Pathological Problems Research Articles

Spatial-temporal alignment of time series with different sampling rates based on cellular multi-objective whale optimization

Aligning time series of different sampling rates is an important but challenging task. Current commonly used dynamic time warping methods usually suffer from pathological temporal singularity problem. In order to overcome this, we transform the alignment task to a spatial-temporal multi-objective optimization (MOO) problem. Existing MOO algorithms are always inefficient in finding Pareto optimal alignment solutions due to their insufficiency in maintaining convergence and diversity among the obtained Pareto solutions. In light of this, we propose a novel and efficient MOO algorithm Cell-MOWOA which integrates Cellular automata with the rising Whale Optimization Algorithm to find Pareto optimal alignment solutions. Innovative multi-variate non-linear cell state evolutionary rules are designed within Pareto solution external archive to improve the convergence and diversity of the Pareto solutions, and novel whale population updating mechanism is designed to accelerate the convergence to the Pareto front. Besides, new integer whale updating mechanism is presented to transform real-number whale solutions to integer whale solutions. Experimental results on 85 gold-standard UCR time series datasets showed that Cell-MOWOA outperformed six state-of-the-art baselines by 24.53% in average in increasing alignment accuracy and 42.66% in average in reducing singularity. Besides, it achieved outstanding runtime efficiency, especially on long time series datasets.

A progressive damage model for composite laminates based on non-linear continuum mechanics—Static and fatigue loadings

Efficient yet reliable predictive modelling tools for damage tolerance analysis became an aerospace industry requirement as composite materials provided the potential for design performance. As damage can be separated into interlaminar and intralaminar, different approaches were developed over the years. For fracture analysis of intralaminar damage, a physical link to the Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) provides a reliable framework for Continuum Damage Mechanics (CDM) models. These models, however, may exhibit pathological problems related to mesh dependence, objectivity and convergence issues. Differently from Cohesive Zone Modelling (CZM) for interlaminar damage, most intralaminar models are based on phenomenological approaches for fatigue analysis and life prediction. This work provides a description of some of the current intralaminar CDM models shortcomings, related to large strain analysis and finite element topology. A novel progressive damage model is proposed where damage variables are linked to the deformation gradient. Additionally, a fatigue damage behaviour under the assumption of a Paris law for crack evolution is implemented in the proposed methodology. Both static and fatigue analysis were performed on a Compact Tension (CT) specimen geometry and compared to experimental data available on the scientific literature. Model predictions and experimental data were confronted allowing for conclusions to be drawn.

HEMATOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL CHANGES IN FEMALE DIABETES MELLITUS TYPE-2 PATIENTS ATTENDING TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL QUETTA

Diabetes mellitus is notoriously known around the globe for its pathological problems and it is mostly linked with metabolic, cellular, and blood disorders. In previous studies, the biochemical and hematological anomalies have been associated with type 2 diabetes disorder. In studying this, we compared and analyzed the hematological and biochemical parameters between non-diabetic and diabetic patients from Quetta, Pakistan, and highlighted the anomalies. The results of this study discovered significant anomalies in the biochemical and hematological parameters of diabetic type 2 patients compared with non-diabetic patients. In this study, we conducted a comparative cross-sectional analysis on 100 volunteers among them 50 volunteers were diabetic type 2 patients and the remaining 50 were taken as control these volunteers were selected by applying a systematic random sampling technique. For hematological andbiochemical analysis 5ml of blood from the patients and control group was drawn and subsequently analyzed using an automated cell counter. That was analyzed by using SPSS 22 version. In this study, the majority of subjects in both groups were females. The results of this study displayed that the level of MCV, PVC, RBCs, and hemoglobin was significantly lower compared to diabetic-free individuals. Whereas; mean WBCs and MCHC were highly significant in diabetics patients than the diabetic-free individuals. We did not observe any difference in the level of MCH between both groups. In the case of biochemical parameters comparison, the mean of LDL, TC, creatinine, and urea was higher in the diabetic group as compared to the control group and the value of HDL was lower in the diabetic group.

Blood Trace Element Status in Camels: A Review.

