Search results for: survival rates

Authors: Kathryn L. Duncan, Charles A. Kuntz, Alessandra C. Santamaria, James O. Simcock

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Access to megavoltage radiation therapy for small animals is limited in many locations around the world. This can preclude the use of palliative radiation therapy for the treatment of appendicular osteosarcoma in dogs. The objective of this study was to retrospectively assess the adverse effects and survival times of dogs with appendicular osteosarcoma that were treated with hypofractionated orthovoltage radiation therapy and adjunctive carboplatin chemotherapy administered via a single subcutaneous infusion. Medical records were reviewed retrospectively to identify client-owned dogs with spontaneously occurring appendicular osteosarcoma that was treated with palliative orthovoltage radiation therapy and a single subcutaneous infusion of carboplatin. Data recorded included signalment, tumour location, results of diagnostic imaging, haematologic and serum biochemical analyses, adverse effects of radiation therapy and chemotherapy, and survival times. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed, and log-rank analysis was used to determine the impact of specific patient variables on survival time. Twenty-three dogs were identified that met the inclusion criteria. Median survival time for dogs was 182 days. Eleven dogs had adverse haematologic effects, 3 had adverse gastrointestinal effects, 6 had adverse effects at the radiation site and 7 developed infections at the carboplatin infusion site. No statistically significant differences were identified in survival times based on sex, tumour location, development of infection, or pretreatment serum alkaline phosphatase. Median survival time and incidence of adverse effects were comparable to those previously reported in dogs undergoing palliative radiation therapy with megavoltage or cobalt radiation sources and conventional intravenous carboplatin chemotherapy. The use of orthovoltage palliative radiation therapy may be a reasonable alternative to megavoltage radiation in locations where access is limited.

Keywords: radiotherapy, veterinary oncology, chemotherapy, osteosarcoma

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Authors: Banu Pradheepa Kamarajan, Muthusamy Ananthasubramanian

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Biofilm forming Pseudomonads occupy the top third position in causing hospital acquired infections. P. aeruginosa is notoriously known for its tendency to develop drug resistance. Major classes of drug such as β-lactams, aminoglycosides, quinolones, and polymyxins are found ineffective against multi-drug resistance Pseudomonas. To combat the infections, rather than administration of a single antibiotic, use of combinations (tobramycin and essential oils from plants and/or silver nanoparticles, chitosan, nitric oxide, cis-2-decenoic acid) in single formulation are suggested to control P. aeruginosa biofilms. Conventional techniques to prevent hospital-acquired implant infections such as coatings with antibiotics, controlled release of antibiotics from the implant material, contact-killing surfaces, coating the implants with functional DNase I and, coating with glycoside hydrolase are being followed. Coatings with bioactive components besides having limited shelf-life, require cold-chain and, are likely to fail when bacteria develop resistance. Recently identified nano-scale physical architectures on the insect wings are expected to have potential bactericidal property. Nanopillars are bactericidal to Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, K. pnuemoniae and few species of Pseudomonas. Our study aims to investigate the survival rate of biofilm forming Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain over non-biofilm forming strain on the nanopillar architecture of dragonfly (Pantala flavescens) wing. Dragonflies were collected near house-hold areas and, insect identification was carried out by the Department of Entomology, Tamilnadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India. Two strains of P. aeruginosa such as PAO1 (potent biofilm former) and MTCC 1688 (non-weak biofilm former) were tested against the glass coverslip (control) and wings of dragonfly (test) for 48 h. The wings/glass coverslips were incubated with bacterial suspension in 48-well plate. The plates were incubated at 37 °C under static condition. Bacterial attachment on the nanopillar architecture of the wing surface was visualized using FESEM. The survival rate of P. aeruginosa was tested using colony counting technique and flow cytometry at 0.5 h, 1 h, 2 h, 7 h, 24 h, and 48 h post-incubation. Cell death was analyzed using propidium iodide staining and DNA quantification. The results indicated that the survival rate of non-biofilm forming P. aeruginosa is 0.2 %, whilst that of biofilm former is 45 % on the dragonfly wings at the end of 48 h. The reduction in the survival rate of biofilm and non-biofilm forming P. aeruginosa was 20% and 40% respectively on the wings compared to the glass coverslip. In addition, Fourier Transformed Infrared Radiation was used to study the modification in the surface chemical composition of the wing during bacterial attachment and, post-sonication. This result indicated that the chemical moieties are not involved in the bactericidal property of nanopillars by the conserved characteristic peaks of chitin pre and post-sonication. The nanopillar architecture of the dragonfly wing efficiently deters the survival of non-biofilm forming P. aeruginosa, but not the biofilm forming strain. The study highlights the ability of biofilm formers to survive on wing architecture. Understanding this survival strategy will help in designing the architecture that combats the colonization of biofilm forming pathogens.

Keywords: biofilm, nanopillars, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, survival rate

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Authors: T. J. McDonald

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This paper explores the adoption and usage of ICT by 3 specific types of voluntary organisations in Ireland: Sporting, Community and Rural & Agricultural. It explores the problems that these organisations are facing and examines some of the concerns expressed by their members. The paper outlines how various forms of ICT are being slowly adopted and diffused among its membership to help solve these problems and address their members concerns and in doing so, perhaps ensure the survival of the organisation into the future.

