Exploring the Complex Dynamics: Examining the Influence of Deviant Personas in Online Gambling.

The widespread use of computers and the Internet has substantially changed the gaming environment during the past ten years. The gambling industry is no longer exclusive to land-based gaming establishments (such as casinos and racetracks). Today, a few keystrokes on a computer are all it takes to access gaming operations. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and various other platforms constitute a particular form of access that has drawn more attention from academics in gambling studies. This increasing focus is partially attributable to the fact that social media sites have gained popularity as a means of accessing online gambling websites via hyperlinks hidden inside adverts. Users of social networking platforms can play free-to-play virtual gambling games using programmes. Virtual gaming platforms are the new name for these free-to-play simulation games of gambling. However, there is evidence to suggest that playing social casino games may serve as a "gateway" to real money gambling. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of deviant personas on online gambling behavior. By examining the relationship between deviant personas and online gambling, we seek to enhance our understanding of the factors that contribute to problematic gambling behaviors in virtual environments. Employing a robust methodological approach, this research amalgamates the analytical power of PLS-SEM (Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling) to explore the factors influencing the intention to adopt online gambling services. The data for this study were obtained by administering an online survey questionnaire to a sample of 325 aware customers of online gambling. The study's discerning insights have notable implications for the academic community, brand strategists, online game designers, and online gambling platform providers, offering valuable guidance for decision-making and strategy formulation within the burgeoning online gambling industry.

Regional and periodic asymmetries in the effect of Russia-Ukraine war on global stock markets.

This study aims to investigate regional and periodic asymmetries in the impact of the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war on global equity markets. Employing the event study methodology, the current study examines global stock market reactions within a 61-day window centred around the event day, i.e., February 24, 2022. MSCI equity indices of 47 sample countries have been utilized to ensure uniformity in the index development methodology. They provide broader coverage of global equity markets by including large and mid-cap companies, representing approximately 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization for each sampled country. The study extends the event window to 61 days to assess the enduring effects of the war over a relatively longer period. The research delineates regional and periodic asymmetries and posits that the impact of the war on a market is contingent upon its geographical proximity and trade relations with Russia and Ukraine. Additionally, the impact is stronger during a shorter window surrounding the event date but diminishes over the extended period.

From virtual observations to business insights: A bibliometric review of netnography in business research.

Netnography is a special kind of qualitative social media research. It applies ethnographic techniques to comprehend social interaction in settings of modern digital communications. This article aims to highlight the key contributors and knowledge structure of this research domain. Utilizing bibliographic data of 722 articles retrieved from the Scopus database, researchers used performance analysis to have insights into the most prolific authors, institutions, countries and journals. Keywords co-occurrence analysis was done to map the knowledge structure. The thematic map tool was used to recognize basic themes, motor themes, niche themes, and emerging themes in order to suggest future research directions. The results indicate that, in terms of research publications, the most productive nation is the United Kingdom. The most lucrative organization has been acknowledged as Griffith University. The most influential author is stated to be Mkono M. The most resourceful source is Journal of Business Research. In addition, three significant knowledge clusters important to study utilizing netnography were identified as a result of co-occurrence of keywords analysis namely, consumer behaviour, co-creation in online brand communities and authenticity. Further, niche and emerging themes include-sustainable tourism, customer engagement and sharing economy. When taken as a whole, this review is a useful tool for quickly understanding the most recent research findings and potential directions for further investigation. An assessment of the state of netnography in business and management research has not been systematically investigated. Hence, the present study aims to thorough a grasp of the state-of-the-art in Netnography research field over the past decades along with the future research directions. Studying the state of the art in the field adds to academic knowledge and provides updated information on the procedure.

Rate of Total Hip Replacement after Legg Calve Perthes Disease in a Canadian Province.

