Systemic Inflammation Response Index and weight loss as prognostic factors in metastatic pancreatic cancer: A concept study from the PANTHEIA-SEOM trial

BACKGROUND The prognostic value of the Systemic Inflammation Response Index(SIRI)in advanced pancreatic cancer is recognized,but its correlation with patients´nutritional status and outcomes remains unexplored.AIM To study the prognostic significance of SIRI and weight loss in metastatic pancreatic cancer.METHODS The PANTHEIA-Spanish Society of Medical Oncology(SEOM)study is a multicentric(16 Spanish hospitals),observational,longitudinal,non-interventional initiative,promoted by the SEOM Real World-Evidence work group.This pilot study sought to analyze the association between weight loss and inflammatory status as defined by SIRI.The cohort stems from a proof-of-concept pilot study conducted at one of the coordinating centers.Patients with pathologically confirmed metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma,treated from January 2020 to January 2023,were included.The index was calculated using the product of neutrophil and monocyte counts,divided by lymphocyte counts,obtained within 15 days before initiation chemotherapy.This study evaluated associations between overall survival(OS),SIRI and weight loss.RESULTS A total of 50 patients were included.66%of these patients were male and the median age was 66 years.Metastasis sites:36%liver,12%peritoneal carcinomatosis,10%lung,and 42%multiple locations.Regarding the first line palliative chemotherapy treatments:50%received gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel;28%,modified fluorouracil,leucovorin,irinotecan and oxaliplatin,and 16%were administered gemcitabine.42%had a weight loss>5%in the three months(mo)preceding diagnosis.21 patients with a SIRI≥2.3×10^(3)/L exhibited a trend towards a lower median OS compared to those with a SIRI<2.3×10^(3)/L(4 vs 18 mo;P<0.000).Among 21 patients with>5%weight loss before diagnosis,the median OS was 6 mo,in contrast to 19 mo for those who did not experience such weight loss(P=0.003).Patients with a weight loss>5%showed higher SIRI levels.This difference was statistically significant(P<0.000).For patients with a SIRI<2.3×10^(3)/L,those who did not lose>5%of their weight had an OS of 20 mo,compared to 11 mo for those who did(P<0.001).No association was found between carbohydrate antigen 19-9 levels≥1000 U/mL and weight loss.CONCLUSION A higher SIRI was correlated with decreased survival rates in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer and associated with weight loss.An elevated SIRI is suggested as a predictor of survival,emphasizing the need for prospective validation in the upcoming PANTHEIA-SEOM study.

Operational optimization of copper flotation process based on the weighted Gaussian process regression and index-oriented adaptive differential evolution algorithm

Concentrate copper grade(CCG)is one of the important production indicators of copper flotation processes,and keeping the CCG at the set value is of great significance to the economic benefit of copper flotation industrial processes.This paper addresses the fluctuation problem of CCG through an operational optimization method.Firstly,a density-based affinity propagationalgorithm is proposed so that more ideal working condition categories can be obtained for the complex raw ore properties.Next,a Bayesian network(BN)is applied to explore the relationship between the operational variables and the CCG.Based on the analysis results of BN,a weighted Gaussian process regression model is constructed to predict the CCG that a higher prediction accuracy can be obtained.To ensure the predicted CCG is close to the set value with a smaller magnitude of the operation adjustments and a smaller uncertainty of the prediction results,an index-oriented adaptive differential evolution(IOADE)algorithm is proposed,and the convergence performance of IOADE is superior to the traditional differential evolution and adaptive differential evolution methods.Finally,the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed methods are verified by the experiments on a copper flotation industrial process.