Keywords: Ireland, voluntary organisations, ICT, adoption and diffusion

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Authors: Jyothi Nagraj, Sudeshna Mukherjee, Rajdeep Chowdhury

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Autophagy has recently been linked with cancer cell survival post drug insult contributing to acquisition of resistance. However, the molecular signaling governing autophagic survival response is poorly explored. In our study, in osteosarcoma (OS) cells cisplatin shock was found to activate both MAPK and autophagy signaling. An activation of JNK and autophagy acted as pro-survival strategy, while ERK1/2 triggered apoptotic signals upon cisplatin stress. An increased sensitivity of the cells to cisplatin was obtained with simultaneous inhibition of both autophagy and JNK pathway. Furthermore, we observed that the autophagic stimulation upon drug stress regulates other developmentally active signaling pathways like the Hippo pathway in OS cells. Cisplatin resistant cells were thereafter developed by repetitive drug exposure followed by clonal selection. Basal levels of autophagy were found to be high in resistant cells to. However, the signaling mechanism leading to autophagic up-regulation and its regulatory effect differed in OS cells upon attaining drug resistance. Our results provide valuable clues to regulatory dynamics of autophagy that can be considered for development of improved therapeutic strategy against resistant type cancers.

Keywords: JNK, autophagy, drug resistance, cancer

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Authors: Taleb L., Benarbia M., Brahmi M., Belmiloud H., Boukerche A.

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Introduction and purpose of the study: Cavum cancer in children and adolescents is rare and represents 8% of all nasopharyngeal cancers treated in our department. Our objective is to study its epidemiological, clinical, therapeutic, and evolutionary particularities. Material and methods: Retrospective study of 39 patients under 20 years old, treated for undifferentiated non-metastatic carcinoma of the nasopharynx at the Emir Abdelkader Cancer Center between 2014 and 2020. Results and statistical analysis: Median age was 14 years [7-19 years], with a sex ratio of 2.9. The median time to diagnosis was 5.6 months [1 to 14 months], the circumstances of the discovery of which were dominated by lymph node syndrome in 43.6% of cases (n=17) followed by a rhinological syndrome in 30.8% of cases (n=13). The tumor stage was T1 for two patients (5.1%), T2 for 8 (20.5%), T3 for 9 (23.1%), T4 for 20 (51.3%), N0 for 2 (5 .1%) N1 for 4 (10.3%), N2 for 28 (71.8%) and N3 for 5 (12.8%). All patients received induction chemotherapy followed by concomitant radiotherapy with cisplatin. The dose of irradiation delivered to the cavum and adenopathies was 66 Gy with fractionation of 2 Gy per session in 69.2% of cases (n=27) and 1.8 Gy in 30.8% of cases (n=12). With a median follow-up of 51 months (15 to 97 months), the locoregional, metastatic, specific, and overall relapse-free survival rates at five years were 91.1%, 73.5%, 66.1%, and 68.4, respectively. Conclusion: Chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment of cavum cancer in children and adolescents has allowed excellent locoregional control despite the advanced stage of the disease. However, the frequency of metastatic relapses could justify the possible use of systemic maintenance treatment.

Keywords: cancer, nasopharynx, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, survival

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Authors: Mekni Sabrine, Nouira Mariem

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Background and aim: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a curative treatment for several hematological diseases; however, it has a non-negligible morbidity and mortality depending on several prognostic factors, including pre-transplant hyperferritinemia. The aim of our study was to estimate the impact of hyperferritinemia on survivals and on the occurrence of post-transplant complications. Methods: It was a longitudinal study conducted over 8 years and including all patients who had a first allograft. The impact of pretransplant hyperferritinemia (ferritinemia ≥1500) on survivals was studied using the Kaplan Meier method and the COX model for uni- and multivariate analysis. The Khi-deux test and binary logistic regression were used to study the association between pretransplant ferritinemia and post-transplant complications. Results: One hundred forty patients were included with an average age of 26.6 years and a sex ratio (M/F)=1.4. Hyperferritinemia was found in 33% of patients. It had no significant impact on either overall survival (p=0.9) or event -free survival (p=0.6). In multivariate analysis, only the type of disease was independently associated with overall survival (p=0.04) and event-free survival (p=0.002). For post-allograft complications: The occurrence of early documented infections was independently associated with pretransplant hyperferritinemia (p=0.02) and the presence of acute graft versus host disease( GVHD) (p<10-3). The occurrence of acute GVHD was associated with early documented infection (p=0.002) and Cytomegalovirus reactivation (p<10-3). The occurrence of chronic GVHD was associated with the presence of Cytomegalovirus reactivation (p=0.006) and graft source (p=0.009). Conclusion: Our study showed the significant impact of pre-transplant hyperferritinemia on the occurrence of early infections but not on survivals. Early and more accurate assessment iron overload by other tests such as liver magnetic resonance imaging with initiation of chelating treatment could prevent the occurrence of such complications after transplantation.

