Intelligent Trigonometric Particle Filter for visual tracking

Visual tracking is one of the pre-eminent tasks in several computer vision applications. Particle filter (PF) is extensively used in visual tracking for intelligent surveillance system applications, hugely significant. But the re-sampling procedure of PF will result in sample impoverishment, which will affect the precision of tracking simultaneously. In this paper, a new tracking technique, called Trigonometric Particle Filter (TPF), based on PF optimized by Sine Cosine Algorithm (SCA), which contains trigonometric sine and cosine functions, is proposed. An enhanced method for improving the number of target particles used in a Sine Cosine Algorithm for trigonometric particle filter includes SCA ahead of the re-sampling step. This step ensures a more extensive particle set Achievement of the proposed TPF tracker is inspected and assessed on Visual Tracker Benchmark (VOT) databases. The proposed TPF tracker is compared with evolutionary-based methods like the Spider monkey optimization assisted PF (SMO-PF), Firefly algorithm-based PF (FAPF) method, Particle swarm optimization-based PF (PSO-PF) and Particle filter, recent four correlation filter-based trackers, and also with other ten state-of-the-art tracking methods. We demonstrate that visual tracking using TPF delivers additional consistent and proficient tracking outcomes than compared trackers.

Prevention of bacterial complications of scabies using mass drug administration: A population-based, before-after trial in Fiji, 2018-2020

BACKGROUND

Scabies is an important predisposing factor of impetigo which can lead to serious bacterial complications. Ivermectin-based mass drug administration can substantially reduce scabies and impetigo prevalence in endemic settings, but the impact on serious bacterial complications is not known.

METHODS

We conducted a before-after trial in the Northern Division of Fiji (population: 131,914) of mass drug administration for scabies control. Prospective surveillance was conducted from 2018 to 2020. Mass drug administration took place in 2019, involving two doses of oral ivermectin or topical permethrin, delivered alongside diethylcarbamazine and albendazole for lymphatic filariasis. The primary outcomes were incidence of hospitalisations with skin and soft tissue infections, and childhood invasive infections and post-streptococcal sequelae. Secondary outcomes included presentations to primary healthcare with skin infections and community prevalence of scabies and impetigo.

FINDINGS

The incidence of hospitalisations with skin and soft tissue infections was 17% lower after the intervention compared to baseline (388 vs 467 per 100,000 person-years; incidence rate ratio 0.83, 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.94; P = 0.002). There was no difference in incidence of childhood invasive infections and post-streptococcal sequelae. Incidence of primary healthcare presentations with scabies and skin infections was 21% lower (89.2 vs 108 per 1000 person-years, incidence rate ratio, IRR 0.79, 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.82). Crude community prevalence of scabies declined from 14.2% to 7.7% (cluster-adjusted prevalence 12.5% to 8.9%; prevalence ratio 0.71, 95% CI, 0.28 to 1.17). Cluster-adjusted prevalence of impetigo declined from 15.3% to 6.1% (prevalence ratio 0.4, 95% CI, 0.18 to 0.86).

INTERPRETATION

Mass drug administration for scabies control was associated with a substantial reduction in hospitalisations for skin and soft tissue infections.

FUNDING

National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and Scobie and Claire Mackinnon Trust.

Prevalence of Leukoplakia among Patients Visiting a Private Dental Hospital- An Institutional Study

