Random Population Research Articles

The use of copy number loads to designate mosaicism in blastocyst stage PGT-A cycles: fewer is better.

The use of copy number loads to designate mosaicism in blastocyst stage PGT-A cycles: fewer is better.

Public Trust in Dentists among Arabic Populations.

To investigate public trust in dentists, fear of dentists, factors related to trust, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the trust in dentists. We used an Arabic online anonymous survey to collect data from a random population of 838 adults to investigate public trust in dentists, the factors they perceive to affect trust, their perception of key factors in the dentist-patient relationship, fear of dentists, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the level of their trust in the dentists. Eight hundred thirty-eight subjects with a mean age of 28.5 responded to the survey (595 (71%) females, 235 (28%) males, and 8 (1%) did not specify their gender). More than half trust their dentist. The COVID-19 pandemic did not decrease trust in dentists according to 62.2%. There were significant gender differences in reporting fear of dentists (p < 0.001) and in the perception of factors affecting trust (p=0.028). Honesty was chosen by 583 (69.6%), competence by 549 (65.5), and dentist's reputation by 443 (52.9%). The findings of this study show that the majority of the public trust dentists, more females reported fear of dentists, and the majority perceived honesty, competence, and reputation as key factors affecting trust in the dentist-patient relationship. The majority reported that the COVID-19 pandemic did not have a negative impact on their trust in dentists.

Early adulthood and current physical activity and their association with symptoms of pelvic floor disorders in middle-aged women: An observational study with retrospective physical activity assessment.

To investigate associations of early and middle adulthood physical activity (PA) with symptoms of pelvic floor disorders (PFDs), i.e. stress urinary incontinence (SUI), urge urinary incontinence (UUI), faecal incontinence (FI), constipation or defecation difficulties (CDDs) and feeling of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) among middle-aged women. A cross-sectional, observational study with retrospective PA assessment. University Research Laboratory. A random population sample of 1098 Finnish women aged 47-55 years. Early adulthood PA, current PA, and demographic and gynaecological variables were assessed using self-report questionnaires. Logistic regression analyses were applied to study associations of PA variables with symptoms of PFDs. Potential confounding effects of demographic and gynaecological variables were controlled in multiple logistic regression models. Structured questionnaire-assessed retrospective PA assessment at the age of 17-29 years, current PA at middle age, and prevalence of symptoms of CDD, FI, POP, SUI and UUI. Current PA was not independently associated with the occurrence of the symptoms of PFDs. Middle-aged women with an early adulthood history of competitive sports were more likely to experience symptoms of UUI (OR2.16, 95%CI 1.10-4.24, p=0.025) but not symptoms of SUI, FI, CDD or POP, whereas women with a history of regular PA were more likely to experience symptoms of FI (OR4.41, 95%CI 1.05-18.49, p=0.043) but no other symptoms of PFDs. Competitive sports during early adulthood may increase the risk of UUI in middle age. Regular PA during early adulthood may increase the risk of FI.

Visibility and symbolism of corporate architecture: A multi-method approach for visual impact assessment

The global neoliberal cityscape is one of the most iconic products of contemporary urbanization. Inborn to international financial hubs such as New York, London, and Hong Kong, the dense concentration of high-rise bank headquarters became a powerful branding tool in the growing competition to attract foreign investment. Despite the extraordinary international attention this cityscape has attracted, there is a paucity of scientific research on its morphological principles and the gap between its visibility and perception. With a focus on Hong Kong, this study develops an innovative multi-method research design, combining historical investigation, a newly advanced visual impact assessment method, and a survey of a random probability population sample. The historical investigation reveals a volitional attempt to preserve visibility from key vantage points. The comparative assessment of bank headquarters and other corporate buildings, regarding both their visibility and perceived impact on the city’s image, demonstrates a gap between visibility and buildings’ perceived importance. The results illustrate the effective semiotic use of architecture, shedding light on how the symbolism of architectural form can consolidate neoliberal hegemony on the basis of shared perception. This study’s novelty lies in its multi-method approach and methodological advancement in terms of visibility analysis, while its significance is its potential application across a vast geographic area by scholars, designers, planners, and policymakers.

