Patient Characteristics and Healthcare Resource Use among Patients With COVID-19 Receiving Treatment with Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir (PAXLOVID™) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

IntroductionReal-world evidence for the use of nirmatrelvir/ritonavir in routine clinical practice remains limited in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This study aimed to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, and healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) of adult patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prescribed nirmatrelvir/ritonavir in the KSA.MethodsThis was a multicenter, retrospective observational cohort study, including adult patients with COVID-19 who were prescribed nirmatrelvir/ritonavir between April 2022 and June 2024. Data were collected through an electronic case report form from patients' electronic medical records and included patient demographics, clinical characteristics, vaccination history, prescribing characteristics, and HCRU. Data were collected from the index date, defined as the date of nirmatrelvir/ritonavir prescription, up to 30 days post-index. Descriptive analyses were conducted to summarize patient and clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, and HCRU. Logistic regression models were used to assess associations between patient characteristics and COVID-19-related hospitalization at the index …

Fitting ideals and the Gorenstein property

Let p be a prime number and G be a finite commutative group such that p^{2} does not divide the order of G. In this note we prove that for every finite module M over the group ring Z_{p}[G], the inequality #M \leq #Z_{p}[G]/Fit_{Z_{p}[G]}(M) holds. Here, Fit_{Z_{p}[G]}(M) is the Z_{p}[G]-Fitting ideal of M.

Patient Characteristics and Healthcare Resource Use among Patients With COVID-19 Receiving Treatment with Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir (PAXLOVID™) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Real-world evidence for the use of nirmatrelvir/ritonavir in routine clinical practice remains limited in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This study aimed to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, and healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) of adult patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prescribed nirmatrelvir/ritonavir in the KSA.

Comparison of the Effects of Magnesium Additive on Biological and Mechanical Properties of Biogenic and Commercial Silica-Based Bioactive Glasses

A Modular Curve of Level 9 and the Class Number One Problem

In this note we give an explicit parametrization of the modular curve associated to the normalizer of a non-split Cartan subgroup of level 9. We determine all integral points of this modular curve. As an application, we give an alternative solution to the class number one problem.

Novel Adsorbents for Canola Oil Physical Refining: Mesoporous Calcium and Magnesium Silica Aerogel

The refining process of edible oil is essential for extending its shelf life by removing contaminants that negatively affect quality and consumer acceptance. This study evaluates the effectiveness of calcium silica aerogel, magnesium silica aerogel, a combination of both, bentonite, Trisyl, and various aerogel combinations in a single‐stage physical refining process of crude canola oil. Calcium and magnesium silica aerogels were synthesized via the precipitation method from water glass and subsequently dried under ambient pressure using an air dryer. The synthesized aerogels were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, N2 adsorption‐desorption analysis and bulk density measurements. The surface areas of the calcium and magnesium aerogels were found to be 45.67 m2/g and 616.46 m2/g, with densities of 0.15 g/cm3 and 0.18 g/cm3, respectively. The adsorption capacities of these adsorbents for free fatty acids, peroxides, and color pigments in crude canola oil were examined. The aerogels reduced free fatty acid levels by 14% to 47%, and their use in the refining process produced oil with a lighter color. Notably, the most effective …

A computational approximation for the solution of retarded functional differential equations and their applications to science and engineering

Delay differential equations are of great importance in science, engineering, medicine and biological models. These type of models include time delay phenomena which is helpful for characterising the real-world applications in machine learning, mechanics, economics, electrodynamics and so on. Besides, special classes of functional differential equations have been investigated in many researches. In this study, a numerical investigation of retarded type of these models together with initial conditions are introduced. The technique is based on a polynomial approach along with collocation points which maintains an approximated solutions to the problem. Besides, an error analysis of the approximate solutions is given. Accuracy of the method is shown by the results. Consequently, illustrative examples are considered and detailed analysis of the problem is acquired. Consequently, the future outlook is discussed in conclusion.