Analysis of the Effects of Maternal Body Mass Index and Gestational Weight Gain on Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes in Twin Pregnancy

Objective:To investigate the effects of maternal body mass index(BMI)and gestational weight gain on maternal and neonatal outcomes in twin pregnancies.Methods:Five hundred cases of twin pregnancies were divided into a low body weight group(68 cases),a normal weight group(355 cases),an overweight group(65 cases),and an obesity group(12 cases)according to the World Health Organization(WHO)Body Mass Index(BMI)classification guidelines Results:Comparison of weight gain during different pregnancies revealed that pregnant women were mainly of low weight and average weight.The higher the BMI before pregnancy,the higher the incidence of excessive weight gain during pregnancy.The incidences of gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM)and premature rupture of membranes in women with low weight gain were significantly higher than those in women with average weight gain and high weight gain(P<0.05).The incidences of gestational hypertension,preeclampsia,and anemia in women with high weight gain were significantly higher than those in women with low weight gain and average weight gain(P<0.05).The incidence of neonatal birth weight,fetal distress,and macrosomia in the high weight gain group was significantly higher than those in the low weight gain and average weight gain groups(P<0.05).The birth weight of newborns in low-weight gain mothers was significantly lower than that of normal-weight gain mothers(P<0.05).Conclusion:Poor maternal and infant outcomes were common in women with insufficient or excessive weight gain during pregnancy.Therefore,for women with twin pregnancies,weight management is crucial to ensure maternal and infant health.

Colombian Migration and the Body Mass Index: The Relationship between Migration and Weight Gain among Colombian Migrants

The Latin American Migration Project-Colombia is used to study the Body Mass Index (BMI) of Colombian migrants to determine whether their BMI score increased the longer they were abroad. The study contributes to the literature on BMI by studying Colombian migrants, an understudied migrant group. Duration of trip is used as a measure of acculturation. The study also evaluates the claim that trip duration is a measure of acculturation using data specific to migrants, which shows that trip duration is an adequate proxy measure of acculturation. The study includes current migrants, returned migrants and non-migrants. The study accounts for the selectivity of migration by comparing migrants to non-migrants, as some studies highlight the health selectivity of migration. The study uses multinomial regression to test whether the probability of being overweight and/or obese is associated with spending more time abroad. Consistent with studies conducted within the receiving countries, the study finds that increased duration of trip is positively and significantly associated with the probability of being overweight and obese. Furthermore, the study also shows that among return migrants there is a negative relationship between time they had remained in Colombia and probability of being obese. The findings show that migrants put on weight while abroad and lose that weight the longer they remain in Colombia. The findings show that place has an indelible impact on health through migrant’s weight.

Research on the Weight of Index for the Assessment Standard for Green Store Building

Assessment standard for green store building of national standard has been compiled. The index has been given by experts' subjective assignment based on experience. Analytic hierarchy process has been used,making questionnaires of experts,using pairwise comparison and calculating the weight of each index. The weight of index in assessment would not only make quantitative evaluation on the whole situation of green store buildings,but also provide the foundation for compilation and revision.

Prognostic value of preoperative weight loss-adjusted body mass index on survival after esophagectomy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND The impact of body mass index(BMI)on survival in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC)undergoing surgery remains unclear.Therefore,a definition of clinically significant BMI in patients with ESCC is needed.AIM To explore the impact of preoperative weight loss(PWL)-adjusted BMI on overall survival(OS)in patients undergoing surgery for ESCC.METHODS This retrospective study consisted of 1545 patients who underwent curative resection for ESCC at West China Hospital of Sichuan University between August 2005 and December 2011.The relationship between PWL-adjusted BMI and OS was examined,and a multivariate analysis was performed and adjusted for age,sex,TNM stage and adjuvant therapy.RESULTS Trends of poor survival were observed for patients with increasing PWL and decreasing BMI.Patients with BMI≥20.0 kg/m2 and PWL<8.8%were classified into Group 1 with the longest median OS(45.3 mo).Patients with BMI<20.0 kg/m2 and PWL<8.8%were classified into Group 2 with a median OS of 29.5 mo.Patients with BMI≥20.0 kg/m2 and PWL≥8.8%(HR=1.9,95%CI:1.5-2.5),were combined into Group 3 with a median OS of 20.1 mo.Patients in the three groups were associated with significantly different OS(P<0.05).In multivariate analysis,PWL-adjusted BMI,TNM stage and adjuvant therapy were identified as independent prognostic factors.CONCLUSION PWL-adjusted BMI has an independent prognostic impact on OS in patients with ESCC undergoing surgery.BMI might be an indicator for patients with PWL<8.8%rather than≥8.8%.

