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Fulltext Impact of Multifaceted Workplace Bullying on the Relationships between Technology Usage, Organisational Climate and Employee Physical and Emotional Health

Iftikhar M, Qureshi MI, Qayyum S, Fatima I, Sriyanto S, Indrianti Y, et al.

Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2021 03 19;18(6).
PMID: 33808837 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18063207

This research article investigates the effect of organisational climate and technology usage on employees' physiological and emotional health damage resulting from face-to-face bullying and cyberbullying at the workplace. Furthermore, we investigated emotional intelligence as a coping strategy to moderate employee physiological and emotional health damage. The research used a quantitative research design. A five-point Likert-scale questionnaire was used to collect data from a multistage sample of 500 officials from Pakistan's four service sectors. Results revealed that organisational climate and technology usage are negatively related to face-to-face bullying and cyberbullying at the workplace. At the same time, workplace bullying adversely affects an employee's emotional and physiological health. However, emotional intelligence can reduce an employee's emotional health damage due to workplace bullying. Thus, we suggest incorporating emotional intelligence training at the workplace to minimise the devastating effects of face-to-face bullying and cyberbullying on employees' physical and emotional health.
Fulltext Full Ground Ultra-Wideband Wearable Textile Antenna for Breast Cancer and Wireless Body Area Network Applications

Mahmood SN, Ishak AJ, Saeidi T, Soh AC, Jalal A, Imran MA, et al.

Micromachines (Basel), 2021 Mar 19;12(3).
PMID: 33808523 DOI: 10.3390/mi12030322

Wireless body area network (WBAN) applications have broad utility in monitoring patient health and transmitting the data wirelessly. WBAN can greatly benefit from wearable antennas. Wearable antennas provide comfort and continuity of the monitoring of the patient. Therefore, they must be comfortable, flexible, and operate without excessive degradation near the body. Most wearable antennas use a truncated ground, which increases specific absorption rate (SAR) undesirably. A full ground ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna is proposed and utilized here to attain a broad bandwidth while keeping SAR in the acceptable range based on both 1 g and 10 g standards. It is designed on a denim substrate with a dielectric constant of 1.4 and thickness of 0.7 mm alongside the ShieldIt conductive textile. The antenna is fed using a ground coplanar waveguide (GCPW) through a substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) transition. This transition creates a perfect match while reducing SAR. In addition, the proposed antenna has a bandwidth (BW) of 7-28 GHz, maximum directive gain of 10.5 dBi and maximum radiation efficiency of 96%, with small dimensions of 60 × 50 × 0.7 mm3. The good antenna's performance while it is placed on the breast shows that it is a good candidate for both breast cancer imaging and WBAN.
Fulltext Acute Retropharyngeal Calcific Tendonitis as a Rare Cause of Odynophagia and Neck Pain

Singh PKM, Noor MIM, Jaafar R, Ahmad A, Mohamad I

Medeni Med J, 2021;36(1):75-79.
PMID: 33828894 DOI: 10.5222/MMJ.2021.37539

Retropharyngeal calcific tendonitis (RCT) is an aseptic inflammatory process of the superior oblique tendons of the longus colli muscle caused by the deposition of calcium hydroxyapatite crystals. We reported a 23-year-old woman who presented with a sudden onset of neck pain with odynophagia after waking up from sleep. Physical examination showed paracervical point tenderness with limited neck movement in all directions. Prior to surgery, further imaging was requested to aid in diagnosis, which in turn revealed RCT. It is important to be aware that RCT presentation may mimic other severe conditions such as retropharyngeal space abscess or meningitis.
Fulltext The Prevalence of Prescribing Medications Associated with Geriatric Syndromes among Discharged Elderly Patients

Akkawi ME, Mohd Taufek NH, Abdul Hadi AD, Nik Lah NNNF

J Pharm Bioallied Sci, 2020 Nov;12(Suppl 2):S747-S751.
PMID: 33828372 DOI: 10.4103/jpbs.JPBS_305_19