Mesoporous silica aerogels for sunflower oil refining and investigation of their adsorption performance

Involving a succession of oil refining stages for edible oil production, a notable constraint lies in the necessity to employ diverse adsorbents at various steps within these processes. This study investigates the synthesis of mesoporous silica aerogels from rice husk ash, comparing their efficacy in physical sunflower oil refining with earth clay (Bentonite) and commercial silica (Trisyl). Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) impact during aging was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and N2 adsorption-desorption analyzer to examine alterations in the structure of silica aerogels. The surface areas of TEOS-doped silica aerogel (TSA) and non-TEOS-doped silica aerogel (NTSA) were 296.18 and 267.06 m²/g. Mesoporous silica aerogels were evaluated for their ability to reduce free fatty acids (FFA), peroxide value (PV), phosphorus, and color pigments in sunflower oil. TSA and NTSA demonstrated significant FFA removal, with TSA at 3 wt.% achieving the highest performance of 32.2%. TSA also effectively reduced PV and phosphorus compared to NTSA, Bentonite and Trisyl, exhibiting performance similar to Bentonite in the bleaching …

Global stability and uniform persistence in an epidemic model with saturating fomite-mediated transmission

We analyse the global dynamics of a Susceptible--Vaccinated--Exposed--Infected--Recovered (SVEIR) epidemic model with demographic turnover, imperfect vaccination, and two transmission routes: direct host-to-host contagion and indirect transmission via contaminated fomites. Indirect transmission is described through an environmental pathogen concentration and a Holling-type dose--response function, accounting for nonlinear incidence at high contamination levels. Threshold conditions separating disease elimination from long-term persistence are expressed in terms of the control reproduction number $\mathcal R_c$, and the classical threshold condition $\mathcal R_c

Patient Characteristics and Healthcare Resource Use among Patients With COVID-19 Receiving Treatment with Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir (PAXLOVID™) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Real-world evidence for the use of nirmatrelvir/ritonavir in routine clinical practice remains limited in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This study aimed to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, and healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) of adult patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prescribed nirmatrelvir/ritonavir in the KSA. This was a multicenter, retrospective observational cohort study, including adult patients with COVID-19 who were prescribed nirmatrelvir/ritonavir between April 2022 and June 2024. Data were collected through an electronic case report form from patients’ electronic medical records and included patient demographics, clinical characteristics, vaccination history, prescribing characteristics, and HCRU. Data were collected from the index date, defined as the date of nirmatrelvir/ritonavir prescription, up to 30 days post-index. Descriptive analyses were conducted to summarize patient and clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, and HCRU. Logistic regression models were used to assess associations between patient characteristics and COVID-19-related hospitalization at the index date. A total of 248 …

Untangling Performance from Success

Fame, popularity and celebrity status, frequently used tokens of success, are often loosely related to, or even divorced from professional performance. This dichotomy is partly rooted in the difficulty to distinguish performance, an individual measure that captures the actions of a performer, from success, a collective measure that captures a community's reactions to these actions. Yet, finding the relationship between the two measures is essential for all areas that aim to objectively reward excellence, from science to business. Here we quantify the relationship between performance and success by focusing on tennis, an individual sport where the two quantities can be independently measured. We show that a predictive model, relying only on a tennis player's performance in tournaments, can accurately predict an athlete's popularity, both during a player's active years and after retirement. Hence the model establishes a direct link between performance and momentary popularity. The agreement between the performance-driven and observed popularity suggests that in most areas of human achievement exceptional visibility may be rooted in detectable performance measures.

