Abstract
OPT101 photodiode sensor dosimetry properties were investigated for various parameters to observe its capability as a relative dosimeter. Its characterization was done with PTW semiconductor ...detector for diagnostic radiology as a benchmark. OPT101 presented excellent output linearity relative to dose measured by PTW semiconductor for energy dependency and reproducibility test. A significant high sensitivity was observed against dose rates and mean energies and linear response against different source-to-detector distance, SDD. Results suggest the use of an Arduino IDE microcontroller as potential of utilizing an IoT application in input/output communication with the sensor and data processing.
Les modèles de croissance endogène voient dans l’investissement privé en capital physique, les innovations technologiques, le capital humain et le capital public des sources du progrès technique, et ...donc de la croissance économique. Barro (1990) démontre aussi que les services publics sont considérés comme un facteur de production au même titre que le capital et le travail. C’est ce rôle productif qui crée une relation positive entre gouvernement et croissance. En plus de ces variables endogènes de croissance économique, l’investissement direct étranger (IDE) est considéré pour les pays en développement (PED) comme une variable exogène qui peut avoir un effet accélérateur sur la croissance, dans la mesure où il permet à ces pays de bénéficier gratuitement des nouvelles technologies, du savoirfaire et des connaissances. Les PED sont donc appelés à renforcer leur attractivité, notamment leur attractivité territoriale, s’ils veulent attirer plus d’IDE. Pour le cas du Maroc, même si les privatisations représentent une grande partie des IDE, il a pu convertir ces recettes publiques en investissements structurants et à effets durables. Les IDE ont permis de développer les infrastructures de transport et de communication, qui à leur tour ont renforcé l’attractivité territoriale du pays, ce qui tend à prouver que les programmes de privatisations ont un effet d’entraînement sur les IDE. En outre, les plans de développement mis en place, pour chaque région, prennent en considération ses spécificités sectorielles et devraient répondre aux attentes des firmes à la recherche d’avantages compétitifs et induire l’émergence de nouveaux pôles de compétitivité.
Penelitian ini ingin melihat gambaran ide bunuh diri pada remaja korban perceraian orang tua. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah kualitatif dengan pendekatan fenomenologis. Teknik ...pengambilan sampel non-probability sampling dengan incidental sampling. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan terdapat ide bunuh diri pada 3 responden penelitian. Penyebab munculnya ide bunuh diri karena perceraian yang memberikan tekanan hidup sehingga menyebabkan ketidakstabilan diri dan mengakhiri hidup. Ketiga responden memiliki keinginan kuat disertai dengan rencana untuk bunuh diri (active suicide), setelah mendengarkan keputusan bercerai, mereka merasa tidak memiliki tujuan hidup. Ketiganya juga sudah merencanakan tehnik bunuh diri (preparation) responden I (mengikuti tawuran), responden II (meminum racun), dan responden III (menyayat tangan). Keinginan untuk bunuh diri terus muncul, hanya saja tidak disertai rencana, memikirkan kematikan membuat pikiran lebih tenang dan nyaman (passive suicidal desire). Berdasarkan hasil penelitian penyangkalan dan penghindaran terhadap masalah menjadi salah satu faktor penyebab bunuh diri. Pikiran untuk mengakhiri hidup semakin diperkuat dengan munculnya keputusasaan, ketidakberdayaan, kesepian, dan rasa kehilangan sebagai faktor risiko. Faktor protektif dalam penelitian ini adalah dukungan keluarga, religiusitas, optimisme dan strategi koping yang adaptif, yang paling utama adalah dukungan yang diberikan dari teman sebaya.
The purpose of this project is to design an electrical circuit for measuring specific parameters, such as liquid level and engine RPM, to monitor a fluid circuit. The project involves a comparison ...between the Arduino Uno development platform and the PIC16 development platform. The devices utilized include a level sensor, motor potentiometer, ultrasonic sensor (HC-SR04), submersible pump, a 4x20 LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) with an I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuits) interface, and various connection cables.
Chimeric antigen receptor-T cell (CAR-T) therapies have furthered multiple myeloma (MM) treatment, but healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and costs for patients receiving commercial CAR-T therapy ...remain poorly characterized.
To describe real-world HCRU and costs with commercial CAR-T treatment in relapsed/refractory (RR) MM.
This longitudinal, retrospective, observational study identified patients with RRMM treated with commercial CAR-T using the US national all-payer claims database covering ~80% of the national insured population. Eligible adults had ≥1 inpatient or outpatient MM diagnosis and ≥1 commercial CAR-T (idecabtagene vicleucel or ciltacabtagene autoleucel) claim from March 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022, and ≥12 months of continuous enrollment before CAR-T infusion. Adults enrolled in clinical trials during the study period were excluded.
All-cause HCRU and costs from the day of CAR-T infusion to day 30 and from 31 to 100 and 101 to 180 days after infusion.