Keywords: allogeneic, transplants, ferritin, survival

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Authors: Getahun Nigusie

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Background; antiretroviral treatment reduce HIV-related morbidity, and prolonged survival of patients however, there is lack of up-to-date information concerning the treatment long term effect on the survival of HIV positive children especially in the study area. Objective: To assess incidence and predictors of mortality among HIV positive children on ART in public hospitals of Harer town who were enrolled from 2011 to 2021. Methodology: Institution based retrospective cohort study was conducted among 429 HIV positive children enrolled in ART clinic from January 1st 2011 to December30th 2021. Data were collected from medical cards by using a data extraction form, Descriptive analyses were used to Summarized the results, and life table was used to estimate survival probability at specific point of time after introduction of ART. Kaplan Meier survival curve together with log rank test was used to compare survival between different categories of covariates, and Multivariate Cox-proportional hazard regression model was used to estimate adjusted Hazard rate. Variables with p-values ≤0.25 in bivariable analysis were candidates to the multivariable analysis. Finally, variables with p-values < 0.05 were considered as significant variables. Results: The study participants had followed for a total of 2549.6 child-years (30596 child months) with an overall mortality rate of 1.5 (95% CI: 1.1, 2.04) per 100 child-years. Their median survival time was 112 months (95% CI: 101–117). There were 38 children with unknown outcome, 39 deaths, and 55 children transfer out to different facility. The overall survival at 6, 12, 24, 48 months were 98%, 96%, 95%, 94% respectively. being in WHO clinical Stage four (AHR=4.55, 95% CI:1.36, 15.24), having anemia(AHR=2.56, 95% CI:1.11, 5.93), baseline low absolute CD4 count (AHR=2.95, 95% CI: 1.22, 7.12), stunting (AHR=4.1, 95% CI: 1.11, 15.42), wasting (AHR=4.93, 95% CI: 1.31, 18.76), poor adherence to treatment (AHR=3.37, 95% CI: 1.25, 9.11), having TB infection at enrollment (AHR=3.26, 95% CI: 1.25, 8.49),and no history of change their regimen(AHR=7.1, 95% CI: 2.74, 18.24), were independent predictors of death. Conclusion: more than half of death occurs within 2 years. Prevalent tuberculosis, anemia, wasting, and stunting nutritional status, socioeconomic factors, and baseline opportunistic infection were independent predictors of death. Increasing early screening and managing those predictors are required.

Keywords: human immunodeficiency virus-positive children, anti-retroviral therapy, survival, Ethiopia

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Authors: Jannika Dombrowski, Sabine Ambros, Ulrich Kulozik

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Due to the increasing popularity of healthy products, probiotics are still of rising importance in food manufacturing. With the aim to amplify the field of probiotic application to non-chilled products, the cultures have to be preserved by drying. Microwave drying has proved to be a suitable technique to achieve relatively high survival rates, resulting from drying at gentle temperatures, among others. However, diffusion limitation due to compaction of cell suspension during drying can prolong drying times as well as deteriorate product properties (grindability, rehydration performance). Therefore, we aimed to embed probiotics in an aerated matrix of whey proteins (surfactants) and di-/polysaccharides (foam stabilization, probiotic protection) during drying. As a result of the manifold increased inner surface of the cell suspension, drying performance was enhanced significantly as compared to non-foamed suspensions. This work comprises investigations on suitable foam matrices, being stable under vacuum (variation of protein concentration, type and concentration of di-/polysaccharide) as well as development of an applicable microwave drying process in terms of microwave power, chamber pressure and maximum product temperatures. Performed analyses included foam characteristics (overrun, drainage, firmness, bubble sizes), and properties of the dried cultures (survival, activity). In addition, efficiency of the drying process was evaluated.

Keywords: foam structure, microwave drying, polysaccharides, probiotics

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Authors: Mohammad ASadian, Samira RajiAsadabadi

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Osteoporosis is very common, particularly in post-menopausal women and is characterized by a decrease in bone mass and strength. Osteoporosis also affects the jawbone and it is considered a potential contraindication to the placement of dental implants. The present paper reviews the literature regarding the effect of osteoporosis on the osseointegration of implants. Experimental models have shown that osteoporosis affects the process of osseointegration, which can be reversed by treatment. However, studies in subjects with osteoporosis have shown no differences in the survival of the implants compared to healthy individuals. Therefore, osteoporosis cannot be considered a contraindication for implant placement. Oral bisphosphonates are the most commonly used pharmacological agents in the treatment of osteoporosis. Although there have been cases of osteonecrosis of the jaw in patients treated with bisphosphonates, they are very rare and it is more usually associated with intravenous bisphosphonates in patients with neoplasms or other serious diseases. Nevertheless, patients treated with bisphosphonates must be informed in writing about the possibility of this complication and must give informed consent. Ceasing to use of bisphosphonates before implant placement does not seem to be necessary.

Keywords: Osteoporosis, dental implant, bisphosphonates, survival

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Authors: Alcino Panguana

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All Portuguese-speaking African countries are in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that has high infant mortality rates, being responsible for 49.6% of deaths in Portuguese-speaking African countries, Angola has levels of infant mortality among children, where 2017, 156 children who died before reaching 1 year of life in 1000 live births. Although there is an increase in studies that document trends and specific causes of infant mortality in each country, historical-comparative studies of infant mortality among these countries remain rare. Understanding the trend of this indicator is important for policymakers and planners in order to improve access to successful child survival operations. Lusophone Africa continues with high infant mortality rates in the order of 64 deaths per thousand births. Assuming heterogeneities that can characterize these countries, raise an analysis investigated indicator at the country level to understand the pattern and historical trend of infant mortality within Lusophone Africa from the year 2021. The result is to understand the levels and evolution of infant mortality in Portuguese-speaking African countries.

