Effect of police training during the confinement period on some cardiopulmonary and hematological parameters in Khartoum, Sudan

Background: Pulmonary function tests (PFT) serve as a tool of health assessment and as a predictor of occupational fitness. Police officers must develop and maintain high levels of physical fitness for physical demanding tasks they perform. The training program starts with confinement of five to eight weeks according to the trainee. Previously it has been shown that the police students have better lung functions values compared to their civilian colleagues. In this study the effect of the confinement training on pulmonary function tests was investigated.Methods: Eighty one policemen trainee were randomly selected from a new batch in the faculty of police sciences and Law, the National Ribat University, Khartoum, Sudan at their starting confinement period. Subjects were medically fit with no history of Diabetes, Hypertension, Asthma or use of any long term medications. Pulmonary function tests (FVC, FEV1 and PEFR) were performed using a micro-plus spirometer. Blood pressure, pulse rate, and hemoglobin were measured. All these were repeated at the end of the confinement.Results: The age of participants ranged from 24 to 26 years. FVC, FEV1 and PEFR significantly increased after the confinement period. The blood pressure and the pulse significantly decreased. The weight of the participants decreased after the confinement but Hb significantly slightly increased.Conclusions: Regular police training during the confinement improved the pulmonary and cardiovascular reserve function

Improving accuracy of missing data imputation in data mining

In fact, raw data in the real world is dirty. Each large data repository contains various types of anomalous values that influence the result of the analysis, since in data mining, good models usually need good data, databases in the world are not always clean and includes noise, incomplete data, duplicate records, inconsistent data and missing values. Missing data is a common drawback in many real-world data sets. In this paper, we proposed an algorithm depending on improving (MIGEC) algorithm in the way of imputation for dealing missing values. We implement grey relational analysis (GRA) on attribute values instead of instance values, and the missing data were initially imputed by mean imputation and then estimated by our proposed algorithm (PA) used as a complete value for imputing next missing value.We compare our proposed algorithm with several other algorithms such as MMS, HDI, KNNMI, FCMOCS, CRI, CMI, NIIA and MIGEC under different missing mechanisms. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has less RMSE values than other algorithms under all missingness mechanisms

Growth performance, feed utilization, survival and body composition of rabbitfish Siganus canaliculatus raised at two different stocking densities in sea net cages

Over a period of 213-day, the effect of two stocking densities (8 and 12 fish/m3) on the performance of the rabbitfish, Siganus canaliculatus (3.38g ±0.14) in floating cage nets was tested. The results of the study revealed no differences (p < 0.05) in the growth performance and survival of the two groups. Comparatively, the fish group under the higher stocking density (12 fish/m3) exhibited a lower survival rate. The values of feed intake, feed utilization efficiency and final body composition for both treatments did not differ significantly (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the study suggested the possibility of applying higher stocking density in commercial rabbitfish farming. However, more studies are needed on the effects of high stocking densities on fish survival

Studying of heart diseases prevalence, distribution and cofactors in Sudanese population

Background: the following study aimed to reveals the heart diseases (HD) prevalence, distribution and co-factors in Sudanese population during June 2014-June 2015 and to answer the questions related to, in Sudan.Methods: The data collected from different hospitals as gender, age, body mass index BMI, smoking habits, residential states, Pathologies, cardiothoracic ratio CCT, symptoms and breathing rate.Results: showed that HD were predominant among male with 56% and peaked among 65-77 year old, most of sample were either obese or overweight   representing 57% or 35% respectively. The common cofactors for HD were the socio-economic, smoking, hypertension and obesity which representing 90%, 75%, 60% and 57% respectively. The heart diseases HD incidence in Khartoum, Aljazeera, White Nile, Red Sea, and West of Sudan was 40%, 25%, 20%, 10% and 5% respectively. The common type of HD was Coronary Arteries, Valves, Myocardial infarction, and Congestive Heart Failure representing 45%, 17%, 23%, and 15% respectively. And signs were Hypertension, Diabetes mellitus, High Cholesterol, breathing rate, edema, palpitation with relative frequencies 9%, 11%, 6%, 12%, 8% and 10% respectively. Patients’ cardiothoracic ratio CTR exceeding normal level (0.5), A significant relationship between CTR and Breathing rate (BR) (R2 = 0.8) fits in CTR=0.02BR+0.2 as well between age and BR (R2) fits in BR=0.21age + 12.84. And all patients had BR exceeding the adult normal range (12-20).Conclusions: HD could be as endemic to increase mortality following the uneasy avoidable cofactors in the nearest future.

Activation of Transforming Growth Factor β by Malaria Parasite-derived Metalloproteinases and a Thrombospondin-like Molecule

Much of the pathology of malaria is mediated by inflammatory cytokines (such as interleukin 12, interferon γ, and tumor necrosis factor α), which are part of the immune response that kills the parasite. The antiinflammatory cytokine transforming growth factor (TGF)-β plays a crucial role in preventing the severe pathology of malaria in mice and TGF-β production is associated with reduced risk of clinical malaria in humans. Here we show that serum-free preparations of Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium yoelii 17XL, and Plasmodium berghei schizont-infected erythrocytes, but not equivalent preparations of uninfected erythrocytes, are directly able to activate latent TGF-β (LatTGF-β) in vitro. Antibodies to thrombospondin (TSP) and to a P. falciparum TSP-related adhesive protein (PfTRAP), and synthetic peptides from PfTRAP and P. berghei TRAP that represent homologues of TGF-β binding motifs of TSP, all inhibit malaria-mediated TGF-β activation. Importantly, TRAP-deficient P. berghei parasites are less able to activate LatTGF-β than wild-type parasites and their replication is attenuated in vitro. We show that activation of TGF-β by malaria parasites is a two step process involving TSP-like molecules and metalloproteinase activity. Activation of LatTGF-β represents a novel mechanism for direct modulation of the host response by malaria parasites

Unmasking of Brugada syndrome by lamotrigine in a patient with pre-existing epilepsy: A case report with review of the literature

Brugada syndrome is an inherited cardiac channelopathy arising from mutations in voltage-gated cardiac sodium channels. Idiopathic epilepsy portrays a coalescent underlying pathophysiological mechanism pertaining to the premature excitation of neuronal voltage-gated ion channels resulting in the disruption of presynaptic neurons and the unregulated release of excitatory neurotransmitters. The coexistence of epilepsy and Brugada syndrome may be explained by mutations in voltage-gated ion channels, which are coexpressed in cardiac and neural tissue. Moreover, the incidence of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy has been associated with malignant cardiac arrhythmias in the presence of mutations in voltage-gated ion channels. Lamotrigine is an antiepileptic drug that inhibits neuronal voltage-gated sodium channels, thus stabilizing neural impulse propagation and controlling seizure activity in the brain. However, lamotrigine has been shown to inhibit cardiac voltage-gated sodium channels resulting in a potential arrhythmogenic effect and the ability to unmask Brugada syndrome in genetically susceptible individuals. We are reporting a case of a 27-year-old male patient with a background of presumed idiopathic epilepsy who was initiated on lamotrigine therapy resulting in the unmasking of Brugada syndrome and the onset of syncopal episodes. This case provides further evidence for the arrhythmogenic capacity of lamotrigine and highlights the relationship between epilepsy and Brugada syndrome. In this report, we aim to review the current literature regarding the associations between epilepsy and Brugada syndrome and the impact of lamotrigine therapy on such patients