Ocular Surface Disease and Dry Eye Severity in Glaucoma Patients at Urban Private Eye Care Centres in Malaysia.

Background: Ocular surface disease (OSD) severity varies among glaucoma patients and is exacerbated by intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering medications.

Purpose: To determine OSD prevalence and dry eye severity among glaucoma patients at nine private clinics in Malaysia.

Methods: This multicentre, cross-sectional observational study recruited glaucoma patients undergoing routine eye examinations, with IOP ≤21mmHg receiving anti-glaucoma eye drops.

Perceptions of Selected Undergraduate Medical Students in the Philippines on the Effectiveness of the Combined Use of Plastinated and Formalin-preserved Brains in Neuroanatomy Education: A Cross-sectional Study.

Background And Objective: Neuroanatomy is both terrifying to learn and problematic to teach, and the different methods of neuroanatomical education have their own strengths and weaknesses. In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated the perception of undergraduate medical students towards the combined use of plastinated and formalin-preserved brain specimen in their neuroanatomy course.

Methods: A bridging program was designed for students whose medical education was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in order to reinforce the knowledge and understanding of anatomy that they acquired in a virtual environment.

Student Evaluation of a Learning Enhancement in Anatomy Program (LEAP) during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Study.

Background And Objective: The pandemic acted as an accelerator for the development of online teaching formats in anatomy and histology worldwide. The authors introduce a bridging program that reinforces the knowledge and understanding of gross and correlative anatomy and histology acquired in a virtual environment in preparation for its future clinical application. The study aims to evaluate the Learning Enhancement in Anatomy Program (LEAP) conducted among first-year medical students at the College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila.

Deep Learning and Neural Architecture Search for Optimizing Binary Neural Network Image Super Resolution.

The evolution of super-resolution (SR) technology has seen significant advancements through the adoption of deep learning methods. However, the deployment of such models by resource-constrained devices necessitates models that not only perform efficiently, but also conserve computational resources. Binary neural networks (BNNs) offer a promising solution by minimizing the data precision to binary levels, thus reducing the computational complexity and memory requirements.

Binary Neural Networks in FPGAs: Architectures, Tool Flows and Hardware Comparisons.

Binary neural networks (BNNs) are variations of artificial/deep neural network (ANN/DNN) architectures that constrain the real values of weights to the binary set of numbers {-1,1}. By using binary values, BNNs can convert matrix multiplications into bitwise operations, which accelerates both training and inference and reduces hardware complexity and model sizes for implementation. Compared to traditional deep learning architectures, BNNs are a good choice for implementation in resource-constrained devices like FPGAs and ASICs.

[Consensus recommendations on regional interdisciplinary standardization of MRI diagnostics for multiple sclerosis in the metropolitan area of Essen].

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is of exceptional importance in the diagnostics and monitoring of multiple sclerosis (MS); however, a close interdisciplinary cooperation between neurologists in private practice, (neuro)radiological practices, hospitals or specialized MS centers is only rarely established. In particular, there is a lack of standardized MRI protocols for image acquisition as well as established quality parameters, which guarantee the comparability of MRI records; however, this is a fundamental prerequisite for an effective application of MRI in the treatment of MS patients, e.g.

Youth Mobile Response and Stabilization Services: Factors Associated with Multiple Episodes of Care.

Mobile response and stabilization services (MRSS) provide short-term, community-based, care to individuals in crisis. Minimal studies have explored which factors are associated with multiple episodes of MRSS care. We used a retrospective cohort design of MRSS electronic health records to explore demographic and clinical characteristics associated with multiple episodes of care among 2,641 youth ages 5-21 years old in New York, USA.

Extracapsular Resection of Pituitary Adenomas: A Systematic Review.

There is considerable variation in the surgical techniques for transsphenoidal excision of pituitary tumors. Recently, an extracapsular method has been developed that involves using the tumor pseudocapsule as a dissection plane to increase the extent of resection. This review assessed the outcomes of this new approach as compared with standard transsphenoidal surgery.

Lifestyles Under Lockdown: A Scoping Review of International Studies on Type 2 Diabetes Self-Management Behaviors During COVID-19.

Background: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on diabetes self-management behaviors is unclear.

Objectives: This paper is a scoping review of studies examining health behaviors among people with type 2 diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eligibility Criteria: We searched articles available in English using the Search terms "COVID" and "diabetes", and, separately, each of the following terms: "lifestyle", "health behavior", "self-care", "self-management", "adherence", "compliance", "eating", "diet", "physical activity", "exercise", "sleep", "self-monitoring of blood glucose", or "continuous glucose monitoring".

Swarm Intelligence Internet of Vehicles Approaches for Opportunistic Data Collection and Traffic Engineering in Smart City Waste Management.

Recent studies have shown the efficacy of mobile elements in optimizing the energy consumption of sensor nodes. Current data collection approaches for waste management applications focus on exploiting IoT-enabled technologies. However, these techniques are no longer sustainable in the context of smart city (SC) waste management applications due to the emergence of large-scale wireless sensor networks (LS-WSNs) in smart cities with sensor-based big data architectures.

Multimodal Sensor-Input Architecture with Deep Learning for Audio-Visual Speech Recognition in Wild.

This paper investigates multimodal sensor architectures with deep learning for audio-visual speech recognition, focusing on in-the-wild scenarios. The term "in the wild" is used to describe AVSR for unconstrained natural-language audio streams and video-stream modalities. Audio-visual speech recognition (AVSR) is a speech-recognition task that leverages both an audio input of a human voice and an aligned visual input of lip motions.

Drone-Based Environmental Monitoring and Image Processing Approaches for Resource Estimates of Private Native Forest.