What If… Caregivers' Subsequent Workforce Participation Was a Measure of Palliative Care Services' Impact? An Hypothesis-Generating Study.

Background: Hospice/palliative care emphasizes excellent care for patients, but what about longer-term caregiver outcomes after their caregiving role? What is the role of services in working to ensure that caregivers can re-engage with all aspects of life, including paid employment given that this is an identified stressor for caregivers? Aim: This hypothesis-generating study aimed to explore self-reported, post-care workforce participation, and any association with hospice/palliative care contact. Design: Cross-sectional random population interviews. Setting/Participants: People in the general population were randomly selected for face-to-face interviews about well-being including end-of-life care in South Australia. Questions included experiences of people dying an expected death and whether interviewees provided care. Demographic data included current workforce participation. A regression model explored associations with workforce participation. Results: Of 8945 interviews over three years, 171 participants aged 20-60 years (working age) provided intermittent hands-on care: two in five were men and two in three had qualifications beyond high school; one in two decedents had accessed palliative care services. Reflecting the bivariable analyses, logistic regression models showed associations with workforce participation and: being male (odds ratio [OR] 6.71); use of palliative care services (OR 4.85); and higher levels of education (OR 3.54). Conclusion: An association between workforce participation after caregiving ceased and the use of palliative care services was described, controlling for key factors. Reasons may include continued working, greater rates of return to work, earlier return to work or that people in the workforce are more likely to access services.

Probabilistic warm solutions-based multi-objective optimization algorithm, application in optimal design of water distribution networks

Single objective optimization of water distribution networks (WDNs) based on construction costs reduces system resiliency. Thus, researchers have developed various optimization frameworks to maximize system resilience while minimizing construction costs during the last decade. They generally utilized population-based meta-heuristic algorithms. These algorithms start with random populations (initial cold solutions), so they need high computational time to converge to the optimal solutions. This paper aims to reduce search space by introducing prebaked initial or warm solutions based on the hydraulic properties of WDNs which are discharge variance and dissipated power function. After generating initial warm solutions, several probabilistic models are used to bring them closer to the global optimal Pareto front and increase their diversity. The proposed approach is used to optimize the design of two well-known benchmarks, Alprovits and Hanoi, and a real-world large-scale WDN. Results show that using warm solutions as the initial population reduces time, the number of iterations, and fitness evaluations to reach a certain accuracy level, more than two times on average for the benchmarks. Also, results show that the proposed method reduces the average construction costs by 45% compared to the traditional optimization method in the same execution time for real-world WDN.

Occupational differences in COVID-19 incidence, severity, and mortality in the United Kingdom: Available data and framework for analyses.

There are important differences in the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and death depending on occupation. Infections in healthcare workers have received the most attention, and there are clearly increased risks for intensive care unit workers who are caring for COVID-19 patients. However, a number of other occupations may also be at an increased risk, particularly those which involve social care or contact with the public. A large number of data sets are available with the potential to assess occupational risks of COVID-19 incidence, severity, or mortality. We are reviewing these data sets as part of the Partnership for Research in Occupational, Transport, Environmental COVID Transmission (PROTECT) initiative, which is part of the National COVID-19 Core Studies. In this report, we review the data sets available (including the key variables on occupation and potential confounders) for examining occupational differences in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 incidence, severity and mortality. We also discuss the possible types of analyses of these data sets and the definitions of (occupational) exposure and outcomes. We conclude that none of these data sets are ideal, and all have various strengths and weaknesses. For example, mortality data suffer from problems of coding of COVID-19 deaths, and the deaths (in England and Wales) that have been referred to the coroner are unavailable. On the other hand, testing data is heavily biased in some periods (particularly the first wave) because some occupations (e.g. healthcare workers) were tested more often than the general population. Random population surveys are, in principle, ideal for estimating population prevalence and incidence, but are also affected by non-response. Thus, any analysis of the risks in a particular occupation or sector (e.g. transport), will require a careful analysis and triangulation of findings across the various available data sets.