Simple SummaryTrace elements are required in small quantities for all species, and their role in many biological functions is essential. Additionally, their deficiency or excess can have important consequences for metabolism and health. Although camels live in ecosystems dominated by minerals, they are also subject to such imbalances. To investigate the trace element status of camels, as for other animals, blood sampling is preferred. The present paper gives a large overview of the values observed in camel blood samples under different physiological and health conditions, as well as some data regarding the symptoms in deficiency or excess situations. The main trace elements involved are copper, zinc, iron, selenium, manganese, cobalt, iodine, fluorine and molybdenum. In addition, some data regarding bromide and nickel, due to their specific mention in the literature, are included. Although the status of sulfur is regarded as intermediary between the main and trace elements, it is added due to its role in polluted areas. Finally, some specificities of camel trace elements are discussed.Trace minerals play an important role in animal health and productivity. They are involved also in many physiological activities, and their deficiency causes a variety of pathological problems and metabolic defects, reducing consequently the animal productivity. The demand for animal products in semi-arid areas is rapidly increasing, and the supply is still below the required level, partially due to low animal productivity. Camels (Camelus dromedarius and Camelus bactrianus) are considered one of the main sources of healthy, high-quality meat and milk for human consumption within most of the countries in the semi-arid regions. Despite their efficient adaptation to their environment, camels can suffer from the growth retardation of newborns, low feed efficiency, anemia, poor fertility, poor reproduction and many other metabolic disorders. It is well known that trace mineral deficiencies and trace mineral toxicities can influence camels’ production and reproductive efficiency, as well as many aspects of their growth and metabolism. Evaluating the trace minerals status of camels and their variability is an obvious step toward improving camels’ productivity and health. Thus, the present article reviews the data regarding the status of trace minerals (copper, zinc, iron, selenium, manganese, cobalt, iodine, fluorine, molybdenum, sulfur, bromide and nickel) in camel blood and their physiological variability, with a focus on their deficiency and toxicity effects.

Comparative clinical and morphometric investigations of cervical stenosis of the spinal canal in humans and dogs

Acquired stenosis of the spinal canal is a common problem in human and animal pathology. It is defined as a pathological condition that mainly develops as degeneration of the spine with cervical myelopathy development, which is a characteristic manifestation of this pathology. Pain both in the neck and upper back is the leading syndrome of this pathology. 65 human patients aged 20–65 years and 19 dogs weighing more than 20 kg were examined with the aim of comparative clinical and morphometric analysis of stenosis of the spinal canal. The age of the dogs was maximally converted to the age of a person. Computed tomography using the Pavlov-Torg index and the reserve space evaluation supplemented diagnosis of stenosis of the spinal canal. The mass proportion of stenotic changes of the spinal canal against the background of the degenerative-dystrophic process was 21 in males (n = 25) 84.0%, females – 28 persons (n = 40) 70.0%. Pain syndrome was the main complaint in all patients. Cervicalgia prevailed in 60 (92.3%), pain in the upper back was registered in 32 (49.2%) patients. The intensity of pain syndrome was equal to 3.1 ± 0.4 points. Motor deficiency in the form of paresis, mainly of the distal parts of the hands, was registered in 48 patients (73.8%), pyramidal symptoms were noted in the legs in 32 (49.2%) patients, pelvic reservoir dysfunction (7.0–10.8%), and sensory disorders were also found (24.0–36.9%). Such manifestations of cervical myelopathy progressed slowly. Pyramidal symptoms were more frequent and more pronounced in men. According to the computed tomography scan, degenerative changes of the spine were maximal at the level of the C6 vertebra with the maximum clinical correlation (neurological deficit, pain syndrome, etc.). In the course of the research, probable stenosis of the spinal canal was found in people on computed tomography images. In the 19 dogs observed weighing 20 kg or more the presence of pain syndrome was evaluated in all the animals (100.0%) as well as behaviour change (100.0%). During the examination, gait disorder was detected (18.0–94.7%); reaction to palpation of the neck area (15.0–78.9%); the habitus of animals experiencing pain, especially during neck movements (14.0–73.7%), body tension (12.0–63.1%), etc. Bony outgrowths of the edges of the vertebrae and intervertebral joints were found in almost all dogs of 18 (94.7%) large breeds compared to others. Narrowing of the intervertebral openings, deformation and sclerotic changes of the locking plates, thickening of the yellow and elongated ligaments occurred three to four times more in large breeds compared to dogs weighing less than 20 kg, and were absent in cats. Stenosis of the spinal canal was detected in 15 (78.9%) dogs. Therefore, acquired stenosis of the spinal canal probably develops after degenerative-dystrophic changes in the neck in 87.7% of people and in 78.9% of dogs with clinical manifestations of cervical myelopathy and with persistent pain syndrome (equal to 3.1 ± 0.3 points in humans and 2.6 ± 0.4 points in animals according to visual analog scale). This kind of pathological process in the investigated groups developed mainly at the level of the C6 vertebra. Similar clinical and morphometric indexes were obtained in humans (87.7%). It was found that the maximum similarity of pathological processes with stenosis of the spinal canal formation was characteristic in dogs of exclusively large breeds. Therefore, we consider it promising to study the development mechanisms of stenosis of the spinal canal and peculiarities primarily in young generations of humans and animals, to implement modern non-invasive neuroimaging methods, in particular for animals with investigation of morphometric indexes. This will prevent the occurrence of most comorbid syndromes, including chronic pain, neurological deficits as well as help find new opportunities for correction of stenosis of the spinal canal, to suppress the aging processes not only of the muscle-skeletal system but also of the body as a whole. The importance of this work, we suppose, lies in the further identification of adequate models in animals of different breeds and weight categories with stenosis of the spinal canal pathology in which it develops significantly faster, for extrapolation to humans to predict the development of pathological events.

