230 research outputs found

    BIOINFORMATICS: INFLAMMATORY CYTOKINES AND ATTENUATION OF DIABETES HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA-INDUCED RENAL INJURY USING MORNING GLORY AND NECKLACE POD EXTRACTS

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      Objective: The present research in bioinformatics focuses on pharmacological effects of morning glory and necklace pod ethanolic extracts (MGE and NPE) on some biochemical parameters in high fat diet-induced hypercholesterolemia and streptozotocin-induced hyperglycemia in rats.Methods: Compared to atorvastatin; an anti-hypercholesterolemic (HC) and glibenclamide; an antidiabetic drug. Endothelium activation markers of soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 and intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Creatinine, urea, and inflammatory biomarkers; C-reactive protein (CRP) and pro-inflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-10 levels were also measured in serum of different therapeutic groups.Results: Significant decrease in ICAM-1 level with MGE and NPE supplemented to normal rats as compared to untreated control with percentages decrease 17.80 and 12.00% was observed. Insignificant change was detected in VCAM-1 level. Profound amelioration in CRP, total urea and creatinine levels by NPE treatment. Creatinine, urea, CRP, and TNF-α level were significantly increased in hyperglycemic (HG)-HC rats. However, IL-10 level showed a significant decrease. Meanwhile, histopathological investigation of the kidney and heart was carried out. Image recognition system for kidney and heart images was developed to diagnose their diseases. Tested extract attenuated creatinine, urea, CRP, and TNF-α level. Hyperglycemia and hypercholesterolemia linked kidney disorders were relieved.Conclusion: In vivo oral administration with each extract declared suppression of cytokines mediated inflammation, vascular function leading to infiltration reduction of renal macrophage together with lowering in kidney indices and ameliorate renal tissues architectures in HG-HC rats

    U-shaped inductively coupled feed RFID tag antenna for gain enhancement

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    An inductively coupled feed novel technique is proposed to enhance the performance of RFID tag antennas. The applied feeding concept comprises of two opposing symmetrical U-shaped structures to feed a radiating body. It is a simple alternative to effectively match between the antenna impedance with the chip impedance from the flexible augmentation of equivalent inductance to the radiating body. The proposed feeding method offers better expectation of performance among antenna size, impedance, and gain at the size of 50 × 70 × 1.6 mm3. The peak gain of the proposed tag antenna is 2.5 dBi at its operating frequency, which is higher among conventional tag antennas. Measured results indicate that this tag antenna has a good impedance matching characteristic at 904-937 MHz (power reflection coefficient better than -3 dB). The comparison between the simulation and measurement results verified the proposed technique capability to improve overall performance of the tag antennas

    STATISTICAL DATA ANALYSIS WHICH RESULT FROM THE BIO-DIAGNOSIS AND BIO-TREATMENT OF INJURED RATS WITH THE HYPERLIPIDEMIA AND HYPERGLYCEMIA DISEASES

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    ABSTRACTObjective: This study in bioinformatics aims to investigate the potential effect of Ipomoea tricolor and Sophora tomentosa on liver function enzymesactivity, serum lipid profile, oxidative stress biomarkers, and on blood glucose in high fat diet-induced hypercholesterolemia (HC) and STZ-inducedhyperglycemia (HG) in rats.Methods: Blood glucose level, liver function enzymes, alanine aminotransferases and aspartate aminotransferases, alkaline phosphatase, and lactatedehydrogenase (LDH) were determined. Besides, lipid profile including total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerol (TG), total lipid, and high-densitylipoprotein-cholesterol was investigated. Moreover, oxidative stress biomarkers, lipid peroxide, and nitric oxide as well as non-enzymatic antioxidant,glutathione (GSH) were also examined in different therapeutic groups.Results: A significant increase in blood glucose level, liver function enzyme activities, LDH, lipid profile and oxidative stress markers, while significantdecrease in LDH-C and GSH level in HC-HG induced rats compared to control one. A marked amelioration in all biochemical parameters underinvestigation on treatment of HC-HG rats with I. tricolor and S. tomentosa with different fluctuating percentages of improvement. Histopathologicalexamination of liver and pancreas was also performed and declared HC-HG showed congestion in portal vessels and sinusoids with mild centrilobularhepatocyte degeneration, marked hepatocyte ballooning and hydropic degeneration, while HC-HG treated rats with I. tricolor and S. tomentosa showednormal lobular hepatic architecture with mild sinusoidal dilatation and congestion. On the other hand, a histological organization of pancreas of HC-HGrats showing disarrangement changes in pancreatic blood vessels and interlobular duct as well as disordered in acini. The treatment of HC-HG rats withI. tricolor and S. tomentosa showed enhancement in Langerhans cells and restore of most pancreatic tissue in comparison with standard drugs.Conclusion: The statistical results showed that each extract ameliorated high blood glucose level liver injury, HC and oxidative stress indicatingrelieving of oxidative damage associated with the complexity of HG and HC. These results demonstrated that these two plants extracts may be acandidate intelligent antioxidant, hypolipidemic, hypoglycemic, and hepatoprotective nutraceuticals which need further clinical investigation to beapplied effectively to reduce perturbation in HC associated diabetes.Keywords: Ipomoea tricolor, Sophora tomentosa, Lipid profile and liver function enzymes, Endothelial dysfunction markers, Statistics and imagerecognition, Histopathological analysis

