of available bone to provide the autologous bone graft from mandibular ramus. CBCT scans were collected and mandibular ramus was evaluated by measuring a variety of parameters including volume, bone height, cortical, and cancellous bone thickness. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. We used the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test for the evaluation of data normality. We then applied Pearson correlation and independent t-test for normal variables, and Spearman and Mann–Whitney correlation tests for abnormal variables. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 19 and P value

Success of metaheuristic algorithms depends on the efficient balance between of exploration and exploitation phases. Any optimization algorithm requires a combination of diverse exploration and proper exploitation to avoid local optima. This paper proposes a new improved version of the Woodpecker Mating Algorithm (WMA), based on opposition-based learning, known as the OWMA aiming to develop exploration and exploitation capacities and establish a simultaneous balance between these two phases. This improvement consists of three major mechanisms, the first of which is the new Distance Opposition-based Learning (DOBL) mechanism for improving exploration, diversity, and convergence. The second mechanism is the allocation of local memory of personal experiences of search agents for developing the exploitation capacity. The third mechanism is the use of a self-regulatory and dynamic method for setting the Hα parameter to improve the Running Away function (RA) performance. The ability of the proposed algorithm to solve 23 benchmark mathematical functions was evaluated and compared to that of a series of the latest and most popular metaheuristic methods reviewed in the research literature. The proposed algorithm is also used as a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) neural network trainer to solve the classification problem on four biomedical datasets and three function approximation datasets. In addition, the OWMA algorithm was evaluated in five optimization problems constrained by the real world. The simulation results proved the superior and promising performance of the proposed algorithm in the majority of evaluations. The results prove the superiority and promising performance of the proposed algorithm in solving very complicated optimization problems.

The heart rate characteristic (HeRO score) is a figure derived from the analysis of premature neonate's electrocardiogram signals, and can be used to detect infection before the onset of clinical symptoms. The United States and Europe accept this diagnostic technique, but we require more tests to prove its efficacy. This method is not accepted in other developed countries so far. The present study aimed to investigate changes in the heart characteristics of two neonates in Akbar Abadi Hospital in Tehran. Experts chose one newborn as a sepsis case, and the other neonate was healthy. The results were analyzed and compared with previous studies. In this research, a group of five neonates was selected randomly from the neonatal intensive care unit, and cardiac leads were attached to them for recording heart rates. We selected two neonates from the five cases, as a case (proven sepsis) and control, to analyze heart rate variability (HRV). Then, we compared the differences in the heart rate of both neonates. Analysis of HRV of these two neonates showed that the pattern of HRV is compatible with reports from US studies. Considering the results of this study, heart rates and their analysis can provide useful indicators for mathematical modeling before the onset of clinical symptoms in newborns.

Performance management is a strategic component of organisations operationswhich requires careful assessment of its constituents. Success of every institution is determined by its performance management system which ensures the provision of adequate tools that enhances outstanding performance. This study examined determinants of employee outstanding performance in corporate institutions with strategic human resource management perspectives of organisational development and sustainability. In this regard, the study critically reviewed pieces of literature published on issues relating to employee performance, which facilitated the discoveryof great concerns of exceptional performance. In order to addressgaps identified, the study employed descriptive quantitative and correlational methods which facilitated the gathering, classification and presentation of data that led to descriptive analysis, discussions and objective conclusion of the study. Nevertheless;obtaining first-hand information was enhanced through the distribution of 300 questionnaires to sample units. Data obtained from sample units was analysed, using Descriptive statistics and Persian correlation. Processed data shows the significance of training and employee development as key element towards improving performance in several facets of organisational operations. However, further facts discoveredestablished that, high employee engagement facilitate effective employer-employee relationship,which shows motivational values and employees worth that prompt institutions workforce todemonstrate commitment towards organisations success. In addition, financial reward was classified as the principal motivator and its judicious use,emphasised by respondents, could influence employees towards exceptional performance.Persian Correlation established significant relationships described thus: Institutions with efficient performance management systems ensures staff capacity building which increasesemployees’competency level.On the other hand, effective engagement and allocation of financial and no-financial rewards generate an outstanding workforce that leads to organisational development and competitive advantage. In consideration to the foregoing facts, this study is significant to human resource management specialists, training and development consultants and corporate institutions in Sierra Leonne.

