Persebaran Habitat Keong Perantara Schistosomiasis di Dataran Tinggi Lindu, Kabupaten Sigi, Sulawesi Tengah

ABSTRACT Schistosomiasis in Indonesia is caused by the trematode worm, Schistosoma japonicum, with the snail Oncomelania hupensis lindoensis as the intermediate host. The presence of these snails is an indicator of determining the habitat area for the intermediate host of schistosomiasis. The aim of the study was to map the distribution of snail habitat in the Lindu endemic area. An observational study with a cross-sectional design was conducted in August 2021. The study was conducted in two villages in the Lindu Highlands, Sigi Regency, Central Sulawesi Province. The number of snail habitats in the Lindu Plateau found 25 habitats, covering an area of ​​27,088 m2. Snail density and infection rate (IR) were found to be 27.06 snails/minute (IR 0.68%). Based on the research, it can be concluded that the distribution pattern of the snail habitat in Lindu was clustered in certain areas. Habitat in Anca Village was most widely found in neglected coffee plantation areas, and a small part in primary forest areas. Snail habitat in Tomado Village was mostly found in watersheds, parapa grass in swamp areas, and uncultivated rice fields. Environmental management that can be carried out by multi sectors are the creating of rice fields, the creation of fish ponds, and the diversion of community paths in the Lore Lindu National Park area that passes through the habitat of schistosomiasis intermediate snails. ABSTRAK Schistosomiasis di Indonesia disebabkan oleh cacing trematoda jenis Schistosoma japonicum dengan hospes perantara keong Oncomelania hupensis lindoensis. Keberadaan keong tersebut sebagai indikator penetapan daerah habitat hospes perantara schistosomiasis. Tujuan penelitian adalah untuk untuk memetakan distribusi habitat keong di wilayah endemis Lindu. Jenis penelitian adalah observasional dengan desain potong lintang yang dilakukan pada bulan Agustus tahun 2021. Penelitian dilakukan di Desa Anca dan Tomado Kecamatan Lindu Kabupaten Sigi, Provinsi Sulawesi Tengah. Jumlah habitat keong di Dataran Tinggi Lindu ditemukan 25 habitat, seluas 27.088 m2. Kepadatan keong dan tingkat infection rate (IR) ditemukan sebesar 27,06 keong/menit (IR 0,68%). Berdasarkan penelitian dapat disimpulkan bahwa pola persebaran habitat keong di Lindu adalah mengelompok/clustered pada daerah tertentu. Habitat di Desa Anca ditemukan paling banyak di daerah kebun kopi yang terabaikan, dan sebagian kecil di daerah hutan primer dengan kanopi tertutup. Habitat keong di Desa Tomado paling banyak ditemukan di daerah aliran air, parapa, rawa, dan sawah tidak diolah. Manajemen lingkungan yang dapat dilakukan oleh lintas sektor yaitu pencetakan sawah, pembuatan kolam ikan, dan pengalihan jalur masyarakat dalam Kawasan Taman Nasional Lore Lindu yang melewati habitat keong perantara schistosomiasis.

Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis in children- report of two cases from South India

Primary Amoebic meningoencephalitis is a rare and fatal neuro-infection caused by free-living fresh-water amoeba Naegleria fowleri. It is a ubiquitous organism and the infection occurs usually via contact with warm water-bodies. The clinical presentation is often indistinguishable from acute bacterial meningitis and the diagnosis can be made by CSF wet smear examination if there is a high index of suspicion. The disease progresses rapidly compared to pyogenic meningitis and usually has a fatal outcome. Reports of two confirmed cases of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis in children from different centres in Kerala state of India are presented here. In spite of early diagnosis and treatment, both these patients demised. Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of acute meningitis, especially in patients with recent freshwater exposure. Implementation of chlorination of pools of water bodies, especially if re-opened for recreational purpose after prolonged periods of non-use, needs vigorous implementation.

