Assessment of Compressed and Decompressed ECG Databases for Telecardiology Applying a Convolution Neural Network

Incalculable numbers of patients in hospitals as a result of COVID-19 made the screening of heart patients arduous. Patients who need regular heart monitoring were affected the most. Telecardiology is used for regular remote heart monitoring of such patients. However, the resultant huge electrocardiogram (ECG) data obtained through regular monitoring affects available storage space and transmission bandwidth. These signals can take less space if stored or sent in a compressed form. To recover them at the receiver end, they are decompressed. We have combined telecardiology with automatic ECG arrhythmia classification using CNN and proposed an algorithm named TELecardiology using a Deep Convolution Neural Network (TELDCNN). Discrete cosine transform (DCT), 16-bit quantization, and run length encoding (RLE) were used for compression, and a convolution neural network (CNN) was applied for classification. The database was formed by combining real-time signals (taken from a designed ECG device) with an online database from Physionet. Four kinds of databases were considered and classified. The attained compression ratio was 2.56, and the classification accuracies for compressed and decompressed databases were 0.966 and 0.990, respectively. Comparing the classification performance of compressed and decompressed databases shows that the decompressed signals can classify the arrhythmias more appropriately than their compressed-only form, although at the cost of increased computational time.

Shielding Surfaces from Viruses and Bacteria with a Multiscale Coating.

The spread of viral and bacterial pathogens mediated by contact with surfaces is a leading cause of infection worldwide. COVID-19 and the continuous rise of deaths associated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria highlight the need to impede surface-mediated transmission. A sprayable coating with an intrinsic ability to resist the uptake of bacteria and viruses from surfaces and droplets, such as those generated by sneezing or coughing, is reported. The coating also provides an effective microbicidal functionality against bacteria, providing a dual barrier against pathogen uptake and transmission. This antimicrobial functionality is fully preserved following scratching and other induced damage to its surface or 9 days of submersion in a highly concentrated suspension of bacteria. The coatings also register an 11-fold decrease in viral contamination compared to the noncoated surfaces.

COVID-19 Outcomes Among Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: A Case-control Study.

BACKGROUND: Solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients are considered to be "vulnerable" to COVID-19 infection due to immunosuppression. To date, there are no studies that compared the disease severity of COVID-19 in SOT recipients with nontransplant patients. METHODS: In this case-control study, we compared the outcomes of COVID-19 between SOT recipients and their matched nontransplant controls. The cases were all adult SOT recipients (N = 41) from our academic health center who were diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 10, 2020 and May 15, 2020 using positive reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for SARS-CoV2. The controls (N = 121) were matched on age (±5 y), race, and admission status (hospital or outpatient). The primary outcome was death and secondary outcomes were severe disease, intubation and renal replacement therapy (RRT). RESULTS: Median age of SOT recipients (9 heart, 3 lung, 16 kidney, 8 liver, and 5 dual organ) was 60 y, 80% were male and 67% were Black. Severe disease adjusted risk of death was similar in both the groups (hazard ratio = 0.84 [0.32-2.20]). Severity of COVID-19 and intubation were similar, but the RRT use was higher in SOT (odds ratio = 5.32 [1.26, 22.42]) compared to non-SOT COVID-19 patients. Among SOT recipients, COVID-19-related treatment with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) was associated with 10-fold higher hazard of death compared to without HCQ (hazard ratio = 10.62 [1.24-91.09]). CONCLUSIONS: Although African Americans constituted one-tenth of all SOT in our center, they represented two-thirds of COVID-19 cases. Despite high RRT use in SOT recipients, the severe disease and short-term death were similar in both groups. HCQ for the treatment of COVID-19 among SOT recipients was associated with high mortality and therefore, its role as a treatment modality requires further scrutiny.