The IPv6 routing protocol (RPL) for low power and lossy Networks (LLNs) was accepted as the standard routing protocol for the IoT by IETF in March 2012. Since then, it has been used for different IoT applications. Although the RPL deals considerably with IoT network requirements, there are still some open-ended problems to solve, for it was not initially designed for IoT applications. This paper addresses the RPL problems including load imbalance, which causes congestion in some nodes, significantly reduces the network performance, and decreases node energy and network lifetime. This paper proposes the automata-ant colony based multiple recursive RPL (AMRRPL), which is a modified version of the RPL for IoT networks, and uses a balancing model to avoid congestion. As a result, it will reduce network energy consumption, prolong the network lifetime, and reduce packet loss. The AMRRPL is evaluated in three steps. First, a multi-hop return objective function is presented based on the ant colony and computes the rank according to node context. The second step develops a new parent selection mechanism dynamically selected by stochastic automata and dynamic metrics for an optimal parent. General evaluation results show that this algorithm can make better decisions with regard to the optimal parent instead of making decisions simply based on the parent’s rank. The third step resolve bottlenecks and swarm problems by managing the moving nodes through the heuristic flabellum algorithm inspired by physical and biological behaviour of flabella in the sea. Finally, the proposed algorithm performance is evaluated through the Cooja simulator. The proposed algorithm shows significant improvements in packet delivery and network lifetime, energy and convergence.

OBJECTIVES Obesity is an important risk factor for chronic diseases and can also result in greater mortality. The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate whether poor oral health acts as a risk factor for obesity as indicated by body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). METHODS We included in this analysis all participants who volunteered in a cohort study entitled 'Carlos Barbosa Cohort Study-CBCS' in the city of Carlos Barbosa, Southern Brazil. The interview questionnaire comprised socio-demographic information, behavioural questions and medical history. Oral examinations and anthropometric assessments were carried out. The outcome was obesity measured by both BMI (≥30 kg/m2 ) and WC (>0.80 for women and >0.94 for men). Variables were collected longitudinally. Those associated with the outcome and epidemiologically relevant to the conceptual framework participated in the analysis and were adjusted for socio-demographic, behavioural, general and oral health conditions. RESULTS Six hundred and thirty-three independently living elders participated. The baseline mean age was 67.5 ± 6.1 years. Individuals who never visited a dentist (OR = 3.02, 95% CI: 1.25-7.26) as well as participants who needed a dental prosthesis in the lower arch (OR = 4.38, 95% CI: 1.34-14.32) were more likely to be obese, through BMI and WC measures, respectively. Edentulous participants with complete dentures in both arches (OR = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.06-0.84) and those who perceived their oral health as unsatisfactory (OR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.19-0.88) had a lower likelihood of being obese, according to BMI and WC measures. CONCLUSIONS Older persons with poor oral health may be at risk for general and central obesity, a relationship that may have important clinical implications.

ObjectivesWith improved access to intrauterine transfusion (IUT), more fetuses with haemoglobin Bart’s hydrops fetalis (HBHF; homozygous α0-thalassaemia) will survive.DesignTo evaluate the long-term outcome of affected fetuses with and without IUT in Ontario, Canada, we retrospectively collected data on IUTs and pregnancy outcomes in all cases of HBHF, from 1989 to 2014. Clinical outcome and neurocognitive profiles of long-term survivors were also collected and compared with data from 24 patients with transfusion-dependent β-thalassaemia (TDT-β).ResultsOf the 99 affected pregnancies (93 prenatally diagnosed), 68 resulted in miscarriage or elective termination of pregnancy. Twelve mothers (12%) continued their pregnancies without IUT, and none of those newborns survived the first week of life. All 13 fetuses that received IUT(s) were live-born, but 3 died due to severe hydrops at birth and 1 died due to infection. The remaining nine survivors, in comparison with TDT-β patients, had earlier iron overload requiring iron chelation therapy. Endocrinopathies and short stature were more frequent in these patients. Neurocognitive outcome was not significantly affected in five patients who were assessed, and none were diagnosed with intellectual impairment. In three patients, MRI studies demonstrated brain white matter changes in keeping with ‘silent’ ischaemic infarcts.ConclusionsIn patients with HBHF, IUT is associated with improved survival. While acceptable neurocognitive outcome can be expected, these patients have more clinical complications compared with their TDT-β counterparts. The clinical and neurocognitive outcomes of HBHF should be discussed in detail when counselling and offering IUT for patients.