Keywords: child mortality, levels, trends, lusophone African countries

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Authors: Xiaoying Guo, Xiangyun Wang

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Access rates is a key indicator of reflecting the popularity of web pages. Having high access rates are very important for web pages, especially for news web pages, online shopping sites and searching engines. In this paper, we analyzed the influences of visual fluency and cognitive fluency on access rates of Chinese web pages. Firstly, we conducted an experiment of scoring the web pages. Twenty-five subjects were invited to view top 50 web pages of China, and they were asked to give a score in a 5-point Likert-scale from four aspects, including complexity, comfortability, familiarity and usability. Secondly, the obtained results was analyzed by correlation analysis and factor analysis in R. By factor analysis; we analyzed the contributions of visual fluency and cognitive fluency to the access rates. The results showed that both visual fluency and cognitive fluency affect the access rate of web pages. Compared to cognitive fluency, visual fluency play a more important role in user’s accessing of web pages.

Keywords: visual fluency, cognitive fluency, visual complexity, usability

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Authors: Karolína Vozková, Matěj Kuc

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This paper deals with the impact of decrease in interest rates on the performance of commercial and cooperative banks in the Eurozone measured by net interest margin. The analysis was performed on balanced dataset of 268 commercial and 726 cooperative banks spanning the 2008-2015 period. We employed Fixed Effects estimation panel method. As expected, we found a negative relationship between market rates and net interest margin. Our results suggest that the impact of negative interest income differs across individual banking business models. More precisely, those cooperative banks were much more hit by the decrease of market interest rates which might be due to their ownership structure and more restrictive business regulation.

Keywords: cooperative banks, performance, negative interest rates, risk management

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Authors: Daniel P. Kisangau, Ken M. Hosea, Herbert V. M. Lyaruu, Cosam C. Josep, Zakaria H. Mbwambo, Pax J. Masimba

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Crude extracts of Dracaena steudneri bark (DSB), Sapium ellipticum bark (SEB) and Capparis erythrocarpos root (CER) were investigated for their antifungal activity in immunocompromised mice infected with Candida albicans in an in vivo mice infection model. The results revealed a substantial dose dependency in all treatments given, with mice survival to the end of the experiment correlating well to the dose levels. At a dose of 400 mg/kg, C. erythrocarpos was the most effective with mice survival of 60% and organ burden clearance ranging from 64.0%-99.9% (P<0.0001) in all treatments. At the same dose, the least effective plant was S. ellipticum which had a mice survival of 20% and organ burden clearance ranging from 78.0%-96.6 (P>0.05). Mice survival for D. steudneri was 30% with organ burden clearance ranging from 89.0%-99.9% (P<0.05). All mice receiving no active treatment died before ten days post infection. In all treatment groups, there was a steady decline in mean weights of mice immediately after immunosuppression followed by gradual recovery in some cases which appeared to be dose dependent a few days post infection. Thus, extracts of D. steudneri and C. erythrocarpos portrayed the most significant potential as sources of antifungal drugs.

Keywords: antifungal activity, medicinal plants, candida albicans, East Africa

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Authors: Yemane Hailu Fissuh, Zhongzhan Zhang

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a systematic observation from a defined time of origin up to certain failure or censor is known as survival data. Survival analysis is a major area of interest in biostatistics and biomedical researches. At the heart of understanding, the most scientific and medical research inquiries lie for a causality analysis. Thus, the main concern of this study is to investigate the causal effect of treatment on survival time conditional to the possibly time-varying covariates. The theory of causality often differs from the simple association between the response variable and predictors. A causal estimation is a scientific concept to compare a pragmatic effect between two or more experimental arms. To evaluate an average treatment effect on survival outcome, the estimating equation was adjusted for time-varying covariates under the semi-parametric transformation models. The proposed model intuitively obtained the consistent estimators for unknown parameters and unspecified monotone transformation functions. In this article, the proposed method estimated an unbiased average causal effect of treatment on survival time of interest. The modified estimating equations of semiparametric transformation models have the advantage to include the time-varying effect in the model. Finally, the finite sample performance characteristics of the estimators proved through the simulation and Stanford heart transplant real data. To this end, the average effect of a treatment on survival time estimated after adjusting for biases raised due to the high correlation of the left-truncation and possibly time-varying covariates. The bias in covariates was restored, by estimating density function for left-truncation. Besides, to relax the independence assumption between failure time and truncation time, the model incorporated the left-truncation variable as a covariate. Moreover, the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm iteratively obtained unknown parameters and unspecified monotone transformation functions. To summarize idea, the ratio of cumulative hazards functions between the treated and untreated experimental group has a sense of the average causal effect for the entire population.