Role of magnesium and aluminum substitution on the structural properties and bioactivity of bioglasses synthesized from biogenic silica

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of magnesium (1 wt%) and aluminum (1 wt%) incorporation on the in vitro bioactivity and biodegradation behavior of 45S5 bioactive glasses synthesized from rice husk biogenic silica. The performance of biogenic silica-based samples was compared well with commercial silica-based counterparts. The in vitro biodegradation behavior of bioactive glasses was evaluated by the weight loss of samples and pH variation in the Tris buffer solution. Based on composition, bioglasses possessed different properties before and after simulated body fluid (SBF) immersion. The incorporation of magnesium (Mg) and aluminum (Al) enhanced the Vickers hardness of bioglasses. All the bioglasses showed the hydroxyapatite layer formation after SBF treatment as confirmed by the dissolution, FTIR, SEM and XRD analysis, however it was more prominent in the rice husk silica-based 45S5 bioglass. The biogenic silica seems to be a promising starting material for bioglass systems to be used in bone tissue engineering applications.

Building Morphological Chains for Agglutinative Languages

In this paper, we build morphological chains for agglutinative languages by using a log-linear model for the morphological segmentation task. The model is based on the unsupervised morphological segmentation system called MorphoChains. We extend MorphoChains log linear model by expanding the candidate space recursively to cover more split points for agglutinative languages such as Turkish, whereas in the original model candidates are generated by considering only binary segmentation of each word. The results show that we improve the state-of-art Turkish scores by 12% having a F-measure of 72% and we improve the English scores by 3% having a F-measure of 74%. Eventually, the system outperforms both MorphoChains and other well-known unsupervised morphological segmentation systems. The results indicate that candidate generation plays an important role in such an unsupervised log-linear model that is learned using contrastive estimation with negative samples.

Production and Characterization of Calcium Silica Aerogel Powder as a Food Additive

In this study, mesoporous calcium silica aerogels were produced for use as an anticaking food additive in powdered foods. A low-cost precursor (sodium silicate) was used, and calcium silica aerogels with superior properties were obtained with different pH values (pH 7.0 and pH 9.0) by modeling and optimizing the production process. The Si/Ca molar ratio, reaction time, and aging temperature were determined as independent variables, and their effects and interactions to maximize the surface area and water vapor adsorption capacity (WVAC) were evaluated by response surface methodology and analysis of variance. Responses were fitted with a quadratic regression model to find optimal production conditions. Model results showed that the maximum surface area and WVAC of the calcium silica aerogel that was produced with pH 7.0 were achieved at a Si/Ca molar ratio of 2.42, a reaction time of 5 min, and an aging temperature of 25 °C. The surface area and WVAC of calcium silica aerogel powder produced with these parameters were found to be 198 m2/g and 17.56%, respectively. According to the results of surface area and elemental analysis, calcium silica aerogel powder produced at pH 7.0 …

Method of Weighted Words on Cylindric Partitions

We study the generating functions of cylindric partitions having profile $c=(c_1, c_2, \ldots, c_r)$ with rank $2$ and levels $2, 3$ and $4$. As a result, we give expressions alternative to Borodin's formula for these generating functions. We use the method of weighted words which was first introduced by Alladi and Gordon, later was applied by Dousse in a new version to prove some partition identities and to get infinite products. We adapt the method to our subject with a more combinatorial approach.

Optimization of magnesium silica aerogel production and evaluation as a food additive: a comparative study of water glass and bio-based sodium silicate source as a precursor

The current work presents the findings of production, optimization, and comparative study on chemical, structural, morphological, and water vapor adsorption properties of low-cost water glass-based magnesium silica aerogels (Mg-WG) and eco-friendly rice hull ash-based magnesium silica aerogels (Mg-RHA). The production parameters (Si: Mg molar ratio, feeding time, and aging temperature) of Mg-WG and Mg RHA were optimized using the Box-Behnken Design (BBD) technique combined with Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The optimum product was revealed according to BET surface area (SBET) and water vapor adsorption capacity (WVAC) response variables. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that quadratic model is statistically significant. By optimizing the aging temperature, Si: Mg ratio, and feeding time production parameters of Mg-WG and Mg-RHA, the optimum production conditions are 75 °C and 74.87 °C aging temperature, 1.99 and 1.08 Si: Mg ratio, and 5 min and 7.65 min feeding times were determined respectively. The optimum production conditions of Mg-WG and Mg-RHA were determined as 75 °C and 74.87 °C aging temperature, 1.99 and 1.08 Si: Mg ratio, and 5 min and 7.65 min feeding time, …

