Salivary testosterone measurement in women with and without polycystic ovary syndrome

Clinical and/or biochemical hyperandrogenism is one of the diagnostic criteria for PCOS. An evaluation of the role of salivary testosterone (salT) and androstenedione (salA) for the diagnosis of PCOS was undertaken in a cross sectional study involving 65 women without PCOS and 110 women with PCOS fulfilling all 3 diagnostic Rotterdam criteria. Serum and salivary androgen measurements were determined by LC-MS/MS. salT and salA were significantly elevated in PCOS compared to controls (P<001). No androgen marker was more predictive than another using ROC curves, but multiple logistic regression suggested salT was more predictive than free androgen index (FAI)(p<0.01). The combination of salT or FAI identified 100% of PCOS women. PCOS women with both biochemical and clinical hyperandrogenism as opposed to clinical hyperandrogenism alone showed a metabolic phenotype (p<0.05) and insulin resistance(p<0.001). PCOS patients with an isolated elevated FAI showed increased insulin resistance compared to those with an isolated salT(P<0.05). salT appeared to be at least as predictive as FAI for the diagnosis of the classical PCOS phenotype, and the combination of salT or FAI identified 100% of PCOS patients. This suggests that salT measurement by LC-MS/MS holds the promise of complementing existing laboratory tests as a means of assessing hyperandrogenemia

Tem_357 Harnessing the Power of Digital Transformation, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics with Parallel Computing

Traditionally, 2D and especially 3D forward modeling and inversion of large geophysical datasets are performed on supercomputing clusters. This was due to the fact computing time taken by using PC was too time consuming. With the introduction of parallel computing, attempts have been made to perform computationally intensive tasks on PC or clusters of personal computers where the computing power was based on Central Processing Unit (CPU). It is further enhanced with Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) as the GPU has become affordable with the launch of GPU based computing devices. Therefore this paper presents a didactic concept in learning and applying parallel computing with the use of General Purpose Graphical Processing Unit (GPGPU) was carried out and perform preliminary testing in migrating existing sequential codes for solving initially 2D forward modeling of geophysical dataset. There are many challenges in performing these tasks mainly due to lack of some necessary development software tools, but the preliminary findings are promising. Traditionally, 2D and especially 3D forward modeling and inversion of large geophysical datasets are performed on supercomputing clusters. This was due to the fact computing time taken by using PC was too time consuming. With the introduction of parallel computing, attempts have been made to perform computationally intensive tasks on PC or clusters of personal computers where the computing power was based on Central Processing Unit (CPU). It is further enhanced with Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) as the GPU has become affordable with the launch of GPU based computing devices. Therefore this paper presents a didactic concept in learning and applying parallel computing with the use of General Purpose Graphical Processing Unit (GPGPU) was carried out and perform preliminary testing in migrating existing sequential codes for solving initially 2D forward modeling of geophysical dataset. There are many challenges in performing these tasks mainly due to lack of some necessary development software tools, but the preliminary findings are promising.Traditionally, 2D and especially 3D forward modeling and inversion of large geophysical datasets are performed on supercomputing clusters. This was due to the fact computing time taken by using PC was too time consuming. With the introduction of parallel computing, attempts have been made to perform computationally intensive tasks on PC or clusters of personal computers where the computing power was based on Central Processing Unit (CPU). It is further enhanced with Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) as the GPU has become affordable with the launch of GPU based computing devices. Therefore this paper presents a didactic concept in learning and applying parallel computing with the use of General Purpose Graphical Processing Unit (GPGPU) was carried out and perform preliminary testing in migrating existing sequential codes for solving initially 2D forward modeling of geophysical dataset. There are many challenges in performing these tasks mainly due to lack of some necessary development software tools, but the preliminary findings are promising

