Characteristics of patients with haematological and breast cancer (1996–2009) who died of heart failure-related causes after cancer therapy

Aims: To describe the characteristics and time to death of patients with breast or haematological cancer who died of heart failure (HF) after cancer therapy. Patients with an index admission for HF who died of HF-related causes (IAHF) and those with no index admission for HF who died of HF-related causes (NIAHF) were compared. Methods and results: We performed a linked data analysis of cancer registry, death registry, and hospital administration records (n = 15 987). Index HF admission must have occurred after cancer diagnosis. Of the 4894 patients who were deceased (30.6% of cohort), 734 died of HF-related causes (50.1% female) of which 279 (38.0%) had at least one IAHF (41.9% female) post-cancer diagnosis. Median age was 71 years [interquartile range (IQR) 62–78] for IAHF and 66 years (IQR 56–74) for NIAHF. There were fewer chemotherapy separations for IAHF patients (median = 4, IQR 2–9) compared with NIAHF patients (median = 6, IQR 2–12). Of the IAHF patients, 71% had died within 1 year of the index HF admission. There was no significant difference in HF-related mortality in IAHF patients compared with NIAHF (HR, 1.10, 95% CI, 0.94–1.29, P = 0.225). Conclusions: The profile of IAHF patients who died of HF-related causes after cancer treatment matched the current profile of HF in the general population (over half were aged ≥70 years). However, NIAHF were younger (62% were aged ≤69 years), female patients with breast cancer that died of HF-related causes before hospital admission for HF-related causes—a group that may have been undiagnosed or undertreated until death

A Generative Neural Network for Discovering Near Optimaldynamic Inductive Power Transfer Systems

An urgent need is to electrify transportation to lower carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Wireless charging makes electrical vehicles (EVs) more convenient and cheaper because energy is transferred to the vehicle without the need to plug it in. Dynamic wireless charging is particularly interesting, where the vehicle does not need to stop to receive the energy. This technology requires the EV and the roadway to include coils of wire, where the roadway coil is energized as the vehicle passes over it to induce an electrical current in the EV coil through electromagnetic induction. However, the problem of designing the two coils (EV and road) is complex due to the many configurations possible, the need to maximize power transfer, and the need to minimize stray, possibly dangerous, electromagnetic fields during operation. Current methods for designing inductive power transfer (IPT) coils rely heavily on FEM (finite-element methods) simulations to evaluate each potential design. Dynamic IPT design requires multiple simulation runs as the EV coil passes over the roadway coil. Identifying optimal designs is difficult because of the many conflicting specifications and objective functions that need to be considered, such as maximizing the output power while minimizing stray magnetic fields and the volume of windings and magnetic cores. This work introduces a new design optimization method for dynamic IPT systems that utilize generative neural networks. Deep learning is applied to create a generator of near-optimal design alternatives from random noise. Two neural networks are employed in the approach. The first neural network is trained from multiple FEM results through random sampling of the design space and then replaces FEM calculations, allowing rapid simulation and evaluation of alternative designs. By using the neural network as a surrogate model rather than FEM to evaluate designs, differentiable programming approaches may be applied to train the second neural network to generate better designs. This generative network is trained by minimizing a loss function based on the optimization criteria listed earlier. Alternative loss function based on combining multi-objective optimization methods are explored, including applying the following mathematical operations over the objective functions: the sum of squares, a product of means, and sums of combinations of pair-wise products. Compared to previous work [1], which employed genetic algorithm approaches, the generative network quickly learned to produce designs that pass all objective functions using the product of means, however, the design solutions lacked diversity. Interestingly, when considering all pairwise product combinations only a few worked in quickly learning to produce satisfactory solutions. Those combinations that worked had a lower solution production rate than the product of means but exhibited a higher diversity of solutions

Synergism of Mild Heat and High-Pressure Pasteurization Against Listeria monocytogenes and Natural Microflora in Phosphate-Buffered Saline and Raw Milk

