A stochastic model for sero conversion times of HIV transmission

This paper focuses on the study of a Stochastic Model for predicting the seroconversion time of HIV transmission. As the immune capacities of an individual vary and also have its own resistance, the antigenic diversity threshold is different for different person. We propose a stochastic model to study the damage process acting on the immune system that is non- linear. The mean of seroconversion time of HIV and its variance are derived. A numerical example is given to illustrate the seroconversion times of HIV transmission

Levosimendan for the prevention of acute organ dysfunction in sepsis

BACKGROUND Levosimendan is a calcium-sensitizing drug with inotropic and other properties that may improve outcomes in patients with sepsis. METHODS We conducted a double-blind, randomized clinical trial to investigate whether levosimendan reduces the severity of organ dysfunction in adults with sepsis. Patients were randomly assigned to receive a blinded infusion of levosimendan (at a dose of 0.05 to 0.2 μg per kilogram of body weight per minute) for 24 hours or placebo in addition to standard care. The primary outcome was the mean daily Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score in the intensive care unit up to day 28 (scores for each of five systems range from 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating more severe dysfunction; maximum score, 20). Secondary outcomes included 28-day mortality, time to weaning from mechanical ventilation, and adverse events. RESULTS The trial recruited 516 patients; 259 were assigned to receive levosimendan and 257 to receive placebo. There was no significant difference in the mean (±SD) SOFA score between the levosimendan group and the placebo group (6.68±3.96 vs. 6.06±3.89; mean difference, 0.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], −0.07 to 1.29; P=0.053). Mortality at 28 days was 34.5% in the levosimendan group and 30.9% in the placebo group (absolute difference, 3.6 percentage points; 95% CI, −4.5 to 11.7; P=0.43). Among patients requiring ventilation at baseline, those in the levosimendan group were less likely than those in the placebo group to be successfully weaned from mechanical ventilation over the period of 28 days (hazard ratio, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.97; P=0.03). More patients in the levosimendan group than in the placebo group had supraventricular tachyarrhythmia (3.1% vs. 0.4%; absolute difference, 2.7 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.1 to 5.3; P=0.04). CONCLUSIONS The addition of levosimendan to standard treatment in adults with sepsis was not associated with less severe organ dysfunction or lower mortality. Levosimendan was associated with a lower likelihood of successful weaning from mechanical ventilation and a higher risk of supraventricular tachyarrhythmia. (Funded by the NIHR Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Programme and others; LeoPARDS Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN12776039.

The Total Open Monophonic Number of a Graph

For a connected graph G of order n >- 2, a subset S of vertices of G is a monophonic set of G if each vertex v in G lies on a x-y monophonic path for some elements x and y in S. The minimum cardinality of a monophonic set of G is defined as the monophonic number of G, denoted by m(G).  A  monophonic set of cardinality m(G) is called a m-set of G. A set S of vertices  of a connected graph G is an open monophonic set of G if for each vertex v  in G, either v is an extreme vertex of G and v ˆˆ? S, or v is an internal vertex of a x-y monophonic path for some x, y ˆˆ? S. An open monophonic set of minimum cardinality is a minimum open monophonic set and this cardinality is the open monophonic number, om(G). A connected open monophonic set of G is an open monophonic set S such that the subgraph < S > induced by S is connected. The minimum cardinality of a connected open monophonic set of G is the connected open monophonic number of G and is denoted by omc(G). A total open monophonic set of a graph G is an open monophonic set S such that the subgraph < S > induced by S contains no isolated vertices. The minimum cardinality of a total open monophonic set of G is the total open monophonic number of G and is denoted by omt(G). A total open monophonic set of cardinality omt(G) is called a omt-set of G. The total open monophonic  numbers of certain standard graphs are determined. Graphs with total open monphonic number 2 are characterized. It is proved that if G is a connected graph such that omt(G) = 3 (or omc(G) = 3), then G = K3 or G contains exactly two extreme vertices. It is proved that for any integer n  3, there exists a connected graph G of order n such that om(G) = 2, omt(G) = omc(G) = 3. It is proved that for positive integers r, d and k  4 with 2r, there exists a connected graph of radius r, diameter d and total open monophonic number k. It is proved that for positive integers a, b, n with 4 <_ a<_ b <_n, there exists  a connected graph G of order n such that omt(G) = a and omc(G) = b

An Algorithm to Reconstruct the Missing Values for Diagnosing the Breast Cancer

The treatment of incomplete data is an important step in pre-processing data prior to later analysis. The main objective of this paper is to show how various methods can be used in such a way that they are able to process dataset with missing values. Computer–aided classification of Breast cancer using Back propagation neural network is discussed in this paper. The classification results have indicated that the network gave the good diagnostic performance of 99.06%