Search results for: glycogen storage disease

Authors: Mardin Abdalqadir, Paul Adzakro, Tannaz Pak, Sina Rezaei Gomari

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Climate change and global warming recently became significant concerns due to the massive emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, predominantly CO2 gases. Therefore, it is necessary to find sustainable and inexpensive methods to capture the greenhouse gasses and protect the environment for live species. The application of naturally available and cheap adsorbents of carbon such as clay minerals became a great interest. However, the minerals prone to low storage capacity despite their high affinity to adsorb carbon. This paper aims to explore ways to improve the pore volume and surface area of two selected clay minerals, ‘montmorillonite and kaolinite’ by acid treatment to overcome their low storage capacity. Montmorillonite and kaolinite samples were treated with different sulfuric acid concentrations (0.5, 1.2 and 2.5 M) at 40 °C for 8 hours to achieve the above aim. The grain size distribution and morphology of clay minerals before and after acid treatment were explored with Scanning Electron Microscope to evaluate surface area improvement. The ImageJ software was used to find the porosity and pore volume of treated and untreated clay samples. The structure of the clay minerals was also analyzed using an X-ray Diffraction machine. The results showed that the pore volume and surface area were increased substantially through acid treatment, which speeded up the rate of carbon dioxide adsorption. XRD pattern of kaolinite did not change after sulfuric acid treatment, which indicates that acid treatment would not affect the structure of kaolinite. It was also discovered that kaolinite had a higher pore volume and porosity than montmorillonite before and after acid treatment. For example, the pore volume of untreated kaolinite was equal to 30.498 um3 with a porosity of 23.49%. Raising the concentration of acid from 0.5 M to 2.5 M in 8 hours’ time reaction led to increased pore volume from 30.498 um3 to 34.73 um3. The pore volume of raw montmorillonite was equal to 15.610 um3 with a porosity of 12.7%. When the acid concentration was raised from 0.5 M to 2.5 M for the same reaction time, pore volume also increased from 15.610 um3 to 20.538 um3. However, montmorillonite had a higher specific surface area than kaolinite. This study concludes that clay minerals are inexpensive and available material sources to model the realistic conditions and apply the results of carbon capture to prevent global warming, which is one of the most critical and urgent problems in the world.

Keywords: acid treatment, kaolinite, montmorillonite, pore volume, porosity, surface area

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: Jaechun No

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This paper focuses on I/O optimizations of N-hybrid (New-Form of hybrid), which provides a hybrid file system space constructed on SSD and HDD. Although the promising potentials of SSD, such as the absence of mechanical moving overhead and high random I/O throughput, have drawn a lot of attentions from IT enterprises, its high ratio of cost/capacity makes it less desirable to build a large-scale data storage subsystem composed of only SSDs. In this paper, we present N-hybrid that attempts to integrate the strengths of SSD and HDD, to offer a single, large hybrid file system space. Several experiments were conducted to verify the performance of N-hybrid.

Keywords: SSD, data section, I/O optimizations, hybrid system

Procedia PDF Downloads 418

Authors: Patricia B. Cruz, Catrina Jean G. Valenzuela, Analyn N. Yumang

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Nearly a hundred per million of the Filipino population is diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). The early stage of CKD has no symptoms and can only be discovered once the patient undergoes urinalysis. Over the years, different methods were discovered and used for the quantification of the urinary albumin such as the immunochemical assays where most of these methods require large machinery that has a high cost in maintenance and resources, and a dipstick test which is yet to be proven and is still debated as a reliable method in detecting early stages of microalbuminuria. This research study involves the use of the liquid chromatography concept in microfluidic instruments with biosensor as a means of separation and detection respectively, and linear regression to quantify human urinary albumin. The researchers’ main objective was to create a miniature system that quantifies and detect patients’ urinary albumin while reducing the amount of volume used per five test samples. For this study, 30 urine samples of unknown albumin concentrations were tested using VITROS Analyzer and the microfluidic system for comparison. Based on the data shared by both methods, the actual vs. predicted regression were able to create a positive linear relationship with an R² of 0.9995 and a linear equation of y = 1.09x + 0.07, indicating that the predicted values and actual values are approximately equal. Furthermore, the microfluidic instrument uses 75% less in total volume – sample and reagents combined, compared to the VITROS Analyzer per five test samples.

Keywords: Chronic Kidney Disease, Linear Regression, Microfluidics, Urinary Albumin

Procedia PDF Downloads 136

Authors: Vivian Isaac, A. T. Joteeshwaran, Craig McLachlan

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The University of New South Wales (UNSW) Rural Clinical School has a strategic collaborative focus on chronic disease and public health. Our objectives are to understand rural environmental and biological interactions in vulnerable community populations. The UNSW Rural Clinical School translational model is a spoke and hub network. This spoke and hub model connects rural data and biological specimens with city based collaborative public health research networks. Similar spoke and hub models are prevalent across research centers in India. The Australia-India Council grant was awarded so we could establish sustainable public health and community research collaborations. As part of the collaborative network we are developing strategies around data and biological sharing platforms between Indian Institute of Public Health, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Hyderabad and Rural Clinical School UNSW. The key objective is to understand how research collaborations are conducted in India and also how data can shared and tracked with external collaborators such as ourselves. A framework to improve data sharing for research collaborations, including DNA was proposed as a project outcome. The complexities of sharing biological data has been investigated via a visit to India. A flagship sustainable project between Rural Clinical School UNSW and PHFI would illustrate a model of data sharing platforms.

Keywords: data sharing, collaboration, public health research, chronic disease

Procedia PDF Downloads 450

Authors: Samaneh Soroush, Tommy Golczynski, Tony Spratt

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One of the new technologies for CO₂ capture, storage, and utilization (CCSU) is forming clathrate hydrate. This technology has some unknowns and challenges that make it difficult to apply in the real world. The low formation rate is one of the main difficulties of CO₂ hydrate. In this work, the effect of different promotors on the hydrate formation rate has been studied. Two surfactants, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), tetra-n-butylammonium bromide (TBAB), and cyclopentane (CP) as a thermodynamic promotor and their combination have been used for the experiments. The results showed that the SDS is a powerful kinetic promotor and its combination with CP helps to convert more CO₂ to hydrate in a short time.

