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System of Equations for Hierarchical Decision Modeling
No full textDecision-making is a cognitive process to select an alternative or a course of action in a specific context. In 1983, Dundar Kocaoglu proposed hierarchical decision modeling as a participative approach to program evaluation [1]. It has since been used to solve decision problems in many areas like the assessment of solar photovoltaic technologies [2] and enterprise data storage systems [3]. We present a simplified system of equations for hierarchical decision models with multiple perspectives, criteria, and alternatives
Crossbar Architecture for Molecular Electronics
No full textAlthough most of the applications of molecular electronics are far away from us, people still have confidence in molecular electronics. So far, researchers have discovered a series of electrical, optical, and optical chirality properties of various molecules for replacing the existing electronic components with the new features. However, there are still many challenges on the way to make molecular circuits and even assemble molecular computers. In this poster, we describe an idea that uses molecular properties and crossbar architecture to build a reprogrammable memory/logic circuit
Increased Cases of Lung Injury Associated with the Use of Electronic Cigarettes Containing Nicotine and Flavoring
No full textThis study aims to identify dominants respiratory illnesses affecting the lung and airways among electronic cigarette users, to learn what the world is doing about lung injury associated with the use of e-cigarette that affect young population worldwide, and to identify research gaps. While extensive research has revealed the addictive properties of nicotine, the effects of nicotine and flavoring compounds in electronic cigarettes on the respiratory system are still unclear. The health consequences of electronic cigarette use remains unclear
Multiclass ECG Signal Analysis Using Global Average-Based 2-D Convolutional Neural Network Modeling
No full textCardiovascular diseases accounted for approximately 836,546 deaths in the United States in 2018. Nearly 2,300 Americans die of cardiovascular disease each day, an average of one death every 38 seconds. To this end, research has been reported in the literature on Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal analysis to determine arrhythmia and other cardiac conditions. This work introduces a classifier that will detect abnormalities of the ECG signal with its analysis as a 2-D image fed to a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) classifier.The proposed method classifies the ECG signal as normal or ST-change, V-change by transforming the single-lead ECG signal into images and then applying CNN classification. Images are taken from the European ST-T dataset on PhysioNet databank. Our method yields an accuracy of 99.26%
A Literature Review of the Relationship Between Oral Health and Pneumonia Risk in the Geriatric Nursing Home Population
No full textBackground: Respiratory illness has been concomitant with poor oral health and is particularly prevalent in institutionalized geriatric patients. Historically, there has been a decisive gap in preventive dental health in the nursing home population. Objective: Poor oral health status in the older population has been linked to an increased pneumonia risk. This review sought to assess the correlation of poor oral health and respiratory illness and the benefits of preventive dental care in the nursing home population. Suitable recommendations for the implementation of preventive oral health care in this population were investigated. Methods: A total of 17 peer-reviewed studies and three articles were used to gather evidence for this literature review. Included studies were all peer-reviewed cross-sectional, prospective, interventional, retrospective studies, and cluster-randomized controlled trials. Perspective papers by experts in the field were also included. Results: A total of six studies identified poor oral health as a risk factor of pneumonia in nursing homes, while five studies showed the importance of oral contaminant elimination to be effective in reducing pneumonia incidence, and three found oral health education for caregivers to be helpful to reduce pneumonia in this population. However, two intervention studies did not find a significantly lower pneumonia risk with oral health care interventions. Conclusions: A positive association between poor oral health in the nursing home population and incidence of respiratory illness was suggested in the findings. Additionally, proper preventive oral care and oral hygiene education for nursing home caregivers is inadequate. Access to professional preventive dental care and an increase of oral health education in long-term care institutions is associated with a decrease in respiratory illnesses from dental disease
The interaction of Moringa Oleifera with Chromium and the effect on Chinese Hamster Ovary cell toxicity
No full textMoringa oleifera is a plant with countless nutritional and therapeutic properties, and it is considered as one of the supplements that prevent diseases because of its antioxidant effects. In this study, treatment of CHO (Chinese Hamster Ovary) cells with commercially available M. oleifera (900 µg/ml, 4 mg/ml, 9 mg/ml, and 17.5 mg/ml) induced cytotoxic effects. Furthermore, cells were treated with different concentrations of chromium (0.25, 0.5, and 1 µM) combined with M. oleifera extract to evaluate its protective effect against heavy metals. Statistical analyses indicated that M. oleifera extract is toxic to the cells in a dose-dependent manner. Therefore, our results suggest that chromium reduces the toxicity of M. oleifera by increasing cell viability. These observations suggest that chromium may antagonize the toxicity M. oleifera extracts and acts as a protective agent to cell toxicity
