Search results for: kidney disease
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 512

Search results for: kidney disease

242 Bioinformatics Profiling of Missense Mutations

Authors: I. Nassiri, B. Goliaei, M. Tavassoli

Abstract:

The ability to distinguish missense nucleotide substitutions that contribute to harmful effect from those that do not is a difficult problem usually accomplished through functional in vivo analyses. In this study, instead current biochemical methods, the effects of missense mutations upon protein structure and function were assayed by means of computational methods and information from the databases. For this order, the effects of new missense mutations in exon 5 of PTEN gene upon protein structure and function were examined. The gene coding for PTEN was identified and localized on chromosome region 10q23.3 as the tumor suppressor gene. The utilization of these methods were shown that c.319G>A and c.341T>G missense mutations that were recognized in patients with breast cancer and Cowden disease, could be pathogenic. This method could be use for analysis of missense mutation in others genes.

Keywords: Bioinformatics, missense mutations, PTEN tumorsuppressor gene.

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241 Hormones and Mineral Elements Associated with Osteoporosis in Postmenopausal Women in Eastern Slovakia

Authors: M. Mydlárová Blaščáková, J. Poráčová, Z. Tomková, Ľ. Blaščáková, M. Nagy, M. Konečná, E. Petrejčíková, Z. Gogaľová, V. Sedlák, J. Mydlár, M. Zahatňanská, K. Hricová

Abstract:

Osteoporosis is a multifactorial disease that results in reduced quality of life, causes decreased bone strength, and changes in their microarchitecture. Mostly postmenopausal women are at risk. In our study, we measured anthropometric parameters of postmenopausal women (104 women of control group – CG and 105 women of osteoporotic group - OG) and determined TSH hormone levels and PTH as well as mineral elements - Ca, P, Mg and enzyme alkaline phosphatase. Through the correlation analysis in CG, we have found association based on age and BMI, P and Ca, as well as Mg and Ca; in OG we determined interdependence based on an association of age and BMI, age and Ca. Using the Student's t test, we found significantly important differences in biochemical parameters of Mg (p ˂ 0,001) and TSH (p ˂ 0,05) between CG and OG.

Keywords: Factors, bone mass density, Central Europe, biomarkers.

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240 Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection and Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy

Authors: Sharan Badiger, Prema T. Akkasaligar, Deepak Kadeli

Abstract:

Human Immunodeficiency Virus is known to affect almost all organ systems in the body. In addition to central nervous system it also affects the autonomic nervous system. Autonomic nervous dysfunction has been known to severely affect the quality of life in human immunodeficiency virus positive patients. It is known to have caused fatal consequences in late stages of the disease in patients who go in for invasive diagnostic or therapeutic procedures. The aim of this review is to determine the incidence, clinical significance and frequency of cardiac autonomic neuropathy in patients human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Keywords: Autonomic nervous system, autonomic nervous dysfunction, cardiac autonomic dysfunction, human immunodeficiency virus.

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239 The PARADIGMA Approach for Cooperative Work in the Medical Domain

Authors: Antonio Di Leva, Carla Reyneri, Michele Sonnessa

Abstract:

PARADIGMA (PARticipative Approach to DIsease Global Management) is a pilot project which aims to develop and demonstrate an Internet based reference framework to share scientific resources and findings in the treatment of major diseases. PARADIGMA defines and disseminates a common methodology and optimised protocols (Clinical Pathways) to support service functions directed to patients and individuals on matters like prevention, posthospitalisation support and awareness. PARADIGMA will provide a platform of information services - user oriented and optimised against social, cultural and technological constraints - supporting the Health Care Global System of the Euro-Mediterranean Community in a continuous improvement process.

Keywords: Decision Support Systems, Ontology, Healt Care, Clinical Pathway

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238 Designing Ontology-Based Knowledge Integration for Preprocessing of Medical Data in Enhancing a Machine Learning System for Coding Assignment of a Multi-Label Medical Text

Authors: Phanu Waraporn

Abstract:

This paper discusses the designing of knowledge integration of clinical information extracted from distributed medical ontologies in order to ameliorate a machine learning-based multilabel coding assignment system. The proposed approach is implemented using a decision tree technique of the machine learning on the university hospital data for patients with Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). The preliminary results obtained show a satisfactory finding that the use of medical ontologies improves the overall system performance.

Keywords: Medical Ontology, Knowledge Integration, Machine Learning, Medical Coding, Text Assignment.

