The assignment of protein secondary structure elements (SSEs) underpins the structural analysis and prediction. The backbone of a protein could be adequately represented using a pc-polyline that passes through the centers of its peptide planes. One salient feature of pc-polyline representation is that the secondary structure of a protein becomes recognizable in a matrix whose elements are the pairwise distances between two peptide plane centers. Thus a pc-polyline could in turn be used to assign SSEs. Using convolutional neuron network (CNN) here we confirm that a pc-polyline indeed contains enough information for it to be used for the accurate assignments of six types of secondary structure elements: α-helix, β-sheet, β-bulge, 3 10 -helix, turn and loop. The applications to three large data sets show that the assignments made by our CNN-based P2PSSE program agree very well with those by DSSP , STRIDE and quite well with those by five other programs. The analyses of the assignments by P2PSSE and those by other programs raise some general questions about the characterizations of protein secondary structure. In particular the analyses illustrate the difficulty with giving a quantitative and consistent definition for each of the six SSE types especially for 3_10 -helix, β-bulge, turn or loop in terms of either backbone H-bond patterns, or backbone dihedral angles, or Cα -polylines or pc-polylines. The difficulty suggests that the SSE space though being dominated by the regions for the six SSE types is to a certain degree continuous.

EP Rounds

Objective: To assess the clinical significance of a low 180-minute glucose value in a 100gr oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and a single high abnormal value. Design: A retrospective cohort study. Setting: A single outpatient health clinic. Population: Women with one abnormal high OGTT glucose value. The study group included women with 180-minute plasma glucose levels of ≤60 mg/dl and one abnormal value in the OGTT. The control group was comprised of women with one abnormal value in the OGTT and normal 180-minute glucose value. Methods: Pregnancy related outcomes and level of glycemic control of both groups were compared. Main outcome measures: The primary outcome was glycemic control, defined as fasting blood glucose measurements>90 mg/dl or post-prandial glucose values >140 mg/dl or 120 md/dl (1-hour and 2-hour post-prandial, respectively) in>30% of the measurements. Secondary outcomes were the rate of insulin treatment and the perinatal outcome consisting of birthweight, large-for-gestational-age and polyhydramnios. Results: 301 women were included, of them, 143 in the study group and 158 in the control group. Pre-pregnancy body mass index, first trimester fasting glucose levels, previous gestational diabetes mellitus, and familial diabetes were similar for both groups. Suboptimal glycemic control was more prevalent among the women in the study group (14% vs. 5.1%, respectively, P=0.01). The need for insulin treatment was similar in both groups (9.8% vs. 4.4%, P=.1). Conclusion: Women with one abnormal value and a 180-minute hypoglycemia in the OGTT are at increased risk for suboptimal glycemic control.

Introduction: Continuum theory states that suppression of efficient acute inflammation is one of the mechanisms responsible for the onset of chronic low-grade inflammation, and in the presence of chronic inflammation, an organism is not capable of an efficient acute inflammatory response to pathogenic stimuli. Materials and methods: We investigated medical records from a large clinical database to assess whether chronic and acute inflammation were mutually exclusive. To evaluate this question, we gathered data on age, current diagnosis, comorbidities and last high fever. Results: A total of 927 cases of chronic inflammatory diseases were investigated. A strong association was found between increasing age and a reduction in concurrent acute and chronic inflammation (chi-squared statistic 51.26; p< .00001). Twenty-one individual cases were examined for the pattern of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. In most cases, there was a clear increase in acute inflammatory conditions as chronic diseases improved. Conclusions: This retrospective study showed a strong association of decreasing concurrent acute and chronic inflammatory states with increasing age, and a possible mutual exclusivity of efficient acute and chronic inflammation was indicated. Since ageing is a low-grade chronic inflammatory process, it is possible that chronic inflammation precludes efficient acute inflammation, which indicates that there is a need to reconsider the manner of handling of acute inflammation in the population.