Keywords: carbon capture, carbon dioxide, hydrate, promotor

Procedia PDF Downloads 255

Authors: Howaida I. Abd-Alla, Nagwa M. M. Shalaby

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The fruit rind of Fortunella margarita (Nagami Kumkuat) was investigated for its chemical constituents. Thirteen metabolites were obtained and classified into, a sterol; β-sitosterol (1) and twelve phenolic compounds, three coumarins; xanthotoxin (2), isopimpinellin (3), umbelliferone (4), nine flavonoids of O-glycosides of flavone; apigenin-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (5), apigenin-7-O-rhamnoglucoside (rhoifolin) (6), C-glycosides; vitexin (7), vicenin II (8), and the methoxylated; 6-methoxyapigenin-7-methyl ether (9) and tangeretin (10) as well as flavanones class; naringenin (11), liquiritigenin (12), hesperdin (hesperetin-7-rhamnoglucoside) (13). All compounds were identified for the first time in F. margarita except compound (8). The major glycosides 5, 6, and 13 and total crude extract showed potential antiviral activity against live Newcastle disease virus vaccine strains (Komarov and LaSota) and live infectious bursitis viruses vaccine strain D78 replication in VERO cell cultures and on specific pathogen-free embryonated chicken eggs. Antiviral inhibitory concentration fifty (IC50), cytotoxic concentration fifty (CC50), and therapeutic index (TI) were calculated. In addition, the extract and compounds 7 and 13 showed marked antimicrobial activity against different strains of fungi, Gram-positive and negative bacteria, including some foodborne pathogens of animal origin, caused human disease. These results suggested that the extract of F. margarita may be considered potentially useful as a source of natural antiviral and antimicrobial agents. It can be used as an ingredient for functional food and/or pharmaceuticals.

Keywords: antimicrobial, antiviral, Fortunella margarita, Nagami Kumkuat, phenolic secondary metabolites

Procedia PDF Downloads 206

Authors: Chao Li, Lei Zhou, Ruiqi Ren, Dan Li, Yali Wang, Daxin Ni, Zijian Feng, Qun Li

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Background: In 2016, yellow fever had been first ever discovered in China, soon after the yellow fever epidemic occurred in Angola. After the discovery, China had promptly made the national protocol of control and prevention and strengthened the surveillance on passenger and vector. In this study, a descriptive analysis was conducted to summarize China’s experiences of response towards this import epidemic, in the hope of providing experiences on prevention and control of yellow fever and other similar imported infectious diseases in the future. Methods: The imported cases were discovered and reported by General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and several hospitals. Each clinically diagnosed yellow fever case was confirmed by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR). The data of the imported yellow fever cases were collected by local Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through field investigations soon after they received the reports. Results: A total of 11 imported cases from Angola were reported in China, during Angola’s yellow fever outbreak. Six cases were discovered by the AQSIQ, among which two with mild symptom were initiative declarations at the time of entry. Except for one death, the remaining 10 cases all had recovered after timely and proper treatment. All cases are Chinese, and lived in Luanda, the capital of Angola. 73% were retailers (8/11) from Fuqing city in Fujian province, and the other three were labors send by companies. 10 cases had experiences of medical treatment in Luanda after onset, among which 8 cases visited the same local Chinese medicine hospital (China Railway four Bureau Hospital). Among the 11 cases, only one case had an effective vaccination. The result of emergency surveillance for mosquito density showed that only 14 containers of water were found positive around places of three cases, and the Breteau Index is 15. Conclusions: Effective response was taken to control and prevent the outbreak of yellow fever in China after discovering the imported cases. However, though the similar origin of Chinese in Angola has provided an easy access for disease detection, information sharing, health education and vaccination on yellow fever; these conveniences were overlooked during previous disease prevention methods. Besides, only one case having effective vaccination revealed the inadequate capacity of immunization service in China. These findings will provide suggestions to improve China’s capacity to deal with not only yellow fever but also other similar imported diseases in China.

Keywords: yellow fever, first import, China, suggestion

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Petre Voicu, Mircea Oaida, Radu Vasiu, Catalin Gheorghiu, Aurel Dumitru

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The present work deals with the way in which food and tobacco waste can be used in agriculture. As a result of the lack of efficient technologies for their recycling, we are currently faced with the appearance of appreciable quantities of residual organic residues that find their use only very rarely and only after long storage in landfills. The main disadvantages of long storage of organic waste are the unpleasant smell, the high content of pathogenic agents, and the high content in the water. The release of these enormous amounts imperatively demands the finding of solutions to ensure the avoidance of environmental pollution. The measure practiced by us consists of the processing of this waste in special installations, testing in pilot experimental perimeters, and later administration on agricultural lands without harming the quality of the soil, agricultural crops, and the environment. The current crisis of raw materials and energy also raises special problems in the field of organic waste valorization, an activity that takes place with low energy consumption. At the same time, their composition recommends them as useful secondary sources in agriculture. The transformation of food scraps and other residues concentrated organics thus acquires a new orientation, in which these materials are seen as important secondary resources. The utilization of food and tobacco waste in agriculture is also stimulated by the increasing lack of chemical fertilizers and the continuous increase in their price, under the conditions that the soil requires increased amounts of fertilizers in order to obtain high, stable, and profitable production. The need to maintain and increase the humus content of the soil is also taken into account, as an essential factor of its fertility, as a source and reserve of nutrients and microelements, as an important factor in increasing the buffering capacity of the soil, and the more reserved use of chemical fertilizers, improving the structure and permeability for water with positive effects on the quality of agricultural works and preventing the excess and/or deficit of moisture in the soil.

