METHODS: Validation procedures followed the guidelines by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation/European Society of Hypertension/International Organization for Standardization (AAMI/ESH/ISO) Universal Standard (ISO 81060-2:2018). Quota sampling was employed to obtain eligible patients with normal and abnormal BP as per guideline. The measurements of BP were taken at wrist using HUAWEI WATCH D (test BP); and the readings were assessed against reference BP by the mercury sphygmomanometer. Agreement statistics and linear regression analyses were performed.
RESULTS: BP measurements (234 data pairs) from 78 patients that fulfilled AAMI/ESH/ISO protocol were analyzed. The BP readings taken by the HUAWEI WATCH D were comparable to reference BP by sphygmomanometer based on 1) Criterion 1: systolic blood pressure (SBP) = -0.034 (SD 5.24) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) = -0.65 (SD 4.66) mm Hg; and 2) Criterion 2: SBPs = -0.034 (SD 4.18) and DBPs = -0.65 (SD 3.94) mm Hg. Factors of sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, cardiovascular comorbidities, and wrist hair density were not significantly associated with the mean BP differences.
CONCLUSIONS: HUAWEI WATCH D fulfilled criteria 1 and 2 of the AAMI/ESH/ISO Universal Standard (ISO 81060-2:2018) guidelines. It can be recommended for clinical use across a wider population. The rich data from real-time BP measurements in concurrent with other health-related parameters recorded by the smartwatch wearable offer opportunities to drive precision medicine in tackling therapeutic inertia by personalizing BP control regimen.
CASE SUMMARY: The boy presented with moderate mobility, balance, and overall well-being. He faced challenges with diminished lower limb strength, which affected his daily living and physical fitness capabilities. Our participant was diagnosed with spastic quadriplegic CP at GMFCS level II. He participated in a 6-wk program of VBT using a play station. This innovative approach incorporates warm-up exercises, interactive activities, and cool-down routines, targeting various movements, including single-leg stance, weight shifting, kicking, jumping, marching, and squatting. After VBT, the strength of the left hip extensor significantly increased from 199.3 N to 541.3 N. Distance covered as part of a 6-min walk test increased by 82 m. His Paediatric QoL Inventory score increased dramatically by 25.9%.
CONCLUSION: VBT is an innovative, individualized therapy that enhances physical function and QoL in CP, emphasizing its role in ambulatory patients.
OBJECTIVE: To develop effective hybrid techniques that combine the optimal control theory (OCT) with the evolutionary algorithm and multi-objective swarm algorithm. The developed technique is aimed to reduce the number of cancerous cells while utilizing the minimum necessary chemotherapy medications and minimizing toxicity to protect patients' health.
METHODS: Two hybrid techniques are proposed in this paper. Both techniques combined OCT with the evolutionary algorithm and multi-objective swarm algorithm which included MOEA/D, MOPSO, SPEA II and PESA II. This study evaluates the performance of two hybrid techniques in terms of reducing cancer cells and drug concentrations, as well as computational time consumption.
RESULTS: In both techniques, MOEA/D emerges as the most effective algorithm due to its superior capability in minimizing tumour size and cancer drug concentration.
CONCLUSION: This study highlights the importance of integrating OCT and evolutionary algorithms as a robust approach for optimizing cancer chemotherapy treatment.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: PubMed and Semantic Scholar databases were scoured for articles using 10 search terms. In vitro studies satisfying the inclusion criteria were probed which were meticulously screened and scrutinized for eligibility adhering to the 11 exclusion criteria. The quality assessment tool for in vitro studies (QUIN Tool) containing 12 criteria was employed to assess the risk of bias (RoB).
RESULTS: A total of 48 studies assessing shear bond strength (SBS) and 15 studies evaluating tensile bond strength (TBS) were included in the qualitative synthesis. Concerning SBS, 33.4% moderate and 66.6% high RoB was observed. Concerning TBS, 26.8% moderate and 73.2% high RoB was discerned. Seventeen and two studies assessing SBS and TBS, respectively, were included in meta-analyses.
CONCLUSIONS: Shear bond strength and TBS increased for the primed alloys. Cyclic disulfide primer is best-suited for noble alloys when compared with thiol/thione primers. Phosphoric acid- and phosphonic acid ester-based primers are opportune for base alloys.
CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The alloy-resin interface (ARI) would fail if an inappropriate primer was selected. Therefore, the selection of an appropriate alloy adhesive primer for an alloy plays a crucial role in prosthetic success. This systematic review would help in the identification and selection of a congruous primer for a selected alloy.