Keywords: a modified estimation equation, causal effect, semiparametric transformation models, survival analysis, time-varying covariate

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Authors: Getahun Nigusie Demise

Abstract:

Background; antiretroviral treatment reduce HIV-related morbidity, and prolonged survival of patients however, there is lack of up-to-date information concerning the treatment long term effect on the survival of HIV positive children especially in the study area. Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the incidence and predictors of mortality among HIV positive children on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in public hospitals of Harer town who were enrolled from 2011 to 2021. Methodology: Institution based retrospective cohort study was conducted among 429 HIV positive children enrolled in ART clinic from January 1st 2011 to December30th 2021. Data were collected from medical cards by using a data extraction form, Descriptive analyses were used to Summarized the results, and life table was used to estimate survival probability at specific point of time after introduction of ART. Kaplan Meier survival curve together with log rank test was used to compare survival between different categories of covariates, and Multivariate Cox-proportional hazard regression model was used to estimate adjusted Hazard rate. Variables with p-values ≤0.25 in bivariable analysis were candidates to the multivariable analysis. Finally, variables with p-values < 0.05 were considered as significant variables. Results: The study participants had followed for a total of 2549.6 child-years (30596 child months) with an overall mortality rate of 1.5 (95% CI: 1.1, 2.04) per 100 child-years. Their median survival time was 112 months (95% CI: 101–117). There were 38 children with unknown outcome, 39 deaths, and 55 children transfer out to different facility. The overall survival at 6, 12, 24, 48 months were 98%, 96%, 95%, 94% respectively. being in WHO clinical Stage four (AHR=4.55, 95% CI:1.36, 15.24), having anemia(AHR=2.56, 95% CI:1.11, 5.93), baseline low absolute CD4 count (AHR=2.95, 95% CI: 1.22, 7.12), stunting (AHR=4.1, 95% CI: 1.11, 15.42), wasting (AHR=4.93, 95% CI: 1.31, 18.76), poor adherence to treatment (AHR=3.37, 95% CI: 1.25, 9.11), having TB infection at enrollment (AHR=3.26, 95% CI: 1.25, 8.49),and no history of change their regimen(AHR=7.1, 95% CI: 2.74, 18.24), were independent predictors of death. Conclusion: more than half of death occurs within 2 years. Prevalent tuberculosis, anemia, wasting, and stunting nutritional status, socioeconomic factors, and baseline opportunistic infection were independent predictors of death. Increasing early screening and managing those predictors are required.

Keywords: human immunodeficiency virus-positive children, anti-retroviral therapy, survival, treatment, Ethiopia

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Authors: Yaxian Chen, Yeonhee Park

Abstract:

Driven by evolving FDA recommendations, modern clinical trials demand innovative designs that strike a balance between statistical rigor and ethical considerations. Covariate-adjusted response-adaptive (CARA) designs bridge this gap by utilizing patient attributes and responses to skew treatment allocation in favor of the treatment that is best for an individual patient’s profile. However, existing CARA designs for survival outcomes often hinge on specific parametric models, constraining their applicability in clinical practice. In this article, we address this limitation by introducing a CARA design for survival outcomes (CARAS) based on the Cox model and a variance estimator. This method addresses issues of model misspecification and enhances the flexibility of the design. We also propose a group sequential overlapweighted log-rank test to preserve type I error rate in the context of group sequential trials using extensive simulation studies to demonstrate the clinical benefit, statistical efficiency, and robustness to model misspecification of the proposed method compared to traditional randomized controlled trial designs and response-adaptive randomization designs.

Keywords: cox model, log-rank test, optimal allocation ratio, overlap weight, survival outcome

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Authors: Yori Gidron, Maartje Mol, Norbert Foudraine, Frits Van Osch, Joop Van Den Bergh, Moshe Farchi, Maud Straus

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Background: The worldwide pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV2), which began in 2019, also known as Covid-19, has infected over 136 million people and tragically took the lives of over 2.9 million people worldwide. Many of the complications and deaths are predicted by the inflammatory “cytokine storm.” One way to progress in the prevention of death is by finding a predictive and protective factor that inhibits inflammation, on the one hand, and which also increases anti-viral immunity on the other hand. The vagal nerve does precisely both actions. This study examined whether vagal nerve activity, indexed by heart-rate variability (HRV), predicts survival in patients with Covid-19. Method: We performed a pseudo-prospective study, where we retroactively obtained ECGs of 271 Covid-19 patients arriving at a large regional hospital in The Netherlands. HRV was indexed by the standard deviation of the intervals between normal heartbeats (SDNN). We examined patients’ survival at 3 weeks and took into account multiple confounders and known prognostic factors (e.g., age, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension). Results: Patients’ mean age was 68 (range: 25-95) and nearly 22% of the patients had died by 3 weeks. Their mean SDNN (17.47msec) was far below the norm (50msec). Importantly, relatively higher HRV significantly predicted a higher chance of survival, after statistically controlling for patients’ age, cardiac diseases, hypertension and diabetes (relative risk, H.R, and 95% confidence interval (95%CI): H.R = 0.49, 95%CI: 0.26 – 0.95, p < 0.05). However, since HRV declines rapidly with age and since age is a profound predictor in Covid-19, we split the sample by median age (40). Subsequently, we found that higher HRV significantly predicted greater survival in patients older than 70 (H.R = 0.35, 95%CI: 0.16 – 0.78, p = 0.01), but HRV did not predict survival in patients below age 70 years (H.R = 1.11, 95%CI: 0.37 – 3.28, p > 0.05). Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study showing that higher vagal nerve activity, as indexed by HRV, is an independent predictor of higher chances for survival in Covid-19. The results are in line with the protective role of the vagal nerve in diseases and extend this to a severe infectious illness. Studies should replicate these findings and then test in controlled trials whether activating the vagus nerve may prevent mortality in Covid-19.

