Search results for: fault diagnosis

Authors: Vijay S. Katta, Vinod Kushwah, Rudraksh Tiwari, Mulayam Singh Gaur, Priti Dimri, Ashok Kumar Sharma

Abstract:

The formation process of seismic activities because of abrupt slip on faults, tectonic plate moments due to accumulated stress in the Earth’s crust. The prediction of seismic activity is a very challenging task. We have studied the changes in surface latent heat temperatures which are observed prior to significant earthquakes have been investigated and could be considered for short term earthquake prediction. We analyzed the surface latent heat temperature (SLHT) variation for inland earthquakes occurred in Chamba, Himachal Pradesh (32.5 N, 76.1E, M-4.5, depth-5km) nearby the main boundary fault region, the data of SLHT have been taken from National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). In this analysis, we have calculated daily variations with surface latent heat temperature (0C) in the range area 1⁰x1⁰ (~120/KM²) with the pixel covering epicenter of earthquake at the center for a three months period prior to and after the seismic activities. The mean value during that period has been considered in order to take account of the seasonal effect. The monthly mean has been subtracted from daily value to study anomalous behavior (∆SLHT) of SLHT during the earthquakes. The results found that the SLHTs adjacent the epicenters all are anomalous high value 3-5 days before the seismic activities. The abundant surface water and groundwater in the epicenter and its adjacent region can provide the necessary condition for the change of SLHT. To further confirm the reliability of SLHT anomaly, it is necessary to explore its physical mechanism in depth by more earthquakes cases.

Keywords: surface latent heat temperature, satellite data, earthquake, magnetic storm

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Sireen Irsheid, Stephanie Keeney Parks, Michael A. Lindsey

Abstract:

The medical and mental health field have been organized as reactive systems to respond to symptoms of mental health problems and disability. This becomes problematic particularly for those harmed by structural violence and racism, typically pushing us in the direction of alleviating symptoms and personalizing structural problems. The current paper examines how we assess, diagnose, and treat mental health and disability challenges in clinical spaces. We provide the readers with some context to think about the problem of racism and mental health/disability, ways to deconstruct the problem through the lens of structural violence, and recommendations to critically engage in clinical assessments, diagnosis, and treatment for young people impacted by structural violence and racism.

Keywords: mental health, disability, race and ethnicity, structural violence, structural racism, young people

Procedia PDF Downloads 55

Authors: Ippei Torii, Kaoruko Ohtani, Takahito Niwa, Naohiro Ishii

Abstract:

This paper shows developing an objectivity index using the measurement of subtle eyeball movement to diagnose autism. The developmentally disabled assessment varies, and the diagnosis depends on the subjective judgment of professionals. Therefore, a supplementary inspection method that will enable anyone to obtain the same quantitative judgment is needed. The diagnosis are made based on a comparison of the time of gazing an object in the conventional autistic study, but the results do not match. First, we divided the pupil into four parts from the center using measurements of subtle eyeball movement and comparing the number of pixels in the overlapping parts based on an afterimage. Then we developed the objective evaluation indicator to judge non-autistic and autistic people more clearly than conventional methods by analyzing the differences of subtle eyeball movements between the right and left eyes. Even when a person gazes at one point and his/her eyeballs always stay fixed at that point, their eyes perform subtle fixating movements (ie. tremors, drifting, microsaccades) to keep the retinal image clear. Particularly, the microsaccades link with nerves and reflect the mechanism that process the sight in a brain. We converted the differences between these movements into numbers. The process of the conversion is as followed: 1) Select the pixel indicating the subject's pupil from images of captured frames. 2) Set up a reference image, known as an afterimage, from the pixel indicating the subject's pupil. 3) Divide the pupil of the subject into four from the center in the acquired frame image. 4) Select the pixel in each divided part and count the number of the pixels of the overlapping part with the present pixel based on the afterimage. 5) Process the images with precision in 24 - 30fps from a camera and convert the amount of change in the pixels of the subtle movements of the right and left eyeballs in to numbers. The difference in the area of the amount of change occurs by measuring the difference between the afterimage in consecutive frames and the present frame. We set the amount of change to the quantity of the subtle eyeball movements. This method made it possible to detect a change of the eyeball vibration in numerical value. By comparing the numerical value between the right and left eyes, we found that there is a difference in how much they move. We compared the difference in these movements between non-autistc and autistic people and analyzed the result. Our research subjects consists of 8 children and 10 adults with autism, and 6 children and 18 adults with no disability. We measured the values through pasuit movements and fixations. We converted the difference in subtle movements between the right and left eyes into a graph and define it in multidimensional measure. Then we set the identification border with density function of the distribution, cumulative frequency function, and ROC curve. With this, we established an objective index to determine autism, normal, false positive, and false negative.

Keywords: subtle eyeball movement, autism, microsaccade, pursuit eye movements, ROC curve

Procedia PDF Downloads 278

Authors: Shakhawan K. Mawlood, Catriona Pickard, Benjamin Pickard

Abstract:

In summer 2015 the remains of 800 children are among 1,967 bodies were exhumed by archaeologists at St Peter's Burial Ground in Blackburn, Lancashire. One hundred samples from these 19th century ancient bones were selected for DNA analysis. These comprised samples biased for those which prior osteological evidence indicated a potential for microbial infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (causing tuberculosis, TB) or Treponema pallidum (causing Syphilis) species, as well a random selection of other bones for which visual inspection suggested good preservation (and, therefore, likely DNA retrieval).They were subject to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays aimed at detecting traces of DNA from infecting mycobacteria, with the purpose both of confirming the palaeopathological diagnosis of tuberculosis and determining in individual cases whether disease and death was due to M. tuberculosis or other reasons. Our secondary goal was to determine sex determination and age prediction. The results demonstrated that extraction of vast majority ancient bones DNA samples succeeded.