DESIGN: A qualitative study involving twenty-two focus group discussions and six in-depth interviews was conducted, recorded and transcribed verbatim. An inductive thematic analysis approach was employed to analyse the data.
SETTING: Two in-depth interviews and twenty-two focus group discussions were conducted face-to-face. Four in-depth interviews were conducted online.
PARTICIPANTS: Focus group discussions were conducted among twenty-three street food vendors, twenty-one caterers and seventy-six consumers of various eateries. In-depth interviews were conducted among two street food vendors and four caterers, individually.
RESULTS: Consumers and food operators perceived a high-salt intake within Malaysia's out-of-home food sectors. Food operators emphasised the necessity for a comprehensive salt reduction policy in the out-of-home sector involving all stakeholders. Consumers faced limited awareness and knowledge, counterproductive practices among food operators and challenges in accessing affordable low-Na food products, whereas food operators faced the lack of standardised guidelines and effective enforcement mechanisms and uncooperative consumer practices. Both groups expressed that food quality and price of salt were also the barriers, and they advocated for awareness promotion, enhanced regulation of manufactured food products and stricter enforcement targeting vendors. Consumers also suggested promoting and recognising health-conscious food premises, whereas food operators suggested on knowledge enhancement tailored to them, strategies for gaining consumers acceptance and maintaining food quality.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide valuable insights that serve as foundational evidence for developing and implementing salt reduction policies within Malaysia's out-of-home sectors.
METHODS: This study analyzed data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey, a longitudinal study of the Indonesian population with repeated measurements at 3 time points (1997, 2007, and 2014). The subjects observed were children aged 0-59 months in 1997, who were 10-15 years old in 2007, and 17-22 years in 2014. We performed a generalized linear model to investigate the association between birth weight at baseline and the level of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) at the 2 follow-up periods. We adjusted the association for the characteristics of the children, parents, and household.
RESULTS: The mean±standard deviation level of HbA1c was 7.35%±0.95% in 2007 and decreased to 5.30%±0.85% in 2014. The crude β (95% confidence interval [CI]) of the association between birth weight and HbA1c was 0.150 (-0.076, 0.377) in 2007 and 0.146 (-0.060, 0.351) in 2014. After adjustment for the sociodemographic characteristics of the children, parents, and confounding factors, the adjusted β (95% CI) was 1.12 (0.40-1.85) in 2007 and 0.92 (0.35-1.48) in 2014. The HbA1c of the parents, father's employment status, percentage of food expenditure, and underweight were the covariates that had significant associations with HbA1c.
CONCLUSION: HbA1c level was higher in adolescence than in early adulthood. Birth weight was associated with HbA1c level in both periods. The HbA1c of the parents, father's employment, percentage of food expenditure, and underweight partly explained the association between birth weight and the HbA1c level.
METHODS: The study involved 84 preservice teachers aged 18 to 21. Participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental group, which received musical feedback training, or a control group.
RESULTS: The findings indicate that musical feedback training effectively improved metacognitive abilities. However, its impact on the readiness for self-directed learning was inconclusive. A notable difference in metacognition and self-directed learning readiness was observed between the experimental and control groups during the session, indicating a significant interaction effect. Furthermore, a positive correlation was identified between metacognition and self-directed learning.
DISCUSSION: These results contribute to educational discourse by providing empirical evidence on the utility of musical feedback training in fostering metacognition. They also highlight the importance of consistent and long-term engagement in self-directed learning practices. The significance of these findings advocates for incorporating music feedback training into music education curricula to enhance metacognition and improve overall learning efficiency.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: An online search was performed of the PubMed, Science Direct, and Scopus databases. Based on the selection process, 12 studies were included in this review.
RESULTS: Eleven studies utilized a CNN model for detection tasks, 5 for classification tasks, and 3 for segmentation tasks in the context of tooth numbering on panoramic radiographs. Most of these studies revealed high performance of various CNN models in automating tooth numbering. However, several studies also highlighted limitations of CNNs, such as the presence of false positives and false negatives in identifying decayed teeth, teeth with crown prosthetics, teeth adjacent to edentulous areas, dental implants, root remnants, wisdom teeth, and root canal-treated teeth. These limitations can be overcome by ensuring both the quality and quantity of datasets, as well as optimizing the CNN architecture.
CONCLUSION: CNNs have demonstrated high performance in automated tooth numbering on panoramic radiographs. Future development of CNN-based models for this purpose should also consider different stages of dentition, such as the primary and mixed dentition stages, as well as the presence of various tooth conditions. Ultimately, an optimized CNN architecture can serve as the foundation for an automated tooth numbering system and for further artificial intelligence research on panoramic radiographs for a variety of purposes.