Tobacco use increases the risk of chronic rhinosinusitis among patients undergoing endoscopic sinus surgery.

Although it has been postulated that tobacco use, as well as other environmental exposures, may contribute to chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), the data remain limited. Here, we utilised a large state population database to assess the association between tobacco use and CRS prevalence among patients undergoing endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). Employing a case-control study design, the Utah Population Database was queried for patients age >18 with a diagnosis of CRS and tobacco use who underwent ESS between 1996 and 2018. Smoking status was compared between patients with CRS (n=34 350) and random population controls matched 5:1 on sex, birth year, birthplace, time residing in Utah, and pedigree (i.e., familial) information (n=166 020). Conditional logistic regression models were used for comparisons between CRS patients and their matched controls. All analyses were repeated, additionally adjusting for race, ethnicity, tobacco use, asthma history, and interaction between tobacco use and asthma history. A total of 200 370 patients were included in the final analysis. Patients with CRS were significantly more likely to demonstrate a history of tobacco use than controls (19.6% vs. 15.0%; p <.001), with an adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of 1.42, 95% confidence interval 1.37-1.47; p < .001. More patients with CRS and comorbid asthma used tobacco (19.5%) than controls with asthma (15.0%; p < .001). History of tobacco use may portend increased risk for the development of CRS among patients undergoing ESS compared to healthy controls.

The Frequency of Immunofluorescence Antinuclear Antibody Patterns and Extractable Nuclear Antigen: Experience From a Large Laboratory in Pakistan.

Background Autoimmune disorders have shown an increasing incidence in the last few years. The systemic response to the disorder is characterized by the expression of antinuclear antibody (ANA), which serves as the serological hallmark of autoimmunity. Its presence may indicate either a systemic autoimmune disease such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), scleroderma, and polymyositis/dermatomyositisor an organ-specific condition such as autoimmune thyroiditis and hepatitis. The systemic response may vary from one individual to another in each population. Several specific autoantibodies are also found to be associated with specific rheumatic diseases. Aim We aim to report the frequency of ANA positivity, ANA immunofluorescence patterns, and the presence of extractable nuclear antigen (ENA) among the general Pakistani populationfrom one of the largest laboratories in Pakistan. Material and methods A total of 1,966 blood samples from a random Pakistani population were included, who were referred by their physicians with suspicion of autoimmune disease. These blood samples were subjected to ANA testing by indirect immunofluorescence method, and subsequently, positive samples were further analyzed for ENA detectionin the Section of Chemical Pathology, Department of Pathology at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan. An ANA titer of ≥1:80 was taken as positive. ANA was divided into subgroups based on titer: negative, weakly positive (titer of 1:80 or 1:160), moderately positive (titer of 1:320 or 1:640), and strongly positive (titer of ≥1:1280). Further, the frequency of ANA in male and female participants was studied in different age groups (2 to <10, 10 to <20, 20 to <30, 30 to <40, 40 to <50, 50 to <60, 60 to <70, 70 to <80, and 80+ years). Results This study included 1,966 participants, out of which 1,100 (55%) were ANA-positive at a titer of ≥1:80. Out of these ANA positives, the proportion of weakly positive (titer of1:80 or 1:160), moderately positive (titer of 1:320 or 1:640), and strongly positive (titer of ≥1:1280) were 48.7%, 2.6%, and 4.2%, respectively. The ages ranged from two to 91 years, with a mean age of 43.64 ± 17.4 years. Females (75.5%) showed predominance over males (24.5%) in all age groups, with a ratio of 3:1. The age group in which most ANA positivity was found was 30 to <40 years.Among 1,100 ANA-positive sera, 383 (34.8%) participantstested positive for at least one out of 15 ENA.The most frequent autoantibodies noticed were anti-recombinant Ro52 (Ro52) (19.8%), anti-Sjogren's syndrome type A (SSA) (17.2%), and anti-ribonucleoprotein (RNP) (13.3%).The most prevalent ANA patterns were nuclear homogeneous (27.7%), followed by nuclear speckled (26.5%). Conclusion Thefrequency of ANA positivity is high in the Pakistani population and differs in different sex and age groups.

