Praćenje akcesornih spolnih žlijezda i testisa u ovnova pasmine barki pomoću Dopplera i ultrazvuka u B modu tijekom rasplodne sezone

The aim of this study was to perform ultrasonographic imaging of the testes and accessory sex glands in adult Barki rams during the breeding season. The impact of testosterone on the Doppler indices of accessory sex glands was also investigated. Scrotal contents, pelvic urethra and accessory sex glands of twelve mature Barki rams were scanned with multiple imaging of B-mode and colour Doppler ultrasonography. Serum concentrations of testosterone, FSH and LH were determined. The results revealed that the breeding season changed the echogenicity of testicular parenchyma, spermatic cord, epididymal tail, glans penis and echotexture of accessory sex glands. Serum testosterone was 7.27±0.37 ng/mL, FSH was 6.46±0.2 and LH was 5.6±0.28 m IU/mL. The pulsatility index (PI) for the supra-testicular artery (STA), marginal artery (MA) of the testes and epididymal tail was 1.01±0.07, 0.58±0.04 and 0.5±0.04. The resistive index (RI) for the same structures was 0.6±0.04, 0.33±0.04 and 0.3±0.03, respectively. Importantly, testosterone downregulated PI and RI of the ampulla, vesicular gland, prostate gland and bulbourethral gland. In conclusion, the breeding season changed the echogenicity of reproductive organs and accessory genital glands of rams, and testosterone regulated the hemodynamic parameters of the accessory sex glands.Ovo je istraživanje provedeno radi uspostavljanja normalnog ultrazvučnog (UZV) snimanja testisa i akcesornih spolnih žlijezda u odraslih ovnova pasmine barki tijekom rasplodne sezone. Osim toga, istraživan je i utjecaj testosterona na akcesorne spolne žlijezde temeljem uporabe Dopplera. Višestrukim snimanjem u B-modu i ultrazvučnim kolor Dopplerom pretraživan je sadržaj skrotuma, zdječna uretra te akcesorne spolne žlijezde u 12 odraslih ovnova pasmine barki. Određivane su serumske koncentracije testosterona, FSH i LH. Dobiveni su rezultati pokazali da u rasplodnoj sezoni dolazi do promjena u ehogenosti parenhima testisa, sjemenskog užeta, repa epididimisa, glansa penisa i ehoteksture akcesornih spolnih žlijezda. Razina serumskog testosterona iznosila je 7,27±0,37 ng/mL, FSH 6,46±0,2, a LH 5,6±0,28 m IU/mL. Pulzirajući indeksi (PI) supra arterije testisa (SAT), periferne arterije (PA) testisa i repa epididimisa bili su 1,01±0,07, 0,58±0,04, odnosno 0,5±0,04. Istovremeno, indeksi rezistentnosti (RI) gornjih kriterija su bili 0,6±0,04, 0,33±0,04, odnosno 0,3±0,03. Važno je spomenuti da je testosteron snižavao PI i RI ampule (a), vezikularne žlijezde, prostate i bulbouretralne žlijezde. Zaključno, rasplodna je sezona utjecala na promjene ehogenosti reproduktivnih organa i akcesornih spolnih žlijezda u ovnova. Nadalje, testosteron je regulirao hemodinamične pokazatelje akcesornih spolnih žlijezda tijekom rasplodne sezone u ovnova

Deep Learning Based Method for Computer Aided Diagnosis of Diabetic Retinopathy

© 2019 IEEE. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a retinal disease caused by the high blood sugar levels that may damage and block the blood vessels feeding the retina. In the early stages of DR, the disease is asymptomatic; however, as the disease advances, a possible sudden loss of vision and blindness may occur. Therefore, an early diagnosis and staging of the disease is required to possibly slow down the progression of the disease and improve control of the symptoms. In response to the previous challenge, we introduce a computer aided diagnosis tool based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) to classify fundus images into one of the five stages of DR. The proposed CNN consists of a preprocessing stage, five stage convolutional, rectified linear and pooling layers followed by three fully connected layers. Transfer learning was adopted to minimize overfitting by training the model on a larger dataset of 3.2 million images (i.e. ImageNet) prior to the use of the model on the APTOS 2019 Kaggle DR dataset. The proposed approach has achieved a testing accuracy of 77% and a quadratic weighted kappa score of 78%, offering a promising solution for a successful early diagnose and staging of DR in an automated fashion