Continued improvement in computing efficiency requires functional specialization of hardware designs. Agile hardware design methodologies have been proposed to alleviate the increased design costs of custom silicon architectures, but their practice thus far has been accompanied with challenges in integration and validation of complex systems-on-a-chip (SoCs). We present the Chipyard framework, an integrated SoC design, simulation, and implementation environment for specialized compute systems. Chipyard includes configurable, composable, open-source, generator-based IP blocks that can be used across multiple stages of the hardware development flow while maintaining design intent and integration consistency. Through cloud-hosted FPGA accelerated simulation and rapid ASIC implementation, Chipyard enables continuous validation of physically realizable customized systems.

Acinetobacter baumanniiis a common multidrug resistant bacteria that causes pneumonia and urinary tract infection in intensive care unit and requires dual antibiotic for effective management. There are limited expensive antibiotics that are active against. Acinetobacter baumannii. Trimethoprim - Sulfamethoxazole is a cheap, older and easily available antibiotic that can be used in combination with Meropenem or Polymyxin for treatment to decrease antibiotic resistance. This case presentation of three patients describes the successful treatment of hospital acquired Pneumonia and Urinary Tract Infection by Acinetobacter baumannii with Trimethoprim - Sulfamethoxazole in combination with Meropenem and Polymyxin that lead avoidance of costly drugs and decrease in antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance and lack of newer effective antibiotic against multidrug resistant bacteria like Acinetobacter baumannii is a common problem in intensive care unit. Trimethoprim -Sulfamethoxazole may help in combating this problem.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have crucial roles in lncRNAs in periodontal development and disorders of this tissue. A number of lncRNAs especially those regulating immune responses contribute in the pathophysiology of periodontitis. In the current case-control study, we assessed expression levels of two immune response-related lncRNAs namely the antisense non-coding RNA in the INK4 locus (ANRIL) and metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) in gingival tissues and blood samples of patients with periodontitis and healthy subjects. Expression of ANRIL was significantly lower in peripheral blood of patients compared with controls (Posterior Beta RE = -1.734, P value = 0.035). However, when diving study participants based on their gender, no significant difference was found between patients and sex-matched controls. Expression of this lncRNA was not different between periodontitis tissues and normal tissues. Expression of MALAT1 was not different between samples obtained from cases and controls. Tissue or blood expressions of ANRIL or MALAT1 were not correlated with age of either patients or controls. There were significant correlations between expression levels of ANRIL and MALAT1 in gingival tissues both in cases (r = 0.62, P, Highlights • Expression of ANRIL was significantly lower in peripheral blood of patients with periodontitis compared with controls. • Expression of ANRIL was not different between periodontitis tissues and normal tissues. • Expression of MALAT1 was not different between samples obtained from cases and controls. • Tissue or blood expressions of ANRIL or MALAT1 were not correlated with age.

Background. This study aimed to assess the association of haptoglobin (HP) and natural resistance-associated macrophage protein 1 (NRAMP1) alleles with the presence of heme-consuming periodontal pathogens in a group of Iranian patients with chronic periodontitis and peri-implantitis. Methods. This cross-sectional study evaluated 69 eligible chronic periodontitis and peri-implantitis patients selected from Shahid Beheshti Dental School. The periodontally diseased individuals had at least three teeth with clinical attachment loss of ≥3 mm and a probing pocket depth (PPD) of ≥3 mm in at least two quadrants. Peri-implant PPD of at least one site was ≥5 mm with or without suppuration and bleeding on probing. A plaque index of >20% and a radiographic crestal bone loss was present in at least one site around the implant. The paper point method was used for sampling from the deepest periodontal/peri-implant pocket of each tooth or implant for the DNA checkerboard hybridization technique. Statistical analyses were performed with PASW Statistics 18.0. The variables were presented as absolute and relative frequencies (%). Results. An Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (A. actinomycetemcomitans) score of 1–2 was 5.8 times more frequent in HP 2, rs1723540 G, and rs2276631 G alleles. A Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) score of 1–2 was 4.8 times more common in the subjects carrying HP 2, rs1723540 G, and rs2276631 G alleles compared with HP 1, rs1723540 A, and rs2276631 A alleles. Conclusion. Within the limitations of this study, it seems that there was a relationship between HP and NRAMP1 allele frequencies and the presence of heme-consuming periodontal pathogens in the Iranian patients with chronic periodontitis and peri-implantitis evaluated in the present study.