Association between pre-pregnancy body mass index and gestational weight gain and the risk of preeclampsia:A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective:To analyze the relationship between body mass index(BMI)before pregnancy and gestational weight gain throughout pregnancy with the incidence of preeclampsia.Methods:This was a systematic review-meta analysis of literature collected from three e-databases:Scopus,PubMed,and Science Direct.Quality assessment was measured with the Effective Public Health Practice Project methods.Meta-analysis was done by calculating the fixed and random-effects of odds ratio(OR)for each BMI category and gestational weight gain as compared with the incidence of preeclampsia.Results:Overweight was associated with a significantly increased risk of preeclampsia(OR=2.152,95%CI 1.363-3.400;P=0.001).Obesity was also associated with a noticeably increased risk of preeclampsia(OR=2.856,95%CI 1.755-4.649;P<0.001).Meanwhile,underweight was associated with a significantly reduced risk of preeclampsia(OR=0.639,95%CI 0.500-0.817;P<0.001)when compared with normal BMI.Pregnant women who gained weight below the standard throughout pregnancy was a protective factor from preeclampsia(OR=0.813,95%CI 0.610-1.083;P=0.157)whereas pregnant women who gained weight above the standard had almost doubled risk of preeclampsia(OR=1.850,95%CI 1.377-2.485;P<0.001).Conclusions:The result of this study affirms the role of overweight-obesity pre-pregnancy,and gestational weight gain above the standard during pregnancy as significant risk factors for developing preeclampsia.

The weighted quadratic index of biodiversity for pairs of species: a generalization of Rao’s index

The distribution of biodiversity at multiple sites of a region has been traditionally investigated through the additive partitioning of the regional biodiversity, called γ-diversity, into the average within-site biodiversity or α-diversity, and the biodiversity among sites, or β-diversity. The standard additive partitioning of diversity requires the use of a measure of diversity which is a concave function of the relative abundance of species, like the Shannon entropy or the Gini- Simpson index, for instance. When a phylogenetic distance between species is also taken into account, Rao’s quadratic index has been used as a measure of dissimilarity. Rao’s index, however, is not a concave function of the distribution of relative abundance of either individual species or pairs of species and, consequently, only some nonstandard additive partitionings of diversity have been given using this index. The objective of this paper is to show that the weighted quadratic index of biodiversity, a generalization of the weighted Gini-Simpson index to the pairs of species, is a concave function of the joint distribution of the relative abundance of pairs of species and, therefore, may be used in the standard additive partitioning of diversity instead of Rao’s index. The replication property of this new measure is also discussed.

Development of fragility curves by incorporating new spectral shape indicators and a weighted damage index:case study of steel braced frames in the city of Mashhad,Iran

In this study, strong ground motion record （SGMR） selection based on Eta （~/） as a spectral shape indicator has been investigated as applied to steel braced flame structures. A probabilistic seismic hazard disaggregation analysis for the definition of the target Epsilon （ε） and the target Eta （η） values at different hazard levels is presented, taking into account appropriately selected SGMR＇s. Fragility curves are developed for different limit states corresponding to three representative models of typical steel braced frames having significant irregularities in plan, by means of a weighted damage index. The results show that spectral shape indicators have an important effect on the predicted median structural capacities, and also that the parameter r/is a more robust predictor of damage than searching for records with appropriate c values.

Kind of Fuzzy Method Determining Index Weight on Multi-Objctive Decision Making

Based on fuzzy characteristic of dicision-making thought, matrix of priority relation has been introduced and blurrized. A kind of fuzzy method, which is to determine the index weight on multi-objective decision making, has been put forward by means of the sequence root method for analysis of hierarchical process (AHP). Using this method an example which is to define the index weigbt on multi-objective decision making in thc scheme optimization of mine design has been given.

