Class Of Functions Research Articles

Quality of Life Indices in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease with Stable Angina Pectoris Accompanied by Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis after Complex Treatment Supplemented with Ezetimibe and Ursodeoxycholic Acid

Introduction. Coronary heart disease (CHD) is often complicated by the presence of concomitant diseases, especially non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). According to the data from numerous studies, it is known that the number of cardiovascular complications in patients with NAFLD is increasing. This negatively affects the clinical course of both diseases, worsens the quality of life of patients and increases the percentage of cardiovascular mortality among the population. The aim of the study. To evaluate the quality of life indicators in patients with coronary heart disease with stable angina pectoris in combination with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis after complex therapy including ezetimibe and ursodeoxycholic acid. Materials and methods. The study involved 145 patients with a verified diagnosis of coronary heart disease, stable angina pectoris II functional class combined with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and 100 patients with coronary heart disease without NASH. There were 140 men (57.0 %), and 105 women (43.0 %). The average age of patients is 55.3 ± 6.3 years. Results. A decrease in the number of angina attacks and the need to use nitroglycerin per week was registered in patients with coronary artery disease in combination with NASH under the influence of the treatment, which was more pronounced in the group with the addition of ezetimibe and ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). According to the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Status (SF-36) questionnaire after treatment, a tendency to improve most of its indicators was revealed, which was more clearly observed in patients in the group with the addition of ezetimibe and UDCA. Also, according to the EuroQoL-5D (EQ-5D) questionnaire, significant positive dynamics of the quality of life were found for all indicators, which were more reliably increased in the group with the addition of ezetimibe and UDCA. According to the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ), after treatment, reliable positive changes on 4 scales were observed in patients in the group with the addition of ezetimibe and UDCA. Conclusion. The inclusion of ezetimibe and ursodeoxycholic acid in the basic therapy has a positive effect on the clinical course of coronary heart disease in combination with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, the quality of life of patients and the patient's attitude to his disease.

Impact of Aficamten on Disease and Symptom Burden in Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: Results From SEQUOIA-HCM

BackgroundAficamten is a cardiac myosin inhibitor that mitigates left ventricular outflow gradients in obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (oHCM). The clinical efficacy of aficamten across multiple outcome domains in oHCM has not been fully defined. ObjectivesThis responder analysis from the SEQUOIA-HCM (Phase 3 Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Aficamten Compared to Placebo in Adults With Symptomatic oHCM) trial characterizes the clinical impact of aficamten. MethodsPatients who were symptomatic of oHCM were randomized to aficamten (n = 142) or placebo (n = 140) daily for 24 weeks. Outcomes assessed included the proportion of patients with complete hemodynamic response (rest and Valsalva gradient <30 mm Hg and <50 mm Hg, respectively), relief in limiting symptoms (≥1 improvement in NYHA functional class and/or ≥10-point change in Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire–Clinical Summary Score), enhanced exercise capacity (≥1.5 mL/kg/min change in peak oxygen uptake), and ≥50% reduction in N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide. Eligibility for septal reduction therapy was also evaluated. ResultsAt 24 weeks, patients treated with aficamten vs placebo showed significant improvement in limiting symptoms (71% vs 42%), were more likely to have complete hemodynamic response (68% vs 7%), demonstrated enhanced exercise capacity (47% vs 24%), and showed a decrease ≥50% in N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide (84% vs 8%) (P ≤ 0.002 for all). An improvement in ≥1 of these outcome measures was achieved in 97% of patients treated with aficamten (vs 59% placebo), including 23% on aficamten who achieved all 4 outcomes compared with none in placebo. Among 32 patients receiving aficamten and 29 patients receiving placebo who were eligible for septal reduction therapy, 28 (88%) from the aficamten group were no longer eligible at 24 weeks compared with 15 (52%) from the placebo group (P = 0.002). ConclusionsTreatment with aficamten was associated with substantial improvements across a broad range of clinically relevant efficacy measures. These results underscore the wide-ranging potential of aficamten for treatment of patients with symptomatic oHCM (Phase 3 Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Aficamten Compared to Placebo in Adults with oHCM [SEQUOIA-HCM]; NCT05186818)

