Changes in synergy of transtibial amputee during gait: A pilot study

The number of lower limb amputations is increasing significantly in developed countries. The knowledge of muscle synergy in subjects with loss of muscles could help to understand the general neural strategy underlying muscle coordination in walking. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in healthy subject's dominant leg, amputee's intact leg (IL) and the amputee's prosthetic leg (PL) muscles using synergy analysis. Concatenated non-negative matrix factorization (CNMF) was performed to divide the surface electromyography (sEMG) data obtained from 6 upper knee and 4 shank muscles into muscle synergy (S) and activation coefficient profile (C) during walking. The difference in S showed low to high correlations inter-subjectively. The high correlation suggests that the central nervous system (CNS) activates the same groups of muscles synergistically. Amputee's muscle alterations due to inadequate proprioceptive feedback, weight bearing deficiency in PL and prosthesis type could lead to a low correlation in S between groups. The C showed to be statistically significantly different in some regions of the gait cycle (GC). These findings could provide valuable information for rehabilitation purposes and development of a synergy-based controller from sEMG for future generations of prostheses

Is famine exposure during developmental life in rural Bangladesh associated with a metabolic and epigenetic signature in young adulthood? A historical cohort study

Objectives Famine exposure in utero can ‘programme’ an individual towards type 2 diabetes and obesity in later life. We sought to identify, (1) whether Bangladeshis exposed to famine during developmental life are programmed towards diabetes and obesity, (2) whether this programming was specific to gestational or postnatal exposure windows and (3) whether epigenetic differences were associated with famine exposure. Design A historical cohort study was performed as part of a wider cross-sectional survey. Exposure to famine was defined through birth date and historical records and participants were selected according to: (A) exposure to famine in postnatal life, (B) exposure to famine during gestation and (C) unexposed. Setting Matlab, a rural area in the Chittagong division of Bangladesh. Participants Young adult men and women (n=190) recruited to a historical cohort study with a randomised subsample included in an epigenetic study (n=143). Outcome measures Primary outcome measures of weight, body mass index and oral glucose tolerance tests (0 and 120 min glucose). Secondary outcome measures included DNA methylation using genome-wide and targeted analysis of metastable epialleles sensitive to maternal nutrition. Results More young adults exposed to famine in gestation were underweight than those postnatally exposed or unexposed. In contrast, more young adults exposed to famine postnatally were overweight compared to those gestationally exposed or unexposed. Underweight adults exposed to famine in gestation in utero were hyperglycaemic following a glucose tolerance test, and those exposed postnatally had elevated fasting glucose, compared to those unexposed. Significant differences in DNA methylation at seven metastable epialleles (VTRNA2-1, PAX8, PRDM-9, near ZFP57, near BOLA, EXD3) known to vary with gestational famine exposure were identified. Conclusions Famine exposure in developmental life programmed Bangladeshi offspring towards diabetes and obesity in adulthood but gestational and postnatal windows of exposure had variable effects on phenotype. DNA methylation differences were replicated at previously identified metastable epialleles sensitive to periconceptual famine exposure

Clinicopathological Profile and Surgical Treatment of Abdominal Tuberculosis: A Single Centre Experience in Northwestern Tanzania.

Abdominal tuberculosis continues to be a major public health problem worldwide and poses diagnostic and therapeutic challenges to general surgeons practicing in resource-limited countries. This study was conducted to describe the clinicopathological profile and outcome of surgical treatment of abdominal tuberculosis in our setting and compare with what is described in literature. A prospective descriptive study of patients who presented with abdominal tuberculosis was conducted at Bugando Medical Centre (BMC) in northwestern Tanzania from January 2006 to February 2012. Ethical approval to conduct the study was obtained from relevant authorities. Statistical data analysis was performed using SPSS version 17.0. Out of 256 patients enrolled in the study, males outnumbered females. The median age was 28 years (range = 16-68 years). The majority of patients (77.3%) had primary abdominal tuberculosis. A total of 127 (49.6%) patients presented with intestinal obstruction, 106 (41.4%) with peritonitis, 17 (6.6%) with abdominal masses and 6 (2.3%) patients with multiple fistulae in ano. Forty-eight (18.8%) patients were HIV positive. A total of 212 (82.8%) patients underwent surgical treatment for abdominal tuberculosis. Bands /adhesions (58.5%) were the most common operative findings. Ileo-caecal region was the most common bowel involved in 122 (57.5%) patients. Release of adhesions and bands was the most frequent surgical procedure performed in 58.5% of cases. Complication and mortality rates were 29.7% and 18.8% respectively. The overall median length of hospital stay was 32 days and was significantly longer in patients with complications (p < 0.001). Advanced age (age ≥ 65 years), co-morbid illness, late presentation, HIV positivity and CD4+ count < 200 cells/μl were statistically significantly associated with mortality (p < 0.0001). The follow up of patients were generally poor as only 37.5% of patients were available for follow up at twelve months after discharge. Abdominal tuberculosis constitutes a major public health problem in our environment and presents a diagnostic challenge requiring a high index of clinical suspicion. Early diagnosis, early anti-tuberculous therapy and surgical treatment of the associated complications are essential for survival