Fusing Facial Features for Face Recognition

Face recognition is an important biometric method because of its potential applications in many fields, such as access control, surveillance, and human-computer interaction. In this paper, a face recognition system that fuses the outputs of three face recognition systems based on Gabor jets is presented. The first system uses the magnitude, the second uses the phase, and the third uses the phase-weighted magnitude of the jets. The jets are generated from facial landmarks selected using three selection methods. It was found out that fusing the facial features gives better recognition rate than either facial feature used individually regardless of the landmark selection method

الانتشار المصلى لفيروس الهربس البسيط (الدمط 1 والنمط 2) فى أوساط المجموعات السكانية ال هندية والفلبينية المهاجرة في قطر: مسح مقطعي

Background: The epidemiology of herpes simplex virus infections is of growing interest but information on its seroprevalence in many countries is scarce. Aims: This study aimed to measure the seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 in Filipino and Indian men living in Qatar. Methods: Blood serum specimens were collected from male blood donors aged ≥ 18 years in Qatar from 2013 to 2016. HerpeSelect® 1/2 and Euroline‐WB assays were used to measure antibodies to herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 in 120 Filipino and 325 Indian men. Results: The seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus‐1 was 84.9% (95% confidence interval (CI): 78.4–90.0%) in Filipino men and 48.3% (95% CI: 43.6–53.0%) in Indian men. The seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus‐2 was 8.3% (95% CI: 4.6–13.7%) in Filipinos and 3.7% (95% CI: 2.2–5.9%) in Indians. The seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 increased with age, but this trend was only statistically significant in Indian men (P = 0.013 and P = 0.011 respectively). Conclusions: The seroprevalence rates of herpes simplex virus‐2 in Filipino and Indian men living in Qatar were similar to those found in the Philippines and India. However, the seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus‐1 in Indians, while similar to that found in India, was substantially lower than that of other countries in Asia and developing countries worldwide, which needs further investigation.Contexte : L'épidémiologie des infections par le virus de l'herpès suscite un intérêt croissant, mais les informationsrelatives à sa séroprévalence dans de nombreux pays sont rares.Objectifs : La présente étude visait à mesurer la séroprévalence du virus de l'herpès de types 1 et 2 parmi les hommesphilippins et indiens vivant au Qatar.Méthodes : Des échantillons de sérum sanguin ont été prélevés sur des donneurs de sang masculins âgés d'au moinsdix-huit ans au Qatar entre 2013 et 2016. Les tests HerpeSelect® 1/2 et Euroline-WB ont été utilisés pour mesurer lesanticorps dirigés contre le virus de l'herpès de types 1 et 2 chez 120 hommes philippins et 325 hommes indiens.Résultats : La séroprévalence du virus de l'herpès de type 1 était de 84,9 % (intervalle de confiance (IC) à 95 % : 78,4-90,0 %)chez les hommes philippins et de 48,3 % (IC à 95 % : 43,6-53,0 %) chez les hommes indiens. La séroprévalence du virus del'herpès de type 2 était de 8,3 % (IC à 95 % : 4,6-13,7 %) chez les hommes philippins et de 3,7 % (IC à 95 % : 2,2- 5,9 %) chezles hommes indiens. La séroprévalence du virus de l'herpès de types 1 et 2 augmentait avec l'âge, mais cette tendancen'était statistiquement importante que chez les homme indiens (p = 0,013 et p = 0,011 respectivement).Conclusions : Les taux de séroprévalence du virus de l'herpès de type 2 parmi les hommes philippins et indiens vivantau Qatar étaient similaires à ceux constatés aux Philippines et en Inde. Toutefois, le taux de séroprévalence du virus del'herpès de type 1 chez les Indiens, bien que comparable à celui relevé en Inde, était beaucoup moins élevé que celui desautres pays d'Asie et des pays en développement, ce qui mérite d'être étudié plus attentivement.الخلفية: يتزايد الاهتمام بدراسة السمات الوبائية لحالات العدوى بفيروس الهريس البسيط. غير أن المعلومات حول انتشاره مصليا في العديد من البُلدان شحيحة للغاية. الأهداف: هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى قياس الانتشار المصلي لفيروس الحربس البسيط (النمط 1 والنمط 2) بين الرجال الذين يعيشون في قطر وينتمون إلى الجنسيتين الهندية والفلبينية. طرق البحث: أخذت عينات من مصل الدم من متبرعين بالدم من الذكور يبلغون من العمر 18 عاما أو أكثر في قطر في الفترة من 2013 وحتى 2016. واستّخدمت مقايستئ Euroline–WB و ® HerpeSelect 1/2 لقياس الأجسام المضادة لفيروس المريس البسيط (النمط 1 والنمط 2) لدى 120 رجلا فليبينيا و 325 رجلا هنديا. النتائج: كانت نسبة الانتشار المصلي لفيروس الهربس البسيط (النمط -1)(84.9%; 95% CI=78.4-90%) في صفوف الرجال من الجنسية الفليبينية و (48.3%; 95% CI=43.6-53.0%) في صفوف الرجال من الجنسية الهندية. كانت نسبة الانتشار المصلي لفيروس الهريس البسيط النمط 2 (8.3%; 95% CI=4.6-13.7%) في صفوف الرجال من الجنسية الفليبينية و (3.7%; 95% CI=2.2-5.9%) في صفوف الرجال من الجنسية الهندية. وارتفع معدل الانتشار المصلي لفيروس الهربس البسيط (النمط 1 والنمط 2) مع تقدم العمرء غير أن هذا الاتجاه لم يُظهر أهمية إحصائية يُعتد بها إلا بين الرجال من الجنسية الهندية (P=0.013; P=0.011) على التوالي. الاستنتاجات: كانت معدلات الانتشار المصلي لفيروس الهربس البسيط النمط 2 في صفوف الرجال من الجنسيتين الفليبينية والهندية الذين يعيشون في قطر ممائلة لنفس المعدلات الموجودة في الفلبين والهند. ولكن بالنسبة لمعدل الانتشار المصلي لفيروس الهربس البسيط النمط 1 في صفوف الرجال من الجنسية الهندية، وبالرغم من مماثلته للمعدل الموجود في الهند. فقد كان أقل بصورة ملحوظة من بُلدان أخرى في قارة آسيا وفي بلدان نامية أخرى حول العالم، وهو الأمر الذي يتطلب مزيدا من الدراس