Keywords: ancient bone, DNA, tuberculosis, age prediction

Procedia PDF Downloads 103

Authors: Prosper Kudzanai Mushauri

Abstract:

In issues of anomalous experiences commonly referred to as madness or mental illness, attempts have been made to deal with it so that people manage to live their lives in a more functional way. It is in this stance that psychiatry has sort of portraying itself as seeking to ameliorate perturbations which individuals live with via nosological systems and use of medicine to anomalous experiences. It is from this hegemony that has led to the untold harm which people living with madness have endured from antique to contemporary life. The paper reflects via a literature review on the history of psychiatry and argues that it is akin to contemporary psychiatry to be involved in iatrogenic acts. As antique psychiatry meddled with gory issues of inhumanity, deceit and mass murders which some of those the contemporary psychiatry has not weaned itself from such diabolical acts. The objective of the paper is to suggest to psychiatry that it has not comported to the mores of psychological ethics. In doing this, the paper hopes that psychiatry will reflect and reform its curricular and praxis so that it comports to ethical standards in psychological science in ameliorating anomalous experiences.

Keywords: nosology, psychiatry, madness, diagnosis, eugenics

Procedia PDF Downloads 161

Authors: Janaína F. Guidolini, Jean P. H. B. Ometto, Angélica Giarolla, Peter M. Toledo, Carlos A. Valera

Abstract:

The water crisis, a major problem of the 21^st century, occurs mainly due to poor management. The central issue that should govern the management is the integration of the various aspects that interfere with the use of water resources and their protection, supported by legal basis. A watershed is a unit of water interacting with the physical, biotic, social, economic and cultural variables. The Brazilian law recognized river basin as the territorial management unit. Based on the diagnosis of the current situation of the water resources of the Rio Grande Basin, a discussion informed in the Brazilian legal basis was made to propose measures to fight or mitigate damages and environmental degradation in the Basin. To manage water resources more efficiently, conserve water and optimize their multiple uses, the integration of acquired scientific knowledge and management is essential. Moreover, it is necessary to monitor compliance with environmental legislation.

Keywords: conservation of soil and water, environmental laws, river basin, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 280

Authors: Donya Ashtiani Haghighi, Amirali Baniasadi

Abstract:

Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease has spread abruptly all over the world since the end of 2019. Computed tomography (CT) scans and X-ray images are used to detect this disease. Different Deep Neural Network (DNN)-based diagnosis solutions have been developed, mainly based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), to accelerate the identification of COVID-19 cases. However, CNNs lose important information in intermediate layers and require large datasets. In this paper, Capsule Network (CapsNet) is used. Capsule Network performs better than CNNs for small datasets. Accuracy of 0.9885, f1-score of 0.9883, precision of 0.9859, recall of 0.9908, and Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.9948 are achieved on the Capsule-based framework with hyperparameter tuning. Moreover, different dropout rates are investigated to decrease overfitting. Accordingly, a dropout rate of 0.1 shows the best results. Finally, we remove one convolution layer and decrease the number of trainable parameters to 146,752, which is a promising result.

Keywords: capsule network, dropout, hyperparameter tuning, classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 78

Authors: Nandini Sharma

Abstract:

Monitoring the characteristics of a nanostructured material comprises measurements of structural, morphological, mechanical, optical and electronic properties of the synthesized nanopowder and different layers and coatings of nanomaterials coated on transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) substrates like fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) or Indium doped tin oxide (ITO). This article focuses on structural and optical characterization with emphasis on measurements of the photocatalytic efficiency as a photocatalyst and their interpretation to extract relevant information about various TCOs and materials, their emitter regions, and surface passivation. It also covers a brief description of techniques based on photoluminescence that can portray high resolution pictorial graphs for application as solar energy devices. With the advancement in the scientific techniques, detailed information about the structural, morphological, and optical properties can be investigated, which is further useful for engineering and designing of an efficient device. The common principles involved in the prevalent characterization techniques aid to illustrate the range of options that can be broadened in near future for acurate device characterization and diagnosis.

Keywords: characterization, structural, optical, nanomaterial

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: Simin Hosseinian, Roghieh Nooripour

Abstract:

Introduction: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a major neuropsychiatric disorder diagnosis in children, adolescents. This study was aimed to investigate the quality of life of mothers of adolescents with ADHD based on Lazarus-Folkman's coping. Method: Due to this purpose, 120 mothers were selected with convenience sampling method that referred to counseling centers with their adolescents with ADHD for treatment of their adolescents and then they completed Iranian Quality of Life Questionnaire and The Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ). Data were analyzed by the Pearson correlation and stepwise regression methods with SPSS-19. Results: The result showed that there was a positive significant relationship between quality of life and self-controlling and also a negative relationship between quality of life and accepting responsibility (p < 0.05). Conclusion: According to these findings, we can suggest suitable intervention for mothers who have adolescents with ADHD and enhance their quality of life.

Keywords: ADHD, mother, adolescent, quality of life, Lazarus-Folkman

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Rim Frikha, Nouha Bouayed, Afifa Sellami, Nozha Chakroun, Salima Douad, Leila Keskes, Tarek Rebai

Abstract:

Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), classically defined as the occurrence of two or more failed pregnancies, is a serious reproductive problem, in which, chromosomal rearrangements in either carrier are a major cause; mainly the chromosome aneuploidy. This study was conducted to determine the frequency and contribution of X-chromosome aneuploidy in recurrent pregnancy loss. A retrospective study was carried out among 100 couples with more than 2 miscarriages, referred to our genetic counseling. In all the cases the detailed reproductive histories were taken. Chromosomal analysis was performed using RHG banding in peripheral blood. Of a total of 100 couples; 3 patients with a detected X-chromosome aneuploidy were identified with an overall frequency of 3%. Chromosome abnormalities are as below: a Turner syndrome with 45, X/46, XX mosaicism, a 47, XXX, and a Klinefelter syndrome with 46, XY/47, XXY. These data show a high incidence of X-chromosome aneuploidy; mainly with mosaicism; in RPL. Thus, couples with such chromosomal abnormality should be referred to a clinical geneticist with whom the option of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis in subsequent pregnancy should be discussed.

