Articles: biological-models.
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J Neurosurg Anesthesiol · Jul 2020
Randomized Controlled TrialHigh-fidelity Training Model for Measurement of Dynamic Optic Nerve Sheath Diameter Using Transorbital Ultrasonography.
Transorbital ultrasonographic measurement of optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) is an important technique for bedside assessment of raised intracranial pressure (ICP). However, developing competency for this clinical skill requires practice scans on both normal subjects and patients with raised ICP. The aim of this study is to develop a high-fidelity training model capable of measuring dynamic changes in ONSD and to test the reliability and reproducibility of the model at different simulated ICP values. ⋯ We have developed a clinically relevant model capable of simulating changes in ONSD in patients with normal and raised ICP. This model could be a valuable training tool to gain scanning experience in optic nerve ultrasonography, and improve operators' technical abilities.
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began in Wuhan city, Hubei province, in December, 2019, and has spread throughout China. Understanding the evolving epidemiology and transmission dynamics of the outbreak beyond Hubei would provide timely information to guide intervention policy. ⋯ National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and European Commission Horizon 2020.
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J Infect Public Health · Jul 2020
Forecasting the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia using ARIMA prediction model under current public health interventions.
The substantial increase in the number of daily new cases infected with coronavirus around the world is alarming, and several researchers are currently using various mathematical and machine learning-based prediction models to estimate the future trend of this pandemic. In this work, we employed the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model to forecast the expected daily number of COVID-19 cases in Saudi Arabia in the next four weeks. ⋯ This indicates that the Umrah and Hajj Pilgrimages to the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia that are supposedly scheduled to be performed by nearly 2 million Muslims in mid-July may be suspended. A set of extreme preventive and control measures are proposed in an effort to avoid such a situation.
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The influence of two different variables on deflection was studied with 9mm Luger calibre bullets, fired through ballistic gelatine. To test whether bullet type affects trajectory deflection, bullets of four different types were fired (20 shots per type) through 25cm of 10% gelatine at a 5m muzzle-to target-distance. ⋯ To test whether muzzle-to target-distance affects trajectory deflection, additional shots were fired with one of the four bullet types (7.5g FMJ-RN) at 1 and 15m muzzle-to target distances (20 shots per distance), again through 25 cm of 10% gelatine. A Kruskal-Wallis test showed that there was no significant difference (p=.72, significance level of 0.05) in deflection between the three muzzle-to target distances of 1, 5 and 15m.
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Autoimmunity reviews · Jun 2020
ReviewA Unifying Hypothesis of the Pathophysiology of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): Recognitions from the finding of autoantibodies against ß2-adrenergic receptors.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME) is a complex and severely disabling disease with a prevalence of 0.3% and no approved treatment and therefore a very high medical need. Following an infectious onset patients suffer from severe central and muscle fatigue, chronic pain, cognitive impairment, and immune and autonomic dysfunction. Although the etiology of CFS/ME is not solved yet, there is numerous evidence for an autoantibody mediated dysregulation of the immune and autonomic nervous system. ⋯ Muscular and cerebral hypoperfusion has been shown in ME/CFS in various studies and correlated with fatigue. Metabolic changes in ME/CFS are also in line with a concept of hypoxia and ischemia. Here we try to develop a unifying working concept for the complex pathomechanism of ME/CFS based on the presence of dysfunctional autoantibodies against ß2AdR and M3 acetylcholine receptor and extrapolate it to the pathophysiology of ME/CFS without an autoimmune pathogenesis.