Automatic Classification of Defective Photovoltaic Module Cells Based on a Novel CNN-PCA-SVM Deep Hybrid Model in Electroluminescence Images

In today’s world, the rapid development of photovoltaic (PV) power plants has facilitated sustainable energy production. Maintenance and fault detection play a crucial role in ensuring the continuity of energy production. Manual inspection of electroluminescence (EL) images of PV modules requires significant human resources and time investment. This study presents a method for automatic fault detection of PV cells in EL images using hybrid deep features optimized with the principal component analysis (PCA) feature selection algorithm. A lightweight and high-performance model that combines the strengths of convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures is proposed. Firstly, data augmentation techniques are employed due to the imbalance between defective and functional classes in the dataset containing EL images. In experimental studies conducted by integrating the PCA algorithm into MobileNetV2, DenseNet201, and InceptionV3 CNN models, accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score values of 92.19%, 92%, 90% and 91%, respectively, were achieved. When the results were analyzed, it was observed that the proposed method had an effective performance in detecting faults in PV panel cells.

Minimizing a class of polyconvex functionals involving Caputo derivatives

In this article, we establish the existence of multiple, infinitely many, nontrivial solutions to a class of nonlinear fractional elliptic systems in fractional variational form subject to pointwise gradient constraint and pure Dirichlet-type boundary conditions. We use a topological class of maps referred to as generalized twists and examine them in connection with the later system of fractional Euler-Lagrange equations and prove the existence of a countably infinite of topologically distinct twisting solutions to this system.

Multireference calculations on bond dissociation and biradical polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as guidance for fractional occupation number weighted density analysis in DFT calculations

This study explores open-shell biradical and polyradical molecular compounds based on extended multireference (MR) methods (MR-configuration interaction with singles and doubles (CISD) and MR-averaged quadratic coupled cluster (AQCC) approach) using the numbers of unpaired densities NU. These results were used to guide the analysis of the fractional occupation number weighted density (FOD) calculated within the finite temperature (FT) density functional theory (DFT) approach. As critical test examples, the dissociation of carbon–carbon (CC) single, double and triple bonds and a benchmark set of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been chosen. By examining single, double, and triple bond dissociations, we demonstrate the utility and accuracy but also limitations of the FOD analysis for describing these dissociation processes. In significant extension of previous work (Phys Chem Chem Phys 25: 27380–27393), the assessment of FOD applications for different classes of DFT functionals was performed examining the range-separated functionals ωB97XD, ωB97M-V, CAM-B3LYP, LC-ωPBE, and MN12-SX, the hybrid (M06-2X) functional and the double hybrid (B2P-LYP) functional. In all cases, strong correlations between NFOD and NU values are found. The major task was to develop a new linear regression formula for range-separated functionals allowing a convenient determination of the optimal electronic temperature Tel for the FT-DFT calculation. We also established an optimal temperature for the semiempirical extended tight-binding GFN2-xTB method. These findings significantly broaden the applicability of FOD analysis across various DFT functionals and semiempirical methods.

Impact of controlled physical training on clinicopathological and psychophysiological features of patients with chronic heart failure and type 2 diabetes

