Search results for: Genetic disease

Authors: S. M. Seyedhosseini, A. Makui, M. Ghadami

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Globalization and therefore increasing tight competition among companies, have resulted to increase the importance of making well-timed decision. Devising and employing effective strategies, that are flexible and adaptive to changing market, stand a greater chance of being effective in the long-term. In other side, a clear focus on managing the entire product lifecycle has emerged as critical areas for investment. Therefore, applying wellorganized tools to employ past experience in new case, helps to make proper and managerial decisions. Case based reasoning (CBR) is based on a means of solving a new problem by using or adapting solutions to old problems. In this paper, an adapted CBR model with k-nearest neighbor (K-NN) is employed to provide suggestions for better decision making which are adopted for a given product in the middle of life phase. The set of solutions are weighted by CBR in the principle of group decision making. Wrapper approach of genetic algorithm is employed to generate optimal feature subsets. The dataset of the department store, including various products which are collected among two years, have been used. K-fold approach is used to evaluate the classification accuracy rate. Empirical results are compared with classical case based reasoning algorithm which has no special process for feature selection, CBR-PCA algorithm based on filter approach feature selection, and Artificial Neural Network. The results indicate that the predictive performance of the model, compare with two CBR algorithms, in specific case is more effective.

Keywords: Case based reasoning, Genetic algorithm, Groupdecision making, Product management.

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Authors: Olofintoye Lawrence Kayode, Olorunniyi Omojola Felix

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Schistosomiasis is a vector-borne water-based disease transmitted by Bulinus globosus, causing haematuria in the urine of man, while fascioliasis is a trematode zoonosis infectious transmitted by Lymnaea natalensis causing liver disease in man and animals. Adult Bulinus globosus and Lymnaea natalensis were used for the experiment. Aqueous leaf extract of Ageratum conyzoides and Datura stramonium were prepared into 25, 50, 75, 100, 200 and 400 ppm concentrations. Ten snails of each species were exposed to different concentrations in triplicates, and dechlorinated water was used as control at 24h, 48h, and 72h exposure. The results revealed that 100 ppm of both plants leaves extracts indicated mortality rates between 76.7% and 100% at 24h, 48h, and 72h for both snail species. (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the extract exercised molluscicidal activity to control the snail vector at lethal doses LC50 (66.611-72.021 ppm), CI = 63.083-77.90 ppm and LC90 (92.623-102.350), CI = 87.715-110.12 ppm.

Keywords: Snail, plant leaf, aqueous extract, mortality.

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Authors: O. Grinchuk, E. Motakis, V. Kuznetsov

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Sense-antisense gene pair (SAGP) is a pair of two oppositely transcribed genes sharing a common region on a chromosome. In the mammalian genomes, SAGPs can be organized in more complex sense-antisense gene architectures (CSAGA) in which at least one gene could share loci with two or more antisense partners. Many dozens of CSAGAs can be found in the human genome. However, CSAGAs have not been systematically identified and characterized in context of their role in human diseases including cancers. In this work we characterize the structural-functional properties of a cluster of 5 genes –TMEM97, IFT20, TNFAIP1, POLDIP2 and TMEM199, termed TNFAIP1 / POLDIP2 module. This cluster is organized as CSAGA in cytoband 17q11.2. Affymetrix U133A&B expression data of two large cohorts (410 atients, in total) of breast cancer patients and patient survival data were used. For the both studied cohorts, we demonstrate (i) strong and reproducible transcriptional co-regulatory patterns of genes of TNFAIP1/POLDIP2 module in breast cancer cell subtypes and (ii) significant associations of TNFAIP1/POLDIP2 CSAGA with amplification of the CSAGA region in breast cancer, (ii) cancer aggressiveness (e.g. genetic grades) and (iv) disease free patient-s survival. Moreover, gene pairs of this module demonstrate strong synergetic effect in the prognosis of time of breast cancer relapse. We suggest that TNFAIP1/ POLDIP2 cluster can be considered as a novel type of structural-functional gene modules in the human genome.

Keywords: Sense-antisense gene pair, complex genome architecture, TMEM97, IFT20, TNFAIP1, POLDIP2, TMEM199, 17q11.2, breast cancer, transcription regulation, survival analysis, prognosis.

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Authors: Rohayu Izanwati M. R., Muhamad Ridhwan M. R., Abbe Maleyki M. J., Ahmad Zubaidi A. L., Zahri M. K.

