High Level Of Correlation Research Articles

Psychometric properties of the Kidney Disease Quality of Life short form 36 (KDQOL-36) scale for the assessment of quality of life in Colombian patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis

PurposeConsidering the importance of incorporating quality of life (QoL) construct during the health care of patients with stage 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD) on dialysis, it is necessary to have evidence on the clinimetric properties of the instruments used for its measurement. This study aimed to establish the clinimetric properties of the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Short Form 36 (KDQOL-36) scale in patients with stage 5 CKD on dialysis in Colombia.MethodsA scale validation study was conducted using the classical test theory methodology. The statistical analysis included exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) techniques performed on two independent subsamples; concurrent criterion validity assessments; internal consistency using four different coefficients; test–retest reliability; and sensitivity to change using mixed model for repeated measures.ResultsThe KDQOL-36 scale was applied to 506 patients with a diagnosis of stage 5 CKD on dialysis, attended in five renal units in Colombia. The EFA endorsed the three-factor structure of the scale, and the CFA showed an adequate fit of both the original and empirical models. Spearman's correlation coefficient values ≥0.50 were found between the domains of the CKD-specific core of the KDQOL-36 scale and the KDQ. Cronbach's alpha, McDonald's omega, Greatest lower bound (GLB), and Guttman's lambda coefficients were ≥0.89, indicating a high degree of consistency. A high level of concordance correlation was found between the two moments of application of the instrument, with values for Lin's concordance correlation coefficient ≥0.7. The application of the instrument after experiencing an event that could modify the quality of life showed statistically significant differences in the scores obtained.ConclusionThe KDQOL-36 scale is an adequate instrument for measuring QoL in Colombian patients with stage 5 CKD on dialysis.

Point-of-Care Diagnostic Test for Beta-Thalassemia.

Hemoglobin (Hb) disorders are among the most common monogenic diseases affecting nearly 7% of the world population. Among various Hb disorders, approximately 1.5% of the world population carries β-thalassemia (β-Thal), affecting 40,000 newborns every year. Early screening and a timely diagnosis are essential for β-thalassemia patients for the prevention and management of later clinical complications. However, in Africa, Southern Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, where β-thalassemia is most prevalent, the diagnosis and screening for β-thalassemia are still challenging due to the cost and logistical burden of laboratory diagnostic tests. Here, we present Gazelle, which is a paper-based microchip electrophoresis platform that enables the first point-of-care diagnostic test for β-thalassemia. We evaluated the accuracy of Gazelle for the β-Thal screening across 372 subjects in the age range of 4-63 years at Apple Diagnostics lab in Mumbai, India. Additionally, 30 blood samples were prepared to mimic β-Thal intermediate and β-Thal major samples. Gazelle-detected levels of Hb A, Hb F, and Hb A2 demonstrated high levels of correlation with the results reported through laboratory gold standard high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), yielding a Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.99. This ability to obtain rapid and accurate results suggests that Gazelle may be suitable for the large-scale screening and diagnosis of β-Thal.

Abstract WP212: Site vs. Core Lab Adjudicated eTICI Scores Compared During Off and Normal Hours - Insights From the ASSIST Registry

