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Scientific Reports Jun 2024Lead-free halide double perovskite CsAgInCl has been extensively studied in recent years due to the lead toxicity and poor stability of common lead halide perovskites....
Lead-free halide double perovskite CsAgInCl has been extensively studied in recent years due to the lead toxicity and poor stability of common lead halide perovskites. In this study, sodium (Na) and bismuth (Bi) doped into CsAgInCl double perovskite, then CsAgNaInBiCl films with broadband warm-yellow emissions were achieved by the blade coating method. Herein, Na and Bi content were changed as variables at a series of parameter optimization experiments, respectively. In the CsAgNaInBiCl systems, Na broke the parity-forbidden transition of CsAgInCl, and Bi suppressed non-radiative recombination. The partial replacement of Ag with Na ions and doping with Bi cations were crucial for increasing the intensity of the PL emission. The experimental results showed that the photoluminescence quantum yield of the CsAgNaInBiCl film was 66.38%, which was the highest data among all samples. It demonstrated remarkable stability under heat and ultraviolet conditions. After five thermal cycles, the PL intensity of the CsAgNaInBiCl film is only reduced to approximately 5.7% of the initial value. After 720 h continuous ultraviolet irradiation, there occurred 31.9% emission decay of the film.
PubMed: 38926459
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-65492-5 -
Journal of Biomedical Informatics Jun 2024Despite increased availability of methodologies to identify algorithmic bias, the operationalization of bias evaluation for healthcare predictive models is still...
OBJECTIVE
Despite increased availability of methodologies to identify algorithmic bias, the operationalization of bias evaluation for healthcare predictive models is still limited. Therefore, this study proposes a process for bias evaluation through an empirical assessment of common hospital readmission models. The process includes selecting bias measures, interpretation, determining disparity impact and potential mitigations.
METHODS
This retrospective analysis evaluated racial bias of four common models predicting 30-day unplanned readmission (i.e., LACE Index, HOSPITAL Score, and the CMS readmission measure applied as is and retrained). The models were assessed using 2.4 million adult inpatient discharges in Maryland from 2016 to 2019. Fairness metrics that are model-agnostic, easy to compute, and interpretable were implemented and apprised to select the most appropriate bias measures. The impact of changing model's risk thresholds on these measures was further assessed to guide the selection of optimal thresholds to control and mitigate bias.
RESULTS
Four bias measures were selected for the predictive task: zero-one-loss difference, false negative rate (FNR) parity, false positive rate (FPR) parity, and generalized entropy index. Based on these measures, the HOSPITAL score and the retrained CMS measure demonstrated the lowest racial bias. White patients showed a higher FNR while Black patients resulted in a higher FPR and zero-one-loss. As the models' risk threshold changed, trade-offs between models' fairness and overall performance were observed, and the assessment showed all models' default thresholds were reasonable for balancing accuracy and bias.
CONCLUSIONS
This study proposes an Applied Framework to Assess Fairness of Predictive Models (AFAFPM) and demonstrates the process using 30-day hospital readmission model as the example. It suggests the feasibility of applying algorithmic bias assessment to determine optimized risk thresholds so that predictive models can be used more equitably and accurately. It is evident that a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods and a multidisciplinary team are necessary to identify, understand and respond to algorithm bias in real-world healthcare settings. Users should also apply multiple bias measures to ensure a more comprehensive, tailored, and balanced view. The results of bias measures, however, must be interpreted with caution and consider the larger operational, clinical, and policy context.
PubMed: 38925281
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbi.2024.104683 -
Reproduction in Domestic Animals =... Jun 2024Evaluation of the metabolic profile indices allows early detection and treatment of various metabolic disorders during the transition period in ewes. This study aimed to...
Evaluation of the metabolic profile indices allows early detection and treatment of various metabolic disorders during the transition period in ewes. This study aimed to determine the variations in the blood metabolites around lambing in Ossimi ewes. The blood metabolites were investigated in ewes with single (n = 27) and multiple (n = 9) lambs at 3- and 1-week pre-lambing and 3-week post-lambing. The plasma concentrations of glucose were higher in single-bearing ewes than those in multiple-bearing ewes (p < .05), moreover, its lowest value was measured at 1-week prepartum in both groups. Throughout the study period, the serum concentrations of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) were significantly increased in ewes with multiple lambs compared to ewes with single lambs (p < .05), and the highest value was found at 1-week before parturition in both groups. In addition, the serum level of beta-hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA) was higher at 3-week postpartum, and it was significantly increased in multiple-bearing ewes than that in single-bearing ones (p < .05) at 3-week pre-lambing. In both groups, the lowest values of total proteins were determined 1-week before lambing, and its concentrations, at 3- and 1-week prepartum, were higher in ewes with single lambs than those with multiple lambs (p < .05). In contrast, the serum concentrations of albumin were significantly lowered 1-week postpartum (p < .05), and without significant differences between both groups (p > .05). The serum activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) were significantly increased at 1-week after parturition in both groups (p < .05). Furthermore, the serum activities of AST were higher in multiple-bearing ewes than those in single-bearing ones at 3-week pre-lambing and 3-week post-lambing (p < .05). Variable positive and negative correlations were determined among the blood metabolites. In conclusion, physiological adaptations are associated with the fluctuation of the blood metabolites around lambing. The higher the number of foetuses the higher the metabolic variations in Ossimi ewes. Therefore, regular metabolic profiling for health monitoring may be necessary to avoid disease development during the transition period.