Host cell proteins (HCPs) are process-related impurities that may co-purify with biopharmaceutical drug products. Within this class of impurities there are some that are more problematic. These problematic HCPs can be considered high-risk and can include those that are immunogenic, biologically active, or enzymatically active with the potential to degrade either product molecules or excipients used in formulation, and often are difficult-to-purify. Why should the biopharmaceutical industry worry about these high-risk host cell proteins? What approach could be taken to understand the origin of this co-purification and to deal with these high-risk HCPs? To answer these questions, the BioPhorum Development Group (BPDG) HCP Workstream initiated a collaboration among its 26-company team with the goal of industry alignment around high-risk HCPs. A sub team was formed, in which the members performed literature searches and discussed the information available around this topic. A survey to the BPDG HCP Workstream team members led to team discussions and insights into a list of frequently seen problematic HCPs. These HCPs were further classified based on their potential impact into different risk categories that could be beneficial to the biopharmaceutical industry for targeted monitoring of those HCP impurities in CHO-produced biologics to minimize risk to product quality, safety, and efficacy.

Unicommissural unicuspid aortic valve (UAV) is a rare valvular malformation. It may lead to severe aortic stenosis with or without aortic regurgitation. UAVs have many characteristic changes such as premature dysmorphic valvular calcification and premature valvular dysfunction. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) was described as the gold standard for the diagnosis of UAVs. We reported the case of a 58 years old man who presented with syncope and dyspnea due to severe aortic stenosis secondary to a heavily calcified unicommissural UAV. After the surgery pathological specimen showed severe amorphous calcification just like a calcified amorphous tumor (CAT).

Objective: To determine the predictors of postoperative AKI following non-emergent cardiac surgery among patients with variable preoperative eGFR levels. Methods: Retrospective study of patients who underwent elective or in-hospital cardiac surgical procedures performed between January 2006 and November 2015. The procedures included isolated CABG, isolated AVR or combined CABG and AVR. The primary outcome AKI (any stage) following non-emergent cardiac surgery utilizing the 2012 KDIGO criteria. Patients were categorized based the following renal outcomes: mild AKI, severe AKI (KDIGO stage 2 or 3) and post-operative dialysis.. Results: A total of 6713 patients were included in our study. The mean age was 66.8 years (SD ± 10.3), with 76.2% being males. A total of 4487 patients had normal or mildly decreased eGFR (G1 or G2) preoperatively (66.8%), while 1960 patients were in the G3 category (29.1%). Only 266 patients (3.9%) had G4 or worse renal function. A total of 1489 (28.5%) patients experienced post-operative AKI. The need for postoperative dialysis occurred in 4.2% of the AKI subgroup. In-hospital mortality was higher among the AKI subgroup (7.3% vs 0.5%, p<0.0001). In an adjusted model, a lower pre-operative eGFR category was the strongest predictor of AKI. A practical scorecard for the preoperative estimation of severe AKI for non-emergent cardiac procedures incorporating these parameters was developed. Conclusions: Preoperative eGFR is the strongest predictor of post-operative AKI in individuals undergoing non-emergent cardiac surgery. A practical scorecard incorporating preoperative predictors of AKI may allow informed decision making and to predict AKI following non-emergent cardiac surgery

The objective of this paper is to present the study thermal stresses in an isotropic material disc with rigid inclusion and subjected to mechanical load and density parameter by using transition theory. The transition theory includes classical macroscopic solving problems in plasticity, creep relaxation, and semi-empirical yield conditions. It has been observed that the radial stress has a maximum value at the internal surface of the disc made of compressible material (i.e. copper) as compared to the disc made of incompressible material (i.e. rubber). With the introduction of thermal condition, density parameter and load, the values of radial and circumferential stress increase of the internal surface of compressible/ incompressible materials. The displacement component increased at the outer surface of the disc made of compressible /incompressible materials and fully plastic stage. Results have been discussed numerical and depicted graphically.