Multi‐modal machine learning based on electrocardiogram data for prediction of patients with ischemic heart disease

Electrocardiogram is a non-invasive method to diagnose patients with cardiovascular diseases. Electrocardiogram analysis methods using deep neural networks have been widely used in recent years and are becoming more efficient and accurate than traditional machine learning methods. Exercise electrocardiogram is useful in the diagnosis of ischemic heart disease, but the study of long-term ischemic heart disease prediction based on exercise electrocardiogram is still limited. To investigate the early predictive value of exercise electrocardiogram in addition to basic physiological data in incident ischemic heart disease in a random general population sample followed from 40 to 69 years of age, a multi-modal fusion model is designed to predict ischemic heart disease based on machine learning methods. With the deep feature extractor and multi-modal feature fusion module, the proposed model performance is better than the traditional expert feature based methods and only deep neural networks. This implies that this proposed model may be improved in a contemporary era of ischemic heart disease prevention with the gradually declining incidence of ischemic heart disease.

Genetic diversity and mating system of Euterpe precatoria in three localities along the lower Solimões River in Central Amazonia

Abstract Euterpe precatoria is a Neotropical palm from South and Central America and is hyperdominant in Amazonia, where it is increasingly important in the Brazilian market for açaí. Genetic diversity, population structure and mating system of E. precatoria were characterized with 10 microsatellite markers in three localities (Codajás, Manacapuru, and Manaquiri) along the lower Solimões River, Amazonas, Brazil. Leaves of 63 mature palms were collected, as well as fruits from 30 of these to analyze 20 seedlings per progeny. Genetic differentiation across localities was substantial (G S ′ = 0.304) for mature palms, suggesting that gene flow is restricted between localities due to isolation by distance. Inbreeding was significant in progenies from all populations (ranging from 0.059–0.076), but not for mature palms, suggesting selection for heterozygosity during maturation to the adult stage. The outcrossing rate was high (0.917–1.0), confirming that the species is predominantly allogamous. Matings were not random due to the occurrence of biparental inbreeding (0.021–0.079) and correlated matings (0.059–0.424), so open-pollinated progenies present mixtures of self-sibs, half-sibs, full-sibs, and self-half-sibs, resulting in mean effective population size within progenies (2.23–3.06) lower than expected for a random mating population. The mating system’s characteristics are those expected in a predominantly allogamous hyper-abundant palm and suggest that human management of these often-anthropogenic populations is unlikely to reduce genetic diversity in the short term if done in situ, as practiced by Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Intensification will require careful attention to maintain genetic diversity.

Predictors of Driving Cessation in Older Adults: A 12-year Population-based Study.

Changes in physical health and cognition during aging can result in some older adults to stop driving. In this population-based longitudinal study, we describe potential predictors of driving cessation in older adults. Age-stratified random population cohort of 1982 adults aged 65 years and older drawn from voter registration lists. Participant characteristics were measured using demographics, physical and self-rated health, sleeping habits, driving status, cognitive screening, modified Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale, clinical dementia rating, and mini-mental state examination. Over 12 years of follow-up, 390 participants stopped driving. These individuals were older, more likely to be women and to have a clinical dementia rating score ≥1, had worse self-reported health, and more symptoms of depression, compared with those who were still driving. In addition, individuals with lower test performance in all cognitive domains, loss of visual acuity and fields, and bilateral hearing loss were more likely to stop driving. Age, sex, cognitive impairments, physical health, and depressive symptoms were associated with driving cessation in this cohort. By identifying potential driving cessation predictors, health care providers and families may better recognize these risk factors and begin the driving cessation discussion early.