Keywords: Covid-19, heart-rate Variability, prognosis, survival, vagal nerve

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Authors: Adem Atmaca

Abstract:

More than 500 million COVID-19 cases were noted in February 2022 in Turkey. The country is one of the most impacted countries all around the world with twenty million cases. The cement industry in Turkey ranks among the most energy-intensive sectors with huge production capacities among the biggest exporter countries. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the effects of the pandemic on the cement industry in Turkey by showing the changes in manufacturing capacities and export rates of all facilities in the country. The investigation has revealed that the epidemic has slight effects on the factory production capacities and export rates. Even though the capacity usage rates of the factories decreased dramatically in 2019, it seems that Turkish cement companies turned the pandemic to their advantage by increasing their production capacities, capacity usage rates and export rates gradually by reaching new markets during the pandemic.

Keywords: energy, emissions, cement industry, COVID-19

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Authors: Jalal Sharib@Sarip, Dainee nor Fardzila Ahmad Tugi, Mohd Tarmizi Ishak, Mohd Izwan Abdul Adziz

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This research paper aims to determine the rate of soil erosion and sedimentation by using Cesium-137,137Cs as a medium-term tracer in the Sembrong catchment, Malaysia, over two different study seasons. The results of the analysis show that rates of soil erosion and sedimentation for both seasons were variable. This can be clearly seen where the dry season only gives the value of the rate of soil erosion. Meanwhile, the wet season has given both soil erosion and sedimentation rate values. The dry season had rates of soil erosion between 5.09 t/ha/y to 51.03 t/ha/y. The wet season had soil erosion and sedimentation rates between 8.02 t/ha/y to 39.78 t/ha/y and -4.81 t/ha/y to - 50.81 t/ha/y, each, respectively. rubber and oil palm plantations referring to Station 17 and station 4/6, located near Semberong Lake and Sembrong River, had the highest rates of soil erosion and sedimentation at 51.03 t/ha/y and -50.81 t/ha/y, respectively. Various factors must also be taken into account, such as soil types, the total volume of rainfall received for both seasons, as well as differences in land use at the study stations. In conclusion, 137Cs as a medium-term tracer was successfully used to determine rates of soil erosion and sedimentation in two different seasons for the Sembrong catchment area. The data on soil erosion and sedimentation rates for this study will be very useful for present, and future land and water management in the Sembrong catchment area and may be compared with other similar catchments in Malaysia.

Keywords: soil erosion, sedimentation, cesium-137, catchment management

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Authors: Hani Belhadj, Daoud Harzallah, Seddik Khennouf, Saliha Dahamna, Mouloud Ghadbane

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In this study, Lactobacillus strains isolated from pollen were identified by means of phenotypic and genotypic methods, At pH 2, most strains proved to be acid resistants, with losses in cell viability ranging from 0.77 to 4.04 Log orders. In addition, at pH 3 all strains could grew and resist the acidic conditions, with losses in cell viability ranging from 0.40 to 3.61 Log orders. It seems that, 0.3% and 0.5% of bile salts does not affect greatly the survival of most strains, excluding Lactobacillus sp. BH1398. Survival ranged from 81.0±3.5 to 93.5±3.9%. In contrast, in the presence of 1.0% bile salts, survival of five strains was decreased by more than 50%. Lactobacillus fermentum BH1509 was considered the most tolerant strain (77.5% for 1% bile) followed by Lactobacillus plantarum BH1541 (59.9% for 1% bile). Furthermore, all strains were resistant to colistine, clindamycine, chloramphenicol, and ciprofloxacine, but most of the strains were susceptible to Peniciline, Oxacillin, Oxytetracyclin, and Amoxicillin. Functionally interesting Lactobacillus isolates may be used in the future as probiotic cultures for manufacturing fermented foods and as bioactive delivery systems.

Keywords: probiotics, lactobacillus, pollen, bile, acid tolerance

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Authors: Mouldi Djelassi, Jamel Boukhatem

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Background: A relation has been established between Islamic banks' activities and interest rates. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of interest rates on the deposits and loans held by Islamic and conventional banks in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A time series data was performed over the period 2008Q1-2020Q2 on eight conventional banks and four Islamic banks. The impacts of interest rate shocks on deposits and loans were identified through panel vector autoregressive models. Results: Impulse response function analysis showed that increasing interest rates reduce loans and conventional deposits. For Islamic banks, deposits are more affected by interest rates than lending. Variance decomposition analysis revealed that deposits contribute to 61% of the Islamic financing variation and only 25% of the conventional loans. Conclusion: Interest rates impacted Islamic banks especially through deposits, which is inconsistent with the theoretical framework. Islamic deposits played an important role in Islamic financing variation and may provide to be a channel for the transmission of the monetary policy in a dual banking system. Monetary policy in Saudi Arabia works in part through “credits” (conventional bank credits) as well as through “money” (conventional and Islamic bank deposits).

