Do routinely measured risk factors for obesity explain the sex gap in its prevalence? Observations from Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of adult obesity is higher in women than men in most countries. However, the pathways that link female sex with excess obesity are still not fully understood. We examine whether socioeconomic and behavioural factors may mediate the association between sex and obesity in the Saudi Arabian setting where there is female excess in obesity. METHODS: We performed a mediation analysis using a cross-sectional, national household survey from Saudi Arabia with 4758 participants (51% female). A series of multivariable regression models were fitted to test if socioeconomic position, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, diet, and smoking mediate the association between sex and obesity (BMI >=30). The findings were confirmed using causal mediation analysis. RESULTS: Women in this sample were roughly twice as likely as men to be obese (crude OR 1.9; 95% CI 1.6-2.3). The odds ratio remained significantly higher for women compared to men in models testing for mediation (OR range 1.95-2.06). Our data suggest that indicators of socio-economic position, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, diet, and smoking do not mediate the sex differences in obesity. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis shows that most commonly measured risk factors for obesity do not explain the sex differences in its prevalence in the Saudi context. Further research is needed to understand what might explain the female excess in obesity prevalence. We discuss how data related to the lived experience of Saudi men and women may tap into underlying mechanisms by which the sex difference in obesity prevalence are produced

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The Asthma Cost in Oman

Objectives: This study evaluates the direct costs of treating asthma in Oman. Methods: Asthma prevalence and unit cost estimates were based on results from a panel using the Delphi technique, and were applied to the total Omani population aged 5 and older to obtain the number of people diagnosed with asthma. The estimates from the Delphi exercise were multiplied by the percentage of patients using government facilities to estimate the number of asthma patients managed in Oman. Treatment costs were also calculated using data from the Delphi exercise and the Asthma Insights and Reality for the Gulf and Near East study (reported in Omani riyals [OMR] and US dollars [USD]). Results: The prevalence of asthma was estimated to be 7.3% of adults (n = 96,470) and 12.7% of children (n = 58,344). Of these, 95% of both adults and children were estimated to be using government healthcare facilities. Inpatient visits accounted for the largest proportion of total direct costs (55%), followed by emergency room and outpatient visits (25% and 20%, respectively) and medications (<0.2%). The annual cost of treatment excluding medications, was OMR 34,273,696 (USD 89,111,609) for adults and OMR 27,014,735 (USD 70,238,311) for children. Including medications, the total annual direct cost of asthma treatment was estimated to be over OMR 61,500,294 (USD 159,900,761). Conclusion: Given the high medical expenditures associated with facility visits relative to the lower medication costs, the focus of Oman’s asthma cost savings should be on improving asthma control rather than reducing medication costs

Applying Architectural Analysis for Current Software Systems: A Case Study of KFC and Pizza Hut Online Food Ordering Systems in Malaysia

The main aim of this study is to discover the ability in analyzing, criticizing and providing suggestion in improving the selected important properties of a software application using architectural analysis dimensions. The researchers selected KFC and Pizza Hut online food ordering systems in Malaysia for the case study purpose. These two selected systems are critically analyzed using seven architectural dimensions such as goals of analysis, scope of analysis, primary architectural concern being analyzed, level of formality of architectural models, type of analysis, level of automation, system stakeholders who are interested in analysis. The finding suggests that there are some characteristics provided by Pizza Hut system which are better than KFC system. Furthermore, details of the findings and discussion are highlighted from seven different aspects of analysis which have been carefully studied and very well analyzed on two popular online food ordering systems

Circulating leukocyte telomere length is highly heritable among families of Arab descent

Background Telomere length, an indicator of ageing and longevity, has been correlated with several biomarkers of cardiometabolic disease in both Arab children and adults. It is not known, however, whether or not telomere length is a highly conserved inheritable trait in this homogeneous cohort, where age-related diseases are highly prevalent. As such, the aim of this study was to address the inheritability of telomere length in Saudi families and the impact of cardiometabolic disease biomarkers on telomere length. Methods A total of 119 randomly selected Saudi families (123 adults and 131 children) were included in this cross-sectional study. Anthropometrics were obtained and fasting blood samples were taken for routine analyses of fasting glucose and lipid profile. Leukocyte telomere length was determined using quantitative real time PCR. Results Telomere length was highly heritable as assessed by a parent-offspring regression [h2 = 0.64 (p = 0.0006)]. Telomere length was modestly associated with BMI (R2 0.07; p-value 0.0087), total cholesterol (R2 0.08; p-value 0.0033), and LDL-cholesterol (R2 0.15; p-value 3 x 10-5) after adjustments for gender, age and age within generation. Conclusion The high heritability of telomere length in Arab families, and the associations of telomere length with various cardiometabolic parameters suggest heritable genetic fetal and/or epigenetic influences on the early predisposition of Arab children to age-related diseases and accelerated ageing

