Arabic sentence-level sentiment analysis

Sentiment analysis has recently become one of the growing areas of research related to text mining and natural language processing. The increasing availability of online resources and popularity of rich and fast resources for opinion sharing like news, online review sites and personal blogs, caused several parties such as customers, companies, and governments to start analyzing and exploring these opinions. The main task of sentiment classification is to classify a sentence (i.e. review, blog, comment, news, etc.) as holding an overall positive, negative or neutral sentiment. Most of the current studies related to this topic focus mainly on English texts with very limited resources available for other languages like Arabic, especially for the Egyptian dialect. In this research work, we would like to improve the performance measures of Egyptian dialect sentence-level sentiment analysis by proposing a hybrid approach which combines both the machine learning approach using support vector machines and the semantic orientation approach. Two methodologies were proposed, one for each approach, which were then joined, creating the hybrid proposed approach. The corpus used contains more than 20,000 Egyptian dialect tweets collected from Twitter, from which 4800 manually annotated tweets will be used (1600 positive tweets, 1600 negative tweets and 1600 neutral tweets). We performed several experiments to: 1) compare the results of each approach individually with regards to our case which is dealing with the Egyptian dialect before and after preprocessing; 2) compare the performance of merging both approaches together generating the hybrid approach against the performance of each approach separately; and 3) evaluate the effectiveness of considering negation on the performance of the hybrid approach. The results obtained show significant improvements in terms of the accuracy, precision, recall and F-measure, indicating that our proposed hybrid approach is effective in sentence-level sentiment classification. Also, the results are very promising which encourages continuing in this line of research

Association of insulin resistance, insulin and leptin levels with coronary in-stent restenosis

AbstractBackgroundIn-stent restenosis remains the major limitation of coronary stent implantation. Leptin is a hormone strongly related to insulin resistance (IR). Moreover, insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia are common in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), each of the previous metabolic and hormonal factors might be involved in restenosis after stent implantation.ObjectiveThis study was planned to evaluate the relationship between insulin resistance, insulin, leptin levels and coronary in-stent restenosis after coronary stent implantation in non-diabetic patients with CHD and to determine their value in prediction of restenosis.Patients and methodsThe study included 48 non-diabetic CHD patients with previous successful coronary stent implantation. They were divided into two groups according to the presence of in-stent restenosis on follow-up coronary angiography (6–9months after stent implantation). The first group was CHD patients with in-stent restenosis which included 20 patients, the second group was CHD patients without restenosis which included 28 patients. All patients were subjected to complete clinical examination including determination of body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR) and laboratory investigations including fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fasting plasma insulin (FP insulin), lipid profile (total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, TG), glycoselated hemoglobin (HbA1c), plasma leptin, estimation of homeostasis model assessment of IR (HOMA-IR). All subjects were submitted to OGTT with estimation of 2-h post-prandial glucose (2-hPP glucose) and sum post-prandial insulin levels (sum PP insulin). Follow-up coronary angiography was done for all patients with the estimation of minimal luminal diameter (MLD), diameter stenosis % and late lumen loss.ResultsThere was highly significant increase in each of FP insulin, sum PP insulin, HOMA-IR, leptin, diameter stenosis % and late lumen loss (P<0.001) and a highly significant decrease of MLD (P<0.001) in CHD patients with in-stent restenosis when compared to CHD patients without in-stent restenosis. MLD is negatively correlated to each of FP insulin (r=−0.49, P<0.001), sum PP insulin (r=−0.60, P<0.001) HOMA-IR (r=−0.63, P<0.001) and leptin (r=−0.55, P<0.001) while late lumen loss was positively correlated to each of FP insulin (r=0.98, P<0.001), sum PP insulin (r=0.70, P<0.001), HOMA-IR (r=0.67, P<0.001) and leptin (r=0.72, P<0.001). Multiple regression analysis revealed that each of FP insulin, sum PP insulin, HOMA-IR and leptin can be considered an independent predictor of in-stent restenosis (P<0.001).ConclusionOur study revealed that insulin resistance, fasting and post-prandial hyperinsulinemia and hyperliptinemia are considered predictors of coronary in-stent restenosis. Evaluation of HOMA-IR, insulin levels after standard OGTT and leptin levels are important tools in an attempt to recognize subjects at risk of early restenosis among non-diabetic, CHD patients undergoing percutaneous coronary revascularization and stent implantation

