Comparative Performance Analysis of Differential Evolution Variants on Engineering Design Problems.

Because of their superior problem-solving ability, nature-inspired optimization algorithms are being regularly used in solving complex real-world optimization problems. Engineering academics have recently focused on meta-heuristic algorithms to solve various optimization challenges. Among the state-of-the-art algorithms, Differential Evolution (DE) is one of the most successful algorithms and is frequently used to solve various industrial problems. Over the previous 2 decades, DE has been heavily modified to improve its capabilities. Several DE variations secured positions in IEEE CEC competitions, establishing their efficacy. However, to our knowledge, there has never been a comparison of performance across various CEC-winning DE versions, which could aid in determining which is the most successful. In this study, the performance of DE and its eight other IEEE CEC competition-winning variants are compared. First, the algorithms have evaluated IEEE CEC 2019 and 2020 bound-constrained functions, and the performances have been compared. One unconstrained problem from IEEE CEC 2011 problem suite and five other constrained mechanical engineering design problems, out of which four issues have been taken from IEEE CEC 2020 non-convex constrained optimization suite, have been solved to compare the performances. Statistical analyses like Friedman's test and Wilcoxon's test are executed to verify the algorithm's ability statistically. Performance analysis exposes that none of the DE variants can solve all the problems efficiently. Performance of SHADE and ELSHADE-SPACMA are considerable among the methods used for comparison to solve such mechanical design problems.

Implementation fidelity of tuberculosis preventive therapy for under five children exposed to sputum smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis in Kaski district, Nepal: An implementation research.

INTRODUCTION: In line with the WHO recommendation, Nepal has started implementing Tuberculosis prevention therapy (TBPT) for under five children exposed to Sputum Smear Positive Pulmonary Tuberculosis, as one of the strategies for prevention, care and control of TB. Implementation fidelity study is important to assess on what extent preventive program is being implemented. The objective of the study measured the implementation fidelity of TBPT program Kaski district, Nepal. METHODS: We used a mixed-method explanatory sequential design study. Quantitative data were collected through retrospective review of records from April 2018 to May 2019 and level of adherence was established. Moderating factors influencing the implementation of TBPT were TBPT were assessed qualitatively. Sixteen in-depth interviews and a focus group discussion was conducted purposively with responsible stakeholders. The study was guided by the Conceptual Framework for Implementation Fidelity (CFIR) developed by Carroll. RESULTS: The majority of the components of the TBPT program were found to be implemented with a moderate level of fidelity. The proportion of under five years children initiate and complete the full course of TBPT was 72.5% and 75.86% respectively. The proportion of index cases traced for household contact, contact tracing within two months and timely initiation of therapy within two months were 54.19%, 82.73% and 86.20%. Moderating factors identified in the implementation of the program were contact tracing and enrollment, partnership and ownership, training resources, medication, awareness and information dissemination. CONCLUSION: The TBPT program is being moderately implemented in Kaski districts. Addressing the key challenges identified in contact tracing, partnership/ownership, incentives, training and knowledge of health workers results in more identification of children eligible for TBPT.

Performance up-gradation of Symbiotic Organisms Search by Backtracking Search Algorithm.

Symbiotic Organisms Search (SOS) algorithm is characterized based on the framework of relationships among the ecosystem species. Nevertheless, it is suffering from wasteful discovery, little productivity, and slack convergence rate. These deficiencies cause stagnation at the local optimum, which is hazardous in deciding the genuine optima of the optimization problem. Backtracking Search Algorithm (BSA) is likewise another streamlining method for comprehending the non-direct complex optimization problem. Consequently, in the current paper, an endeavor has been made toward the expulsion of the downsides from the traditional SOS by proposing a novel ensemble technique called e-SOSBSA to overhaul the degree of intensification and diversification. In e-SOSBSA, firstly, the mutation operator of BSA with the self-adaptive mutation rate is incorporated to produce a mutant of population and leap out from the local optima. Secondly, the crossover operator of BSA with the adaptive component of mixrate is incorporated to leverage the entire active search regions visited previously. The suggested e-SOSBSA has been tested with 20 classical benchmark functions, IEEE CEC2014, CEC2015, CEC2017, and the latest CEC 2020 test functions. Statistical analyses, convergence analysis, and diversity analysis are performed to show the stronger search capabilities of the proposed e-SOSBSA in contrast with the component algorithms and several state-of-the-art algorithms. Moreover, the proposed e-SOSBSA is applied to find the optimum value of the seven problems of engineering optimization. The numerical investigations and examinations show that the proposed e-SOSBSA can be profoundly viable in tackling real-world engineering optimization problems.