Keywords: aneuploidy, genetic testing, recurrent pregnancy loss, X-chromosome

Procedia PDF Downloads 360

Authors: Ilker Ali Ozkan

Abstract:

In this study, an artificial neural network model has been developed to estimate chronic kidney failure which is a common disease. The patients’ age, their blood and biochemical values, and 24 input data which consists of various chronic diseases are used for the estimation process. The input data have been subjected to preprocessing because they contain both missing values and nominal values. 147 patient data which was obtained from the preprocessing have been divided into as 70% training and 30% testing data. As a result of the study, artificial neural network model with 25 neurons in the hidden layer has been found as the model with the lowest error value. Chronic kidney failure disease has been able to be estimated accurately at the rate of 99.3% using this artificial neural network model. The developed artificial neural network has been found successful for the estimation of chronic kidney failure disease using clinical data.

Keywords: estimation, artificial neural network, chronic kidney failure disease, disease diagnosis

Procedia PDF Downloads 447

Authors: Tauhidur Rahman, Kasturi Bhuyan

Abstract:

In the present paper, Ground Response Analysis at the Rukni irrigation project has been thoroughly investigated. Surface level seismic hazard is mainly used by the practical Engineers for designing the important structures. Surface level seismic hazard can be obtained accounting the soil factor. Structures on soft soil will show more ground shaking than the structure located on a hard soil. The Surface level ground motion depends on the type of soil. Density and shear wave velocity is different for different types of soil. The intensity of the soil amplification depends on the density and shear wave velocity of the soil. Rukni irrigation project is located in the North Eastern region of India, near the Dauki fault (550 Km length) which has already produced earthquakes of magnitude (Mw= 8.5) in the past. There is a probability of a similar type of earthquake occuring in the future. There are several faults also located around the project site. There are 765 recorded strong ground motion time histories available for the region. These data are used to determine the soil amplification factor by incorporation of the engineering properties of soil. With this in view, three of soil bore holes have been studied at the project site up to a depth of 30 m. It has been observed that in Soil bore hole 1, the shear wave velocity vary from 99.44 m/s to 239.28 m/s. For Soil Bore Hole No 2 and 3, shear wave velocity vary from 93.24 m/s to 241.39 m/s and 93.24m/s to 243.01 m/s. In the present work, surface level seismic hazard at the project site has been calculated based on the Probabilistic seismic hazard approach accounting the soil factor.

Keywords: Ground Response Analysis, shear wave velocity, soil amplification, surface level seismic hazard

Procedia PDF Downloads 549

Authors: Jaci Marie Mastrandrea, Rosario Haro

Abstract:

Background: The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) recommends that healthcare institutions have established processes for integrating palliative care (PC) into cancer treatment and that all cancer patients be screened for PC needs upon initial diagnosis as well as throughout the entire continuum of care (National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 2021). Early PC screening and intervention is directly associated with improved patient outcomes. The Sky Lakes Cancer Treatment Center (SLCTC) is an institution that has access to PC services yet does not have protocols in place for identifying patients with palliative needs or a standardized referral process. The aim of this quality improvement project was to improve early access to PC services by establishing a standardized screening and referral process for outpatient oncology patients. Method: The sample population included all adult patients with an oncology diagnosis who presented to the SLCTC for treatment during the project timeline. The “Palliative and Supportive Needs Assessment'' (PSNA) screening tool was developed from validated, evidence-based PC referral criteria. The tool was initially implemented using paper forms, and data was collected over a period of eight weeks. Patients were screened by nurses on the SLCTC oncology treatment team. Nurses responsible for screening patients received an educational inservice prior to implementation. Patients with a PSNA score of three or higher received an educational handout on the topic of PC and education about PC and symptom management. A score of five or higher indicates that PC referral is strongly recommended, and the patient’s EHR is flagged for the oncology provider to review orders for PC referral. The PSNA tool was approved by Sky Lakes administration for full integration into Epic-Beacon. The project lead collaborated with the Sky Lakes’ information systems team and representatives from Epic on the tool’s aesthetic and functionality within the Epic system. SLCTC nurses and physicians were educated on how to document the PSNA within Epic and where to view results. Results: Prior to the implementation of the PSNA screening tool, the SLCTC had zero referrals to PC in the past year, excluding referrals to hospice. Data was collected from the completed screening assessments of 100 patients under active treatment at the SLCTC. Seventy-three percent of patients met criteria for PC referral with a score greater than or equal to three. Of those patients who met referral criteria, 53.4% (39 patients) were referred for a palliative and supportive care consultation. Patients that were not referred to PC upon meeting criteria were flagged in EPIC for re-screening within one to three months. Patients with lung cancer, chronic hematologic malignancies, breast cancer, and gastrointestinal malignancy most frequently met the criteria for PC referral and scored highest overall on the scale of 0-12. Conclusion: The implementation of a standardized PC screening tool at the SLCTC significantly increased awareness of PC needs among cancer patients in the outpatient setting. Additionally, data derived from this quality improvement project supports the national recommendation for PC to be an integral component of cancer treatment across the entire continuum of care.

