Finite family trees of continuous time birth and death processes for evaluating the transmitting speed of information on communication networks

A finite random graph generated by continuous time birth and death processes with exponentially distributed waiting times was investigated, which is similar to a communication network in daily life. The vertices are the living particles, and directed edges go from mothers to daughters. The size of the communication network was studied. Furthermore, the probability of successfully connecting senders with receivers and the transmitting speed of information were obtained.

Maternal Age, Low Birth Weight and Early Neonatal Death in Tertiary Hospital in the Volta Region of Ghana

Objectives: Current study sought to determine an association between Low Birth Weight (LBW) and early neonatal mortality at a resource limited country’s referral hospital and to determine relationship between maternal age and birth outcomes. Method: A retrospective study analyzing data on births in the Volta Regional Hospital, Ghana from the period of November 2011 to June 2016. A total of 8279 births were analyzed. Results: Results suggest that teenage mothers (8.60%) are more likely to give birth to pre-term babies than the elderly (6.60%) and the adult mothers (4.61%). LBW is highest among the teenage mothers (12.69%) followed by the elderly mothers (7.87%) and then the least among the adult mothers (6.48%). Extremely Low Birth Weight (ELBW) and Macrosomia births were more observed among the elderly mothers (0.90%;2.17%) than the teenage (0.28%;0.14%) and adult mothers (0.34%;1.61%) respectively. Data suggest that 100% of the ELBW were pre-term birth, 88.28% Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW), 34.56% LBW and only 1.06% of the pre-term birth were with Normal Birth Weight (NBW). Death rate ranges from 50% for ELBW, 33.59% for VLBW, 8.22% for LBW, 5.43% for Macrosomia and 1.5% for NBW. However, death rate distribution among the various age groups was statistically not significant (P 0.106). Conclusions: Our study suggests that early neonatal death, especially deaths among ELBW and VLBW is still high at the VRH of Ghana and therefore there is the need for further studies into interventions to reduce death among neonates born with VLBW and ELBW.

Beyond Spacetime Geometry—The Death of Philosophy and Its Quantum Reincarnation

Contrary to the “end” and “death” assertions on philosophy, this paper predicts an equilibrium-based and harmony-centered scientific reincarnation of philosophy. Logically, the reincarnation is backed by a formal system and a background independent geometry that transcends spacetime. Physically, it is supported by definable quantum causality and bipolar logical unifications of matter and antimatter, particle and wave, big bang and black hole, relativity and quantum entanglement. Philosophically, it is distinguished from Western metaphysics and dialectics as well as the Dao of Laozi. It is named a quantum reincarnation for its central claim that YinYang bipolar quantum entanglement is the source of causality for the Being of beings following the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Thus, it presents a modest unification of science and philosophy for their reciprocal interaction (Note: Equilibrium subsumes non-equilibrium and quasi—equilibrium as local non-equilibriums can form global equilibrium or quasi-equilibrium).

The Wartime Bridge Reliability Evaluation Model Based on Birth-and-Death Process

At first, the concept of bridge reliability is given, followed with its mathematic model. Then, based on the analysis about the mechanism of the damage and repair of bridges, and the state diversion of bridge network, the state diversion process is proved to be birth-and-death process. In the end, the state diversion balance equation of bridge network is built, and the evaluation model of wartime bridge reliability is got. The model is used in a certain example, and it is proved to be precise and credible.

A Hospital-Based Cross-Sectional Study Assessing the Relation between Time of Birth and Perinatal Outcome

Objectives:?Investigating the relation between perinatal outcomes and?hospital working shifts.?Methods:?We conducted a cross-sectional study at Philippe Maguilen Senghor health center (PMSHC) in Dakar, Senegal from January, 1st?2011 to December, 31th 2018. The study population was comprised of all mothers who had delivered at PMSHC and their newborns after completing 22 weeks of gestation. Time of delivery was?divided into three periods of working hours: morning shift (deliveries occurred between 7 am and 4:59 pm);evening shift from 5 pm to 10:59 pm and night shift from 11?pm to 6:59 am.?Maternal outcomes were assessed by mode of delivery, epsisotomy and perineal injuries.?The Apgar scoring system was used to assess newborns at first minute after they were born. Other adverse perinatal outcomes included fresh stillbirth, neonatal referral and early neonatal death. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science software (SPSS 24, Mac version).?Results:?A total of 48,270 mothers and their newborns met eligibility criteria. Caesarean section deliveries were less likely to occur during evening (OR 0.84, 95% CI;0.79?-?0.89, p = 0.001) and night shifts (OR 0.45, CI;0.47?-?0.53, p = 0.001).?Evening shift deliveries had 1.1 the odds of poor perinatal outcome (Apgar score ?- 1.18, p = 0.012). No significant difference was found in the odds of neonate referrals and deaths across the three shifts.?Night shift deliveries had 1.1 the odds of perineal injuries compared to morning shift deliveries (OR 1.11, 95% CI;1.04?- 1.18, p = 0.001, for episiotomy and OR, 1.14;95% CI, 1.04?- 1.26, p = 0.008, for perineal tears). Conclusion:?Off-hours deliveries, particularly during the night shift, were significantly associated with higher proportions of perineal injuries compared to morning shift.?However, no significant difference was found in the odds of neonate referrals and deaths across the three shifts.?Our findings suggest to set up a Neonatology unit at the CSPMS as well as a perinatal network across the country.

