Informative cartographic communication: a framework to evaluate the effects of map types on users' interpretation of COVID-19 geovisualizations

The dynamic and rapid spread of COVID-19 presented a challenge in explaining complex issues to uninformed members of society. Although the conveying of this information was dependent on web maps, few studies have focused on the effectiveness of these maps for informing the general public. This study employs the map usability literature to define three map design dimensions: (1) clarity, (2) understanding, and (3) accuracy. Using these dimensions, we developed a framework for categorizing geovisualizations into scientific, rhetorical, and informative maps based on their purpose. We analyzed four examples of COVID-19 geovisualizations under this framework and conducted an online survey to evaluate their interpretation by users. Only 10% to 60% of users understood each map correctly and poor design practices significantly affected the user interpretation of the maps. The degrees of understanding conformed to our framework. Scientific maps were ambiguous owing to their complexity and the over-emphasis on map cartographic accuracy, whereas informative maps that balance accuracy, clarity, and understanding were more interpretable. Meanwhile, no rhetorical COVID-19 dashboards were included in our sample. We demonstrated that one map cannot provide a complete and comprehensive overview. Therefore, our framework calls for the conscious design of different types of maps to convey the different shades of cartographic reality. © 2023 Cartography and Geographic Information Society.

Study of Mask Fibers for Protection Against SARS-Cov-2 Via Luminescent Aerosolized Silicon Nanoparticles

During the 2020-current COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of wearing a mask to reduce infection and spread is key. The mask works as filter for the different microorganisms. In this work the geometrical part of the filtration process of the N95 and surgical masks was studied using luminescent ultra-small silicon nanoparticles (Si-NPs) to represent the SARS-CoV-2 by spraying it on the mask using atomizer. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and optical microscope were used to check the mask. The obtained images show that the Si nanoparticles to are trapped by the PE fiber network, indicating its ability to filter SARS-CoV-2. This visualization using nanotechnology can help to further improve mask designs for better filtration. © 2022 ECS - The Electrochemical Society.

An Efficient Ensemble Model for Various Scale Medical Data

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are the digital form of patients??? medical reports or records. EHRs facilitate advanced analytics and aid in better decision-making for clinical data. Medical data are very complicated and using one classification algorithm to reach good results is difficult. For this reason, we use a combination of classification techniques to reach an efficient and accurate classification model. This model combination is called the Ensemble model. We need to predict new medical data with a high accuracy value in a small processing time. We propose a new ensemble model MDRL which is efficient with different datasets. The MDRL gives the highest accuracy value. It saves the processing time instead of processing four different algorithms sequentially;it executes the four algorithms in parallel. We implement five different algorithms on five variant datasets which are Heart Disease, Health General, Diabetes, Heart Attack, and Covid-19 Datasets. The four algorithms are Random Forest (RF), Decision Tree (DT), Logistic Regression (LR), and Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP). In addition to MDRL (our proposed ensemble model) which includes MLP, DT, RF, and LR together. From our experiments, we conclude that our ensemble model has the best accuracy value for most datasets. We reach that the combination of the Correlation Feature Selection (CFS) algorithm and our ensemble model is the best for giving the highest accuracy value. The accuracy values for our ensemble model based on CFS are 98.86, 97.96, 100, 99.33, and 99.37 for heart disease, health general, Covid-19, heart attack, and diabetes datasets respectively.

A case of a foreign body embedded in the sigmoid colon

Introduction: Foreign body (FB) ingestion is a common occurrence, with most expected to pass spontaneously once in the lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract, distal to the ileocecal (IC) valve with no currently established management guidelines. Case Description/Methods: A 76-year-old female had 2 days of intermittent left lower quadrant pain and diarrhea. Abdominal exam was without peritoneal signs. She tested positive for COVID 19 with mild upper respiratory symptoms. Patient had history of bowel obstruction requiring surgery more than 20 years ago. CT abdomen showed a 5 cm linear, hyperattenuating FB in the sigmoid colon, without inflammation or perforation (Figure 1A). She denied swallowing a FB. Conservative management with Miralax, docusate, and clear liquid diet for 3 days failed as her abdominal pain persisted and daily X-rays were unchanged despite daily bowel movements. Repeat CT showed unchanged location of the FB, which was now embedded in the sigmoid wall, with local inflammation. Sigmoidoscopy revealed a 4 cm linear bone fragment embedded in the sigmoid colon wall, which was retrieved with rat-tooth forceps (Figure 1B). Her pain resolved within 24 hours. Discussion: Boney fragments are common sources of accidental FB ingestion. Iatrogenic sources are also reported, such as needles lost during dental procedures. Such sharp objects have a greater association with complications, including perforation and bleeding which can be life threatening. Size, shape, or number of objects are not always predictive of ability to transit the GI tract. Approximately 80% of objects pass spontaneously and are almost always expected to pass once they have advanced beyond the IC valve. Objects found within the upper GI tract are of common concern, with existing management guidelines, however there are currently no established management guidelines for ingested FBs within the lower GI tract. In our case, the object was expected to pass without endoscopic intervention, but failed to progress over 72 hours, and was instead embedded within the sigmoid colon wall. Although signs of complications, such as perforation typically present themselves clinically, there are sometimes cases of clinically “silent perforation” with sharp objects in the GI tract, which could be missed with conservative management. This case highlights the need for clearly established guidelines for the management of ingested FBs within the lower GI tract, with interval imaging and defined threshold for endoscopic intervention of particular importance.