The Effect of Database Type on Face Recognition Performance for Surveillance Applications

Face recognition is one of the most important biometric approaches due to its potential applications in surveillance monitoring and access control. This paper presents a PCA and SVM based face recognition system for surveillance application. A proposed training database selection criteria suitable for surveillance application which consist of 1 mean image per distance class from all the available database sessions is also used for the face recognition system. In this study, the ChokePoint database, specifically the grayscale (PPG) and colored (MPCI) versions of the ChokePoint database, were selected for this work. The objectives of this work is to investigate the effect of the using different training data as well as using different similarity matching method on face recognition for surveillance application. It was found that regardless of the type of databases used, the recognition output pattern on different training data selection criteria was found to be similar. It was also found that regardless of the similarity matching method used, the face recognition system also shows the same recognition performance pattern. The experiment suggests that the proposed training database selection criteria will give similar recognition performance regardless of databases type or face recognition technique used. Overall, the ChokePoint colour database (MPCI) gives better recognition performance than the ChokePoint grayscale database (PPG). Finally, it can be concluded that using 1 mean image per class from all the available database sessions (Case-6) is better compared to using 1 image per class that are randomly selected from all the database sessions (Case-4). Even though a straight comparison between this work proposed system and several published system is not meaningful as different face recognition approaches and experiment criteria are used, nevertheless, this work proposed method performs with 100% recall and reject recognition rate

A Comparison of the YCBCR Color Space with Gray Scale for Face Recognition for Surveillance Applications