Motherhood Desire as a Stimulant for Fertility Tourism Intention

This paper investigates the relationship between participants’ motherhood desire and travel intention and behaviour, through the mediating role of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behaviour control. The study adopted a questionnaire among a sample representative of females with fertility complications in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in Egypt. In total, 138 questionnaires were gathered and tested using a partial least square structural equation modelling using WarpPLS 7.0. The findings support the proposed model and show that motherhood desire has a positive influence on attitude, subjective norm and perceived behaviour control. Also, we found that the positive effect of TPB dimensions on actual behaviour is subject to females’ intention to visit Egypt for fertility tourism. Besides, the study revealed that attitude partially mediates the link between motherhood, tourists’ revisit intention and tourists’ actual behaviour. This suggests that the positive effect of motherhood desire on tourist revisit intention and actual behaviour is subject to attitude. Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), we develop an integrative model exploring the relationship between three distinct TPB dimensions and their influence on travel behaviour for childbearing. Such findings hold important implications both for the research community and medical tourism practitioners

Cap-Assisted Technique versus Conventional Methods for Esophageal Food Bolus Extraction: A Comparative Study

Background/Aims Food bolus impaction is the most common form of esophageal foreign body impaction observed in adults. Clinical guidelines recommend using the push technique or retrieval methods in such cases. The push technique can cause injuries in certain clinical situations. Notably, conventional retrieval methods are time and effort consuming. Cap-assisted endoscopic extraction of an impacted food bolus is an easy and effective technique; however, more data are needed for its validation. This study compared the capassisted extraction technique with conventional methods. Methods This prospective observational multicenter study compared the success and en bloc removal rates, total procedure time, and adverse events in both techniques.. Results The study included 303 patients who underwent food bolus extraction. The push technique was used in 87 patients (28.7%) and a retrieval procedure in 216 patients (71.3%). Cap-assisted extraction was performed in 106 patients and retrieval using conventional methods in 110 patients. The cap-assisted technique was associated with a higher rate of en bloc removal (80.2% vs. 15%, p<0.01), shorter procedure time (6.9±3.5 min vs. 15.7±4.1 min, p<0.001), and fewer adverse events (0/106 vs. 9/110, p<0.001). Conclusions Cap-assisted extraction showed no adverse events, higher efficacy, and a shorter procedure time compared with conventional retrieval procedures

Global, regional, and national burden of Parkinson's disease, 1990-2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016.

BACKGROUND: Neurological disorders are now the leading source of disability globally, and ageing is increasing the burden of neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease. We aimed to determine the global burden of Parkinson's disease between 1990 and 2016 to identify trends and to enable appropriate public health, medical, and scientific responses. METHODS: Through a systematic analysis of epidemiological studies, we estimated global, regional, and country-specific prevalence and years of life lived with disability for Parkinson's disease from 1990 to 2016. We estimated the proportion of mild, moderate, and severe Parkinson's disease on the basis of studies that used the Hoehn and Yahr scale and assigned disability weights to each level. We jointly modelled prevalence and excess mortality risk in a natural history model to derive estimates of deaths due to Parkinson's disease. Death counts were multiplied by values from the Global Burden of Disease study's standard life expectancy to compute years of life lost. Disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) were computed as the sum of years lived with disability and years of life lost. We also analysed results based on the Socio-demographic Index, a compound measure of income per capita, education, and fertility. FINDINGS: In 2016, 6·1 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 5·0-7·3) individuals had Parkinson's disease globally, compared with 2·5 million (2·0-3·0) in 1990. This increase was not solely due to increasing numbers of older people, because age-standardised prevalence rates increased by 21·7% (95% UI 18·1-25·3) over the same period (compared with an increase of 74·3%, 95% UI 69·2-79·6, for crude prevalence rates). Parkinson's disease caused 3·2 million (95% UI 2·6-4·0) DALYs and 211 296 deaths (95% UI 167 771-265 160) in 2016. The male-to-female ratios of age-standardised prevalence rates were similar in 2016 (1·40, 95% UI 1·36-1·43) and 1990 (1·37, 1·34-1·40). From 1990 to 2016, age-standardised prevalence, DALY rates, and death rates increased for all global burden of disease regions except for southern Latin America, eastern Europe, and Oceania. In addition, age-standardised DALY rates generally increased across the Socio-demographic Index. INTERPRETATION: Over the past generation, the global burden of Parkinson's disease has more than doubled as a result of increasing numbers of older people, with potential contributions from longer disease duration and environmental factors. Demographic and potentially other factors are poised to increase the future burden of Parkinson's disease substantially

Global, regional, and national burden of neurological disorders, 1990–2016 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