Frequency of Back Pain in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients; A Cross Sectional Study

Osteoarthritis is one of the major prevalent types of arthritis and knee joint is mostly involved site in geriatric patients in which half of the old patients with ages more than 50 years. It was found that these management strategies were effective in the reduction of pain and disturbance of the function induced by chronic low back pain and osteoarthritis. Therefore, the current study seeks to analyze the frequency of backache mainly in the region of low back is associated with the patients having knee osteoarthritis. Objective: To analyze and investigate the relationship amid back pain and knee osteoarthritis (OA) in order to check frequency of backache in knee osteoarthritis patients. Methods: A self-made questionnaires were distributed among the random population of 500 individuals and categorized them according to age, gender, occupation, body mass index, residence, back pain history, severity of pain and pain persistence. SPSS was used to analyze the results. Results: In this cross-sectional study, Back pain was associated significantly with knee osteoarthritis patients such as 310 (62%) individuals claimed to have backache with knee osteoarthritis (OA) as well. Obesity was also related with backache with 219 individuals suffer from backpain from 281 members. 67 patients had severe pain, 77 patients had mild pain and 150 patients experienced moderate pain. Conclusion: Back pain was found more prevalent (62%) from total collected individuals suffering from knee osteoarthritis

Are Drugs Associated with Microscopic Colitis? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

There is growing evidence of the association of Microscopic Colitis (MC) with the use of specific medications such as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), Non-Steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), Statins and H2-receptor antagonists (H2RA). In our study, we calculated the pooled odds of MC in patients using these drugs. We performed a detailed search of major databases, including PubMed/Medline, Scopus, web of science, and Embase, to include the studies in which odds of MC were reported after using above mentioned drugs. A random-effects model was used to pool the estimates. Thirteen studies were included in our analysis consisting of 304,482 patients (34,194 cases and 270,018 controls). In eight studies, the control group consisted of a random population selected based on age, gender and same birth year, whereas 3 studies recruited patients who presented with diarrhea and underwent colonoscopy and biopsy to rule out MC. Two studies reported odds of MC for both diarrhea and random control groups. Patients taking PPIs were more likely to develop MC, AOR 2.65 (95% CI 1.81-3.50, I2 98.13%). Similarly, higher odds of association were found in patients taking SSRIs (OR 2.12, 95% CI 1.27-2.96, I2 96.46%), NSAIDs (OR 2.02, 95% CI 1.33-2.70, I2 92.70%) and Statins (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.19-2.30, I2 96.36%). No difference in odds of developing MC was seen in patients using H2RA compared to the control group (OR 2.70, 95% CI 0.32-5.08, I2 98.67%). We performed a subgroup analysis based on the control group and found higher odds of MC in patients on PPIs compared to the random control group (OR 4.55, 95% CI 2.90-6.19, I2 98.13%). Similarly, higher odds of MC were noted for SSRI (OR 3.23, 95% CI 1.54-4.92, I2 98.31%), NSAIDs (OR 3.27, 95% CI 2.06-4.48, I2 95.38%), and Statins (OR 2.23, 95% CI 1.41-3.06, I2 98.11%) compared to the random control group. Contrary lower odds of MC were seen in the PPI and H2RA group compared to the diarrhea control group (OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.48-0.88, I2 7.26%), (OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.14-0.78, I2 0%) respectively. We found no difference in odds of MC in patients on SSRIs (OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.49-1.42, I2 37.89%), NSAIDs (OR 1.13, 95% CI 0.49-1.76, I2 59.37%) Statins (OR 0.91, 95% 0.66-1.17, I2 0%) and H2RA (OR 3.48, 95% CI -0.41-7.36, I2 98.89%) compared to the diarrhea control group. We also analyzed the association use of PPIs and NSAIDs with the development of collagenous colitis (CC) and lymphocytic colitis. Only the use of NSAIDs was associated with increased odds of developing collagenous colitis (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.50-1.72, I2 0%). No increased odds of CC and LC were seen in PPI users. PPIs, NSAIDs, SSRIs, and Statins are associated with an increased risk of MC compared to the random control group. On the contrary, the use of PPIs, NSAIDs, SSRIs, and Statins is not associated with an increased risk of MC when compared to the diarrhea control group.