Introduction: A geriatric syndrome is a group of signs and symptoms that occur in older people and do not fit into a discrete disease. Several medications were reported to be associated with the incidence of geriatric syndromes.
Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and pattern of medications associated with geriatric syndromes (MAGSs) among the discharged elderly patients (≥65 years old).
Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted at a Malaysian teaching hospital from October to December 2018. The discharge medications of geriatric patients were reviewed to identify MAGSs using Beers criteria, Lexicomp drug information handbook, and the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) drug inserts. Chi-square test was used to compare MAGS prescribed between categories. Spearman's rank-order correlation was used to test the correlation between the presence of MAGS and the number of discharge medications. A binomial logistic regression was applied to determine the predictors of prescribing MAGSs.
Results: A total of 400 patients (mean ± standard deviation [SD] age, 72.0 ± 5.0 years) were included, and 45.3% of them were females. The most common diseases were hypertension followed by diabetes mellitus. The mean ± SD number of discharge medications per patient was 4.2 ± 2.5. The MAGSs were prescribed in 51.7% of the patients, and 54 patients were discharged with more than one MAGSs. The most commonly prescribed MAGSs were opioid analgesics, vasodilators, and β-blockers, which are associated with falls, depression, and delirium. Polypharmacy was found in 138 patients, and it was significantly associated with the presence of MAGSs (P < 0.001). No significant differences were found in prescribing MAGSs based on the patients' gender, race, and age.
Conclusion: The prescribing of MAGSs occurred in half of the discharged elderly patients. Physicians should be aware of the medications that are associated with special side effects in the elderly patients, and should switch to safer alternatives when possible.
Fulltext The Development and Assessment of Modified Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence Scale among Malaysian Single Electronic Cigarette Users

Rahman AU, Mohamed MHN, Jamshed S, Mahmood S, Iftikhar Baig MA

J Pharm Bioallied Sci, 2020 Nov;12(Suppl 2):S671-S675.
PMID: 33828359 DOI: 10.4103/jpbs.JPBS_245_19

Background: The Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence (FTND) is the most widely used scale for assessing nicotine dependence on conventional tobacco cigarettes (TCGs). But the FTND does not evaluate the subject's nicotine dependence to electronic cigarette (EC).
Objective: The aim of this study was to develop and assess an equivalent modified FTND scale that measures the nicotine dependency via EC.
Materials and Methods: The investigator developed the equivalent modified FTND scale that scores identical to the original scale, that is, 0-10. The developed scale piloted among 15 EC single users, that is, use only EC verified by carbon monoxide (CO) level of <8ppm. The assessment of the scale was done among 69 EC single users and observed for 1 year to determine their nicotine status.
Results: The modified scale revealed an acceptable Cronbach α value of 0.725. Further test-retest reliability of the scale showed a satisfactory Spearman's rank correlation coefficient value of 0.730 (P > 0.05). A 1-year observation showed that of 69 single users, 11 single users completely stopped nicotine intake, 24 remained as EC single users, 15 shifted to dual-use, and 19 relapsed to TCG. Surprisingly, the EC users who completely stopped nicotine intake after 1 year had a low average nicotine dependence value of 3 that was measured by the modified FTND scale at the baseline.
Conclusion: The modified FTND scale precisely identifies the physical dependence to nicotine via EC. Therefore, as per this study results the modified FTND scale can be applied in any EC-related studies to assess nicotine dependency via EC.
Fulltext Synthesis and characterization of Mg-Zn ferrite based flexible microwave composites and its application as SNG metamaterial

Rahman MA, Islam MT, Singh MSJ, Samsuzzaman M, Chowdhury MEH

Sci Rep, 2021 Apr 07;11(1):7654.
PMID: 33828155 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-87100-6