Background: Neurological disorders are increasingly recognised as major causes of death and disability worldwide. The aim of this analysis from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2016 is to provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date estimates of the global, regional, and national burden from neurological disorders. Methods: We estimated prevalence, incidence, deaths, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs; the sum of years of life lost [YLLs] and years lived with disability [YLDs]) by age and sex for 15 neurological disorder categories (tetanus, meningitis, encephalitis, stroke, brain and other CNS cancers, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron diseases, idiopathic epilepsy, migraine, tension-type headache, and a residual category for other less common neurological disorders) in 195 countries from 1990 to 2016. DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian meta-regression tool, was the main method of estimation of prevalence and incidence, and the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm) was used for mortality estimation. We quantified the contribution of 84 risks and combinations of risk to the disease estimates for the 15 neurological disorder categories using the GBD comparative risk assessment approach. Findings: Globally, in 2016, neurological disorders were the leading cause of DALYs (276 million [95% UI 247–308]) and second leading cause of deaths (9·0 million [8·8–9·4]). The absolute number of deaths and DALYs from all neurological disorders combined increased (deaths by 39% [34–44] and DALYs by 15% [9–21]) whereas their age-standardised rates decreased (deaths by 28% [26–30] and DALYs by 27% [24–31]) between 1990 and 2016. The only neurological disorders that had a decrease in rates and absolute numbers of deaths and DALYs were tetanus, meningitis, and encephalitis. The four largest contributors of neurological DALYs were stroke (42·2% [38·6–46·1]), migraine (16·3% [11·7–20·8]), Alzheimer's and other dementias (10·4% [9·0–12·1]), and meningitis (7·9% [6·6–10·4]). For the combined neurological disorders, age-standardised DALY rates were significantly higher in males than in females (male-to-female ratio 1·12 [1·05–1·20]), but migraine, multiple sclerosis, and tension-type headache were more common and caused more burden in females, with male-to-female ratios of less than 0·7. The 84 risks quantified in GBD explain less than 10% of neurological disorder DALY burdens, except stroke, for which 88·8% (86·5–90·9) of DALYs are attributable to risk factors, and to a lesser extent Alzheimer's disease and other dementias (22·3% [11·8–35·1] of DALYs are risk attributable) and idiopathic epilepsy (14·1% [10·8–17·5] of DALYs are risk attributable). Interpretation: Globally, the burden of neurological disorders, as measured by the absolute number of DALYs, continues to increase. As populations are growing and ageing, and the prevalence of major disabling neurological disorders steeply increases with age, governments will face increasing demand for treatment, rehabilitation, and support services for neurological disorders. The scarcity of established modifiable risks for most of the neurological burden demonstrates that new knowledge is required to develop effective prevention and treatment strategies. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Ultrazvuk B-moda i doppler ultrazvuk akcesornih spolnih žlijezda i testisa jaraca tijekom sezone parenja