Effect of Alligator Pepper on Litter Weight of Rats Fed on High Glycemic Index Diet

This study was carried out to find out if alligator pepper can prevent the development of fetal macrosomia in Sprague-Dawley rats fed with high glycemic index diet. Fifteen adult female Sprague-Dawley rats of proven fertility were acclimatized for a period of two weeks in a well-ventilated laboratory and fed with grower’s mash and water ad libitum. Thereafter, they were randomly placed in separate cages after which a male Sprague-Dawley rat of proven fertility was introduced into each of the cages containing the female rats. They were left in the cages for three days during, which mating was confirmed to have occurred. The male rats were then withdrawn from the female rats, which were placed in separate maternity cages. The female rats were randomly allocated to three groups A, B and C so there were 5 pregnant rats in each group. The rats in group A were fed with 50 g of grower’s mash daily while the rats in groups B and C were fed with 50 g of cooked fermented cassava respectively. All rats were given water ad libitum throughout the duration of the experiment. The rats in groups A and B were intraperitoneally injected with 13.3 ml per Kg body weight of distilled water while the rats in group C were intraperitoneally injected with 13.3 mg/Kg body weight of aqueous extract of alligator pepper respectively. They were observed for 18 - 25 days. The litters of the rats in group B had a significantly higher mean weight than the rats in group A while the litters of the rats in group C had a significantly lower mean weight than the rats in groups B. It was concluded that intraperitoneally injected aqueous extract of alligator pepper, in the first trimester of pregnancy, can prevent the development of fetal macrosomia in Sprague-Dawley rats.

Perceptions of Body Mass Index as a Valid Indicator of Weight Status among Adults in the United States

Background: Being overweight or obese increases risk for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, joint disease, and certain cancers. The Body Mass Index (BMI) is commonly used to determine weight status. As rates of overweight and obesity have risen sharply in the United States over the past 30 years, perceptions of a “normal” or healthy weight are subject to change. The purpose of this study was to analyze perceptions of BMI as an indicator of weight status. Methods: An online survey was administered to 376 US adults. The survey collected demographic information including height, weight, and perceived weight status (underweight, healthy weight, overweight and obese). The survey software calculated and presented participants with their personal BMI values. Participants then answered questions about their perception of the BMI as a valid indicator of weight status. Results: More participants reported a healthy weight status (51.6%) than were classified as such according to their computed BMI (43.6%). The majority of the sample (85.1%) considered BMI to be a valid indicator of weight status, although perceptions of validity varied by weight status. Participants that perceived BMI to be invalid most commonly cited incongruence with one’s perception of their own body weight, no accounting for unique body shapes, and no accounting for additional muscle mass. Conclusion: BMI is generally perceived to be a valid indicator of weight status. These perceptions of validity can vary depending on the individuals’ actual weight status. In instances where perceptions are not favorable toward BMI, it is largely attributable to opinions of incongruence with BMI and body shape, type, or composition. Continued use of BMI as a preliminary tool for determining weight status appears to be accepted. Efforts to increase BMI-related awareness and education may be necessary for individuals that currently see it as invalid.

Longitudinal changes in body weight of breastfeeding mothers in the first year after delivery and its relationship with human milk composition:a combined longitudinal and cross-sectional cohort study