Introduction: The ASSIST registry is a prospective, global registry whose primary aim was to identify which endovascular technique yields the highest rate of first pass TICI 2C reperfusion. Data from this registry was analyzed for this secondary analysis to assess if site adjudicated eTICI scores differ from the core lab during off hours [7 PM to 6:59 AM plus weekends (7 PM Friday - 6:59 AM Monday)] compared to normal hours (7 AM - 6:59 PM on weekdays). An additional objective is to assess if outcomes are worse with regards to core-lab adjudicated reperfusion grades and mRS 0-2 in procedures performed during off hours. Methods: Details from the ASSIST registry have been previously presented. Descriptive statistics for outcomes and percent agreement between core-lab and site-reported eTICI were calculated. Regression models were performed for first pass treatment of target occlusion resulting in ≥ 2c by core-lab, mRS 0-2 at 90 days, and whether first pass eTICI agreed for both core-lab and site-reported. Results: A total of 1318 patients were included in the analysis with 652 patients presenting during normal hours and 666 patients presenting during off hours. Overall, agreement between core-lab and site-reported eTICI at first pass occurred in 86.7% and 78.5% for final eTICI ≥2c. Agreement occurred for first pass eTICI ≥2c 87.2% during normal hours and 86.1% during off hours. Agreement occurred less often on final pass eTICI ≥2c during both normal and off hours (77.7% and 79.3%, respectively). Good functional outcomes based on 90-day mRS 0-2 occurred in 55.5% in patients presenting during normal hours and 53.8% in patients presenting during off hours. Off-hour vs. normal hour procedures was not significantly associated with first pass efficacy, mRS 0-2 at 90 days, or whether first pass eTICI agreed for both core-lab and site-reported in adjusted regression analyses. Conclusions: There was a higher level of agreement between core-lab and site-reported first pass eTICI scores during all hours while agreement occurred less often for final reperfusion. These results suggest a high level of correlation with site adjudicated and core lab adjudicated successful reperfusion grading. ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03845491

60-72 Aylık Çocukların Biyofili (Doğaya Yakınlık) Seviyeleri İle Empati Becerileri Arasındaki İlişkinin İncelenmesi

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between biophilia levels and empathy skills of 60-72 months-old children. In this study, the “Biophilia Scale for Children” and “Empathy Scale for Children” were used as data collection tools. The research is a quantitative study in a relational survey model. The study group of the research consists of 150 children aged 60-72 months who attend the official kindergartens and primary school kindergartens affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in Adapazarı and Serdivan districts of Sakarya province. As a result of the analysis, it was found that there was a high level of positive correlation between the children's biophilia and their empathy skills. As a result of the examining the total scores of both scales according to the variables, it was concluded that children’s biophilia levels differ significantly according to the frequency of being in nature and empathy skills differ significantly according to the age of the father.

Flow measurement in the southern coast of the Caspian Sea

Oceanographic monitoring was conducted in the southern basin of the Caspian Sea to evaluate the physical structure of seawater and sea currents. This monitoring aimed to gather data and analyze the characteristics of the seawater, including temperature, salinity, density, and other relevant parameters. Additionally, the monitoring also focused on studying the patterns and dynamics of sea currents in the region. The collected data and analysis from this monitoring period provided valuable insights into the oceanographic conditions of the southern basin of the Caspian Sea. During storm events, a high level of correlation between the current and wind data was observed in the southern basin of the Caspian Sea during the 2017-2018 monitoring period. The measured current data indicated that the predominant directions were north (N) and northwest (NW). It was observed that strong gusts predominantly originated from the north (N) and northwest (NW) directions. Additionally, a smaller portion of the strong gusts was observed to come from the South-Southeast (S-SE) direction. These findings indicate that the prevailing wind patterns during the monitoring period were primarily from the north and northwest, with a lesser contribution from the South-Southeast direction. The current profiles observed during the monitoring period in the southern basin of the Caspian Sea were primarily influenced by the general circulation pattern of the region. This circulation pattern played a significant role in shaping the current profiles observed during the measurements. In terms of the surface current speed, the maximum recorded value was approximately 200 cm/s, which occurred in January. This indicates that there were instances of relatively high-speed currents in the southern basin of the Caspian Sea during that time. The evaluation of inter-annual variability in vertical structure and seawater temperature profiles during the monitoring period confirmed the presence of seasonal stratification in the water column of the southern basin of the Caspian Sea. This stratification was observed to consist of different layers, including the surface mixed layer, thermocline, and deep-water layers. The formation of these layers is indicative of the seasonal variations in temperature and density within the water column. The vertical changes in the water’s physical parameters during the monitoring period revealed the formation of stratification in the southern basin of the Caspian Sea. In March, it was observed that the water temperature decreased from 11.5°C at the surface to 8.5°C at a depth of 100 m, indicating the presence of a temperature gradient. As the monitoring progressed into May, the stratification became stronger, with the surface water temperature reaching around 23°C. By August, the surface layer of the sea water experienced a significant increase in temperature, reaching 29°C. These observations highlight the development of stratification and the seasonal variations in water temperature during the monitoring period in spring and summer seasons. The water temperature beneath the thermocline layer, specifically at a depth of 100 meters, was recorded to be around 8-8.5 oC. Additionally, the water salinity in the water column exhibited fluctuations between 12-12.5 (psu). Monitoring and understanding physical properties variations are crucial for assessing the oceanographic conditions and their potential impact on marine ecosystems in the southern basin of the Caspian Sea.