Indian major basmati paddy seed varieties images dataset.

The dataset contains images of 10 out of 32 notified Indian basmati seeds varieties (by the Government of India). Indian basmati paddy varieties included in the dataset are 1121, 1509, 1637, 1718, 1728, BAS-370, CSR 30, Type-3/Dehraduni Basmati, PB-1 and PB-6. Moreover, several images of other seeds and related entities available in the household have also been included in the dataset. Thus, the dataset contains 11 classes such that ten classes contain images from ten different basmati paddy varieties. In contrast, the 11th class- named "Unknown" contains images from a mixture of two morphologically similar paddy varieties (1121 and 1509), different pulses, other grains and related food entities. The Unknown class is useful in discriminating the paddy seeds from other types of seeds and related food entities. All the images were captured (in standard conditions) manually using an apparatus developed in-house and a tablet with a five-megapixel camera (5MP). The camera was used to capture 3210 RGB coloured images in JPG format. The data pre-processing was performed to generate the ready-to-use images for training and testing machine learning-based models. AI-based paddy seed variety classification models have been developed using the dataset. The dataset can be used to generate different types of AI-based models for adulteration detection, automated classification models (along with independent devices) at the time of rice threshing, and to increase the classification potential (Supplementing images representing additional basmati varieties).

Bio-tactics for neuroprotection of retinal ganglion cells in the treatment of glaucoma.

Glaucoma, a neurodegenerative disorder is characterized by damage of ganglion cells of retina and also its axons. The manner of progression of disease and retinal ganglion cells death in glaucoma still remains unknown and hence many mechanisms are put forward to understand the disease. Clinical developments have suggested that in every single patient decreasing intraocular pressure (IOP) is not the solution to prevent glaucoma which suggests on the fact that there are other risk factors affecting the disease. The demand for substitute unconventional treatments gives rise to the need to understand the biologically based tactics (bio-tactics) for stopping the progression of disease. Pragmatic findings of past years have supported novelty of inventive molecules with hallmark of neuroprotection in gene therapy. On the other hand, transformation of the latest drugs to clinic has not been of much fruitful substantially for the reason that it lacked dependability while measuring in vivo retinal injury. This as a consequence thwarted the high quality healing possibility of neuroprotectants whether administered single-handedly or given complimentary with other IOP reducing agents. Advancement in research is crucial to grasp the underlying mechanisms concerned with glaucoma and apply it in clinical field to develop neuroprotective agents. In this context, the present review is to bring forth an update on up to date progress in the domain of neuroprotection of retinal ganglion cells for treating glaucoma.

Implantable drainage devices in glaucoma: Quo vadis?

