Death associated protein kinase-1 gene methylation pattern in some leukemic patients attending Zagazig University hospitals: is it a clue?

Background: Leukemia is a type of cancer arising from white blood cells (WBCs) and resulting from malignant transformation of different types of white blood cell precursors. The objective was to study the DAPK-1 gene methylation pattern in leukemic patients and to through some light on its possible role as a risk factor for leukemia.Methods: Forty-one patients diagnosed as leukemic patients and 41 age-matched healthy unrelated volunteers taken as a control group. The analysis of aberrant promoter DAPK1 gene methylation was done by specific polymerase chain reaction.Results: The results of the present study showed that there was a significant association of methylated DAPK-1 promoter area among leukemic group than in control group Chi-square (X2) was 21.98, or value patients was 10.46 and there was a significant association when compared with the control group (p <0.001). And there was no significant association when compared according to gender Chi-square (X2) was 0.43 and (p=0.51). Our results revealed in the AML group DAPK-1 promoter area were methylated with percentage of 73.9%. or value for AML patients was 13.76 and there was a significant association when compared with the control group (p <0.001), in the ALL group 4 patients had methylated DAPK-1 promoter area with percentage of 57.1% or value for all patients was 6.47 and there was a significant association when compared with the control group (p=0.03) and in the CLL group 7 patients had methylated DAPK-1 promoter area with percentage of 63.6%. OR value for CCL patients was 8.5 and there was a significant association when compared with the control group (p=0.004). On the contrary, we didn’t observe any significant associations between DAPK-1 promoter area methylation and the type of leukemia (p = 0.65).Conclusions: These results suggested that DAPK1 promoter methylation might play a significant role in the pathogenesis of different types of leukemia. And the DAPK1 promoter methylation has a predictive value in the prediction of leukemia occurrence.

Accreditation as a quality-improving policy tool: family planning, maternal health, and child health in Egypt

Accreditation of healthcare providers has been established in many high-income countries and some low- and middle-income countries as a tool to improve the quality of health care. However, the available evidence on the effectiveness of this approach is limited and of questionable quality, especially in low- and middle-income countries. We exploit the interventions introduced under Egypt’s health sector reform program between 2000 and 2014 to estimate the effect of health facility accreditation on family planning, maternal health, and child health outcomes. We use difference-in-differences fixed-effects and propensity score matching difference-in-differences models. To do so, we spatially link women to their nearest mapped health facili-ties using their global positioning system coordinates. We find that accreditation had multiple positive effects, especially on delivery care and child morbidity prevalence. The effects appear to weaken over time though. Our findings suggest that facility accreditation can be effective in improving family planning, antenatal care, delivery care, and child health, but stress the need to study how the effects can be sustained

Discontinuation of performance-based financing in primary health care: impact on family planning and maternal and child health

Performance-based financing (PBF) is advocated as an effective means to improve the quality of care by changing healthcare providers' behavior. However, there is limited evidence on its effectiveness in low- and middle-income countries and on its implementation in primary care settings. Evidence on the effect of discontinuing PBF is even more limited than that of introducing PBF schemes. We estimate the effects of discontinuing PBF in Egypt on family planning, maternal health, and child health outcomes. We use a difference-in-differences (DiD) model with fixed effects, exploiting a unique dataset of six waves of spatially constructed facility-level health outcomes. We find that discontinuing performance-based incentives to providers had a negative effect on the knowledge of contraceptive methods, iron supplementation during pregnancy, the prevalence of childhood acute respiratory infection, and, more importantly, under-five child mortality, all of which were indirectly targeted by the PBF scheme. No significant effects are reported for directly targeted outcomes. Our findings suggest that PBF can induce permanent changes in providers' behavior, but this may come at the expense of non-contracted outcomes

The effect of storage to optical properties in case of two apple fruit varieties

The keeping quality of fruits is a very important factor in storage point of view, since it could be elongated the consumption timeof fruits. In many cases the storage may be necessary, e.g. in short time it is not able to market due to the rich harvest, or all fruits could sell inmarkets throughout the year. The keeping quality of various fruit species is greatly different; moreover it could be observed some differencesbetween the varieties as well. In our research, we have investigated the spectral properties of the external surface and fl esh of two ripe applevarieties – Jonagored and Granny Smith – before and after storage (about 3°C and about three weeks). The hyperspectral investigation wascarried out with AvaSpec-2048 Fiber Optic Spectrometer. The experimental results represented the differences between healthy and chillinginjured apple fruits. Furthermore, some indices were created to given countenance to the spectral differences