The Effect of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 Infection on Low Birth Weight, Mother to Child HIV Transmission and Infants’ Death in African Area

Background: It is yet a controversy subject whether low birth weight and infant death are associated to human immunodeficiency virus-1 infection. Objective: To appreciate association between low birth weights, mother to child HIV transmission and infant mortality in HIV-1 infected pregnant women delivering between 2011 and 2016. Materials: We conducted 6 years cohort study in urban Mali. Outcome included preterm delivery, small for gestational age, infant survival status and HIV transmission. Comparison concerned women clinical WHO stage, mother viro-immunological status, and newborn anthropometric parameters. Results: HIV-1 infected women who delivered low birth weight newborn were 20.9% (111/531) versus 16.5% (1910/11.546) in HIV negative patients (p = 0.016). CD4 T cell counts low than 350 T cells count were strongly associated to LBW (p = 0.000;RR = 3.03;95% CI [1.89 - 3.16]). There is no significant association between ART that was initiated during pregnancy (p = 0.061, RR = 0.02;CI 95% (1.02 - 1.99)) or during delivery (p = 0.571;RR = 1.01;CI 95% (0.10 - 3.02)) and LBW delivery. In multivariate analysis ART regimens containing protease inhibitor (PI) were lone regimens associated with LBW ((p = 0.030;RR = 1.001;95% confidence interval [1.28 - 3.80]). Very low birth weight was statistically associated to women HIV infection (adjusted relative risk, 2.02;p = 0.000;95% confidence interval (2.17 - 4.10)). There is no significant difference between mother to child HIV transmission rate in the two HIV-infected pregnant women (10 infected children in group 2: MTCT rate 4.5%) and 3 infected children in group 1 (MTCT rate: 2.7%) (p = 0.56;RR, 0.59;CI 95% (0.18 - 4.39)). In multivariate analysis, LBW was associated with infant death (p = 0.001;RR = 2.04;CI 95% [1.04 - 5.05]). The median weight of infant at the moment of death in group 1 was 851 g (IQR: 520 - 1833 g). Significant relationship was found between infant death among LBW newborn with mother WHO stage 2 (p = 0.004;adjusted RR = 3.22;CI 95% [2.25 - 6.00]), CD4 T cells count 3 (p = 0.005;RR = 2.81;CI 95% [1.20 - 4.11]), PI regimens (p = 0.030;RR = 1.00;CI 95% [1.28 - 3.80]). Conclusion: We confirm increased risk of low birth weight and mother HIV-1 infection and we identified strongest association between mortality in infant born to HIV-1 infected mother and LBW.

Normothermic regional perfusion mobile teams in controlled donation after circulatory death pathway: Evidence and peculiarities

To facilitate the implementation of controlled donation after circulatory death(cDCD)programs even in hospitals not equipped with a local Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation(ECMO)team(Spokes),some countries and Italian Regions have launched a local cDCD network with a ECMO mobile team who move from Hub hospitals to Spokes for normothermic regional perfusion(NRP)implantation in the setting of a cDCD pathway.While ECMO teams have been clearly defined by the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization,regarding composition,responsibilities and training programs,no clear,widely accepted indications are to date available for NRP teams.Although existing NRP mobile networks were developed due to the urgent need to increase the number of cDCDs,there is now the necessity for transplantation medicine to identify the peculiarities and responsibility of a NRP team for all those centers launching a cDCD pathway.Thus,in the present manuscript we summarized the character-istics of an ECMO mobile team,highlighting similarities and differences with the NRP mobile team.We also assessed existing evidence on NRP teams with the goal of identifying the characteristic and essential features of an NRP mobile team for a cDCD program,especially for those centers who are starting the program.Differences were identified between the mobile ECMO team and NRP mobile team.The common essential feature for both mobile teams is high skills and experience to reduce complications and,in the case of cDCD,to reduce the total warm ischemic time.Dedicated training programs should be developed for the launch of de novo NRP teams.