In this article, we propose SNG (single negative) metamaterial fabricated on Mg-Zn ferrite-based flexible microwave composites. Firstly, the flexible composites are synthesized by the sol-gel method having four different molecular compositions of MgxZn(1-x)Fe2O4, which are denoted as Mg20, Mg40, Mg60, and Mg80. The structural, morphological, and microwave properties of the synthesized flexible composites are analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and conventional dielectric assessment kit (DAK) to justify their possible application as dielectric substrate at microwave frequency regime. Thus the average grain size is found from 20 to 24 nm, and the dielectric constants are 6.01, 5.10, 4.19, and 3.28, as well as loss tangents, are 0.002, 0.004, 0.006, and 0.008 for the prepared Mg-Zn ferrites, i.e., Mg20, Mg40, Mg60, and Mg80 respectively. Besides, the prepared low-cost Mg-Zn ferrite composites exhibit high flexibility and lightweight, which makes them a potential candidate as a metamaterial substrate. Furthermore, a single negative (SNG) metamaterial unit cell is fabricated on the prepared, flexible microwave composites, and their essential electromagnetic behaviors are observed. Very good effective medium ratios (EMR) vales are obtained from 14.65 to 18.47, which ensure the compactness of the fabricated prototypes with a physical dimension of 8 × 6.5 mm2. Also, the proposed materials have shown better performances comparing with conventional FR4 and RO4533 materials, and they have covered S-, C-, X-, Ku-, and K-band of microwave frequency region. Thus, the prepared, flexible SNG metamaterials on MgxZn(1-x)Fe2O4 composites are suitable for microwave and flexible technologies.
Fulltext Feasibility of Human Platelet Lysate as an Alternative to Foetal Bovine Serum for In Vitro Expansion of Chondrocytes

Liau LL, Hassan MNFB, Tang YL, Ng MH, Law JX

Int J Mol Sci, 2021 Jan 28;22(3).
PMID: 33525349 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22031269

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease that affects a lot of people worldwide. Current treatment for OA mainly focuses on halting or slowing down the disease progress and to improve the patient's quality of life and functionality. Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) is a new treatment modality with the potential to promote regeneration of worn cartilage. Traditionally, foetal bovine serum (FBS) is used to expand the chondrocytes. However, the use of FBS is not ideal for the expansion of cells mean for clinical applications as it possesses the risk of animal pathogen transmission and animal protein transfer to host. Human platelet lysate (HPL) appears to be a suitable alternative to FBS as it is rich in biological factors that enhance cell proliferation. Thus far, HPL has been found to be superior in promoting chondrocyte proliferation compared to FBS. However, both HPL and FBS cannot prevent chondrocyte dedifferentiation. Discrepant results have been reported for the maintenance of chondrocyte redifferentiation potential by HPL. These differences are likely due to the diversity in the HPL preparation methods. In the future, more studies on HPL need to be performed to develop a standardized technique which is capable of producing HPL that can maintain the chondrocyte redifferentiation potential reproducibly. This review discusses the in vitro expansion of chondrocytes with FBS and HPL, focusing on its capability to promote the proliferation and maintain the chondrogenic characteristics of chondrocytes.
Fulltext Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) as a risk factor for secondary osteoporosis in children

Sies NS, Zaini AA, de Bruyne JA, Jalaludin MY, Nathan AM, Han NY, et al.

Sci Rep, 2021 02 04;11(1):3193.
PMID: 33542317 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-82605-6

Repetitive hypoxia seen in obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) may affect bone metabolism increasing the risk for secondary osteoporosis. This study investigates the association between OSAS in children and secondary osteoporosis. This cross-sectional study included 150 children aged 10-17 years: 86 with OSAS and 64 with no OSAS. OSAS was confirmed by polysomnography. Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) of calcaneum measuring speed of sound (SoS) and broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) were collected. Other parameters collected including bone profile, vitamin D levels, physical activity scoring and dietary calcium intake. Majority were male and Malay ethnicity. OSAS children were mostly obese (84%) and 57% had moderate to severe OSAS. Most had lower physical activities scores. Mean (SD) phosphate and Alkaline phosphatase were lower in OSA children compared to controls: PO4, p = 0.039 and ALP, p
Stenophyllols A-C, new compounds from Boesenbergia stenophylla

Primus PS, Ismail MH, Adnan NE, Wu CH, Kao CL, Choo YM

J Asian Nat Prod Res, 2022 Feb;24(2):146-152.
PMID: 33565351 DOI: 10.1080/10286020.2021.1883590

Three new compounds, i.e. stenophyllols A-C (1-3), were isolated from the rhizome of Boesenbergia stenophylla. The structures were determined by spectroscopic analysis (UV, IR, NMR and HRESIMS). In-vitro neuroblastoma cell viability assay showed stenophyllol A (1) was able to reduce the N2A cell viability to 20% within 24 h.
Fulltext Glycerol Assisted Pretreatment of Lignocellulose Wheat Straw Materials as a Promising Approach for Fabrication of Sustainable Fibrous Filler for Biocomposites

Mahmood H, Mehmood S, Shakeel A, Iqbal T, Kazmi MA, Khurram AR, et al.

