Inclusion-exclusion Research Articles

A systematic review and network meta-analysis comparing various non-pharmacological treatments for older people with mild cognitive impairment.

Non-pharmacological therapy appeared to alleviate Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) symptoms and signs, according to systematic studies. This network meta-analysis aimed to assess the impact of non-pharmacological therapies on improving cognition in individuals with MCI and identified the most effective intervention. We reviewed six databases in search of potentially relevant studies of non-pharmacological therapies such as Physical exercise (PE), Multidisciplinary intervention (MI), Musical therapy (MT), Cognitive training (CT), Cognitive stimulation (CS), Cognitive rehabilitation (CR)，Art therapy (AT), general psychotherapy or interpersonal therapy (IPT), and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) (such as acupuncture therapy, massage, auricular-plaster and other related systems) and others. Excluded the literature such as missing full text, missing search results, or no reporting specific values and combined with the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria in this article, the literature ultimately included in the analysis addressed the following seven non-drug therapies PE, MI, MT, CT, CS, CR, AT. Mini-mental state evaluation paired meta-analyses were undertaken by taking weighted average mean differences with confidence intervals (CI) of 95%. The network meta-analysis was conducted to compare various therapies. A total of 39 randomized controlled trials, including two three-arm studies, with 3157 participants were included. PE was most likely to be the most effective intervention to slow down the cognitive ability of patients (SMD = 1.34, 95%CI: 0.80, 1.89). CS and CR had no significant effect on cognitive ability. The non-pharmacological therapy had the potential to greatly promote the cognitive ability of the adult population with MCI. PE had the best chance of being the best non-pharmacological therapy. Due to the limited sample size, substantial variability among different study designs, and the potential for bias, the results should be regarded with caution. Our findings should be confirmed by future multi-center randomized controlled, high-quality large-scale studies.

The Implementation of School Literacy Movement: A Literature Review

The aim of the study is to describe a literature review on the implementation of the School Literacy Movement throughout the country. The article searches were conducted using databases: Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Springer, and the keywords 'School Literacy Movement' and 'Gerakan Literasi Sekolah'. The authors establish inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria and obtained 8 relevant articles. The study was conducted in 5 stages: article collection, article reduction, display, discussion, and conclusions. The implementation of the School Literacy Movement in Indonesian schools follows the theories used as references. The School Literacy Movement is being implemented successfully, and it has the potential to increase student literacy while also meeting one of the government programs outlined in the 2013 National Curriculum.

Cyclic reduction densities for elliptic curves

For an elliptic curve E defined over a number field K, the heuristic density of the set of primes of K for which E has cyclic reduction is given by an inclusion–exclusion sum delta _{E/K} involving the degrees of the m-division fields K_m of E over K. This density can be proved to be correct under assumption of GRH. For E without complex multiplication (CM), we show that delta _{E/K} is the product of an explicit non-negative rational number reflecting the finite entanglement of the division fields of E and a universal infinite Artin-type product. For E admitting CM over K by a quadratic order mathcal {O}, we show that delta _{E/K} admits a similar ‘factorization’ in which the Artin type product also depends on mathcal {O}. For E admitting CM over overline{K} by an order mathcal {O}not subset K, which occurs for K=textbf{Q}, the entanglement of division fields over K is non-finite. In this case we write delta _{E/K} as the sum of two contributions coming from the primes of K that are split and inert in mathcal {O}. The split contribution can be dealt with by the previous methods, the inert contribution is of a different nature. We determine the ways in which the density can vanish, and provide numerical examples of the different kinds of densities.

Factors affecting emergency department use among pediatric immigrants and refugees: A qualitative narrative review

Purpose: To identify factors affecting emergency department (ED) use by immigrant and refugee children under the age of 18 years in North America and Europe, where similar primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare structures exist. Methods: A narrative review methodology was used to complete a search of three databases including CINAHL, MEDLINE, and SCOPUS. Inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria were applied following screening and full-text review, resulting in the 8 articles that were selected for this review. Results: Six central themes were identified for presentation to ED’s including: (1) financial accessibility; (2) health insurance; (3) presence of a primary care provider; (4) language barriers; (5) transportation; and (6) health literacy, with health literacy further being divided into a lack of knowledge and parental perception and understanding of illness. Implications and Conclusion: Factors that influence ED use by pediatric immigrant and refugee patients are multi-factorial and interconnected. Recommendations are made to encourage informed changes based on population healthcare needs, with the overall goal to reduce non-essential ED use and improve patient health outcomes. While this review identifies and evaluates the limited research available in this area, further studies need to be completed before generalizations can be made for all pediatric immigrant and refugee populations.