A Time Series Analysis of Outdoor Air Pollution and Preterm Birth in Shanghai, China

Objective To investigate the relation between air pollution exposure and preterm birth in Shanghai, China. Methods We examined the effect of ambient air pollution on preterm birth using time-series approach in Shanghai in 2004. This method can eliminate potential confounding by individual risk factors that do not change over a short period of time. Daily numbers of preterm births were obtained from the live birth database maintained by Shanghai Municipal Center of Disease Control and Prevention. We used the generalized additive model （GAM） with penalized splines to analyze the relation between preterm birth, air pollution, and covariates. Results We observed a significant effect of outdoor air pollution only with 8-week exposure before preterm births. An increase of 10 μg/m^3 of 8-week average PM10, SO2, NO2, and O3 corresponded to 4.42% （95%CI 1.60%, 7.25%）, 11.89% （95%CI 6.69%, 17.09%）, 5.43% （95%CI 1.78%, 9.08%）, and 4.63% （95%CI 0.35%, 8.91%） increase of preterm birth. We did not find any significant acute effect of outdoor air pollution on preterm birth in the week before birth. Conclusion Ambient air pollution may contribute to the risk of preterm birth in Shanghai. Our analyses also strengthen the rationale for further limiting air pollution level in the city.

THE ERGODICITY FOR BI-IMMIGRATION BIRTH AND DEATH PROCESSES IN RANDOM ENVIRONMENT

The concepts of bi-immigration birth and death density matrix in random environment and bi-immigration birth and death process in random environment are introduced. For any bi-immigration birth and death matrix in random environment Q（θ） with birth rate λ 〈 death rate μ, the following results are proved, （1） there is an unique q-process in random environment, P^-（θ＊（0）;t） = （p^-（θ^＊（0）;t,i,j）,i,j ≥ 0）, which is ergodic, that is, lim t→∞（θ^＊（0）;t,i,j） = π^-（θ^＊（0）;j） ≥0 does not depend on i ≥ 0 and ∑j≥0π （θ＊（0）;j） = 1, （2） there is a bi-immigration birth and death process in random enjvironment （X^＊ = {X^＊,t ≥ 0},ε^＊ = {εt,t ∈ （-∞, ∞）}） with random transition matrix P^-（θ^＊ （0）;t） such that X^＊ is a strictly stationary process.

Degree distribution of random birth-and-death network with network size decline

In this paper,we provide a general method to obtain the exact solutions of the degree distributions for random birthand-death network（RBDN） with network size decline.First,by stochastic process rules,the steady state transformation equations and steady state degree distribution equations are given in the case of m ≥ 3 and 0 〈 p 〈 1/2,then the average degree of network with n nodes is introduced to calculate the degree distributions.Specifically,taking m = 3 for example,we explain the detailed solving process,in which computer simulation is used to verify our degree distribution solutions.In addition,the tail characteristics of the degree distribution are discussed.Our findings suggest that the degree distributions will exhibit Poisson tail property for the declining RBDN.

Kinetics of aggregation growth with competition between catalyzed birth and catalyzed death

An aggregation growth model of three species A, B and C with the competition between catalyzed birth and catalyzed death is proposed. Irreversible aggregation occurs between any two aggregates of the like species with theconstant rate kernels In（n = 1,2, 3）. Meanwhile, a monomer birth of an A species aggregate of size k occurs under the catalysis of a B species aggregate of size j with the catalyzed birth rate kernel K（k, j） = Kkj^v, and a monomer death of an A species aggregate of size k occurs under the catalysis of a C species aggregate of size j with the catalyzed death rate kernel L（k, j） = Lkj^v, whcre v is a parameter reflecting the dependence of the catalysis reaction rates of birth and death on the size of catalyst aggregate. The kinetic evolution behaviours of the three species are investigated by the rate equation approach based on the mean-field theory. The form of the aggregate size distribution of A species ak （t） is found to be dependent crucially on the competition between the catalyzed birth and death of A species, as well as the irreversible aggregation processes of the three species： （i） In the v 〈 0 case, the irreversible aggregation dominates the process, and ak（t） satisfies the conventional scaling form; （2） In the v ≥ 0 casc, the competition between the catalyzed birth and death dominates the process. When the catalyzed birth controls the process, ak（t） takes the conventional or generalized scaling form. While the catalyzed death controls the process, the scaling description of the aggregate size distribution breaks down completely.