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PPARs function as regulators of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism. The aim of the study was to compare the lipid profile between two phases of fasting and to examine the frequency and relationship of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, PPARα gene polymorphisms to lipid profile in fasting respondents. We conducted a case-control study protocol, which included 21 healthy volunteers without gender discrimination at the age of 18 years old. 3 ml of blood sample was drawn before the fasting phase and during the fasting phase (in Ramadhan month). 1ml of serum for the lipid profile was analyzed by using the automated chemistry analyser (Olympus, AU 400) and the data were analysed using the Paired T-Test (SPSS ver.20). DNA was extracted and PCR was conducted utilising 6 sets of primer. Primers were designed within 6 exons of interest in PPARα gene. Genetic and metabolic characteristics of fasting respondents and controls were estimated and compared. Fasting respondents were significantly have lowered the LDL levels (p=0.03). There were no polymorphisms detected except in exon 1 with 5% of this population study respectively. The polymorphisms in exon 1 of the PPARα gene were found in low frequency. Regarding the 1375G/T and 1386G/T polymorphisms in the exon 1 of the PPARα gene, the T-allele in fasting phase had no association with the decreased LDL levels (Fisher Exact Test). However this association is more promising when the sample size is larger in order to elucidate the precise impact of the polymorphisms on lipid profile in the population. In conclusion, the PPARα gene polymorphisms do not appear to affect the LDL of fasting respondents.

Keywords: Fasting, LDL, Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha (PPAR-α), Polymorphisms.

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Authors: Raquel Vianna Duarte Cardoso, Eduarda Lobato Faria, José Jorge Boueri

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Rapid urbanization has transformed the global landscape, presenting significant challenges to public health. This article delves into the impact of urbanization on the spread of infectious diseases in cities and identifies crucial strategies to enhance urban community resilience. Massive urbanization over recent decades has created conducive environments for the rapid spread of diseases due to population density, mobility, and unequal living conditions. Urbanization has been observed to increase exposure to pathogens and foster conditions conducive to disease outbreaks, including seasonal flu, vector-borne diseases, and respiratory infections. In order to tackle these issues, a range of cross-disciplinary approaches are suggested. These encompass the enhancement of urban healthcare infrastructure, emphasizing the need for robust investments in hospitals, clinics, and healthcare systems to keep pace with the burgeoning healthcare requirements in urban environments. Moreover, the establishment of disease monitoring and surveillance mechanisms is indispensable, as it allows for the timely detection of outbreaks, enabling swift responses. Additionally, community engagement and education play a pivotal role in advocating for personal hygiene, vaccination, and preventive measures, thus playing a pivotal role in diminishing disease transmission. Lastly, the promotion of sustainable urban planning, which includes the creation of cities with green spaces, access to clean water, and proper sanitation, can significantly mitigate the risks associated with waterborne and vector-borne diseases. The article is based on the analysis of scientific literature, and it offers a comprehensive insight into the complexities of the relationship between urbanization and health. It places a strong emphasis on the urgent need for integrated approaches to improve urban resilience in the face of health challenges.

Keywords: Infectious diseases dissemination, public health, urbanization impacts, urban resilience.

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Authors: Campbell Townsend, David Hamilton

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Previous research has demonstrated that negative attitudes towards people with physical disabilities and obesity are predicted by a component of perceived vulnerability to disease; germ aversion. These findings have been suggested as illustrations of an evolved but over-active mechanism which promotes the avoidance of pathogen-carrying individuals. To date, this interpretation of attitude formation has not been explored with regard to people with intellectual disability, and no attempts have been made to examine possible mediating factors. This study examined attitudes in 333 adults and demonstrated that the moderate positive relationship between germ aversion and negative attitudes toward people with intellectual disability is fully mediated by social dominance orientation, a general preference for hierarchies and inequalities among social groups. These findings have implications for the design of programs which attempt to promote community acceptance and inclusion of people with disabilities.

Keywords: avoidance, evolutionary psychology, intellectual disability, prejudice

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Authors: Siti Khairunniza-Bejo, Yusnida Yusoff, Nik Salwani Nik Yusoff, Idris Abu Seman, Mohamad Izzuddin Anuar

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Most of the oil palm plantations have been threatened by Basal Stem Rot (BSR) disease which causes serious economic impact. This study was conducted to identify the healthy and BSRinfected oil palm tree using thirteen color indices. Multispectral and thermal camera was used to capture 216 images of the leaves taken from frond number 1, 9 and 17. Indices of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), red (R), green (G), blue (B), near infrared (NIR), green – blue (GB), green/blue (G/B), green – red (GR), green/red (G/R), hue (H), saturation (S), intensity (I) and thermal index (T) were used. From this study, it can be concluded that G index taken from frond number 9 is the best index to differentiate between the healthy and BSR-infected oil palm trees. It not only gave high value of correlation coefficient (R=-0.962), but also high value of separation between healthy and BSR-infected oil palm tree. Furthermore, power and S model developed using G index gave the highest R2 value which is 0.985.

Keywords: Oil palm, image processing, disease, leaves.

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Authors: Shikha Maheshwari, Amit Srivastava

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In medical investigations, uncertainty is a major challenging problem in making decision for doctors/experts to identify the diseases with a common set of symptoms and also has been extensively increasing in medical diagnosis problems. The theory of cross entropy for intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFS) is an effective approach in coping uncertainty in decision making for medical diagnosis problem. The main focus of this paper is to propose a new intuitionistic fuzzy cross entropy measure (IFCEM), which aid in reducing the uncertainty and doctors/experts will take their decision easily in context of patient’s disease. It is shown that the proposed measure has some elegant properties, which demonstrates its potency. Further, it is also exemplified in detail the efficiency and utility of the proposed measure by using a real life case study of diagnosis the disease in medical science.

