Estimation of Weighted Extropy with Focus on Its Use in Reliability Modeling.

In the literature, estimation of weighted extropy is infrequently considered. In this paper, some non-parametric estimators of weighted extropy are given. The validation and comparison of the estimators are implemented with the help of simulation study and data illustration.

A Retrospective Cohort Evaluation of Left Ventricular Remodeling, Perioperative Complications and Outcome in Medium and Large Size Dogs with Patent Ductus Arteriosus after Percutaneous Closure.

This retrospective cohort study included one hundred fifty-seven medium and large-size dogs with the aim of evaluating the effect of signalment and echocardiographic features on complications, outcomes and left ventricular modifications before and after patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) closure. The patients were divided in two groups based on the heart remodeling after closure: Group A included dogs that had a reduction in the end-systolic volume index (ESVI) after closure compared to the ESVI measured before; Group B included dogs without a reduction in ESVI after closure. Body weight, minimal ductal diameter (MDD) of PDA, end-diastolic volume index and presence of arrhythmias at presentation were significantly higher in Group B compared to Group A.

Weighted Cumulative Past Extropy and Its Inference.

This paper introduces and studies a new generalization of cumulative past extropy called weighted cumulative past extropy (WCPJ) for continuous random variables. We explore the following: if the WCPJs of the last order statistic are equal for two distributions, then these two distributions will be equal. We examine some properties of the WCPJ, and a number of inequalities involving bounds for WCPJ are obtained.

Jensen-Inaccuracy Information Measure.

The purpose of the paper is to introduce the Jensen-inaccuracy measure and examine its properties. Furthermore, some results on the connections between the inaccuracy and Jensen-inaccuracy measures and some other well-known information measures are provided. Moreover, in three different optimization problems, the arithmetic mixture distribution provides optimal information based on the inaccuracy information measure.

Reconceptualizing Somatic Dysfunction in the Light of a Neuroaesthetic Enactive Paradigm.

Palpatory findings are considered a central element of osteopathic practice, especially when associated with a patient's altered regulative functions than with named somatic dysfunctions. Although osteopathic theories for somatic dysfunction could be plausible, the clinical applicability of the concept is debated, especially because it is largely related to simple cause-effect models of osteopathic care. In contrast to a linear kind of diagnosis of a "tissue as a producer of symptoms", this perspective article aims to provide a conceptual and operational framework in which the somatic dysfunction evaluation process is seen as a neuroaesthetic (en)active encounter between osteopath and patient.

Kernel Estimation of Cumulative Residual Tsallis Entropy and Its Dynamic Version under -Mixing Dependent Data.

Tsallis introduced a non-logarithmic generalization of Shannon entropy, namely Tsallis entropy, which is non-extensive. Sati and Gupta proposed cumulative residual information based on this non-extensive entropy measure, namely cumulative residual Tsallis entropy (CRTE), and its dynamic version, namely dynamic cumulative residual Tsallis entropy (DCRTE). In the present paper, we propose non-parametric kernel type estimators for CRTE and DCRTE where the considered observations exhibit an ρ-mixing dependence condition.

Tailored versus fixed scan delay in contrast-enhanced abdominal multi-detector CT: An intra-patient comparison of image quality.

Purpose: To perform anintra-patient comparison betweena single-pass protocol (SP) and a portal venous phase (PVP) by means ofboth quantitative and qualitative analysis of image quality.

Methods: Forty patients (31 M; 9F; aged 20-77 years; BMI 23 ± 4 Kg/m) underwent both a SP and a PVP using a 64-rows multi-detector CT with a median interval time of 56 days (range5-903). All patients underwent i.

Fractional Deng Entropy and Extropy and Some Applications.

Deng entropy and extropy are two measures useful in the Dempster-Shafer evidence theory (DST) to study uncertainty, following the idea that extropy is the dual concept of entropy. In this paper, we present their fractional versions named fractional Deng entropy and extropy and compare them to other measures in the framework of DST. Here, we study the maximum for both of them and give several examples.

A Dual Measure of Uncertainty: The Deng Extropy.

The extropy has recently been introduced as the dual concept of entropy. Moreover, in the context of the Dempster-Shafer evidence theory, Deng studied a new measure of discrimination, named the Deng entropy. In this paper, we define the Deng extropy and study its relation with Deng entropy, and examples are proposed in order to compare them.

What nursing home environment can maximise eating independence among residents with cognitive impairment? Findings from a secondary analysis.

To explore the influence of the Nursing Home (NH) environment on eating independence while taking into account individual and nursing care factors, was the aim of the study. A secondary analysis was performed based on data collected in a multicentre prospective observational study involving 13 NHs. Residents aged >65 were included (n = 1,027).

A path analysis on the direct and indirect effects of the unit environment on eating dependence among cognitively impaired nursing home residents.

Background: This study aims to estimate the direct and indirect effects of the unit environment alongside individual and nursing care variables on eating dependence among residents who are cognitively impaired and living in a nursing home.

Method: A multicentre observational study was carried out in 2017: 13 Italian nursing homes were involved in data collection. Included residents were aged > 65 at baseline, living in the considered facility for the last 6 months and during the entire study period and having received at least one comprehensive assessment.

The assessment of pulmonary vein potentials using the new achieve advance during cryoballoon ablation of atrial fibrillation.