Symptomatic Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Is Not Associated With a Higher Risk of Periprosthetic Joint Infections and Periprosthetic Joint Infection-related Revisions After Primary THA.

Symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (sBPH) is a potential risk factor for periprosthetic joint infection (PJI), a leading cause of implant failure and revision THA. However, the available evidence is mixed on whether this is the case. (1) What is the prevalence of sBPH in male recipients of primary THA by age group? (2) Do patients with sBPH compared with those without sBPH have higher 30-day, 90-day, and 2-year odds of PJI and higher 30-day and 90-day odds of urinary catheterization, urinary tract infection (UTI), and sepsis after primary THA? (3) Do patients with sBPH compared with those without sBPH have lower survivorship free from PJI-related revision at 5 years after THA? The PearlDiver database was used as it provided the largest sample of patients across all payer types to perform longitudinal research. Between January 2010 and April 2021, 1,056,119 patients who underwent primary THA were identified. After applying the inclusion criteria (that is, male sex, minimum age of 18, and diagnosis of hip osteoarthritis) and exclusion criteria (that is, history of asymptomatic BPH or any other joint arthroplasty), 16% (172,866) of patients remained. A further 6% (59,500) of patients were excluded as they did not meet the minimum study follow-up of 2 years, leaving 11% (113,366) for analysis. Of those, patients with sBPH were matched to those without in a 1:4 ratio by age and comorbidities, including alcohol abuse, anemia, cardiovascular disorders, chronic pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, depression, obesity, peripheral vascular disorders, renal failure, and rheumatoid arthritis. Age and comorbidities of the two groups postmatch were balanced. Logistic regression was performed to analyze the odds for 30-day, 90-day, and 2-year postoperative complications. Survivorship free from PJI-related revision at 5 years after THA was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the log-rank test. Among male recipients of primary THA ages 65 or older, 24% (11,319 of 47,426) had a medical history of sBPH. We found no difference in the odds of PJI at 30 days, 90 days, and 2 years after primary THA between the two groups. PJI occurred in 0.5% (62 of 11,819), 0.8% (97 of 11,819), and 1.3% (150 of 11,819) of patients with sBPH versus in 0.5% (227 of 47,103), 0.8% (360 of 47,103), and 1.2% (570 of 47,103) of those without sBPH within 30 days (OR 1.09 [95% CI 0.82 to 1.43]), 90 days (OR 1.07 [95% CI 0.85 to 1.34]), and 2 years (OR 1.05 [95% CI 0.87 to 1.25]) after THA, respectively. Patients with sBPH compared with those without had higher odds of 30-day and 90-day urinary catheterization (OR 5.00 [95% CI 3.64 to 6.88] and OR 5.36 [95% CI 4.04 to 7.13], respectively), 30-day and 90-day UTI (OR 2.18 [95% CI 1.88 to 2.54] and OR 2.55 [95% CI 2.26 to 2.87], respectively), and 30-day and 90-day sepsis (OR 1.55 [95% CI 1.11 to 2.13] and OR 1.43 [95% CI 1.10 to 1.83], respectively). We found no difference in survival free from PJI-related revision at 5 years after THA between patients with and without sBPH (98.3% [95% CI 98.1% to 98.6%] versus 98.1% [95% CI 98.1% to 98.2%]; p = 0.10). sBPH is common among THA recipients, and surgeons should be aware of the added risk of postoperative urinary complications and sepsis in this subset that could lead to additional postoperative care requirements. Surgeons may consider perioperative measures such as preoperative use of short-form questionnaires to assess urinary symptoms, urology clearance or referral, and closer follow-up to improve care of sBPH patients undergoing THA. As currently available tools for assessing sBPH are limited and lack sensitivity as well as specificity, future studies may develop validated tools that can be used to quickly assess risk in sBPH patients before surgery. Level III, therapeutic study.