Keywords: Intuitionistic fuzzy cross entropy (IFCEM), intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS), medical diagnosis, uncertainty.

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Authors: M. Mohebbi, K. Shakeri

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In the real application of active control systems to mitigate the response of structures subjected to sever external excitations such as earthquake and wind induced vibrations, since the capacity of actuators is limited then the actuators saturate. Hence, in designing controllers for linear and nonlinear structures under sever earthquakes, the actuator saturation should be considered as a constraint. In this paper optimal design of active controllers for nonlinear structures by considering the actuator saturation has been studied. To this end a method has been proposed based on defining an optimization problem which considers the minimizing of the maximum displacement of the structure as objective when a limited capacity for actuator has been used as a constraint in optimization problem. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a single degree of freedom (SDF) structure with a bilinear hysteretic behavior has been simulated under a white noise ground acceleration of different amplitudes. Active tendon control mechanism, comprised of pre-stressed tendons and an actuator, and extended nonlinear Newmark method based instantaneous optimal control algorithm have been used as active control mechanism and algorithm. To enhance the efficiency of the controllers, the weights corresponding to displacement, velocity, acceleration and control force in the performance index have been found by using the Distributed Genetic Algorithm (DGA). According to the results it has been concluded that the proposed method has been effective in considering the actuator saturation in designing optimal controllers for nonlinear frames. Also it has been shown that the actuator capacity and the average value of required control force are two important factors in designing nonlinear controllers for considering the actuator saturation.

Keywords: Active control, Actuator Saturation, Nonlinear, Optimization.

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Authors: Laila Salah Seada, Ashraf Ibrahim, Fawaz Al Rashid, Ihab Abdo, Hassan Kasim, Waleed Al Mansi, Saud Al Shabli

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Background and Objectives: Colorectal carcinoma is increasing among both men and women worldwide. It has a multifactorial etiology including genetic factors, environmental factors and inflammatory conditions of the digestive tract. A clinicopathologic assessment of colorectal carcinoma in Hail region is done, considering any changing patterns in two 5-year periods from 2005-2009 (A) and from 2012 to 2017 (B). All data had been retrieved from histopathology files of King Khalid Hospital, Hail. Results: During period (A), 75 cases were diagnosed as colorectal carcinoma. Male patients comprised 56/75 (74.7%) of the study, with a mean age of 58.4 (36-97), while females were 19/75 (25.3%) with a mean age of 50.3(30-85) and the difference was significant (p = 0.05). M:F ratio was 2.9:1. Most common histological type was adenocarcioma in 68/75 (90.7%) patients mostly well differentiated in 44/68 (64.7%). Mucinous neoplasms comprised only 7/75 (9.3%) of cases and tended to have a higher stage (p = 0.04). During period (B), 115 cases were diagnosed with an increase of 53.3% in number of cases than period (A). Male to female ratio also decreased to 1.35:1, females being 44.83% more affected. Adenocarcinoma remained the prevalent type (93.9%), while mucinous type was still rare (5.2%). No distal metastases found at time of presentation. Localization of tumors was rectosigmoid in group (A) in 41.4%, which increased to 56.6% in group (B), with an increase of 15.2%. Iliocecal location also decreased from 8% to 3.5%, being 56.25% less. Other proximal areas of the colon were decreased by 25.75%, from 53.9% in group (A) to 40% in group (B). Conclusion: Colorectal carcinoma in Hail region has increased by 53.3% in the past 5 years, with more females being diagnosed. Localization has also shifted distally by 15.2%. These findings are different from Western world patterns which experienced a decrease in incidence and proximal shift of the colon cancer localization. This might be due to better diagnostic tools, population awareness of the disease, as well as changing of life style and/or food habits in the region.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer, Hail Region, changing pattern, distal shift.

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Authors: Z. Nurzaireena, K. Azalea, T. Azirawaty, S. Jameela, G. Muralitharan