The aims of the present study were to scan the echogenicity of reproductive organs of bucks during the breeding season. The influence of testosterone on haemodynamic Doppler indices of accessory genital glands of breeding bucks was also examined. Ten clinically healthy, sexually mature, Egyptian Baladi male goats were examined and the testes, tail of epididymis and accessory sex glands imaged using greyscale B-mode, colour Doppler ultrasonography. The spectral Doppler indices (pulsatility index and resistive index) were measured. Blood samples were collected and serum concentrations of testosterone, FSH and LH were determined. The results revealed that the echogenicity of testes, tail of epididymis and accessory genital glands was changed by breeding season. Pulsatility index values of supra-testicular artery, marginal artery, tail of the epididymis, ampulla, vesicular gland, pars disseminata of the prostate and bulbourethral gland were 0.85±0.04, 0.54±0.03, 0.4±0.03, 0.37±0.04, 0.51±0.03, 0.39±0.02 and 0.41±0.04, respectively. The resistive index of the above criteria were 0.51±0.04, 0.37±0.02, 0.3±0.03, 0.27±0.02, 0.31±0.03, 0.32±0.03 and 0.32±0.03, respectively. Serum testosterone concentration was 4.78±0.46 ng/mL. Furthermore, FSH and LH were 3.71±0.43 and 1.8±0.17 mIU/mL, respectively. Interestingly, testosterone clearly deceased the values of the both the pulsatility and resistive indices of the accessory genital glands of breeding bucks. Season modified the echogenicity of testes, epididymis and accessory genital glands. Testosterone regulated the reproductive indices of blood flow of the accessory genital glands of breeding bucks. Thus, this study could serve as a baseline of reference values of Egyptian Baladi male goats during the breeding season to improve reproductive efficiency.Cilj je ove studije bio skenirati ehogenost spolnih organa jaraca tijekom sezone parenja, a ispitan je i učinak testosterona na hemodinamičke doppler indekse aksecornih spolnih žlijezda rasplodnih mužjaka. U deset klinički zdravih, spolno zrelih egipatskih baladi jaraca ispitani su testisi, rep epididimisa i akcesorne spolne žlijezde putem ultrazvuka B-moda sive skale i color doppler ultrazvuka. Izmjereni su spektralni doppler indeksi poput indeksa pulsatilnosti (PI) i indeksa otpornosti (RI). Prikupljeni su uzorci krvi te su određene koncentracije testosterona, folikulostimulirajućeg hormona (FSH) i luteinizirajućeg hormona (LH) u krvi. Rezultati su otkrili da se ehogenost testisa, repa epididimisa i akcesornih spolnih žlijezda tijekom sezone parenja promijenila. PI vrijednosti supratestikularne arterije (STA), marginalne arterije (MA), repa epididimisa, proširenja (ampulla), vezikularne žlijezde, pars disseminata prostate i bulbouretralne žlijezde bile su 0,85±0,04, 0,54±0,03, 0,4±0,03, 0,37±0,04, 0,51±0,03, 0,39±0,02 i 0,41±0,04. Nadalje, RI iznad navedenih kriterija bio je 0,51±0,04, 0,37±0,02, 0,3±0,03, 0,27±0,02, 0,31±0,03, 0,32±0,03, odnosno 0,32±0,03. Koncentracija testosterona u krvi bila je (4,78±0,46) ng/mL. Nadalje, FSH i LH bile su (3,71±0,43, odnosno 1,8±0,17) mIU/mL. Uočeno je da je testosteron vidno smanjio PI i RI vrijednosti akcesornih spolnih žlijezda rasplodnih mužjaka, što znači da je sezona parenja promijenila ehogenost testisa, epididimisa i akcesornih spolnih žlijezda. Testosteron je regulirao reproduktivne indekse (PI i RI) protoka krvi akcesornih spolnih žlijezda rasplodnih mužjaka. Rezulteti ove studije mogu se uzeti kao referentne vrijednosti egipatskih baladi jaraca tijekom sezone parenja da bi se poboljšala njihova reproduktivna učinkovitost

Molecular identification and characterization of piroplasm species in Hokkaido sika deer (Cervus nippon yesoensis), Japan

Babesia and Theileria species are tick-borne protozoan parasites that have a veterinary and zoonotic importance. In order to investigate the prevalence and genetic diversity of these parasites, a total of 269 sika deer blood DNA samples collected from Hokkaido, Japan, were examined for Babesia and Theileria species by touch-down PCR targeting the 18S rRNA gene. Reverse line blot (RLB) hybridization was then used to detect 12 piroplasm species. The results revealed that 95.5% (257/269), 94.1% (253/269), 14.1% (38/269), 87.7% (236/269) and 11.5% (31/269) of the examined PCR products hybridized with the probes which were designed to detect all Babesia and Theileria spp., all Theileria spp., all Babesia spp., Theileria sp. Thrivae and Babesia divergens-like, respectively. The 18S rRNA gene partial sequences were divided into Theileria sp. Thrivae, T. capreoli, B. divergens-like and an undescribed Babesia species. This study showed the first detection of the undescribed Babesia sp. from Japan. Therefore, more studies are required to understand the ecology of the newly detected tick-borne pathogens in Hokkaido

Religious, contextual and media influence: determinants of the representation of female tour guides in travel agencies

Purpose This study aims to investigate the perceptions of female tour guides’ lower and top levels of management in travel agencies about how misunderstanding Islam and its culture may engender the poor representation of women in the tour guide profession. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative research method is used, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 full-time female tour guides working at several travel agencies in Egypt. Thematic analysis helped extract main ideas from the transcripts. Findings The representation of female tour guides in travel agencies is shaped by the following three determinants: religious (familial obligations and marital status), contextual (nature of tour guide activities, poor representation of women in senior tourism-related jobs, cronyism, sexual harassment and spread of foreign female tour guides) and media influence. Understanding these three factors may enable a more comprehensive representation of female tour guides. Practical implications Female tour guides could work closely with tourism policymakers in Egypt to shape the media messages about them. This might include elaborating on the main challenges faced by female tour guides. Social support from families and friends may allow female tour guides more freedom and empowerment. Originality/value This study contributes by filling a gap in tourism, human resources management and gender studies in which empirical studies on the representation of females in travel agencies have been limited so far