Fundraising and Zakat Distribution in Poverty Alleviation in Maruthamunai, Sri Lanka: A Maqashid Sharia Perspective

In Sri Lanka, poverty has been one of the most pressing social issues over the past decade. This research examines zakat fundraising strategies and analyzes zakat distribution patterns in Maruthamunai, Sri Lanka, where Muslims constitute the dominant ethnic group. The current role of zakat in Maruthamunai is crucial in alleviating poverty. Primary data for this study included annual fundraising and distribution reports from the Zakat Fund, covering the years 2019 to 2023. As part of this qualitative research, unstructured interviews were conducted with the president, general secretary, deputy president, assistant secretary, members, and prominent individuals in the region. Data analysis was conducted using coding and is presented descriptively through the maqasid sharia approach. The results of this study indicate that the distribution of zakat funds in Maruthamunai has been less effective due to several factors, including insufficient receipt of zakat funds and inadequately structured internal distribution policies. Policymakers should focus on prioritizing the primary level of welfare needs (mashlahah dharuriyyah). Within this framework, the maqasid sharia perspective emphasizes the development of human resources as a priority over material development. Therefore, despite the relatively high poverty rate, the objectives of preserving religion, safeguarding human life, ensuring generational continuity, protecting intellect, and promoting wealth circulation can still be effectively pursued

Coconut trees detection and segmentation in aerial imagery using mask region-based convolution neural network

Food resources face severe damages under extraordinary situations of catastrophes such as earthquakes, cyclones, and tsunamis. Under such scenarios, speedy assessment of food resources from agricultural land is critical as it supports aid activity in the disaster-hit areas. In this article, a deep learning approach was presented for the detection and segmentation of coconut trees in aerial imagery provided through the AI competition organised by the World Bank in collaboration with OpenAerialMap and WeRobotics. Masked Region-based Convolution Neural Network (Mask R-CNN) approach was used for identification and segmentation of coconut trees. For the segmentation task, Mask R-CNN model with ResNet50 and ResNet101 based architectures was used. Several experiments with different configuration parameters were performed and the best configuration for the detection of coconut trees with more than 90% confidence factor was reported. For the purpose of evaluation, Microsoft COCO dataset evaluation metric namely mean average precision (mAP) was used.An overall 91% mean average precision for coconut trees’ detection was achieved

Mutual coupling reduction in circularly polarized dielectric resonator MIMO antenna

In this article a novel circularly polarized (CP) rectangular dielectric resonator antennas (RDRA’s) array has been designed. A unique conformal feeding strip has been used to excite the RDRA’s having a distance of λ/2. Various techniques are investigated to reduce mutual coupling (MC).  Different formations, comprise of reorientation of the antennas have been employed to suppress MC and to enhance CP bandwidth. By the unique orientation the mutual coupling has been reduced by ~ 14 dB. A broadband circular polarization over a bandwidth of ~ 18.8% in conjunction with an impedance matching bandwidth of ~ 11.3 % has been achieved. The design has been modeled and simulated using computer simulation technology (CST). Two different simulation techniques i.e. finite integration technique (FIT) and Finite element method (FEM) have been used to compute and validate the results respectively. A significant resemblance in results have been observed