From manual to machine

Abstract This study introduces a groundbreaking automated methodology for measuring ear–voice span (EVS) in simultaneous interpreting (SI). Traditionally, assessing EVS – a critical temporal metric in SI – has been hampered by labour-intensive and time-consuming manual methods that are prone to inconsistency. To overcome these challenges, our research harnesses state-of-the-art natural language processing (NLP) technologies, including automatic speech recognition (ASR), sentence boundary detection (SBD) and cross-lingual alignment, to automate EVS measurement. We deployed a comprehensive array of NLP models and evaluated the automated pipelines on a 20-hour English-to-Portuguese SI corpus which featured 57 varied audio pairings. The findings are encouraging: the most effective model combination achieved a median EVS error of less than 0.1 seconds across the corpus. Moreover, the automated pipelines exhibited a high level of accuracy, strong correlation and substantial agreement with manual measurements when assessing median EVS for individual audio pairs. Despite these satisfactory results, certain challenges persist with some NLP models, indicating clear avenues for future research. This study not only introduces a groundbreaking approach to large-scale EVS measurement but also propels the automation of process analysis in Interpreting Studies.

Fully Automated Agatston Score Calculation From Electrocardiography-Gated Cardiac Computed Tomography Using Deep Learning and Multi-Organ Segmentation: A Validation Study.

To evaluate deep learning-based calcium segmentation and quantification on ECG-gated cardiac CT scans compared with manual evaluation. Automated calcium quantification was performed using a neural network based on mask regions with convolutional neural networks (R-CNNs) for multi-organ segmentation. Manual evaluation of calcium was carried out using proprietary software. This is a retrospective study of archived data. This study used 40 patients to train the segmentation model and 110 patients were used for the validation of the algorithm. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the reference actual and the computed predictive scores shows high level of correlation (0.84; P < .001) and high limits of agreement (±1.96 SD; -2000, 2000) in Bland-Altman plot analysis. The proposed method correctly classifies the risk group in 75.2% and classifies the subjects in the same group. In total, 81% of the predictive scores lie in the same categories and only seven patients out of 110 were more than one category off. For the presence/absence of coronary artery calcifications, the deep learning model achieved a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 94%. Fully automated model shows good correlation compared with reference standards. Automating process reduces evaluation time and optimizes clinical calcium scoring without additional resources.

Investigation of the relatıonshıp of palatal arch morphometry with maxillary sinus volume: CBCT study

Background/Aim: The maxillofacial region is a complex of anatomical structures that are in close proximity and connection with each other. The aim of this study was to determine the shape, depth, width, length and palatal vault angle of the palatal arch on cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images taken for various reasons and to determine the relationship between these factors and maxillary sinus volume. Material and Methods: CBCT images of a total of 150 male and female patients over the age of 18, taken for different diagnostic purposes, were evaluated by an oral radiologist with two years of experience. The shape of the palatal arch was determined on each image, and palatal depth, width, length and palatal vault angle were measured. ITK-SNAP (version 3.8.0) software was used for maxillary sinus measurement. Statistical analysis of the study was performed using SPSS v.21 software. Results: All of the measured parameters were found to be statistically significant between genders, except for the palatal vault angle. As a result of the correlation analysis, it was shown that palatal length was 0.4% (R2=0.004), palatal depth was 42.3% (R2=0.423), and palatal width was 2%(R2=0.020) effective in explaining the palatal vault angle. A high level of correlation was detected between the right (1) and left (2) sinus maxillaris volumes and total sinus maxillaris volumes (r1=0.959, r2=0.961). Conclusions: There is a significant difference in palatal arch parameters between different genders. In addition, these dimensions also play a role on maxillary sinus volumes.