Aim. To evaluate the effectiveness of long-term (five-year) supervised physical exercise in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) following myocardial infarction (MI) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Materials and Methods. The study included 88 patients with CHF of functional class II-III after MI and concomitant T2DM. In addition to standard medication therapy, patients in the main group (n = 42) performed regular moderate-intensity physical exercises for 30−60 minutes at least 5 days a week. The control group consisted of 46 patients who received standard medication therapy. Patients in both groups had similar clinical and demographic characteristics. After 5 years of follow-up, we assessed the incidence of a composite endpoint (death, MI, emergency myocardial revascularization, acute CHF decompensation), quality of life (measured by the SF36 questionnaire), levels of anxiety and depression (measured by the HADS questionnaire), and levels of fatigue (measured by the MFI-20 questionnaire). By the end of the five-year observation period, data were available for 40 patients in the main group (11 patients were excluded from the study due to discontinuation of regular physical exercise) and 42 patients in the control group.Results. The incidence of the composite endpoint was 55.2% and 80.9% in main and control group, respectively (p = 0.038). Regular physical exercise over the five-year period was associated with a higher quality of life according to the SF36 questionnaire (64.5 [63.1; 67.8] vs. 49.2 [48.4; 49.8], p = 0.001), lower levels of anxiety (5.8 [5.1; 7.7] vs. 8.0 [6.8; 9.2], p = 0.042) and depression (2.9 [2.2; 4.2] vs. 10.7 [10.5; 12.3], p = 0.001) according to the HADS questionnaire, and lower levels of general fatigue according to the MFI-20 questionnaire (9.1 [8.5; 11.2] vs. 15.1 [14.5; 15.4], p = 0.019).Conclusion. Long-term regular physical exercise in patients with CHF and T2DM improves cardiovascular outcomes and psychological status of patients.

Correlation of serum homocysteine and cystatin C levels with prognosis in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction patients

ObjectiveThis study investigated the relationship of serum homocysteine (Hcy) and cystatin C (Cys C) levels with the prognosis of patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).MethodsA total of 178 patients with HFpEF who were admitted to our hospital between December 2019 and November 2020 were included. Patients were grouped based on their serum Hcy and Cys C levels: high Hcy level, normal Hcy level, high Cys C level, and normal Cys C level. Cardiac function, ventricular remodeling indices, and prognosis were compared among patients in these groups. Additionally, the predictive value of serum Hcy and Cys C levels for adverse cardiovascular events in HFpEF patients was analyzed.ResultsPatients’ mean age in the high Hcy level, normal Hcy level, high Cys C level, and normal Cys C level groups was 69.21 ± 4.17,67.74 ± 4.28,69.95 ± 4.98, and 67.06 ± 4.13 years old, respectively. The high Hcy level group exhibited a lower proportion of class II cardiac function according to the New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification and a higher proportion of class IV cardiac function than the normal Hcy level group, with statistically significant differences. Similarly, the high Cys C level group had a lower proportion of class II cardiac function and a higher proportion of class IV cardiac function compared with the normal Cys C level group, with statistically significant differences. Left ventricular end-diastolic internal diameter (LVEDD), left ventricular end-systolic internal diameter (LVESD), and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) were significantly higher in both the high Hcy level and high Cys C level groups compared with the normal group, with statistically significant differences. The rates of all-cause mortality and class I endpoint events were significantly higher in the high Hcy level and high Cys C level groups than in the normal group. Multifactorial logistic regression analysis demonstrated that adverse cardiovascular events were significantly associated with cardiac function class, LVEDD, LVESD, LVMI, Hcy, and Cys C in patients with HFpEF. The area under the curve (AUC) values for Hcy and Cys C, determined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, were 0.778 (optimal critical value, 25.38) and 0.681 (optimal critical value, 1.56), respectively, for predicting adverse cardiovascular events. Both Hcy and Cys C serum levels were positively correlated with LVEDD, LVESD, LVMI, and NYHA classification.ConclusionSerum levels of Hcy and Cys C were closely associated with cardiac function, ventricular remodeling indices, and prognosis in patients with HFpEF. These levels may serve as valuable indices for assessing HFpEF patients’ health status and prognosis, providing important insights into their potential role as biomarkers for HFpEF management and prognosis.

Left bundle branch area pacing: A new era of cardiac resynchronization therapy?