Topics: Animals; Female; Pregnancy; Fatty Acids, Nonesterified; Blood Glucose; 3-Hydroxybutyric Acid; Sheep, Domestic; Postpartum Period; Sheep; Parturition; Parity
PubMed: 38924155
DOI: 10.1111/rda.14649 -
PloS One 2024Maternal disorders are the third leading cause of sepsis globally, accounting for 5.7 million (12%) cases in 2017. There are increasing concerns about the emergence of...
INTRODUCTION
Maternal disorders are the third leading cause of sepsis globally, accounting for 5.7 million (12%) cases in 2017. There are increasing concerns about the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria commonly causing maternal sepsis. Our aim is to describe the protocol for a clinical and microbiology laboratory study to understand risk factors for and the bacterial etiology of maternal sepsis in a tertiary Obstetrics and Gynaecology Hospital.
METHODS
This case-control study aims to recruit 100 cases and 200 controls at Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, which had approximately 55,000 births in 2022. Women aged ≥ 18 years and ≥ 28 weeks gestation having a singleton birth will be eligible for inclusion as cases or controls, unless they have an uncomplicated localised or chronic infection, or an infection with SARS-CoV-2. Cases will include pregnant or recently pregnant women with sepsis recognised between the onset of labour and/or time of delivery/cessation of pregnancy for up to 42 days post-partum. Sepsis will be defined as suspected or confirmed infection with an obstetrically modified Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score of ≥ 2, treatment with intravenous antimicrobials and requested cultures of any bodily fluid. Controls will be matched by age, location, parity, mode of delivery and gestational age. Primary and secondary outcomes are risk factors associated with the development of maternal sepsis, the frequency of adverse outcomes due to maternal sepsis, bacterial etiology and AMR profiles of cases and controls.
DISCUSSION
This study will improve understanding of the epidemiology and clinical implications of maternal sepsis management including the presence of AMR in women giving birth in Vietnam. It will help us to determine whether women in this setting are receiving optimal care and to identify opportunities for improvement.
Topics: Humans; Female; Pregnancy; Case-Control Studies; Risk Factors; Sepsis; Vietnam; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; Adult; Anti-Bacterial Agents
PubMed: 38924013
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305411 -
European Journal of Physical and... Jun 2024Persistent non-specific neck pain (NP) is a widespread condition described as a complex biopsychosocial disorder, characterized by physical and psychological symptoms....
BACKGROUND
Persistent non-specific neck pain (NP) is a widespread condition described as a complex biopsychosocial disorder, characterized by physical and psychological symptoms. Virtual reality (VR) shows promise in NP treatment, potentially reducing pain, kinesiophobia, and improving range of motion (ROM) and motor control.
AIM
The primary aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of VR sensorimotor training, combined with manual therapy, in reducing the level of disability in persistent non-specific NP individuals. The secondary aim was to determine if this VR-enhanced approach also contributes to improvement in overall function, pain perception and kinesiophobia.
DESIGN
Monocentric, single-blind, randomized controlled trial.
SETTING
We conducted this trial at San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Department of Rehabilitation and Functional Recovery, Milan, Italy.
POPULATION
Forty NP participants were enrolled in the study and randomly allocated into two groups.
METHODS
The study involved a 6-week rehabilitation program, comprising 12 sessions of 45 minutes each, twice weekly. Both intervention groups underwent manual therapy as a consistent component of their treatment. The Experimental Group (VRT) was additionally engaged in sensorimotor rehabilitation exercises using Virtual Reality, whereas the Control Group (CT) performed the same exercises without VR. We assessed subjects at baseline (T0) and after six weeks of rehabilitation (T1). The primary outcome was the disability (Neck Disability Index) while the secondary outcomes were: pain perception (Numeric Rating Scale, NP and Disability Scale, Central Sensitization Inventory) function (Cervical Kinematics) and kinesiophobia (Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia).