SlideGraph+: Whole slide image level graphs to predict HER2 status in breast cancer

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is an important prognostic and predictive factor which is overexpressed in 15-20% of breast cancer (BCa). The determination of its status is a key clinical decision making step for selection of treatment regimen and prognostication. HER2 status is evaluated using transcriptomics or immunohistochemistry (IHC) through in-situ hybridisation (ISH) which incurs additional costs and tissue burden and is prone to analytical variabilities in terms of manual observational biases in scoring. In this study, we propose a novel graph neural network (GNN) based model (SlideGraph+) to predict HER2 status directly from whole-slide images of routine Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stained slides. The network was trained and tested on slides from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) in addition to two independent test datasets. We demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms the state-of-the-art methods with area under the ROC curve (AUC) values > 0.75 on TCGA and 0.80 on independent test sets. Our experiments show that the proposed approach can be utilised for case triaging as well as pre-ordering diagnostic tests in a diagnostic setting. It can also be used for other weakly supervised prediction problems in computational pathology. The SlideGraph+ code repository is available at https://github.com/wenqi006/SlideGraph along with an IPython notebook showing an end-to-end use case at https://github.com/TissueImageAnalytics/tiatoolbox/blob/develop/examples/full-pipelines/slide-graph.ipynb.

The “digital pathogen” concept: epidemiological approach to problem of disorders associated with information technologies

The article is devoted to conceptualization of current scientific experience of studying disorders associated with information technologies. Over the past decades, prevalence of information technologies in world modern society occurs with such intensity that detailed study of influence of this factor on health is significantly lagged behind. In the last decade, a number of pathological conditions associated with application of modern information technologies, in particular psychological and psychiatric profile, was described. The new concepts of Internet addiction, gambling, problematic use of technologies, etc., describing individual response of patients, are introduced. At that, lack of fundamental understanding of both etiology and pathogenesis of described conditions due to multiform specifics, high comorbidity and active evolution of digital society. The article attempts to fill this gap and to approach issue on population scale, namely to evaluate from perspective of epidemiological method characteristics of occurrence, spread and termination of pathogenic effects. The analysis of existing studies suggests that causation of emerging disorders is related not only to addictive behavior and prolonged exposure to information flow, but also to different pathogenicity of its particular components, causing various clinical forms of health disorders in individual with different levels of susceptibility. The pattern of new unique pathogen with specific propagation in human population is described - indirectly through digital environment - and capable of replication within specific ecological niche, i.e. digital pathogen tropic to bio-substrates of higher nervous activity. At that, the duration of contact with digital environment is considered as necessary but insufficient cause of development of pathological process that corresponds to empirical data. The most important property of digital pathogen propagation is its ability to replicate in anthropogenic abiotic digital environment, which is conditioned by its nature, mechanisms of accumulation and distribution. It is also noteworthy that basic principles of dissemination of information flows in social networks largely repeat principles of propagation of infectious pathogens in nature and are characterized by unique mechanism and ways of its transmission. It is concluded that in modern conditions there is a need to study problem of pathology associated with digital environment at population level from position of epidemiological method. The important aspects are joint efforts in studying and classifying new pathogen at interdisciplinary level and developing preventive measures.