Keywords: ecology, soil, organic waste, fertility

Procedia PDF Downloads 80

Authors: Rohit Kothari

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Background: Leprosyis a chronic granulomatous diseasecaused by Mycobacterium leprae (M. Lepra). Reactions may interrupt its usual chronic course.Type-1 (T1R)and type-2 lepra reaction(T2R) are acute events and signifytype-IV and type-III hypersensitivity responses, respectively. Various chemokines like CCL3, 5, 11, and CCL24 may be increased during the course of leprosy or during reactions and may serve as markers of early diagnosis, response to therapy, and prognosis. Objective: To find correlation of CCL3, 5, 11, and CCL24 in leprosy patients on multidrug therapy and their family contacts after ruling out active disease during leprosy treatment and during periods of lepra reactions. Methodology: This randomized control trial was conducted in 50 clinico-histopathologically diagnosed cases of leprosy in a tertiary care hospital in Bengaluru, India. 50 of their family contacts were adequately examined and investigated should the need be to rule out active disease. The two study-groups comprised of leprosy cases, and the age, sex, and area of residence matched healthy contactswho were given single-dose rifampicin prophylaxis, respectively. Blood samples were taken at baseline, six months, and after one yearin both the groups (on completion of MDT in leprosy cases)and also during periods of reaction if occurred in leprosy cases. Results: Our study found that at baseline, CCL5, 11, and 24 were higher in leprosy cases as compared to the healthy contacts, and the difference was statistically significant.CCL3 was also found to be higherat baseline in leprosy cases, however, the difference was not statistically significant. At six months and one year, the levels of CCL 5, 11, and 24 reduced, and the difference was statistically significant in leprosy cases, whereas it remained almost static in all the healthy contacts. Twenty patients of leprosy developed lepra reaction during the course of one year, and during reaction, the increase in CCL11 and 24 was statistically significant from baseline, whereas CCL3 and 5 did not rise significantly. One of the healthy contacts developed signs of leprosy in the form of hypopigmented numb patch and was clinico-histopathologically, and CCL11 and 24 were found to be higher with a statistically significant difference from the baseline values. Conclusion: CCL5, 11, and 24 are sensitive markers of diagnosing leprosy, response to MDT, and prognosis and are not increased in healthy contacts. CCL11 and 24 are sensitive markers of lepra reactions and may serve as one of the early diagnostic modalities for identifying lepra reaction and also leprosy in healthy contacts. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate these biomarkers in leprosy cases and their healthy contacts with a follow-up of upto one year with one of them developing the disease, and the same was confirmed based on these biomarkers as well.

Keywords: chemokine profile, healthy contacts, leprosy, lepra reactions

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Authors: Kornanong Yuenyongchaiwat, Duangnate Pepatsitipong, Panthip Sangprasert

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High blood pressure and diabetes have been suggested as being non-communicable disease (NCDs), and there is one of the components of the definition of metabolic syndrome. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a 12-week pedometer based community walking intervention on change in resting blood pressure and blood glucose in participants with overweight in the community setting. Method: Participants were recruited both males and females who had a sedentary lifestyle aged 35-59 years (mean aged 49.67 years). A longitudinal quasi-experimental study was designed with 35 overweight participants who had body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m2. These volunteers were assigned to the 12-week pedometer-based walking program (an accumulated at least 10,000 steps a day). Blood pressure and blood glucose were measured initially before and after 12-week intervention. Results: Systolic blood pressure and heart rate were significantly lower in 30 individuals who had accumulated 10,000 steps d-1 in the intervention group at 12 week follow-up (-13.74 mmHg and 5.3 bpm, respectively). In addition, reduction in blood glucose (-14.89 mmol) in the intervention participants was statistically significant (p < .001). A regression analysis indicated that reductions in systolic blood pressure were significantly related to the increase in steps per day. Conclusion: The accumulation of least 10,000 steps d-1 resulted in decreased resting systolic blood pressure and blood glucose in overweight participants. This has also shown that an increase in physical activity in overweight participants with sedentary lifestyle by accumulating at least 10,000 steps a day can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (e.g., hypertension and diabetes).

Keywords: blood glucose, blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension, physical activity, walking

Procedia PDF Downloads 280

Authors: Alexander Rych

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Piql Preservation Services (“Piql”) is a turnkey solution designed for secure, migration-free long- term preservation of digital data. Piql sets an open standard for long- term preservation for the future. It consists of equipment and processes needed for writing and retrieving digital data. Exponentially growing amounts of data demand for logistically effective and cost effective processes. Digital storage media (hard disks, magnetic tape) exhibit limited lifetime. Repetitive data migration to overcome rapid obsolescence of hardware and software bears accelerated risk of data loss, data corruption or even manipulation and adds significant repetitive costs for hardware and software investments. Piql stores any kind of data in its digital as well as analog form securely for 500 years. The medium that provides this is a film reel. Using photosensitive film polyester base, a very stable material that is known for its immutability over hundreds of years, secure and cost-effective long- term preservation can be provided. The film reel itself is stored in a packaging capable of protecting the optical storage medium. These components have undergone extensive testing to ensure longevity of up to 500 years. In addition to its durability, film is a true WORM (write once- read many) medium. It therefore is resistant to editing or manipulation. Being able to store any form of data onto the film makes Piql a superior solution for long-term preservation. Paper documents, images, video or audio sequences – all of those file formats and documents can be preserved in its native file structure. In order to restore the encoded digital data, only a film scanner, a digital camera or any appropriate optical reading device will be needed in the future. Every film reel includes an index section describing the data saved on the film. It also contains a content section carrying meta-data, enabling users in the future to rebuild software in order to read and decode the digital information.