The prevalence of carbohydrate metabolism disorders in patients after coronavirus infection

Introduction. A single-center observational cross-sectional comparative study was conducted among&#x0D; a random population sample of the adult population of the city of Moscow who applied to the pavilion&#x0D; "Healthy Moscow". The study included 796 patients who had a coronavirus infection from one to six months&#x0D; ago. Of the 796 surveyed, 112 participants had disorders of carbohydrate metabolism (hereinafter – DCM)&#x0D; (14.1%): 9.8% (78 people) were newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (D2t) of the total sample, prediabetes&#x0D; – 4.2% (33 people), type 1 diabetes – 0.1% (1 person). Previously diagnosed D2t was observed in 0.5% (4&#x0D; participants) of the total sample of patients. Viral pneumonia was significantly more common in patients&#x0D; with DCM, compared with the group without DCM (45.5% vs. 19.1%, p&lt;0.001). In the group of lung injuries,&#x0D; DCM were observed with greater frequency, including D2t, the probability of which in the presence of lung&#x0D; damage increased by 3.7 times (95% CI: 2.04 – 6.67).&#x0D; Thus, the prevalence of newly detected DCM after COVID-19 was 14.1%, and the more severe the coronavirus&#x0D; infection, the more likely the DCM will develop in the future.&#x0D; The study was carried out as part of the project of the Department of Health of the city of Moscow&#x0D; "Scientific laboratory "Moscow polyclinic".&#x0D; For citation: Markova T.N., Anchutina A.A., Garib V.Yu., Yalochkina T.O., The prevalence of carbohydrate&#x0D; metabolism disorders in patients after coronavirus infection. City Healthсare. 2022;3(4):32-41 doi:10.47619/2713-2617.zm.2022.v.3i4;32-41

A Retrospective Study On Liver Function Tests &amp; Urine Protein in Presumptive Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Cases Performed in A Local Private Laboratory Service

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) could be diagnosed either by imaging or histology, and laboratory parameters from RFT such as AST, ALT, GGT, as well as UP. In this study, data were collected from Advanced Pathology Sdn. Bhd. The data collected from random population in the year of 2020 were used to identify the association between the parameters of AST, ALT, GGT and UP in presumed NAFLD patients, which are being compared by age, and gender. The results show that the level of GGT was having an insignificant association between gender (p &gt;0.05), but there is a statistically significant association between the age group of respondents (p &lt;0.05). In addition, results from AST indicated that the gender of respondents has a significant relationship with AST (p &lt;0.05), however insignificant correlation between the age group (p &gt;0.05). While for ALT, it proved an insignificant correlation between the gender of respondents (p &gt;0.05), but significant correlated with the age of respondents (p &lt;0.05). Lastly, Chi-square test independence gave a result of p-value = 0.137 (p &gt;0.05), which proved insignificant correlation between gender of respondents and presence of UP andp-value = 0.261 (p &gt;0.05), which proved insignificant correlation between age of respondents and presence of UP. &#x0D; (Chi-square test, p-value &lt;0.05). &#x0D; &#x0D;

Estimates of genomic inbreeding and identification of candidate regions in Beijing-You chicken populations.

Runs of homozygosity (ROHs) has become an effective method for analysing inbreeding in livestock populations. Moreover, ROHs is well-suited to detect signatures of selection via ROH islands. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence and distribution of ROHs, compare the genomic inbreeding coefficients and identify the genomic regions with high ROH frequencies in different Beijing-You chicken (BY) populations, including a random conservation population (BY_R), a pedigree conservation population (BY_P), and a commercial population obtained from the market (BY_C). Among them, BY_R in 2010 and 2019 were BY_R1 and BY_R2 respectively. A total of 27 916 ROHs were identified. The average number of ROHs per individual across the three BY populations ranged from 213 (BY_P) to 161 (BY_C), and the average length of ROHs ranged from 0.432Mb (BY_R2) to 0.451Mb (BY_P). The highest inbreeding coefficient calculated based on ROHs (FROH ) was 0.1 in BY_P, whereas the lowest FROH was 0.0743 in BY_C. In addition, the inbreeding coefficient of BY_R2 (FROH =0.0798) was higher than that of BY_R1 (FROH =0.0579). Furthermore, the highest proportion of long ROH fragments (>4 Mb) was observed in BY_P and BY_C. This study showed the top 10 ROH islands of each population, and these ROH islands harboured 53 genes, some of which were related to limb development, body size and immune response. These findings contribute to the understanding of genetic diversity and population demography, and might help improve breeding and conservation strategies for BY populations.