Objective: To investigate the long-term outcomes of extended hepatectomy for POST-TEXT III and IV hepatoblastoma. Methods: The clinical data of 35 patients with POST-TEXT III and IV hepatoblastoma from January 2009 to June 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. Results: There were 34 cases of POST-TEXT III and 1 cases of POST-TEXT IV, respectively. All 35 cases underwent hepatic resection, including 7 cases of hepatic trisectionectomy, 8 cases of extended hemihepatectomy, 4 cases of irregular hepatectomy, 12 cases of mesohepatectomy and 4 cases of ALPPS procedure. Pringle maneuver and Glissonean approach was used in 4 and 22 patients, respectively. The average blood loss of patients with Glissonean approach (147.73 ± 137.46ml) was significantly less than that of patients without the approach (387.69 ± 235.69ml; P = 0.001). The 5-year overall survival rate and event-free survival rate was 79.2% and 73.7%, respectively. According to the classification of tumor margin distance, the 5-year overall survival rates of the tumors with margin > 1cm, 0.5-1cm, < 0.5cm and close to the tumor margin were 100%, 78.0%, 83.3% and 53.3%, respectively (P=0.371). Seven patients developed recurrence which occurred within 1 year after tumor resection. Conclusion: Non-transplant extended hepatic resection is a feasible approach for POST-TEXT III and IV hepatoblastomas. On the basis of mastering the Glisson approach and ensuring a certain resection margin, it is possible to achieve a similar oncological outcome to liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate the progress made with pediatric oncology care in Cameroon from 2000 to 2020. METHOD A literature search was conducted for published articles on childhood cancer in Cameroon and relevant documents and conference abstracts were reviewed. The articles were analysed under eight themes: covering detection, diagnosis, management and program development. RESULTS Forty publications were analysed. Cancer diagnosis was achieved with cytology, histology and simple imaging. Management for common and curable cancers was with use of modified treatment regimens for low- and middle- income settings. There was good collaboration between the pediatric oncology professionals nationally and international partners. Advocacy led to the support of the Ministry of Health with pediatric oncology specific priority actions in the latest national cancer control plan. CONCLUSION Commitment of childhood cancer specialists, non-governmental organizations, and the government can lead to successful childhood cancer management in a low-income country.

Population-based data on survival from childhood cancers in sub-Saharan Africa is sparse. We report data for nine childhood cancers in the population of Kampala Uganda. Survival for eight out of nine cancers was below the WHO’s global target of 60% (the exception was Hodgkin lymphoma (86% at 3 years)). There was significant (p<0.05) decline in survival between 1 and 3 years for Wilms tumour and Kaposi sarcoma (30% and 34% at 3-years respectively). Survival from Burkitt lymphoma, Wilms tumour and Kaposi sarcoma has not changed since 2005.

Aims: To investigate the utility of adenosine administration to test the durability of cavotricuspid isthmus (CTI) block after radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation for typical atrial flutter. Methods: Adenosine 10mg was administered by bolus injection through a femoral sheath at 5 minutes after apparent completion of CTI ablation in consecutive patients, and its effect on CTI conduction was recorded. Conduction in both directions across the CTI was tested repeatedly until 20 minutes after the last energy delivery. Results: Among 132 patients treated with a Blazer 10mm (n=126) or 8mm (n=6) ablation catheter, bidirectional block of the CTI was achieved in all cases. Adenosine administration was followed by a transient recurrence of conduction in 3 cases (2.3%); in all of these, a persistent recurrence of CTI conduction was observed within the waiting period. Persistent recurrence of CTI conduction occurred within the waiting period in 3 patients (2.3%) whose adenosine test had been negative. In all cases, further RF delivery achieved CTI block that persisted to the end of a 20-minute waiting period. During 38 months of follow-up, 131 patients (99.2%) remained free of clinical recurrence of typical flutter. Conclusion: Administration of adenosine 10mg at 5 minutes after RF delivery reveals latent conduction in the CTI in some but not all cases that are revealed by a 20-minute wait. At this dosage and at this time-point, adenosine testing is not an adequate substitute for a waiting period.