Comparison of single-stent and double-stent strategies for stenting a complex bifurcation lesion of the left main coronary artery in hemodynamically stable patients with acute coronary syndrome. Randomized study protocol (non-inferiority)

To date, a single­stent strategy for stenting bifurcation lesions is considered the most optimal and is recommended for routine use. However, there are complex lesions that are unique in terms of morphological and anatomical features. Such lesions are not clearly defined in literature and may require an alternative approach to stenting. In this study, a complex bifurcation lesion of the left main coronary artery is presented, as well as a prospective randomized analysis of immediate and long­term outcomes of two approaches to stenting such lesions (single­stent and double­stent) in hemodynamically stable patients with acute coronary syndrome. Objective. To perform a comparative analysis of intraoperative, immediate and long­term outcomes of single­stent and double­stent strategies for stenting a complex bifurcation lesion of the left main coronary artery (LMCA) in hemodynamically stable patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Materials and methods. To the open prospective randomized single­center (non­inferiority) study it is planned to enroll 114 hemodynamically stable patients with ACS (n=114) and complex (according to study criteria) bifurcation lesions of the LMCA; patients will undergo a single­stent or double­stent strategy of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with implantation of drug­eluting stents. Randomization into two groups will be performed after coronary angiography, confirmation of eligibility (checking for inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria), and signing of informed consent; group 1 ­ single­stent stenting strategy; group 2 ­ double­stent stenting strategy. The total duration of the study will be 52 weeks, with mandatory telephone calls on 30th (±3 days) and 364th (±3 days) day after PCI and the final in­person visit after the entire follow­up period. Over the course of the study, patients will receive optimal drug therapy according to clinical recommendations. During the follow­up period, information will be collected on the clinical status of patients, events in the combined control points, compliance/adjustment of drug therapy. During in­person visit, patients will undergo multispiral computed tomography of coronary arteries. Combined primary endpoint: cardiac death, non­fatal myocardial infarction, acute cerebrovascular accident and repeated revascularization of target vessel. Combined secondary endpoint: thrombosis and restenosis of the stent. Conclusion. In our study, a bifurcation lesion of the LMCA, unique in terms of morphological and anatomical criteria, will be identified in hemodynamically stable patients with ACS. This is a complex lesion that may initially require double­stent approach to stenting, which differs from the recommended single­stent strategy. Keywords: percutaneous coronary intervention, bifurcation stenting, single­stent technique, double­stent technique, culotte­stenting, crush­stenting, TAP­stenting, complex lesion, acute coronary heart disease

Decomposing and Tracing Mutual Information by Quantifying Reachable Decision Regions.

The idea of a partial information decomposition (PID) gained significant attention for attributing the components of mutual information from multiple variables about a target to being unique, redundant/shared or synergetic. Since the original measure for this analysis was criticized, several alternatives have been proposed but have failed to satisfy the desired axioms, an inclusion-exclusion principle or have resulted in negative partial information components. For constructing a measure, we interpret the achievable type I/II error pairs for predicting each state of a target variable (reachable decision regions) as notions of pointwise uncertainty. For this representation of uncertainty, we construct a distributive lattice with mutual information as consistent valuation and obtain an algebra for the constructed measure. The resulting definition satisfies the original axioms, an inclusion-exclusion principle and provides a non-negative decomposition for an arbitrary number of variables. We demonstrate practical applications of this approach by tracing the flow of information through Markov chains. This can be used to model and analyze the flow of information in communication networks or data processing systems.

Pengaruh Kompres Air Jahe terhadap Penurunan Dismenorea Primer pada Remaja

Dysmenorrhea is a painful condition that occurs during menstruation that can interfere with activities and can cause pain in the lower abdomen, which radiates to the lower back and legs. Handling of dysmenorrhea can be done non-pharmacologically, one of which is ginger water compress therapy. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of ginger water compresses on reducing dysmenorrhea pain in adolescents in SMA Negeri 5 Makassar. This research is a quantitative study with a quasi-experimental design and a one group pretest-posttest design which was conducted on 35 dysmenorrhoea students. The sampling technique used was purposive random sampling with a total sampling method that had been adjusted to the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria. Bivariate analysis used the Wilcoxon test with a significance level of < 0.05. The results of this study indicate, before giving ginger water compress therapy to dysmenorrheal students there was mild, moderate, severe and very severe dysmenorrhoea. pretest-posttest on systolic-diastolic p Value = 0.000 and diastolic p Value = 0.000. The conclusion of this study is that there is an effect of giving ginger water compress soak therapy on dysmenorrhea in adolescent girls at SMAN 5 Makssar. Therefore, ginger water compress can be used as a non-pharmacological therapy that can be done independently to reduce dysmenorrhea pain.