Human Maxillary Sinus Development, Pneumatization, Anatomy, Blood Supply, Innervation and Functional Theories: An Update Review

The maxillary sinus is one of four pair’s air-filled spaces that surround the nasal cavity. The majority of previously published researches considering the maxillary sinus commonly concentrated on its pathological conditions and the recent surgical or medical management procedures. However, to understand the diseases of this sinus in a better manner, it is essential to have some basic medical details. Therefore, the present review is an attempt to focus light on this sinus by doing a cosmopolitan update on its development and anatomy, besides the functional theories by searching through many well-known scientific databases including Medline, Scopus, EMBASE, PubMed Central (PMC), PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science.
 In the current review, the author tried to approach, recognize and explain the fundamental data that may provide better ideas to imagine the pathological problems related to the maxillary sinus. In addition, the author did not conduct a new study on human nor animal subjects because the previously implemented articles were the chief and the only source for this review.
 In conclusion, the functions and physiology of the maxillary sinus are the subjects that reflect the anatomical complexity mentioned in the most recent articles may probably show that all its functions could be a part of a large and more complicated image than that apparent nowadays.

Comparison Of the Effectiveness of Maitland Manipulation of Thoracic Spine Versus Grade I And II Maitland Mobilization of Cervical Spine on Pain Intensity and Functional Status in Patients of Cervical Radiculopathy

Cervical radiculopathy (CR) is a most reported pathological problem mainly due to herniated disc material causing nerve compression or the formation of osteophytes. This impingement specifically causes cervical pain radiating to arm, numbness, and sensory deficit. It also affects the motor function of the neck and upper extremities. Objectives: To evaluate the comparative effectiveness of Maitland manipulation of thoracic spine versus grade I and II Maitland mobilization of cervical spine on Pain, intensity, and functional status in patients of cervical radiculopathy. Methods: Total 32 patients suffering from cervical radiculopathy were randomly assigned to receive Maitland manipulation on thoracic spine along with Conventional Physiotherapy (intermittent cervical traction, strengthening exercises) in Group A(n=16) and Maitland mobilization on cervical spines along with Conventional Physiotherapy in Group B (n=16). Total treatment sessions given to each group was 9 (3 sessions per week). To measure outcome numeric pain rating scale (NPRS) and neck disability index (NDI) questionnaire was used. Data collection was done at the beginning and post-treatment. Results: The study revealed that the mean age of patients was 47.59 with a range minimum of 27 years to a maximum of 59 years. Comparison of post-treatment of both groups showed mean NPRS score in group A (Maitland thoracic spine manipulation) was 4.56± 1.031 and group B (Maitland cervical spine mobilization) was 6.12± 0.50, while post-treatment NDI score group A was 22.44± 10.09 and group B was 36.88± 8.437 with p=0.000 that was p<0.05. Conclusion: The study concluded that both Maitland thoracic spine manipulation and Maitland cervical spine mobilization techniques have similar effects in reducing cervical radiculopathy and increasing active range of motion. However, Maitland thoracic spine manipulation showed better results in neck pain reduction and improved functional status on the comparison.

Artificial Intelligence-Based Semisupervised Self-Training Algorithm in Pathological Tissue Image Segmentation.

In the field of medical image processing, due to the differences in tissues, organs, and imaging methods, obtained medical images have significant differences. With the development of intelligence in medicine, an increasing number of computing optimization algorithms based on AI technology have also been applied to the field of medicine. Because the image segmentation algorithm based on the semisupervised self-training algorithm solves initialization class center large randomness problem in the traditional cluster-based image segmentation algorithm, this article aims to integrate the artificial intelligence semisupervised self-training algorithm into the pathological tissue image segmentation problem. An experimental group is designed to collect sample images and the algorithm proposed in this article is used to perform image segmentation to achieve a better visual experience and images. Although there is no general image segmentation theory, many scholars have been committed to applying new concepts and new methods to image segmentation in recent years and combining specific theoretical image segmentation methods has achieved good application results in image segmentation. For example, wavelet analysis, wavelet transform, neural networks, and genetic algorithms can effectively improve the segmentation effect. The results of the Seg cutting method designed in this article show that, in retinal blood vessel segmentation results on a database of healthy people, the sensitivity value is 0.941633, the false-positive rate is 0.952933, the specificity is 0.956787, and the accuracy rate is 0.96182, which are all higher than those in other methods. Image cutting methods such as FNN, CNN, and AWN have addressed the case tissue image cutting problem. Using the Seg cutting method designed in this article to segment the retinal blood vessels on a diabetes patient database, the sensitivity value is 0.8106, the false-positive rate is 0.0511, the specificity is 0.9712, the accuracy is 0.9421, and the false-positive rate is omitted. The false-positive rate is lower than AWN, and other indicators are higher than FNN, CNN, AWN, and other image cutting methods. The application of artificial intelligence-based semisupervised self-training algorithms in pathological tissue image segmentation is realized.