Of 196 patients who received commercial CAR-T therapy, mean age was 64.2 years, 58.2% were male, 130 (66.3%) received bridging therapy before CAR-T infusion, and 179 (91.3%) had inpatient infusion. Mean (standard deviation SD) total all-cause costs per patient per month (PPPM) from CAR-T infusion up to 30 days of follow-up (n=153) was $586,801 ($250,128), including CAR-T drug costs and infusion encounter costs (mean SD, $522,920 $201,557). Mean (SD) total all-cause costs PPPM 31-100 (n=94) and 101-180 (n=50) days post-infusion were $11,780 ($13,738) and $6,701 ($17,559), respectively. Including CAR-T infusion day to 30-day follow-up, the mean (SD) length of stay (LOS) and outpatient visits PPPM were 14.6 (8.1) days and 9.1 (5.8) visits, respectively; 5.2% had ≥1 emergency room (ER) visit. At 31-100–day follow-up, mean (SD) LOS and outpatient visits PPPM were 1.1 (3.5) days and 2.7 (2.5) visits, respectively; 8.5% had ≥1 ER visit. At 101-180–day follow-up, mean (SD) LOS and outpatient visits PPPM were 0.4 (1.1) days and 1.7 (2.8) visits, respectively; 2.0% had ≥1 ER visit.
Patients with RRMM who received CAR-T incurred ~$632,000 in all-cause healthcare costs through 180 days post-infusion, inclusive of CAR-T drug costs. HCRU and costs tapered from 30-180 days post-infusion.
The subject of this research is 29 fifth-grade elementary school students. The instruments employed consist of 1) a written test to assess cognitive abilities, 2) an affective observation sheet to ...evaluate attitudes, and 3) an observation sheet for products and performance to assess students' writing skills. The objectives of this research are 1) to improve the skills of developing main ideas and 2) to create creative products in the form of comics, short stories, and simple animated videos. This study is a qualitative research in the form of best practice using Digitalized Sequential Image Media (Digibase) to improve the skills of developing main ideas in fifth grade elementary school students. The results obtained from this research are: 1) the subjects have a high ability to develop main ideas of paragraphs. This can be seen from the assessment of the products and observations that have a range of values above 90. 2) the subjects have a very high cognitive ability in finding the main ideas of paragraphs. This can be seen from the posttest scores, where all subjects scored 100. 3) the subjects have a high affective ability, which can be seen from their affective achievement scores in aspects of mutual respect and responsibility that have a range of values of 79 and 83. From the results above, it can be concluded that the use of Digitalized Sequential Image Media (Digibase) can improve the skills of developing main ideas. Researchers found that in using Digibase media, it should be accompanied by specific teaching methods or models to make it more effective. In this case, the researchers combined it with a differentiated learning methods in the teaching process, with the aim of implementing Kurikulum Merdeka in learning.
Factors predicting HBsAg seroclearance after treatment cessation, irrespective of nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) resumption, have important clinical implications. We evaluated predictors of long-term ...HBsAg seroclearance after entecavir cessation.
This study followed-up Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B from two previous studies of entecavir cessation. All patients were non-cirrhotic, HBeAg-negative, with undetectable HBV DNA (<20 IU/ml) at end-of-treatment (EOT). They were monitored closely for 48 weeks with regular HBV DNA, quantitative HBsAg (qHBsAg) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) measurements. Entecavir was resumed at HBV DNA >2,000 IU/ml, irrespective of ALT levels. After the initial 48 weeks, patients were assessed every 6 months, regardless of entecavir resumption, to monitor for HBsAg seroclearance.
A total of 194 patients (63.4% male, mean age 49.9 years, on entecavir for a median of 47.2 months) were recruited; 94 (48.5%) and 158 (81.4%) patients had EOT qHBsAg <100 IU/ml and <1,000 IU/ml, respectively; 151 (77.8%) patients were eventually resumed on entecavir. After follow-up for a median of 70.7 (51.0-118.2) months, 28 (14.4%) patients had HBsAg seroclearance. qHBsAg levels at weeks 36 and 48 after EOT independently predicted HBsAg seroclearance (both p < 0.01), whereas qHBsAg from EOT to week 24 only trended towards statistical significance. The ratio of ALT/qHBsAg at all time points from EOT to week 48 independently predicted HBsAg seroclearance (hazard ratios ranging from 1.003-1.028, all p < 0.01) with excellent diagnostic performance (area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve 0.799-0.933, negative predictive value >90% at different time points), regardless of whether entecavir was resumed.
The ALT/qHBsAg ratio after entecavir cessation predicts HBsAg seroclearance, even in patients who were resumed on treatment. Its use may mitigate the risk of severe hepatitis flares in patients managed by observation without treatment resumption.
Current predictors of HBsAg seroclearance after finite nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) therapy have suboptimal predictive value. We demonstrated that the ALT/qHBsAg ratio may be able to reflect the balance between host control and virological activity. The ALT/qHBsAg ratio at different time points from end-of-treatment till week 48 independently and accurately predicted HBsAg seroclearance in patients who have stopped entecavir. The ALT/qHBsAg ratio may be utilized by clinicians for patient selection and retreatment decisions in finite NA therapy.