Glaucoma, a gradually progressive class of either chronic eye disease or disorder, occurs due to increasing intra-ocular pressure. To reduce glaucoma, it is essential to stop the progression of IOP in the eye which is achieved by medical treatment, laser treatment and surgery. Profuse conventional drugs and laser surgeries are the primary go-tos for decreasing IOP. However, presently available marketed formulations using anti-glaucoma drugs have issues of either difficulty in crossing the blood retinal barrier (BRB) or lower systemic bioavailability. Hence, the drugs having lower therapeutic index would need to be administered frequently. This repeated systemic administration of high doses of drugs eventually leads to side effects, damage to the eye as well as patient noncompliance. Implants are deemed to be the suitable treatment left when such side effects are to be avoided. An eye implant is one of the choices for restoring the volume of the eye socket following evisceration and enucleation. Implantable drainage devices (IDD) aka glaucoma drainage devices (GDDs) or aqueous shunts are small reconstructive surgery devices, either solid or made of a tube fixed to an endplate. The premonition behind implants is augmenting standard glaucoma surgery which successfully is attained by surgically creating a drainage opening and positioning the device properly on it. All implants are made with an objective of decreasing IOP by enhancing the fluid outflow from the eye. A critical comparison is made among different implants like Molteno: single-plate and Double-plate, Baerveldt drainage implant, Schocket implant, Ex-Press R50 implant, Ahmed glaucoma valve, Krypton implant to the latest one's including iStent, iStent inject, Hydrus, CyPass, XEN and InnFocus.

Glaucoma: Current treatment and impact of advanced drug delivery systems.

The human eye being a complex and a very sensitive organ makes the drug delivery task challenging. An increase in the intra-ocular pressure at the aqueous humour leads to glaucoma which is not only indecipherable but can also be the reason of blindness for many. The presently available marketed formulations using anti-glaucoma drugs have issues of either difficulty in crossing the blood- retinal barrier or lower systemic bioavailability. Hence, the drugs having lower therapeutic index would need to be administered frequently, which eventually lead to deposition of concentrated solutions at ocular site, producing toxic effects and cellular damage to the eye. To overcome these drawbacks the novel drug delivery systems like In-situ gels, liposomes, niosomes, hydrogel, dendrimers, nanoparticles, solid lipid nanoparticles, Microneedles or ocular inserts play an important role to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of the anti-glaucomic drugs. The present review briefs the current treatments in terms of drugs used and in detail the impact of utilizing the above mentioned novel drug delivery systems in the treatment of glaucoma.

iRSVPred: A Web Server for Artificial Intelligence Based Prediction of Major Basmati Paddy Seed Varieties.

The purity of seeds is the most important factor in agriculture that determines crop yield, price, and quality. Rice is a major staple food consumed in different forms globally. The identification of high yielding and good quality paddy seeds is a challenging job and mainly dependent on expensive molecular techniques. The practical and day-to-day usage of the molecular-laboratory based techniques are very costly and time-consuming, and involves several logistical issues too. Moreover, such techniques are not easily accessible to paddy farmers. Thus, there is an unmet need to develop alternative, easily accessible and rapid methods for correct identification of paddy seed varieties, especially of commercial importance. We have developed iRSVPred, deep learning based on seed images, for the identification and differentiation of ten major varieties of basmati rice namely, Pusa basmati 1121 (1121), Pusa basmati 1509 (1509), Pusa basmati 1637 (1637), salt-tolerant basmati rice variety CSR 30 (CSR-30), Dehradoon basmati Type-3 (DHBT-3), Pusa Basmati-1 (PB-1), Pusa Basmati-6 (PB-6), Basmati -370 (BAS-370), Pusa Basmati 1718 (1718) and Pusa Basmati 1728 (1728). The method has an overall accuracy of 100% and 97% on the training set (total 61,632 images) and internal validation set (total 15,408 images), respectively. Furthermore, accuracies of greater than or equal to 80% have been achieved for all the ten varieties on the external validation dataset (642 images) used in the study. The iRSVPred web-server is freely available at http://14.139.62.220/rice/.

Unusual clinical presentations of choriocarcinoma: A systematic review of case reports.