The effects of apigenin administration on the inhibition of inflammatory responses and oxidative stress in the lung injury models: a systematic review and meta-analysis of preclinical evidence.

Apigenin is a member of the flavonoid family that can regulate various biological processes, which is characterized as a treatment of different inflammatory disorders and pathological problems associated with oxidative stress (OS). Recent research has focused on apigenin immunomodulatory properties as a potential treatment for different types of lung injuries. This meta-analysis was designed to determine the impact of apigenin treatment on inflammatory markers and OS parameters in animal models of lung injuries. The comprehensive literature search was conducted using electronic databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Embase up to August 2021. To assess apigenin's effect on inflammatory mediators and OS biomarkers in lung injury animal models, we used the I2 statistic to determine the heterogeneity. We then pooled data as standardized mean difference (SMD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Our meta-analysis of the pooled data for inflammatory biomarkers demonstrated that the apigenin administration significantly decreased the NF-κB expression (SMD - 1.60, 95% CI [- 2.93 to - 0.26]; I2 = 89.0%, p < 0.001), IL-1β (SMD - 4.30, 95% CI [- 6.24 to - 2.37]; I2 = 67.3%, p = 0.047), IL-6 (SMD - 4.10, 95% CI [- 5.04 to - 3.16]; I2 = 72.6%, p < 0.001), TNF-α (SMD - 3.74, 95% CI [- 4.67 to - 2.82]; I2 = 84.1%, p < 0.001), and TNF-α gene expression (SMD - 3.44, 95% CI [- 4.44 to - 2.43]; I2 = 0.0%, p = 0.622). This study also indicated the efficacy of apigenin in increasing the level of CAT (SMD 4.56, 95% CI [3.57 to 5.55]; I2 = 15.3%, p = 3.15), GSH (SMD 5.12, 95% CI [3.53 to 6.70]; I2 = 77.6%, p < 0.001), and SOD (SMD 3.45, 95% CI [2.50 to 4.40]; I2 = 79.2%, p < 0.001), and decreasing the level of MDA (SMD - 3.87, 95% CI [- 5.25 to - 2.49]; I2 = 80.3%, p < 0.001) and MPO (SMD - 4.02, 95% CI [- 5.64 to - 2.40]; I2 = 88.9%, p < 0.001), TGF- β (SMD - 3.81, 95% CI [- 4.91 to - 2.70]; I2 = 73.4%, p = 0.001) and W/D level (SMD - 3.22, 95% CI [- 4.47 to - 1.97]; I2 = 82.1%, p < 0.001) than control groups. Overall, our findings showed the immunomodulatory potential of apigenin as an alternative treatment for the suppression of inflammatory responses and OS in different types of lung injury diseases. Nevertheless, due to the paucity of clinical studies, reliable preclinical models, and clinical settings, evaluating the influence of apigenin on lung injury is required in the future. Before conducting large-scale clinical trials, detailed human pharmacokinetic studies are also needed to establish dosage ranges and determine the initial safety and tolerability of apigenin.

The medicalization of family judicial conflicts: A path towards normalization

This article aims to provide a critical reflection on the process of medicalization of judicial family and children conflicts, exploring how the medical and social science (psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers) discourses and professionals are mingled in Portuguese civil guardianship proceedings. Through the content analysis of a set of judicial processes, we conclude that not only do medical assumptions resonate in the rules of child custody, but there is a tendency in these processes to reduce family conflicts to and treat them as pathological problems and to adopt medical and/or therapeutic and not “exclusively” judicial solutions. The aim is to normalize family and parental relationships that are outside the norm.

Molecular characterization of Fusarium spp. associated vascular wilt in passion fruit (Passiflora ligularis JUSS)

In Colombia, vascular rotting of passion fruit (P. ligularis) caused by the fungus Fusarium is considered the most important pathological problem in the cultivation of this fruit. Plants affected by the pathogen wilt and die, causing considerable yield losses and increased production costs. The objective of this work was to determine the genetic variability of the Fusarium species associated with this disease. For this, 50 samples were collected from producing farms in three municipalities of the department of Nariño. A total of 35 isolates were characterized morphologically and molecularly. The morphological identification was carried out using taxonomic keys. Molecular characterization was performed by PCR with primers ITS1 – ITS4 and TEF1α. The PCR products were sent to Macrogen (Korea) for sequencing. Sequencing results indicated that Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. passiflorae is associated as a causal agent of the disease. In addition, the presence of Ilyonectria robusta was determined, which, has not been reported before in passion fruit plants. The phylogenetic analysis allowed determine that there was little variability among the isolates evaluated; no grouping was observed associated to the geographical origin of the samples. The morphological characters corroborated the species information obtained from the molecular analysis.