Background: The oral ‌mucous‌ ‌membrane‌ ‌is‌ ‌an‌ ‌integral‌ ‌part‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌oral‌ ‌cavity‌ and oral‌ ‌premalignancy‌ plays an ‌intermediate‌ ‌stage. Oral‌ ‌leukoplakia‌ ‌otherwise‌ ‌called‌ ‌smoker’s‌ ‌keratosis‌ ‌is‌ ‌a‌ ‌potential‌ ‌premalignant‌ ‌disorder‌ and if not diagnosed early has a risk of causing oral morbidity and cancer. It ‌is‌ ‌a‌ ‌non-scrapable‌ ‌white‌ ‌patch‌ ‌or‌ ‌plaque‌ ‌which‌ ‌might‌ ‌be‌ ‌homogeneous‌ ‌or‌ ‌nonhomogeneous‌ ‌and‌ ‌is‌ ‌strongly‌ ‌associated‌ ‌with‌ ‌smoking, tobacco, alcohol‌ ‌consumption,‌‌ chronic‌ ‌irritation,‌‌ infections‌, and‌ ‌ultraviolet‌ ‌exposure‌. The etiology is idiopathic. The main aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of leukoplakia in patients reporting to a university dental hospital. Methodology: The present study was a retrospective observational study wherein 239 leukoplakia cases were reported to a private dental hospital located in Chennai from June 2020 to April 2021. Data was collected from DIAS and was tabulated in Excel. Data analysis was done in SPSS software Version 20.0. Descriptive statistics and the relation between variables were determined using the chi-square test where done. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The results of this study reveal that oral premalignant leukoplakia has a strong male predilection (95.4%) and the age group of 50-60 years (29.71%) was the most commonly affected when compared to the other age groups. This study further results that homogenous type (75.5%) of oral leukoplakia was commonly prevalent in the right buccal mucosa (29.29%) followed by the left buccal mucosa (23.43%) of the oral cavity associated with the history of excess smoking (38.08%). Pearson chi-square test shows p-value is 0.00, (p-value < 0.05).Hence, it is statistically significant. When association was done between the site of the lesion in the oral cavity by the number of participants, 28.03% of the male participants were presented with the lesion on the right buccal mucosa. Pearson chi-square test shows p-value is 0.99, (p-value > 0.05). Hence, it is statistically not significant. Conclusion: The results of this study reveal that oral premalignant leukoplakia has a strong male predilection and the age group of 50-60 years was most commonly affected when compared to the other age groups.This study further results that homogenous type of oral leukoplakia was commonly prevalent in the right buccal mucosa followed by the left buccal mucosa of the oral cavity associated with the history of excess smoking.

Design, synthesis, cytotoxic, and anti-inflammatory activities of some novel analogues of aloe-emodin isolated from the rhizomes of Rheum emodi

In connection with our continuous efforts in the synthesis of derivatives from major compounds isolated from traditional medicinal plants, in the present study we have attempted to synthesize the furan-conjugated aloe-emodin derivatives (5a-j) using a three-component reaction. The synthesized derivatives were assessed for anticancer activity against five different cancer cell lines using the in vitro MTT assay and the results showed that most of the derivatives are potent against cancer cells comparing with the control. Compounds 5a and 5e showed excellent activity against all the cancer cells with less than 12.5 µM and arrested the cell cycle at the G0/G1 phase in both CAL27 and SCC9 cells. Compound 5e induces the early apoptosis in CAL27 cells and compounds 5a and 5e induce early and late apoptosis, respectively, in SCC9 cells. Moreover, compounds 5b, 5c, 5i, and 5j showed excellent anti-inflammatory activity in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells by inhibiting IL-6 production. The molecular docking studies revealed that compound 5e has strong interaction with the CLK kinase and protein kinase II through hydrogen binding Asp325 and Lys290.

Caregiver assisted home-based cognitive remediation for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia: A pilot study

Cognitive deficits in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia are ubiquitous and, therefore, cognitive remediation is considered one of the prime targets of a comprehensive intervention program for schizophrenia. However, cognitive remediation is a resource consuming intervention and in lower and middle-income countries (LAMIC) such interventions are often neglected due to the resource constraints of the mental health services set-ups. Therefore, it is imperative to develop cognitive remediation programs that are less resource consuming for the mental health service delivery system. Keeping this in view, in the present pilot study, we tested the feasibility of a caregiver assisted home-based cognitive remediation program and compared its efficacy with a clinic-based cognitive remediation program. Findings show that it is feasible to conduct cognitive remediation program with the help of caregivers in patients' home settings and that the home-based cognitive remediation is as effective as the clinic-based cognitive remediation. The results of the study have been further discussed in the light of the practical implications, limitations and future research.