Dental implant is a commonly used treatment modality for replacement of the missing teeth. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a number of bone-related factors at the implant site preoperatively by cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT).A total of 400 implant sites were evaluated on CBCT images. The height, width, angle of residual ridge, thickness of cortical bone crest, and the ridge concavity were evaluated on cross sectional images at four regions: the anterior maxilla, anterior mandible, posterior maxilla, and posterior mandible.The highest thickness of cortical bone was observed in posterior mandible followed by anterior mandible, anterior maxilla, and posterior maxilla. In the mandible, the mean buccal concavity was higher in the anterior than in the posterior region (P = 0.0094). The measurements indicated that in both the maxilla (P = 0.0256) and mandible (P0.0001), the residual ridge width was lower in the anterior than in the posterior region; while the height of the residual ridge was higher in the anterior than in the posterior region in the mandible (P0.0001). In the maxilla, the remaining ridge angle in the anterior region was greater than that in the posterior region (P0.0001).Anatomical variations detected on CBCT results in personalized treatment planning considering best site and the best fixture in terms of size and position prior to implant fixture insertion.

Nowadays the implementation of artificial neural networks in high-energy physics has obtained excellent results on improving signal detection. In this work we propose to use neural networks (NNs) for event discrimination in HAWC. This observatory is a water Cherenkov gamma-ray detector that in recent years has implemented algorithms to identify horizontal muon tracks. However, these algorithms are not very efficient. In this work we describe the implementation of three NNs: two based on image classification and one based on object detection. Using these algorithms we obtain an increase in the number of identified tracks. The results of this study could be used in the future to improve the performance of the Earth-skimming technique for the indirect measurement of neutrinos with HAWC., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, Proceedings of the 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2021)

Statement of problem Immediate implant placement provides a popular therapeutic option. However, compromised sockets may jeopardize the treatment outcome. Purpose The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate the treatment outcome in terms of the implant survival rate and success parameters of immediate implant placement in compromised extraction sockets. Material and methods An electronic search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and ISI Web of Science up to January 2021. Studies evaluating implant survival rate and main success parameters were included for a qualitative and quantitative analysis (risk ratio and mean difference). Results In total, 43 studies with analysis of 4825 sockets were included. Compared with the noncompromised sockets, the compromised group showed no significant differences in implant survival rates (risk ratio=0.992; 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.979 to 1.005; P=.246). No significant statistical differences were found in marginal bone level at ≤12 months (mean difference [MD]=0.033; 95% CI=-0.012 to 0.078; P=.154) or esthetic parameters. Conclusions Immediate implant placement in compromised sites does not appear to decrease the survival and success rates. However, randomized clinical trials with large sample sizes should be conducted to draw a definite conclusion about the efficacy and safety of this treatment protocol in compromised sockets.

This paper proposes a two-objective linearized resilient architecture (LRA) model for distribution networks to achieve a strictly resilient network during natural disasters like earthquakes and floods. To obtain this goal, the proposed LRA framework is based on the planning of the energy storage system (ESS), hardening and tie lines, and backup distributed generation (DG). Therefore, the proposed model minimizes the sum of planning and expected operation costs in the first objective function, and the total load shedding and repair costs originates from earthquakes and floods in the second objective function. Also, it constraints to the network planning model, linearized equations of the system operation, and system reconfiguration formulation. Moreover, stochastic programming models the uncertain availability of the network equipment during the natural disaster condition, the load and electricity price. In the next step, the e-constraint-based Pareto optimization is used to achieve an equivalent single-objective LRA model and obtain the best compromise solution. Finally, the proposed strategy is applied to a standard test distribution network. Numerical simulation confirms the capability of the proposed method in obtaining a resilient distribution network during natural disasters.