Background Identification of published data on prevalent/incidence of atrial fibrillation/flutter (AF) often relies on inpatient/outpatient claims, without consideration to other types of healthcare services and pharmacy claims. Purpose To examine AF prevalence/incidence and associated individual comorbidity and multi-morbidity profiles for a large US adult cohort spanning across a wide age range for both males/females based on both medical/pharmacy claims. Methods We studied a population of 8,343,992 persons across many geographical areas in the U.S. continent from 1 January /2016 to 31 October 2019. The prevalence and incidence of AF were comparatively analyzed for different healthcare parameters. Results Based on integrated medical and pharmacy claims, AF prevalence was 12.7% in the elderly population (> 65 years) and 0.9% in the younger population (< 65 years). These prevalence rates are different from estimates provided by the US CDC for those aged > 65 years (9%) and age < 65 years (2%); thus, the prevalence is under-estimated in the elderly population and over-estimated in the younger population. The incidence ratios for elderly females relative to younger females was 15.07 (95%CI 14.47-15.70), a value that is about 50% higher than for elderly males (10.57 (95%CI 10.24-10.92)). Comorbidity risk profile for AF identified on the basis of medical and pharmacy criteria varied by age and sex. The proportion with multimorbidity (defined as ≥2 long term comorbidities) was 10-12%. Conclusion Continued reliance only on outpatient and inpatient claims greatly underestimates AF prevalence and incidence in the general population by over 100%. Multimorbidity is common amongst AF patients, affecting approximately 1 in 10 patients. AF patients with 4 or more co-morbidities captured 20 to 40% of the AF cohorts depending on age groups and prevalent or incident cases. Our proposed methodology can guide future analysis of quality/cost of care for progressive medical conditions at the population level.

Background: Although temozolomide has been extensively used to treat various tumors, there is a lack of large-cohort studies on temozolomide’s toxicity profile. Objective: To analyze the toxicity profiles and associated factors in patients treated with temozolomide-containing regimens. Setting: The Union Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Methods: A retrospective analysis of the clinical data of patients treated with temozolomide-containing regimens from January 2008 to December 2019. Univariate chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression analysis were employed to identify factors associated with the occurrence of toxicities. Main outcome measure: The rate of toxicity occurrence and the characteristics of the toxicities. Results: Among the 1,057 patients received temozolomide-containing regimens, 922 patients were included in our analyses. Of the 922 patients, 484 patients (52.5%) experienced toxicities. Univariate analysis revealed that radiotherapy, chemotherapy cycle, chemotherapy regimen, and clinical stage were significantly associated with the toxicity during temozolomide treatment (P < 0.05). The chemotherapy regimen, chemotherapy cycle, and clinical stage were significantly associated with the overall occurrence of toxicities (P < 0.05). A chemotherapy regimen, chemotherapy cycle, and clinical stage were associated with the hematological system’s toxicities, whereas gender, age, clinical diagnosis, and clinical stage were related to gastrointestinal toxicities (P < 0.05). Clinical diagnosis, chemotherapy regimen, and age were associated with liver toxicity (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Toxicities are common among patients receiving temozolomide-containing regimens. Clinicians should be aware of factors associated with toxicities to minimize the impact of the toxicity.