RESULTS
Both groups demonstrated significant reduction in level of disability, pain perception, and kinesiophobia. Significant advancements in kinematics were observed: VRT group showed enhanced ROM during craniocervical rotation (P=0.039), lateral bending (P=0.001), flexion-extension (P=0.009), and mean velocity across movements (P<0.001), whereas CT group improved in maximal ROM during lateral bending rotation (P=0.001). Between-group analysis, after Bonferroni's correction for multiple comparisons, revealed that VRT group had significantly better outcomes in ROM during rotation (P=0.040), ratio of the primary over the secondary movement while performing rotation (P=0.021), and mean velocity during lateral bending (P=0.031).
CONCLUSIONS
Sensorimotor training, combined with manual therapy, could enhance kinematic outcomes for NP patients, supporting the potential of VR in rehabilitation.
CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT
This study highlighted that both groups demonstrated significant reduction in level of disability, pain perception, and kinesiophobia after sensorimotor training combined with manual therapy. It is important to underscore that in terms of reducing the level of neck disability, both interventions proved to be equally effective. This parity in efficacy is a critical finding, reaffirming the robustness of our therapeutic approaches for this specific outcome.
PubMed: 38922315
DOI: 10.23736/S1973-9087.24.08115-2 -
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024The complexity in stock index futures markets, influenced by the intricate interplay of human behavior, is characterized as nonlinearity and dynamism, contributing to...
The complexity in stock index futures markets, influenced by the intricate interplay of human behavior, is characterized as nonlinearity and dynamism, contributing to significant uncertainty in long-term price forecasting. While machine learning models have demonstrated their efficacy in stock price forecasting, they rely solely on historical price data, which, given the inherent volatility and dynamic nature of financial markets, are insufficient to address the complexity and uncertainty in long-term forecasting due to the limited connection between historical and forecasting prices. This paper introduces a pioneering approach that integrates financial theory with advanced deep learning methods to enhance predictive accuracy and risk management in China's stock index futures market. The SF-Transformer model, combining spot-forward parity and the Transformer model, is proposed to improve forecasting accuracy across short and long-term horizons. Formulated upon the arbitrage-free futures pricing model, the spot-forward parity model offers variables such as stock index price, risk-free rate, and stock index dividend yield for forecasting. Our insight is that the mutual information generated by these variables has the potential to significantly reduce uncertainty in long-term forecasting. A case study on predicting major stock index futures prices in China demonstrates the superiority of the SF-Transformer model over models based on LSTM, MLP, and the stock index futures arbitrage-free pricing model, covering both short and long-term forecasting up to 28 days. Unlike existing machine learning models, the Transformer processes entire time series concurrently, leveraging its attention mechanism to discern intricate dependencies and capture long-range relationships, thereby offering a holistic understanding of time series data. An enhancement of mutual information is observed after introducing spot-forward parity in the forecasting. The variation of mutual information and ablation study results highlights the significant contributions of spot-forward parity, particularly to the long-term forecasting. Overall, these findings highlight the SF-Transformer model's efficacy in leveraging spot-forward parity for reducing uncertainty and advancing robust and comprehensive approaches in long-term stock index futures price forecasting.
PubMed: 38920487
DOI: 10.3390/e26060478 -
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024In digital baseband processing, the forward error correction (FEC) unit belongs to the most demanding components in terms of computational complexity and power...
In digital baseband processing, the forward error correction (FEC) unit belongs to the most demanding components in terms of computational complexity and power consumption. Hence, efficient implementation of FEC decoders is crucial for next-generation mobile broadband standards and an ongoing research topic. Quantization has a significant impact on the decoder area, power consumption and throughput. Thus, lower bit widths are preferred for efficient implementations but degrade the error correction capability. To address this issue, a non-uniform quantization based on the Information Bottleneck (IB) method is proposed that enables a low bit width while maintaining the essential information. Many investigations on the use of the IB method for Low-density parity-check code) LDPC decoders exist and have shown its advantages from an implementation perspective. However, for polar code decoder implementations, there exists only one publication that is not based on the state-of-the-art Fast Simplified Successive-Cancellation (Fast-SSC) decoding algorithm, and only synthesis implementation results without energy estimation are shown. In contrast, our paper presents several optimized Fast-SSC polar code decoder implementations using IB-based quantization with placement and routing results using advanced 12 nm FinFET technology. Gains of up to 16% in area and 13% in energy efficiency are achieved with IB-based quantization at a Frame Error Rate (FER) of 10-7 and a polar code of N=1024,R=0.5 compared to state-of-the-art decoders.
PubMed: 38920471
DOI: 10.3390/e26060462 -
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024In this review, the concepts of quantum tunneling and parity violation are introduced in the context of chiral molecules. A particle moving in a double well potential...