Choriocarcinoma (CC) is a highly malignant tumor originating in the trophoblastic tissue. The clinical presentation of CC is so much varied that every case may be one of its kinds and thus can be a diagnostic challenge. Numerous case reports have been published in various journals regarding the unusual clinical presentations of this cancer. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of all case reports in English language on gestational CC published in PubMed-indexed journals from 1998 to 2015. The main aim was to provide a summary and critical analysis of all the data and evidence published regarding the atypical clinical presentations of CC in recent years. In total, 121 case reports pertaining to unusual clinical manifestations of gestational CC were analyzed. The age of patients in whom cases were reported ranged from 17 to 67 years, and the time period between the index pregnancy and development of CC varied from 4 weeks to as long as 25 years. Cardiopulmonary complaints (20.66%) followed by gastrointestinal (18.43%) and central nervous system manifestations (17.67%) were found to be the most common. Through this review, the authors have made an attempt to discuss various manifestations with which a patient with gestational CC can present to clinician so that early diagnosis and timely management can be initiated, thus improving clinical prognosis.

Impact of community pharmacy-based educational intervention on patients with hypertension in Western Nepal.

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of data regarding the feasibility and impact of community pharmacy-based educational interventions on the management of chronic diseases in developing countries. AIMS: The aim of this study was to establish the feasibility, and to investigate the impact, of community pharmacy-based educational intervention on knowledge, practice, and disease management of patients with hypertension in Western Nepal. METHOD: A single-cohort pre-/post-intervention study was conducted from August 2012 to April 2013. The participants included in the study were patients diagnosed with hypertension attending a pharmacist-led hypertension clinic. The educational intervention was conducted by pharmacists, was individualised, and consisted of three counselling sessions over a period of six months. The patients' knowledge of hypertension, their practice of lifestyle modification and non-pharmacological approaches concerning hypertension management, and blood pressure were assessed at baseline and again after nine months by using a pre-validated questionnaire. RESULTS: Fifty patients met the inclusion criteria and were enrolled in the study. The median (IQR) knowledge score changed from 6 (4) to 13 (0) after the intervention (p<0.01) with the median (IQR) practice score changing from 7 (4) to 16 (2) (p<0.01). The mean (SD) systolic BP changed from 150.1 (7.8) to 137.7 (9.9) (p<0.01) and the mean (SD) diastolic BP from 104 (9.5) to 94.5 (7.8) after the intervention (p< 0.01). CONCLUSION: A simple, educational intervention by community pharmacists had improved patients' disease knowledge, practice, and management of their hypertension. Evidence suggests Nepalese community pharmacists need could play an important role in the management of chronic diseases like hypertension through simple interventions such as providing educational support for patients.

A study of potential drug-drug interactions among hospitalized cardiac patients in a teaching hospital in Western Nepal.

AIM: Drug-drug interaction (DDI) is of major concern in patients with complex therapeutic regimens. The involvement of cardiovascular medicines in drug interaction is even higher. However, reports of DDI between these groups of drugs are few. The study aims to identify the potential DDI among hospitalized cardiac patients. Furthermore, we assessed the possible risk factors associated with these interactions. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The Type of study prospective observational study was conducted from May 2012 to August 2012 among hospitalized cardiac patients. Cardiac patients who were taking at least two drugs and who had a hospital stay of at least 24 h were enrolled. The medications of the patients were analyzed for possible interactions using the standard drug interaction database - Micromedex -2 (Thomson Reuters) × 2.0. RESULTS: From a total of 150 enrolled patients, at least one interacting drug combination was identified among 32 patients. The incidence of potential DDI was 21.3%. A total of 48 potentially hazardous drug interactions were identified. Atorvastatin/azithromycin (10.4%), enalapril/metformin (10.4%), enalapril/potassium chloride (10.4%), atorvastatin/clarithromycin (8.3%) and furosemide/gentamicin (6.3%) were the most common interacting pairs. Drugs most commonly involved were atorvastatin, enalapril, digoxin, furosemide, clopidogrel and warfarin. Majority of interactions were of moderate severity (62.5%) and pharmacokinetic (58.3%) in nature. Increased number of medicines, prolonged hospital stays and comorbid conditions were the risk factors found associated with the potential DDI. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlighted the need of intense monitoring of patients who have identified risk factors to help detect and prevent them from serious health hazards associated with drug interactions.