Face recognition is an important biometric method because of its potential applications in many fields, such as access control and surveillance. In this paper, the performance of the individual channels from the YCBCR colour space on face recognition for surveillance applications is investigated and compared with the performance of the grayscale. In addition, the performance of fusing two or more colour channels is also compared with that of the grayscale. Three cases with a different number of training images per persons were used as a test bed. It was found out that, the grayscale always outperforms the individual channel. However, the fusion of CBxCR with any other channel outperforms the grayscale when three images of the same class from the same database are used for training. Regardless of the cases used, the CBxCR channel always gave the best performance for the individual colour channels. It was found that, in general, increasing the number of fused channels increases the performance of the system. It was also found that the grayscale channel is the better choice for face recognition since it contains better quality edges and visual features which are essential for face recognition

Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 Seroprevalence among Different National Populations of Middle East and North African Men

© 2018 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association. Background There are limited data on herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) seroprevalence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). We examined country- and age-specific HSV-2 seroprevalence among select MENA populations residing in Qatar. Methods Sera were collected from male blood donors attending Hamad Medical Corporation between June 2013 and June 2016. Specimens were screened for anti-HSV-2 IgG antibodies following a 2-test algorithm: HerpeSelect 2 ELISA was used to identify HSV-2-positive specimens, and Euroline-WB was used to confirm positive and equivocal specimens for final HSV-2 status. Trends and associations with HSV-2 seropositivity were assessed. Results Of the 2077 tested sera, 61 were found and confirmed positive. The proportion of those confirmed positive increased steadily with HerpeSelect 2 ELISA index value, ranging from 16.3% for index values of 1.101 to 1.999 to 92.9% for index values of 4 or greater. Nationality-specific seroprevalence was 6.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.1%-8.8%) in Qataris, 5.3% (95% CI, 2.5%-11.1%) in Iranians, 4.2% (95% CI, 1.8%-9.5%) in Lebanese, 3.1% (95% CI, 1.2%-7.7%) in Sudanese, 3.0% (95% CI, 1.4%-6.4%) in Palestinians, 2.2% (95% CI, 1.1%-4.3%) in Egyptians, 2.0% (95% CI, 1.0%-5.0%) in Syrians, 1.0% (95% CI, 0.3%-3.6%) in Jordanians, 0.7% (95% CI, 0.1%-3.7%) in Yemenis, and 0.5% (95% CI, 0.1%-2.8%) in Pakistanis. There was evidence for higher seroprevalence in older age groups. Conclusions The seroprevalence of HSV-2 was in the range of few percentage points. There were no major differences in seroprevalence by nationality. These findings add to our understanding of HSV-2 epidemiology in MENA and indicate unmet needs for sexual health and control of sexually transmitted infections.Funding text #1 From the *Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group, Weill Cornell Medicine—Qatar, Cornell University, Qatar Foundation—Education City; †Department of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, and ‡BioMedical Research Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar; and §Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, Weill Cornell Medi-cine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY Acknowledgments: The authors gratefully acknowledge the administrative support of Ms Adona Canlas. They are also grateful to Dr Asmaa Al-Marwani, Ms Maria Samatti, and Ms Sana Abohasera for their work on blood specimen collection. The authors are further grateful for sup-port provided by the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Biomathematics Research Core at Weill Cornell Medicine—Qatar. Funding text #2 Funding: Testing kits were provided through pilot funding by the Biomedical Research Program at Weill Cornell Medicine—Qatar. Funding text #3 G.K.N. acknowledges support by Qatar University internal grant No. QUST-CHS-SPR-15/16-7. L.J.A. and S.R.D. acknowledge study conception and design support through NPRP grant number 9-040-3-008 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation), and G.K.N. acknowledges support from the Qatar National Research Fund UREP grant number UREP18-001-3-001. The findings achieved herein are solely the responsibility of the authors