A Novel Design and Development of a Strip-Fed Circularly Polarized Rectangular Dielectric Resonator Antenna for 5G NR Sub-6 GHz Band Applications

In this article, a rectangular dielectric resonator antenna (RDRA) with circularly polarized (CP) response is presented for 5G NR (New Radio) Sub-6 GHz band applications. A uniquely shaped conformal metal feeding strip is proposed to excite the RDRA in higher-order mode for high gain utilization. By using the proposed feeding mechanism, the degenerate mode pair of the first higher-order, i.e., TEδ13x at 4.13 GHz and TE1δ3y, at 4.52 GHz is excited to achieve a circularly polarized response. A circular polarization over a bandwidth of ~10%, in conjunction with a wide impedance matching over a bandwidth of ~17%, were attained by the antenna. The CP antenna proposed offers a useful gain of ~6.2 dBic. The achieved CP bandwidth of the RDRA is good enough to cover the targeted 5G NR bands around 4.4−4.8 GHz, such as n79. The proposed antenna configuration is modelled and optimized using computer simulation technology (CST). A prototype was built to confirm (validate) the performance estimated through simulation. A good agreement was observed between simulated and measured results.

Mutual Coupling Reduction through Defected Ground Structure in Circularly Polarized, Dielectric Resonator-Based MIMO Antennas for Sub-6 GHz 5G Applications

This paper describes a singly-fed circularly polarized rectangular dielectric resonator antenna (RDRA) for MIMO and 5G Sub 6 GHz applications. Circular polarization was achieved for both ports using a novel-shaped conformal metal strip. To improve the isolation between the radiators, a “S” shaped defective ground plane structure (DGPS) was used. In order to authenticate the estimated findings, a prototype of the suggested radiator was built and tested experimentally. Over the desired band, i.e., 3.57–4.48 GHz, a fractional impedance bandwidth of roughly 36.63 percent (−10 dB as reference) was reached. Parallel axial ratio bandwidth of 28.33 percent is achieved, which is in conjunction with impedance matching bandwidth. Between the ports, isolation of −28 dB is achieved Gain and other far-field parameters are also calculated and found to be within their optimum limits

Restaurant Diners' Switching Behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Protection Motivation Theory

The unsettling fear of COVID-19 infections has caused a new trend in consumer behavior in the food and beverage industry. The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has shifted consumers' preferences from eat-in to online delivery. This research aims to measure the impact of consumers' motivation to protect themselves from contracting COVID-19, which explains why people switch from eat-in to online food delivery. We adopted the theory of protection motivation (PMT) to explain consumer switching behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study investigated the mediating effect of switching intention on the relationship between vulnerability, altruistic fear, anticipated regret, and switching behavior. Simultaneously, we examined the role of brand awareness as a moderator of behavioral choices of consumers switching from eat-in to online delivery. We collected data from 681 eatery consumers in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, using scenario-based survey questionnaires (327 eat-in respondents and 354 online delivery respondents). Then, the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). This new generation analysis was conducted using the analysis of moment structure (AMOS) (v.24.0) and the statistical package for social science (SPSS-version 25.0). The results indicated that consumer vulnerability, altruistic fear, and anticipated regret of COVID-19 increased consumers' propensity to shift from eat-in to online food delivery. Allegedly, consumer behavioral control and intention of switching toward online delivery were pointedly affected by switching behavior. The results indicated that consumer vulnerability, altruistic fear, and anticipated regret of COVID-19 increased the shifting of restaurant dine-in patterns and made the intention to switch to online delivery. Consumers' alleged behavioral control and their intention of switching toward online delivery were pointedly affected by switching behavior. We also found that brand awareness moderately affects switching behavior toward restaurant settings. The present research contributes to developing the consumer behavior model of switching from eat-in to online delivery. This study also provides eatery customers and the business community with a safer and healthier proposition of shifting to online food delivery during the pandemic.

Towards robust diagnosis of COVID-19 using vision self-attention transformer

The outbreak of COVID-19, since its appearance, has affected about 200 countries and endangered millions of lives. COVID-19 is extremely contagious disease, and it can quickly incapacitate the healthcare systems if infected cases are not handled timely. Several Conventional Neural Networks (CNN) based techniques have been developed to diagnose the COVID-19. These techniques require a large, labelled dataset to train the algorithm fully, but there are not too many labelled datasets. To mitigate this problem and facilitate the diagnosis of COVID-19, we developed a self-attention transformer-based approach having self-attention mechanism using CT slices. The architecture of transformer can exploit the ample unlabelled datasets using pre-training. The paper aims to compare the performances of self-attention transformer-based approach with CNN and Ensemble classifiers for diagnosis of COVID-19 using binary Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and multi-class Hybrid-learning for UnbiaSed predicTion of COVID-19 (HUST-19) CT scan dataset. To perform this comparison, we have tested Deep learning-based classifiers and ensemble classifiers with proposed approach using CT scan images. Proposed approach is more effective in detection of COVID-19 with an accuracy of 99.7% on multi-class HUST-19, whereas 98% on binary class SARS-CoV-2 dataset. Cross corpus evaluation achieves accuracy of 93% by training the model with Hust19 dataset and testing using Brazilian COVID dataset.

