INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCEAlthough Corona virus primarily infects respiratory system, several complications have been reported. The aim of this paper is to report a strange case of corona virus ...disease presented with death on arrival and survived after rigorous cardiopulmonary resuscitation. CASE PRESENTATIONA 35-year-old male present as a sudden loss of consciousness 10 min before admission. The patient was unconscious, pulseless, there was no sign of breathing, the pupils fixed, did not react to light. Blood sugar was 112 mg/dl. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) commenced with insertion of two wide bore cannulas. The patient developed ventricular fibrillation. Later, he reverted to pulseless ventricular tachycardia. After several minutes of CPR, the patient returned back to sinus rhythm. He underwent percutaneous coronary intervention and became healthy one month after the intervention. CLINICAL DISCUSSIONCardiac involvement in case of COVID-19 might be explained by the presence of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor which is a transmembrane soluble protein regulating the local actions of the renin-angiotensin apparatus in cardio-vascular system. CONCLUSIONdeath on arrival could be the first presentation of COVID-19. Aggressive CPR is necessary to revive the victim.
Persons with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) (n = 30), individuals who had sustained a mild traumatic brain injury with postconcussive symptoms (MTBI) (n = 33), and healthy controls (n = 20), who were ...age-and education-matched, were compared on measures of complex information processing, attention/concentration, memory, and higher-order cognitive processes. MTBI and CFS patients demonstrated a similar deficit in complex information processing and verbal learning. Overall, however, individuals who suffered a MTBI demonstrated a greater degree of impairment than did individuals with CFS and healthy controls. Implications for treatment and future research are discussed.
This dissertation addresses two important problems in control theory: state estimation with constraints and model predictive control. The focus of the dissertation is on two common issues found in ...practical applications: modeling inaccuracies and implementation cost. The first part considers a state estimation problem for a discrete-time linear system driven by a Gaussian random process. The covariance of this random process and the covariance of the system initial condition are uncertain. In estimation, constraints can be used to represent information about the system, and therefore, have the potential of increasing the estimation accuracy. Unfortunately, the use of constraints usually leads to an increase of the online computation requirements. The approach proposed in this dissertation allows the incorporation of probability constraints in the estimator design. The resulting estimator offers improved accuracy, compared to existing estimators, with no increase of the online computation requirements. The second part considers a model predictive control (MPC) problem where the model of the system is only partially known. A method is presented to increase the robustness of this control architecture from the choice of the uncertain model parameters. The method consists of penalizing the energy of the state trajectory sensitivity, with respect to these parameters, in the MPC cost function. The resulting controller has the potential of increasing the robustness of the conventional MPC architecture. This gain in robustness is achieved with no increase of the online computation requirements as this controller retains the on-line computational simplicity of the conventional MPC problem. An optimization-based method is proposed to design this controller and two benchmark problems are used to illustrate its potential.
Signaling of the apelin, angiotensin, and bradykinin peptides is mediated by G protein-coupled receptors related through structure and similarities of physiological function. We report nuclear ...expression as a characteristic of these receptors, including a nuclear localization for the apelin receptor in brain and cerebellum-derived D283 Med cells and the AT1 and bradykinin B2 receptors in HEK-293T cells. Immunocytochemical analyses revealed the apelin receptor with localization in neuronal nuclei in cerebellum and hypothalamus, exhibiting expression in neuronal cytoplasm or in both nuclei and cytoplasm. Confocal microscopy of HEK-293T cells revealed the majority of transfected cells displayed constitutive nuclear localization of AT1 and B2 receptors, whereas apelin receptors did not show nuclear localization in these cells. The majority of apelin receptor-transfected cerebellum D283 Med cells showed receptor nuclear expression. Immunoblot analyses of subcellular-fractionated D283 Med cells demonstrated endogenous apelin receptor species in nuclear fractions. In addition, an identified nuclear localization signal motif in the third intracellular loop of the apelin receptor was disrupted by a substituted glutamine in place of lysine. This apelin receptor (K242Q) did not exhibit nuclear localization in D283 Med cells. These results demonstrate the following: (i) the apelin receptor exhibits nuclear localization in human brain; (ii) distinct cell-dependent mechanisms for the nuclear transport of apelin, AT1, and B2 receptors; and (iii) the disruption of a nuclear localization signal sequence disrupts the nuclear translocation of the apelin receptor. This discovery of apelin, AT1, and B2 receptors with agonist-independent nuclear translocation suggests major unanticipated roles for these receptors in cell signaling and function.
Experiences from the field setup of utility grid low voltage DC (LVDC) distribution are discussed. LVDC distribution being a novel approach to public electricity distribution, a research platform is ...realised to enable practical studies. The goal of the setup is to combine the requirements of the fully functional LVDC system and a flexible research platform. The scope of the paper is to discuss experiences from first six months of continuous use of the setup. The paper focuses on comparing how expected and realised results meet and how the setup has been operating in real public network. On the other hand, design flaws and challenges are covered. Finally, future research tasks and the development of the setup towards LVDC smart grid are presented. (4 pages)
Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is an important marker for health-related impacts on individuals with chronic diseases. This HRQOL study compares multiple sclerosis (MS) patients to a ...socio-demographically-matched healthy control group. HRQOL was assessed by means of a modular instrument (DEFU/DEFIS), which allows comparisons between diseased and healthy individuals. Main goal of the study was to obtain pertinent data to build a more reliable theoretical framework concerning HRQOL in MS. Another aim was to test the hypothesis of the so-called happiness paradox, according to which disabled individuals could maintain reasonable levels of HRQOL. Results show that MS individuals present lower levels of HRQOL in comparison to healthy controls, arguing against the happiness paradox hypothesis. Preservation of HRQOL levels against certain levels of disability may be restricted to a group of patients.
Low-Voltage Direct Current (LVDC) distribution network is a novel approach to the LV distribution. This paper presents the practical experiences from the implementation of a field environment ...research platform for ±750 V LVDC electricity distribution system in actual distribution network environment. The paper illustrates the main design of the field test environment as well as the challenges encountered during the construction and commission of the platform. The main objectives in the work have been to realise a real environment test bed for the development of the LVDC technology for public electricity distribution (utility networks), to determine the major gaps in the national standardisation and in the availability of components, and to gain knowledge of the different phases of the implementation process itself. (4 pages)
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