Clustering Based on the Node Health Status in Wireless Sensor Networks

One of the applications of wireless sensor network is the forest fire monitoring which has different characteristics from others. In this application, the connectivity of nodes should not be destroyed just because of nodes lose their energy or burnt in the fire. Since the wide area of monitoring, the clustering method is considered as the efficient routing to increase its scalability as well as reduce energy consumed of nodes. Many clustering methods which are mostly based on Leach protocol are proposed without considering the node’s failure. Here, we proposed the node health status as a parameter to select a Cluster Head and compared its performance with Leach, MTE and the direct algorithm. Results show that the number of packets received and the alive nodes of the proposed method are higher than others. Identically, it has the lowest average end to end delay which is suitable for forest fire application

Outcomes of the modern management approach for locally advanced (T3-T4) laryngeal cancer: a retrospective cohort study

\ua9 The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of J.L.O. (1984) Limited. Background: Our centre has favoured primary surgery over chemoradiotherapy(CRT) for specific advanced laryngeal cancer patients (e.g. large volume tumours, airway compromise, significant dysphagia, T4 disease). This study reports the survival outcomes for a modern, high-volume head and neck centre favouring surgical management to determine whether this approach improves survival. Methods: Retrospective analysis of patient data over a 7-year period from a tertiary cancer centre. Results: 121 patients were identified with T3(n=76) or T4 (n=45) laryngeal cancer (mean follow-up 2.9 years). In the cohort treated with curative intent(n=104;86.0%), the 2-year and 5-year estimated disease-specific survival (DSS) was 77.9% and 64.1%. CRT had the highest 2-year DSS (92.5%), followed by surgery with adjuvant therapy (81.8%), radiotherapy alone (75%), and surgery alone (72.4%). Conclusion: For a centre favouring primary surgery for certain advanced laryngeal cancers, the DSS appears no higher than published literature. To enhance survival, future research should focus on precision medicine to define treatment pathways in this disease

KEBIJAKAN REDAKSIONAL RADAR SULBAR TENTANG BERITA PENDIDIKAN DALAM MENDUKUNG MAJENE SEBAGAI PUSAT PENDIDIKAN DI PROVINSI SULBAR

ABSTRAK Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui: (1) porsi pemberitaan seputar pendidikan di Majene lebih sedikit dibanding isu lain. (2) kebijakan redaksional Radar Sulbar dalam mendukung Majene sebagai pusat pendidikan di Sulbar. (3) faktor – faktor yang mempengaruhi kebijakan redaksional Radar Sulbar tentang berita pendidikan. (4) kelemahan dan kelebihan kebijakan redaksional Radar Sulbar dalam mendukung Majene sebagai pusat pendidikan di Sulbar. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif deskriptif dengan menggabungkan analisis gatekeeping model Pamela J Shomaker dan Stephen D Reese. Penelitian ini dilakukan di Radar Sulbar Kabupaten Mamuju dan Majene. Jenis sumber data yang digunakan adalah data primer dan data sekunder. Data primer adalah hasil wawancara para redaktur dan berita – berita di Radar Sulbar edisi Januari – Maret 2016. Data sekunder berupa buku, tesis, skripsi, jurnal dan internet. Informan sebanyak delapan orang. Data analisis menggunakan beberapa teori. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa (1) Pemberitaan pendidikan Majene secara kuantitas di bawah dibading isu lain dipengaruhi kurangnya wartawan lapangan dan juga tidak adanya penekanan memunculkan berita pendidikan setiap hari. (2) Kebijakan Redaksional Radar Subar mendukung Majene sebagai pusat pendidikan dengan memberi penguatan kepada beberapa isu pendidikan saja. (3) Faktor – faktor yang dominan mempengaruhi kebijakan redaksional Radar Sulbar terkait berita pendidikan diantaranya ideologi dan organisasi. (4) Kelebihan kebijakan redaksional Radar Sulbar dalam mendukung Majene sebagai pusat pendidikan di Sulbar terlihat dari rubrik pendidikan Go madrasah dan konsistensi pemberitaan yang meski memiliki kerjasama iklan di lintas sektoral tidak mengurangi fungsi kontrolnya. Kelemahan : Rubrik Health and Education masih di dominasi berita nasional dan sebagian kecil berita lokal di Sulbar