Polymers (Basel), 2021 Jan 26;13(3).
PMID: 33530601 DOI: 10.3390/polym13030388

Glycerol pretreatment is a promising method for the environmentally-friendly transformation of lignocellulosic materials into sustainable cellulose-rich raw materials (i.e., biopolymer) to fabricate biocomposites. Here, a comparison of aqueous acidified glycerol (AAG) pretreatment of wheat straw (WS) with alkaline, hot water, and dilute acid pretreatments on the thermal and mechanical characteristics of their fabricated composite board is presented. A comparison of total energy expenditure during WS pretreatment with AAG and other solutions was estimated and a comparative influence of AAG processing on lignocellulosic constituents and thermal stability of WS fiber was studied. Results imply that AAG pretreatment was superior in generating cellulose-rich fiber (CRF) as compared to other pretreatments and enhanced the cellulose contents by 90% compared to raw WS fiber. Flexural strength of acidic (40.50 MPa) and hot water treated WS composite (38.71 MPa) was higher compared to the value of 33.57 MPa for untreated composite, but AAG-treated composites exhibited lower values of flexural strength (22.22 MPa) compared to untreated composite samples. Conversely, AAG pretreatment consumed about 56% lesser energy for each kg of WS processed as compared to other pretreatments. These findings recognize that glycerol pretreatment could be a clean and new pretreatment strategy to convert agricultural waste into high-quality CRF as a sustainable raw material source for engineered biocomposite panels.
Fulltext The Trend of Direct Medical Cost of Meliodiosis Patients in Kedah: A Retrospective Study from 2014 to 2017

Mardhiah K, Wan-Arfah N, Naing NN, Abu Hassan MR, Chan HK, Hasan H

Clinicoecon Outcomes Res, 2021;13:155-162.
PMID: 33732004 DOI: 10.2147/CEOR.S286283

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the direct medical cost of treating melioidosis patients. The calculation was made according to the variables extracted from medical records.
Materials and Methods: Data collection was performed retrospectively on a total of 293 cases from Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Kedah, Malaysia. The data consisted of personal information, treatment history, and investigation findings, including blood results, USG abdomen results, and CT scan results. The site of culture and sensitivity were also obtained. The total direct medical cost was based on the antibiotics/treatments received by the patients, diagnostic test and investigations performed. The trend analysis used to see the pattern of costs from 2014 to 2017. All the costs were compared based on patients' status and duration of stay at the hospital using the independent t-test.
Results: The overall mean of direct medical cost for melioidosis amounted to US $233.61 (RM931.33). Overall, the finding confirms a huge reduction (44.7%) of direct medical cost from 2014 to 2017 (P = 0.001). From 2015 to 2016, there was a 19.1% reduction of direct medical cost (P>0.95), followed by a 38.8% reduction in costs from 2016 to 2017 (P = 0.019). In the case of the duration of stay, the mean of total direct medical cost among patients with ≥14 duration of stay was higher compared to those with <14 duration of stay (p < 0.001). There was no significant mean difference of direct medical cost between patients who were cured and died.
Conclusion: Despite the higher mortality of melioidosis cases compared to other infectious diseases, there is a limitation in the amount of published data on the management cost of melioidosis. The importance of cost in managing this disease should be underlined to perform a fully prepared management toward the disease.
Cellulose acetate-based membranes by interfacial engineering and integration of ZIF-62 glass nanoparticles for CO2 separation

Mubashir M, Dumée LF, Fong YY, Jusoh N, Lukose J, Chai WS, et al.

