Harmful algal bloom (HAB) events have alarmed authorities of human health that have caused severe illness and fatalities, death of marine organisms, and massive fish killings. This work aimed to perform the long short-term memory (LSTM) method and convolution neural network (CNN) method to predict the HAB events in the West Coast of Sabah. The results showed that this method could be used to predict satellite time series data in which previous studies only used vector data. This paper also could identify and predict whether there is HAB occurrence in the region. A chlorophyll a concentration (Chl-a; mg/L) variable was used as an HAB indicator, where the data were obtained from MODIS and GEBCO bathymetry. The eight-day dataset interval was from January 2003 to December 2018. The results obtained showed that the LSTM model outperformed the CNN model in terms of accuracy using RMSE and the correlation coefficient r as the statistical criteria.
Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer in the world, and it continues to have a significant impact on the total number of cancer deaths. Recently, oncology findings hint at the role of excessive glucose in cancer progression and immune cells' suppression. Sequel to this revelation is ongoing researches on possible inhibition of glucose flow into the tumor micro-environment as therapeutics for malignant treatment. In this study, the effect of glucose blockage therapeutics such as SGLT-2 inhibitors drug on the dynamics of normal, tumors and immune cells interaction is mathematically studied. The asymptomatic nature of the breast cancer is factored into the model using time delay. We first investigate the boundedness and non-negativity of the solution. The condition for existence of critical equilibrium point is determined, and its global stability conditions are derived using Lyapunov function. This revealed that a timely administration of the SGLT-2 inhibitors drug can eliminate tumor cells. Secondly, we determine the sufficient and necessary conditions for optimal control strategy of SGLT-2 inhibitors so as to avert side effects on normal cells using a Pontryagin's Minimum Principle. The results showed that if the ingestion rate of the inhibitor drug is equal to the digestion rate, the tumor cells can be completely eliminated within 9 months without side effects. The analytical results were numerically verified and the qualitative views of interacting cells dynamics is showcased.
A total of 1,661 pregnant women aged between 13 and 45 years were screened for bacteriuria by urine culture. Of the 1,661 culture results, 615 (37%) yielded no growth; 728 (43.8%) yielded no significant growth (presence of <10(5) organisms/ml urine of one or more types of bacteria); 286 (17.2%) yielded mixed growth (presence of >10(5) organisms/ml urine of more than one type of bacteria) and only 32 (1.9%) showed significant growth (presence of >10(5) organisms/ml urine of a single bacterium). Urine microscopy was also conducted. Two hundred and twenty-four (13.5%) specimens had >10 white blood cells/ml urine, of which 66 had >100 white blood cells; 13 were from the significant growth group. Three hundred and seventy-four (22.5%) specimens showed the presence of bacteria, 42 (2.5%) had red blood cells, 370 (22.3%) had epithelial cells, 58 (3.5%) had crystals, and 14 (0.8%) had yeasts. The most common bacterium isolated was Escherichia coli (12; 40%); the others included group B Streptococcus (5; 15%), Klebsiella spp (5; 15%), Diphtheroids (2), and Candida albicans (2). Fifty-two percent of tested strains were sensitive to ampicillin; 24 of 28 strains (85.7%) were sensitive to ciprofloxacin; all 7 strains tested were sensitive to nitrofurantoin and all 20 strains tested were sensitive to cotrimoxazole; 14/20 (70%) and 16/17 (94.1%) were sensitive to cephalexin and cefuroxime respectively. This study shows that asymptomatic bacteriuria does occur in pregnant women, albeit at a very low rate in an urban setting like Cheras. Urine microscopy is not specific and only serves as a guide to bacteriuria. The commonest causative organisms are those from the gastrointestinal tract and vagina. The antibiogram showed that cefuroxime and cephalexin are likely to be effective in treating bacteriuria: ampicillin must be reserved for Gram-negative organisms. For Gram-positive organisms, of which Group B Streptococcus is important, ampicillin is still effective in vitro. Nitrofurantion and cotrimoxazole have excellent activity in vitro and should be considered for therapy. 17.2% of the urine culture yielded mixed growth: likely to indicate that contamination of urine specimens still happens despite the strict instructions given to patients about the collection of a midstream urine specimen. Proper collection, appropriate transport, and the early processing of urine specimens remain essential.