Do returns and volatility spillovers exist across tech stocks, cryptocurrencies and NFTs?

This study examines the connectedness between technology stocks, cryptocurrencies, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) using daily returns and risk data. We found that while there is strong connectedness within asset classes, connectedness between different types of assets is weak. Structural breaks in the VAR system did not change the degree of connectedness. Our findings suggest that interconnectivity between these assets is not significant enough to indicate a high level of correlation. This research provides valuable insights into the interplay between these markets and suggests diversifying portfolios to mitigate risks associated with these assets.

Development of Science in Conjunction with Economic Growth: Global Trends and Patterns

The formation of artificial communities within the framework of various types of mathematical and computer modeling, primarily agent-based, requires confident knowledge about the degree and nature of the interaction of the simulated agents, components and elements of the system being studied. The work reveals patterns of influence of scientific and innovation indicators on the level of the economy in countries around the world. Based on measuring the level of correlations between the publication activity of the countries of the world, the per capita level of R&amp;amp;D expenditures, patent activity and the number of researchers with the level of their economy relative to the population, it is shown that the indicators of the conjugation of the scientific and innovation sphere of countries and their level are quite high, in general intensified from 2010 to 2022. Since 2010, the ratio of the levels of mutual dependence of indicators of scientific and inventive activity and the relative values of national economies has changed; among other indicators, the highest level of correlation in 2022 is characterized by publication activity. The level of interconnection has largely increased due to the sharp intensification of the level of scientific development of rich oil and gas producing countries. Considering Russia’s place in global trends in scientific development, the author concludes that it is advisable to increase funding for scientific research in Russia while maintaining the course of supporting the productivity of fundamental science.

Role of Aortic Stiffness in Predicting Response to Phosphodiesterase-5 Inhibitors in the Treatment of Erectile Dysfunction.

It is known that aortic stiffness (AS) increases in patients with erectile dysfunction (ED). Phosphodiesterase type-5 (PDE-5) enzyme inhibitors are used in the treatment of ED, and patients' responses to this treatment may vary. We aimed to investigate the role of AS in predicting the response of patients planned to take PDE-5 enzyme inhibitors due to ED. A total of 96 male patients with ED were included in the study. The International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire was used to evaluate the presence and severity of ED and the response to treatment. Transthoracic echocardiography was used to evaluate AS. There was a statistically significant difference between the aortic strain and aortic distensibility values of the study groups (p<0.001). The delta IIEF score had a high level of positive correlation with aortic strain (p<0.01, r=0.758) and a moderate level of positive correlation with aortic distensibility (p<0.01, r=0.574). We determined that in patients with ED, aortic strain and aortic distensibility measured non-invasively using transthoracic echocardiography are important parameters in predicting patients' response to PDE-5 inhibitor therapy.

Bibliometric analysis of zirconia publications between 1980 and 2021: Global productivity and publication trends.

Purpose With an increase in patients' aesthetic demands and advancements in dental technologies, tooth-colored materials have grown in popularity. This study aimed to statistically analyze the scientific output of zirconia.Methods Articles published between 1980 and 2021 were downloaded from the Web of Science database and analyzed using various statistical/bibliometric methods. Correlations were evaluated using the Spearman's coefficient. Time-series forecasting was used to predict the number of articles in the coming years.Results Of the 18773 recordings, 16703 (88.9%) were articles. China contributed the most to the literature (n=3345, 20%). The Chinese Academy of Sciences was the most active institution (n=666). Furthermore, Ceramics International was the journal that published the most articles (N=611). The Journal of Catalysis was the journal with the highest average number of citations per article (average number of citations, 81.4). A high level of significant correlation was found between the number of articles produced by different countries on zirconia and gross domestic product (r=0.742, P<0.001).Conclusions It is expected that zirconia research will continue to increase parallel with the increase in aesthetic expectations. Recent trends include dental implants, resin cement, surface roughness, shear bond strength, monolithic zirconia, osseointegration, flexural strength, aging, geochemistry, zircon U-Pb dating, detrital zircon, adhesion, computer-aided design-computer-aided manufacturing, bond strength, adsorption, titanium, spark plasma sintering, corrosion, SEM, zirconium dioxide, surface modification, XRD, finite-element analysis, and yttria-stabilized zirconia. Clinicians and scientists interested in zirconia can refer to this comprehensive article as a useful resource for the relevant global and multidisciplinary outcomes.