Kinetics of Infection-Driven Growth Model with Birth and Death

We propose a two-species infection model, in which an infected aggregate can gain one monomer from a healthy one due to infection when they meet together. Moreover, both the healthy and infected aggregates may lose one monomer because of self-death, but a healthy aggregate can spontaneously yield a new monomer. Consider a simple system in which the birth/death rates are directly proportional to the aggregate size, namely, the birth and death rates of the healthy aggregate of size k are J1 k and J2k while the self-death rate of the infected aggregate of size k is J3k. We then investigate the kinetics of such a system by means of rate equation approach. For the J1 〉 J2 case, the aggregate size distribution of either species approaches the generalized scaling form and the typical size of either species increases wavily at large times. For the J1 = J2 case, the size distribution of healthy aggregates approaches the generalized scaling form while that of infected aggregates satisfies the modified scaling form. For the J1 〈 J2 case, the size distribution of healthy aggregates satisfies the modified scaling form, but that of infected aggregates does not scale.

Sudden birth versus sudden death of entanglement for the extended Werner-like state in a dissipative environment

In this paper, we investigate the dynamical behaviour of entanglement in terms of concurrence in a bipartite system subjected to an external magnetic field under the action of dissipative environments in the extended Werner-like initial state. The interesting phenomenon of entanglement sudden death as well as sudden birth appears during the evolution process. We analyse in detail the effect of the purity of the initial entangled state of two qubits via Heisenberg XY interaction on the apparition time of entanglement sudden death and entanglement sudden birth. Furthermore, the conditions on the conversion of entanglement sudden death and entanglement sudden birth can be generalized when the initial entangled state is not pure. In particular, a critical purity of the initial mixed entangled state exists, above which entanglement sudden birth vanishes while entanglement sudden death appears. It is also noticed that stable entanglement, which is independent of different initial states of the qubits （pure or mixed state）, occurs even in the presence of decoherence. These results arising from the combination of the extended Werner-like initial state and dissipative environments suggest an approach to control and enhance the entanglement even after purity induced sudden birth, death and revival.

Time of Conception and Birth-Relation of “Big Killers” Patients and Longevity

In recent years some interrelationships between time of birth and longevity were published. Concomitant publications appeared demonstrating links between Space Weather and the timing of medical events;in part of both these studies it was shown that Space Weather indices are stronger connected with the time of conception as with the birth time. The aim of these study was to consider birth and conception month of patients suffering from a number of “big killer” pathologies, affecting human longevity and comparing with published data on centenarians—100 - 112 years old persons in the USA. Patients and Methods: We included monthly births distribution of our four papers including patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI)—n-3765, and admitted in another tertiary medical facility for AMI—n-22,047, and, also patients suffering Rapid—n-1239 and Sudden Cardiac Death—n-327 and, also, patients with oncologic malignancies—n-44587. At all in this group 71,965 patients were included. Their birth and conception months were compared with analogical data of 1574 people of 100 - 112 years old using data of L.A. and N.S. Gavrilov for USA centenarians. Results: The birth months of the cardiovascular and oncology patients were maximal in January, March and April (above 10% at each of these months);their conception was maximal in April, June and July. The monthly distribution of conception and birth of the studied population is presented in Tables 1-3. The maximal birth months of the centenarians were November, September, and October;the maximal conception months were December, January, and February. Conclusion: People suffering Myocardial Infarction, Sudden Cardiac Death and Oncologic Malignancies are in higher numbers born in the first four months of the year and conception in April, June and July. The maximal birth months of the very old people were November, September and October and conception were December, January and February.

Risk factors of clinical birth asphyxia and subsequent newborn death following nuchal cord in a low-resource setting

Introduction: Our aim was to identify the risk factors of clinical birth asphyxia and subsequent newborn death in the presence of nuchal cord in a sub-Saharan Africa setting. Methodology: It was a six-months’ case-control study involving 117 parturients whose babies presented with a nuchal cord at delivery. The study was carried out at the Yaoundé Gyneco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital, Cameroon, from January 1st to June 30th 2013. Results: The risk factors of clinical birth asphyxia identified were: first delivery, absence of obstetrical ultrasound during pregnancy, nuchal cord with more than one loop, duration of second stage of labor more than 30 minutes during vaginal delivery. The risk factors for newborn death from clinical birth asphyxia in the presence of nuchal cord were: maternal age Conclusion: We recommend a systematic obstetrical ultrasound before labor, so as to detect the presence of a nuchal cord, its tightness and the number of loops. Also, cesarean section should be considered when a nuchal cord is associated with first delivery, tightness or multiple looping.