Inter-individual variation in the propensity to perform different tasks is thought to contribute significantly to the success of group-living organisms. Animals show consistent behavioural differences among them, referred to as animal personality, which are likely an important evolutionary driver in animal societies through their influences on collective actions and thus how these organisms interact with their environment. At present, however, we have little understanding of the proximate mechanisms underlying animal personality in animal groups. In this study, we use a comparative gene expression approach to investigate the mechanistic basis for personality variation during collective behaviour in a species with rudimentary societies: the American cockroach. Our analyses reveal clear differences in gene expression between behavioural phenotypes with tendencies for short and long sheltering time. We discuss how the patterns of gene expression might explain the behavioural differences between individual phenotypes, and by extension how this might influence the collective performance of cockroach groups. Our results shed new light on the molecular mechanisms underlying differences in aggressiveness, dominance and behavioural plasticity in insect societies, and indicate cockroaches may be a valuable model for the study of genetic mechanisms underlying the early steps in the evolution of social behaviour and social complexity.

BackgroundCorona Virus Disease (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which originated in Wuhan, China in late 2019, has spread across the globe, rapidly reaching classification as a pandemic. As of September 24, 2020, more than 31.7 million cases and 973,000 deaths have been identified worldwide and nearly every country has been impacted.1According to the World Health Organization (WHO) surveillance data, the African region (AFRO) has 1,154,171 confirmed cases and 24,464 deaths from COVID-19 as of September 24, 2020.1,2 Although there is optimism that the pandemic response in Africa will be informed by efforts from other regions of the world, there are unique socioeconomic and health aspects in the African context.3 Additionally, Africa faces a number of challenges in identifying and treating COVID-19 cases, including low relative per-capita health resources, a rapidly growing population, and multiple endemic infectious diseases.4Rwanda is an East African nation of more than 12 million people, with 83% of the population living in rural areas.5 Rwanda has made significant advancements in healthcare and economic development over the last 20 years and has emerged as a leader in healthcare in the East African region. The country operates under a universal healthcare model where public health insurance coverage is nearly 84%, with another 6% of the population covered through other insurance schemes.6 Rwanda has an estimated 1350 doctors, 9551 nurses, and 21,826 hospital beds for its 30 districts, for an average of 8919 people per doctor, 1261 people per nurse, and 552 people per bed.7 Per district, the population per doctor ranges from 1725 in Nyarugenge to 54,266 in Nyaruguru. The population per nurse ranges from 412 (Nyarugenge) to 3256 (Nyaruguru), and the population per bed from 288 (Nyarugenge) to 1025 (Nyagatare, Eastern Province).7 In comparison, the global averages for population per doctor, nurse, and bed are 666, 294, and 370, respectively, and averages in Sub-Saharan Africa for population per doctor, nurse, and bed are 5000, 1000, and 833, respectively.8 Rwanda has eight national referral hospitals, four provincial hospitals and 36 district hospitals.6 Locally, there are over 45,000 community health workers working at 499 health centers and 476 health posts, providing the population further access to the health system.6 While African countries have set up the Africa Task Force for Coronavirus Preparedness and Response (AFTCOR) in concert with the African Union Commission, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), and the WHO,5 the Rwandan government has also taken an engaged and innovative approach to COVID-19. As part of its COVID response, Rwanda announced the formation of a Joint Task Force on March 3rd, 2020 which created the Rwandan Coronavirus National Preparedness and Response Plan with the primary objective of “stopping the human-to-human transmission of the virus and caring for those affected”.9

Introduction L'amélioration et le développement des dispositifs électroniques et les systèmes embarqués ont engendré de nouveaux besoins d'interaction des dispositifs embarqué et l'environnement extérieur, En effet l'apparition des interfaces hommes machines a permis une amélioration conséquente de la diffusion d'informations de capteurs. Dans ce document, nous allons nous intéresser à la diffusion de données sur une interface d'une caméra en temps réel, pour cela nous allons utilisé des composants embarqués, notamment un capteur pour illustrer cette implémentation. Composants utilisés Raspberry Pi 3 Pour faire la démonstration, nous avons utilisé une carte Raspberry pi modèle B3, le schéma de la carte est ci-dessous : 

A document by Rupakala B M. Click on the document to view its contents.