Keywords: digital data, long-term preservation, migration-free, photosensitive film

Procedia PDF Downloads 392

Authors: Aziz Rezapour, Abdosaleh Jafari, Marziye Hadian, Elaheh Mazaheri

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Introduction: Cardiac rehabilitation is an accurate educational and sporting program designed to help heart patients to increase their physical activities and reduce the risk factors that make their health worse and help to a healthier lifestyle so that they can return to their families and society with a better spirit. The aim of this study was to examine the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of cardiac rehabilitation programs for patients with cardiovascular diseases. Methods: In the present review study, published articles related to cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of cardiac rehabilitation programs for patients with cardiovascular diseases within the time interval between 2004 and 2019 were searched using electronic databases. The methodological quality of the structure of articles was examined by Drummond’s standard checklist. Results: The results of reviewing studies showed that most of the studies related to the economic evaluation of cardiac rehabilitation programs in patients with cardiovascular disease were flawed in Drummond’s criteria, and only one study adhered to Drummond’s criteria. The results of the present study indicated use of cardiac rehabilitation programs in patients with cardiovascular disease was cost-effective. Conclusion: The results of this review study showed that although the results of the studies were different in terms of a number of aspects, such as the study perspective, the time horizons, and the costs of rehabilitation programs, they achieved a similar conclusion, they concluded that the use of cardiac rehabilitation programs in patients with cardiovascular diseases, leading to higher quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and lower costs.

Keywords: economic evaluation, systematic review, cardiac rehabilitation, Drummond’s checklist

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Uwizera Egide

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Introduction: Dermatological conditions are one of the most burdensome diseases in our health system. Global studies suggest that around 1 in 3 people gets a skin disease at a certain point in their life, though this does not necessarily guarantee the urge to consult. For a high-ranking disease, it is surprising how there is not enough data to support its effect on the economy and the general health system impact. It is for that reason that this study’s aim is to identify the burden of dermatological conditions in Rwanda so as to have a general picture of what our population is going through in regards to dermatological conditions. Methods: We used a cross sectional retrospective study. Data were obtained from patient’s information recorded in an open clinic at CHUB in a period of six months from July to December of the year 2021. Results: The study had a total of 4600 patients who attended dermatology service in a period of six months from July to December of the year 2021. We found a list of 102 dermatological diseases that presented at variable rates. The most prevalent disease was atopic dermatitis, at a rate of 23%. About 90% of presented conditions had only one choice of treatment from the hospital pharmacy. Most patients who presented were between 18-35 years old and with a predominance of the female gender; the level of education was either secondary or University Degree in our study, 65.4% of patients who presented were female; the majority, around 45% were between 18-35 years old, mostly being single 56%. The majority came from Southern province as it is the location of the hospital. The insurance mostly used was community-based health insurance with 63.8%, followed by RSSB with 18.5%, MS/UR, and other private insurances. The frequency of group drugs prescribed among all dermatological medications, steroids were the most commonly given medications at a rate of 39%, followed by emollients, antibiotics, and antifungal. The drugs prescribed were mostly available in the pharmacy of CHUB, with 60% and 40% being found in pharmacies outside the hospital. Conclusion: Dermatological conditions are prevalent in all age groups and distributed through all socioeconomic classes. About 9.2% of patient who consulted CHUB in 2021 presented one Dermatological condition of which 40 % of prescribed medications is never found in Hospital urging a need to buy medication in private pharmacies with more expenses and a risk of not complying on prescribed medication if in case they can’t afford paying them outside the CHUB. This finding urges a need to avail all essential dermatological drugs in hospital pharmacies to allow our patients to get them for the proper compliance of prescribed drugs in the management of skin diseases.

Keywords: atopic dermatitis, CHUB (centre hopitalier univerisitaire de butare), dermatological condition, fungal infections

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Authors: Samawi Zepure, Beck Christine, Gallagher Peg

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This community immersion employs the NLN Excellence Model which challenges nursing programs to create student-centered, interactive, and innovative experiences to prepare students for roles in providing high quality care, effective teaching, and leadership in the delivery of nursing services to individuals, families, and communities (NLN, 2006). Senior nursing students collaborate with ethnically and linguistically diverse participants at community-based sites and develop leadership roles of coordination of care linkage within the larger healthcare system, adherence, and self-care management. The immersion encourages students to develop competencies of the NLN Nursing Education Competencies Model (NLN, 2012), proposed to address fast changes in health care delivery, which include values of caring, diversity, and holism; and integrating concepts of context and environment, relationship, and teamwork. Students engage in critical thinking and leadership as they: 1) assess health/illness beliefs, values, attitudes, and practices, explore community resources, interview key informants, and collaborate with community participants to identify learning goals, 2) develop and implement appropriate holistic health promotion and disease prevention teaching interventions promoting continuity, sustainability, and innovation, 3) evaluate interventions through participant feedback and focus groups and, 4) reflect on the immersion experience and future professional role as advocate and citizen.

Keywords: quality of care, health of communities, students as leaders, health promotion

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Authors: Jonathan Turner, Julie Doyle, Laura O’Philbin, Dympna O’Sullivan

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People living with dementia should be at the centre of decision-making regarding goals for daily living. These goals include basic activities (dressing, hygiene, and mobility), advanced activities (finances, transportation, and shopping), and meaningful activities that promote well-being (pastimes and intellectual pursuits). However, there is limited involvement of people living with dementia in the design of technology to support their goals. A project is described that is co-designing intelligent computer-based support for, and with, people affected by dementia and their carers. The technology will support self-management, empower participation in shared decision-making with carers and help people living with dementia remain healthy and independent in their homes for longer. It includes information from the patient’s care plan, which documents medications, contacts, and the patient's wishes on end-of-life care. Importantly for this work, the plan can outline activities that should be maintained or worked towards, such as exercise or social contact. The authors discuss how to integrate care goal information from such a care plan with data collected from passive sensors in the patient’s home in order to deliver individualized planning and interventions for persons with dementia. A number of scientific challenges are addressed: First, to co-design with dementia patients and their carers computerized support for shared decision-making about their care while allowing the patient to share the care plan. Second, to develop a new and open monitoring framework with which to configure sensor technologies to collect data about whether goals and actions specified for a person in their care plan are being achieved. This is developed top-down by associating care quality types and metrics elicited from the co-design activities with types of data that can be collected within the home, from passive and active sensors, and from the patient’s feedback collected through a simple co-designed interface. These activities and data will be mapped to appropriate sensors and technological infrastructure with which to collect the data. Third, the application of machine learning models to analyze data collected via the sensing devices in order to investigate whether and to what extent activities outlined via the care plan are being achieved. The models will capture longitudinal data to track disease progression over time; as the disease progresses and captured data show that activities outlined in the care plan are not being achieved, the care plan may recommend alternative activities. Disease progression may also require care changes, and a data-driven approach can capture changes in a condition more quickly and allow care plans to evolve and be updated.