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The aim of this study is the review of the management practices of sickle cell disease patients during pregnancy, as well as the maternal and neonatal outcome at Ampang Hospital, Selangor. The study consisted of a review of pregnant patients with sickle cell disease under follow up at the Hematology Clinic, Ampang Hospital over the last seven years to assess their management and maternal-fetal outcome. The results of the review show that Ampang Hospital is considered the public hematology centre for sickle cell disease and had successfully managed three pregnancies throughout the last seven years. Patients’ presentations, managements and maternal-fetal outcome were compared and reviewed for academic improvements. All three patients were seen very early in their pregnancy and had been given a regime of folic acid, antibiotics and thrombo-prophylactic drugs. Close monitoring of maternal and fetal well being was done by the hematologists and obstetricians. Among the patients, there were multiple admissions during the pregnancy for either a painful sickle cell bone crisis, haemolysis following an infection and anemia requiring phenotype- matched blood and exchange transfusions. Broad spectrum antibiotics coverage during and infection, hydration, pain management and venous-thrombolism prophylaxis were mandatory. The pregnancies managed to reach near term in the third trimester but all required emergency caesarean section for obstetric indications. All pregnancies resulted in live births with good fetal outcome. During post partum all were nursed closely in the high dependency units for further complications and were discharged well. Post partum follow up and contraception counseling was comprehensively given for future pregnancies. Sickle cell disease is uncommonly seen in the East, especially in the South East Asian region, yet more cases are seen in the current decade due to improved medical expertise and advance medical laboratory technologies. Pregnancy itself is a risk factor for sickle cell patients as increased thrombosis event and risk of infections can lead to multiple crisis, haemolysis, anemia and vaso-occlusive complications including eclampsia, cerebrovasular accidents and acute bone pain. Patients mostly require multiple blood product transfusions thus phenotype-matched blood is required to reduce the risk of alloimmunozation. Emphasizing the risks and complications in preconception counseling and establishing an ultimate pregnancy plan would probably reduce the risk of morbidity and mortality to the mother and unborn child. Early management for risk of infection, thromboembolic events and adequate hydration is mandatory. A holistic approach involving multidisciplinary team care between the hematologist, obstetricians, anesthetist, neonatologist and close nursing care for both mother and baby would ensure the best outcome. In conclusion, sickle cell disease by itself is a high risk medical condition and pregnancy would further amplify the risk. Thus, close monitoring with combine multidisciplinary care, counseling and educating the patients are crucial in achieving the safe outcome.

Keywords: Anemia, haemoglobinopathies, pregnancy, sickle cell disease.

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Authors: N. Mpofu, M. Sears

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In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm for delineating the endocardial wall from a human heart ultrasound scan. We assume that the gray levels in the ultrasound images are independent and identically distributed random variables with different Rician Inverse Gaussian (RiIG) distributions. Both synthetic and real clinical data will be used for testing the algorithm. Algorithm performance will be evaluated using the expert radiologist evaluation of a soft copy of an ultrasound scan during the scanning process and secondly, doctor’s conclusion after going through a printed copy of the same scan. Successful implementation of this algorithm should make it possible to differentiate normal from abnormal soft tissue and help disease identification, what stage the disease is in and how best to treat the patient. We hope that an automated system that uses this algorithm will be useful in public hospitals especially in Third World countries where problems such as shortage of skilled radiologists and shortage of ultrasound machines are common. These public hospitals are usually the first and last stop for most patients in these countries.

Keywords: Endorcardial Wall, Rician Inverse Distributions, Segmentation, Ultrasound Images.

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Authors: A. B. Adehor, P. R. Burrell

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The Integrated Management of Child illnesses (IMCI) and the surveillance Health Information Systems (HIS) are related strategies that are designed to manage child illnesses and community practices of diseases. However, both strategies do not function well together because of classification incompatibilities and, as such, are difficult to use by health care personnel in rural areas where a majority of people lack the basic knowledge of interpreting disease classification from these methods. This paper discusses a single approach on how a stand-alone expert system can be used as a prompt diagnostic tool for all cases of illnesses presented. The system combines the action-oriented IMCI and the disease-oriented HIS approaches to diagnose malaria and typhoid fever in the rural areas of the Niger-delta region.

Keywords: Differential diagnosis, Health Information System(HIS), Integrated Management of Child Illnesses (IMCI), Malaria andTyphoid fever.

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Authors: Vincent A. Adzika, Franklin N. Glozah, Collins S. K. Ahorlu

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Background: Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is of major public-health concern globally, with majority of patients living in Africa. Despite its relevance, there is a dearth of research to determine the socio-demographic distribution and psychosocial impact of SCD in Africa. The objective of this study therefore was to examine the socio-demographic distribution and psychosocial consequences of SCD among patients in Ghana and to assess their quality of life and coping mechanisms. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used, involving the completion of questionnaires on socio-demographic characteristics, quality of life of individuals, anxiety and depression. Participants were 387 male and female patients attending a sickle cell clinic in a public hospital. Results: Results showed no gender and marital status differences in anxiety and depression. However, there were age and level of education variances in depression but not in anxiety. In terms of quality of life, patients were more satisfied by the presence of love, friends, relatives as well as home, community and neighbourhood environment. While pains of varied nature and severity were the major reasons for attending hospital in SCD condition, going to the hospital as well as having Faith in God was the frequently reported mechanisms for coping with an unbearable SCD attacks. Multiple regression analysis showed that some socio-demographic and quality of life indicators had strong associations with anxiety and/or depression. Conclusion: It is recommended that a multi-dimensional intervention strategy incorporating psychosocial dimensions should be considered in the treatment and management of SCD.

Keywords: Sickle cell disease, quality of life, anxiety, depression, socio-demographic characteristics, Ghana.