The effect of storage to optical properties in case of two apple fruit varieties

The keeping quality of fruits is a very important factor in storage point of view, since it could be elongated the consumption time of fruits. In many cases the storage may be necessary, e.g. in short time it is not able to market due to the rich harvest, or all fruits could sell in markets throughout the year. The keeping quality of various fruit species is greatly different; moreover it could be observed some differences between the varieties as well. In our research, we have investigated the spectral properties of the external surface and fl esh of two ripe apple varieties – Jonagored and Granny Smith – before and after storage (about 3°C and about three weeks). The hyperspectral investigation was carried out with AvaSpec-2048 Fiber Optic Spectrometer. The experimental results represented the differences between healthy and chilling injured apple fruits. Furthermore, some indices were created to given countenance to the spectral differences

Volumetric estimation of an intensive apple orchard with GIS

Remote sensing instruments and methods have become widespread in all segments of agriculture and horticulture.Among the innovative development of remote sensing instruments, the 3D laser scanner is one of the newest technique,which overtop in the spatial data collection. Terrestrial laser scanning is an appropriate tool for identifying such biophysicalparameters like the structure of trees and branches, growth of volume. Determination of these parameters are time consumingand complicated with traditional methods. The examination was carried out in the Study and Regional Research Farm of theUniversity of Debrecen near Pallag. We used Leica ScanStation C10 terrestrial laser scanner to estimate volumetric propertiesof the intensive apple orchard. Two rows of the study area were surveyed, where the height and stem diameter of apple treeswere measured with Geomagic Studio 12 GIS Demo Software. Based on the built-in algorithms, the volume of each tree weredefi ned by the software. The measured and calculated data was correlated, and middle correlations were detected. Estimatedvolume results could be useful for further investigation such as CO2 fi xing, which is an important factor for ecological serviceof the plantation

Volumetric estimation of an intensive apple orchard with GIS

Remote sensing instruments and methods have become widespread in all segments of agriculture and horticulture. Among the innovative development of remote sensing instruments, the 3D laser scanner is one of the newest technique, which overtop in the spatial data collection. Terrestrial laser scanning is an appropriate tool for identifying such biophysical parameters like the structure of trees and branches, growth of volume. Determination of these parameters are time consuming and complicated with traditional methods. The examination was carried out in the Study and Regional Research Farm of the University of Debrecen near Pallag. We used Leica ScanStation C10 terrestrial laser scanner to estimate volumetric properties of the intensive apple orchard. Two rows of the study area were surveyed, where the height and stem diameter of apple trees were measured with Geomagic Studio 12 GIS Demo Software. Based on the built-in algorithms, the volume of each tree were defined by the software. The measured and calculated data was correlated, and middle correlations were detected. Estimated volume results could be useful for further investigation such as CO2 fi xing, which is an important factor for ecological service of the plantation

Reperfusion therapy for ST elevation acute myocardial infarction 2010/2011: current status in 37 ESC countries

Aims Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) is the preferred reperfusion therapy in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). We conducted this study to evaluate the contemporary status on the use and type of reperfusion therapy in patients admitted with STEMI in the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) member countries. Methods and results A cross-sectional descriptive study based on aggregated country-level data on the use of reperfusion therapy in patients admitted with STEMI during 2010 or 2011. Thirty-seven ESC countries were able to provide data from existing national or regional registries. In countries where no such registries exist, data were based on best expert estimates. Data were collected on the use of STEMI reperfusion treatment and mortality, the numbers of cardiologists, and the availability of PPCI facilities in each country. Our survey provides a brief data summary of the degree of variation in reperfusion therapy across Europe. The number of PPCI procedures varied between countries, ranging from 23 to 884 per million inhabitants. Primary percutaneous coronary intervention and thrombolysis were the dominant reperfusion strategy in 33 and 4 countries, respectively. The mean population served by a single PPCI centre with a 24-h service 7 days a week ranged from 31 300 inhabitants per centre to 6 533 000 inhabitants per centre. Twenty-seven of the total 37 countries participated in a former survey from 2007, and major increases in PPCI utilization were observed in 13 of these countries. Conclusion Large variations in reperfusion treatment are still present across Europe. Countries in Eastern and Southern Europe reported that a substantial number of STEMI patients are not receiving any reperfusion therapy. Implementation of the best reperfusion therapy as recommended in the guidelines should be encourage