Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity among Secondary School Students in Gaza Strip- Palestine

Background Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century. The effects of childhood overweight and obesity are devastating to the health and well-being of children now and throughout adulthood. The overweight and obese children are likely to stay obese into adulthood and more likely to develop non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer at a younger age. Study Aim: The aim of the study is investigating the problem of overweight/obesity among secondary school students in Gaza Strip, Palestine. Study design: The design of this study was cross-sectional, descriptive, analytical, and was used to address the research questions. Setting: The study was conducted at six secondary schools in Gaza Strip divided evenly between males and females. Method: A structured self-administered questionnaire was distributed to the randomly selected sample from the six schools in parallel with anthropometric measurements to calculate BMI and then determine the overweight and obesity status. Results: The results showed that 25% of the study subjects were overweight/ obese; 6.9% were obese, and 18.1% were overweight. Only four factors were significant as determinants of having obesity: sex, residency, monthly income and education level of parents. More specifically, there were statistical significant differences in terms of overweight/obesity between the females (28.9%), the males (21.1%), urban area (29.5%) rural area (19.5%), poor students (30.5%) and not poor students (15.1%). In addition, students with educated parents had less obesity than those with uneducated parents. Recommendation: There is an urgent necessity to promote health education at both children and adolescent schools about the healthy diet and the importance of improving their lifestyle in terms of healthy nutritional habits and physical activity

Presacral tumors of the Currarino triad: teratomas or hamartomas?

Purpose: The aim was to elucidate the nature of the presacral tumors in the Currarino triad through studying their preoperative radiological anatomy and histopathology of excised specimens.Patients and methods: The study group included three operated cases of Currarino triad. All were women who presented with constipation and demonstrated the typical three components of the disease: anorectal anomaly, sacral bony defect, and presacral tumor. The histopathological slides of excised specimens (presacral tumors) were available for re-examination. For comparison, we included another ‘control’ group representing the standard sacrococcygeal teratomas (without vertebral or anorectal anomalies).Results: Histopathological examination of presacral tumors in the Currarino triad showed multicystic spaces lined by different types of epithelia mainly keratinized stratified squamous epithelium with focal areas of transitional epithelium. The underlying stroma showed fibrovascular connective tissue admixed with randomly arranged smooth muscle bundles. In contrast to the standard sacrococcygeal teratomas, neither skin adnexal structures nor heterologous mesenchymal tissues were observed; no immature elements could be detected.Conclusion: In the Currarino triad, several clinical and histopathological observations would suggest the excised presacral tumors to be developmental cysts (retrorectal hamartomas) rather than neoplastic teratomas.Keywords: Currarino triad, hamartoma, sacrococcygeal, tailgut, teratom

Characterisation of DOG-1 expression in salivary gland tumours and comparison with myoepithelial markers

DOG1 is an established diagnostic marker for gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST), but has been reported in salivary gland tumours (SGT) as an acinar and intercalated duct marker. However, its specificity and distribution is not well established. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic utility of DOG-1 expression in SGT in addition to comparing it with myoepithelial markers. Normal salivary tissue and SGT (n = 184) were examined for expression of DOG1 and a range of myoepithelial markers. SGT included: acinic cell carcinoma (ACC, n = 15), secretory carcinoma (SC, n = 9), pleomorphic adenoma (PA, n = 49), carcinoma ex-PA (Ca ex-PA, n = 11), adenoid cystic carcinoma (AdCC, n = 20), polymorphous adenocarcinoma (PAC, n = 6), myoepithelioma (n = 6), myoepithelial carcinoma (MC, n = 2), basal cell adenoma (BCA, n = 14), canalicular adenoma (CA, n = 19), mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC, n = 11), oncocytoma (n = 2), adenocarcinoma NOS (AdNOS, n = 4), basal cell adenocarcinoma (BCAC, n = 2), salivary duct carcinoma (SDC, n = 3) and papillary cystadenocarcinoma (PCAC, n = 1). Normal acini and ACC (14/15) showed strong luminal DOG1 staining; SC were largely negative with only focal expression in 3/9 cases. Luminal staining was seen in PA (14/49), PAC (4/6), Ca ex-PA (4/11) and AdCC (6/20). 8/11 MEC showed luminal and/or mucous cell staining. No staining was seen in myoepithelioma, MC, CA, adNOS and BCAC. BCA showed strong staining of myoepithelial cells in some cases (5/14). Variable myoepithelial DOG1 staining was seen in PA, Ca ex PA, BCA, SDC and PCAC which was not as consistent as myoepithelial markers such as calponin, p63 and αSMA. Absence of DOG1 can differentiate ACC from SC, but staining is variable in PA, PLGA and Ca ex-PA. Myoepithelial staining in some tumours but not in normal gland suggests a wider distribution in SGT than originally envisaged