Co-design is a widely applied design process with well-documented values, including mutual learning and collective creativity. However, the real-world challenges of conducting multidisciplinary co-design research to inform the design of self-care technologies are not well established. We provide a qualitative account of a multidisciplinary project that aimed to co-design machine learning applications for Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) self-management. Through interviews, we identify not only perceived social, technological and strategic benefits of co-design but also organisational, translational and pragmatic design challenges: participants with T1D experienced difficulties in co-designing systems that met their individual self-care needs as part of group activities; HCI and AI researchers described challenges resulting from applying co-design outcomes to data-driven ML work; and industry collaborators highlighted academic data sharing regulations as cross-organisational challenges that can impede co-design efforts. Based on this understanding, we discuss opportunities for supporting multidisciplinary collaborations and aligning individual health needs with collaborative co-design activities.

Obesity and overweight are one of the main problems faced by Malaysian society due to sedentary lifestyle and high-carbohydrate consumption. A “low glycemic diet” is suggested as a suitable alternative in preventing obesity, because of its low carbohydrate intake which can be referred to as Atkins or Ketogenic diet (KD). A case study was carried out to assess the effect of KD during Ramadan on obese individuals. KD meal intervention was developed upon consultation with a dietician and tailored for Sahur (a pre-dawn meal) and Iftar (evening meal for breaking fast). A total of six participants were involved in this study which consists of 2 groups. A control group of 3 selected obese male IIUM students received no specific diet, and a study group of 3 selected obese male IIUM students underwent KD meal intervention. The KD meal intervention was carried out one week before Ramadan to allow the participants’ body to familiarize with high fat and low carbohydrate diet. Results showed that most of the selected obese participants who applied KD meal intervention exhibited satisfactory results in weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) reduction, steady levels of blood glucose, normal blood pressure levels and the presence of ketone bodies at a p-value < 0.01. However, the participants in the control group showed no significant changes at p

Surgical trauma to the abdominal wall and peritoneum during celiotomy is expected to cause postoperative inflammation. However, complications after abdominal surgery are hardly detected in the early stage. Hematological analysis of blood has been considered beneficial in disease diagnosis and prognosis. This study aimed to evaluate the hematological parameters predicting peritonitis in goats and to determine the post-surgery day that hematology is significant. Six apparently healthy West African Dwarf goats were included in this study. After 2 weeks of acclimatization, blood samples were obtained daily for 3 days for hematological analyses, which served as the baseline data. The right flanks of the animals were aseptically prepared routinely for exploratory laparotomy. Restraint and anesthesia were achieved using xylazine and lignocaine using an inverted “L” block technique. Laparotomy was performed, and the incision was left for 20 min and then closed routinely. Blood samples were collected for hemogram 24 hr postoperatively and daily for 7 days. Based on the post-surgery hematology results, relative neutrophil (P=0.015) and lymphocyte (P=0.006) counts significantly increased and decreased on day 5 respectively. Significant differences were also observed for red blood cell count, hemoglobin concentration, and packed cell volume on days 5, 6, and 7 respectively. It could therefore be concluded that the diagnostic result for hematology post-laparotomy can be obtained on the fifth and sixth day.

During the recent years, numerous endeavours have been made in the area of software development effort estimation for calculating the software costs in the preliminary development stages. These studies have resulted in the offering of a great many of the models. Despite the large deal of efforts, the substantial problems of the offered methods are their dependency on the used data collection and, sometimes, their lack of appropriate efficiency. The current article attempts to present a model for software development effort estimation through making use of evolutionary algorithms and neural networks. The distinctive characteristic of this model is its lack of dependency on the collection of data used as well as its high efficiency. To evaluate the proposed model, six different data collections have been used in the area of software effort estimation. The reason for the application of several data collections is related to the investigation of the model performance independence of the data collection used. The evaluation scales have been MMRE, MdMRE and PRED (0.25). The results have indicated that the proposed model, besides delivering high efficiency in contrast to its counterparts, produces the best responses for all of the used data collections.