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•Predictors of HBsAg seroclearance following finite nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) therapy have important clinical implications.•The ALT/qHBsAg ratio may reflect the balance between host control and virological activity after NA withdrawal.•The ALT/qHBsAg ratio from end-of-treatment up to week 48 predicted HBsAg seroclearance after stopping entecavir.•The ALT/qHBsAg ratio had excellent diagnostic performance for predicting HBsAg seroclearance.•The predictive performance of the ALT/qHBsAg ratio remained consistent, regardless of whether entecavir was resumed.
The successful development of modern gas sensing technologies requires high sensitivity and selectivity coupled to cost effectiveness, which implies the necessity to miniaturize devices while ...reducing the amount of sensing material. The appealing alternative of integrating nanoparticles of a porous metal–organic framework (MOF) onto capacitive sensors based on interdigitated electrode (IDE) chips is presented. We report the deposition of MIL-96(Al) MOF thin films via the Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) method on the IDE chips, which allowed the study of their gas/vapor sensing properties. First, sorption studies of several organic vapors like methanol, toluene, chloroform, etc. were conducted on bulk MOF. The sorption data revealed that MIL-96(Al) presents high affinity toward water and methanol. Later on, ordered LB monolayer films of MIL-96(Al) particles of ∼200 nm were successfully deposited onto IDE chips with homogeneous coverage of the surface in comparison to conventional thin film fabrication techniques such as drop-casting. The sensing tests showed that MOF LB films were selective for water and methanol, and short response/recovery times were achieved. Finally, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of a porous thin film of Parylene C (thickness ∼250–300 nm) was performed on top of the MOF LB films to fabricate a thin selective layer. The sensing results showed an increase in the water selectivity and sensitivity, while those of methanol showed a huge decrease. These results prove the feasibility of the LB technique for the fabrication of ordered MOF thin films onto IDE chips using very small MOF quantities.
Expanding access to effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a major tool for management of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. However, rising levels of HIV drug-resistance have ...significantly hampered the anticipated success of ART in persons living with HIV (PLWH), particularly those from Africa. Though great strides have been made in Ghana toward achieving the UNAIDS “95-95-95” target, a substantial number of PLWH receiving ART have not attained viral suppression. This study investigated patterns of drug resistance mutations in ART naïve as well as ART-experienced PLWH receiving first-line regimen drugs from Ghana. In a cross-sectional study, blood samples were collected from HIV-1 infected adults (≥18 years) attending HIV/AIDS clinic at the Eastern Regional Hospital, Koforidua, Ghana from September to October 2017. Viral RNA isolated from plasma were subjected to genotypic drug resistance testing for Protease Inhibitors (PI), Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (RTI), and Integrase Strand Transfer Inhibitors (INSTI). A total of 95 (84 ART experienced, 11 ART naïve) HIV-1 infected participants were sampled in this study. Sixty percent (50/84) of the ART-experienced participants were controlling viremia (viral load < 1,000 copies/ml). Of the 95 patient samples, 32, 34, and 33 were successfully sequenced for protease, reverse-transcriptase, and integrase regions, respectively. The dominant HIV-1 subtypes detected were CRF02_AG (70%), and A3 (10%). Major drug resistance associated mutations were only detected for reverse transcriptase inhibitors. The predominant drug resistance mutations were against nucleos(t)ide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI)—M184V/I and non-nucleos(t)ide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI)—K103N. In the ART-experienced group, M184V/I and K103N were detected in 54% (15/28) and 46% (13/28) of individuals, respectively. Both mutations were each detected in 33% (2/6) of ART naïve individuals. Multiclass resistance to NRTI and NNRTI was detected in 57% of ART-experienced individuals and two ART naïve individuals. This study reports high-level resistance to NNRTI-based antiretroviral therapy in PLWH in Ghana. However, the absence of major PI and INSTI associated-mutations is a good signal that the current WHO recommendation of Dolutegravir in combination with an NRTI backbone will yield maximum benefits as first-line regimen for PLWH in Ghana.
HBsAg seroclearance occurs rarely in the natural history of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection and is associated with improved clinical outcomes. Many factors are associated with HBsAg ...seroconversion, including immune and viral factors. However, the immune mechanisms associated with HBsAg seroclearance are still difficult to elucidate. HBsAg seroclearance is the ideal aim of HBV treatment. Unfortunately, this goal is rarely achieved with current treatments. Understanding the mechanisms of HBsAg loss appears to be important for the development of curative HBV treatments. While studies from animal models give insights into the potential immune mechanisms and interactions occurring between the immune system and HBsAg, they do not recapitulate all features of CHB in humans and are subject to variability due to their complexity. In this article, we review recent studies on these immune factors, focusing on their influence on CHB progression and HBsAg seroconversion. These data provide new insights for the development of therapeutic approaches to partially restore the anti-HBV immune response. Targeting HBsAg will ideally relieve the immunosuppressive effects on the immune system and help to restore anti-HBV immune responses.
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