Correlation between psychological diagnosis (Rorschach Psycho-diagnostics) and clinical diagnosis

Background: A wide acceptance of the Rorschach test is shown in clinical practice and clinicians choose the test not only as a diagnostic instrument but as a therapeutic practice also, sometimes variety of opinion comes from health professionals and the validity of the test result become more challenging. It creates a cognitive dilemma and the clinician has two options: either choice to accept or reject the diagnosis. Material &amp; Methods: A total 80 cases were selected from the psychiatry ward and written informed consent was taken. Socio-demographical data sheet was applied. Without knowing the history and other diagnostic variables, the Rorschach test was administered to make a psychological diagnosis by a qualified clinical psychologist and the clinical diagnosis was made through ICD-10 DCR criteria by the competent psychiatrist. Results: Among the participants, 37.5% belonged to 29-39 years age group; 58.75% were male. Most of the study samples were married (71.25%), 32.5% were educated up to 6-10th standard. The majority (38.75%) of the participants were unemployed and 51.25% belonged to rural areas. A majority, ie: 47.5% were in the middle-income group (50-74K) and living in a nuclear family (83.75%). Schizophrenia was the most frequent diagnosis in both categories, 38.75% belonging to the Rorschach diagnosis and 33.75% in the clinical category followed by Depression, mania, anxiety, obsession, psychosis, organic, and conversion disorder. Overall, a high correlation was found between both diagnostic categories (X2 =4.1, P=0.75). Conclusion: The findings of the study suggest that a high level of correlation was found between clinical diagnosis and Rorschach psycho-diagnosis.

Monitoring of Aquatic Environmental Factors on the Growth of Whiteleg Shrimp (Litopenaues vannamei Boone, 1931)

The environment is an important aspect and can be an indicator of the success of whiteleg shrimp culture. Stable water quality is a condition when water quality meets the requirements of growing whiteleg shrimp. This study aims to determine the aquatic environmental factors on the growth of whiteleg shrimp. There were 3 ponds observed in this research with an area of 2.000 m2, 2.500 m2, and 350 m2 respectively. The result of the research shows that the water quality of whiteleg shrimp culture is still in the feasible category. Several parameters show fluctuated results beyond optimal values such as dissolved oxygen, salinity, total ammonia nitrogen, and total organic matter. The results of the correlation test showed that all the quality parameters of whiteleg shrimp culture had varying degrees of relationship. The highest correlation level was obtained in salinity, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. Water quality in each pond has a very strong relationship to the growth of mean body weight (10.31 g, 10.92 g, and 11.39 g), average daily growth (0.4142 g, 0.4971 g, and 0.3557 g), and survival rate (92.4%, 92.4%, and 92.3%).

The Effect of Leadership Supervision and Employee Commitment on Employee Performance at the Constitutional Court and Corrections Bureau

The importance of the role of human resources or employees in achieving organizational goals is explained through efforts to improve employee capacity and performance. Employee performance is measured through the achievement of assigned tasks and responsibilities, and to achieve organizational goals, there needs to be organizational supervision and commitment. The purpose of this study is to determine and analyze the effect of leadership supervision on employee performance at the Constitutional Trial and Corrections Bureau at the General Secretariat of the People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia. The results showed that leadership supervision of employee performance at the Constitutional Court and Corrections Bureau, General Secretariat of the People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia, was found to have a significant influence, as indicated by a high correlation level of 0.674. Likewise, employee commitment to the performance of their duties in the same Bureau shows a strong impact on performance, with a correlation coefficient of 0.698. Furthermore, when leadership supervision and employee commitment are considered together, both are proven to have a strong influence on employee performance at the Constitutional Court and Corrections Bureau, General Secretariat of the People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia, with a correlation coefficient reaching 0.746.