In this review, the concepts of quantum tunneling and parity violation are introduced in the context of chiral molecules. A particle moving in a double well potential provides a good model to study the behavior of chiral molecules, where the left well and right well represent the and enantiomers, respectively. If the model considers the quantum behavior of matter, the concept of quantum tunneling emerges, giving place to stereomutation dynamics between left- and right-handed chiral molecules. Parity-violating interactions, like the electroweak one, can be also considered, making possible the existence of an energy difference between the and enantiomers, the so-called parity-violating energy difference (PVED). Here we provide a brief account of some theoretical methods usually employed to calculate this PVED, also commenting on relevant experiments devoted to experimentally detect the aforementioned PVED in chiral molecules. Finally, we comment on some ways of solving the so-called Hund's paradox, with emphasis on mean-field theory and decoherence.
PubMed: 38920465
DOI: 10.3390/e26060456 -
Proceedings. Biological Sciences Jun 2024The goal of measuring conceptual processing in numerical cognition is distanced by the possibility that neural responses to symbolic numerals are influenced by physical...
The goal of measuring conceptual processing in numerical cognition is distanced by the possibility that neural responses to symbolic numerals are influenced by physical stimulus confounds. Here, we targeted conceptual responses to parity (even versus odd), using electroencephalogram (EEG) frequency-tagging with a symmetry/asymmetry design. Arabic numerals (2-9) were presented at 7.5 Hz in 50 s sequences; odd and even numbers were alternated to target differential, 'asymmetry' responses to parity at 3.75 Hz (7.5 Hz/2). Parity responses were probed with four different stimulus sets, increasing in intra-numeral stimulus variability, and with two control conditions composed of non-conceptual numeral alternations. Significant asymmetry responses were found over the occipitotemporal cortex to all conditions, even for the arbitrary controls. The large physical-differences control condition elicited the largest response in the stimulus set with the lowest variability (one font). Only in the stimulus set with the highest variability (20 drawn, coloured exemplars/numeral) did the response to parity surpass both control conditions. These findings show that physical differences across small sets of Arabic numerals can strongly influence, and even account for, automatic brain responses. However, carefully designed control conditions and highly variable stimulus sets may be used towards identifying truly conceptual neural responses.
Topics: Humans; Electroencephalography; Male; Female; Adult; Young Adult; Cognition; Mathematics; Photic Stimulation; Brain
PubMed: 38919064
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.0589 -
PloS One 2024Advanced maternal-age pregnancy has become a serious public health problem in both developed and developing countries due to adverse birth outcomes for the mother,...
BACKGROUND
Advanced maternal-age pregnancy has become a serious public health problem in both developed and developing countries due to adverse birth outcomes for the mother, fetus, or newborn. However, there are limited studies conducted to identify determinants of advanced-age pregnancy in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess individual and community-level determinants of advanced age pregnancy in Ethiopia.
METHODS
This study was based on 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey data. Three thousand two hundred ninety-two weighted samples of pregnant women were included in this analysis. A multilevel logistic regression model was conducted to assess the determinants of advanced-age pregnancy among the study participants in Ethiopia.
RESULTS
maternal age at first birth (AOR = 4.05, 95% CI: 1.77-9.22), level of maternal education [primary education 2.72 times (AOR = 2.27, 95 CI: 1.55-4.76) and secondary and above education (AOR = 5.65, 95% CI: 1.77-17.70)], having a history of alcohol (AOR = 11.8, 95% CI: 5.71-24.42), parity (AOR = 3.22, 95% CI: 2.69-3.84), number of household member (AOR = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.05-1.41), family planning unmet need for spacing of pregnancy (AOR = 4.79, 95% CI: 2.63-8.74), having sons/daughters elsewhere (AOR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.22-2.94), had higher community poverty level (AOR = 2.37, 95% CI: 1.16-4.85), those had higher community unmet need for family planning (AOR = 5.19, 95% CI: 2.72-9.92) were more likely to have advanced age pregnancy. Whereas Living in an Emerging region (AOR = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.14-0.59) and living in a metropolitan city (AOR = 0.03, 95% CI: 0.03-0.38), were less likely to have advanced age pregnancy.
CONCLUSIONS
increased Maternal age at first birth, level of maternal education, history of alcohol drinking, increased number of parity and household members, family planning unmet need for spacing, had sons/daughters elsewhere, had higher community poverty level, those had higher community unmet need for family planning positively, whereas living in the emerging region and living in metropolitan's city was negatively affect advanced age pregnancy. Help women to have informed decision-making and create platforms to women have special care during this age of pregnancy. Empower women on family planning and socioeconomic status.
Topics: Humans; Female; Ethiopia; Pregnancy; Adult; Maternal Age; Health Surveys; Young Adult; Adolescent; Middle Aged; Socioeconomic Factors; Educational Status; Demography; Logistic Models; Parity
PubMed: 38917226
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304954