Keywords: oncology, palliative and supportive care, symptom management, outpatient oncology, palliative screening tool

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: B. Körner

Abstract:

This paper compares deviant behaviour in two different readings: 1) as symptomatic for so-called ‘mental illness’ and 2) as part of artistic creation. It analyses works of performance art in the respective frames of psychiatric evaluation and performance studies. This speculative comparison offers an alternative interpretation of mad behaviour beyond pathologisation. It questions the distinction of psychiatric diagnosis, which can contribute to reducing the stigmatisation of mad people. The stigma associated with madness entails exclusion, prejudice, and systemic oppression. Symptoms of psychiatric diagnoses can be considered as behaviour exceptional to the psychological norm. This deviant behaviour constitutes an outsider role which is also defining for the societal role of ‘the artist’, whose transgressions of the norm are expected and celebrated. The research proposes the term ‘artistic exceptionalism’ for this phenomenon. In this study, a set of performance artworks are analysed within the frame of an art-theoretical interpretation and as if they were the basis of a psychiatric assessment. This critical comparison combines the perspective on ‘mental illness’ of mad studies with methods of interpretation used in performance studies. The research employs auto theory and artistic research; interweaving lived experience with scientific theory building through the double role of the author as both performance artist and survivor researcher. It is a distinctly personal and mad thought experiment. The research proposes three major categories of artistic strategies approaching madness: (a) confronting madness (processing and publicly addressing one's own experiences with mental distress through artistic creation), (b) creating critical conditions (conscious or unconscious, voluntary or involuntary creation of crisis situations in order to create an intense experience for a work of art), and (c) symptomatic strategies. This paper focuses on the last of the three categories: symptomatic strategies. These can be described as artistic methods with parallels to forms of coping with and/or symptoms of ‘mental disorders.’ These include, for example feverish activity, a bleak worldview, additional perceptions, an urge for order, and the intensification of emotional experience. The proposed categories are to be understood as a spectrum of approaches that are not mutually exclusive. This research does not aim to diagnose or pathologise artists or their strategies; disease value is neither sought nor assumed. Neither does it intend to belittle psychological suffering, implying that it cannot be so bad if it is productive for artists. It excludes certain approaches that romanticise and/or exoticise mental distress, for example, artistic portrayal of people in mental crisis (e.g., documentary-observational or exoticising depictions) or the deliberate and exaggerated imitation of their forms of expression and behaviour as ‘authentic’ (e.g., Art Brut). These are based on the othering of the Mad and thus perpetuate the social stigma to which they are subjected. By noting that the same deviant behaviour can be interpreted as the opposite in different contexts, this research offers an alternative approach to madness beyond the confines of psychiatry. It challenges the distinction of psychiatric diagnosis and exposes its social constructedness. Hereby, it aims to empower survivors and reduce the stigmatisation of madness.

Keywords: artistic research, mad studies, mental health, performance art, psychiatric stigma

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: Eghosa Morgan, Bourtarbouch Mahjouba, Heida El Ouahabi, Poluyi Edward, Diawarra Seylan

Abstract:

Non-AIDS lymphoma, a type of primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma is an uncommon aggressive infiltrative malignant tumour involving several sites in the central nervous system, such as the periventricular region and leptomeninges. In this article, the authors presented a 26-year old man with painless progressive right exophthalmos and scalp swelling with no symptoms and signs of intracranial hypertension and hyperthyroidism. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) done revealed isointense masses with brilliant homogenous enhancement on contrast administration resembling a meningioma, with a dura tail – like attachment as seen in meningioma. He had surgery for the right orbital tumour and histopathological diagnosis confirmed our suspicion of lymphoma (B type). Steroid was given in the post-operative period which led to significant regression of the tumours, hence its description as ‘vanishing tumour’. He is presently receiving methotrexate-based chemotherapy and subsequently planned for radiotherapy.

Keywords: central nervous system (CNS), meningioma, non-aids lymphoma, orbital

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: U. E. Mochalova, A. V. Demeneva, Shilkin A. G., J. Yu. Artiushina

Abstract:

Objective. In medical ophthalmology OCT has been actively used in the last decade. It is a modern non-invasive method of high-precision hardware examination, which gives a detailed cross-sectional image of eye tissues structure with a high level of resolution, which provides in vivo morphological information at the microscopic level about corneal tissue, structures of the anterior segment, retina and optic nerve. The purpose of this study was to explore the possibility of using the OCT technology in complex ophthalmological examination in dogs and cats, to characterize the revealed pathological structural changes in corneal tissue in cats and dogs with some of the most common corneal diseases. Procedures. Optical coherence tomography of the cornea was performed in 112 animals: 68 dogs and 44 cats. In total, 224 eyes were examined. Pathologies of the organ of vision included: dystrophy and degeneration of the cornea, endothelial corneal dystrophy, dry eye syndrome, chronic superficial vascular keratitis, pigmented keratitis, corneal erosion, ulcerative stromal keratitis, corneal sequestration, chronic glaucoma and also postoperative period after performed keratoplasty. When performing OCT, we used certified medical devices: "Huvitz HOCT-1/1F», «Optovue iVue 80» and "SOCT Copernicus Revo (60)". Results. The results of a clinical study on the use of optical coherence tomography (OCT)of the cornea in cats and dogs, performed by the authors of the article in the complex diagnosis of keratopathies of variousorigins: endothelial corneal dystrophy, pigmented keratitis, chronic keratoconjunctivitis, chronic herpetic keratitis, ulcerative keratitis, traumatic corneal damage, sequestration of the cornea of cats, chronic keratitis, complicating the course of glaucoma. The characteristics of the OCT scans are givencorneas of cats and dogs that do not have corneal pathologies. OCT scans of various corneal pathologies in dogs and cats with a description of the revealed pathological changes are presented. Of great clinical interest are the data obtained during OCT of the cornea of animals undergoing keratoplasty operations using various forms of grafts. Conclusions. OCT makes it possible to assess the thickness and pathological structural changes of the corneal surface epithelium, corneal stroma and descemet membrane. We can measure them, determine the exact localization, and record pathological changes. Clinical observation of the dynamics of the pathological process in the cornea using OCT makes it possible to evaluate the effectiveness of drug treatment. In case of negative dynamics of corneal disease, it is necessary to determine the indications for surgical treatment (to assess the thickness of the cornea, the localization of its thinning zones, to characterize the depth and area of pathological changes). According to the OCT of the cornea, it is possible to choose the optimal surgical treatment for the patient, the technique and depth of optically constructive surgery (penetrating or anterior lamellar keratoplasty).; determine the depth and diameter of the planned microsurgical trepanation of corneal tissue, which will ensure good adaptation of the edges of the donor material.