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Authors: C. A. Oloo, C. Ojwang

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The performances of small and medium enterprises have stagnated in the last two decades. This has mainly been due to the emergence of HIV / Aids. The disease has had a detrimental effect on the general economy of the country leading to morbidity and mortality of the Kenyan workforce in their primary age. The present study sought to establish the economic impact of HIV / Aids on the micro-enterprise development in Obunga slum – Kisumu, in terms of production loss, increasing labor related cost and to establish possible strategies to address the impact of HIV / Aids on microenterprises. The study was necessitated by the observation that most micro-enterprises in the slum are facing severe economic and social crisis due to the impact of HIV / Aids, they get depleted and close down within a short time due to death of skilled and experience workforce. The study was carried out between June 2008 and June 2009 in Obunga slum. Data was subjected to computer aided statistical analysis that included descriptive statistic, chi-squared and ANOVA techniques. Chi-squared analysis on the micro-enterprise owners opinion on the impact of HIV / Aids on depletion of microenterprise compared to other diseases indicated high levels of the negative effects of the disease at significance levels of P<0.01. Analysis of variance on the impact of HIV / Aids on the performance and productivity of micro-enterprises also indicated a negative effect on the general performance of micro-enterprise at significance levels of P<0.01. Therefore reducing the negative impacts of HIV/Aids on micro-enterprise development, there is need to improve the socioeconomic environment, mobilize donors and stake holders in training and funding, and review the current strategies for addressing the disease. Further conclusive research should also be conducted on a bigger scale.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, HIV-AIDS, Micro-enterprise, Poverty.

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Authors: Sabrina Azzi, Michal Iglewski, Véronique Nabelsi

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Diagnosis error problem is frequent and one of the most important safety problems today. One of the main objectives of our work is to propose an ontological representation that takes into account the diagnostic criteria in order to improve the diagnostic. We choose pneumonia disease since it is one of the frequent diseases affected by diagnosis errors and have harmful effects on patients. To achieve our aim, we use a semi-automated method to integrate diverse knowledge sources that include publically available pneumonia disease guidelines from international repositories, biomedical ontologies and electronic health records. We follow the principles of the Open Biomedical Ontologies (OBO) Foundry. The resulting ontology covers symptoms and signs, all the types of pneumonia, antecedents, pathogens, and diagnostic testing. The first evaluation results show that most of the terms are covered by the ontology. This work is still in progress and represents a first and major step toward a development of a diagnosis decision support system for pneumonia.

Keywords: Clinical decision support system, diagnostic errors, ontology, pneumonia.

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Authors: M. Suresh Kumar, K. Ramani

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This paper proposed the comparison made between Multi-Carrier Pulse Width Modulation, Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation and Selective Harmonic Elimination Pulse Width Modulation technique for minimization of Total Harmonic Distortion in Cascaded H-Bridge Multi-Level Inverter. In Multicarrier Pulse Width Modulation method by using Alternate Position of Disposition scheme for switching pulse generation to Multi-Level Inverter. Another carrier based approach; Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation method is also implemented to define the switching pulse generation system in the multi-level inverter. In Selective Harmonic Elimination method using Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm for define the required switching angles to eliminate low order harmonics from the inverter output voltage waveform and reduce the total harmonic distortion value. So, the results validate that the Selective Harmonic Elimination Pulse Width Modulation method does capably eliminate a great number of precise harmonics and minimize the Total Harmonic Distortion value in output voltage waveform in compared with Multi-Carrier Pulse Width Modulation method, Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation method. In this paper, comparison of simulation results shows that the Selective Harmonic Elimination method can attain optimal harmonic minimization solution better than Multi-Carrier Pulse Width Modulation method, Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation method.

Keywords: Multi-level inverter, Selective Harmonic Elimination Pulse Width Modulation, Multi-Carrier Pulse Width Modulation, Total Harmonic Distortion, Genetic Algorithm.

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Authors: N. Hussain, G. Jaffery, A.N. Sabri, S. Hasnain

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The main aim is to perform mutational analysis of CTLA4 gene Exon 1 in SLE patients. A total of 61 SLE patients fulfilling “American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria" and 61 controls were enrolled in this study. The region of CTLA4 gene exon 1 was amplified by using Step-down PCR technique. Extracted DNA of band 354 bp was sequenced to analyze mutations in the exon-1 of CTLA-4 gene. Further, protein sequences were identified from nucleotide sequences of CTLA4 Exon 1 by using Expasy software and through Blast P software it was found that CTLA4 protein sequences of Pakistani SLE patients were similar to that of Chinese SLE population. No variations were found after patients sequences were compared with that of the control sequence. Furthermore it was found that CTLA4 protein sequences of Pakistani SLE patients were similar to that of Chinese SLE population. Thus CTLA4 gene may not be responsible for an autoimmune disease SLE.