Progressive Vision Loss in a Patient With Axenfeld-Rieger Syndrome

Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome (ARS) is a rare autosomal dominant condition characterized by the dysgenesis of the anterior segment along with some systemic abnormalities such as dental and facial bone defects. Its incidence is thought to be 1 in 200,000. Treatment is predominantly the management of glaucoma and is mostly medical but can be surgical in refractory cases. Here, we describe the case of a 35-year-old female patient who presented with co-existing vernal keratoconjunctivitis and ARS. The treatment was more challenging as we had to manage two conditions simultaneously.

Kashmiri refugees at the verge of hepatitis B and C epidemic in the State of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan

OBJECTIVE

To determine the seroprevalence of hepatitis B and C among immigrants residing refugee camps in Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, and to identify possible risk factors for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission.

METHODS

Around 1,225 individuals inhabiting Muzaffarabad refugee camps, participated in the study. A qualitative Immuno-Chromatographic Technique was used for initial screening and PCR test was used for detection of HBV and HCV in participants. The major risk factors for HBV and HCV transmission were assessed using a questionnaire approach.

RESULTS

Around 86 (7.0%) individuals were observed for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) presence, and 215 (17.5%) individuals were found positive for Anti-HCV. Only 32 (2.6%) individuals were confirmed for HBV DNA and 126 (10.3%) individuals were positive for HCV RNA after PCR. Demographically, both HBsAg and Anti-HCV were found more prevalent in female (4.4% HBsAg and 10.8% Anti-HCV) population as compared to male (2.6% HBsAg and 6.7% Anti-HCV) population. Surprisingly, the HBsAg (23.5%) and Anti-HCV (41.1%) appeared to be more frequent in the age group 62–75 years. Previous history of hepatitis in the family (p < 0.0001), blood transfusion (p = 0.0197) dental treatment (p < 0.0001) and tattooing or piercing on any part of the body (p = 0.0028) were assessed as significant risk factors in HBV and HCV transmission.

CONCLUSIONS

Presence of 7.0% HBsAg and 17.5% Anti-HCV in a small fragment of the migrant population cannot be overlooked. Lack of awareness among people and negligence of health department could escalate the situation.

Chemical divergence of the Juglans Regia L. across districts Swat and Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Juglans regia L. are nutritious fruit bearing plants mostly found in Northern areas of Pakistan. The population of walnuts was explored from district Dir and Swat Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan for their geographical, climatic and chemical divergence. The geographical differences such as altitude, latitude and longitude whereas climatic differences viz. soil EC, soil pH, precipitations, intensity of light, temperature and soil temperature. In both districts TPC ranged from 211.2±0.6 to 227.8±0.4 mg/100g, RSA ranged from 43.32±1.5% to 52.18±0.4%, conductivity ranged from 296.43±0.6 to 312.22±0.3 S/m and elemental composition such as iron, copper, calcium, zinc and magnesium in Dir differs from 0.312±0.032, 0.209±0.13, 20.0±0.313, 0.406±0.10 and 10.2±0.030 mg/L to 0.543±0.65, 0.698±0.82, 28.7±0.234, 0.685±0.15 and 17.6±0.015 mg/L respectively. Altitude and temperature showed a correlation with total phenolics contents and radical scavenging activity while soil pH, precipitations, soil temperature, soil Ec and light intensity indicated a weak correlation with chemical traits of walnuts. Further studies of walnuts are needed to explore their therapeutically important phytochemicals to succeed naturally pharmaceutical nutrients of the maximum significance for the health of human beings.