Objective:Postpartum weight retention(PPWR)is a common problem among women after childbirth.The main objectives of this study are to understand the changes in body weight of breastfeeding mothers during long-term follow-up and preliminarily explore the relationship between maternal body weight and human milk composition,including macronutrients,leptin,and adiponectin.Methods:The study included a longitudinal cohort(122 mothers),and a cross-sectional cohort(37 mothers).The human milk,maternal weight,and dietary surveys were collected in the longitudinal cohort at different follow-up time points(1-14 days postpartum,2-4 months postpartum,5-7 months postpartum,and 12-17 months postpartum).The maternal body weight was analyzed using the responses in the survey questionnaires.A milk analyzer based on the mid-infrared spectroscopy(MIRS)was used to determine milk composition,and nutrition analysis software evaluated dietary intakes.In the cross-sectional cohort,participating mothers were asked to provide blood and human milk samples and pertinent information related to maternal body composition.Maternal body composition was measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis(BIA),while ELISA analyzed leptin and adiponectin in milk and serum.Results:At 5-7 months postpartum,the PPWR of breastfeeding mothers was(2.46±3.59)kg.At 12-17 months postpartum,the PPWR was(0.98±4.06)kg.PPWR was found to be negatively correlated with milk fat content within 14 days postpartum and positively correlated at 2-4 months postpartum.In addition,the maternal weight and body muscle mass were positively correlated with leptin and adiponectin in milk.Plasma leptin was positively correlated with the mother’s body weight,body mass index(BMI),FAT percentage,and body fat mass,while plasma adiponectin did not correlate with any parameter.The results also indicate that the PPWR did not correlate with leptin and adiponectin in plasma or milk.Conclusions:Breastfeeding mothers may retain considerable weight gain one year after delivery.Human milk composition may be related to changes in maternal body weight.Leptin and adiponectin in breast milk and leptin in plasma are associated with the maternal body composition.This study supports the notion that maternal nutritional status may affect offspring health through lactation,and future research should focus on exploring weight management of postpartum mothers.

A New Estimate for Bochner–Riesz Operators at the Critical Index on Weighted Hardy Spaces

Let w be a Muckenhoupt weight and Hwp （JRn） be the weighted Hardy space. In this paper, by using the atomic decomposition of Hwp（Rn）, we will show that the Bochner-Riesz operators TRδ are bounded from Hwp（Rn） to the weighted weak Hardy spaces WHwp （Rn） for 0 〈 p 〈 1 and δ = n/p- （n ＋ 1）/2. This result is new even in the unweighted case.

Predictive value of extravascular lung water indexed to predicted body weight

AIM: To investigate extravascular lung water indexed to predicted body weight(EVLWIp) and actual body weight(EVLWIa) on outcome of patients with severe sepsis.METHODS: Transpulmonary thermodilution was prospectively used to measure cardiovascular hemodynamics, EVLWIp and EVLWIa via an arterial catheter placed in each patient within 48 h of meeting the criteria for severe sepsis from a medical intensive care unit(ICU) at a university affiliated hospital. Survival was the single dependent variable. In order to examine and compare the predictive power of EVLWIp, EVLWIa and other clinically significant factors in predicting the inhospital survival status of severe sepsis patients in the medical ICU, a receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve method to analyze the significant variables and the area under the ROC curve(AUC) of the variables, P value and 95%CI were calculated.RESULTS: In total, 33 patients were studied. In the ROC curve method analyses, EVLWIp(the AUC: 0.849; P = 0.001, 95%CI: 0.72-0.98) was as predictive for inhospital survival rate as variables with EVLWIa(AUC, 0.829; P = 0.001, 95%CI: 0.68-0.98). The proportion of patients surviving with a low EVLW(EVLWI < 10 m L/kg) was better than that of patients with a higher EVLW, whether indexed by actual(HR = 0.2; P = 0.0002, 95%CI: 0.06-0.42) or predicted body weight(HR = 0.13; P < 0.0001, 95%CI: 0.05-0.35) during their hospital stay with the Kaplan-Meier method(76% vs 12.5%, respectively).CONCLUSION: This investigation proposed that EVLWIp is as good a predictor as EVLWIa to predict inhospital survival rate among severe sepsis patients in the medical ICU.