Reactive transport codes are very useful elements of environmental research. They now contain multiphysics with very complex algorithms, including flow, transport, chemical and sometimes heat transport, mechanical and/or biological algorithms. Because of this complexity, some parts of these algorithms still have not been sufficiently studied. Here, we present a comparison of 3 algorithms for activity correction, a specific subset of equilibrium chemistry algorithms. We show that the most used algorithm (the inner fixed-point algorithm) or the most rigorous algorithm (the full Newton) might not be the most efficient, and we propose the outer fixed-point algorithm, which is more robust and faster than other algorithms.

Abstract An experimental study of the instantaneous filtrate flow rate is in this work applying a special new technics. The preliminary experiments showed that independently from the processed material and the (steady) filling flow rate, the filtrate flow rate proved to be constant. The experimental method was filling the empty basket, revolving with the operational speed. The experimental results opened a new field of investigations that is the application of the filling flow rate as an independent variable. The filtrate flow rate vs. filling flow rate diagrams exhibit characteristic shapes similar to each other: They have a special breakpoint. The position of this breakpoint divides two ranges of the operational field: filter surface under-loaded and over-loaded by the rate of filling, respectively. The loading of the filter surface means the specific filling flow rate relative to the filter area of the machine.

The kinetics of hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) was systematically studied in an isothermally high-throughput reactor over three kinds of catalysts (CoMo, NiMo, NiMoW) to produce clean diesel meeting latest national standard of China. The influences of reaction temperature, reaction pressure, volume ratio of H2 to oil and space time on hydrodenitrogenation were investigated to obtain kinetic parameters. Two-lump kinetic model considering the influence of self-inhibition was selected for the HDN reaction of diesel oil after the comparison with one-lump kinetic model. The model could well predict the evolution of nitrogen-containing compounds concentration along the axial length of reactor. Based on the two-lump kinetic model, the simulation on the HDN activity of various catalyst stacking-schemes is close to the experimental data, which proves the model is applicable for the simulation of catalyst stacking system. And the concentration of nitrogen-containing compounds was predicted for the catalyst gradation model of different loading sequences.

Adenosine-sensitive atrial tachycardias (ATs) originating from the para-Hisian region have been reported, and their responsible mechanism is considered to be reentry. As an alternative strategy to ablation at the earliest activaton site (EAS) close to the atrioventricular node, previous reports safely eliminated these ATs at the entrance of the SCZ, indicated by a manifest entrainment-guided strategy, but no report has successfully ablated those ATs using the same strategy in the left atrium. We described a case of adenosine-sensitive AT originating from the para-Hisian region that could be eliminated at a remote site from the EAS indicated by the demonstration of manifest entrainment from the anteroseptal LA.

Blending FGD gypsum with surface sodic soil is a universally recognized method for the rapid amelioration of sodic soils; however, there are few reports on whether other application methods (band application) will reclaim sodic soil. Three FGD gypsum application methods, single-band application, dual-band application and blending, were carried out using sodic soil in soil bins to investigate the effects of application method on the wetting front, major cation concentrations and ESP during the process of water infiltration and in the soil profile after infiltration. The results showed that the wetting fronts in the band treatments were denser in the horizontal direction than in the vertical direction, but the blend treatment only had vertical migration. There was an exponential relationship between time and depth of penetration. The orders of desalting capacity were blend treatment, dual-band treatment and single-band treatment for the same volume of outlet water. Na+ was the primary ion in the leachate. The main channel in the band treatments was concentrated below the application site of FGD gypsum. The dual-band treatment significantly decreased the soil ESP of the whole soil bin, while the single-band treatment only effectively reclaimed half of the soil. In the blend treatment, the ESP was 21.32% and 34.66% at depths of 30–35 cm and 35–40 cm and was close to zero at a depth of 0–30 cm. Compared with blend treatment, band treatments have the advantage of long-term amelioration of local sodic soil, and the performance is mainly affected by the Ca2+ pathway.

A document by Miao Yu. Click on the document to view its contents.