Optimization of reinforced concrete columns via genetic algorithm

Reinforced concrete is an essential material in the modern world, and the use of genetic algorithms that aim at the optimization of the structures of this material is an increasingly widespread tool. The objective of the present work was to propose a method by means of a Genetic Algorithm to find the optimized geometry of a rectangular reinforced concrete column based on its cost. The two main parts of the work were developed as: a geometry verification algorithm that received height, base, layers in x and y directions, diameters of transverse and longitudinal steel rebar as the main parameters of the proposed sections, and a genetic algorithm that generated 240 random populations and selected them, crossed among them and then generated new 100 generations of individuals, followed by selection of optimized ones by its penalized cost. The generations had more and more favorable individuals and it was possible to determine an optimized geometry for the proposed example. It is, therefore, concluded that genetic algorithms are useful tools for optimizing reinforced concrete parts with multiple parameters. The proposed algorithm methodology really checks and selects the best individuals for the sections proposed by engineers, and larger initial populations are essential to find a minimum global cost among the different options.

Living conditions, lifestyle habits and health in the general population in spring 2020 and one year into the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden – Results from two cross-sectional studies carried out in 2020 and 2021

The aim of the study was to investigate mental and physical health as well as living conditions and lifestyle habits in the adult general population in spring 2020 and one year into the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden comparing results from two cross-sectional studies carried out in February-May 2020 and 2021. The study population comprises 2,273 persons in 2020 and 2,216 persons in 2021 who responded to the national public health survey sent to random population samples in one county in Sweden. The age group was 16–84 years, and the response rates were 45% and 44%, respectively. Differences in living conditions (economic difficulties, social support and worrying about losing one’s job), lifestyle habits (physical activity, daily smoking, sitting duration and alcohol use), and health (self-rated health, pain in shoulders or neck, sleeping difficulties, anxiety or worry, and obesity) between years 2020 and 2021 were analysed using multiple binary logistic regression in men and women, adjusting for age group and educational level. Very few statistically significant differences were observed between 2020 and 2021 regarding living conditions, lifestyle factors and health. The main finding was that the prevalence of anxiety and worry increased among women. Surveillance of the long-term public health consequences of the pandemic in the general population using robust data and methods, is important for planning and targeting preventive activities.

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and co-infection with malaria during the first wave of the pandemic (the Burkina Faso case).

Africa accounts for 1.5% of the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and 2.7% of deaths, but this low incidence has been partly attributed to the limited testing capacity in most countries. In addition, the population in many African countries is at high risk of infection with endemic infectious diseases such as malaria. Our aim is to determine the prevalence and circulation of SARS-CoV-2 variants, and the frequency of co-infection with the malaria parasite. We conducted serological tests and microscopy examinations on 998 volunteers of different ages and sexes in a random and stratified population sample in Burkina-Faso. In addition, nasopharyngeal samples were taken for RT-qPCR of SARS-CoV-2 and for whole viral genome sequencing. Our results show a 3.2 and a 2.5% of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and PCR positivity; and 22% of malaria incidence, over the sampling period, with marked differences linked to age. Importantly, we found 8 cases of confirmed co-infection and 11 cases of suspected co-infection mostly in children and teenagers. Finally, we report the genome sequences of 13 SARS-CoV-2 isolates circulating in Burkina Faso at the time of analysis, assigned to lineages A.19, A.21, B.1.1.404, B.1.1.118, B.1 and grouped into clades; 19B, 20A, and 20B. This is the first population-based study about SARS-CoV-2 and malaria in Burkina Faso during the first wave of the pandemic, providing a relevant estimation of the real prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and variants circulating in this Western African country. Besides, it highlights the non-negligible frequency of co-infection with malaria in African communities.