Keywords: care goals, decision-making, dementia, self-care, sensors

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Authors: Sushil Kumar Singh, Ashok Kumar, Ankit Ganeshpurkar, Ravi Singh, Devendra Kumar

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In spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by the presence of amyloid β plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. It results in cognitive and memory impairment due to loss of cholinergic neurons, which is considered to be one of the contributing factors. Donepezil, an acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor which also inhibits butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) and improves the memory and brain’s cognitive functions, is the most successful and prescribed drug to treat the symptoms of AD. The present work is based on designing of the selective BuChE inhibitors using computational techniques. In this work, machine learning models were trained using classification algorithms followed by screening of diverse chemical library of compounds. The various molecular modelling and simulation techniques were used to obtain the virtual hits. The amide derivatives of 4-(phenylsulfonamido) benzoic acid were synthesized and characterized using 1H & 13C NMR, FTIR and mass spectrometry. The enzyme inhibition assays were performed on equine plasma BuChE and electric eel’s AChE by method developed by Ellman et al. Compounds 31, 34, 37, 42, 49, 52 and 54 were found to be active against equine BuChE. N-(2-chlorophenyl)-4-(phenylsulfonamido)benzamide and N-(2-bromophenyl)-4-(phenylsulfonamido)benzamide (compounds 34 and 37) displayed IC50 of 61.32 ± 7.21 and 42.64 ± 2.17 nM against equine plasma BuChE. Ortho-substituted derivatives were more active against BuChE. Further, the ortho-halogen and ortho-alkyl substituted derivatives were found to be most active among all with minimal AChE inhibition. The compounds were selective toward BuChE.

Keywords: Alzheimer disease, butyrylcholinesterase, machine learning, sulfonamides

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Authors: Juan Huang, Nanqu Huang, Jingshan Shi, Yu Qiu

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Objectives: There are pathophysiological connections between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), and research on drugs with hypoglycemic and beta-amyloid (Aβ)-clearing effects have great therapeutic potential for AD. Dendrobium nobile Lindl. Alkaloids (DNLA) as one of the active compounds of Dendrobium nobile Lindl. In this study, we attempted to verify the hypoglycemic effect and investigate the effects of DNLA on the amyloid precursor protein (APP) metabolic pathway of the hippocampus in db/db mice. Methods: 4-weeks-old male C57BL/KsJ mice were the control group. And the same age and sexuality db/db mice were: model, DNLA-L (20 mg/kg), DNLA-M (40 mg/kg), and DNLA-H (80 mg/kg). After, mice were treated with different concentrations of DNLA for 17 weeks. The fasting blood glucose (FBG) was detected by glucose oxidase assay every week from the 4th to last week. The protein expression of β-amyloid 1-42 (Aβ1-42), β-site amyloid precursor protein-cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1), and APP were examined by Western blotting. Results: The concentration of FBG and the protein expression of Aβ1-42, BACE1, and APP were increased in the hippocampus of the model group. Moreover, DNLA not only significantly decreased the concentration of FBG but also reduced the protein expressions of Aβ1-42, BACE1 and APP in the hippocampus of db/db mice in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusions: DNLA can decrease the protein expressions of Aβ1-42 in the hippocampus of db/db mice, and the mechanism may be involved in the APP metabolic pathway.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, β-site amyloid precursor protein-cleaving enzyme 1, traditional Chinese medicines, beta-amyloid

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Authors: Mounia El Jaouhari, Mira Goral, Samir Diouny

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Introduction: Previous research has indicated that language impairments are recognized as a feature of many neurodegenerative disorders, including non-language-led dementia subtypes such as Alzheimer´s disease (AD). In this preliminary study, the focal aim is to quantify the semantic content of naming and connected speech samples of Moroccan patients diagnosed with AD using two tasks taken from the culturally adapted and validated Moroccan version of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination. Methods: Five individuals with AD and five neurologically healthy individuals matched for age, gender, and education will participate in the study. Participants with AD will be diagnosed on the basis of the Moroccan version of the Diagnostic and Statistial Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-4) screening test, the Moroccan version of the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) test scores, and neuroimaging analyses. The participants will engage in two tasks taken from the MDAE-SF: 1) Picture description and 2) Naming. Expected findings: Consistent with previous studies conducted on English speaking AD patients, we expect to find significant word production and retrieval impairments in AD patients in all measures. Moreover, we expect to find category fluency impairments that further endorse semantic breakdown accounts. In sum, not only will the findings of the current study shed more light on the locus of word retrieval impairments noted in AD, but also reflect the nature of Arabic morphology. In addition, the error patterns are expected to be similar to those found in previous AD studies in other languages.