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237 Modelling Sudden Deaths from Myocardial Infarction and Stroke

Authors: Yusoff Y. S., Streftaris, G., Waters, H. R

Abstract:

Death within 30 days is an important factor to be looked into, as there is a significant risk of deaths immediately following or soon after, myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke. In this paper, we will model the deaths within 30 days following a myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke in the UK. We will see how the probabilities of sudden deaths from MI or stroke have changed over the period 1981-2000. We will model the sudden deaths using a generalized linear model (GLM), fitted using the R statistical package, under a Binomial distribution for the number of sudden deaths. We parameterize our model using the extensive and detailed data from the Framingham Heart Study, adjusted to match UK rates. The results show that there is a reduction for the sudden deaths following a MI over time but no significant improvement for sudden deaths following a stroke.

Keywords: Sudden deaths, myocardial infarction, stroke, ischemic heart disease.

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236 Antioxidant Components of Fumaria Species(Papaveraceae)

Authors: F. Habibi Tirtash, M. Keshavarzi, F. Fazeli

Abstract:

The genus Fumaria L. (Papaveraceae) in Iran comprises 8 species with a vast medicinal use in Asian folk medicine. These herbs are considered to be useful in the treatment of gastrointestinal disease and skin disorders. Antioxidant activities of alkaloids and phenolic extracts of these species had been studied previously. These species are: F. officinalis, F. parviflora, F. asepala, F. densiflora, F. schleicheri, F. vaillantii and F. indica. More than 50 populations of Fumaria species were sampled from nature. In this study different fatty acids are extracted. Their picks were recorded by GC technique. This species contain some kind of fatty acids with antioxidant effects. A part of these lipids are phospholipids. As these are unsaturated fatty acids they may have industrial use as natural additive to cosmetics, dermal and oral medicines. The presences of different materials are discussed. Our studies for antioxidant effects of these substances are continued.

Keywords: Fumaria, Papaveraceae, fatty acid, antioxidant, Iran

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235 Influenza Pattern Analysis System through Mining Weblogs

Authors: Pei Lin Khoo, Yunli Lee

Abstract:

Weblogs are resource of social structure to discover and track the various type of information written by blogger. In this paper, we proposed to use mining weblogs technique for identifying the trends of influenza where blogger had disseminated their opinion for the anomaly disease. In order to identify the trends, web crawler is applied to perform a search and generated a list of visited links based on a set of influenza keywords. This information is used to implement the analytics report system for monitoring and analyzing the pattern and trends of influenza (H1N1). Statistical and graphical analysis reports are generated. Both types of the report have shown satisfactory reports that reflect the awareness of Malaysian on the issue of influenza outbreak through blogs.

Keywords: H1N1, Weblogs, Web Crawler, Analytics Report System.

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234 An Improved QRS Complex Detection for Online Medical Diagnosis

Authors: I. L. Ahmad, M. Mohamed, N. A. Ab. Ghani

Abstract:

This paper presents the work of signal discrimination specifically for Electrocardiogram (ECG) waveform. ECG signal is comprised of P, QRS, and T waves in each normal heart beat to describe the pattern of heart rhythms corresponds to a specific individual. Further medical diagnosis could be done to determine any heart related disease using ECG information. The emphasis on QRS Complex classification is further discussed to illustrate the importance of it. Pan-Tompkins Algorithm, a widely known technique has been adapted to realize the QRS Complex classification process. There are eight steps involved namely sampling, normalization, low pass filter, high pass filter (build a band pass filter), derivation, squaring, averaging and lastly is the QRS detection. The simulation results obtained is represented in a Graphical User Interface (GUI) developed using MATLAB.

Keywords: ECG, Pan Tompkins Algorithm, QRS Complex, Simulation

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233 Predictability Analysis on HIV/AIDS System using Hurst Exponents

Authors: K. Kamalanand, P. Mannar Jawahar

Abstract:

Methods of contemporary mathematical physics such as chaos theory are useful for analyzing and understanding the behavior of complex biological and physiological systems. The three dimensional model of HIV/AIDS is the basis of active research since it provides a complete characterization of disease dynamics and the interaction of HIV-1 with the immune system. In this work, the behavior of the HIV system is analyzed using the three dimensional HIV model and a chaotic measure known as the Hurst exponent. Results demonstrate that Hurst exponents of CD4, CD8 cells and viral load vary nonlinearly with respect to variations in system parameters. Further, it was observed that the three dimensional HIV model can accommodate both persistent (H>0.5) and anti-persistent (H<0.5) dynamics of HIV states. In this paper, the objectives of the study, methodology and significant observations are presented in detail.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, mathematical model, chaos theory, Hurst exponent