3D Slicing of Weighted Index for Reservoir Quality of Lower Miocene Rocks, Belayim Marine Oil Field, Gulf of Suez, Egypt

This study aims to have a single coefficient resulting from the integration of all the reservoir parameters through which a decision can be taken to determine the best quality places in the reservoir. The conventional well logging data in nine wells were used to determine the reservoir parameters in the study area. Seven different parameters were calculated, five of them were directly proportional to the quality of the reservoir, while the remaining two parameters which represent shale volume and water saturation were inversely proportional to the reservoir quality. The index of each parameter was calculated. A new value was created from the integration of the seven different parameter indexes called the weighted index for the reservoir quality. The reservoir quality values were sliced in the three dimensions depending on the effect of all reservoir parameters and not on any single parameter. It is clear from the results of this study that horizontal and vertical slicing, as well as cut-off values, illustrates that the middle and upper parts are the best places for the reservoir to explore hydrocarbons, where the values of the weighted index of the reservoir quality range from 0.65 to 0.9. Meanwhile, the quality of the reservoir decreases in its lower parts.

Efficient Cloud Image Retrieval System Using Weighted-Inverted Index and Database Filtering Algorithms

With the advance of multimedia technology and communications, images and videos become the major streaming information through the Internet. How to fast retrieve desired similar images precisely from the Internet scale image/video databases is the most important retrieval control target. In this paper, a cloud based content-based image retrieval （CBIR） scheme is presented. Database-categorizing based on weighted-inverted index （DCWII） and database f＇dtering algorithm （DFA） is used to speed up the features matching process. In the DCWII, the weights are assigned to discrete cosine transform （DCT） coefficients histograms and the database is categorized by weighted features. In addition, the DFA filters out the irrelevant image in the database to reduce unnecessary computation loading for features matching. Experiments show that the proposed CBIR scheme outperforms previous work in the precision-recall performance and maintains mean average precision （mAP） about 0.678 in the large-scale database comprising one million images. Our scheme also can reduce about 50% to 85% retrieval time by pre-filtering the database, which helps to improve the efficiency of retrieval systems.

Analysis on Family History of Diabetes, Weight Gain during Pregnancy and Pre-pregnancy Body Mass Index on 82 Pregnant Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Objective:To investigate the effects of family history of diabetes mellitus,Gestational Weight Gain(GWG)and Body Mass Index(BMI)before pregnancy on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus(GDM).Method:82 pregnant women with GDM who were hospitalized and delivered in the obstetrics department of our hospital from September 2017 to September 2019 were selected as the observation group,and 60 pregnant women with normal glucose tolerance test in the same period were selected as the control group;The relationship between family history of diabetes,weight gain during pregnancy and pre-pregnancy Body Mass Index and GDM were analyzed.Results:The age,pre-pregnancy weight and weight gain during pregnancy were significantly higher in the observation group than in the control group(P<0.05),and the family history of diabetes and pre-pregnancy Body Mass Index were higher in the observation group than in the control group(P<0.05),and the differences were statistically significant.Conclusion:It is suggested that family history of diabetes is related to gestational diabetes mellitus.Excessive GWG growth during pregnancy and high Body Mass Index before pregnancy may increase the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus in pregnant women.

Importance of Weighting for Multi-Variable Habitat Suitability Index Model: A Case Study of Winter- Spring Cohort of Ommastrephes bartramii in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean

Weighting values for different habitat variables used in multi-factor habitat suitability index (HSI) modeling reflect the relative influences of different variables on distribution of fish species. Using the winter-spring cohort of neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartramii) in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean as an example, we evaluated the impact of different weighting schemes on the HSI models based on sea surface temperature, gradient of sea surface temperature and sea surface height. We compared differences in predicted fishing effort and HSI values resulting from different weighting. The weighting for different habitat variables could greatly influence HSI modeling and should be carefully done based on their relative importance in influencing the resource spatial distribution. Weighting in a multi-factor HSI model should be further studied and optimization methods should be developed to improve forecasting squid spatial distributions.

On traceable iterated line graph and hamiltonian path index

Xiong and Liu[21]gave a characterization of the graphs G for which the n-iterated line graph L^(n)(G)is hamiltonian,for n≥2.In this paper,we study the existence of a hamiltonian path in L^(n)(G),and give a characterization of G for which L^(n)(G)has a hamiltonian path.As applications,we use this characterization to give several upper bounds on the hamiltonian path index of a graph.