Prevalence of microalbuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus having diabetic retinopathy in a tertiary care hospital in eastern India: A cross-sectional study

Diabetic retinopathy is a common microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus and one of the leading causes of acquired blindness. Microalbuminuria reflects a pathophysiological state of vascular dysfunction and organ damage. It is noticed that a rise in urinary albumin excretion is seen in the early phase of diabetic retinopathy. The concordance of microalbuminuria and diabetic retinopathy has been well reported in type 1 diabetes; however, for type 2 diabetes, there is a paucity of data. To estimate the prevalence of microalbuminuria in diabetic retinopathy patients with type 2 diabetes attending the out-patient department (OPD) in a tertiary care center in eastern India and also to find out any association between microalbuminuria and severity of diabetic retinopathy. : The study included 200 patients with type 2 diabetic patients having diabetic retinopathy. The study populations were selected by thorough clinical examination and as per inclusion–exclusion criteria. Estimation of urinary albumin and albumin creatinine ratio was done by using Konelab 20 Autoanalyzer machine by the immunoturbidimetry method. Diabetic retinopathy was classified as per the International Clinical Diabetic Retinopathy Severity Scales into mild, moderate, severe, very severe non-proliferative as well as proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Data were analyzed with ratio, rate, percentage, and statistical significance was considered if p<0.5. : The prevalence of microalbuminuria was found in 36% (72 patients). The highest number of patients (88.24%) with microalbuminuria was found in severe NPDR. 93.06% of patients with microalbuminuria had clinically significant macular edema. A statistically significant correlation (p<0.001) was found between microalbuminuria and the degree of retinopathy in mild, moderate, and severe NPDR. A significant correlation was found between urinary microalbumin and the severity of diabetic retinopathy.

Beyond the Inclusion–Exclusion Binary: Right Mindfulness and Its Implications for Perceived Inclusion and Exclusion in the Workplace

AbstractThis study examines non-Western perceptions of inclusion and exclusion through an examination of right mindfulness practitioners in Vietnam. It contributes to the critical inclusion literature that problematizes inclusion by showing how right mindfulness practitioners rejected the concepts of inclusion and exclusion, and moreover, resisted attachments to feelings of inclusion or exclusion, treating both states as empty and non-enduring. Surprisingly, our study shows how inclusion can generate fear at fulfilling others’ collective expectations, whereas exclusion generated a sense of freedom arising from a release from those expectations. Further, our study traces these counter-intuitive findings to right mindfulness practitioners’ moral reasoning based upon Buddhism’s canonical philosophical ideas. We conclude by highlighting the pressing need for critical perspectives and for further non-Western perspectives to inclusion that contribute to a body of cross-cultural work.

Effect of the physical rehabilitation program based on self-care ability in patients with acute ischemic stroke: a quasi-experimental study

IntroductionIt is the most practical goal of limb rehabilitation for stroke patients to make the upper limb, trunk, and lower limb joints link together as a whole and restore the ability to self-care. However, many previous studies focused on the single joint or single muscle group movement of stroke patients and did not integrate self-care ability training into the whole process of rehabilitation, which lacks accuracy, integrity, and systematization.MethodsA quasi-experimental study was conducted in a tertiary hospital. Eligible patients were recruited according to the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria and then divided into an experimental group (n = 80) and a control group (n = 80) by the medical district. The control group received the routine physical rehabilitation intervention. The experimental group adopted the physical rehabilitation program based on self-care ability led by the nurses specializing in stroke rehabilitation to carry out the multi-joint coordinated exercise based on the control group. The training time and frequency were the same in both groups (45 min per session, one session per day for three consecutive months). The primary outcome was myodynamia. Secondary outcomes were the modified Barthel Index (MBI) and Stroke Specific Quality of Life Scale (SS-QOL). The primary and secondary outcomes were assessed before the intervention and at 1 and 3 months of intervention. In this study, the TREND checklist was followed for non-randomized controlled trials.ResultsA total of 160 participants completed the study. The physical rehabilitation program based on self-care ability was better than the routine rehabilitation program. With the prolongation of intervention time, all outcomes improved gradually in the experimental group (P < 0.05), and the myodynamia of lower limbs recovered faster than that of upper limbs. In the control group, the myodynamia of the affected limb was not significantly improved (P > 0.05), with only a small increase in MBI and SS-QOL scores (P < 0.05).ConclusionThe physical rehabilitation program based on self-care ability after stroke was beneficial for acute ischemic stroke patients and improved the patient's myodynamia, quality of life, and self-care ability within the third month.