Keywords: optical coherence tomography, corneal sequestration, optical coherence tomography of the cornea, corneal transplantation, cat, dog

Procedia PDF Downloads 68

Authors: R. Gadea, J. M. Monzó, F. J. Puertas, M. Castro, A. Tebar, P. J. Fito, R. J. Colom

Abstract:

There exists a wide array of ailments impacting the structural soundness of the esophageal walls, predominantly linked to digestive issues. Presently, the techniques employed for identifying esophageal tract complications are excessively invasive and discomforting, subjecting patients to prolonged discomfort in order to achieve an accurate diagnosis. This study proposes the creation of a sensor with profound measuring capabilities designed to detect fluids coursing through the esophageal tract. The multi-sensor detection system relies on radiofrequency photospectrometry. During experimentation, individuals representing diverse demographics in terms of gender and age were utilized, positioning the sensors amidst the trachea and diaphragm and assessing measurements in vacuum conditions, water, orange juice, and saline solutions. The findings garnered enabled the identification of various liquid mediums within the esophagus, segregating them based on their ionic composition.

Keywords: radiofrequency spectrophotometry, medical device, gastroesophageal disease, photonics

Procedia PDF Downloads 81

Authors: Zinah Jabbar Mohammed Alrubaye

Abstract:

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of prophylactic and rescue cervical cerclages for pregnant patients with an incompetent cervix, and to assess the neonatal outcomes of both clinical conditions. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study of all women who had an elective or rescue cerclage between January 2008 and December 2016 in our hospital .Prophylactic cerclage was defined as a cerclage before 16 weeks of gestation, while rescue cerclages were performed between 16 and 23 weeks of gestation. Results: In total, we analyzed the outcomes of 212 cervical interventions; 71% of the recruited patients experienced prophylactic cerclage, while 29% underwent rescue cerclage. Most of the patients delivered vaginally (70%) and were able to leave the hospital with a healthy newborn (78%). The mean pregnancy prolongation time after cerclage in the prophylactic and rescue groups were 21 weeks and 10 weeks, respectively. Conclusion: Prophylactic cerclage interventions are most likely to be associated with a reduction of fetal demise because of the correlation between fetal prognosis and the gestational age at which cerclage is performed. Once the diagnosis of cervical insufficiency is confirmed, cerclage should be recommended as this will help to prolong the pregnancy.

Keywords: cervical, neonate, cerclage, Cervix

Procedia PDF Downloads 54

Authors: M. F. Abreu, A. I. Aguiar, R. Gaio, R. Duarte

Abstract:

Background: Prison establishments constitute high-risk environments for the transmission and spread of tuberculosis (TB), given their epidemiological context and the difficulty of implementing preventive and control measures. Guidelines for control and prevention of tuberculosis in prisons have been described as incomplete and heterogeneous internationally, due to several identified obstacles, for example scarcity of human resources and funding of prisoner health services. In Portugal, a protocol was created in 2014 with the aim to define and standardize procedures of detection and prevention of tuberculosis within prisons. Objective: The main objective of this study was to identify and describe barriers to tuberculosis detection in prisons of Porto and Lisbon districts in Portugal. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 2ⁿᵈ January 2018 till 30ᵗʰ June 2018. Semi-structured questionnaires were applied to health care professionals working in the prisons of the districts of Porto (n=6) and Lisbon (n=8). As inclusion criteria we considered having work experience in the area of tuberculosis (either in diagnosis, treatment, or follow up). The questionnaires were self-administered, in paper format. Descriptive analyses of the questionnaire variables were made using frequencies and median. Afterwards, a hierarchical agglomerative clusters analysis was performed. After obtaining the clusters, the chi-square test was applied to study the association between the variables collected and the clusters. The level of significance considered was 0.05. Results: From the total of 186 health professionals, 139 met the criteria of inclusion and 82 health professionals were interviewed (62,2% of participation). Most were female, nurses, with a median age of 34 years, with term employment contract. From the cluster analysis, two groups were identified with different characteristics and behaviors for the procedures of this protocol. Statistically significant results were found in: elements of cluster 1 (78% of the total participants) work in prisons for a longer time (p=0.003), 45,3% work > 4 years while 50% of the elements of cluster 2 work for less than a year, and more frequently answered they know and apply the procedures of the protocol (p=0.000). Both clusters answered frequently the need of having theoretical-practical training for TB (p=0.000), especially in the areas of diagnosis, treatment and prevention and that there is scarcity of funding to prisoner health services (p=0.000). Regarding procedures for TB screening (periodic and contact screening) and procedures for transferring a prisoner with this disease, cluster 1 also answered more frequently to perform them (p=0.000). They also referred that the material/equipment for TB screening is accessible and available (p=0.000). From this clusters we identified as barriers scarcity of human resources, the need to theoretical-practical training for tuberculosis, inexperience in working in health services prisons and limited knowledge of protocol procedures. Conclusions: The barriers found in this study are the same described internationally. This protocol is mostly being applied in portuguese prisons. The study also showed the need to invest in human and material resources. This investigation bridged gaps in knowledge that could help prison health services optimize the care provided for early detection and adherence of prisoners to treatment of tuberculosis.