Keywords: American College of Rheumatology criteria, autoimmune disease, Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Antigen-4, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

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Authors: M. Nosik, I. Rymanova, N. Adamovich, S. Sevostyanihin, K. Ryzhov, Y. Kuimova, A. Kravtchenko, N. Sergeeva, A. Sobkin

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HIV and Tuberculosis (TB) infections each speed the other's progress. HIV-infection increases the risk of TB disease. At the same time, TB infection is associated with clinical progression of HIV-infection. HIV+TB co-infected patients are also at higher risk of acquiring new opportunistic infections. An important feature of disease progression and clinical outcome is the innate and acquired immune responses. HIV and TB, however, have a spectrum of dysfunctions of the immune response. As cytokines play a crucial role in the immunopathology of both infections, it is important to study immune interactions in patients with dual infection HIV+TB. Plasma levels of proinflammatory cytokines IL-2, IFN-γ and immunoregulating cytokines IL-4, IL-10 were evaluated in 75 patients with dual infection HIV+TB, 58 patients with HIV monoinfection and 50 patients with TB monoinfection who were previously naïve for HAART. The decreased levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-10 were observed in patients with dual infection HIV+TB in comparison with patients who had only HIV or TB which means the profound suppression of Th1 and Th2 cytokine secretion. Thus, those cytokines could possibly serve as immunological markers of progression of HIV-infection in patients with TB.

Keywords: HIV, Tuberculosis, TB, HIV associated with TB, Th1/ Th2 cytokine expression.

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Authors: M. Sadeghi, A.H. Jafari, S.M.P. Firoozabadi

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Deep Brain Stimulation or DBS is a surgical treatment for Parkinson-s Disease with three stimulation parameters: frequency, pulse width, and voltage. The parameters should be selected appropriately to achieve effective treatment. This selection now, performs clinically. The aim of this research is to study chaotic behavior of recorded tremor of patients under DBS in order to present a computational method to recognize stimulation optimum voltage. We obtained some chaotic features of tremor signal, and discovered embedding space of it has an attractor, and its largest Lyapunov exponent is positive, which show tremor signal has chaotic behavior, also we found out, in optimal voltage, entropy and embedding space variance of tremor signal have minimum values in comparison with other voltages. These differences can help neurologists recognize optimal voltage numerically, which leads to reduce patients' role and discomfort in optimizing stimulation parameters and to do treatment with high accuracy.

Keywords: Chaos, Deep Brain Stimulation, Parkinson's Disease, Stimulation Parameters, tremor.

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Authors: B. Sudhakar, K. A. Ponnusamy

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In India cotton was the major commercial crop and cultivating all the states. In recent years, area of cotton declined due to pest and disease attack, drought, lower price for the produces etc. The first reason as pest and disease attack will be the challenges and it is of utmost importance that in future the insect problems would have to be tackled through Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The present study deals with principle knowledge of IPM adopting cotton cultivators in irrigated and rainfed conditions. Under irrigated conditions, among cultural practices, all respondents had principle knowledge about growing high yielding and pest resistant hybrids, sowing quality and certified seeds and avoiding cotton ratoon cropping. Regarding mechanical practices all respondents had principle knowledge about collecting and destroying egg, larvae and pupae of pests and removing and destroying pest and disease infected cotton squares, flowers and other shed materials. With regard to biological practices, 93% of them had principle knowledge about spraying neem oil, followed by 82% about tying Trichogramma eggcard. Among chemical practices, more than 90% of the respondents had principle knowledge about of spraying herbicide (96%), identifying ETL (Economic Threshold Level) for cotton pests (94%), and applying safe insecticides (90%). Under rainfed condition, among cultural practices, all respondents had principle knowledge about sowing quality and certified seeds and growing high yielding and pest resistant hybrids seeds. Regarding mechanical practices hundred percentage of the respondents had principle knowledge on the mechanical practices viz., collecting and destroying egg, larvae and pupae of pests and removing and destroying pest and disease infected cotton squares, flowers and other shed materials. With regard to biological practices, 96% of the respondents had correct in principle knowledge about spraying neem oil, followed by 89% about tying Trichogramma eggcard. With regard to chemical practices, more than 90% of the respondents had principle knowledge of applying safe insecticides (95%), avoiding repeated use of the same insecticides (95%), identifying ETL for cotton pests (94%) and applying granular insecticides (90%).

Keywords: Biological practices, chemical practices, cultural practices, mechanical practices, integrated pest management.