Anxiety and depression in women of reproductive age with thyroid disease

Background. The problem of pathology of the affective sphere, especially anxiety and depressive disorders, at the present stage of development of society is especially relevant among general medical problems. In recent years, there has also been a pathomorphosis of mental disorders in various somatic and endocrine diseases. A link between thyroid disease and mental disorders, including autoimmune thyroiditis, has been found. Further research on this issue is important. The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of mental disorders in women with subclinical hypothyroidism and euthyroidism on the background of autoimmune thyroiditis. Materials and methods. Anxiety and depression were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in 176 women of reproductive age (18 to 44years) with subclinical hypothyroidism and euthyroidism with autoimmune thyroiditis compared with healthy women. The examination was conducted before the start of therapy for the underlying disease. Results. It was found that out of the 176 women surveyed, 37.5% of them had anxiety syndrome, 13.6% had depression, 10.8% of women had comorbid anxiety disorder and depression, and 38.1% of those surveyed had normal results. The group of women with autoimmune thyroiditis and subclinical hypothyroidism was dominated by clinically severe anxiety (40.9%) and depression (15.1%), the percentage of detected subclinical anxiety and depression was 7.6% and 7.6%, respectively, while the group of women with autoimmune thyroiditis and euthyroidism was dominated by subclinically expressed anxiety (37.1%) and depression (8.6%), and the percentage of clinically expressed anxiety and depression was 5.7% and 1.4%, respectively. Conclusions. Anxiety-depressive syndrome is 3.5 times more common in patients with thyroid diseases than in healthy women. There is a direct correlation of weak strength between the level of TSH in women with subclinical hypothyroidism and the number of points scored during the survey on both scales HADS-depression (r=0.12, p&lt;0.05) and HADS-anxiety (r=0.14, p&lt;0.05). There was a direct correlation of weak strength between the level of TPO Ab and the number of points scored during the survey in both scales HADS-depression (r=0.17, p &lt;0.05) and HADS-anxiety (r=0.19, p&lt;0.05).

Cribado e intervención breve en consumo de alcohol

Morbidity associated with alcohol consumption includes digestive, psychiatric, neurological, infectious disease, cancers of various types, cardiovascular disease, intentional injuries, unintentional injuries, social pathology, and family problems. The most recent evidence does not indicate that “moderate” consumption is beneficial to health. The most recent evidence indicates that “moderate” consumption is not beneficial to health. Therefore, the emphasis should be placed on avoiding risky drinking and advising patients that it would be in their best health interest to avoid alcohol or to drink alcohol at low-risk doses. The AUDIT-C is the most appropriate screening instrument. Cognitive-behavioural and motivational strategies form the basis of brief intervention. Positive information about the benefits of moderation and information about the dangers of alcohol intake should be given. In early stages of dependence, pharmacological treatment for detoxification, withdrawal and follow-up is considered. More serious cases require coordination with addiction services. In Spain, BI has proven effective and to reduce alcohol consumption by 100g/week. Community strategies are the appropriate policy framework to achieve the best results from brief intervention. They should aim to reduce the supply and availability for consumption by adopting legislative measures to limit both economic and physical accessibility. Furthermore, measures should be implemented to reduce the demand for alcohol through health education for specific risk groups.

Сучасні аспекти захворюваності гінгівітом та пародонтитом дітей та підлітків України, ефективність лікування та профілактики