Keywords: barriers, health care professionals, prisons, protocol, tuberculosis

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Y. Laib Dit Leksir, S. Bouhouche

Abstract:

Analysis and processing of data bases resulting from infrared thermal measurements made on the electrical installation requires the development of new tools in order to obtain correct and additional information to the visual inspections. Consequently, the methods based on the capture of infrared digital images show a great potential and are employed increasingly in various fields. Although, there is an enormous need for the development of effective techniques to analyse these data base in order to extract relevant information relating to the state of the equipments. Our goal consists in introducing recent techniques of modeling based on new methods, image and signal processing to develop mathematical models in this field. The aim of this work is to capture the anomalies existing in electrical equipments during an inspection of some machines using A40 Flir camera. After, we use binarisation techniques in order to select the region of interest and we make comparison between these methods of thermal images obtained to choose the best one.

Keywords: infrared thermography, defect detection, troubleshooting, electrical equipment

Procedia PDF Downloads 476

Authors: Saumya R. Jha, Krishanu Biswas, Nilesh P. Gurao

Abstract:

Several recent investigations have revealed medium entropy alloys exhibiting better mechanical properties than their high entropy counterparts. This clearly establishes that although a higher entropy plays a vital role in stabilization of particular phase over complex intermetallic phases, configurational entropy is not the primary factor responsible for the high inherent strengthening in these systems. Above and beyond a high contribution from friction stresses and solid solution strengthening, strain hardening is an important contributor to the strengthening in these systems. In this regard, researchers have developed severe plastic deformation (SPD) techniques like High Pressure Torsion (HPT) to incorporate very high shear strain in the material, thereby leading to ultrafine grained (UFG) microstructures, which cause manifold increase in the strength. The presented work demonstrates a meticulous study of the variation in mechanical properties at different radial displacements from the center of HPT tested equiatomic ternary FeMnNi synthesized by casting route, which is a low stacking fault energy FCC alloy that shows significantly higher toughness than its high entropy counterparts like Cantor alloy. The gradient in grain sizes along the radial direction of these specimens has been modeled using microstructure entropy for predicting the mechanical properties, which has also been validated by indentation tests. The dislocation density is computed by FEM simulations for varying strains and validated by analyzing synchrotron diffraction data. Thus, the proposed model can be utilized to predict the strengthening behavior of similar systems deformed by HPT subjected to varying loading conditions.

Keywords: high pressure torsion, severe plastic deformation, configurational entropy, dislocation density, FEM simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Nasir Mustafa

Abstract:

One of the prerequisites required for an efficient diagnosis in a medical practice is to have a strong command of both functional and clinical anatomy. In this study, we introduce a new collaborative approach to the effective teaching of the knee and hip joints. In the present teaching model, anatomists, orthopedists and physical therapists present the anatomy of the hip and knee joints in small groups. Courses for the hip and knee joints were scheduled during the early stages of the medical curriculum. Students of nursing and physical therapy were grouped together to sensitize to the importance of a collaborative effort. The study results clearly demonstrate that nursing students and physical therapy students appreciated this teaching approach. The collaborative approach further proved to be a suitable method to teach both functional and clinical anatomy of the hip and knee joints. Aside from this training, a collaborative approach between medical students and physical therapy students was also successful for a healthcare organization.

Keywords: hip and knee joint anatomy, collaborative, Anatomy teaching, Nursing students, Physiotherapy students

Procedia PDF Downloads 94

Authors: S. H. Bae, D. W. Cho, W. B. Jeong, J. R. Cho

Abstract:

Fatigue fracture of an aluminum welded structure is a phenomenon frequently occurring from pores in a weld. In order to grasp the state of the welded structure in operation in real time, the acceleration signal of the structure is measured. At this time, the vibration characteristic of the signal according to the fatigue load is an important parameter of the state diagnosis. This paper was an experimental study on the variation of vibration characteristics of welded beams with vibration aging (especially bending vibration). First simple beams were produced according to welding conditions. Each beam was vibrated and measured beam's PSD (power spectral density) according to the degree of aging. Also, modal testing was conducted to compare the transfer functions of welded beams. Testing result shows that the natural frequencies of the beam changed with the vibration aging due to the change of stiffness in welding part and its stiffness was estimated by the finite element method.

Keywords: modal testing, natural frequency, vibration aging, welded structure

Procedia PDF Downloads 483

Authors: Priyajeet Kaur Kaleka

Abstract:

Introduction: A dentist is often the first responder in the battle for a patient’s healthy body and maybe the first health professional to observe signs of child abuse, be it physical, emotional, and/or sexual mistreatment. Therefore, it is an ethical responsibility for the dental clinician to detect and report suspected cases of child abuse and neglect (CAN). The main reasons for not reporting suspected cases of CAN, with special emphasis on the third: 1) Uncertainty of the diagnosis, 2) Lack of knowledge of the reporting procedure, and 3) Child abuse and neglect somewhat remained the subject of ignorance among dental professionals because of a lack of advance clinical training. Given these epidemic proportions, there is a scope of further research about dental school curriculum design. Purpose: This study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude of dentists in Canada regarding signs and symptoms of child abuse and neglect (CAN), reporting procedures, and whether educational strategies followed by dental schools address this sensitive issue. In pursuit of that aim, this abstract summarizes the evidence related to this question. Materials and Methods: Data was collected through a specially designed questionnaire adapted and modified from the author’s previous cross-sectional study on (CAN), which was conducted in Pune, India, in 2016 and is available on the database of PubMed. Design: A random sample was drawn from the targeted population of registered dentists and dental students in Canada regarding their knowledge, professional responsibilities, and behavior concerning child abuse. Questionnaire data were distributed to 200 members. Out of which, a total number of 157 subjects were in the final sample for statistical analysis, yielding response of 78.5%. Results: Despite having theoretical information on signs and symptoms, 55% of the participants indicated they are not confident to detect child physical abuse cases. 90% of respondents believed that recognition and handling the CAN cases should be a part of undergraduate training. Only 4.5% of the participants have correctly identified all signs of abuse due to inadequate formal training in dental schools and workplaces. Although nearly 96.3% agreed that it is a dentist’s legal responsibility to report CAN, only a small percentage of the participants reported an abuse case in the past. While 72% stated that the most common factor that might prevent a dentist from reporting a case was doubt over the diagnosis. Conclusion: The goal is to motivate dental schools to deal with this critical issue and provide their students with consummate training to strengthen their capability to care for and protect children. The educational institutions should make efforts to spread awareness among dental students regarding the management and tackling of CAN. Clinical Significance: There should be modifications in the dental school curriculum focusing on problem-based learning models to assist graduates to fulfill their legal and professional responsibilities. CAN literacy should be incorporated into the dental curriculum, which will eventually benefit future dentists to break this intergenerational cycle of violence.

Keywords: abuse, child abuse and neglect, dentist knowledge, dental school curriculum, problem-based learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 200

Authors: Adriana Salgado, Sandra Castaneda, Ivan Perez

Abstract:

Learning to read and write is a complex process involving several cognitive skills, contextual, and cultural environments. The basis of this development is linguistic skills, such as the ability to name and understand vocabulary, retell a story, phonological awareness, letter knowledge, among others. In children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), one of the main concerns is related to language disorders. Nevertheless, most of the children with ASD are able to decode written information but have difficulties in reading comprehension. The research of these processes in the Spanish-speaking population is limited. However, the increasing prevalence of this diagnosis (1 in 115 children) in Mexico has implications at different levels. Educational research is an important area of interest in ASD children, such as emergent literacy. Reading and writing expand the possibilities of academic, cultural, and social information access. Taking this information into account, the objective of this research was to identify the relationship between language skills, alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, and early reading and writing in ASD Spanish-speaking children. The method used for this research was based on tasks that were selected, adapted and in some cases designed to measure initial reading and writing, as well as language skills (naming, receptive vocabulary, and narrative skills), phonological awareness (similar phonological word pairs, beginning sound awareness and spelling) and letter knowledge, in a sample of 45 children (38 boys and 7 girls) with prior diagnosis of ASD. Descriptive analyses, as well as bivariate correlations, cluster analysis, and canonical correspondence, were obtained for the data results. Results showed that variability was large; however, it was possible to characterize the sample in low, medium, and high score groups regarding children performance. The low score group (46.7% of the sample), had a null or deficient performance in language skills and phonological awareness, some could identify up to five letters of the alphabet, showed no early reading skills but they could scribble. The middle score group was characterized by a highly variable performance in different tasks, with better language skills in receptive and naming vocabulary, some narrative, letter knowledge, and phonological awareness (beginning sound awareness) skills. The high score group, (24.4% of the sample) had the best performance in language skills in relation to the sample data, as well as in the rest of the measured skills. Finally, scores were canonically correlated between naming, receptive vocabulary, narrative, phonological awareness, letter knowledge and initial learning of reading and writing skills for the high score group and letter knowledge, naming and receptive vocabulary for the lower score group, which is consistent with previous research in typical and ASD children. In conclusion, the obtained data is consistent with previous studies. Despite large variability, it was possible to identify performance profiles and relations based on linguistic, phonological awareness, and letter knowledge skills. These skills were predictor variables of the initial development of reading and writing. The above has implications for a future program and strategies development that may benefit the acquisition of reading and writing in ASD children.

Keywords: autism, autism spectrum disorders, early literacy, emergent literacy

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: Surita Maini, Sanjay Dhanka

Abstract:

Machine learning (ML) involves developing algorithms and statistical models that enable computers to learn and make predictions or decisions based on data without being explicitly programmed. Because of its unlimited abilities ML is gaining popularity in medical sectors; Medical Imaging, Electronic Health Records, Genomic Data Analysis, Wearable Devices, Disease Outbreak Prediction, Disease Diagnosis, etc. In the last few decades, many researchers have tried to diagnose Breast Cancer (BC) using ML, because early detection of any disease can save millions of lives. Working in this direction, the authors have proposed a hybrid ML technique RBF SVM, to predict the BC in earlier the stage. The proposed method is implemented on the Breast Cancer UCI ML dataset with 569 instances and 32 attributes. The authors recorded performance metrics of the proposed model i.e., Accuracy 98.24%, Sensitivity 98.67%, Specificity 97.43%, F1 Score 98.67%, Precision 98.67%, and run time 0.044769 seconds. The proposed method is validated by K-Fold cross-validation.

Keywords: breast cancer, support vector classifier, machine learning, hyper parameter tunning

Procedia PDF Downloads 67

Authors: Shripad Kulkarni

Abstract:

Plant disease is an impairment of the normal state of a plant that interrupts or modifies its vital functions. Disease occurs on different parts of plants and cause heavy losses. Diagnosis of Problem is very important before planning any management practice and this can be done based on appearance of the crop, examination of the root and examination of the soil. There are various types of diseases such as biotic (transmissible) which accounts for ~30% whereas , abiotic (not transmissible) diseases are the major one with ~70% incidence. Plant diseases caused by different groups of organism’s belonging fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes and few others have remained important in causing significant losses in different crops indicating the urgent need of their integrated management. Various factors favor disease development and different steps and methods are involved in management of diseases under protected condition. Management of diseases through botanicals and bioagents by modifying root and aerial environment, vector management along with care to be taken while managing the disease are analysed.