The recent systematic review and meta-analysis provided a comprehensive focus on the current state of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). The authors determined the feasibility of physiological left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP) in patients indicated for CRT through a careful analysis of trials. They found that LBBAP was associated with significant reductions in QRS duration, New York Heart Association functional class, B-type natriuretic peptide levels, and pacing thresholds as well as improvements in echocardiographic parameters compared to biventricular pacing.

The Suboptimal QLV Ratio May Indicate the Need for a Left Bundle Branch Area Pacing-Optimized Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Upgrade.

Background: The QLV ratio (QLV/baseline QRS width) is an established intraoperative-measurable parameter during cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) device implantation, potentially predicting the efficacy of electrical resynchronization. Methods: Left bundle branch area pacing-optimized CRT (LOT-CRT) is a novel approach with the potential to improve both responder rate and responder level in the CRT candidate patient group, even when an optimal electro-anatomical left ventricular lead position is not achievable. In our observational study, 72 CRT-defibrillator candidate patients with a QRS duration of 160 ± 12 ms were consecutively implanted. Using a QLV-ratio-based implant strategy, 40 patients received a biventricular CRT device (Biv-CRT) with an optimal QLV ratio (≥70%). Twenty-eight patients with a suboptimal QLV ratio (<70%) were upgraded intraoperatively to a LOT-CRT system. Patients were followed for 12 months. Results: The postoperative results showed a significantly greater reduction in QRS width in the LOT-CRT patient group compared to the Biv-CRT patients (40.4 ± 14 ms vs. 32 ± 13 ms; p = 0.024). At 12 months, the LOT-CRT group also demonstrated a significantly greater improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction (14.9 ± 8% vs. 10.3 ± 7.4%; p = 0.001), and New York Heart Association functional class (1.2 ± 0.5 vs. 0.8 ± 0.4; p = 0.031), and a significant decrease in NT-pro-BNP levels (1863± 380 pg/mL vs. 1238 ± 412 pg/mL; p = 0.012). Notably, the LOT-CRT patients showed results comparable to Biv-CRT patients with a super-optimal QLV ratio (>80%) in terms of QRS width reduction and LVEF improvement. Conclusions: Our single-center study demonstrated the feasibility of a QLV-ratio-based implantation strategy during CRT implantation. Patients with a LOT-CRT system showed significant improvements, whereas Biv-CRT patients with a super-optimal QLV ratio may not be expected to benefit from an additional LOT-CRT upgrade.

Long-term oxygen therapy in precapillary pulmonary hypertension – SOPHA study

Current guidelines recommend oxygen (O2) supplementation in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH), despite scarce data on long-term O2 therapy (LTOT). The aim of this prospective, randomized, controlled trial was to investigate the effect of LTOT in patients with precapillary PH on exercise capacity, clinical parameters and hemodynamics. Patients with precapillary PH under stable therapy and O2 desaturations at rest and/or during exercise were randomized to receive LTOT (≥ 16 h/day) or no O2 (control group) for 12 weeks. The control group was offered LTOT after 12 weeks. The primary endpoint changes of 6-minute walking distance (6MWD) from baseline to 12 weeks was hierarchically tested: (1) pre-post primary and secondary intervention (2) intervention vs. control group. Secondary endpoints included changes in clinical parameters. Twenty patients were randomized (women n = 14, age 67 ± 11.4 years, mean pulmonary arterial pressure 39.7 ± 12.5 mmHg, 70% functional class III). 6MWD significantly improved by 42.2 ± 34.20 m (p = 0.003) within 12 weeks LTOT. The intervention group significantly improved in 6MWD (38.9 ± 33.87 m) compared to the control group (− 12.3 ± 21.83 m, p = 0.015). No consistent between-group differences in other parameters were found. LTOT was well tolerated and led to significant improvement of 6MWD. The effect of LTOT should be investigated in larger controlled-trials.

Early outcomes with a fully retrievable SinoCrown transcatheter heart valve in patients with severe aortic stenosis.