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232 Evaluation of Clustering Based on Preprocessing in Gene Expression Data

Authors: Seo Young Kim, Toshimitsu Hamasaki

Abstract:

Microarrays have become the effective, broadly used tools in biological and medical research to address a wide range of problems, including classification of disease subtypes and tumors. Many statistical methods are available for analyzing and systematizing these complex data into meaningful information, and one of the main goals in analyzing gene expression data is the detection of samples or genes with similar expression patterns. In this paper, we express and compare the performance of several clustering methods based on data preprocessing including strategies of normalization or noise clearness. We also evaluate each of these clustering methods with validation measures for both simulated data and real gene expression data. Consequently, clustering methods which are common used in microarray data analysis are affected by normalization and degree of noise and clearness for datasets.

Keywords: Gene expression, clustering, data preprocessing.

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231 The Cytotoxic Effect of PM 701 and its Fractions on Cell Proliferation of Breast Cancer Cells, McF7

Authors: Faten A. Khorshid

Abstract:

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in the world among women. Many therapies have been designed to treat this disease. Mamectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are still the main therapies of breast cancer. However, the results were unsatisfactory and still far from the ideal treatment. PM 701is a natural product, has anticancer activity. The bioactive fraction PMF and subfraction PMFK had been isolated from PM701. PM 701 and its fractions were proved to have a cytotoxic properties against different cancer cell lines. This article is directed for the further examination of lyophilized PM701 and its active fractions on the growth of breast cancer cells (MCF-7). PM 701, PMF or PMFK were adding to the cultural medium, where MCF-7 is incubated. PM 701, PMF or PMFK were able to inhibit significantly the proliferation of MCF-7 cells, Moreover these new agents were proved to induce apoptosis of the breast cancer cells; through its direct effect on the nuclei.

Keywords: Anticancer agent, breast carcinoma, MCF-7 cell line, PM 701

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230 Percolation Transition with Hidden Variables in Complex Networks

Authors: Zhanli Zhang, Wei Chen, Xin Jiang, Lili Ma, Shaoting Tang, Zhiming Zheng

Abstract:

A new class of percolation model in complex networks, in which nodes are characterized by hidden variables reflecting the properties of nodes and the occupied probability of each link is determined by the hidden variables of the end nodes, is studied in this paper. By the mean field theory, the analytical expressions for the phase of percolation transition is deduced. It is determined by the distribution of the hidden variables for the nodes and the occupied probability between pairs of them. Moreover, the analytical expressions obtained are checked by means of numerical simulations on a particular model. Besides, the general model can be applied to describe and control practical diffusion models, such as disease diffusion model, scientists cooperation networks, and so on.

Keywords: complex networks, percolation transition, hidden variable, occupied probability.

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229 The Cooperation among Insulin, Cortisol and Thyroid Hormones in Morbid Obese Children and Metabolic Syndrome

Authors: Orkide Donma, Mustafa M. Donma

Abstract:

Obesity, a disease associated with a low-grade inflammation, is a risk factor for the development of metabolic syndrome (MetS). So far, MetS risk factors such as parameters related to glucose and lipid metabolisms as well as blood pressure were considered for the evaluation of this disease. There are still some ambiguities related to the characteristic features of MetS observed particularly in pediatric population. Hormonal imbalance is also important, and quite a lot information exists about the behaviour of some hormones in adults. However, the hormonal profiles in pediatric metabolism have not been cleared yet. The aim of this study is to investigate the profiles of cortisol, insulin, and thyroid hormones in children with MetS. The study population was composed of morbid obese (MO) children without (Group 1) and with (Group 2) MetS components. WHO BMI-for age and sex percentiles were used for the classification of obesity. The values above 99 percentile were defined as morbid obesity. Components of MetS (central obesity, glucose intolerance, high blood pressure, high triacylglycerol levels, low levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol) were determined. Anthropometric measurements were performed. Ratios as well as obesity indices were calculated. Insulin, cortisol, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free T3 and free T4 analyses were performed by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. Data were evaluated by statistical package for social sciences program. p<0.05 was accepted as the degree for statistical significance. The mean ages±SD values of Group 1 and Group 2 were 9.9±3.1 years and 10.8±3.2 years, respectively. Body mass index (BMI) values were calculated as 27.4±5.9 kg/m2 and 30.6±8.1 kg/m2, successively. There were no statistically significant differences between the ages and BMI values of the groups. Insulin levels were statistically significantly increased in MetS in comparison with the levels measured in MO children. There was not any difference between MO children and those with MetS in terms of cortisol, T3, T4 and TSH. However, T4 levels were positively correlated with cortisol and negatively correlated with insulin. None of these correlations were observed in MO children. Cortisol levels in both MO as well as MetS group were significantly correlated. Cortisol, insulin, and thyroid hormones are essential for life. Cortisol, called the control system for hormones, orchestrates the performance of other key hormones. It seems to establish a connection between hormone imbalance and inflammation. During an inflammatory state, more cortisol is produced to fight inflammation. High cortisol levels prevent the conversion of the inactive form of the thyroid hormone T4 into active form T3. Insulin is reduced due to low thyroid hormone. T3, which is essential for blood sugar control- requires cortisol levels within the normal range. Positive association of T4 with cortisol and negative association of it with insulin are the indicators of such a delicate balance among these hormones also in children with MetS.