The purpose of the work was to study modern aspects of the incidence of gingivitis and periodontitis in children and adolescents in Ukraine and to create an algorithm for treatment and prevention tactics in this pathology. It has been established that the high prevalence of gingivitis and periodontitis among children and adolescents makes this problem one of the most important problems of modern dentistry. The problem of periodontal pathology in children and adolescents is due to both the prevalence of diseases and the fact that poor-quality treatment of diseases in childhood and adolescence will lead to severe irreversible damage to periodontal tissues in adults. Modern prevention of inflammatory periodontal diseases in children and adolescents should be carried out on the basis of an algorithm of therapeutic and preventive measures: elimination of local traumatic factors, restoration of the anatomical shape of the teeth, high-quality treatment of the root system, replacement of defective restorations, professional oral hygiene, selection and correction of means and methods of individual hygiene. Results and discussion. The results of the study of oral hygiene and periodontal condition in patients with chronic limited catarrhal gingivitis and chronic localized periodontitis showed that the average value of most of the studied parameters in patients had significant differences when compared with healthy individuals in the control group, as well as between groups of patients. Index evaluation of the functional state of the peripheral circulation in the periodontal tissues of young patients revealed a significant decrease in capillary resistance. Based on literature data and the results of our own research and an objective method for predicting the localization of inflammatory diseases of periodontitis, a therapeutic and prophylactic tactic was developed in young patients with indications of diseases and risk factors for their development. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the developed method of treatment and prevention of localized periodontal tissue damage in patients of the main group was carried out on the basis of the results of clinical, physicochemical and functional research methods in comparison with groups of patients who underwent therapeutic and preventive measures in the traditional way. The results of treatment of localized inflammatory periodontal diseases were analyzed in 34 patients of the main group with chronic limited catarrhal gingivitis, 26 patients with chronic localized periodontitis of degree I and in a similar number of patients in the comparison group with an identical diagnosis. Conclusion. The results of treatment of 60 patients of the main group showed the high efficiency of the developed method. At the same time, a significant improvement in the subjective and objective symptoms of diseases was found. Complete clinical recovery with the elimination of the inflammatory process in the gums was found in 94.1% of patients with chronic limited catarrhal gingivitis of degree I. The obtained positive results of treatment of the main group of young patients with localized inflammatory lesions of periodontal tissues in terms of hygienic and periodontal indices and the state of peripheral circulation confirm the high efficiency of the developed algorithm for the treatment and prevention of these diseases

The Effect of Monochromatic Aberrations of the Cornea on Contrast Sensitivity under Photopic and Mesopic Conditions

Purpose: Vision is one of the most important senses. The first stage of vision is the creation of the observed object’s image on the retina. The quality of the retinal image is affected by several factors, such as diffraction, sampling on the retina, chromatic aberration, scattering and higher order aberrations. The measurement of the quality is achieved both with subjective (visual acuity, contrast sensitivity) and objective methods (PSF, MTF, Strehl ratio, RMS). The purpose of this project is the measurement of higher order aberrations of the anterior corneal surface (with a Placido corneal topographer) and of the contrast sensitivity (with a Pelli Robson optotype). Then, we will try to find if there is a correlation between them.&#x0D; Methods and Materials: 20 persons participated in this survey, divided in two groups of 10 persons each. The first group (group 1) included subjects up to 39 years old and the second group (group 2) from 40 years and up. The participants didn’t have any pathological problems, except lower order refractive errors. Both eyes of each individual were included in the procedure. First, the higher order aberrations of the anterior corneal surface were measured, with the implementation of a Placido corneal topographer. This was followed by a measurement of the contrast sensitivity. The whole procedure took place under two lighting conditions, both photopic and mesopic. The examination presentation of the higher order aberrations is performed with the use of Zernike polynomials.&#x0D; Results: The results of the measuring procedure showed that for the first group, under photopic conditions (luminance 32.70 cd/m2) the mean value (± standard deviation) for the higher order aberrations RMS and decimal logarithm contrast sensitivity was 0.073 ± 0.018μm and 1.54 ± 0,16 (contrast 2.88 ± 1.24%) respectively. For the second group the corresponding values were 0.080 ± 0.036μm and 1.59 ± 0.16 (contrast 2.57 ± 1.24%). Accordingly, under mesopic conditions (luminance 1.14 cd/m2) the values for the first group were 0.252 ± 0.064 μm and 1.27 ± 0.15 (contrast 5.37 ± 2.06%), while for the second were 0.253 ± 0.069μm and 1.32 ± 0.12 (contrast 4.79 ± 1.35%). Spherical aberration and coma (horizontal and vertical) were also measured for both groups under photopic and mesopic conditions. The results showed that for the first group, under photopic conditions, RMS for coma and spherical aberration is 0.033 ± 0.014 μm and 0.022 ± 0.011 μm respectively, while for the second group 0.041 ± 0.027 μm and 0.024 ± 0.008 μm. Under mesopic conditions, the relevant results are 0.139 ± 0.065 μm and 0.124 ± 0.035μm for the first group and 0.149 ± 0.066 μm and 0.107 ± 0.038 μm for the second group.&#x0D; Finally, we should mention here that the equivalent defocus error corresponding to the higher order aberration RMS was estimated. The results for all the participants (without age separation), are 0.23 ± 0.09D (photopic conditions) and 0.28 ± 0.07D (mesopic conditions).&#x0D; Conclusions: From the statistical analysis of the results we conclude that there exists a symmetry between left and right eyes regarding higher order aberrations. Furthermore, it seems that age is not a significant factor for differences on the magnitude of higher order aberrations both under photopic and mesopic conditions as well. Similar conclusions are also reached for the contrast sensitivity measurements. In addition, we have observed that a correlation exists between the higher order aberrations of the anterior corneal surface and the contrast sensitivity, for both photopic and mesopic conditions. Correlation also exists between coma and contrast only under photopic conditions. But there is no significant correlation between spherical aberration and contrast. The age difference of these two groups has not an effect on the results. Finally, the equivalent defocus is too small, both for photopic and mesopic conditions and between each other, in order to be clinically significant.