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Authors: A. Parizad, A. Khazali, M. Kalantar

Abstract:

Voltage collapse is instability of heavily loaded electric power systems that cause to declining voltages and blackout. Power systems are predicated to become more heavily loaded in the future decade as the demand for electric power rises while economic and environmental concerns limit the construction of new transmission and generation capacity. Heavily loaded power systems are closer to their stability limits and voltage collapse blackouts will occur if suitable monitoring and control measures are not taken. To control transmission lines, it can be used from FACTS devices. In this paper Harmony search algorithm (HSA) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) have applied to determine optimal location of FACTS devices in a power system to improve power system stability. Three types of FACTS devices (TCPAT, UPFS, and SVC) have been introduced. Bus under voltage has been solved by controlling reactive power of shunt compensator. Also a combined series-shunt compensators has been also used to control transmission power flow and bus voltage simultaneously. Different scenarios have been considered. First TCPAT, UPFS, and SVC are placed solely in transmission lines and indices have been calculated. Then two types of above controller try to improve parameters randomly. The last scenario tries to make better voltage stability index and losses by implementation of three types controller simultaneously. These scenarios are executed on typical 34-bus test system and yields efficiency in improvement of voltage profile and reduction of power losses; it also may permit an increase in power transfer capacity, maximum loading, and voltage stability margin.

Keywords: FACTS Devices, Voltage Stability Index, optimal location, Heuristic methods, Harmony search, Genetic Algorithm.

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Authors: Bi-Huei Tsai

Abstract:

Prior research has not effectively investigated how the profitability of Chinese branches affect FDIs in China [1, 2], so this study for the first time incorporates realistic earnings information to systematically investigate effects of innovation, imitation, and profit factors of FDI diffusions from Taiwan to China. Our nonlinear least square (NLS) model, which incorporates earnings factors, forms a nonlinear ordinary differential equation (ODE) in numerical simulation programs. The model parameters are obtained through a genetic algorithms (GA) technique and then optimized with the collected data for the best accuracy. Particularly, Taiwanese regulatory FDI restrictions are also considered in our modified model to meet the realistic conditions. To validate the model-s effectiveness, this investigation compares the prediction accuracy of modified model with the conventional diffusion model, which does not take account of the profitability factors. The results clearly demonstrate the internal influence to be positive, as early FDI adopters- consistent praises of FDI attract potential firms to make the same move. The former erects a behavior model for the latter to imitate their foreign investment decision. Particularly, the results of modified diffusion models show that the earnings from Chinese branches are positively related to the internal influence. In general, the imitating tendency of potential consumers is substantially hindered by the losses in the Chinese branches, and these firms would invest less into China. The FDI inflow extension depends on earnings of Chinese branches, and companies will adjust their FDI strategies based on the returns. Since this research has proved that earning is an influential factor on FDI dynamics, our revised model explicitly performs superior in prediction ability than conventional diffusion model.

Keywords: diffusion model, genetic algorithms, nonlinear leastsquares (NLS) model, prediction error.

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Authors: Muhibul Haque Bhuyan

Abstract:

Diabetes disease that arises from the higher glucose level due to insulin shortage or insulin opposition in the human body has become a common disease in the world. No medicine can cure it completely. However, by taking medicine, maintaining diets, and having exercises regularly, a diabetes patient can keep his glucose level within the specified limits and in this way, he/she can lead a normal life like a healthy person. But to control glucose levels, a patient needs to monitor them regularly. Various techniques are being used over the last four decades. This modern review article aims to provide a comparative study report on various blood glucose monitoring techniques in a very concise and organized manner. The review mainly emphasizes working principles, cost, technology, sensors, measurement types, measurement accuracy, advantages, and disadvantages, etc. of various techniques and then compares among each other. Besides, the use of algorithms and simulators for the growth of this technology is also presented. Finally, current research trends of this measurement technology have also been discussed.

Keywords: blood glucose measurement, sensors, measurement devices, invasive and non-invasive techniques

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Authors: Hala O. El-Mesallamy, Salwa M. Suwailem, Mae M. Seleem

Abstract:

Visfatin and apelin are two new adipokines that recently gained a special interest in diabetes research. This study was conducted to study the interplay between these two adipokines and their correlation with other inflammatory and biochemical parameters in type 2 diabetic (T2D) postmenopausal women with CAD. Visfatin and apelin were measured by enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). Visfatin was found to be significantly higher in the following groups: T2D patients without CAD, non-obese and obese T2D patients with CAD when compared to control group. Apelin was found to be significantly lower in non-obese and obese T2D patients with CAD when compared to control group. Visfatin and apelin were found to be significantly associated with each other and with other biochemical parameters. The current study provides evidence for the interplay between visfatin and apelin through the inflammatory milieu characteristic of T2D and their possible role in the pathogenesis of CAD complication of T2D. 

Keywords: Apelin, Coronary artery disease, Inflammation, Type 2 diabetes, Visfatin.

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Authors: M. Hashemi, R. Madani, N. Razmi

Abstract:

M. paratuberculosis is a slow growing mycobactin dependent mycobacterial species known to be the causative agent of Johne’s disease in all species of domestic ruminants worldwide. JD is characterized by gradual weight loss; decreased milk production. Excretion of the organism may occur for prolonged periods (1 to 2.5 years) before the onset of clinical disease. In recent years researchers focus on identification a specific antigen of MAP to use in diagnosis test and preparation of effective vaccine. In this paper, for production of polyclonal antibody against proteins of Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis cell well a rabbit immunization at a certain time period with antigen. After immunization of the animal, rabbit was bleeded for producing enriched serum. Antibodies were purification with ion exchange chromatography. For exact measurement of interaction, western blotting test was used that this study demonstrated sharp bands appears in nitrocellulose paper and specific bands were 50 and 150 KD molecular weight. These were indicating immunodominant proteins.