Keywords: Children, cortisol, insulin, metabolic syndrome, thyroid hormones.

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228 Multidisciplinary Approach to Diagnosis of Primary Progressive Aphasia in a Younger Middle Aged Patient

Authors: Robert Krause

Abstract:

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative disease similar to frontotemporal and semantic dementia, while having a different clinical image and anatomic pathology topography. Nonetheless, they are often included under an umbrella term: frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). In the study, examples of diagnosing PPA are presented through the multidisciplinary lens of specialists from different fields (neurologists, psychiatrists, clinical speech therapists, clinical neuropsychologists and others) using a variety of diagnostic tools such as MR, PET/CT, genetic screening and neuropsychological and logopedic methods. Thanks to that, specialists can get a better and clearer understanding of PPA diagnosis. The study summarizes the concrete procedures and results of different specialists while diagnosing PPA in a patient of younger middle age and illustrates the importance of multidisciplinary approach to differential diagnosis of PPA.

Keywords: Primary progressive aphasia, etiology, diagnosis, younger middle age.

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227 Motor Imagery Based Brain-Computer Interface for Cerebellar Impaired Patients

Authors: Young-Seok Choi

Abstract:

Cerebellar ataxia is a steadily progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with loss of motor control, leaving patients unable to walk, talk, or perform activities of daily living. Direct motor instruction in cerebella ataxia patients has limited effectiveness, presumably because an inappropriate closed-loop cerebellar response to the inevitable observed error confounds motor learning mechanisms. Could the use of EEG based BCI provide advanced biofeedback to improve motor imagery and provide a “backdoor” to improving motor performance in ataxia patients? In order to determine the feasibility of using EEG-based BCI control in this population, we compare the ability to modulate mu-band power (8-12 Hz) by performing a cued motor imagery task in an ataxia patient and healthy control.

Keywords: Cerebellar ataxia, Electroencephalogram, brain-computer interface, motor imagery.

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226 The Valuable Triad of Adipokine Indices to Differentiate Pediatric Obesity from Metabolic Syndrome: Chemerin, Progranulin, Vaspin

Authors: Mustafa M. Donma, Orkide Donma

Abstract:

Obesity is associated with cardiovascular disease risk factors and metabolic syndrome (MetS). In this study, associations between adipokines and adipokine as well as obesity indices were evaluated. Plasma adipokine levels may exhibit variations according to body adipose tissue mass. Besides, upon consideration of obesity as an inflammatory disease, adipokines may play some roles in this process. The ratios of proinflammatory adipokines to adiponectin may act as highly sensitive indicators of body adipokine status. The aim of the study is to present some adipokine indices, which are thought to be helpful for the evaluation of childhood obesity and also to determine the best discriminators in the diagnosis of MetS. 80 prepubertal children (aged between 6-9.5 years) included in the study were divided into three groups; 30 children with normal weight (NW), 25 morbid obese (MO) children and 25 MO children with MetS. Physical examinations were performed. Written informed consent forms were obtained from the parents. The study protocol was approved by Ethics Committee of Namik Kemal University Medical Faculty. Anthropometric measurements, such as weight, height, waist circumference (C), hip C, head C, neck C were recorded. Values for body mass index (BMI), diagnostic obesity notation model assessment Index-II (D2 index) as well as waist-to-hip, head-to-neck ratios were calculated. Adiponectin, resistin, leptin, chemerin, vaspin, progranulin assays were performed by ELISA. Adipokine-to-adiponectin ratios were obtained. SPSS Version 20 was used for the evaluation of data. p values ≤ 0.05 were accepted as statistically significant. Values of BMI and D2 index, waist-to-hip, head-to-neck ratios did not differ between MO and MetS groups (p ≥ 0.05). Except progranulin (p ≤ 0.01), similar patterns were observed for plasma levels of each adipokine. There was not any difference in vaspin as well as resistin levels between NW and MO groups. Significantly increased leptin-to-adiponectin, chemerin-to-adiponectin and vaspin-to-adiponectin values were noted in MO in comparison with those of NW. The most valuable adipokine index was progranulin-to-adiponectin (p ≤ 0.01). This index was strongly correlated with vaspin-to-adiponectin ratio in all groups (p ≤ 0.05). There was no correlation between vaspin-to-adiponectin and chemerin-to--adiponectin in NW group. However, a correlation existed in MO group (r = 0.486; p ≤ 0.05). Much stronger correlation (r = 0.609; p ≤ 0.01) was observed in MetS group between these two adipokine indices. No correlations were detected between vaspin and progranulin as well as vaspin and chemerin levels. Correlation analyses showed a unique profile confined to MetS children. Adiponectin was found to be correlated with waist-to-hip (r = -0.435; p ≤ 0.05) as well as head-to-neck (r = 0.541; p ≤ 0.05) ratios only in MetS children. In this study, it has been investigated if adipokine indices have priority over adipokine levels. In conclusion, vaspin-to-adiponectin, progranulin-to-adiponectin, chemerin-to-adiponectin along with waist-to-hip and head-to-neck ratios were the optimal combinations. Adiponectin, waist-to-hip, head-to-neck, vaspin-to-adiponectin, chemerin-to-adiponectin ratios had appropriate discriminatory capability for MetS children.

Keywords: Adipokine indices, metabolic syndrome, obesity indices, pediatric obesity.

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225 Analysis of Medical Data using Data Mining and Formal Concept Analysis

Authors: Anamika Gupta, Naveen Kumar, Vasudha Bhatnagar

Abstract:

This paper focuses on analyzing medical diagnostic data using classification rules in data mining and context reduction in formal concept analysis. It helps in finding redundancies among the various medical examination tests used in diagnosis of a disease. Classification rules have been derived from positive and negative association rules using the Concept lattice structure of the Formal Concept Analysis. Context reduction technique given in Formal Concept Analysis along with classification rules has been used to find redundancies among the various medical examination tests. Also it finds out whether expensive medical tests can be replaced by some cheaper tests.

Keywords: Data Mining, Formal Concept Analysis, Medical Data, Negative Classification Rules.

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224 Analysis of OPG Gene Polymorphism T245G (rs3134069) in Slovak Postmenopausal Women

Authors: I. Boroňová, J. Bernasovská, J. Kľoc, Z. Tomková, E. Petrejčíková, S. Mačeková, J. Poráčová, M. M. Blaščáková

Abstract:

Osteoporosis is a common multifactorial disease with a strong genetic component characterized by reduced bone mass and increased risk of fractures. Genetic factors play an important role in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis. The aim of our study was to identify the genotype and allele distribution of T245G polymorphism in OPG gene in Slovak postmenopausal women. A total of 200 unrelated Slovak postmenopausal women with diagnosed osteoporosis and 200 normal controls were genotyped for T245G (rs3134069) polymorphism of OPG gene. Genotyping was performed using the Custom Taqman®SNP Genotyping assays. Genotypes and alleles frequencies showed no significant differences (p=0.5551; p=0.6022). The results of the present study confirm the importance of T245G polymorphism in OPG gene in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis.

Keywords: OPG gene, osteoporosis, Real-time PCR, T245G polymorphism.

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223 Review of Surface Electromyogram Signals: Its Analysis and Applications

Authors: Anjana Goen, D. C. Tiwari

Abstract:

Electromyography (EMG) is the study of muscles function through analysis of electrical activity produced from muscles. This electrical activity which is displayed in the form of signal is the result of neuromuscular activation associated with muscle contraction. The most common techniques of EMG signal recording are by using surface and needle/wire electrode where the latter is usually used for interest in deep muscle. This paper will focus on surface electromyogram (SEMG) signal. During SEMG recording, several problems had to been countered such as noise, motion artifact and signal instability. Thus, various signal processing techniques had been implemented to produce a reliable signal for analysis. SEMG signal finds broad application particularly in biomedical field. It had been analyzed and studied for various interests such as neuromuscular disease, enhancement of muscular function and human-computer interface.