This study summarizes and analyzes data from patients suffering from symptomatic aortic stenosis who successfully underwent transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) using a novel, completely retrievable transcatheter heart valve. We included patients who underwent a TAVI procedure with SinoCrown valves at our center between December 2021 and September 2022. We collected 1-year follow-up data on survival, complications, echocardiographic results, New York Heart Association functional class in heart failure, and patient-reported health-related quality of life outcomes. Eight successive patients (73.3 ± 4.3 years) were included in the study, with a median Society of Thoracic Surgery risk score of 4.26%. The procedure had a 100% success rate. Median postoperative discharge time was 7 days, with no 30-day hospital readmissions. Postoperative aortic valve hemodynamics improved, indicated by decreased transvalvular flow velocity compared with preoperative values (1.9 ± 0.2 vs. 4.9 ± 0.2 m/s, p < 0.0001). The median and maximum follow-up times were 8 and 12 months, respectively. During the follow-up period, there were no serious complications such as death, stroke, valve embolization, or high-grade atrioventricular block. The results from eight initial TAVI cases performed with the SinoCrown valve demonstrated promising safety and efficacy.

TSLiNGAM: DirectLiNGAM Under Heavy Tails

One of the established approaches to causal discovery consists of combining directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) with structural causal models (SCMs) to describe the functional dependencies of effects on their causes. Possible identifiability of SCMs given data depends on assumptions made on the noise variables and the functional classes in the SCM. For instance, in the LiNGAM model, the functional class is restricted to linear functions and the disturbances have to be non-Gaussian. In this work, we propose TSLiNGAM, a new method for identifying the DAG of a causal model based on observational data. TSLiNGAM builds on DirectLiNGAM, a popular algorithm which uses simple OLS regression for identifying causal directions between variables. TSLiNGAM leverages the non-Gaussianity assumption of the error terms in the LiNGAM model to obtain more efficient and robust estimation of the causal structure. TSLiNGAM is justified theoretically and is studied empirically in an extensive simulation study. It performs significantly better on heavy-tailed and skewed data and demonstrates a high small-sample efficiency. In addition, TSLiNGAM also shows better robustness properties as it is more resilient to contamination. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

Robustness of tricuspid regurgitation reduction at 1year following edge-to-edge repair for primary tricuspid regurgitation.

Within recent years, transcatheter tricuspid edge-to-edge repair (T-TEER) has emerged as a safe and effective treatment option in patients with secondary tricuspid regurgitation (TR). However, for primary TR, data on the robustness and durability of TR reduction 1year following T-TEER is limited. All consecutive patients treated with T-TEER for TR at two high-volume centers between September 2018 and December 2022 were enrolled in a registry. Primary TR was defined as tricuspid valve (TV) prolapse or flail TV leaflets as assessed by pre- and peri-interventional transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). 201 patients were included in this analysis, of whom 27 (13.4%) were classified as primary TR and 174 (86.6%) as TR of secondary origin. All-cause mortality during 1-year follow-up was reached by 50 patients (24.9%) [primary: 7 (25.9%), secondary: 43 (24.7%)], and 151 (75.1%) completed follow-up with transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). Patients' median age was 80 (76-83) years, 112 (55.7%) were female and 181 (90.1%) reported a New-York heart association functional class (NYHA-FC) of III or IV. The remaining baseline clinical and echocardiographic parameters were comparable between the groups, but secondary TR patients had a significantly higher TRI-SCORE (5 (4-8) vs. 7 (5-14), P = 0.010). In both groups, an immediate reduction of TR-Grade post-intervention was observed. This reduction was sustained at follow-up with 80.0% of the primary TR patients classified as moderate or less and 61.8% of the secondary TR patients. This translated to a significant improvement of NHYA-FC in both groups. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed no differences regarding rates for all-cause mortality between the groups (P < 0.99). T-TEER achieves a robust TR reduction in primary TR patients 1year after intervention with noninferior clinical results to treatment for secondary TR with regards to mortality, re-hospitalization, and NYHA-FC.