Keywords: organic production system, diseases, bioagents and polyhouse, agriculture

Procedia PDF Downloads 406

Authors: Meriche Hacene

Abstract:

Introduction: Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic immune-mediated enteropathy triggered by gluten found in wheat or oats or rye. Celiac disease is associated with the HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8 susceptibility alleles. This association with the HLA DQ2/DQ8 molecules confirmed the responsibility of genetic factors that intervene in the triggering of the autoimmune process of this condition. Objective: To evaluate the results of HLA DQ2 and HLA DQ8 typing of 40 patients suspected of having CD by PCR-SSP (Polymerase Chain Reaction Sequence Specific Primers). Material and method : 40 patients suspected of celiac disease with IgA transglutaminase serology (-) and duodenal biopsy (+). HLADR/DQ PCR-SSP (fluogen-innotrain) typing was carried out. Results : The average age of adults was 40 years, children: 4 years, the sex ratio was 1M/3F. In our patients the HLA DQ2 allele is found with a frequency of 75%, the DQ8 with a frequency of 25%, 17.5% were HLA-DQ2 homozygous and 15% were HLADQ2/HLADQ8. In our series, HLADQ2, DQ8 are found in almost all patients with a frequency of 95%. 30% of patients in our study had associated positivity of HLA-DRB3, DRB4 or DRB5 alleles. Conclusion : A high prevalence of positivity of HLADQ2 alleles at the expense of HLA DQ8 was found, which is consistent with literature data. These molecules constitute an additional marker for screening and diagnosis of CD.

Keywords: HLA typing, coeliac disease, HLA DQ 2, HLA DQ8

Procedia PDF Downloads 57

Authors: Eiji Nakamachi, Tsuyoshi Eguchi, Sayo Yamamoto, Yusuke Morita, H. Sakamoto

Abstract:

In this study, we aim to reveal the relationship between the meniscal tearing and the articular cartilage injury of knee joint by using the dynamic explicit finite element (FE) method. Meniscal injuries reduce its functional ability and consequently increase the load on the articular cartilage of knee joint. In order to prevent the induction of osteoarthritis (OA) caused by meniscal injuries, many medical treatment techniques, such as artificial meniscus replacement and meniscal regeneration, have been developed. However, it is reported that these treatments are not the comprehensive methods. In order to reveal the fundamental mechanism of OA induction, the mechanical characterization of meniscus under the condition of normal and injured states is carried out by using FE analyses. At first, a FE model of the human knee joint in the case of normal state – ‘intact’ - was constructed by using the magnetron resonance (MR) tomography images and the image construction code, Materialize Mimics. Next, two types of meniscal injury models with the radial tears of medial and lateral menisci were constructed. In FE analyses, the linear elastic constitutive law was adopted for the femur and tibia bones, the visco-hyperelastic constitutive law for the articular cartilage, and the visco-anisotropic hyperelastic constitutive law for the meniscus, respectively. Material properties of articular cartilage and meniscus were identified using the stress-strain curves obtained by our compressive and the tensile tests. The numerical results under the normal walking condition revealed how and where the maximum compressive stress occurred on the articular cartilage. The maximum compressive stress and its occurrence point were varied in the intact and two meniscal tear models. These compressive stress values can be used to establish the threshold value to cause the pathological change for the diagnosis. In this study, FE analyses of knee joint were carried out to reveal the influence of meniscal injuries on the cartilage injury. The following conclusions are obtained. 1. 3D FE model, which consists femur, tibia, articular cartilage and meniscus was constructed based on MR images of human knee joint. The image processing code, Materialize Mimics was used by using the tetrahedral FE elements. 2. Visco-anisotropic hyperelastic constitutive equation was formulated by adopting the generalized Kelvin model. The material properties of meniscus and articular cartilage were determined by curve fitting with experimental results. 3. Stresses on the articular cartilage and menisci were obtained in cases of the intact and two radial tears of medial and lateral menisci. Through comparison with the case of intact knee joint, two tear models show almost same stress value and higher value than the intact one. It was shown that both meniscal tears induce the stress localization in both medial and lateral regions. It is confirmed that our newly developed FE analysis code has a potential to be a new diagnostic system to evaluate the meniscal damage on the articular cartilage through the mechanical functional assessment.

Keywords: finite element analysis, hyperelastic constitutive law, knee joint injury, meniscal tear, stress concentration

Procedia PDF Downloads 246

Authors: P. S. Surya Meghana, K. Lingeshwaran, C. Kannan, V. Raghavendran, C. Priya

Abstract:

One of the most basic and powerful tools in all of science and medicine is the light microscope, the fundamental device for laboratory as well as research purposes. With the improving technology, the need for portable, economic and user-friendly instruments is in high demand. The conventional microscope fails to live up to the emerging trend. Also, adequate access to healthcare is not widely available, especially in developing countries. The most basic step towards the curing of a malady is the diagnosis of the disease itself. The main aim of this paper is to diagnose Malaria with the most common device, cell phones, which prove to be the immediate solution for most of the modern day needs with the development of wireless infrastructure allowing to compute and communicate on the move. This opened up the opportunity to develop novel imaging, sensing, and diagnostics platforms using mobile phones as an underlying platform to address the global demand for accurate, sensitive, cost-effective, and field-portable measurement devices for use in remote and resource-limited settings around the world.

Keywords: cellular, hand-held, health care, image processing, malarial parasites, microscope

Procedia PDF Downloads 267