Introduction: Free gingival grafting is among the most foreseeing procedures for increasing the zone of keratinized attached gingiva and enhancing soft tissue around the teeth and dental implants. Nowadays low-level laser therapy (LLLT) is a promising approach in providing patients with more pleasing results in terms of esthetics and comfort. This study aims to investigate the effects of LLLT on gingival recessions treated with free gingival graft (FGG). Methods: This case series was conducted on 12 individuals requiring a bilateral gingival graft in the mandibular region. There was a 30-day interval between the two operations. The test side was selected randomly and irradiated by a low-level laser (LLL) just before surgery. The patients did not know which side was irradiated. LLLT was applied to the donors’ as well as recipients’ site immediately after the operation and 48 hours later. The patients were instructed to record their post-operative pain in a visual analogue scale (VAS) 3 and 24 hours and 7 days after the surgical procedure. The clinical photographs were taken immediately and 30 days after surgical treatment were graded by three experienced periodontists for color matching to adjacent tissues. Results: Ten individuals could finish the study. The test group presented significantly better shade matching and wound healing at the palatal donor site on days 7, 14 and 21. There was a significant reduction in post-operative pain after 24 hours (P=0.007). No statistically significant difference was found between both groups in terms of clinical periodontal indices. Conclusion: LLLT could reduce post-operative pain 24 hours after surgical treatment. Furthermore, the application of LLLT could improve the donors’ site healing and the recipients’ site color matching.

Sustainable operations and improved safety are some of the key management demands of the transportation infrastructure. Harvesting energy from roadways is one promising solution towards meeting bot...

Introduction Organophosphorus poisoning is the most common poison used for suicidal attempt in Nepal. Diabetes insipidus is unusual and rare in this poisoning. This is the second case report of Diabetes insipidus developing in organophosphorus poisoning. Management of diabetes insipidus includes desmopressin and adequate fluid management. Case presentation A 34-year-old female patient accompanied by her father presented at the Emergency department with an alleged history of ingestion of unknown amount of chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin and quinalphos. On admission, she had a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of 7/15. Her blood pressure was 110/60 mm Hg, pulse 54/min, respiratory rate 45/min and saturation 35% on room air, pinpoint pupil reactive to light and bilateral crepitations. She was immediately resuscitated with two litres of normal saline and intubated with a 7 mm endotracheal tube. Atropinisation was done, and pralidoxime was started. She developed a urine output of 250-350 ml per hour with rising sodium and serum osmolality. The urine examination showed low sodium and urine specific gravity. A diagnosis of diabetes insipidus was made. There was no immediate improvement in her GCS. She was managed with 5% dextrose and subcutaneous desmopressin and was transferred out of the intensive care unit on the sixth day and was discharged from hospital on the fifteenth day. Conclusion Diabetes insipidus is a rare transient complication in organophosphorus poisoning that requires careful observation and early management with desmopressin and adequate fluid balance to improve patient outcome.

We proposed a new method for designing graded index lens using liquid crystal infiltration into annular photonic crystals. Applying an external nonuniform voltage in the transverse direction perpendicular to the direction of light propagation yields different orientation of liquid crystal molecules inside the photonic crystal unit cells. As a result, a gradient refractive index was modulated. We numerically investigate focusing properties of the designed graded index structure using plane-wave expansion and finite-difference time-domain methods. The gradient refractive index profile was adjusted by varying the nonuniform voltage excitations, which consequently altered the focal distance of the graded index structure. A wide tuning range of 1856 nm was achieved for focal distance by the proposed graded index structure. This feature can be implemented for planning a flat lens with tunable focal distance based on electro-optic effect. These achievements may have future applications in some optical devices such as near-field imaging and scanning.