Background: The new version of inner lumen mapping catheter (Achieve Advance™; Medtronic, Minnesota, USA) includes a new solid core which provides improved rotational response, as compared to the current Achieve Mapping Catheter. In the present study, we sought to analyze the rate of visualisation of real-time recordings using this new device comparing it with a large cohort of patients having undergone second generation cryoballoon (CB) ablation using the previous Achieve mapping catheter.

Methods: All patients having undergone CB ablation using the Achieve Advance and the last 150 consecutive patients having undergone CB ablation using the previous Achieve were analysed.

Quantitative magnetic force microscopy using calibration on superconducting flux quanta.

We present a new procedure that takes advantage of the magnetic flux quantization of superconducting vortices to calibrate the magnetic properties of tips for magnetic force microscopy (MFM). Indeed, a superconducting vortex, whose quantized flux is dependent upon Plank constant, speed of light and electron charge, behaves as a very well defined magnetic reference object. The proposed calibration procedure has been tested on new and worn tips and shows that the monopole point-like approximation of the probe is a reliable model.

A Global MicroRNA Profile in Fanconi Anemia: A Pilot Study.

Purpose: Fanconi anemia (FA) is a complex tumor-prone disease defined by an entangled genotype and phenotype. Despite enormous efforts in the last 20 years, a comprehensive and integrated view of the disease is still missing. The aim of this pilot study was to establish whether a global microRNA (miRNA) analysis approach could be helpful in defining aspects in FA phenotype, which might deserve future attention with the perspective to develop miRNA-based therapies.

Relative lymphocyte count as an indicator of 3-year mortality in elderly people with severe COPD.

Background: Prognostic stratification of elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is difficult due to the wide inter-individual variability in the course of the disease. No marker can exactly stratify the evolution and natural history of COPD patients. Studies have shown that leukocyte count is associated with increased risk of mortality in COPD patients.

Release of MicroRNAs into Body Fluids from Ten Organs of Mice Exposed to Cigarette Smoke.

: MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression, thereby playing a role in a variety of physiological and pathophysiological states. Exposure to cigarette smoke extensively downregulates microRNA expression in pulmonary cells of mice, rats, and humans. Cellular microRNAs are released into body fluids, but a poor parallelism was previously observed between lung microRNAs and circulating microRNAs.

Acute pericarditis following second-generation cryoballoon ablation for atrial fibrillation.

Purpose: Acute pericarditis is a minor complication following atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation procedures. The aim of the study was to evaluate the incidence and clinical aspects of pericarditis following cryoballoon (CB) ablation of AF investigating a possible association with procedural characteristics and a possible relationship with post-ablation recurrences.

Methods: Four hundred fifty consecutive patients (male 73%, age 59.

Early and late effects of aspirin and naproxen on microRNAs in the lung and blood of mice, either unexposed or exposed to cigarette smoke.

We recently showed that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are able to inhibit the lung tumors induced by cigarette smoke, either mainstream (MCS) or environmental (ECS), in female mice. We used subsets of mice to analyze the expression of 1135 microRNAs in both lung and blood serum, as related to the whole-body exposure to smoke and/or oral administration of either aspirin or naproxen. In a first study, we evaluated early microRNA alterations in A/J mice exposed to ECS for 10 weeks, starting at birth, and/or treated with NSAIDs for 6 weeks, starting after weaning.

Comparison of the Incidences of Complications After Second-Generation Cryoballoon Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation Using Vitamin K Antagonists Versus Novel Oral Anticoagulants.

Data evaluating the impact of the periprocedural administration of novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) on complications in the setting of pulmonary vein (PV) isolation using cryoballoon (CB) is limited. In the present study, our aim was to analyze procedural characteristics and incidence of complications in those patients who underwent CB ablation for atrial fibrillation and the impact of NOACs on adverse events compared with vitamin K antagonists (VKAs). Consecutive patients with drug resistant atrial fibrillation who underwent PV isolation by CB as index procedure were retrospectively included in our analysis.

Exercise training effects on elderly and middle-age patients with chronic heart failure after acute decompensation: A randomized, controlled trial.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of exercise training on cardiac function in heart failure (HF) patients recently suffering from acute decompensation. Radionuclide ambulatory ventricular function monitoring (VEST) was used to detect variations in cardiac hemodynamics during training period.

Methods: This was a monocentric, randomized, controlled trial.

Blood and lung microRNAs as biomarkers of pulmonary tumorigenesis in cigarette smoke-exposed mice.

Cigarette smoke (CS) is known to dysregulate microRNA expression profiles in the lungs of mice, rats, and humans, thereby modulating several pathways involved in lung carcinogenesis and other CS-related diseases. We designed a study aimed at evaluating (a) the expression of 1135 microRNAs in the lung of Swiss H mice exposed to mainstream CS during the first 4 months of life and thereafter kept in filtered air for an additional 3.5 months, (b) the relationship between lung microRNA profiles and histopathological alterations in the lung, (c) intergender differences in microRNA expression, and (d) the comparison with microRNA profiles in blood serum.

Microarray expression in peri-implant tissue next to different titanium implant surfaces predicts clinical outcomes: a split-mouth study.

Objectives: This split-mouth study evaluated miRNA expression of tissues around implants with different surface treatments.

Material And Methods: Each patient of the sample (five men and five women) received two implants (one control and one test) into an edentulous quadrant to support fixed partial dentures. The control implants (Osseotite) had a dual acid-etched (DAE) surface in the apical portion and a machined coronal part, test implants (Full Osseotite, FOSS) were completely DAE.