    U-shaped inductively coupled feed radio frequency identification tag antennas for gain enhancement

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    An inductively coupled feed novel technique is proposed to enhance the performance of radio frequency identification tag antennas. The applied feeding concept is comprised of two opposing symmetrical U-shaped structures to feed a radiating body. It is a simple alternative to effectively match the antenna impedance with the chip impedance from the flexible augmentation of equivalent inductance to the radiating body. The proposed feeding method offers better expectation of performance among antenna size, impedance, and gain at the size of 50 × 70 × 1.6 mm3. The peak gain of the proposed tag antenna is 2.5 dBi at its operating frequency, which is higher among conventional tag antennas. Measured results indicated that this tag antenna has a good impedance matching characteristic at 904–937 MHz (power reflection coefficient lower than −3 dB). The comparison between the simulation and measurement results verified the proposed technique's capability to improve overall performance of the tag antennas

    Integration of split ring resonators (SRRs) to UHF RFID tag antenna for size reduction

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    This paper presents the design of miniaturized dipole antenna for passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). The proposed tag antenna is designed in such away that covers the Malaysian Ultra High - Frequency (UHF) RFID frequency band. The proposed tag antenna was designed using a double - sided Flame Retardant 4 (FR-4) substrate. The antenna's configuration consists of meander dipole antenna incorporated with metamaterial square split - ring resonators (SRRs) and capacitive tip - loading. This antenna designed focusing on the antenna parameters such as size, gain, radiation pattern, matching impedance and read range. In this work, the results show that the SRR structure is capable to reduce the size of the tag design by increasing the length of the unit cell

    Metal mount fractal RFID tag antenna with complementary split ring resonator

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    This paper proposes miniature radio frequency identification (RFID) tag antenna designed to operate on metallic objects, in the UHF frequency range (915 MHz). The antenna structure is comprised of two parts: Part 1 with two layers; a top layer of two square fractal patches electrically connected to the ground plane (bottom layer) through vias while Part 2 is an unconnected inter-layer consisting of two square complementary split ring resonators to allow for capacitive reactance increase. Consequently, the antenna resonant frequency is lowered, which theoretically allows shrinking RFID tag antenna into smaller size. The antenna was simulated and measured to verify its conjugate matching with chip impedance. The results of experimental tests showed that the proposed RFID tag offers a maximum read range of 0.48 m when placed on a metallic object. The tag's overall size is 36.7×18.1×3.2 mm3. Both simulation and measurement results are provided to validate the design

    Miniaturized metal mount Minkowski fractal RFID tag antenna with complementary split ring resonator

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    This paper proposes miniature radio frequency identification (RFID) tag antenna designed to operate on metallic objects, in the UHF frequency range (915 MHz), without significantly degrading its read range. The antenna structure is composed of two parts: Part 1 comprises two square patches electrically connected to the ground plane through vias while Part 2 is an unconnected inter-layer consisting of two square complementary split ring resonators to allow for capacitive reactance increase. Consequently, its self-resonant frequency will shift towards low frequency, which theoretically allows shrinking RFID tag antenna into smaller size. The antenna was simulated and measured to verify its conjugate matching with chip impedance. The results of experimental tests show that the proposed RFID tag offers a maximum read range of 0.82 m when placed on a metallic object. The tag's overall size is 36.7×18.1×3.2 mm3. Both simulation and measurement results are provided to validate the design

    Optimizing Tilt Angle for Thermal Efficiency of Vacuum Tube Solar Collectors

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    Received: 20 December 2023. Revised: 2 March 2024. Accepted: 20 March 2024. Available online: 31 March 2024.The ideal altitude angle for evacuated tube solar collectors, taking into account factors such as solar radiation availability, geographical location, seasonal variations, and collector tilt, is taken into account in this comparative analysis. This study focuses on obtaining the best thermal energy that can be obtained from the falling sunlight to increase the thermal efficiency of the solar collector. This model uses a Cartesian direction model (x, y, and z) and mathematical ordering methods to generate a 3D model. COMSOL 5.6 is then utilized to link the framework with mathematics and simulate the case. Solar radiation increases from March to June, peaking from 5-6 a.m. to 18-19 p.m. during the summer. The highest solar evaluation and azimuth occurred at 12 hV in the south direction. Temperature has a major impact on the performance of water heaters and vacuum tube solar collectors. The specific tilt angle analyzed is 40 degrees. The location where the analysis was done is Baghdad. The optimal tilt angle was found at 25° at the start of the day and reached 40° at 12 p.m. The best case was reached when the angle was 40 degrees. The magnitude of efficiency improvements was seen; the value of efficiency reached 78% compared to other cases. Where the difference is between it and the angle of 0 degrees altitude, at which the efficiency rate reached 64%, the amount of improvement is 14%

    Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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    BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London
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