J Hazard Mater, 2021 08 05;415:125639.
PMID: 33740720 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125639

Composite membranes typically used for gas separation are susceptible to interfacial voids and CO2 plasticization which adversely affects the gas permeation performance. This paper evaluates routes towards the enhancement of CO2 permeation performance and CO2 plasticization resistance of composite membranes using non-stoichiometric ZIF-62 MOF glass and cellulose acetate (CA). Single and mixed gas permeation results, obtained with CO2 and CH4, demonstrate that the presence of ZIF-62 glass in CA polymer enhanced the CO2 permeability and CO2/CH4 ideal selectivity from 15.8 to 84.8 Barrer and 12.2-35.3, respectively. The composite membrane loaded with 8 wt% of ZIF-62 glass showed the highest CO2 permeability and CO2/CH4 ideal selectivity of 84.8 Barrer and 35.3, which were 436.7% and 189.3% higher compared to the pristine CA membrane, respectively. A CO2 plasticization pressure of 26 bar was achieved for the composite membranes, which is 160% higher compared to the pristine CA membranes, at about 10 bar. The mechanisms for the materials stabilization and greater separation performance were attributed to higher pore size (7.3 Å) and significant CO2 adsorption on the unsaturated metal nodes followed by metal cites electrostatic interaction with CO2. These findings confirm the potential of ZIF-62 glass materials as promising materials solutions towards the design of composite membranes for CO2 separation at industrial scale.
Fulltext Surging trends in prescriptions and costs of antidepressants in England amid COVID-19

Rabeea SA, Merchant HA, Khan MU, Kow CS, Hasan SS

Daru, 2021 Jun;29(1):217-221.
PMID: 33715138 DOI: 10.1007/s40199-021-00390-z

The social restrictions amid coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have posed a serious threat to mental health and have implications in the use of medications for mental health including antidepressants (ADs). This study investigated the trends in prescriptions and costs of various ADs in England during COVID-19 pandemic. National prescribing rates and net ingredient costs (NIC) of all ADs prescriptions during 2016 to 2020 were analyed. The total number of ADs prescriptions dispensed during COVID-19 pandemic (January to December 2020) were 78 million, 4 million more than in 2019 that costed NHS England £ 139 million more than in 2019. Sertraline, an SSRI antidepressant drug, alone accounted for an extra £113 million during 2020 than in 2019. The peak dispensing for ADs was observed in March 2020 while the total costs for AD drugs peaked in April 2020. The rising prescription costs for ADs during COVID-19 pandemic is a potential cause of concern, in particular the increasing use in adolescents and younger adults needs attention, who are at a higher risk of life-threatening adverse drug reactions.
A review on advances in green treatment of glycerol waste with a focus on electro-oxidation pathway

Ahmad MS, Ab Rahim MH, Alqahtani TM, Witoon T, Lim JW, Cheng CK

Chemosphere, 2021 Aug;276:130128.
PMID: 33714877 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130128

Over the past decades, research efforts are being devoted into utilizing the biomass waste as a major source of green energy to maintain the economic, environmental, and social sustainability. Specifically, there is an emerging consensus on the significance of glycerol (an underutilised waste from biodiesel industry) as a cheap, non-toxic, and renewable source for valuable chemicals synthesis. There are numerous methods enacted to convert this glycerol waste to tartronic acid, mesoxalic acid, glyceraldehyde, dihydroxyacetone, oxalic acid and so on. Among these, the green electro-oxidation technique is one of the techniques that possesses potential for industrial application due to advantages such as non-toxicity process, fast response, and lower energy consumption. The current review covers the general understanding on commonly used techniques for alcohol (C1 & C2) conversion, with a specific insight on glycerol (C3) electro-oxidation (GOR). Since catalysts are the backbone of chemical reaction, they are responsible for the overall economy prospect of any processes. To this end, a comprehensive review on catalysts, which include noble metals, non-noble metals, and non-metals anchored over various supports are incorporated in this review. Moreover, a fundamental insight into the development of future electrocatalysts for glycerol oxidation along with products analysis is also presented.
A new xanthone dimer and cytotoxicity from the stem bark of Calophyllum canum

Taher M, Salleh WMNHW, Alkhamaiseh SI, Ahmad F, Rezali MF, Susanti D, et al.