Closed-form approximations of moments and densities of continuous–time Markov models

This paper develops power series expansions of a general class of moment functions, including transition densities and option prices, of continuous-time Markov processes, including jump–diffusions. The proposed expansions extend the ones in Kristensen and Mele (2011) to cover general Markov processes, and nest transition density and option price expansions recently developed in the literature, thereby connecting seemingly different ideas in a unified framework. We show how the general expansion can be implemented for fully general jump–diffusion models. We provide a new theory for the validity of the expansions which shows that series expansions are not guaranteed to converge as more terms are added in general once the time span of interest gets larger than some model–specific threshold. Thus, these methods should be used with caution when applied to problems with a larger time span of interest, such as long-term options or data observed at a low frequency. At the same time, the numerical studies in this paper demonstrate good performance of the proposed implementation in practice when applied to pricing options with time to maturity below three months. Thus, our expansions are particularly well suited for pricing ultra-short-term (such as “zero–day”) options.

Homotopy Perturbation Method for Semi-Bounded Solution of the System of Cauchy-Type Singular Integral Equations of the First Kind

In this paper, we introduce the standard Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM) for obtaining semi-bounded solutions of the first kind of system of Cauchy-type singular integral equations (CSIEs) with constant coefficients. We use the Gauss elimination technique to reduce the system of CSIEs to a diagonal triangle system of algebraic equations. We then apply the HPM to solve the resulting equations. By applying the theory of semi-bounded solutions of CSIEs, we can determine the inverse operators for the first kind of CSIEs. We demonstrate that the proposed method is exact for the system of characteristic SIEs, regardless of the choice of initial guesses (in the Holder class of functions). To illustrate the validity and accuracy of our proposed method, we supply and analyse three examples. We compare the results obtained using our method with those obtained using the Chebyshev collocation and Galerkin methods. Our method includes the ability to solve the complex-valued system of CSIEs. Based on the numerical results, we conclude that the HPM is more dominant than the other methods.

System approximation from later time samples on a generalized temporal grid

Let {fn}n=1∞ be a Schauder basis for L2([0,1]). We consider a function u(x,t) which can be represented as(1)u(x,t)=∑n=1∞anfn(x)gn(t). In our manuscript, our primary focus is to investigate under what conditions the initial condition function f(x)=u(x,0) can be reasonably approximated from the provided samples {u(x0,tk)}k=1N. Our research encompasses a diverse spectrum of partial differential equations (PDEs) that describe the Initial Value Problems, particularly emphasizing the initial condition functions. Assuming that the initial condition function belongs to a predefined function class in Sobolev space, we develop conditions required to achieve the desired level of accuracy N−r in reconstructing the solution. Effectively controlling errors of recovered coefficients of the approximated initial condition function, to contain a linear growth term, we enhanced the efficiency of the recovery process compared to previously known reconstruction algorithms.

Influence of Right Atrial Pressure on the Prognosis of Patients with Rheumatic Mitral Stenosis Undergoing Percutaneous Mitral Balloon Valvuloplasty.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) often complicates mitral stenosis (MS). The prognostic impact of pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) in MS patients remains unclear. Previous study has demonstrated the prognostic impact of right atrial pressure (RAP) in patients with primary PH. We aim to determine the prognostic impact of PVR and RAP in patients with rheumatic MS undergoing percutaneous mitral balloon valvuloplasty (PMBV). A total of 58 patients with symptomatic severe rheumatic MS who underwent PMBV between 2016 and 2020 were included. Patients were divided into two groups: PVR ≤ 2WU (N = 26) and PVR > 2WU (N = 32). The composite endpoint included death, reintervention or persistent NYHA functional class III-IV during follow-up. The median age was 50 (42-60) years, with 82.8% being female. Median pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) was 42 (35-50.5) mmHg. Patients with PVR ≤ 2WU had lower PASP on both echocardiogram and catheterization. The PMBV success rate was 75.9%. Multivariate analysis, adjusted for PVR, showed RAP as the only independent predictor of the composite endpoint (HR:1.507, 95% CI:1.015-2.237, p = 0.042). The optimal RAP cutoff was 9.5 mmHg (HR:3.481, 95% CI:1.041-11.641; p = 0.043). RAP was an independent predictor of adverse outcomes in patients with rheumatic MS undergoing PMBV, while PVR did not show prognostic significance. These findings suggest that the prognostic value of PVR may be lower than expected.