Government Lending as a Tool to Mitigate the Effect of Asymmetric Information

This paper analyzes the effect of asymmetric information on investment efficiency and the ways in which government credit can mitigate the inefficiency caused by asymmetric information. The focus is on credit rationing. In the model, the project return and the project risk are assumed to be independent random variables. Under this assumption, asymmetric information produces two types of inefficiency: exclusion of good borrowers and inclusion of bad borrowers. Using a subsidy, the government can improve the composition of borrowers (average project return) in the sector where information is opaque (opaque sector) and increase the volume of loans in the opaque sector. The best way to improve investment efficiency is that the government sets the lending rate above the profit-maximizing level (lower lending rate adjusted for the default rate), bids up the funding rate to raise more loan funds, and makes up the difference between the high funding rate and the low adjusted lending rate with a subsidy. A subsidized loan guarantee covering a moderate portion of loan losses can produce similar outcomes. This result is a dramatic deviation from the conventional notion of a subsidized loan, which almost automatically means a lower lending rate.

Reliability analysis for system with dependent components based on survival signature and copula theory

Recently, survival signature theory has been widely used in system reliability analysis. However, there are few studies that address the extension of survival signature theory to component-dependent systems. This study proposes a copula-based survival signature method to obtain an analytical solution for system reliability considering component dependence. It consists of two steps: constructing the dependence structure and utilizing the copula function to compute the analytical probability structure. The effectiveness of the Archimedean copula function in describing component dependence and its compliance with the exchangeability assumption in survival signature theory are first derived. Then, using Sklar's theorem, the analytical solution for the probability structure is determined based on the inclusion-exclusion principle. Finally, the hierarchical Archimedean copula function is employed to build a more sophisticated dependent structure. It is demonstrated that the satisfaction of the exchangeability assumption under the hierarchical Archimedean copula structures depends only on whether the joint distribution probability function of the components in the same type is constructed by a unique Archimedean copula function. Three separate systems with imprecise dependent information are employed in the reliability analysis in order to show the validity of the proposed method. The findings show that given a straightforward series-parallel system with a single type of component, the system reliability initially drops and then rises as the dependence parameters in the copula function grow at each time point. Additionally, the approach is more precise and effective than the simulation method when it comes to the study of complex systems.

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN BMI AND AMBULATORY BLOOD PRESSURE CHARACTERISTICS: EVIDENCE FROM POPULATION-BASED AMBULATORY BLOOD PRESSURE MONITORING COHORT

Objective: The aim of our study was to investigate the association between BMI and Chinese hypertensive patients’ ambulatory blood pressure characteristics. Design and method: According to the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria, recruiting participants for analysis. Overweight was defined as BMI = > 18.5 kg/m2, and obesity as BMI = > 25 kg/m2. ABPM characteristics were defined according to European guidelines. Hypertension was defined as elevated mean ambulatory BP (>135/85 mmHg in day-time, >120/70 mmHg in the night-time, >130/80 mmHg over 24-h). There are four kinds of blood pressure circadian rhythm, dippers, non-dippers, reverse dippers, and extreme dippers. The effects of BMI on ambulatory blood pressure characteristics were analyzed using between-group analysis of variance and logistic regression analysis. Results: In our cohort, 35367 hypertensive patients who were eligible for this study were analyzed finally, including 19380 men (54.8%) and 15987 women (45.2%) aged from 19 to 99 (mean age 58.86 years). The mean 24hBP of the study subjects was 126.41±16.00/78.79±11.62 mmHg. The different BMI groups showed that ambulatory BP increased with BMI, and the obese group had the highest increase in BP, HR, and systolic BP (P < 0.05). Blood pressure variability and systolic load tended to increase with BMI, while the nocturnal blood pressure drop rate tended to decrease. When analyzing the type of hypertension among the participants, the prevalence of MBPS and morning hypertension increased significantly with the elevated BMI (P < 0.05), and the highest prevalence of MBPS was found in the obese group. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the increased risks of MBPS and morning hypertension were the highest in the obese group, corresponding to a 2.1-fold (P < 0.05) and 1.6-fold (P < 0.05) increase in risk, respectively, with no change in trend after adjustment. Conclusions: BMI may affect the characteristics of hypertensive patients’ ambulatory blood pressure. The blood pressure variability and 24h SBP tended to increase with BMI, and the incidence of MBPS was highest in the obese group.