Fabrication of Guided Tissue Regeneration Membrane Using Lignin-Mediated ZnO Nanoparticles in Biopolymer Matrix for Antimicrobial Activity

Periodontal disease is a common complication, and conventional periodontal surgery can lead to severe bleeding. Different membranes have been used for periodontal treatment with limitations, such as improper biodegradation, poor mechanical property, and no effective hemostatic property. Guided tissue regeneration (GTR) membranes favoring periodontal regeneration were prepared to overcome these shortcomings. The mucilage of the chia seed was extracted and utilized to prepare the guided tissue regeneration (GTR) membrane. Lignin having antibacterial properties was used to synthesize lignin-mediated ZnO nanoparticles (∼Lignin@ZnO) followed by characterization with analytical techniques like Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV–visible spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscope (SEM). To fabricate the GTR membrane, extracted mucilage, Lignin@ZnO, and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were mixed in different ratios to obtain a thin film. The fabricated GTR membrane was evaluated using a dynamic fatigue analyzer for mechanical properties. Appropriate degradation rates were approved by degradability analysis in water for different intervals of time. The fabricated GTR membrane showed excellent antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacterial species.

Comparative Study Between Two Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks as Adsorbents for Removal of Organoarsenic, As(III) and As(V) Species from Water

Water-stable zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF) with zinc and cobalt cations were synthesized to explore the effect of metal ions on arsenic adsorption. At room temperature (25 2 ºC) and pH 7.8, maximum adsorption capacities of arsenic (As5+) on the surface of ZIF-8 and ZIF-67 were 87.03 and 86.70 mg g-1 respectively, with encouraging results up to 95% reusability of the adsorbents. The results of this study revealed that electrostatic attraction and ion exchange were the major mechanisms responsible for better efficiencies for adsorptive removal of arsenic. The evidence for the adsorption of arsenic contaminants was confirmed by FTIR analyses. The pseudo second order and Langmuir models were best suited to explain the adsorption of arsenic species on the surface of the as-synthesized metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Based on the results, it was possible to conclude that the metal atoms in the synthesized MOFs had a minor impact on adsorption, since these MOFs presented identical results in the removal of arsenic species. This observation can be explained by the presence of a similar organic linker (2-methyl imidazole), which points to almost the same geometry and sponginess. However, there was a slight difference in the adamsite (organo-arsenic) removal achieved by the MOFs with different metal atoms.

Diagnostic and prognostic factors in patients with prostate cancer: a systematic review

OBJECTIVES

As part of the PIONEER Consortium objectives, we have explored which diagnostic and prognostic factors (DPFs) are available in relation to our previously defined clinician and patient-reported outcomes for prostate cancer (PCa).

DESIGN

We performed a systematic review to identify validated and non-validated studies.

DATA SOURCES

MEDLINE, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched on 21 January 2020.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Only quantitative studies were included. Single studies with fewer than 50 participants, published before 2014 and looking at outcomes which are not prioritised in the PIONEER core outcome set were excluded.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS

After initial screening, we extracted data following the Checklist for Critical Appraisal and Data Extraction for Systematic Reviews of prognostic factor studies (CHARMS-PF) criteria and discussed the identified factors with a multidisciplinary expert group. The quality of the included papers was scored for applicability and risk of bias using validated tools such as PROBAST, Quality in Prognostic Studies and Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2.

RESULTS

The search identified 6604 studies, from which 489 DPFs were included. Sixty-four of those were internally or externally validated. However, only three studies on diagnostic and seven studies on prognostic factors had a low risk of bias and a low risk concerning applicability.

CONCLUSION

Most of the DPFs identified require additional evaluation and validation in properly designed studies before they can be recommended for use in clinical practice. The PIONEER online search tool for DPFs for PCa will enable researchers to understand the quality of the current research and help them design future studies.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

There are no ethical implications.