Determination of Patient Satisfaction with Dental and Oral Care Services for Clinical Students at Dental and Oral Hospital Prima Medan

The aim of this research is to determine the determinants of patient satisfaction with dental and oral care services for clinical students at Dental and Oral Hospital Prima Medan. This type of research is quantitative research with a cross-sectional design. The sample in this study was 200 patients. Data analysis in this study used univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis. The results of the study showed that there was a correlation between patient satisfaction with dental and oral care services among clinical students at Dental and Oral Hospital Prima Medan based on time, procedure, attitude, level of knowledge, p &lt; 0.05 (0.000 &lt; 0.05) with a very high correlation level strong. There is a correlation between patient satisfaction with dental and oral care services among clinical students at Dental and Oral Hospital Prima Medan based on communication and spatial comfort, p &lt; 0.05 (0.000 &lt; 0.05) with a strong correlation level. The influence of service time, procedures, attitudes, level of knowledge, communication and spatial comfort on dental and oral care patient satisfaction among clinical students at Dental and Oral Hospital Prima Medan was 83.7%. The variable that most influences patient satisfaction with dental and oral care services for clinical students at Dental and Oral Hospital Prima Medan is the procedure variable

Biochemical indicators used in ecological monitoring of surface waters

The work is devoted to the search for promising test systems for ecological monitoring of surface waters by comparing the effectiveness of detecting low concentrations of various types of pesticides in the aquatic environment by traditional morphological and biochemical research methods.&#x0D; Allium cepa L. and the hydatophyte plant Elodea canadensis Michx. were used as test objects because it is immersed in the aquatic environment during its entire life cycle and is in the most complete contact with all the toxicants present in the water.&#x0D; It was found that the traditionally used test reactions of plants cannot always reflect a potentially dangerous exceedance of the MPC of toxicants in the aquatic environment.&#x0D; The possibility of using catalase activity as a sensitive bioassay for the presence of low concentrations of herbicides with different mechanisms of action in the water environment was investigated.&#x0D; Correlation analysis has been conducted, and Pearson's coefficients have been calculated to quantify the relationship between the concentration of herbicides present in water and the degree of manifestation of test reactions by the research objects.&#x0D; The highest level of correlation between the increase in the concentration of herbicides in water and the test reactions of elodea was demonstrated by biochemical indicators, and the higher significance of the correlation was observed at 4-day exposure of plants in the presence of the herbicide.

Magnetic resonance coherence pathway unraveling

Efficiently acquiring multi-contrast magnetic resonance imaging data is crucial for patient comfort and clinical throughput. Developing scan acceleration methods tailored for specific applications drastically improves the value of an MRI examination. Here, we propose a novel method to control the aliasing of simultaneously acquired images of multiple spin echo coherence pathways with the goal of producing high quality multi-contrast images from a single acquisition. Modulating the radiofrequency phase of several pulses applied in brief succession also uniquely modulates the phase of spin echo coherence pathways. A method, termed magnetic resonance coherence pathway unraveling (MR-CPU), to control the aliasing of simultaneously acquired coherence pathway images is developed here along with parallel imaging-based reconstruction methods to separate them. MR-CPU was validated in phantom experiments and tested in vivo. High levels of correlation between reference pathway images and MR-CPU-derived coherence pathway images were found from the phantom experiments. Minimal artifacts arising from the separation of the overlapped coherence pathway images were observed in vivo. MR-CPU provides a novel mechanism through which to acquire and separate multiple overlapped coherence pathway images, thus adding to the diagnostic potential of an MRI exam without the penalty of additional scan time.