Roadway pavements are repeatedly subjected to two different types of energy sources—solar radiation and kinetic energy from passing vehicles. Therefore, they have great potential to be utilized as sustainable energy sources. In this study, an electromagnetic speed bump energy harvester (ESE) prototype was developed to harvest energy from the kinetic energy of passing vehicles and to simultaneously control vehicles’ speed. The ESE absorbs the deflection generated by a passing vehicle and converts it to a rotating shaft that triggers an embedded generator. A set of laboratory tests were conducted to simulate traffic conditions and evaluate the performance of the prototype in generating electrical power. These tests investigated the effect of load magnitude, time of loading, time of unloading, and ratio of loading time to unloading time on the power output generated by the ESE. The experimental results had a maximum average power of 3.21 mW, which shows that the proposed prototype promises to generate substantial power under actual traffic loading conditions. The effect of load magnitude was negligible, while a shorter time of loading led to a higher power output, implying that the optimum vehicle speed for maximizing the power output is the speed limit in the ESE location. Four sets of linear static analyses were performed in order to evaluate the response of the prototype fabrication. The top component of the ESE was modeled using material properties of steel, aluminum, or composites of heavy-duty rubber, and the bottom frames were given steel or aluminum properties.

The increasing industrial and biomedical applications of nanomaterials have enhanced the need to educate a well-trained nanotechnology workforce. This need has led to efforts to introduce hands-on, nanotechnology-based, experimental modules into high school or college-level courses in science or engineering. However, the majority of such efforts have focused on nanoparticle synthesis techniques, and an equally important aspect of working with nanomaterials, i.e. nanoparticle characterization, has received less attention. Herein, we report a series of nanoparticle characterization experiments, as part of a newly developed "Nano and Biointerfaces" course, to familiarize upper undergraduate students as well as graduate students in chemical engineering with nanoparticle characterization techniques. An inquiry-based approach was used in that the composition and properties of nanoparticles were not revealed to the students beforehand and students were asked to perform experiments to characterize nanoparticle composition, size, morphology, and surface area. The results of these experiments were compared with certificates of analysis for particles, provided by the vendor, and the differences in measured properties were discussed. Assessment was performed through evaluation of laboratory memos and presentations, a question in the end of semester final exam, and a student survey. The modular nature of these experiments allows for them to be implemented, with modifications as needed, in other higher education institutions, or in high schools, to familiarize students with nanoparticle characterization.

Vowels in Arabic are optional orthographic symbols written as diacritics above or below letters. In Arabic texts, typically more than 97 percent of written words do not explicitly show any of the vowels they contain; that is to say, depending on the author, genre and field, less than 3 percent of words include any explicit vowel. Although numerous studies have been published on the issue of restoring the omitted vowels in speech technologies, little attention has been given to this problem in papers dedicated to written Arabic technologies. In this research, we present Arabic-Unitex, an Arabic Language Resource, with emphasis on vowel representation and encoding. Specifically, we present two dozens of rules formalizing a detailed description of vowel omission in written text. They are typographical rules integrated into large-coverage resources for morphological annotation. For restoring vowels, our resources are capable of identifying words in which the vowels are not shown, as well as words in which the vowels are partially or fully included. By taking into account these rules, our resources are able to compute and restore for each word form a list of compatible fully vowelized candidates through omission-tolerant dictionary lookup. In our previous studies, we have proposed a straightforward encoding of taxonomy for verbs (Neme in Proceedings of the international workshop on lexical resources (WoLeR) at ESSLLI, 2011) and broken plurals (Neme and Laporte in Lang Sci, 2013, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2013.06.002). While traditional morphology is based on derivational rules, our description is based on inflectional ones. The breakthrough lies in the reversal of the traditional root-and-pattern Semitic model into pattern-and-root, giving precedence to patterns over roots. The lexicon is built and updated manually and contains 76,000 fully vowelized lemmas. It is then inflected by means of finite-state transducers (FSTs), generating 6 million forms. The coverage of these inflected forms is extended by formalized grammars, which accurately describe agglutinations around a core verb, noun, adjective or preposition. A laptop needs one minute to generate the 6 million inflected forms in a 340-MB flat file, which is compressed in 2 min into 11 MB for fast retrieval. Our program performs the analysis of 5000 words/second for running text (20 pages/second). Based on these comprehensive linguistic resources, we created a spell checker that detects any invalid/misplaced vowel in a fully or partially vowelized form. Finally, our resources provide a lexical coverage of more than 99 percent of the words used in popular newspapers, and restore vowels in words (out of context) simply and efficiently.