Keywords: Evolvable hardware (EHW), Functional Electrical Simulation (FES), Hidden Markov Model (HMM), Hjorth Time Domain (HTD).

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222 Secondary School Students- Perceptions about Biological Issues in South Korea

Authors: Jung-Hyun Kim, Kew-Cheol Shim, Shin-Cheol Song, Kyoungho Kim, Nam-Il Kim, Jinho Bae, Keum-Hyun So

Abstract:

The purpose of present paper was to investigate perceptions of Korean secondary school students about social issues related to biological sciences. Twenty issues were selected based on topics of articles in the newspaper from 2005 to 2010. The issues were categorized into biotechnology, health-disease and environment domains. Subjects were 541 high school students (male 253 and female 288). On the survey, students were asked to answer on 5-point Lickert scales how they thought of the effect of biological phenomena or events related to biological issues on the individual life and the society. They perceived that the biological issues would be more effectible on the society than on the individual life. Female students had a little more perceptions than males.

Keywords: biological issue, biological sciences, perception, secondary school

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221 Pervasive Computing in Healthcare Systems

Authors: Elham Rastegari, Amirmasood Rahmani, Saeed Setayeshi

Abstract:

The hospital and the health-care center of a community, as a place for people-s life-care and health-care settings, must provide more and better services for patients or residents. After Establishing Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system -which is a necessity- in the hospital, providing pervasive services is a further step. Our objective in this paper is to use pervasive computing in a case study of healthcare, based on EMR database that coordinates application services over network to form a service environment for medical and health-care. Our method also categorizes the hospital spaces into 3 spaces: Public spaces, Private spaces and Isolated spaces. Although, there are many projects about using pervasive computing in healthcare, but all of them concentrate on the disease recognition, designing smart cloths, or provide services only for patient. The proposed method is implemented in a hospital. The obtained results show that it is suitable for our purpose.

Keywords: Pervasive computing, RFID, Health-care.

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220 Investigation of Genetic Epidemiology of Metabolic Compromises in ß Thalassemia Minor Mutation: Phenotypic Pleiotropy

Authors: Surajit Debnath, Soma Addya

Abstract:

Human genome is not only the evolutionary summation of all advantageous events, but also houses lesions of deleterious foot prints. A single gene mutation sometimes may express multiple consequences in numerous tissues and a linear relationship of the genotype and the phenotype may often be obscure. ß Thalassemia minor, a transfusion independent mild anaemia, coupled with environment among other factors may articulate into phenotypic pleotropy with Hypocholesterolemia, Vitamin D deficiency, Tissue hypoxia, Hyper-parathyroidism and Psychological alterations. Occurrence of Pancreatic insufficiency, resultant steatorrhoea, Vitamin-D (25-OH) deficiency (13.86 ngm/ml) with Hypocholesterolemia (85mg/dl) in a 30 years old male ß Thal-minor patient (Hemoglobin 11mg/dl with Fetal Hemoglobin 2.10%, Hb A2 4.60% and Hb Adult 84.80% and altered Hemogram) with increased Para thyroid hormone (62 pg/ml) & moderate Serum Ca+2 (9.5mg/ml) indicate towards a cascade of phenotypic pleotropy where the ß Thalassemia mutation ,be it in the 5’ cap site of the mRNA , differential splicing etc in heterozygous state is effecting several metabolic pathways. Compensatory extramedulary hematopoiesis may not coped up well with the stressful life style of the young individual and increased erythropoietic stress with high demand for cholesterol for RBC membrane synthesis may have resulted in Hypocholesterolemia.Oxidative stress and tissue hypoxia may have caused the pancreatic insufficiency, leading to Vitamin D deficiency. This may in turn have caused the secondary hyperparathyroidism to sustain serum Calcium level. Irritability and stress intolerance of the patient was a cumulative effect of the vicious cycle of metabolic compromises. From these findings we propose that the metabolic deficiencies in the ß Thalassemia mutations may be considered as the phenotypic display of the pleotropy to explain the genetic epidemiology. According to the recommendations from the NIH Workshop on Gene-Environment Interplay in Common Complex Diseases: Forging an Integrative Model, study design of observations should be informed by gene-environment hypotheses and results of a study (genetic diseases) should be published to inform future hypotheses. Variety of approaches is needed to capture data on all possible aspects, each of which is likely to contribute to the etiology of disease. Speakers also agreed that there is a need for development of new statistical methods and measurement tools to appraise information that may be missed out by conventional method where large sample size is needed to segregate considerable effect. A meta analytic cohort study in future may bring about significant insight on to the title comment.