This paper investigated the utility of drone-based environmental monitoring to assist with forest inventory in Queensland private native forests (PNF). The research aimed to build capabilities to carry out forest inventory more efficiently without the need to rely on laborious field assessments. The use of drone-derived images and the subsequent application of digital photogrammetry to obtain information about PNFs are underinvestigated in southeast Queensland vegetation types.

Psychological distress and health behaviours among Cambodian Americans at risk for developing diabetes.

This paper reports secondary data analysis of associations between psychological distress and health behaviours among Cambodian Americans. Data are from baseline assessments from a diabetes prevention trial. All participants met stucriteria for depression and were free of diabetes.

The gene order in the nuo-operon is not essential for the assembly of E. coli complex I.

Energy-converting NADH: ubiquinone oxidoreductase, respiratory complex I, plays an important role in cellular energy metabolism. Bacterial complex I is generally composed of 14 different subunits, seven of which are membranous and the other seven are globular proteins. They are encoded by the nuo-operon, whose gene order is strictly conserved in bacteria.

Exposure to Starvation: Associations with HbA1c, Anthropometrics, and Trauma Symptoms Four Decades Later Among Cambodians Resettled in the USA.

Background: Epidemiological data suggest that populations exposed to starvation show increased incidence of type 2 diabetes but these studies are limited by lack of person-level data. Cambodians resettled in the USA survived severe malnutrition during distinct historical eras. We examined the relationship of individual exposure to starvation with current HbA1c, anthropometrics, and trauma symptoms among Cambodian Americans.

Risk factors for early childhood growth faltering in rural Cambodia: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: This study aimed to determine risk factors of growth faltering by assessing childhood nutrition and household water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) variables and their association with nutritional status of children under 24 months in rural Cambodia.

Design: We conducted surveys in 491 villages (clusters) randomised across 55 rural communes in Cambodia in September 2016 to measure associations between child, household and community-level risk factors for stunting and length-for-age z-score (LAZ). We measured 4036 children under 24 months of age from 3877 households (491 clusters).

Sediment characteristics and environmental quality assessment in Kompong Som Bay, Cambodia.

The grain size and heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Cd, and Hg) in 42 seafloor and eight river sediments from the Kompong Som Bay of Cambodia were analyzed to identify sediment characteristics and environmental quality. The high-value areas for all the metals were mainly distributed in the northern and central parts of the bay, occupied by fine-grained sediments. There was slightly to moderately severe enrichment of Pb, Cd, and Hg in the southern and western coastal areas of Sihanoukville.

Financial Risk Protection for Neurosurgical Care in Indonesia and the Philippines: A Primer on Health Financing for the Global Neurosurgeon.

Which conditions treated by neurosurgeons cause the worst economic hardship in low middle-income in countries? How can public health financing be responsive to the inequities in the delivery of neurosurgical care? This review article frames the objectives of equity, quality, and efficiency in health financing to the goals of global neurosurgery. In order to glean provider perspectives on the affordability of neurosurgical care in low-resource settings, we did a survey of neurosurgeons from Indonesia and the Philippines and identified that the care of socioeconomically disadvantaged patients with malignant intracranial tumors were found to incur the highest out-of-pocket expenses. Additionally, the surveyed neurosurgeons also observed that treatment of traumatic brain injury may have to require greater financial subsidies.

Global Surgery Indicators and Pediatric Hydrocephalus: A Multicenter Cross-Country Comparative Study Building the Case for Health System Strengthening.

The aim of this study is to compare specific three-institution, cross-country data that are relevant to the Global Surgery indicators and the functioning of health systems. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical and socioeconomic characteristics of pediatric patients who underwent cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diversion surgery for hydrocephalus in three different centers: the University of Tsukuba Hospital in Ibaraki, Japan (HIC), the Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center in Manila, Philippines [low-to-middle-income country (LMIC)], and the Federal Neurosurgical Center in Novosibirsk, Russia (UMIC).

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to examine the safety, pharmacokinetics and effects of Epimedium prenylflavonoids, on bone specific alkaline phosphatase and the osteoclast adaptor protein TRAF6 in post-menopausal women.

Background: Fragility fractures due to menopausal osteoporosis are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Osteoporotic medications have substantial side effects that limit long term use.

Hypotheses: Ingestion of a purified extract of Epimedium spp.

Biometrics-based Internet of Things and Big data design framework.

Application Specific Internet of Things (ASIoTs) has recently been proposed to address specific requirements for IoT. The objective of this paper is to serve as a framework for the design of ASIoTs using biometrics as the application. This paper provides comprehensive discussions for an ASIoT architecture considering the requirements for biometrics-based security, multimedia content and Big data applications.

Mathematical modeling and mining real-world Big education datasets with application to curriculum mapping.

This paper proposes an approach for modeling and mining curriculum Big data from real-world education datasets crawled online from university websites in Australia. It addresses the scenario to give a student a study plan to complete a course by accumulating credits on top of subjects he or she has completed. One challenge to be addressed is that subjects with similar bs from different universities may put barriers for setting up a reasonable, time-saving learning path because the student may be unable to distinguish them before an intensive research on all subjects related to the degree from the universities.

Computer modelling of heat strain responses of exercising personnel in tropical climate.

Physiologically based thermoregulatory models are useful for deriving predictions of heat strain for pragmatic applications such as planning of continuous exercise/work-rest protocols. The SCENARIO model is an example of a thermoregulatory model that predicts heat strain including body core temperature (Tc) from individual characteristics, physical activity, clothing properties and environmental conditions. This paper presents work to optimize and enhance the SCENARIO model for prediction of Tc during high intensity load carriage tasks under predominantly tropical climate conditions.