Keywords: Islamic banking, interest rates, monetary policy transmission, panel VAR

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Authors: Julia B. Kischkat, Charlie D. Waters

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This research aims to understand the factors that may affect the survival and productivity of Pacific salmonids through two components. The first component is lab-based and aims to improve high-performance liquid chromatography to better quantify vitamin deficiencies such as thiamine. The lab work is conducted at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute in Juneau, Alaska. Deficiencies in thiamine have been shown to reduce the survival of salmonids at early life stages. The second component involves the analysis of a 22-year data set of migration timing of juvenile Coho Salmon, Dolly Varden, Steelhead, and returning adult Steelhead at Little Port Walter, Alaska. The statistical analysis quantifies their migration fluctuations and whether they correlate to various environmental conditions such as temperature, salinity, and precipitation.

Keywords: climate change, smolt timing, phenology, migration timing, salmon, time series analysis, ecology, chemistry, fisheries science

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Authors: Shih-Kuei Lin

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The characterization of the arbitrage-free dynamics of interest rates is developed in this study under the presence of Markov jump risks, when the term structure of the interest rates is modeled through simple forward rates. We consider Markov jump risks by allowing randomness in jump sizes, independence between jump sizes and jump times. The Markov jump diffusion model is used to capture empirical phenomena and to accurately describe interest jump risks in a financial market. We derive the arbitrage-free model of simple forward rates under the spot measure. Moreover, the analytical pricing formulas for a cap and a floor are derived under the forward measure when the jump size follows a lognormal distribution. In our empirical analysis, we find that the LIBOR market model with Markov jump risk better accounts for changes from/to different states and different rates.

Keywords: arbitrage-free, cap and floor, Markov jump diffusion model, simple forward rate model, volatility smile, EM algorithm

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Authors: Tadashi Watanabe, Jinya Katsuyama, Akihiro Mano

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The estimation of leak flow rates through narrow cracks in structures is of importance for nuclear reactor safety, since the leak flow could be detected before occurrence of loss-of-coolant accidents. The two-phase critical leak flow rates are calculated using the system analysis code, and two representative non-homogeneous critical flow models, Henry-Fauske model and Ransom-Trapp model, are compared. The pressure decrease and vapor generation in the crack, and the leak flow rates are found to be larger for the Henry-Fauske model. It is shown that the leak flow rates are not affected by the structural temperature, but affected largely by the roughness of crack surface.

Keywords: crack, critical flow, leak, roughness

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Authors: Osama Shakeel

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The objective of the paper is to study the clinic-pathological factors, survival analyses, recurrence rate, metastatic rate, risk factors and the management of cutaneous malignant melanoma at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Center. Methodology: From 2014 to 2017, all patients with a diagnosis of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) were included in the study. Demographic variables were collected. Short and long term oncological outcomes were recorded. All data were entered and analyzed in SPSS version 21. Results: A total of 28 patients were included in the study. Median age was 46.5 +/-15.9 years. There were 16 male and 12 female patients. The family history of melanoma was present in 7.1% (n=2) of the patients. All patients had a mean survival of 13.43+/- 9.09 months. Lower limb was the commonest site among all which constitutes 46.4%(n=13). On histopathological analyses, ulceration was seen in 53.6% (n=15) patients. Unclassified tumor type was present in 75%(n=21) of the patients followed by nodular 21.4% (n=6) and superficial spreading 3.5%(n=1). Clark level IV was the commonest presentation constituting 46.4%(n=13). Metastases were seen in 50%(n=14) of the patients. Local recurrence was observed in 60.7%(n=17). 64.3%(n=18) lived after one year of treatment. Conclusion: CMM is a fatal disease. Although its disease of fair skin individuals, however, the incidence of CMM is also rising in this part of the world. Management includes early diagnoses and prompt management. However, mortality associated with this disease is still not favorable.

Keywords: malignant cancer of skin, cutaneous malignant melanoma, skin cancer, survival analyses

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Authors: Muneeb Nasir, Misbah Masood, Farrukh Rashid, Abubabakar Shahid

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Introduction: Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy is a potent option for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) as these tumours lack a clearly defined therapeutic target. Several recent studies lend support that pathological complete remission (pCR) is associated with improved disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) and could be used as surrogate marker for DFS and OS in breast cancer patients. Methods: We have used a four-drug protocol in T3 and T4 TNBC patients either N+ or N- in the neo-adjuvant setting. The 15 patients enrolled in this study had a median age of 45 years. 12 patients went on to complete four planned cycles of B-CAT protocol. The chemotherapy regimen included inj. Bevacizumab 5mg/kg D1, inj. Adriamycin 50mg/m2 D1 and Docetaxel 65mg/m2 on D1. Inj. Cisplatin 60mg/m2 on D2. All patients received GCF support from D4 to D9 of each cycle. Results: Radiological assessment using ultrasound and PET-CT revealed a high percentage of responses. Radiological CR was documented in half of the patients (6/12) after four cycles. Remaining patients went on to receive 2 more cycles before undergoing radical surgery. pCR was documented in 7/12 patients and 3 more had a good partial response. The regimen was toxic and grade ¾ neutropenia was seen in 58% of patients. Four episodes of febrile neutropenia were reported and managed. Non-hematatological toxicities were common with mucositis, diarrhea, asthenia and neuropathy topping the list. Conclusion: B-CAT is a very active combination with very high pCR rates in TNBC. Toxicities though frequent, were manageable on outpatient basis. This protocol warrants further investigation.