Harmanci Injectivity of Modules

In this paper, we are interested in a class of modules partaking in the hierarchy of injective and cotorsion modules, so-called Harmanci injective modules, which turn out by the motivation of relations among the concepts of injectivity, flatness and cotorsionness. We give some characterizations and properties of this class of modules. It is shown that the class of all Harmanci injective modules is enveloping, and forms a perfect cotorsion theory with the class of modules whose character modules are Matlis injective. One of the main objectives we pursue is to know when the injective envelope of a ring as a module over itself is a flat module.

Novel organic/inorganic hybrid nanoparticles as enzyme-triggered drug delivery systems: Dextran and Dextran aldehyde coated silica aerogels

Abstract Today, different therapeutic approaches are being developed because of the increased risk of colorectal cancer. In this context, we synthesized organic/inorganic hybrid nanoparticles using dextran (Dex) and dextran aldehyde (Dex-CHO) as organic polymers for the coating of inorganic silica aerogels. These Dex and Dex-CHO coated silica aerogels served as enzyme-triggered and colon targeted 5- Fluorouracil (5-FU) delivery systems. To improve the efficiency of drug loading and Dex/Dex-CHO coating, the surface of the silica aerogel was functionalized with 3-(aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES). Enzyme-responsive drug release studies were performed with dextranase enzyme in simulated colonic fluid and cytotoxicity of aerogels on the colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line (Caco-2) were investigated by MTT assay. It was demonstrated that the release of 5-FU from Dex and Dex-CHO coated silica aerogels in simulated gastric and intestinal fluids was 1.7% and 3.4%, respectively, while the amount of 5-FU released from uncoated silica aerogels in these media was 86.4%. On the other hand, in the dextranase containing colonic medium 5-FU release in 12 h, straight after degradation of …

Duo property for rings by the quasinilpotent perspective

In this paper, we focus on the duo ring property via quasinilpotent elements which gives a new kind of generalizations of commutativity. We call this kind of ring qnil-duo. Firstly, some properties of quasinilpotents in a ring are provided. Then the set of quasinilpotents is applied to the duo property of rings, in this perspective, we introduce and study right (resp., left) qnil-duo rings. We show that this concept is not left-right symmetric. Among others it is proved that if the Hurwitz series ring $H(R; α)$ is right qnil-duo, then $R$ is right qnil-duo. Every right qnil-duo ring is abelian. A right qnil-duo exchange ring has stable range 1.

Effect of selenium incorporation on the structure and in vitro bioactivity of 45S5 bioglass

In vitro bioactivity, biodegradation, and biocompatibility behavior of a new bioactive glass systems were investigated with the incorporation of selenium oxide, for the replacement of sodium oxide in the traditional 45S5 bioglass composition. The apatite-forming ability of melt-derived bioactive glasses was evaluated by immersion studies in simulated body fluid while monitoring the concentration of silicon, calcium, phosphorus, sodium, and selenium in the medium. The weight loss of bioactive glasses and pH change in the tris-(hydroxymethyl)-amino methane buffer solution was determined to observe the biodegradation behavior of glass samples. The glasses were characterized by a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma, and Vickers hardness measurements. The biocompatibility evaluation of the glasses was determined through in vitro osteogenesis assays by cell viability, alkaline phosphatase activity, and mineralized matrix formation. The incorporation of selenium enhanced the hydroxyapatite formation on the bioactive glass surface and microhardness of glasses. The hardness of glasses was found to decrease with immersion …