Computer Modeling of Human Voice System Diagnostic Algorithms

Every year, people are faced with an increasing number of diseases that require timely detection and diagnosis without causing discomfort to the patient. Thus arose the systems of objective and subjective assessment of the quality of hearing, as well as the first systems of analysis of the state of the vocal tract. The problem of voice pathology is inherent in a fairly large risk group, which includes teachers, artists, call center operators. The specifics of the development of such systems is that the hardware and software complex developed by the engineer should be convenient for use by a doctor and relevant in terms of existing solutions to identify certain acoustic parameters of the voice. The study of the voice spectrum can be the main diagnostic test in the diagnosis of persistent voice disorders and, along with the study of the voice field and vibrometry, allows you to determine the form of voice disorders in professionals. Acoustic tests for the presence of high and low singing forms in the singing voice can be highly important in determining the singer's performance and professional prognosis, can serve as a criterion in the diagnosis of persistent voice disorders, and their use in early stages of occupational laryngeal diseases will help prevent preventive measures. MATLAB software comes with a large number of tools, which facilitates the implementation of many engineering, mathematical, computational issues of development and research of various processes related to any field of research. Based on these tools, there are a large number of basic functions of digital signal analysis, including audio signals. FFT - fast Fourier transform algorithms are chosen as a basis, which with a certain modification are divided into parametric and nonparametric. In this case, the nonparametric Welch method and the parametric Berg method are chosen. The user is given access to choose between the parameters required for their operation. For the first it is the dimension of the weight function, for the second it is the order of the autoregressive model. All this gives opportunity to analyze the spectrum of vowel phonemes. The AppDesigner package provides great opportunities for creating interfaces in software development. By manipulating the functions of Callback, you can bring the program to the finest settings, which at first may seem invisible, but generally create comfort when working. It is important to build a certain algorithm of action of each component. It often happens that it is necessary to take into account such details for which a certain component in itself is not responsible. For example, this could be changing the signatures of other components. To simplify code writing, it is important to create m-functions. However, this must be taken into account when editing them after entering them in the main script. Using the above toolbox, a software interface was developed, which is divided into two working areas: time and spectral parts. In addition, the interface is filled with controls for input data and spectrum analyzer parameters, as well as spectrum analysis tools.

Pathological gaming: a longitudinal study from the perspectives of mental health problems and social stress model

Debates about pathological gaming continues in the wake of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) decision to establish a gaming disorder diagnosis. Questions persist whether gaming disorder is best conceived as a stand-alone psychiatric disorder, or whether it heralds or accompanies other, more established conditions, such as depression or ADHD. We tested these hypotheses in a sample of 3,034 youth from Singapore. Evidence suggests that pathological gaming is a somewhat unstable construct, often remitting spontaneously. Youth with preexisting ADHD or depression were more likely to develop later pathological gaming problems, while the inverse was not true, with neither early pathological gaming nor gaming time predictive of later mental health problems. Results suggest that, whenever there is any need to conduct robust evidence-based studies, more evidence should be collected before new disorders are recognized by means of “expert consensus”.

Konseling Dan Pengembangan Karir PNS: Literature Review

The purpose of this article is to describe several forms of career counseling services that can be adopted in the implications of civil servant management in central and local government agencies considering that career development is one form of civil servant management as regulated in Law Number 11 of 2017 concerning Civil Servant Management. However, career development does not always go well, various problems faced by employees can be an obstacle to career development. Career counseling as a service that aims to overcome employee problems is expected to be able to help so that the mandate of the Law can be achieved. Counseling aims not only to address pathological problems and provide interventions for those with mental health challenges but also includes the goals of promoting health, personal growth, education, and career development. The method used in this article is to use a Systematic Literature Review involving 15 documents from 2012 to 2018 and to identify 3 forms of career counseling services that are relevant to the management of civil servants, including civil servant career transition counseling, counseling for civil servants with disabilities, counseling for elderly civil servants.