Keywords: alzheimer's disease, anomia, connected speech, semantic impairments, moroccan arabic

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Vijaykumar M. Baragi, Ramtilak Gattu, Gabriela Trifan, John L. Woodard, K. Meyers, Tim S. Halstead, Eric Hipple, Ewart Mark Haacke, Randall R. Benson

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NFL players, by virtue of their exposure to repetitive head injury, are at least twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia as the general population. Early recognition and intervention prior to onset of clinical symptoms could potentially avert/delay the long-term consequences of these diseases. Since AD is thought to have a long preclinical incubation period, the aim of the current research was to determine whether former NFL players, referred to a depression center, showed evidence of incipient dementia in their structural imaging prior to diagnosis of dementia. Thus, to identify neuroimaging markers of AD, against which former NFL players would be compared, we conducted a comprehensive volumetric analysis using a cohort of early stage AD patients (ADNI) to produce a set of brain regions demonstrating sensitivity to early AD pathology (i.e., the “AD fingerprint”). A cohort of 46 former NFL players’ brain MRIs were then interrogated using the AD fingerprint. Brain scans were done using a T1-weighted MPRAGE sequence. The Free Surfer image analysis suite (version 6.0) was used to obtain the volumetric and cortical thickness data. A total of 55 brain regions demonstrated significant atrophy or ex vacuo dilatation bilaterally in AD patients vs. healthy controls. Of the 46 former NFL players, 19 (41%) demonstrated a greater than expected number of atrophied/dilated AD regions when compared with age-matched controls, presumably reflecting AD pathology.

Keywords: alzheimers, neuroimaging biomarkers, traumatic brain injury, free surfer, ADNI

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Chuan-Ming Tung, Jin-Cheng Fu, Chia-En Feng

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In recent years, the rapid development of urban land in Taiwan has led to the constant increase of the areas of impervious surface, which has increased the risk of waterlogging during heavy rainfall. Therefore, in recent years, promoting runoff allocation responsibilities has often been used as a means of reducing regional flooding. In this study, the single catchment area covering both urban and rural land as the study area is discussed. Based on Storm Water Management Model, urban and rural land in a single catchment area was explored to develop the runoff allocation responsibilities according to their respective control regulation on land use. The impacts of runoff increment and reduction in sub-catchment area were studied to understand the impact of highly developed urban land on the reduction of flood risk of rural land at the back end. The results showed that the rainfall with 1 hour short delay of 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, and 25 years return period. If the study area was fully developed, the peak discharge at the outlet would increase by 24.46% -22.97% without runoff allocation responsibilities. The front-end urban land would increase runoff from back-end of rural land by 76.19% -46.51%. However, if runoff allocation responsibilities were carried out in the study area, the peak discharge could be reduced by 58.38-63.08%, which could make the front-end to reduce 54.05% -23.81% of the peak flow to the back-end. In addition, the researchers found that if it was seen from the perspective of runoff allocation responsibilities of per unit area, the residential area of urban land would benefit from the relevant laws and regulations of the urban system, which would have a better effect of reducing flood than the residential land in rural land. For rural land, the development scale of residential land was generally small, which made the effect of flood reduction better than that of industrial land. Agricultural land requires a large area of land, resulting in the lowest share of the flow per unit area. From the point of the planners, this study suggests that for the rural land around the city, its responsibility should be assigned to share the runoff. And setting up rain water storage facilities in the same way as urban land, can also take stock of agricultural land resources to increase the ridge of field for flood storage, in order to improve regional disaster reduction capacity and resilience.

Keywords: runoff allocation responsibilities, land use, flood mitigation, SWMM

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Authors: Fahad Almehmadi, Abdullah Alrajhi, Bader K. Alaslab, Abdullah A. Al Qurashi, Hattan A. Hassani

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Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia/Cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) is an uncommon, inheritable cardiac disorder characterized by the progressive substitution of cardiac myocytes by fibro-fatty tissues. This pathologic substitution predisposes patients to ventricular arrhythmias and right ventricular failure. The underlying genetic defect predominantly involves genes encoding for desmosome proteins, particularly plakophilin-2 (PKP2). These aberrations lead to impaired cell adhesion, heightening the susceptibility to fibrofatty scarring under conditions of mechanical stress. Primarily, ARVD/C affects the right ventricle, but it can also compromise the left ventricle, potentially leading to biventricular heart failure. Clinical presentations can vary, spanning from asymptomatic individuals to those experiencing palpitations, syncopal episodes, and, in severe instances, sudden cardiac death. The establishment of a diagnostic criterion specifically tailored for ARVD/C significantly aids in its accurate diagnosis. Nevertheless, the task of early diagnosis is complicated by the disease's frequently asymptomatic initial stages, and the overall rarity of ARVD/C cases reported globally. In some cases, as exemplified by the adult female patient in this report, the disease may advance to terminal stages, rendering therapies like Ventricular Tachycardia (VT) ablation ineffective. This case underlines the necessity for increased awareness and understanding of ARVD/C to aid in its early detection and management. Through such efforts, we aim to decrease morbidity and mortality associated with this challenging cardiac disorder.

Keywords: ARVD/C, cardiology, interventional cardiology, cardiac electrophysiology

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Authors: M. Sulieman, H. Arabiyat, H. Ali, K. Potiszil, I. Abbas, R. English, P. King, I. Brown, P. Drew