Keywords: Genetic disease, Genetic epidemiology, Heterozygous, Phenotype, Pleotropy, ß Thalassemia minor, Metabolic compromises.

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219 Evaluation of Systemic Immune-Inflammation Index in Obese Children

Authors: Mustafa M. Donma, Orkide Donma

Abstract:

A growing list of cancers might be influenced by obesity. Obesity is associated with an increased risk for the occurrence and development of some cancers. Inflammation can lead to cancer. It is one of the characteristic features of cancer and plays a critical role in cancer development. C-reactive protein (CRP) is under evaluation related to the new and simple prognostic factors in patients with metastatic renal cell cancer. Obesity can predict and promote systemic inflammation in healthy adults. BMI is correlated with hs-CRP. In this study, SII index and CRP values were evaluated in children with normal BMI and those within the range of different obesity grades to detect the tendency towards cancer in pediatric obesity. A total of one hundred and ninety-four children; thirty-five children with normal BMI, twenty overweight (OW), forty-seven obese (OB) and ninety-two morbid obese (MO) participated in the study. Age- and sex-matched groups were constituted using BMI-for age percentiles. Informed consent was obtained. Ethical Committee approval was taken. Weight, height, waist circumference (C), hip C, head C and neck C of the children were measured. The complete blood count test was performed. C-reactive protein analysis was performed. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS. The degree for statistical significance was p≤0.05. SII index values were progressively increasing starting from normal weight (NW) to MO children. There is a statistically significant difference between NW and OB as well as MO children. No significant difference was observed between NW and OW children, however, a correlation was observed between NW and OW children. MO constitutes the only group, which exhibited a statistically significant correlation between SII index and CRP. Obesity-related bladder, kidney, cervical, liver, colorectal, endometrial cancers are still being investigated. Obesity, characterized as a chronic low-grade inflammation, is a crucial risk factor for colon cancer. Elevated childhood BMI values may be indicative of processes leading to cancer, initiated early in life. Prevention of childhood adiposity may decrease the cancer incidence in adults. To authors’ best knowledge, this study is the first to introduce SII index values during obesity of varying degrees of severity. It is suggested that this index seems to affect all stages of obesity with an increasing tendency and may point out the concomitant status of obesity and cancer starting from very early periods of life.

Keywords: Children, c- reactive protein, systemic immune-inflammation index, obesity.

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218 Antibacterial Activity of Ethanol Extract from Some Thai Medicinal Plants against Campylobacter Jejuni

Authors: Achara Dholvitayakhun, Nathanon Trachoo

Abstract:

In this study, the forty Thai medicinal plants were used to screen the antibacterial activity against Campylobacter jejuni. Crude 95% ethanolic extracts of each plant were prepared. Antibacterial activity was investigated by the disc diffusion assay, and MICs and MBCs were determined by broth microdilution. The results of antibacterial screening showed that five plants have activity against C.jejuni including Adenanthera pavonina L., Moringa oleifera Lam., Annona squamosa L., Hibiscus sabdariffa L. and Eupotorium odortum L. The extraction of A. pavonina L. and A. squamosa L. produced an outstanding against C. jejuni, inhibiting growth at 62.5-125 and 250-500 μg/mL, respectively. The MBCs of two extracts were just 4-fold higher than MICs against C. jejuni, suggesting the extracts are bactericidal against this species. These results indicate that A. pavonina and A. squamosa could potentially be used in modern applications aimed at treatment or prevention of foodborne disease from C. jejuni.

Keywords: Antibacterial activity, Thai medicinal plants, Campylobacter jejuni

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217 Scattering Operator and Spectral Clustering for Ultrasound Images: Application on Deep Venous Thrombi

Authors: Thibaud Berthomier, Ali Mansour, Luc Bressollette, Frédéric Le Roy, Dominique Mottier, Léo Fréchier, Barthélémy Hermenault

Abstract:

Deep Venous Thrombosis (DVT) occurs when a thrombus is formed within a deep vein (most often in the legs). This disease can be deadly if a part or the whole thrombus reaches the lung and causes a Pulmonary Embolism (PE). This disorder, often asymptomatic, has multifactorial causes: immobilization, surgery, pregnancy, age, cancers, and genetic variations. Our project aims to relate the thrombus epidemiology (origins, patient predispositions, PE) to its structure using ultrasound images. Ultrasonography and elastography were collected using Toshiba Aplio 500 at Brest Hospital. This manuscript compares two classification approaches: spectral clustering and scattering operator. The former is based on the graph and matrix theories while the latter cascades wavelet convolutions with nonlinear modulus and averaging operators.