Legg Calve Perthes disease is a pediatric hip condition that leads to early hip degeneration. The efficacy of operative and nonoperative treatment is not well defined in the literature. Using the rate of total hip arthroplasty as a surrogate measure for symptomatic hip degeneration, the rate of total hip arthroplasty was compared in Legg Calve Perthes disease patients with and without previous surgical intervention in the province of Manitoba, Canada. A retrospective review was conducted using de-identified, individual-level administrative records of health services for the entire population of Manitoba. Codes for Legg Calve Perthes disease, femoral osteotomies, pelvic osteotomies, adductor tenotomies, and total hip arthroplasty were searched from 1984 to 2018. The rate of total hip arthroplasty in patients with Legg Calve Perthes disease was determined for two groups: (1) patients with earlier surgical intervention and (2) patients with no previous surgical intervention. Of the 202 patients included in the study, 180 had no prior surgery and 22 had prior surgery. The rate of total hip arthroplasty between the previous operative and nonoperative groups was found to be 32% and 40%, respectively (p = 0.458). There was no significant difference in rates of total hip arthroplasty in the operative and nonoperative groups. Further prospective studies are required to elucidate the differences in outcomes between operative and nonoperative treatment groups in patients with Legg Calve Perthes disease.

Annual incidence and assessment of risk factors for early-onset deep surgical site infection following primary total knee arthroplasty in osteoarthritis.

Aims: This study aims to determine difference in annual rate of early-onset (≤ 90 days) deep surgical site infection (SSI) following primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) for osteoarthritis, and to identify risk factors that may be associated with infection. Methods: This is a retrospective population-based cohort study using prospectively collected patient-level data between 1 January 2013 and 1 March 2020. The diagnosis of deep SSI was defined as per the Centers for Disease Control/National Healthcare Safety Network criteria. The Mann-Kendall Trend test was used to detect monotonic trends in annual rates of early-onset deep SSI over time. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyze the effect of different patient, surgical, and healthcare setting factors on the risk of developing a deep SSI within 90 days from surgery for patients with complete data. We also report 90-day mortality. Results: A total of 39,038 patients underwent primary TKA for osteoarthritis during the study period. Of these, 275 patients developed a deep SSI within 90 days of surgery, representing a cumulative incidence of 0.7%. The annual infection rate did not significantly decrease over the seven-year study period (p = 0.162). Overall, 13,885 (35.5%) cases were excluded from the risk analysis due to missing data. Risk factors associated with early-onset deep SSI included male sex, American Society of Anesthesiologists grade ≥ 3, blood transfusion, acute length of stay, and surgeon volume < 30 TKAs/year. Early-onset deep SSI was not associated with increased 90-day mortality. Conclusion: This study establishes a reliable baseline infection rate for early-onset deep SSI after TKA for osteoarthritis using robust Infection Prevention and Control surveillance data, and identifies several potentially modifiable risk factors.

Systemic lupus erythematosus: latest insight into etiopathogenesis.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex autoimmune disorder of unknown etiology. Multifactorial interaction among various susceptible factors such as environmental, hormonal, and genetic factors makes it more heterogeneous and complex. Genetic and epigenetic modifications have been realized to regulate the immunobiology of lupus through environmental modifications such as diet and nutrition. Although these interactions may vary from population to population, the understanding of these risk factors can enhance the perception of the mechanistic basis of lupus etiology. To recognize the recent advances in lupus, an electronic search was conducted among search engines such as Google Scholar and PubMed, where we found about 30.4% publications of total studies related to genetics and epigenetics, 33.5% publications related to immunobiology and 34% related to environmental factors. These outcomes suggested that management of diet and lifestyle have a direct relationship with the severity of lupus that influence via modulating the complex interaction among genetics and immunobiology. The present review emphasizes the knowledge about the multifactorial interactions between various susceptible factors based on recent advances that will further update the understanding of mechanisms involved in disease pathoetiology. Knowledge of these mechanisms will further assist in the creation of novel diagnostic and therapeutic options.

Hybrid natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery splenectomy: A case report.

Laparoscopic splenectomy has become an established standard of care in managing surgical diseases of the normal-sized spleen. Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is a step forward in making laparoscopic surgery even less invasive. In addition, the spleen can be accessed easily with the hybrid transvaginal approach. We present the case of a 38-year-old woman with medical refractory immune thrombocytopenic purpura. Hybrid notes splenectomy was performed using three working 5-mm abdominal trocars and a 10-mm camera port through the posterior fornix of the vagina. The organ was retrieved intact transvaginally. The patient had minimal post-operative pain and was discharged on the 1st post-operative day. Transvaginal hybrid NOTES approach is feasible for operative visualisation, dissection, clipping and specimen extraction in patients requiring splenectomy. It may offer better cosmesis and faster recovery. Comparative studies with conventional laparoscopic approach are desirable.

