OBJECTIVES In this international, multicenter study, using third-generation dual-source computed tomography (CT), we investigated the diagnostic performance of dynamic stress CT myocardial perfusion imaging (CT-MPI) in addition to coronary CT angiography (CTA) compared to invasive coronary angiography (ICA) and invasive fractional flow reserve (FFR). BACKGROUND CT-MPI combined with coronary CTA integrates coronary artery anatomy with inducible myocardial ischemia, showing promising results for the diagnosis of hemodynamically significant coronary artery disease in single-center studies. METHODS At 9 centers in Europe, Japan, and the United States, 132 patients scheduled for ICA were enrolled; 114 patients successfully completed coronary CTA, adenosine-stress dynamic CT-MPI, and ICA. Invasive FFR was performed in vessels with 25% to 90% stenosis. Data were analyzed by independent core laboratories. For the primary analysis, for each coronary artery the presence of hemodynamically significant obstruction was interpreted by coronary CTA with CT-MPI compared to coronary CTA alone, using an FFR of ≤0.80 and angiographic severity as reference. Territorial absolute myocardial blood flow (MBF) and relative MBF were compared using C-statistics. RESULTS ICA and FFR identified hemodynamically significant stenoses in 74 of 289 coronary vessels (26%). Coronary CTA with ≥50% stenosis demonstrated a per-vessel sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for the detection of hemodynamically significant stenosis of 96% (95% CI: 91–100), 72% (95% CI: 66–78), and 78% (95% CI: 73–83), respectively. Coronary CTA with CT-MPI showed a lower sensitivity (84%; 95% CI: 75–92) but higher specificity (89%; 95% CI: 85–93) and accuracy (88%; 95% CI: 84–92). The areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of absolute MBF and relative MBF were 0.79 (95% CI: 0.71–0.86) and 0.82 (95% CI: 0.74–0.88), respectively. The median dose-length product of CT-MPI and coronary CTA were 313 mGy·cm and 138 mGy·cm, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Dynamic CT-MPI offers incremental diagnostic value over coronary CTA alone for the identification of hemodynamically significant coronary artery disease. Generalized results from this multicenter study encourage broader consideration of dynamic CT-MPI in clinical practice. (Dynamic Stress Perfusion CT for Detection of Inducible Myocardial Ischemia [SPECIFIC]; NCT02810795)

Aim: Orthodontic brackets during their wear cause demineralization of enamel, which is the initial step in caries development. The prevention of such spots is crucial to ensure healthy teeth, but patients’ compliance is not the most optimal way. The aim of this study was to compare the antimicrobial properties of fluoride-containing orthodontic materials to the materials without additional fluoride. Materials and Methods: Antibacterial effectiveness of orthodontic materials with fluoride – Transbond Plus SEP Bonding agent, Transpond Plus Adhesive agent, Fuji I Band cement, Fuji Ortho LC Adhesive agent, Ortho Solo Bonding agent, and without antimicrobial substances – Transpond XT Bonding agent, Transbond XT Primer were tested with the inhibition on most common causes L. achidophilus (ATCC 4356) and S. mutans (ATCC 10449) and compared to negative control. Antimicrobial effectiveness of each material was measured with the agar diffusion method and expressed with the diameters of inhibition zones around the disk. Results: Materials containing fluoride showed more antimicrobial effectiveness compared to materials without fluoride or negative control (p<0.001), respectively. Materials from the group with no antibacterial substances were not statistically different compared to the negative control (P>0.05). Conclusion: Materials containing fluoride showed more significant antimicrobial effectiveness when compared to the materials without antimicrobial substance and thus might have the potential of antimicrobial properties in vivo.

Background: The accessory deep peroneal nerve (ADPN) is as an anomalous nerve derived from the superficial peroneal nerve or its branch and supplies motor innervations for extensor digitorum brevis (EDB) and sensory innervations for the lateral part of the ankle and foot regions. It is the most common anomalous innervation present in the lower limb. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of ADPN electrophysiologically in a sample of Bosnia and Herzegovina subjects who referred to an electromyography lab. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study included 316 lower limbs from 171 subjects referred for electrodiagnostic studies to Electromyography Lab, Department of Neurology, University Clinical Center Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (102 females/60% and 69/40%) males). Motor nerve conduction studies for the peroneal nerve and ADPN were done. Compound muscle action potential (CMAP) and nerve conduction velocity (NCV) of deep peroneal nerve (DPN) were measured by using EMG machine by stimulating DPN at knee, ankle and lateral malleolus areas accordingly, with recording from extensor digitorum brevis (EDB) muscle. Results: ADPN was found in 46 (14.5%) of 316 legs. ADPN was found in 18 (39.1%) right lower limbs and 28 (60.9%) left lower limbs. Ten subjects (5.8%) had bilateral ADPN. There was no statistically significant difference between the occurrence of ADPN in women versus men (p=0.757), as well as in right versus left legs (p=0.237). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that ADPN prevalence, in a sample of Bosnia and Herzegovina subjects who referred to an electromyography lab is 14.5%. Recognition of ADPN is very important for proper interpretation of lower limbs electrophysiological data.

Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)-aided millimeter-wave (mmWave) multiple-input single-output (MISO) is considered one of the promising techniques in next-generation wireless communication. However, existing beamforming methods for IRS-aided mm Wave MISO systems require high computational power, so it cannot be widely used. In this paper, we combine an unsupervised learning-based fast beamforming method with IRS-aided MISO systems, to significantly reduce the computational complexity of this system. Specifically, a new beamforming design method is proposed by adopting the feature fusion means in unsupervised learning. By designing a specific loss function, the beamforming can be obtained to make the spectrum more efficient, and the complexity is lower than that of the existing algorithms. Simulation results show that the proposed beamforming method can effectively reduce the computational complexity while obtaining relatively good performance results.

In this paper, we propose Federated Deep Learning (FDL) for intrusion detection in heterogeneous networks. Local Deep Neural Network (DNN) models are used to learn the hierarchical representations of the private network traffic data in multiple edge nodes. A dedicated central server receives the parameters of the local DNN models from the edge nodes, and it aggregates them to produce an FDL model using the Fed+ fusion algorithm. Simulation results show that the FDL model achieved an accuracy of 99.27 ± 0.79%, a precision of 97.03 ± 4.22%, a recall of 98.06 ± 1.72%, an F1 score of 97.50 ± 2.55%, and a False Positive Rate (FPR) of 2.40 ± 2.47%. The classification performance and the generalisation ability of the FDL model are better than those of the local DNN models. The Fed+ algorithm outperformed two state-of-the-art fusion algorithms, namely federated averaging (FedAvg) and Coordinate Median (CM). Therefore, the DNN-Fed+ model is preferable for intrusion detection in heterogeneous wireless networks.

Face masks help to limit transmission of infectious diseases entering through the nose and mouth. Beyond reprocessing and decontamination, antimicrobial treatments could extend the lifetime of face masks whilst also further reducing the chance of disease transmission. Here, we review the efficacy of treatments pertaining antimicrobial properties to medical face masks, filtering facepiece respirators and non-medical face masks. Searching databases identified 2113 studies after de-duplication. A total of 17 relevant studies were included in the qualitative synthesis. Risk of bias was found to be moderate or low in all cases. Sixteen articles demonstrated success in avoiding proliferation (if not elimination) of viruses and/or bacteria. In terms of methodology, no two articles employed identical approaches to efficacy testing. Our findings highlight that antimicrobial treatment is a promising route to extending the life and improving the safety of face masks. In order to reach significant achievements, shared and precise methodology and reporting is needed.

Metabolizam visokomliječnih krava, obzirom na njihovu genetsku predispoziciju za visoku proizvodnju mlijeka s jedne i reproduktivnih zahtjeva s druge strane, često je opterećen te izložen promjenama koje za posljedicu mogu imati poremećaj funkcionalnog stanja pojedinih organa, a najčešće jetre i genitalnih organa. Fiziološke vrijednosti biokemijskih parametara krvi krava, koje nude različiti izvori, često znaju znatno varirati. U tom smislu, osobito su interesantni parametri metaboličkog profila u muznih krava, koji imaju višestruko značenje: od pokazatelja hranidbenog statusa i uvjeta držanja životinja do pokazatelja kliničkih bolesti. Cilj je ovog rada bio ustvrditi koncentraciju nekih biokemijskih parametara u krvnoj plazmi krava holštajn-frizijske pasmine tijekom perioda zasušenja. Ispitivanja koncentracije pojedinih sastojaka u krvnoj plazmi radi određivanja metaboličkog profila krava važna su, ne samo za postavljanje objektivne dijagnoze i određivanje težine poremećaja u životinja s izraženim simptomima, već i u prevenciji i rasvjetljavanju mehanizama nastanka novih, metaboličkih i drugih bolesti. Istraživanjem je obuhvaćeno ukupno 46 krava u zasušenju holštajn-frizijske pasmine iz dva farmska uzgoja. Istraženo je 20 krava s farme „A“ i 26 krava s farme „B“. U krvnoj plazmi su spektrofotometrijski određivane vrijednosti parametara koncentracija: glukoze, ukupnih proteina, albumina, kolesterola, triglicerida, bilirubina i ureje. Na temelju rezultata našeg istraživanja, zaključili smo da su krvni parametri koje smo pratili adekvatni za praćenje funkcionalnog stanja jetre i metabolizma u krava, a koji mogu biti od koristi i u procjeni očekivane dužine servis perioda.

Research show that the vibrations of the strings and the radiated sound of the solid body electric guitar depend on the vibrational behavior of its structure in addition to the extended electronic chain. In this regard, most studies focused on the vibro-mechanical properties of the neck of the electric guitar and neglected the coupling of the vibrating strings with the neck and the solid body of the instrument. Therefore, the aim of the study was to understand how the material properties of the solid body could affect the stiffness and vibration damping of the whole instrument when comparing ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) and walnut (Juglans regia L.) wood. In the electric guitar with identical components, higher modal frequencies were confirmed in the structure of the instrument when the solid body was made of the stiffer ash wood. The use of ash wood for the solid body of the instrument due to coupling effect resulted in a beneficial reduction in the vibration damping of the neck of the guitar. The positive effect of the low damping of the solid body of the electric guitar made of ash wood was also confirmed in the vibration of the open strings. In the specific case of free-free vibration mode, the decay time was longer for higher harmonics of the E2, A2 and D3 strings.