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Introduction: The incidence of breast ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) has been increasing; it currently represents up 20-25% of all breast carcinomas. Some aspects of DCIS management are still controversial, mainly due to the heterogeneity of its clinical presentation and of its biological and pathological characteristics. In DCIS, histological diagnosis obtained preoperatively, carries the risk of sampling error if the presence of invasive cancer is subsequently diagnosed. The mammographic extent over than 4–5 cm and the presence of architectural distortion, focal asymmetric density or mass on mammography are proven important risk factors of preoperative histological under staging. Intracystic papillary cancer (IPC) is a rare form of breast carcinoma. Despite being previously compared to DCIS it has been shown to present histologically with invasion of the basement membrane and even metastasis. SLNB – Carries the risk of associated comorbidity that should be considered when planning surgery for DCIS and IPC. Objectives: The aim of this Audit was to better define a ‘high risk’ group of patients with pre-op diagnosis of non-invasive cancer undergoing breast conserving surgery, who would benefit from sentinel node biopsy. Method: Retrospective data collection of all patients with ductal carcinoma in situ over 5 years. 636 patients identified, and after exclusion criteria applied: 394 patients were included. High risk defined as: Extensive micro-calcification >40mm OR any mass forming DCIS. IPC: Winpath search from for the term ‘papillary carcinoma’ in any breast specimen for 5 years duration;.29 patients were included in this group. Results: DCIS: 188 deemed high risk due to >40mm calcification or a mass forming (radiological or palpable) 61% of those had a mastectomy and 32% BCS. Overall, in that high-risk group - the number with invasive disease was 38%. Of those high-risk DCIS pts 85% had a SLN - 80% at the time of surgery and 5% at a second operation. For the BCS patients - 42% had SLN at time of surgery and 13% (8 patients) at a second operation. 15 (7.9%) pts in the high-risk group had a positive SLNB, 11 having a mastectomy and 4 having BCS. IPC: The provisional diagnosis of encysted papillary carcinoma is upgraded to an invasive carcinoma on final histology in around a third of cases. This has may have implications when deciding whether to offer sentinel node removal at the time of therapeutic surgery. Conclusions: We have defined a ‘high risk’ group of pts with pre-op diagnosis of non-invasive cancer undergoing BCS, who would benefit from SLNB at the time of the surgery. In patients with high-risk features; the risk of invasive disease is up to 40% but the risk of nodal involvement is approximately 8%. The risk of morbidity from SLN is up to about 5% especially the risk of lymphedema.

Keywords: breast ductal carcinoma in Situ (DCIS), intracystic papillary carcinoma (IPC), sentinel node biopsy (SLNB), high-risk, non-invasive, cancer disease

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Authors: Joseph George, Anne Kotteswara Roa

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Skin disease is one of the most common and popular kinds of health issues faced by people nowadays. Skin cancer (SC) is one among them, and its detection relies on the skin biopsy outputs and the expertise of the doctors, but it consumes more time and some inaccurate results. At the early stage, skin cancer detection is a challenging task, and it easily spreads to the whole body and leads to an increase in the mortality rate. Skin cancer is curable when it is detected at an early stage. In order to classify correct and accurate skin cancer, the critical task is skin cancer identification and classification, and it is more based on the cancer disease features such as shape, size, color, symmetry and etc. More similar characteristics are present in many skin diseases; hence it makes it a challenging issue to select important features from a skin cancer dataset images. Hence, the skin cancer diagnostic accuracy is improved by requiring an automated skin cancer detection and classification framework; thereby, the human expert’s scarcity is handled. Recently, the deep learning techniques like Convolutional neural network (CNN), Deep belief neural network (DBN), Artificial neural network (ANN), Recurrent neural network (RNN), and Long and short term memory (LSTM) have been widely used for the identification and classification of skin cancers. This survey reviews different DL techniques for skin cancer identification and classification. The performance metrics such as precision, recall, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and F-measures are used to evaluate the effectiveness of SC identification using DL techniques. By using these DL techniques, the classification accuracy increases along with the mitigation of computational complexities and time consumption.

Keywords: skin cancer, deep learning, performance measures, accuracy, datasets

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Authors: Masoumeh Haghbin Nazarpak, Hamidreza Tolabi, Aryan Ekhlasi

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Bone defects are mentioned as one of the most challenging clinical conditions, affecting millions of people each year. A fracture, osteoporosis, tumor, or infection usually causes these defects. At present, autologous and allogeneic grafts are used to correct bone defects, but these grafts have some difficulties, such as limited access, infection, disease transmission, and immune rejection. Bone tissue engineering is considered a new strategy for repairing bone defects. However, problems with scaffolds’ design with unique structures limit their clinical applications. In addition, numerous in-vitro studies have been performed on the behavior of bone cells in two-dimensional environments. Still, cells grow in physiological situations in the human body in a three-dimensional environment. As a result, the controlled design of porous structures with high structural complexity and providing the necessary flexibility to meet specific needs in bone tissue repair is beneficial. For this purpose, a three-dimensional composite scaffold based on gelatin and sodium alginate hydrogels is used in this research. In addition, the antibacterial drug-loaded halloysite nanotubes were introduced into the hydrogel scaffold structure to provide a suitable substrate for controlled drug release. The presence of halloysite nanotubes improved hydrogel’s properties, while the drug eliminated infection and disease transmission. Finally, it can be acknowledged that the composite scaffold prepared in this study for bone tissue engineering seems promising.

Keywords: halloysite nanotubes, bone tissue engineering, composite scaffold, controlled drug release

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Authors: Nora Arbaoui, Rachid Tadili

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The substantial increase of areas cultivated under glasshouses compels the use of other natural heating and cooling procedures to make a profit as well as avoid both exorbitant fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions. This experimental study is designed to examine the functioning of a solar heating system that will increase positive consequences in terms of both quantity and quality while successfully enhancing greenhouse microclimate during wintertime. Those configurations have been tested in a miniaturized greenhouse simply after having optimized the operating parameters. These were noteworthy results when compared to an unheated witness greenhouse.

Keywords: solar system, agricultural greenhouse, heating, cooling, storage, drying

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Authors: Zhou Shangcheng, Yi Sicen

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Objective: To understand the mortality patterns of Zhangwan District in 2010 and provide the basis for the development of scientific and rational health policy. Methods: Data are collected from the Sixth Census of Zhangwan District and disease surveillance system. The statistical analysis include death difference between age, gender, region and time and the related factors. Methods developed for the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study by the World Bank and World Health Organization (WHO) were adapted and applied to Zhangwan District population health data. DALY rate per 1,000 was calculated for varied causes of death. SPSS 16 is used by statistic analysis. Results: From the data of death population of Zhangwan District we know the crude mortality rate was 6.03 ‰. There are significant differences of mortality rate in male and female population which was respectively 7.37 ‰ and 4.68 ‰. 0 age group population life expectancy in Zhangwan District in 2010 was 78.40 years old(Male 75.93, Female 81.03). The five leading causes of YLL in descending order were: cardiovascular diseases(42.63DALY/1000), malignant neoplasm (23.73DALY/1000), unintentional injuries (5.84DALY/1000), Respiratory diseases(5.43 DALY/1000), Respiratory infections (2.44DALY/1000). In addition, there are strong relation between the marital status , educational level and mortality in some to a certain extend. Conclusion Zhangwan District, as city level, is at lower mortality levels. The mortality of the total population of Zhangwan District has a downward trend and life expectancy is rising.