An overview of wind energy development and policy initiatives in India.

The Indian renewable energy sector has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 15.51% in the last five years, where wind growth is about 8%. The Indian government has been adopting changes to create a safe, cheap, and sustainable energy system to fuel vigorous economic growth. The government has made significant efforts in ensuring universal access to energy, giving power to its residents. It is implementing a large-scale deployment of renewable energy, particularly solar and wind. This paper examines the country's wind sector in-depth, including the government policy, financial incentives, and accomplishments. The study goes on to discuss the prospects and problems of the wind sector, as well as solutions to overcome them to reach the estimated target of 140-150 GW by 2030. Wind power growth in the country has weakened in the last few years which may hamper the country's ambitious renewable energy targets. Wind industry is facing several hindrances ranging from discontinuation of incentives, land acquisition, DISCOM's poor health, change in bidding scheme, old wind sites, etc. Certain steps, such as repowering outdated wind farms, giving generation-based incentives, tax concessions, reassessing the country's wind potential, and constructing competitive renewable energy zones could aid in reviving the wind energy sector.

A rare case of abdominal cocoon caused by brucellosis.

Brucella is the most common zoonosis in the world and is also included among the neglected endemic zoonoses by the World Health Organization. Its clinical presentation is often vague and it is not frequently suspected. A thorough history of social-economic status and animal exposure is often missed. We present a case of abdominal cocoon in a young patient residing at a dairy farm who tested positive for Brucella serology. Timely diagnosis and management prevented the progression of this debilitating condition to intestinal obstruction.

Assessment of risk factors for early-onset deep surgical site infection following primary total hip arthroplasty for osteoarthritis.

The aim of this study was to determine the incidence, annual trend, and perioperative outcomes and identify risk factors of early-onset ( ≤ 90  d) deep surgical site infection (SSI) following primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) for osteoarthritis. We performed a retrospective study using prospectively collected patient-level data from January 2013 to March 2020. The diagnosis of deep SSI was based on the published Centre for Disease Control/National Healthcare Safety Network (CDC/NHSN) definition. The Mann-Kendall trend test was used to detect monotonic trends. Secondary outcomes were 90 d mortality and 90 d readmission. A total of 22 685 patients underwent primary THA for osteoarthritis. A total of 46 patients had a confirmed deep SSI within 90 d of surgery representing a cumulative incidence of 0.2 %. The annual infection rate decreased over the 7-year study period ( p = 0.026 ). Risk analysis was performed on 15 466 patients. Risk factors associated with early-onset deep SSI included a BMI  >  30 kg m - 2 (odds ratio (OR) 3.42 [95 % CI 1.75-7.20]; p < 0.001 ), chronic renal disease (OR, 3.52 [95 % CI 1.17-8.59]; p = 0.011 ), and cardiac illness (OR, 2.47 [1.30-4.69]; p = 0.005 ), as classified by the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Early-onset deep SSI was not associated with 90 d mortality ( p = 0.167 ) but was associated with an increased chance of 90 d readmission ( p < 0.001 ). This study establishes a reliable baseline infection rate for early-onset deep SSI after THA for osteoarthritis through the use of a robust methodological process. Several risk factors for early-onset deep SSI are potentially modifiable, and therefore targeted preoperative interventions of patients with these risk factors is encouraged.

Hematuria - Look beyond the Urinary Tract - A Rare Case Report.

The major causes of hematuria in a middle-aged female include infections, renal calculi, or structural abnormalities of the urinary tract. Most patients are investigated and treated on an outpatient basis. While a possibility of malignancy of the bladder or kidneys may also be considered, hematological malignancy is an uncommon cause of hematuria. Detailed evaluation is important to rule out malignancy in new-onset hematuria. We report a case of a 49-year-old female who presented with gross hematuria, later diagnosed to have multiple myeloma (MM), despite the absence of its classical symptoms. This unusual presentation reaffirms its status as "The Great Masquerader." The case is worth highlighting because gross hematuria as the first presentation of MM is uncommon. The author wishes to stress that the clinician should also suspect blood dyscrasias with associated coagulation abnormalities in the workup of gross hematuria.