Keywords: Deep venous thrombosis, ultrasonography, elastography, scattering operator, wavelet, spectral clustering.

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216 Effect of Germination on Proximate, Available Phenol and Flavonoid Content, and Antioxidant Activities of African Yam Bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa)

Authors: Nneka N. Uchegbu, Ndidi F. Amulu

Abstract:

The work studied the effect of germination on proximate, phenol and flavonoid content and antioxidant activities (AOA) of African Yam been (AYB). Germination was done in controlled dark chamber (100% RH, 28oC). The proximate, phenol and flavonoid content and antioxidant activities before and after germination were investigated. The crude protein, moisture, and crude fiber content of germinated AYB were significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of ungermianated seed, while the fat, Ash and carbohydrate content of ungerminated were higher than the germinated seed. Germination increased the phenol and flavoniod content by 19.14% and 14.53% respectively. The results of AOA assay showed that the DPPH, reducing power and FRAP of germinated AYB seed gave high values: 48.92 ±1.22 μg/ml, 0.75± 0.15μg/ml and 98.60±0.04 μmol/g while that of ungerminated seed were: 31.33μ/ml, 0.56±1.52μg/ml and 96.11±1.13μmol/g respectively. Germinated AYB has phytochemicals with potential AOA for disease prevention.

Keywords: Antioxidant, flovonoid, germination, phenol.

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215 Risk and Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Real Estate

Authors: Tahmina Akhter

Abstract:

In the present work, we make a study of the repercussions of the pandemic generated by COVID-19 in the real estate market, this disease has affected almost all sectors of the economy across different countries in the world, including the real estate markets. This documentary research, basically focused on the years 2021 and 2022, as we seek to focus on the strongest time of the pandemic. We carried out the study trying to take into account the repercussions throughout the world and that is why the data we analyze take into account information from all possible continents. Particularly in the US, Europe and China, where the COVID-19 impact has been of such proportions that it has fundamentally affected the housing market for middle-class housing. In addition, the pandemic has posed risks to investments in this market, due to the fact that companies in the sector have generated losses in certain cases; in the Chinese case, Evergrande, one of the largest companies in the sector, fell into default.

Keywords: COVID-19, real estate market, statistics of COVID-19, Evergrande Real Estate.

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214 Monitoring and Analysis of Bridge Crossing Ground Fissures

Authors: Zhiqing Zhang, Xiangong Zhou, Zihan Zhou

Abstract:

Ground fissures can be seen in some cities all over the world. As a special urban geological disaster, ground fissures in Xi'an have caused great harm to infrastructure. Chang'an Road Interchange in Xi'an City is a bridge across ground fissures. The damage to Chang'an Road interchange is the most serious and typical. To study the influence of ground fissures on the bridge, we established a bridge monitoring system. The main monitoring items include elevation monitoring, structural displacement monitoring, etc. The monitoring results show that the typical failure is mainly reflected in the bridge deck damage caused by horizontal tension and vertical dislocation. For the construction of urban interchange spanning ground fissures, the interchange should be divided reasonably, a simple support structure with less restriction should be adopted, and the monitoring of supports should be strengthened to prevent the occurrence of beam falling.

Keywords: Bridge monitoring, ground fissures, typical disease, structural displacement.

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213 Nuts Composition and their Health Benefits

Authors: S. Azadmard-Damirchi, Sh. Emami, J. Hesari, S.H. Peighambardoust, M. Nemati

Abstract:

Nuts are part of a healthy diet such as Mediterranean diet. Benefits of nuts in reducing the risk of heart disease has been reasonably attributed to their composition of vitamins, minerals, unsaturated fatty acids, fiber and phytochemicals such as polyphenols, tocopherols, squalene and phytosterols. More than 75% of total fatty acids of nuts are unsaturated. α- tocopherol is the main tocopherol isomer present in most of the nuts. While walnuts, Brazil nut, cashew nut, peanut, pecan and pistachio nuts are rich in γ- tocopherol. β- sitosterol is dominant sterol in nuts. Pistachio and pine nut have the highest total phytosterol and Brazil nut and English walnut the lowest. Walnuts also contain large amount of phenolic compounds compared with other nuts. Nuts are rich in compounds with antioxidant properties and their consumption can offer preventing from incidence of many diseases including cardiovascular.

Keywords: Nuts, phenols, phytosterols, squalene, vitamin E.

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