A comprehensive review on the documented characteristics of four Reticulitermes termites (Rhinotermitidae, Blattodea) of China

Termites are known as social insects worldwide. Presently in China 473 species, 44 genera and 4 families of termites have been reported. Of them, 111 Reticulitermes species are widely spread in different zones of China. The dispersion flight season of these Chinese Reticulitermes species are usually started from February to June, but in some regions different species are distributed, sharing their boundaries and having overlapping flight seasons. These reasons become important sources of hybridization between two different heterospecific populations of termites. It was confirmed that the fertilized eggs and unfertilized eggs of some Reticulitermes termites have the capacity of cleavage. While the unfertilized eggs of R. aculabialis, R. chinensis and R. labralis cleaved normally and the only R. aculabialis unfertilized eggs develop in embryos. While, the R. flaviceps and R. chinensis were observed with their abnormal embryonic development, and not hatching of eggs parthenogenetically. They were reported more threatening to Chinese resources as they propagate with parthenogenesis, hybridization and sexual reproduction. Eggshell and macrophiles of eggs play important roles in species identification and control. Although, they are severe pests and cause a wide range of damages to wooden structures and products in homes, buildings, building materials, trees, crops, and forests in China's Mainland.

Can Patient Cooperation During Biometry Be A Predictor of The Type of Anesthesia For Phacoemulsification Cataract Surgery

Objective: To assess any association between the cooperation of patients during biometry and cataract surgery by phacoemulsification in order to predict the type of anesthesia for the subject surgery. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Eye Department, Combined Military Hospital, Multan Pakistan, from Jan to Dec 2019. Methodology: A total of 332 patients requiring cataract surgery by phacoemulsification were recruited from the Eye department of Combined Military Hospital Multan. Patient cooperation level was measured during A-scan biometry. The cooperation level of same patient, assessed during biometry was used to plan the type of anesthesia to be administered during cataract surgery by phacoemulsification. Results: There were 209 male and 122 female patients with the mean age of 65.14 ± 0.57 years. A significant association was found between the cooperation of patient during biometry and cataract surgery by phacoemulsification appointments (p=0.02). A significant proportion of the patients 162 (81.4%) maintained their good cooperation during surgery. Out of the 133 patients, exhibiting poor cooperation during biometry procedure, 88 (66.3%) showed an improvement in their status by having good cooperation in surgery procedure. Conclusion: In the light of favorable clinical observation, the cooperation of the patients at the biometry procedure may be considered as a significant predictor of the type of anesthesia to be administered during cataract surgery by phacoemulsification.

Revisiting the energy-economy-environment relationships for attaining environmental sustainability: evidence from Belt and Road Initiative countries

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an ambitious development project initiated by the Chinese government to foster economic progress worldwide. In this regard, this study aims to investigate the dynamics of energy, economy, and environment among 42 BRI developing countries using an annual frequency panel dataset from 1995 to 2019. The major findings from the econometric analyses revealed that higher levels of energy consumption, economic growth, population growth rate, and FDI inflows exhibit adverse environmental consequences by boosting the CO₂ emission figures of the selected developing BRI member nations. However, it is interesting to observe that exploiting renewable energy sources, which are relatively cleaner compared to the traditionally-consumed fossil fuels, and fostering agricultural sector development can significantly improve environmental well-being by curbing the emission levels further. On the other hand, financial development is found to be ineffective in explaining the variations in the CO₂ emission figures of the selected countries. Besides, the causality analysis shows that higher energy consumption, FDI inflows, and agricultural development cause environmental pollution by boosting CO₂ emissions. However, economic growth, technology development, financial progress, and renewable energy consumption are evidenced to exhibit bidirectional causal associations with CO₂ emissions. In line with these findings, several relevant policies can be recommended for the BRI to be environmentally sustainable.

Ethnomedicinal and traditional uses of the Ferns of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Ferns are often used by indigenous people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. This study was designed to collect the ethnomedicinal and traditional knowledge of these locals about this group of vascular plants. Forty taxa belong to nineteen genera and ten families are used in the treatment of different diseases. The Pteridaceae was the most representative family with twelve taxa (30%), followed by Athyriaceae and Dryopteridaceae with six taxa each (30%), and Thelypteridaceae with five taxa (12.5%). Regarding the genera, Adiantum, Asplenium and Dryopteris ranked first with four taxa each (30%), followed by Aleuritopteris, Diplazium, Pteris and Equisetum with three taxa each (30%), followed by Athyrium, Oeosporangium, Polystichum and Pseudophegopteris with two taxa each (20%). These taxa were commonly used in the treatment of respiratory disorders i.e. asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia; intestinal ulcer, stomach, urinary ailments and skin disorders by the methods of decoction and infusion. Traditional knowledge about ethnomedicinal plants is a valuable and essential source for the discovery of allopathic, herbal and homeopathic medicines.