As many as 99% of illnesses caused by Listeria monocytogenes are foodborne in nature, leading to 94% hospitalizations, and are responsible for the collective annual deaths of 266 American adults. The current study is a summary of microbiological hurdle validation studies to investigate synergism of mild heat (up to 55 °C) and elevated hydrostatic pressure (up to 380 MPa) for decontamination of Listeria monocytogenes and natural background microflora in raw milk and phosphate-buffered saline. At 380 MPa, for treatments of 0 to 12 min, d-values of 3.47, 3.15, and 2.94 were observed for inactivation of the pathogen at 4, 25, and 50 °C. Up to 3.73 and \u3e4.26 log CFU/mL reductions (p \u3c 0.05) of habituated Listeria monocytogenes were achieved using pressure at 380 MPa for 3 and 12 min, respectively. Similarly, background microflora counts were reduced (p \u3c 0.05) by 1.3 and \u3e2.4 log CFU/mL after treatments at 380 MPa for 3 and 12 min, respectively. Treatments below three min were less efficacious (p ≥ 0.05) against the pathogen and background microflora, in the vast majority of time and pressure combinations. Results of this study could be incorporated as part of a risk-based food safety management system and risk assessment analyses for mitigating the public health burden of listeriosis

Augmenting the Pressure-Based Pasteurization of Listeria monocytogenes by Synergism with Nisin and Mild Heat

The current study investigated Listeria monocytogenes inactivation using mild heat with elevated hydrostatic pressure and nisin under buffered condition. A four-strain pathogen mixture was exposed to 0 (control) and up to 9 min of (1) 4 °C elevated pressure; (2) 4 °C elevated pressure and nisin; (3) 4 °C nisin; (4) heat at 40 °C; (5) 40 °C elevated pressure; (6) 40 °C elevated pressure and nisin; and (7) 40 °C nisin. Elevated hydrostatic pressure at 400 MPa (Hub880 Explorer, Pressure BioScience Inc., Easton, MA, USA) and nisin concentration of 5000 IU/mL were used in the trials. Analyses of variance were conducted, followed by Dunnett’s- and Tukey-adjusted means separations. Under conditions of these experiments, nisin augmented (p \u3c 0.05) decontamination efficacy of 40 °C heat and elevated hydrostatic pressure treatments, particularly at treatment interval of 3 min. This synergism with nisin faded away (p ≥ 0.05) as the treatment time for thermal, high-pressure, and thermal-assisted pressure processing increased. The results of our study, thus, exhibit that practitioners and stakeholders of pressure-based technologies could benefit from synergism of mild heat and nisin for short-term, high-pressure pasteurization treatments to achieve microbial safety and economic feasibility comparable to traditional heat-treated products

Retrospective analysis of natural disaster impact on firm growth: A case in manufacturing firms in Bangladesh

Natural disaster has vulnerable effects on manufacturing firm’s growth as well as on economic development, due to climate change in these geographical areas. The limited empirical evidence in this knowledge base points out inappropriate strategic policy decisions for manufacturing firms’ growth in developing countries as root cause. Taking manufacturing firms in Bangladesh as an example, this paper upholds the impact of natural disasters on firm growth in both short and long run. The estimates use the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) Data as a sample to analyze firm growth between 2007 and 2014 in Bangladesh matched with Emergency Event Database (EM-DAT) disaster database for 2472 valid samples of manufacturing firms using the OLS regression model. The study finds the positive association of natural disasters with long term growth measured via assets and labor growth. Whereas the study found that the natural disasters negatively short run firm growth measured via sales growth. We may also conclude that natural disasters significantly impact on firm growth and policymakers can initiate the strategies for manufacturing firms to mitigate the risk of climate change

A Sociocultural Perspective of Adult Literacy: Ethnographic Analysis of the Instructional Practices of Two Adult Education Tutors in Indonesia

This study focuses on the topic of emerging adult literacy in Indonesia by investigating the sociocultural perspective of tutors who involved in the program. This study adopts a sociocultural perspective and presents an ethnographic investigation that examines the instructional practices of two adult education tutors. In-depth and repeated interviews were conducted with the two subjects to learn about their socioeconomic situation, teaching and training history, personal motivation, literacy beliefs, and pedagogical philosophy. The results of this study, which looked at two tutors' literacy instruction in terms of their characteristics and attitudes as well as their working environments, have shown the benefits of adopting a social perspective on teaching. The findings show that these two tutors are highly motivated and committed to helping their students learn to read and write despite the challenges they face as tutors, including a lack of thorough pre-service, limited in-service training, and minimal ongoing financial and pedagogical support. The results of this research could potentially have significant consequences for developing more efficient adult literacy initiatives in Indonesia and similar culturally heterogeneous environments

The influence of AI innovation on economic performance: A panel data analysis on BRICS countries

The incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) in different industries has generated significant curiosity about its potential influence on economic expansion. This study investigates the correlation between AI advancement and economic expansion in BRICS nations from 2000 to 2024. Initial analysis suggests a strong and meaningful correlation between AI patents and economic expansion in BRICS nations. We use different econometric models such as fixed effects, generalized method of moments (GMM), and Anderson-Hsiao (AH) estimates to ensure the reliability of the results. The findings repeatedly demonstrate that the number of AI patents per million individuals is a robust indicator of the rate of growth in real GDP per capita. In addition, the analysis reveals that gross capital formation, government expenditure, and trade openness have a considerable impact on economic growth. However, population growth and inflation have varied impacts on economic growth

E-data Utilization on National-Health Service Performance Assessment during Covid-19 in Bangladesh: New Evidence Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Technique

Making the entire world extremely nervous, more than the quarter of a year has gone past since the global breakout of deadly respiratory illness, named Coronavirus Disease-2019 (CoViD-19), over nine million people across the globe have already been infected with more than five percent death rate, and the number is still ascending at a tremendously frightening rate. This study has been driven to identify the adequacy and quality of responses from national health facilities in Bangladesh during this epidemic and discern the stimulates that influence the entire system. With an in-depth exercise of a nonparametric statistical method for proficiency weighting, namely the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique, the objective of this study of evaluating the thorough response and performance of the Bangladeshi National Health Service has been placed in efforts to be achieved. With the outcome, the method and operation of assessing the effective responsiveness, capability, and appropriate organization of the national health services (NHS) in Bangladesh during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have been revealed. It has also been specifically identified that this country’s health system does not possess material mastery on input variables; neither do they have strong dominance over output variables. With a view to minimizing the expenditure, they should have decreased input variables alongside enhancing input resources thoroughly to deal with this pandemic with stringent governance. Direction and limitation of future research endeavors in this area may be indicated by this study. National responses across the globe can also be benchmarked

Fate and Biofilm Formation of Wild-Type and Pressure-Stressed Pathogens of Public Health Concern in Surface Water and on Abiotic Surfaces

Since the historic outbreak near Broad Street in London, which serves as cornerstone of modern epidemiology, infectious diseases spread in surface and sub-surface water has been a persisting public health challenge. The current study investigated persistence of wild-type and pressure-stressed Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica serovars in surface water stored aerobically for up to 28 days at 5, 25, and 37 °C. Additionally, biofilm formation of wild-type and pressure-stressed non-typhoidal Salmonella serovars were monitored on surface of stainless steel and rubber coupons for 28 days at 25 and 37 °C. While L. monocytogenes exhibited a lower (p \u3c 0.05) survival rate at 5 °C, relative to the two Gram-negative pathogens, at higher temperatures of 25 and 37 °C, all three pathogens exhibited similar (p ≥ 0.05) trends for survival in surface water. Both wild-type and pressure-stressed Salmonella serovars in the vast majority of tested times, temperatures, and surfaces exhibited comparable (p ≥ 0.05) persistence and biofilm formation capability. Our study thus indicates the occurrence of contamination could lead to prolonged survival of these microorganisms in low-nutrient environments and highlights the need for preventive measures such as those articulated under Produce Safety Rule of the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act

Synergistic Effects of Nisin, Lysozyme, Lactic Acid, and CitricidalTM for Enhancing Pressure-Based Inactivation of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Geobacillus stearothermophilus, and Bacillus atrophaeus Endospores

The inactivation of bacterial endospores continues to be the main curtailment for further adoption of high-pressure processing in intrastate, interstate, and global food commerce. The current study investigated the effects of elevated hydrostatic pressure for the inactivation of endospore suspension of three indicator spore-forming bacteria of concern to the food industry. Additionally, the effects of four bacteriocin/bactericidal compounds were studied for augmenting the decontamination efficacy of the treatment. Elevated hydrostatic pressure at 650 MPa and at 50 °C was applied for 0 min (untreated control) and for 3, 7, and 11 min with and without 50K IU of nisin, 224 mg/L lysozyme, 1% lactic acid, and 1% CitricidalTM. The results were statistically analyzed using Tukey- and Dunnett’s-adjusted ANOVA. Under the condition of our experiments, we observed that a well-designed pressure treatment synergized with mild heat and bacteriocin/bactericidal compounds could reduce up to \u3e4 logs CFU/mL (i.e., \u3e99.99%) of bacterial endospores. Additions of nisin and lysozyme were able, to a great extent, to augment (p \u3c 0.05) the decontamination efficacy of pressure-based treatments against Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Bacillus atrophaeus, while exhibiting no added benefit (p ≥ 0.05) for reducing endospores of Geobacillus stearothermophilus. The addition of lactic acid, however, was efficacious for augmenting the pressure-based reduction of bacterial endospores of the three microorganisms