Hankel and symmetric Toeplitz determinants for Sakaguchi starlike functions

Abstract. In this paper, we consider the class of starlike functions with respect to symmetric points which are also known as Sakaguchi starlike functions. We de- termine best possible bounds on Zalcman conjecture |a_n^2 – a_(2n-1) | and generalized Zalcman conjecture |aman − am+n−1| for n = 2 and n = 4, m = 2, respectively for such functions. Further, we compute estimate on third order and fourth order Hankel determinants. As well, we also obtain estimates on third and fourth symmetric Toeplitz determinants. Mathematics Subject Classification (2010): 30C45, 30C80. Keywords: Starlike function, Sakaguchi starlike functions, Zalcman conjecture, third and forth order Hankel determinants, second, third and fourth order symmetric Toeplitz determinants.

Exome wide association study for blood lipids in 1,158,017 individuals from diverse populations.

Rare coding alleles play crucial roles in the molecular diagnosis of genetic diseases. However, the systemic identification of these alleles has been challenging due to their scarcity in the general population. Here, we discovered and characterized rare coding alleles contributing to genetic dyslipidemia, a principal risk for coronary artery disease, among over a million individuals combining three large contemporary genetic datasets (the Million Veteran Program, n = 634,535, UK Biobank, n = 431,178, and the All of Us Research Program, n = 92,304) totaling 1,158,017 multi-ancestral individuals. Unlike previous rare variant studies in lipids, this study included 238,243 individuals (20.6%) from non-European-like populations. Testing 2,997,401 rare coding variants from diverse backgrounds, we identified 800 exome-wide significant associations across 209 genes including 176 predicted loss of function and 624 missense variants. Among these exome-wide associations, 130 associations were driven by non-European-like populations. Associated alleles are highly enriched in functional variant classes, showed significant additive and recessive associations, exhibited similar effects across populations, and resolved pathogenicity for variants enriched in African or South-Asian populations. Furthermore, we identified 5 lipid-related genes associated with coronary artery disease (RORC, CFAP65, GTF2E2, PLCB3, and ZNF117). Among them, RORC is a potentially novel therapeutic target through the down regulation of LDLC by its silencing. This study provides resources and insights for understanding causal mechanisms, quantifying the expressivity of rare coding alleles, and identifying novel drug targets across diverse populations.

Obstacle avoidance control of UGV based on adaptive-dynamic control barrier function in unstructured terrain

Abstract The widely used model predictive control of discrete-time control barrier functions (MPC-CBF) has difficulties in obstacle avoidance for unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) in complex terrain. To address this problem, we propose adaptive dynamic control barrier functions (AD-CBF). AD-CBF is able to adaptively select an extended class of functions of CBF to optimize the feasibility and flexibility of obstacle avoidance behaviors based on the relative positions of the UGV and the obstacle, which in turn improves the obstacle avoidance speed and safety of the MPC algorithm when integrated with MPC. The algorithmic constraints of the CBF employ hierarchical density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (HDBSCAN) for parameterization of dynamic obstacle information and unscaled Kalman filter (UKF) for trajectory prediction. Through simulations and practical experiments, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the AD-CBF-MPC algorithm in planning optimal obstacle avoidance paths in dynamic environments, overcoming the limitations of the point-by-point feasibility of MPC-CBF.