Z Naturforsch C J Biosci, 2021 Jan 27;76(1-2):87-91.
PMID: 32931451 DOI: 10.1515/znc-2020-0089

A phytochemical investigation of the stem bark of Calophyllum canum resulted in the isolation of a new xanthone dimer identified as biscaloxanthone (1), together with four compounds; trapezifoliaxanthone (2), trapezifolixanthone A (3), taraxerone (4) and taraxerol (5). The structures of these compounds were determined via spectroscopic methods of IR, UV, MS and NMR (1D and 2D). The cytotoxicity of compounds 1-3 were screened against A549, MCF-7, C33A and 3T3L1 cell lines, wherein weak cytotoxic activities were observed (IC50 > 50 μm).
Fulltext A Hybrid Deep CNN Model for Abnormal Arrhythmia Detection Based on Cardiac ECG Signal

Ullah A, Rehman SU, Tu S, Mehmood RM, Fawad, Ehatisham-Ul-Haq M

Sensors (Basel), 2021 Feb 01;21(3).
PMID: 33535397 DOI: 10.3390/s21030951

Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals play a vital role in diagnosing and monitoring patients suffering from various cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). This research aims to develop a robust algorithm that can accurately classify the electrocardiogram signal even in the presence of environmental noise. A one-dimensional convolutional neural network (CNN) with two convolutional layers, two down-sampling layers, and a fully connected layer is proposed in this work. The same 1D data was transformed into two-dimensional (2D) images to improve the model's classification accuracy. Then, we applied the 2D CNN model consisting of input and output layers, three 2D-convolutional layers, three down-sampling layers, and a fully connected layer. The classification accuracy of 97.38% and 99.02% is achieved with the proposed 1D and 2D model when tested on the publicly available Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Beth Israel Hospital (MIT-BIH) arrhythmia database. Both proposed 1D and 2D CNN models outperformed the corresponding state-of-the-art classification algorithms for the same data, which validates the proposed models' effectiveness.
Brown/Beige adipose tissues and the emerging role of their secretory factors in improving metabolic health: The batokines

Ahmad B, Vohra MS, Saleemi MA, Serpell CJ, Fong IL, Wong EH

Biochimie, 2021 May;184:26-39.
PMID: 33548390 DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2021.01.015

Brown and beige adipose tissues are the primary sites for adaptive non-shivering thermogenesis. Although they have been known principally for their thermogenic effects, in recent years, it has emerged that, just like white adipose tissue (WAT), brown and beige adipose tissues also play an important role in the regulation of metabolic health through secretion of various brown adipokines (batokines) in response to various physiological cues. These secreted batokines target distant organs and tissues such as the liver, heart, skeletal muscles, brain, WAT, and perform various local and systemic functions in an autocrine, paracrine, or endocrine manner. Brown and beige adipose tissues are therefore now receiving increasing levels of attention with respect to their effects on various other organs and tissues. Identification of novel secreted factors by these tissues may help in the discovery of drug candidates for the treatment of various metabolic disorders such as obesity, type-2 diabetes, skeletal deformities, cardiovascular diseases, dyslipidemia. In this review, we comprehensively describe the emerging secretory role of brown/beige adipose tissues and the metabolic effects of various brown/beige adipose tissues secreted factors on other organs and tissues in endocrine/paracrine manners, and as well as on brown/beige adipose tissue itself in an autocrine manner. This will provide insights into understanding the potential secretory role of brown/beige adipose tissues in improving metabolic health.
RERS-CC: Robotic facial recognition system for improving the accuracy of human face identification using HRI

Jing W, Tao H, Rahman MA, Kabir MN, Yafeng L, Zhang R, et al.

