Activity

Model containing body length and heart girth was fitted best to data for prediction of body weight at both weaning and post weaning stage with adjusted R2 values of 0.94 and 0.96, respectively. Hence, 2 different models were proposed for accurately predicting body weight in Landlly pigs at 6 and 8 weeks.Sequential infections with different dengue serotypes (DENV-1, 4) significantly increase the risk of a severe disease outcome (fever, shock, and hemorrhagic disorders). Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the severity of the disease (1) antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) and (2) original T cell antigenic sin. In this work, we explored the first hypothesis through mathematical modeling. The proposed model reproduces the dynamic of susceptible and infected target cells and dengue virus in scenarios of infection-neutralizing and infection-enhancing antibody competition induced by two distinct serotypes of the dengue virus during secondary infection. The enhancement and neutralization functions are derived from basic concepts of chemical reactions and used to mimic binding to the virus by two distinct populations of antibodies. The analytic study of the model showed the existence of two equilibriums a disease-free equilibrium and an endemic one. Using the concept of the basic reproduction number [Formula see text], we performed the asymptotic stability analysis for the two equilibriums. To measure the severity of the disease, we considered the maximum value of infected cells as well as the time when this maximum is reached. We observed that it corresponds to the time when the maximum enhancing activity for the infection occurs. This critical time was calculated from the model to be a few days after the occurrence of the infection, which corresponds to what is observed in the literature. Finally, using as output [Formula see text], we were able to rank the contribution of each parameter of the model. In particular, we highlighted that the cross-reactive antibody responses may be responsible for the disease enhancement during secondary heterologous dengue infection.

To evaluate the concordance between Google Maps® application (GM®) and clinical practice measurements of ambulatory function (e.g., Ambulation Score (AS) and respective Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS)) in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS).

This is a cross-sectional multicenter study. AS and EDSS were calculated using GM® and routine clinical methods; the correspondence between the two methods was assessed. MLi-2 ic50 A multinomial logistic model is investigated which demographic (age, sex) and clinical features (e.g., disease subtype, fatigue, depression) might have influenced discrepancies between the two methods.

Two hundred forty-three pwMS were included; discrepancies in AS and in EDDS assessments between GM® and routine clinical methods were found in 81/243 (33.3%) and 74/243 (30.4%) pwMS, respectively. Progressive phenotype (odds ratio [OR] = 2.8; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1-7.11, p = 0.03), worse fatigue (OR = 1.03; 95% CI 1.01-1.06, p = 0.01), and more severe depression (OR = 1.1; 95% CI 1.04-1.17, p = 0.002) were associated with discrepancies between GM® and routine clinical scoring.

GM® could easily be used in a real-life clinical setting to calculate the AS and the related EDSS scores. GM® should be considered for validation in further clinical studies.

GM® could easily be used in a real-life clinical setting to calculate the AS and the related EDSS scores. GM® should be considered for validation in further clinical studies.

This study aims to compare the styles of coping with stress between patients with epilepsy and healthy individuals and to examine the effects of clinical features on methods of coping with stress.

The study enrolled 120 patients diagnosed with epilepsy. Forty healthy individuals were included as control group. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the patients were recorded. The patients and controls completed the Coping Strategies with Stress Inventory (COPE), which comprises 60 items distributed into 15 scales. The COPE scores of the patients and controls were compared.

Comparing the COPE scores of the patients and controls, the substance use score was higher in the controls. In terms of gender, seeking instrumental social support, active coping, seeking emotional social support, acceptance, and emotion-focused total coping scores were higher in women among patients. In terms of marital status, the positive reinterpretation and growth score of single patients was significantly higher than tapproaches to coping with stress.

Norming neuropsychological tests and standardizing their raw scores are needed to draw objective clinical judgments on clients’ neuropsychological profile. The Equivalent Score (ES) method is a regression-based normative/standardization technique that relies on the non-parametric identification of the observations corresponding to the outer and inner tolerance limits (oTL; iTL) – to derive a cut-off, as well as to between-ES thresholds – to mark the passage across different levels of ability. However, identifying these observations is still a time-consuming, “manual” procedure. This work aimed at providing practitioners with a user-friendly code that helps compute TLs and ES thresholds.

R language and RStudio environment were adopted. A function for identifying the observations corresponding to both TLs by exploiting Beta distribution features was implemented. A code for identifying the observations corresponding to ES thresholds according to a z-deviate-based approach is also provided.

An exhaustive paradigm of usage of both the aforementioned function and script has been carried out. A user-friendly, online applet is provided for the calculation of both TLs and ESs thresholds. A brief summary of the regression-based procedure preceding the identification of TLs and ESs threshold is also given (along with an R script implementing these steps).

The present work provides with a software solution to the calculation of TLs and ES thresholds for norming/standardizing neuropsychological tests. These software can help reduce both the subjectivity and the error rate when applying the ES method, as well as simplify and expedite its implementation.

The present work provides with a software solution to the calculation of TLs and ES thresholds for norming/standardizing neuropsychological tests. These software can help reduce both the subjectivity and the error rate when applying the ES method, as well as simplify and expedite its implementation.