Detecting Intraocular Pressure Using CNN on Frontal Eye Images
No full textGlaucoma is an international disease causing vision loss for many patients around the world A gradual increase of intraocular pressure (IOP) and missing early diagnoses might cause blindness forever Observing IOP requires the patient’s presence at a healthcare facility where ophthalmologists or nurses evaluate the eye pressure through different medical tests In some cases, the healthcare professional anesthetizes the eye by dropping a numb liquid which would take at least 6 hours to totally wear off from the eyes and irritate the patient We are proposing a novel technique applied on the patient’s frontal eye images using a convolutional neural network (CNN) to extract common features of high IOP and glaucoma cases automatically This is a research work in progress built upon our previous related work in which pre determined features were extracted from eye images to distinguish healthy eye images from high IOP cases The dataset used in this work contains 473 normal and high IOP eye images However, in order to increase our data accuracy, we are working closely with few hospitals in the Middle East The result of this study has the potential to minimize the patient’s presence at healthcare facilities and offer patients’ safety by preventing glaucoma causes at the very early stages
Gun-Aid "The first aid gun"
No full textAdhesive bandages are one of the most used form of first aid dressing. The adhesive sheet of a band-aid are commonly made of single use plastics. Gun-Aid is an environment friendly and sustainable multipurpose device that can act as an alternative to bandages and medical gauzes that can be used for fresh cuts, blisters and burns while also provide calmness and promote healing
Vaccine Cooler for Developing Countries
No full textThis project designed a portable vaccine cooler for the distribution of vaccines in developing countries. It is designed as an insulated box that limits heat transfer from the containment unit to the outside ambient conditions. The vaccine cooler is comprised of a peltier device, heat sinks, fan, phase change material (PCM), and foam board insulation. Finite element analysis (FEA) is used to assist the design of the thermal insulation and PCM layers. The simulation results show that the designed foam insulation board can effectively reduce heat transfer from outside air to the vaccine chamber and the PCM materials can help maintain the chamber in the desired temperature range for at least 5 days
Effects of Berberine, Cinnamon, and Fenugreek Seeds on Glucose and Lipid Metabolism in Prediabetes and Diabetes: An Assessment of the Quality of the Clinical Trials
No full textThe prevalence of diabetes is increasing globally. Although several anti-diabetic drugs are available to treat the disease, some patients with type 2 diabetes fail to achieve adequate glycemic control. Nutraceuticals may provide therapeutic potential and are widely used in integrative medicine. However, several clinical trials that evaluated the effectiveness of the anti-diabetic nutraceuticals have been inconclusive in their findings. This dissertation appraised the quality of the clinical trials that investigated the effects of berberine, cinnamon, and fenugreek seeds on glucose and lipid metabolism in prediabetes and diabetes. In addition, the effectiveness of the included nutraceuticals was assessed. Besides, ways to enhance the quality of clinical trials on nutraceuticals were suggested.
Five databases (UB Wahlstrom, PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and Science Direct) were systematically searched for randomized controlled studies that investigated the effects of berberine, cinnamon, or fenugreek seeds on glucose and lipid metabolism. Thirty-three studies (7, 16, 10 on berberine, cinnamon, and fenugreek, respectively), involving 2,518 study participants, were retrieved. The studies were appraised for trial and reporting quality using the Jadad scale and the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Randomized Controlled Trials checklist. The effectiveness of the nutraceuticals was analyzed using the patient-intervention-comparator-outcome chart.
The results demonstrated that the quality of the clinical trials varied by the nutraceutical investigated. They included berberine, cinnamon, and fenugreek studies that had scores of 3.4, 3.2, and 2.3, respectively, on the Jadad scale. The berberine and cinnamon had acceptable scores, while the fenugreek studies had a low score, which is below the generally accepted score of 3 for a study of acceptable quality. The quality of the fenugreek trials is of such a low quality that they cannot be used in clinical decision-making.
The effectiveness varied by the nutraceuticals and the endpoints analyzed. The analysis revealed that berberine improved HbA1C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides levels. Berberine-related adverse reactions were reported mild and transient. The berberine trials may support clinical decision-making. The effects of cinnamon on glucose and lipid profiles were inconclusive. Randomized controlled clinical trials with emphasis on methodological and reporting quality need to be conducted to determine the effectiveness of these nutraceuticals