Design of a fuzzy distance relay taking into consideration the impact of using a unified power flow controller

The compact design of a fuzzy distance relay, which includes its impact on using a unified power flow controller in a power system, has been adopted as the object of the study. Traditional power system grids have increasingly widely used flexible alternating current transmission system devices in recent years to increase power system stability when faults, unbalance, and sudden changes in load occur. This plays a role in improving power quality, power factor corrections, and power flow control. A unified power flow controller is one of these devices that is most used, popular and meets these benefits, but it simultaneously gives a different change in the apparent impedance of the protection system due to its design. To overcome these issues, the proposed novel design of a fuzzy distance relay is made with the assistance of MATLAB® Simulink and Neuro-Fuzzy Designer. The proposed design work was divided into three parts, the first without fault and the second one including four scenarios without using and using a unified power flow controller in different transmission line locations. The design was carried out in the third part after collecting all input-output data sets. This paper offers an efficient design method, which depends on the input value of the observed apparent impedance, also known as resistance (R), and reactance (X). The output is a trip signal to the circuit breaker when a fault occurs. The advantages of the proposed design are a fast-clearing time of 1.42 ms, and working when utilizing a unified power flow controller in different locations; the results show a fast clearing although the long impedance trajectory for some cases. The fast fault clearing will make the system more stable and overcome the maloperation of the distance rela

SRPTackle: A semi-automated requirements prioritisation technique for scalable requirements of software system projects

ContextRequirement prioritisation (RP) is often used to select the most important system requirements as perceived by system stakeholders. RP plays a vital role in ensuring the development of a quality system with defined constraints. However, a closer look at existing RP techniques reveals that these techniques suffer from some key challenges, such as scalability, lack of quantification, insufficient prioritisation of participating stakeholders, overreliance on the participation of professional expertise, lack of automation and excessive time consumption. These key challenges serve as the motivation for the present research.ObjectiveThis study aims to propose a new semiautomated scalable prioritisation technique called ‘SRPTackle’ to address the key challenges.MethodSRPTackle provides a semiautomated process based on a combination of a constructed requirement priority value formulation function using a multi-criteria decision-making method (i.e. weighted sum model), clustering algorithms (K-means and K-means++) and a binary search tree to minimise the need for expert involvement and increase efficiency. The effectiveness of SRPTackle is assessed by conducting seven experiments using a benchmark dataset from a large actual software project.ResultsExperiment results reveal that SRPTackle can obtain 93.0% and 94.65% as minimum and maximum accuracy percentages, respectively. These values are better than those of alternative techniques. The findings also demonstrate the capability of SRPTackle to prioritise large-scale requirements with reduced time consumption and its effectiveness in addressing the key challenges in comparison with other techniques.ConclusionWith the time effectiveness, ability to scale well with numerous requirements, automation and clear implementation guidelines of SRPTackle, project managers can perform RP for large-scale requirements in a proper manner, without necessitating an extensive amount of effort (e.g. tedious manual processes, need for the involvement of experts and time workload)

Bond-graph Input-State-Output Port-Hamiltonian formulation of memristive networks for emulation of Josephson junction circuits

A bond graph Input-State-Output Port-Hamiltonian formulation of memristive networks for Josephson junction circuits in state space is presented. The methodology has applications to the modeling of SQUIDs and other non-linear transducers and enables the formulation of input-output models of complex components embedded in non-linear networks

Renoprotective effect of tectorigenin glycosides isolated from Iris spuria L. (Zeal) against hyperoxaluria and hyperglycemia in NRK-49Fcells

Oxidative stress has been identified as an underlying factor in the development of insulin resistance, β-cell dysfunction, impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes mellitus and it also play major role in kidney stone formation. The present study is aimed to elucidate the in vitro nephroprotective activity of two isoflavonoid glycosides, tectorigenin 7-O-β-D-glucosyl-(1→6)-β-D-glucoside (1) and tectorigenin 7-O-β-D-glucosyl-4'-O-β-D-glucoside (2) isolated from the n-BuOH fraction of Iris spuria L. (Zeal) rhizome MeOH extract against oxalate and high glucose-induced oxidative stress in NRK-49F cells. The results revealed that compounds 1 and 2 significantly increased the antioxidant enzyme activities and decreased MDA levels in both oxalate and high glucose stress. Treatment with these phytochemicals effectively down-regulated expression of crystal modulator genes and pro-fibrotic genes in oxalate and high glucose-mediated stress respectively. This study indicates cytoprotective, antioxidant, anti-urolithic and anti-diabetic effects of compounds 1 and 2 against oxalate and high glucose stress