Injudicious Provision of Subtherapeutic Doses of Antibiotics in Community Pharmacies

Background: Egyptian pharmacists routinely provide antibiotics without a prescription. A few pills of common cold products are offered under the name “cold group”. A cold group may contain one or more pills of antibiotics. This study aimed to estimate the proportion of pharmacies that provide subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics in community pharmacies as part of a CG or upon direct request from a simulated client. Methods: A probability sample of community pharmacies in Alexandria, Egypt was selected. A simulated client approached pharmacy staff using a standardized scenario. He initially requested a cold group and followed by requesting two antibiotic pills.Results: The simulated client visited 104 pharmacies and was sold an antibiotic at 68 pharmacies in total. A cold group with one or more antibiotic pills was provided in 31 pharmacies. Upon request for two antibiotic pills, 2-8 antibiotic pills were provided in 30 pharmacies whereas an antibiotic carton was provided in three pharmacies. In four pharmacies, the simulated client was sold a cold group containing an antibiotic as well as another antibiotic upon request. Beta-lactam antibiotics comprised 76% of antibiotics provided. In five encounters, the simulated client was told that the cold group contained an antibiotic when, in fact, it did not. Conclusions: Subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics are provided at dangerous rates in Alexandria’s community pharmacies. Interventions are urgently needed to tackle different factors contributing to this dangerous practice. Conflict of Interest We declare no conflicts of interest or financial interests that the authors or members of their immediate families have in any product or service discussed in the manuscript, including grants (pending or received), employment, gifts, stock holdings or options, honoraria, consultancies, expert testimony, patents and royalties &nbsp; Type:&nbsp;Original Researc

A hybrid approach for sentiment classification of Egyptian dialect tweets

[abstract not available

Injudicious Provision of Subtherapeutic Doses of Antibiotics in Community Pharmacies

Background: Egyptian pharmacists routinely provide antibiotics without a prescription. A few pills of common cold products are offered under the name “cold group”. A cold group may contain one or more pills of antibiotics. This study aimed to estimate the proportion of pharmacies that provide subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics in community pharmacies as part of a CG or upon direct request from a simulated client. Methods: A probability sample of community pharmacies in Alexandria, Egypt was selected. A simulated client approached pharmacy staff using a standardized scenario. He initially requested a cold group and followed by requesting two antibiotic pills. Results: The simulated client visited 104 pharmacies and was sold an antibiotic at 68 pharmacies in total. A cold group with one or more antibiotic pills was provided in 31 pharmacies. Upon request for two antibiotic pills, 2-8 antibiotic pills were provided in 30 pharmacies whereas an antibiotic carton was provided in three pharmacies. In four pharmacies, the simulated client was sold a cold group containing an antibiotic as well as another antibiotic upon request. Beta-lactam antibiotics comprised 76% of antibiotics provided. In five encounters, the simulated client was told that the cold group contained an antibiotic when, in fact, it did not. Conclusions: Subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics are provided at dangerous rates in Alexandria’s community pharmacies. Interventions are urgently needed to tackle different factors contributing to this dangerous practice. Conflict of Interest We declare no conflicts of interest or financial interests that the authors or members of their immediate families have in any product or service discussed in the manuscript, including grants (pending or received), employment, gifts, stock holdings or options, honoraria, consultancies, expert testimony, patents and royalties   Type: Original Researc

Injudicious Provision of Subtherapeutic Doses of Antibiotics in Community Pharmacies