Raman spectroscopy online monitoring of biomass production, intracellular metabolites and carbon substrates during submerged fermentation of oleaginous and carotenogenic microorganisms

BackgroundMonitoring and control of both growth media and microbial biomass is extremely important for the development of economical bioprocesses. Unfortunately, process monitoring is still dependent on a limited number of standard parameters (pH, temperature, gasses etc.), while the critical process parameters, such as biomass, product and substrate concentrations, are rarely assessable in-line. Bioprocess optimization and monitoring will greatly benefit from advanced spectroscopy-based sensors that enable real-time monitoring and control. Here, Fourier transform (FT) Raman spectroscopy measurement via flow cell in a recirculatory loop, in combination with predictive data modeling, was assessed as a fast, low-cost, and highly sensitive process analytical technology (PAT) system for online monitoring of critical process parameters. To show the general applicability of the method, submerged fermentation was monitored using two different oleaginous and carotenogenic microorganisms grown on two different carbon substrates: glucose fermentation by yeast Rhodotorula toruloides and glycerol fermentation by marine thraustochytrid Schizochytrium sp. Additionally, the online FT-Raman spectroscopy approach was compared with two at-line spectroscopic methods, namely FT-Raman and FT-infrared spectroscopies in high throughput screening (HTS) setups.ResultsThe system can provide real-time concentration data on carbon substrate (glucose and glycerol) utilization, and production of biomass, carotenoid pigments, and lipids (triglycerides and free fatty acids). Robust multivariate regression models were developed and showed high level of correlation between the online FT-Raman spectral data and reference measurements, with coefficients of determination (R2) in the 0.94–0.99 and 0.89–0.99 range for all concentration parameters of Rhodotorula and Schizochytrium fermentation, respectively. The online FT-Raman spectroscopy approach was superior to the at-line methods since the obtained information was more comprehensive, timely and provided more precise concentration profiles.ConclusionsThe FT-Raman spectroscopy system with a flow measurement cell in a recirculatory loop, in combination with prediction models, can simultaneously provide real-time concentration data on carbon substrate utilization, and production of biomass, carotenoid pigments, and lipids. This data enables monitoring of dynamic behaviour of oleaginous and carotenogenic microorganisms, and thus can provide critical process parameters for process optimization and control. Overall, this study demonstrated the feasibility of using FT-Raman spectroscopy for online monitoring of fermentation processes.

Comparison of the Automated OvaCyte Telenostic Faecal Analyser versus the McMaster and Mini-FLOTAC Techniques in the Estimation of Helminth Faecal Egg Counts in Equine.

Gastrointestinal helminth parasites continue to be a significant threat to the health of equine. OvaCyte Telenostic (OCT) (Telenostic Ltd., Kilkenny, Ireland) has developed an automated digital microscope utilising Artificial Intelligence to identify and count the clinically important helminth species in equine, bovine, and ovine host species. In this paper, the performance of the OCT analyser was evaluated for the detection and counting of equine helminth species parasites and its performance compared to the currently accepted benchmark methods of faecal egg counts being the McMaster and the Mini-FLOTAC techniques. A pairwise comparison of tests was assessed based on the correlation of egg counts and Cohen's kappa agreement statistics for dichotomized outcomes. Bayesian latent class analysis was used to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of all three techniques in the absence of a gold standard for four helminth parasites (strongyles, Anoplocephala spp., Parascaris spp. and Strongyloides westeri). Based on the analysis of 783 equine faecal samples, we found a high level (ρ ≥ 0.94) of correlation between each pairwise comparison of techniques for strongyle egg counts. Cohen's kappa agreement between techniques was high for strongyles and S. westeri, moderate for Parascaris spp., and low for Anoplocephala spp. All three techniques had a high sensitivity and specificity (>0.90) for strongyles. Across helminth parasites, the sensitivity of the OCT was the highest of the three techniques evaluated for strongyles (0.98 v 0.96 and 0.94), Anoplocephala spp. (0.86 v 0.44 and 0.46) and Parascaris spp. (0.96 v 0.83 and 0.96); but lowest for S. westeri (0.74 v 0.88 and 0.88), compared to McMaster and Mini-FLOTAC, respectively. In terms of specificity, OCT was the lowest in two species (Parascaris spp. 0.96, Anoplocephala spp. 0.95). In conclusion, OCT has a sensitivity and specificity statistically similar to both McMaster and Mini-FLOTAC, and had a higher correlation with Mini-FLOTAC. The OCT point of care faecal analyser offers improved workflow, test turn-around time and does not require trained laboratory personnel to operate or interpret the results.