Keywords: B-CAT:bevacizumab, cisplatin, adriamycin, taxotere, CR: complete response, pCR: pathological complete response, TNBC: triple negative breast cancer

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Authors: Ugbor Raphael Oluchukwu

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The survey research design was adopted to examine whether liquidity and cash management practices of owner-managed firms in South East Nigeria influence their profitability, growth and survival. Four independent variables (accounting systems, working capital management, budgetary control, and managerial planning) were used in the evaluation which was restricted to eight small firms. Results indicate that one variable, working capital management alone dominate the liquidity perception of owner managers. As a result, owner managers find it difficult to meet maturing business obligations as growth sets in. The study also reveals that the four independent variables have significant impact on the profitability, growth and survival of owner managed firms. Owner managers are therefore advised to undertake regular entrepreneurship training in order to upgrade their liquidity and cash management knowledge and practices to enhance their overall performance.

Keywords: liquidity management, owner-managed firm, profitability, survival

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Authors: Jaewoo Choi, Ki-Tae Hwang, Eunyoung Ko

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Backgrounds/Aims: Patients with breast cancer are currently classified according to TNM stage. Nevertheless, the actual volume would be mis-estimated, and it would bring on inappropriate diagnosis. Tridimensional volume-stage derived from the ellipsoid formula was presented as useful measure. Methods: The medical records of 480 consecutive breast cancer between January 2001 and March 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients were divided into three groups according to tumor volume by receiver operating characteristic analysis, and the ranges of each volume-stage were that V1 was below 2.5 cc, V2 was exceeded 2.5 and below 10.9 cc, and V3 was exceeded 10.9 cc. We analyzed outcomes of volume-stage and compared disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) between size-stage and volume-stage with variant intrinsic factor. Results: In the T2 stage, there were patients who had a smaller volume than 4.2 cc known as maximum value of T1. These findings presented that patients in T1c had poorer DFS than T2-lesser (mean of DFS 48.7 vs. 51.8, p = 0.011). Such is also the case in OS (mean of OS 51.1 vs. 55.3, p = 0.006). The cumulative survival curves for V1, V2 compared T1, T2 showed similarity in DFS (HR 1.9 vs. 1.9), and so did it for V3 compared T3 (HR 3.5 vs. 2.6) significantly. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that tumor volume had good feasibility on the prognosis of patients with breast cancer. We proposed that volume-stage should be considered for an additional stage indicator, particularly in early breast cancer.

Keywords: breast cancer, tridimensional volume of tumor, TNM stage, volume stage

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Authors: Maryam I. Abdullahi, Suleiman Aliyu, Armaya'u Hamisu Bichi

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The study was conducted at the University Fish Farm, Federal University Dutsinma. The aim of the study was to determine the effects of dietary supplementation of Allium sativum and Zingiber officinale mixture on growth performance, feed utilization and survival of C. gariepinus fingerling reared in tank system. The experimental setup comprised of four treatment (4) groups labeled as T1, T2, T3 and T4, each treatment replicated 3 times with ten (10) fingerlings in each replicate respectively. Treatment 1 contained 0.5% of Zingiber officinale and 0.5% of Allium sativum (ZO-AS: 1.0%), Treatment 2 contained 0.75% Zingiber officinale, and 0.75% garlic (ZO-AS: 1.5%) while T3 contained 1% ginger and 1% Allium sativum (ZO-AS: 2.0%) respectively. The experiment lasted for twelve (12) weeks (84 days). The survival rate ranges from 90% - 100%. With a higher Final Mean Weight (893.10) and Percentage Mean Weight (942.65) as compared to the control group and others. There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the FMW (893.10) of the fish fed 1.5g/kg of Garlic and Ginger diets than the control (687.00). The SGR (1.20) of fish-fed Zingiber officinale and Allium sativum fortified diets shows that there is no significant difference between treatments fed 1.5g/kg Zingiber officinale and Allium sativum and the control group. Generally, there was an increased survival rate in the experimental fish-fed Zingiber officinale and Allium sativum-supplemented diets as compared to the control.

Keywords: clarias gariepinus, zingiber officinale, allium sativum, fingerlings

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Authors: Necati Içer

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Crop-hail insurance plays a vital role in managing risks and reducing the financial consequences of hail damage on crop production. Predicting insurance premium rates with short-term data is a major difficulty in numerous nations because of the unique characteristics of hailstorms. This study aims to suggest a feasible approach for establishing equitable premium rates in crop-hail insurance for nations with short-term insurance data. The primary goal of the rate-making process is to determine premium rates for high and zero loss costs of villages and enhance their credibility. To do this, a technique was created using the author's practical knowledge of crop-hail insurance. With this approach, the rate-making method was developed using a range of temporal and spatial factor combinations with both hypothetical and real data, including extreme cases. This article aims to show how to incorporate the temporal and spatial elements into determining fair premium rates using short-term insurance data. The article ends with a suggestion on the ultimate premium rates for insurance contracts.

Keywords: crop-hail insurance, premium rate, short-term insurance data, spatial and temporal parameters

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