Characterisation of the Salmonella Stk Fimbrial Operon and Examination of Stkf, the Putative Adhesion Protein, As a Potential Diagnostic and Vaccine Candidate

The StkF protein of Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi A, a putative adhesion-associated protein, was used to develop a candidate adhesin-based vaccine against Salmonella infections, particularly S. Paratyphi A-associated enteric fever. Subcutaneous immunisation of BALB/c mice with recombinant StkF (rStkF) showed that this protein was strongly immunogenic as revealed by the presence of high-titre (1:50,000) anti-StkF antibody in sera from immunized mice. Furthermore, as IgG1 was the major antibody isotype induced, it would appear that rStkF generates a strong Th2-type humoral immune response. The induction of a Th2-dominant immune response was further confirmed by splenocyte-associated cytokine profile analysis which demonstrated greater up-regulation of IL-4 than that of IFN-γ or IL-12-p70. In terms of the protective potential of this antigen, in vitro assays demonstrated that StkF-specific murine antiserum markedly enhanced opsonophagocytosis-mediated uptake of StkF-expressing Salmonella bacteria by human neutrophils. Augmented antibody-specific complement-mediated lysis targeting StkF-expressing Salmonella specifically was also shown. These data suggest a likely direct contribution of StkF-specific antibodies to in vivo killing and clearance of Salmonella and strongly support further investigation of StkF as a potential Salmonella vaccine candidate. BlastN-based interrogation of the NCBI bacterial genome database and PCR investigation of a larger set of strains has shown that the S. Paratyphi A stkF gene and/or the whole stk fimbrial gene cluster is carried by ~1/3 of examined Salmonella serovars. Additionally, bioinformatics and phenotypic characterisation has revealed that the stk fimbrial operon belongs to the chaperone/usher-γ4-fimbrial clade and that it encodes a mannose-sensitive haemagglutinating fimbrial structure. The latter trait is typical of type 1 fimbriae. ELISAs based on rStkF, rStaF and rSipA showed variable sensitivity and specificity for the serodiagnosis of invasive Salmonella infections depending on the particular UK or region-specific cut off applied for each antigen. Further refinement and/or merging of these assays may allow for development of simple and cost effective tests with higher sensitivity and/or specificity than the Widal test. Importantly, despite some minor reactivity with serum from patients with other Gram-negative bacterial infections, the rStkF-based ELISA exhibited no reactivity with serum from patients with dengue fever supporting its potential as a discriminatory diagnostic tool between fevers caused by S. Paratyphi A and dengue virus

Implications of androgen receptor and FUS expression on tumor progression in urothelial carcinoma

Androgen receptor (AR) interact with many pathways involved in bladder cancer development and progression. FUS (fused in liposarcoma), a multifunctional protein essential for different cellular processes, has been demonstrated as a key link between androgen receptor signaling and cell-cycle progression in prostate cancer but has not been examined in urothelial carcinoma (UC) despite an intimate association between prostate and bladder carcinogenesis. Aim. to examine the immunohistochemical expression of AR and FUS in urothelial carcinoma in relation to prognostic parameters and to extrapolate any possible link between the expression of both markers and tumor progression. Study design. Retrospective study using immunohistochemical staining for AR and FUS on (88) cases of urothelial carcinoma. Results. AR shows statistically significant relations with late tumor stage, high tumor grade, and nonpapillary tumor pattern. On the other hand, FUS expression correlates with early tumor stage, low tumor grade and papillary pattern. An inverse relation is found between AR and FUS expression (p=0.001). Cases with high AR IHC expression show statistically significant shorter OS, RFS and PFS compared to cases with low AR expression. Cases with high FUS IHC expression reveal statistically significant longer OS, RFS and PFS compared to cases with low FUS expression. Conclusion. FUS expression is associated with favorable prognostic parameters of UC. A possible interaction is suggested between FUS and AR pathways involved in urothelial cancer progression. Manipulating FUS levels and androgen deprivation therapy can provide new promising targets for treatment trials

Proposed Sandia frequency shift for anti-islanding detection method based on artificial immune system