Background: Egyptian pharmacists routinely provide antibiotics without a prescription. A few pills of common cold products are offered under the name “cold group”. A cold group may contain one or more pills of antibiotics. This study aimed to estimate the proportion of pharmacies that provide subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics in community pharmacies as part of a CG or upon direct request from a simulated client. Methods: A probability sample of community pharmacies in Alexandria, Egypt was selected. A simulated client approached pharmacy staff using a standardized scenario. He initially requested a cold group and followed by requesting two antibiotic pills. Results: The simulated client visited 104 pharmacies and was sold an antibiotic at 68 pharmacies in total. A cold group with one or more antibiotic pills was provided in 31 pharmacies. Upon request for two antibiotic pills, 2-8 antibiotic pills were provided in 30 pharmacies whereas an antibiotic carton was provided in three pharmacies. In four pharmacies, the simulated client was sold a cold group containing an antibiotic as well as another antibiotic upon request. Beta-lactam antibiotics comprised 76% of antibiotics provided. In five encounters, the simulated client was told that the cold group contained an antibiotic when, in fact, it did not. Conclusions: Subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics are provided at dangerous rates in Alexandria’s community pharmacies. Interventions are urgently needed to tackle different factors contributing to this dangerous practice. Conflict of Interest We declare no conflicts of interest or financial interests that the authors or members of their immediate families have in any product or service discussed in the manuscript, including grants (pending or received), employment, gifts, stock holdings or options, honoraria, consultancies, expert testimony, patents and royalties   Type: Original Researc

Pyrethroid toxic effects on some hormonal profile and biochemical markers among workers in pyrethroid company

Abstract: Background: A

Association of adiponectin with cardiovascular events in diabetic and non-diabetic hemodialysis patients

Adiponectin is a novel collagen-like protein synthesized by white adipose tissue. Its levels are decreased in obesity, type-2 diabetes and insulin-resistant states, and are increased in chronic renal failure. It has anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenic properties. This study was planned to evaluate the levels of adiponectin in uremic patients with and without diabetes and to find any relationship between adiponectin levels and some cardiovascular risk factors, and to determine the possible predictive value of adiponectin for cardiovascular complications (CVC). The study included 100 subjects, 20 of them were healthy subjects and served as the control group (group I), 40 were uremic non-diabetic patients (group II) (half of them were without CVC, group IIA, and the other half were patients with CVC, group IIB) and, lastly, 40 uremic diabetic patients (group III) (half of them were without CVC, group IIIA, and the other half were patients with CVC, group IIIB). All subjects were subjected to complete clinical examination, including determination of mean arterial blood pressure (MABP), body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio, routine laboratory investigations, fasting plasma glucose, fasting plasma insulin, lipid profile (cholesterol, TG, LDL, HDL), determination of insulin resistance by homeostasis model assessment index (HOMA-IR) and estimation of serum levels of adiponectin. There was a significant increase in serum adiponectin levels in all the uremic patients (group II and group III) when compared with the control (group I) group, P <0.01; also, serum adiponectin levels were significantly decreased in uremic diabetic patients (group III) when compared with uremic non-diabetic patients (group II), P <0.01; but this was still higher than in the controls. The patients with CVC, whether uremic non-diabetic (group IIB) or uremic diabetic (group IIIB), had a significant decrease in serum adiponectin levels when compared with patients without CVC (group IIA and group IIIA), P <0.01. Serum adiponectin has a significant positive correlation with HDL and a significant negative correlation with MABP, BMI, plasma insulin, HOMA-IR, LDL, TG and choles-terol in all the patients. Therefore, it can be concluded that adiponectin levels in uremic patients, whether diabetic or non-diabetic, may be a good indicator of cardiovascular disease risk

Thyroid dysfunction and inflammatory biomarkers in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Relation to severity and exacerbation