Early detection of sudden cardiac death by using classical linear techniques and time-frequency methods on electrocardiogram signals

Early detection of sudden cardiac death may be used for surviving the life of cardiac patients. In this paper we have investigated an algorithm to detect and predict sudden cardiac death, by processing of heart rate variability signal through the classical and time-frequency methods. At first, one minute of ECG signals, just before the cardiac death event are extracted and used to compute heart rate variability (HRV) signal. Five features in time domain and four features in frequency domain are extracted from the HRV signal and used as classical linear features. Then the Wigner Ville transform is applied to the HRV signal, and 11 extra features in the time-frequency (TF) domain are obtained. In order to improve the performance of classification, the principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to the obtained features vector. Finally a neural network classifier is applied to the reduced features. The obtained results show that the TF method can classify normal and SCD subjects, more efficiently than the classical methods. A MIT-BIH ECG database was used to evaluate the proposed method. The proposed method was implemented using MLP classifier and had 74.36% and 99.16% correct detection rate (accuracy) for classical features and TF method, respectively. Also, the accuracy of the KNN classifier were 73.87% and 96.04%.

Seize the Day:Awareness of Time in You,Andrew Marvell

Based on the alternation of scenes,awareness of time is analyzed from three perspectives.The common one is to be aware of time flow in the change of scenes.The outstanding ones include the psychological and philosophical perception of time.Being aware of the temporality of life,the individual need to take an open and unforced attitude toward death -"carpe diem!".

Total ischemic time and outcomes for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction： does time of admission make a difference？

Objective To investigate whether admission time was associated with the delay of reperfusion therapy and in-hospital death in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction （STEMI）. Methods All patients with STEMI who were admitted to the emergency depart- ment and underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention at Peking University People＇s Hospital between April 2012 and March 2015 were included. We examined differences in clinical characteristics, total ischemic time, and in-hospital death between patients admitted during off-hours and those admitted during regular hours. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the relationship between off-hours admission and clinical outcome. Results The sample comprised 184 and 105 patients with STEMI admitted to hospital during off-hours and regular hours, respectively. Total ischemic and onset-to-door times were significantly shorter in patients admitted during off-hours than among those admitted during regular hours （all P 〈 0.05）. Door-to-balloon （DTB） time, the rate of DTB time 〈 90 min, and in-hospital death were comparable between groups. Multivariate logistic regression showed that age and creatinine level, but not off-hours admission, were associated independently with increased in-hospital death. Conclusions Off-hours admission did not result in delayed reperfusion therapy or increased in-hospital mortality in patients with STEMI. Further efforts should focus on identifying pivotal factors associated with the pre-hospital and in-hospital delay of reperfusion therapy, and implementing quality improvement initiatives for reperfusion programs.

Analysis of a Delayed SIR Model with Exponential Birth and Saturated Incidence Rate

In this paper, a delayed SIR model with exponential demographic structure and the saturated incidence rate is formulated. The stability of the equilibria is analyzed with delay: the endemic equilibrium is locally stable without delay;and the endemic equilibrium is stable if the delay is under some condition. Moreover the dynamical behaviors from stability to instability will change with an appropriate?critical value. At last, some numerical simulations of the model are given to illustrate the main theoretical results.

Warm ischemia time and elevated serum uric acid are associated with metabolic syndrome after liver transplantation with donation after cardiac death

AIM To describe the prevalence of posttransplant metabolic syndrome(PTMS) after donation after cardiac death(DCD) liver transplantation(LT) and the pre-and postoperative risk factors.METHODS One hundred and forty-seven subjects who underwent DCD LT from January 2012 to February 2016 were enrolled in this study. The demographics and the clinical characteristics of pre-and post-transplantation were collected for both recipients and donors. PTMS was defined according to the 2004 Adult Treatment Panel-Ⅲ criteria. All subjects were followed monthly for the initial 6 mo after discharge, and then, every 3 mo for 2 years. The subjects were followed every 6 mo or as required after 2 years post-LT.RESULTS The prevalence of PTMS after DCD donor orthotopic LT was 20/147(13.6%). Recipient's body mass index(P = 0.024), warm ischemia time(WIT)(P = 0.045), and posttransplant hyperuricemia(P = 0.001) were significantly associated with PTMS. The change in serum uric acid levels in PTMS patients was significantly higher than that in non-PTMS patients(P < 0.001). After the 1 s t mo, the level of serum uric acid of PTMS patients rose continually over a period, while it was unaltered in non-PTMS patients. After transplantation, the level of serum uric acid in PTMS patients was not associated with renal function.CONCLUSION PTMS could occur at early stage after DCD LT with growing morbidity with the passage of time. WIT and post-LT hyperuricemia are associated with the prevalence of PTMS. An increased serum uric acid level is highly associated with PTMS and could act as a serum marker in this disease.