Keywords: sixth census, Zhangwan district, death level differences, influencing factors, cause of death

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Authors: M. Strémy, P. Závacký, P. Cuninka, M. Juhás

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Main goal of this paper is to introduce our design of private cloud for storing large amount of data, especially pictures, and to provide good technological backend for data analysis based on parallel processing and business intelligence. We have tested hypervisors, cloud management tools, storage for storing all data and Hadoop to provide data analysis on unstructured data. Providing high availability, virtual network management, logical separation of projects and also rapid deployment of physical servers to our environment was also needed.

Keywords: cloud, glusterfs, hadoop, juju, kvm, maas, openstack, virtualization

Procedia PDF Downloads 353

Authors: Samuel Munaf, Kevin Swingler, Franz Brülisauer, Anthony O’Hare, George Gunn, Aaron Reeves

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Web scraping and text mining are popular computer science methods deployed by public health researchers to augment traditional epidemiological surveillance. However, within veterinary disease surveillance, such techniques are still in the early stages of development and have not yet been fully utilised. This study presents an exploration into the utility of incorporating internet-based data to better understand the smallholder farming communities within Scotland by using online text extraction and the subsequent mining of this data. Web scraping of the livestock fora was conducted in conjunction with text mining of the data in search of common themes, words, and topics found within the text. Results from bi-grams and topic modelling uncover four main topics of interest within the data pertaining to aspects of livestock husbandry: feeding, breeding, slaughter, and disposal. These topics were found amongst both the poultry and pig sub-forums. Topic modeling appears to be a useful method of unsupervised classification regarding this form of data, as it has produced clusters that relate to biosecurity and animal welfare. Internet data can be a very effective tool in aiding traditional veterinary surveillance methods, but the requirement for human validation of said data is crucial. This opens avenues of research via the incorporation of other dynamic social media data, namely Twitter and Facebook/Meta, in addition to time series analysis to highlight temporal patterns.

Keywords: veterinary epidemiology, disease surveillance, infodemiology, infoveillance, smallholding, social media, web scraping, sentiment analysis, geolocation, text mining, NLP

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Authors: John Ayoade

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Cloud computing is a model that enables the delivery of on-demand computing resources such as networks, servers, storage, applications and services over the internet. Cloud Computing is a relatively growing concept that presents a good number of benefits for its users; however, it also raises some security challenges which may slow down its use. In this paper, we identify some of those security issues that can serve as barriers to realizing the full benefits that cloud computing can bring. One of the key security problems is security trust. A security trust model is proposed that can enhance the confidence that users need to fully trust the use of public and mobile cloud computing and maximize the potential benefits that they offer.

Keywords: cloud computing, trust, security, certificate authority, PKI

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Authors: Huan Peng, Chenye Zeng, Zhao Wang

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Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disease that is a leading cause of dementia syndromes and has become a huge burden on society and families. The main pathological features of AD involve excessive deposition of β-amyloid (Aβ) and Tau proteins in the brain, resulting in loss of neurons, expansion of neuroinflammation, and cognitive dysfunction in patients. Researchers have found effective drugs to clear the brain of error-accumulating proteins or to slow the loss of neurons, but their direct administration has key bottlenecks such as single-drug limitation, rapid blood clearance rate, impenetrable blood-brain barrier (BBB), and poor ability to target tissues and cells. Therefore, we are committed to seeking a suitable and efficient delivery system. Inspired by the possibility that exosomes may be involved in the secretion and transport mechanism of many signaling molecules or proteins in the brain, exosomes have attracted extensive attention as natural nanoscale drug carriers. We selected exosomes derived from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-EXO) with low immunogenicity and exosomes derived from hippocampal neurons (HT22-EXO) that may have excellent homing ability to overcome the deficiencies of oral or injectable pathways and bypass the BBB through nasal administration and evaluated their delivery ability and effect on AD. First, MSC-EXO and HT22 cells were isolated and cultured, and MSCs were identified by microimaging and flow cytometry. Then MSC-EXO and HT22-EXO were obtained by gradient centrifugation and qEV SEC separation column, and a series of physicochemical characterization were performed by transmission electron microscope, western blot, nanoparticle tracking analysis and dynamic light scattering. Next, exosomes labeled with lipophilic fluorescent dye were administered to WT mice and APP/PS1 mice to obtain fluorescence images of various organs at different times. Finally, APP/PS1 mice were administered intranasally with two exosomes 20 times over 40 days and 20 μL each time. Behavioral analysis and pathological section analysis of the hippocampus were performed after the experiment. The results showed that MSC-EXO and HT22-EXO were successfully isolated and characterized, and they had good biocompatibility. MSC-EXO showed excellent brain enrichment in APP/PS1 mice after intranasal administration, could improve the neuronal damage and reduce inflammation levels in the hippocampus of APP/PS1 mice, and the improvement effect was significantly better than HT22-EXO. However, intranasal administration of the two exosomes did not cause depression and anxious-like phenotypes in APP/PS1 mice, nor significantly improved the short-term or spatial learning and memory ability of APP/PS1 mice, and had no significant effect on the content of Aβ plaques in the hippocampus, which also meant that MSC-EXO could use their own advantages in combination with other drugs to clear Aβ plaques. The possibility of realizing highly effective non-invasive synergistic treatment for AD provides new strategies and ideas for clinical research.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cell, intranasal administration, therapy-carrier dual roles

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