Reward and Decision Making Based on Nurses' Perceptions with Nurses' Caring Behavior

Caring is the most essential thing in nursing practice because caring is a dynamic approach that is closely related to the professionalism of nurses and lack of caring in nursing services can result in a decrease in the quality of nursing services, decreased patient satisfaction, and an increase in nursing days. The purpose of the study was to determine reward factors and decision making based on nurses' perceptions with nurses' caring behavior. This study used a correlational design in the form of cross sectional. The independent variable in this study is Reward and Decision Making and the dependent variable is caring behavior. The population in this study was all implementing nurses with non-probability sampling techniques, namely consecutive sampling with a total of 77 people in accordance with inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria. The results of the analysis showed a significant relationship between reward and decision-making with nurses' caring behavior (p = 0.000-0.030; α = 0.05). It can be concluded that organizational culture is related to nurses' caring behavior, not reward and decision-making even though there is a meaningful relationship. Follow-up approaches and research to determine the most dominant factors for nurses in nurses' caring behavior. All hypotheses are proven where there is a meaningful relationship of reward variables and decision making as part of organizational culture factors based on nurses' perceptions with nurses' caring behavior

Transitional care of older ethnic minority patients: An integrative review.

To critically synthesize the empirical literature on practice in transitional care and how to meet the care needs of older ethnic minority populations who discharged from hospital to community. An integrative literature review integrating empirical studies using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, EBSCO (including CINAHL and MEDLINE) and Scopus were searched for papers published between 2012 and September 2022. Full-text papers were screened against inclusion and exclusion criteria subsequent to screening titles and abstracts. All included papers were evaluated for methodological quality using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Checklists. After extracting findings, themes were created by critically examining and synthesizing of findings. The search yielded a total of 1180 studies, 1153 after removing duplicates and 27 papers meeting the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria were included in the review. The main findings were categorized into four themes: (i) intervention-related outcomes; (ii) unmet needs of older minority people; (iii) transitional care-related characteristics of older minority people and (iv) challenges for healthcare providers. Findings indicated that the transitional care experience of ethnic minority older populations differed from natives to some extent which revealed unmet needs addressing how to provide culturally appropriate transitional care for this population. This review gave insight into facilitators in the transitional care of ethnic minority older adults. Future transitional care interventions should incorporate needs of ethnic minority population. This review highlighted the defined gaps between existing transitional care programmes and transitional care needs of older ethnic minority. Increasing follow-up completion, evidence defining deeply of ethnic phenomenon in the transitional care process, developing interventions that meet transitional care needs and increasing healthcare providers' cultural competency were featured headlines. No Patient or Public Contribution.

Machine learning-based prediction of joint moments based on kinematics in patients with cerebral palsy

Joint moments during gait provide valuable information for clinical decision-making in patients with cerebral palsy (CP). Joint moments are calculated based on ground reaction forces (GRF) using inverse dynamics models. Obtaining GRF from patients with CP is challenging. Typically developed (TD) individuals' joint moments were predicted from joint angles using machine learning, but no such study has been conducted on patients with CP. Accordingly, we aimed to predict the dorsi-plantar flexion, knee flexion–extension, hip flexion–extension, and hip adduction-abduction moments based on the trunk, pelvis, hip, knee, and ankle kinematics during gait in patients with CP and TD individuals using one-dimensional convolutional neural networks (CNN). The anonymized retrospective gait data of 329 TD (26 years ± 14, mass: 70 kg ± 15, height: 167 cm ± 89) and 917 CP (17 years ± 9, mass:47 kg ± 19, height:153 cm ± 36) individuals were evaluated and after applying inclusion–exclusion criteria, 132 TD and 622 CP patients with spastic diplegia were selected. We trained specific CNN models and evaluated their performance using isolated test subject groups based on normalized root mean square error (nRMSE) and Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC). Joint moments were predicted with nRMSE between 18.02% and 13.58% for the CP and between 12.55% and 8.58% for the TD groups, whereas with PCC between 0.85 and 0.93 for the CP and between 0.94 and 0.98 for the TD groups. Machine learning-based joint moment prediction from kinematics could replace conventional moment calculation in CP patients in the future, but the current level of prediction errors restricts its use for clinical decision-making today.