Keywords: Paratuberculosis, Immunodominant, Western blotting, Ion exchange choromatography.

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Authors: Insung Jung, lockjo Koo, Gi-Nam Wang

Abstract:

The objective of this paper is to design a model of human vital sign prediction for decreasing prediction error by using two states mapping based time series neural network BP (back-propagation) model. Normally, lot of industries has been applying the neural network model by training them in a supervised manner with the error back-propagation algorithm for time series prediction systems. However, it still has a residual error between real value and prediction output. Therefore, we designed two states of neural network model for compensation of residual error which is possible to use in the prevention of sudden death and metabolic syndrome disease such as hypertension disease and obesity. We found that most of simulations cases were satisfied by the two states mapping based time series prediction model compared to normal BP. In particular, small sample size of times series were more accurate than the standard MLP model. We expect that this algorithm can be available to sudden death prevention and monitoring AGENT system in a ubiquitous homecare environment.

Keywords: Neural network, U-healthcare, prediction, timeseries, computer aided prediction.

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Authors: E. Dolatdar, S. Soleymani, B. Mozafari

Abstract:

Power loss reduction is one of the main targets in power industry and so in this paper, the problem of finding the optimal configuration of a radial distribution system for loss reduction is considered. Optimal reconfiguration involves the selection of the best set of branches to be opened ,one each from each loop, for reducing resistive line losses , and reliving overloads on feeders by shifting the load to adjacent feeders. However ,since there are many candidate switching combinations in the system ,the feeder reconfiguration is a complicated problem. In this paper a new approach is proposed based on a simple optimum loss calculation by determining optimal trees of the given network. From graph theory a distribution network can be represented with a graph that consists a set of nodes and branches. In fact this problem can be viewed as a problem of determining an optimal tree of the graph which simultaneously ensure radial structure of each candidate topology .In this method the refined genetic algorithm is also set up and some improvements of algorithm are made on chromosome coding. In this paper an implementation of the algorithm presented by [7] is applied by modifying in load flow program and a comparison of this method with the proposed method is employed. In [7] an algorithm is proposed that the choice of the switches to be opened is based on simple heuristic rules. This algorithm reduce the number of load flow runs and also reduce the switching combinations to a fewer number and gives the optimum solution. To demonstrate the validity of these methods computer simulations with PSAT and MATLAB programs are carried out on 33-bus test system. The results show that the performance of the proposed method is better than [7] method and also other methods.

Keywords: Distribution System, Reconfiguration, Loss Reduction , Graph Theory , Optimization , Genetic Algorithm

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Authors: S. Amirhassan Monadjemi, Narges Zarrabi, Naser Neamatbakhsh

Abstract:

As days go by, we hear more and more about HIV, Ebola, Bird Flu and other dreadful viruses which were unknown a few decades ago. In both detecting and fighting viral diseases ordinary methods have come across some basic and important difficulties. Vaccination is by a sense introduction of the virus to the immune system before the occurrence of the real case infection. It is very successful against some viruses (e.g. Poliomyelitis), while totally ineffective against some others (e.g. HIV or Hepatitis-C). On the other hand, Anti-virus drugs are mostly some tools to control and not to cure a viral disease. This could be a good motivation to try alternative treatments. In this study, some key features of possible physical-based alternative treatments for viral diseases are presented. Electrification of body parts or fluids (especially blood) with micro electric signals with adjusted current or frequency is also studied. The main approach of this study is to find a suitable energy field, with appropriate parameters that are able to kill or deactivate viruses. This would be a lengthy, multi-disciplinary research which needs the contribution of virology, physics, and signal processing experts. It should be mentioned that all the claims made by alternative cures researchers must be tested carefully and are not advisable at the time being.

Keywords: Alternative Cure, Viral disease, HIV, signals, energy filed.

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Authors: Sung Ho Ha, Seong Hyeon Joo, Eun Kyung Kwon

Abstract:

Until recently, researchers have developed various tools and methodologies for effective clinical decision-making. Among those decisions, chest pain diseases have been one of important diagnostic issues especially in an emergency department. To improve the ability of physicians in diagnosis, many researchers have developed diagnosis intelligence by using machine learning and data mining. However, most of the conventional methodologies have been generally based on a single classifier for disease classification and prediction, which shows moderate performance. This study utilizes an ensemble strategy to combine multiple different classifiers to help physicians diagnose chest pain diseases more accurately than ever. Specifically the ensemble strategy is applied by using the integration of decision trees, neural networks, and support vector machines. The ensemble models are applied to real-world emergency data. This study shows that the performance of the ensemble models is superior to each of single classifiers.

Keywords: Diagnosis intelligence, ensemble approach, data mining, emergency department

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