Work, 2021;68(3):923-934.
PMID: 33612534 DOI: 10.3233/WOR-203426

BACKGROUND: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is incorporated with a variety of applications for input processing and response actions. Facial recognition systems in workplaces and security systems help to improve the detection and classification of humans based on the vision experienced by the input system.
OBJECTIVES: In this manuscript, the Robotic Facial Recognition System using the Compound Classifier (RERS-CC) is introduced to improve the recognition rate of human faces. The process is differentiated into classification, detection, and recognition phases that employ principal component analysis based learning. In this learning process, the errors in image processing based on the extracted different features are used for error classification and accuracy improvements.
RESULTS: The performance of the proposed RERS-CC is validated experimentally using the input image dataset in MATLAB tool. The performance results show that the proposed method improves detection and recognition accuracy with fewer errors and processing time.
CONCLUSION: The input image is processed with the knowledge of the features and errors that are observed with different orientations and time instances. With the help of matching dataset and the similarity index verification, the proposed method identifies precise human face with augmented true positives and recognition rate.
Assessment of Antiviral combination therapy with Cephalosporin antibiotic for prevention of severe Influenza-A (H1N1)pdm09 infection associated secondary bacterial infection and other complications

Ishaqui AA, Khan AH, Syed Sulaiman SA, Alsultan M, Khan I

Pak J Pharm Sci, 2020 Jul;33(4(Supplementary)):1763-1770.
PMID: 33612459

Secondary bacterial infection is considered as a major complication associated with severe Influenza-A (H1N1)pdm09 infection responsible for the mortalities and morbidities worldwide. Use of antibiotics in viral Influenza infection is still debatable. All the confirmed diagnosed hospitalized Influenza-A (H1N1)pdm09 infection patients fulfilling inclusion/exclusion criteria during the study period were divided into two groups based on drug therapy for initial 72 hours. Group-1 included those patients who received oral oseltamivir alone while Group-2 included patients who were initiated on oseltamivir in combination with empiric cephalosporin antibiotic within 6-8 hours after hospitalization. The patients of both groups were assessed for incidences of various complication associated with Influenza-A (H1N1)pdm09 infection. A total of 227 and 116 patients were enrolled for Group-1 and Group-2 respectively. The incidences of secondary bacterial infections were significantly less (P<0.05). Moreover, length of stay in hospitalization, need of ICU admission, multiple organ failure and need of respiratory support were also significantly less (P<0.05) for Group-2 patients. Majority of patients that suffered complications were unvaccinated and aged more than 50 years with multiple comorbidities. Among cephalosporins, cefuroxime was found to be least effective in prevention of Influenza associated complications. Early initiation of empiric antibiotic therapy in combination with oseltamivir can prevent complications associated with Influenza-A (H1N1)pdm09 infection especially in elderly and unvaccinated high risk patients. Different combinations of antibiotics and antiviral medications need to be analysed for the prevention of severe Influenza infection complications.
Fulltext RF-Based Moisture Content Determination in Rice Using Machine Learning Techniques

Azmi N, Kamarudin LM, Zakaria A, Ndzi DL, Rahiman MHF, Zakaria SMMS, et al.

Sensors (Basel), 2021 Mar 08;21(5).
PMID: 33800174 DOI: 10.3390/s21051875

Seasonal crops require reliable storage conditions to protect the yield once harvested. For long term storage, controlling the moisture content level in grains is challenging because existing moisture measuring techniques are time-consuming and laborious as measurements are carried out manually. The measurements are carried out using a sample and moisture may be unevenly distributed inside the silo/bin. Numerous studies have been conducted to measure the moisture content in grains utilising dielectric properties. To the best of authors' knowledge, the utilisation of low-cost wireless technology operating in the 2.4 GHz and 915 MHz ISM bands such as Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) have not been widely investigated. This study focuses on the characterisation of 2.4 GHz Radio Frequency (RF) transceivers using ZigBee Standard and 868 to 915 MHz UHF RFID transceiver for moisture content classification and prediction using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models. The Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) from the wireless transceivers is used for moisture content prediction in rice. Four samples (2 kg of rice each) were conditioned to 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25% moisture contents. The RSSI from both systems were obtained and processed. The processed data is used as input to different ANNs models such as Support Vector Machine (SVM), K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN), Random Forest, and Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP). The results show that the Random Forest method with one input feature (RSSI_WSN) provides the highest accuracy of 87% compared to the other four models. All models show more than 98% accuracy when two input features (RSSI_WSN and RSSI_TAG2) are used. Hence, Random Forest is a reliable model that can be used to predict the moisture content level in rice as it gives a high accuracy even when only one input feature is used.

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