INTEGRAL USE OF HENEQUEN (Agave fourcroydes): APPLICATIONS AND TRENDS–A REVIEW

<p><strong>Background.</strong> The Conventional use of henequen (<em>Agave fourcroydes</em>), has mainly focused on the use of the leaves for the production of fiber. However, there are other components such as the stem (“pineapple”), the spines, and the by-product of fiber generation (leaf juice) in which we should pay attention to. <strong>Objective.</strong> To provide a systematic analysis of the biotechnological overview from those investigations where the potential of each of the structural components of <em>A. fourcroydes</em> is being studied. <strong>Methodology.</strong> A systematic review of the literature was carried out, based on the PRISMA protocol (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses), search for information was carried out in the most prominent databases (Redalyc, SciELO, Scopus, Elsevier, EBSCO, and Google Academic, using <em>A. fourcroydes</em> as the main keyword, using inclusion and later exclusion criteria according to the literature found, in the period from 1990 to 2022, which allowed a broader perspective on this crop and its biotechnological importance. <strong>Main findings.</strong> In the bibliographic review more information was found on the applications of the plant in an integral way, so that bioactive compounds such as fructans, flavonoids, and sterols can be obtained from the henequen stem, which can be incorporated into animal and human diets, while ethanol has been obtained from the juice of the leaves and the development of that of new materials using the fiber in a native and modified way to obtain fiber-reinforced mortars for its sustainable application in the construction industry. On the other hand, contributions were found on promising alternatives for the use of crops such as modified fibers, and combined with other compounds (composites) for the mechanical reinforcement of new materials. <strong>Implications.</strong> The literature consulted allows us to report that henequen (<em>A. fourcroydes</em>) is not only cultivated in the Yucatan Peninsula, but also in other regions such as the State of Tamaulipas, Mexico, where its use and commercial exploitation has not well documented. <strong>Conclusion.</strong> The bibliographical review allows us to deduce that the obtaining of new henequen compounds would revalue their integral use and use in different industries.</p>

Self help groups, microfinance, financial inclusion and social exclusion: Insight from Assam

In order to link the unorganised with the formal financial sector in India, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) introduced the Self-Help Group Bank Linkage Programme (SHG-BLP) as a trial initiative in 1992 and mainstreamed it in 1996. Microfinance services are available in Assam through SHG-BLPs registered with the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). In central Assam, there are the most active SHG-BLP units. In light of this, the present study aims to explore contribution of SHG-BLP in financial along with the social inclusion of the marginalised rural people of central Assam. The impact of SHG-BLP is facilitated by the application of the propensity score matching method. The empirical results show that the SHG-BLP considerably reduces social exclusion among participants relative to their non-participant counterparts and ensures financial inclusion too. Based on this empirical finding, the study recommends that the coverage of SHG registration under DAY-NRLM be expanded. Simultaneously, efforts must be made to expand the alternative model of SHGs, the MFI-Bank Linkage Model, for expanding SHG coverage.

Study of functional outcome of dorsolumbar spine fractures treated with minimal invasive spine surgery

Spinal trauma is a common problem in modern Orthopedics. Spine surgery has recently been transformed significantly by the growth of minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Easily acceptable to patients as less invasive with smaller incisions, MIS is often perceived as superior to traditional open spine surgery. This study aims to study the functional outcome of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) in posterior thoracolumbar instrumentation in spine fractures. Present study was prospective in nature conducted among 35 patients. All patients fulfilling inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria were taken up for the study. Study was carried out over a period of 1.5 years. Majority of the patients was in the age group of 30-50 years and most of them were male. Mean VAS score & ODI functional outcome scores significantly reduced after MIS. Incidence of complications after MIS was 5.71%. 86% patients had excellent to good outcome after MIS according to McNab criteria. Minimal invasive surgery is safe and effective procedure with minimal complications and good post-operative outcome.