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Abstract Background The creation of relief camps following a disaster, conflict or other form of externality often generates additional health problems. The density of people in a highly stressed environment with questionable safe food and water access presents the potential for infectious disease outbreaks. These camps are also not static data events but rather fluctuate in size, composition, and level and quality of service provision. While contextualized geospatial data collection and mapping are vital for understanding the nature of these camps, various challenges, including a lack of data at the required spatial or temporal granularity, as well as the issue of sustainability, can act as major impediments. Here, we present the first steps toward a deep learning-based solution for dynamic mapping using spatial video (SV). Methods We trained a convolutional neural network (CNN) model on a SV dataset collected from Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to identify relief camps from video imagery. We developed a spatial filtering approach to tackle the challenges associated with spatially tagging objects such as the accuracy of global positioning system and positioning of camera. The spatial filtering approach generates smooth surfaces of detection, which can further be used to capture changes in microenvironments by applying techniques such as raster math. Results The initial results suggest that our model can detect temporary physical dwellings from SV imagery with a high level of precision, recall, and object localization. The spatial filtering approach helps to identify areas with higher concentrations of camps and the web-based tool helps to explore these areas. The longitudinal analysis based on applying raster math on the detection surfaces revealed locations, which had a considerable change in the distribution of tents over space and time. Conclusions The results lay the groundwork for automated mapping of spatial features from imagery data. We anticipate that this work is the building block for a future combination of SV, object identification and automatic mapping that could provide sustainable data generation possibilities for challenging environments such as relief camps or other informal settlements.

Background: Contracted subscapularis tears, especially Lafosse grade 3 and 4, pose a significant challenge in surgical repair due to the need for extensive release of retracted tendon and the risk of cut-through due to poor tissue quality. The posterior viewing portal may hinder adequate visualization and extensive release of retracted tendons, particularly in addressing the bursal surface of the tears. Tension-free robust repair is critical to prevent retears and for achieving successful outcomes for these massive and complex retracted tears. This study investigates the clinical outcomes of the Lasso-Loop technique with an anterolateral viewing portal, aiming to enhance tendon release, improve footprint fixation, and optimize tissue grip, particularly in cases of chronic retracted Lafosse 3 and 4 tears. This innovation also eliminates the need for arthroscope switching and serves as a crucial measure for averting axillary nerve injuries during the procedure. Methods: The study included 40 patients with isolated subscapularis or combined anterosuperior rotator cuff tears (Lafosse grade 3 and 4) that underwent arthroscopic subscapularis repair using a Lasso-Loop technique through an anterolateral viewing portal. Evaluations were conducted both preoperatively and at predefined postoperative intervals: 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years. The evaluations in this study encompassed a comprehensive range of clinical assessments, which included a complete range of movements, specialized tests for subscapularis muscle functionality (specifically the lift-off test and belly press test), the utilization of the University of California at Los Angeles and Oxford shoulder scoring systems, and a postoperative ultrasonography conducted at the 6-month mark to assess the presence of any retear. Clinical outcomes were compared with that of the opposite normal shoulder. Results: There was considerable improvement in the active painless range of motion postoperatively. During the 2-year follow-up, the positive belly press test decreased from 50% (n = 20) to 2.5% (n = 1), while the positive lift-off test decreased from 100% (n = 40) to 5% (n = 2). The modified University of California at Los Angeles score increased significantly from 10.15 preoperatively to 30.17 at 2 years postoperatively (P value = .001). Oxford’s Shoulder Score increased significantly from 15.6 preoperatively to 40.64 at 2 years postoperatively (P value = .001). Conclusion: This technique has produced positive functional outcomes, in cases categorized as massive subscapularis tears and chronic tears indicating the superiority over other conventional techniques of subscapularis repair described in the literature.

The ancient disease cholera remains a major public health threat in countries lacking safe drinking water, optimal sanitation, and preventive hygiene practices (1). In Haiti, which had not had a [...]

The Periyar Plateau in central Kerala is characterized by a strong negative Bouguer gravity field around three major islands of a strongly negative field of the value of -150 mGal. Detailed gravity studies reveal that these islands of strong negative field are of a shallow nature and are not traceable in the 1/4° average gravity grids. Spectral analysis of Bouguer anomaly map and 2D gravity modelling of Periyar Plateau region reveal the average depth of the shallow source layer is as shallow as 700-1000 m, which is correlatable with the layer of lateritic/lithomargic soil cover and the underlying weathered country rock having a density of 2.2 g/cc. Such a strong influence on the regional gravity field is due to the wide contrast in the densities of the lateritic cover and the primary rocks of the basement. These results underline the need to recognize the strong influence of such alteration zones on the regional gravity fields, especially the tropics, a factor not always considered.

The 2010 cholera epidemic in Haiti was thought to have ended in 2019, and the Prime Minister of Haiti declared the country cholera-free in February 2022. On September 25, 2022, cholera cases were again identified in Port-au-Prince. We compared genomic data from 42 clinical Vibrio cholerae strains from 2022 with data from 327 other strains from Haiti and 1,824 strains collected worldwide. The 2022 isolates were homogeneous and closely related to clinical and environmental strains circulating in Haiti during 2012–2019. Bayesian hypothesis testing indicated that the 2022 clinical isolates shared their most recent common ancestor with an environmental lineage circulating in Haiti in July 2018. Our findings strongly suggest that toxigenic V. cholerae O1 can persist for years in aquatic environmental reservoirs and ignite new outbreaks. These results highlight the urgent need for improved public health infrastructure and possible periodic vaccination campaigns to maintain population immunity against V. cholerae.

This paper examines the controllability of a class of heterogeneous networked systems where the nodes are linear time-invariant systems (LTI), and the network topology is triangularizable. The literature contains necessary and sufficient conditions for the controllability of such systems where the control input matrices are identical in each node. Here, we extend this result to a class of heterogeneous systems where the control input matrices are distinct in each node. Additionally, we discuss the controllability of a more general system with triangular network topology and obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for controllability. Theoretical results are supplemented with numerical examples.

Objective:Screening patients on anthracycline-based chemotherapy regimens for the development of cardiotoxicity can be resource intensive. We therefore studied various traditional electrocardiogram (ECG) parameters to correlate and possibly predict the development of elevated Troponin I as a surrogate marker of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity.Materials and Methods:This was a single-centre prospective cohort study done between January 2014 to January 2016. Baseline ECG was compared with ECG performed after chemotherapy and different parameters were compared. Patients were divided into Troponin I positive and negative groups based on the test performed at the end of chemotherapy, using a cut-off of 0.06 ng/dL.Results:Of the 160 patients studied, 131 (81.9%) were Troponin I negative (TnI-) and 29 (18.1%) were positive (TnI+). Breast cancer accounted for 79% of all cancers in this study. Many ECG parameters were compared between the TnI- and TnI+ groups. Of them, TP segment and TP/QT showed a significant decrease in the TnI+ group. The mean (95% confidence interval) TP in the TnI- group was 162.9 ms (145.4, 180.4) and in TnI+ groups was 117.9 ms (89, 146.8) (p = 0.03). Corresponding values for TP/QT were 0.47 (0.42, 0.51) and 0.35 (0.27, 0.42) (p = 0.02). These changes were not significant in multivariate analysis and likely reflected the different mean heart rates (HR) in both the groups, as suggested by partial correlation which was run with HR as a confounder.Conclusion:ECG parameters, such as QTcH, TP and TP/QT do not helpful predicting Troponin I elevations in patients on anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Further studies based on hard endpoints, for example, clinical systolic dysfunction occurring at one year, would give better information on their utility.