Humoral and cell-based responses following SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination of patients with multiple sclerosis on B-cell depleting therapy

Introduction: Anti-CD20 treated MS patients may have higher risk of severe SARS-CoV-2. Early reports indicate they mount attenuated antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, raising significant concerns about their protection, and the merit of aCD20 infusion delay to enable more robust vaccine responses. Little is known about cellular responses (particularly spike-antigen-specific T-cell responses) to these vaccines in B cell-depleted state. Aims: To characterize the magnitude and kinetics of both antibody-and cell-based responses to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines in aCD20 treated MS patients, compared to healthy controls (HC). Methods: Both humoral IgG responses to Spike (S) protein and its receptor-binding-domain (RBD), as well as Spike-reactive B cells (flow cytometry) and S-protein-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses (activation-induced marker/AIM assays), were serially assessed in 21 MS patients on aCD20 therapy and 10 HC, pre-and post-SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination (pre-vaccine-T1;10 days post primary-T2, pre-booster-T3;10-day post-booster-T4 and 30 days post-booster-T5). Results: Antibodies to both S-protein and RBD were induced in 100% of HC by T4 and, with some lag (by T5), in 89% and 50% of MS patients, respectively. Mean Spike-IgG concentrations for HC and MS patients at T5 were 165.3± 201.9 units/mL (u/ml) and 22.3± 58.2 u/mL respectively (p=0.0004);and 97± 136 u/ mL(HC) and 10.2± 29 u/mL (MS) (p<0.0001) for RBD-IgG. All 6 patients vaccinated longer than 20 weeks after the last aCD20 treatment exhibited partial B-cell reconstitution, and all had measurable spike-specific memory B-cells at T5. All MS patients and HC mounted CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses to vaccine. Expansion of activated (Ki67+CD38+) CD4+ T-cells was robust in HC and somewhat attenuated in MS patients (p= 0.03), while expansion of activated (Ki67+CD38+) CD8+ T cells was robust in both cohorts. In AIM assays, spike-antigen-specific responses of CD4+ T-cells of patients were similarly mildly attenuated compared to HC, while those of CD8+ T cells were similarly robust for both patients and HC. Conclusion: In spite of attenuated humoral SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine responses, aCD20 treated patients mount robust CD8+ and mildly attenuated CD4+ T-cell responses. Longer time from last aCD20 infusion may enable more robust humoral and cell-based responses. It will be important to study how cell-based responses relate to protection, complications and risk of infecting others.

Study of Polyethylene Fibers Used in Masks Via Luminescent Aerosolized Silicon Nanoparticles

Commercial polyethylene (PE) fiber-based masks are currently used as personal filters for protection against various microorganisms. Due to the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic of 2020, the use of masks has become the critical mechanism in reducing the spread. The PE mask filter uses a sieve (geometry) in a spider web fashion to filter out microorganisms using Van der Waals atomic forces. However, the non-geometrical part of the filtration process is not fully understood. In this work, we utilized luminescent ultra-small silicon nanoparticles, which are Si-H or/and Si-OH terminated to examine how the filter operates at a chemical level. The particles were sprayed onto the fiber network by an atomizer and we used scanning electron microscopy (SEM), optical microscope and fluorescence spectroscopy under UV radiation. The images and measurements clearly showed that the Si nanoparticles bonded to the PE fiber network. The results were analyzed in terms of chemical bonding between Si nanoparticle and fiber. Our findings suggest that the PE fibers could act as a chemical filter via hydrogen or hydrolysis-based bonding or via Si-C bonding, which is complementary to their physical filtration ability via the geometric sieve process. Graphic Abstract

A transfer learning-enabled optimized extreme deep learning paradigm for diagnosis of COVID-19

Many respiratory infections around the world have been caused by coronaviruses. COVID-19 is one of the most serious coronaviruses due to its rapid spread between people and the lowest survival rate. There is a high need for computer-assisted diagnostics (CAD) in the area of artificial intelligence to help doctors and radiologists identify COVID-19 patients in cloud systems. Machine learning (ML) has been used to examine chest X-ray frames. In this paper, a new transfer learning-based optimized extreme deep learning paradigm is proposed to identify the chest X-ray picture into three classes, a pneumonia patient, a COVID-19 patient, or a normal person. First, three different pre-trained Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) models (resnet18, resnet25, densenet201) are employed for deep feature extraction. Second, each feature vector is passed through the binary Butterfly optimization algorithm (bBOA) to reduce the redundant features and extract the most representative ones, and enhance the performance of the CNN models. These selective features are then passed to an improved Extreme learning machine (ELM) using a BOA to classify the chest X-ray images. The proposed paradigm achieves a 99.48% accuracy in detecting covid-19 cases. © 2021 Tech Science Press. All rights reserved.