Sandia frequency shift (SFS) is one of the active anti-islanding detection methods that depend on frequency drift to detect an islanding condition for inverter-based distributed generation. The non-detection zone (NDZ) of the SFS method depends to a great extent on its parameters. Improper adjusting of these parameters may result in failure of the method. This paper presents a proposed artificial immune system (AIS)-based technique to obtain optimal parameters of SFS anti-islanding detection method. The immune system is highly distributed, highly adaptive, and self-organizing in nature, maintains a memory of past encounters, and has the ability to continually learn about new encounters. The proposed method generates less total harmonic distortion (THD) than the conventional SFS, which results in faster island detection and better non-detection zone. The performance of the proposed method is derived analytically and simulated using Matlab/Simulink. Two case studies are used to verify the proposed method. The first case includes a photovoltaic (PV) connected to grid and the second includes a wind turbine connected to grid. The deduced optimized parameter setting helps to achieve the “non-islanding inverter” as well as least potential adverse impact on power quality. Keywords: Anti-islanding detection, Sandia frequency shift (SFS), Non-detection zone (NDZ), Total harmonic distortion (THD), Artificial immune system (AIS), Clonal selection algorith

Triple negative breast cancer: MRI features in comparison to other breast cancer subtypes with correlation to prognostic pathologic factors

Objective: This study aimed at determination of the MRI predictors of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) in comparison to other breast cancer subtypes. Materials and methods: The study retrospectively enrolled 185 female patients with 206 pathologically confirmed invasive breast cancers with different subtypes by immunohistochemistry. Histopathological analysis as well as MRI features of TNBC was compared to those of other breast cancer subtypes. MRI features included the tumor size, shape, margin, internal enhancement, intratumoral signal intensity on T2-WI, detectability by DW-MRI and ADC values. Results: TNBCs showed higher histological grades (p < 0.0001) and younger patient age group (p = 0.006) compared to other tumor subtypes. At MRI, TNBCs were of larger size (p < 0.0001), round shape (p < 0.0001), smooth margin (p < 0.0001), with rim enhancement (p < 0.0001) and higher incidence of T2-WI tumoral hyperintensity (p = 0.0002) and intratumoral necrosis (p < 0.0001). No significant difference in tumor detectability was found by DW-MRI, however, TNBCs had higher ADC values (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: In our study, TNBC patients were of younger age with higher grade malignancy. TNBC MRI predictors were unifocal rim enhancing mass with round shape, smooth margin, higher signal intensity on T2-WI, in addition to relatively larger sizes of tumors associated with high incidence of intratumoral necrosis and higher ADC values

A serological survey of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in animals in the Sharkia Governorate of Egypt

A surveillance survey was conducted over a period of 12 months between September 2004 and August 2005 by the Tropical Medicine Department of Zagazig University in collaboration with Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3 (NAMRU-3), Egypt, to evaluate the role of ruminants as a reservoir host for Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV). A total of 1 022 serum samples from 313 cattle, 264 water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), 270 sheep and 175 goats were included in the survey. All samples were collected from the Sharkia Governorate of Egypt and were examined for anti-CCHFV IgG. Of the total of 1 022 samples examined, 32 (3.13%) were positive to IgG ELISA. Out of 270 sheep examined, 17 (6.30%) were confirmed to have anti-CCHFV IgG with the highest titre recorded at 1:800. However, CCHFV-specific IgG-positive cases among the cattle, buffalo and goats were 3.83%, 0.38% and 1.14%, respectively. Positive cases in age group B (=2 years old) were significantly higher (p<0.001) than those in age group A (<2 years old) (5.7% versus 1.6%). Belbis City was found to have the highest number of positive cases compared to all other localities (p<0.001)

Optimal allocation of multi-type FACTS devices for mitigating wind power spillage with enhancing voltage stability and social welfare

Abstract Most of countries around the world tends to increases the penetration of renewable energies generation in electrical power networks. This led to the emergence of many challenges in these systems, such as congestion of lines, voltage instability, etc. The most important of these problems is the spillage of renewable energies in order to maintain the stability of the power system. However, by using the traditional methods to mitigate the spillage, the stability of the power system may be deteriorated leading to a vulnerable power system against disturbances. This paper proposes a bilevel multi-objective Musical Chairs optimization algorithm for optimal allocation of multi-type flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) devices. The main target of the upper-level is to reduce the wind power spillage with minimize the investment cost of FACTS devices and load shedding, while maximize the voltage stability. Moreover, under different operating scenarios, the lower-level problem captured the market clearing with maintain the system constraints for maximize the social welfare. This leads to a robust and economical operating point where included enough levels of voltage security. The technique proposed in this paper is tested on the IEEE 24-bus modified reliability test system. The results show that the applicability of the proposed algorithm in aiding power system improvement planning for minimizing wind power spillage to integrate wind energy with maximizing the social welfare and improving the loadability and the voltage stability