Background: Thyroid dysfunction or non-thyroidal illness syndrome (NTIS) is frequently detected in chronic, systemic diseases. The systemic manifestations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) include a number of endocrine disorders. The severity of hypoxia and airway obstruction in COPD patients might cause alterations in thyroid function. The aim of this study is to assess serum levels of thyroid hormones and the inflammatory biomarkers; IL-6, TNF-α in COPD patients during stability and acute exacerbation of the disease, and also to assess the relation between severity of COPD and levels of thyroid hormones. Subjects and methods: Forty stable COPD patients and twenty COPD patients with acute exacerbation were included in this study as patient groups and twenty healthy age-matched non smoker subjects with normal pulmonary function as a control group. The diagnosis of COPD and acute exacerbation of COPD were established according to GOLD (2011) criteria. Stable COPD patients were further subdivided into Mild-to-moderate COPD patient group (FEV1 ⩾ 50% of predicted value, which included 14 patients) and Severe COPD patient group (FEV1 < 50% of predicted value, which included 26 patients). All enrolled patients were subjected to measurements of pulmonary function tests (FEV1%, FVC% and FEV1/FVC ratio), arterial blood gases (ABGs) (PaO2, PaCO2, pH), serum levels of thyroid hormones (TSH, total T3, total T4, free T3 and free T4) and the inflammatory biomarkers IL-6 and TNF-α on the first day of admission to RICU or first visit to the outpatient clinics. Results: There was a significant decrease in serum total T3 and free T3 levels in stable COPD patients when compared to control subjects. Also, there was a significant decrease in serum total T3, free T3, TSH levels and TT3/TT4 ratio in the COPD exacerbation patient group when compared to control subjects and when compared to stable COPD patients. There were no statistically significant differences in serum levels of total T4, free T4 between the studied groups. Regarding disease severity, serum total T3, free T3 levels and TT3/TT4 ratio were significantly decreased in severe COPD patients when compared to mild-to-moderate COPD patients. There were significant positive correlations between PaO2 and both serum total T3 and TT3/TT4 ratio in the stable COPD group. Serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels were significantly increased in both stable and exacerbation phase COPD patient groups when compared to control subjects. Conclusion: COPD is a systemic disease that may produce significant alterations in serum levels of thyroid hormones, especially in severe COPD patients and during exacerbation phases of COPD where NTIS is more evident. There was a significant decrease in serum total T3 and free T3 levels in stable COPD patients and this decrease was more significantly evident with a superadded significant decrease in serum TSH levels during the exacerbation phase of COPD. The hormonal alterations are especially related to severity of the disease and hypoxemia. Serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels were increased even in stable COPD and this rise is magnified with increased disease severity and during exacerbation phases of COPD

Mesothelin and osteopontin as diagnostic and prognostic markers of malignant pleural mesothelioma in Egyptian patients undergoing pleurodesis

Purpose: In malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), early assessment of disease status is important. We evaluated the role of mesothelin and osteopontin biomarkers in distinguishing MPM from benign pleural disease. We also, evaluated whether mesothelin and osteopontin were related to successful pleurodesis or not. Materials and methods: Mesothelin and osteopontin were assayed in blood and pleural fluid with commercial ELISA kits in a series of 20 patients with malignant mesothelioma and 20 patients with benign pleural effusion (10 patients with tuberculous pleural effusion and 10 patients with benign asbestos pleural effusion). Results were correlated with histological subtypes and pleurodesis outcome. Results: Both mesothelin and osteopontin in blood and pleural fluid showed statistically high levels in malignant pleural mesothelioma than benign pleural effusion with a cutoff point of 3.5 nmol/L for pleural mesothelin and 3.3 nmol/L for serum mesothelin and of 280 ng/ml for pleural osteopontin and 260 ng/ml for serum osteopontin. Also, there are statistically significant high levels of mesothelin in epitheliod subtype than sarcomatoid and mixed mesothelioma. Cases of MPM who have a cutoff value of more than (4 nmol/L) for pleural mesothelin and (3.4 nmol/L) for serum mesothelin and (370 ng/ml) for pleural osteopontin and (350 ng/ml) for serum osteopontin had failed pleurodesis but cases that have values less than the cutoff points had successful pleurodesis. Conclusion: The combined assays of blood and pleural fluid mesothelin and osteopontin biomarkers have a high diagnostic and prognostic yield in malignant pleural mesothelioma patients undergoing pleurodesis