Size-based Degradation of Therapeutic Proteins - Mechanisms, Modelling and Control.

Protein therapeutics are in great demand due to their effectiveness towards hard-to-treat diseases. Despite their high demand, these bio-therapeutics are very susceptible to degradation via aggregation, fragmentation, oxidation, and reduction, all of which are very likely to affect the quality and efficacy of the product. Mechanisms and modelling of these degradation (aggregation and fragmentation) pathways is critical for gaining a deeper understanding of stability of these products. This review aims to provide a summary of major developments that have occurred towards unravelling the mechanisms of size-based protein degradation (particularly aggregation and fragmentation), modelling of these size-based degradation pathways, and their control. Major caveats that remain in our understanding and control of size-based protein degradation have also been presented and discussed.

CoV2-Detect-Net: Design of COVID-19 prediction model based on hybrid DE-PSO with SVM using chest X-ray images.

For Covid-19 suspected cases, it is critical to diagnose them accurately and rapidly so that they can be isolated and provided with required medical care. A self-learning automation model will be helpful to diagnose the COVID-19 suspected individual using chest X-rays. AI based designs, which utilizes chest X-rays, have been recently proposed for the detection of COVID-19. However, these approaches are either using non-public database or having a complex design. In this study we have proposed a novel framework for real time detection of coronavirus patients without manual intervention. In our framework, we have introduced a 3-step process in which initially K-means clustering, and feature extraction is performed as a data pre-processing step. In the second step, the selected features are optimized by a novel feature optimization approach based on hybrid differential evolution algorithm and particle swarm optimization. The optimized features are then feed forwarded to SVM classifier. Empirical results show that our proposed model is able to achieve 99.34% accuracy. This shows that our model is robust and sustainable in diagnosis of COVID-19 infected individual.

Partial Calcaneus Reconstruction using 'Opportunistic Grafts': A Case Report.

Although replantation of an amputated extremity has been successfully performed, occasionally the surgeon is forced to amputate in the case of an unsalvageable open fracture. These appendages can theoretically act as an autologous 'bone and tissue bank' for patients if they have reconstructable contralateral injuries. We present a case of an athlete who sustained a Gustilo and Anderson IIIC injury on 1 leg resulting in a below knee amputation. Her other lower leg had a traumatic amputation of the heel pad, partial amputation of the calcaneus, and complete Achilles tendon loss. Tissues from this amputated appendage were utilised to restore the anatomy of the contralateral extremity. The distal tibia and the tibialis anterior from the amputated limb were used to reconstruct the missing posterior tuberosity of the calcaneus and the Achilles tendon respectively. The soft tissue deficiency of the heel pad was restored with an anterolateral thigh free flap. At 2-year follow-up, the patient is pain free and back to playing soccer. This case highlights the opportunistic use of amputated parts to reconstruct a calcaneus and Achilles tendon. A multidisciplinary approach with plastic surgeons is required. The main advantage of this 'Spare Part Surgery' philosophy is to provide autologous graft of a similar geometry and to avoid harvesting tissues from an additional donor site.

Electron microscopy-based semi-automated characterization of aggregation in monoclonal antibody products.

Aggregation is a critical parameter for protein-based therapeutics, due to its impact on the immunogenicity of the product. The traditional approach towards characterization of such products is to use a collection of orthogonal tools. However, the fact that none of these tools is able to completely classify the distribution and physical characteristics of aggregates, implies that there exists a need for additional analytical methods. We report one such method for characterization of heterogeneous population of proteins using transmission electron microscopy. The method involves semi-automated, size-based clustering of different protein species from micrographs. This method can be utilized for quantitative characterization of heterogeneous populations of antibody/protein aggregates from TEM images of proteins, and may also be applicable towards other instances of protein aggregation.