Cytokines as Immunological Markers for Follow up of Disease Activity During the Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Background: Cytokines play a major role in protection against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and regulate the immune responses at a cellular level. Cytokine profile determines clinical outcome of the disease and responses to treatment as well. A T helper 1 (Th1) cytokine interferon gamma (IFN-U) is one of the most important cytokines which activate the macrophages to produce tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-V). Excessive production of TNF-V have been implicated in immunopathogenesis of tuberculosis. A T helper 2 (Th2) response leads to release of IL-4, and IL-10 promoting an anti-inflammatory macrophage response. Interleukin-4(IL-4), has been implicated to down-regulate IFN-U, and thus has a harmful effect on TB patients. IL10 cytokine has thecapacity to inhibit Th1 activation and thus terminates cell mediated immune responses.Objective:The objective of the present study was to determine Th1 and Th2 cytokine profile in patients with tuberculosis to identify immunological marker for follow up of the disease activity, and to study the outcome of treatment.Methods: To examine this, blood samples were collected from newly diagnosed HIV negative pulmonary tuberculosis patients and from apparently healthy individuals as controls following an informed consent. Blood samples were as well collected at several intervals during the treatment with anti-tuberculosis drugs. Levels of IFN-U, TNF-V, IL-4 and IL-10 were measured pre and during treatment using commercial available enzyme-linked immune-sorbent assay (ELISA). Data were analyzed using SPSS 20. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curve analysis has beencarried out to assess their discriminative power and to determine cut-off values. Analysis has been carried out further by calculating other measures of diagnostic test accuracy.Results: The median serum level of IL-4 was 20 and 35 pg/ml higher in new cases (untreated patients) and in patients under treatment with oral anti-tuberculosis, respectively, compared with that of controls (p=001). Levels of TNF- were significantly increased in patients before and afterthe treatment than those in control (p=0.001). New cases had the highest median level (10pg/ml) followed by those under treatment group (6pg/ml). Levels for IFN-U were not statistically different between patients and controls (p=0.351). Median levels of IL10 were similar in both controls and new cases groups (35pg/ml), but lower in patients under treatment group (20pg/ml). Increase in levels of IL-4 during treatment showed that Th2 immune responses still present and may indicate active disease and thus IL4 cytokine may be a possible marker for the disease activity.Conclusion: serum levels of TNF- in TB patients is useful in the evaluation of the disease activity during therapy, not replacing clinical parameters of disease activity in TB. Similar to TNF-, IL-4 can also be used as marker for TB severity. On the other hand IL-4test can be used to diagnose TBin highly exposed suspects where a positive result is more likely to indicate TB.Keywords: Tuberculosis; Cytokines; Immunological markers

A proposed architecture for generic and scalable CDR analytics platform utilizing big data technology

Telecom Call Details Record (CDR) data-set is considered a rich source of valuable information that will bring new big revenues to Communication Service providers (CSP) as well as it will empower many out-telco services such as transportation, education, health programs, and business analysis in resource management and planning, decision making, and processes optimization. However, extracting these valuable information from raw CDRs with the classical SQL and BI systems is very costly and has poor performance measures. This is due to the big volume of CDR data-set, the high and growing data rate and the large number of fields it contains. Many CDR analytics systems were built using Big Data technology, to overcome the scalability problem of the centralized computing, but the heterogeneity usage of CDR analytics have not been considered; they were built for specific and predetermined use cases. This paper presents a proposed platform architecture for real, near-real time and batch CDR analysis to provide analytics for heterogeneous applications, through designing a high generic and scalable platform. This paper illustrates the platform design consideration along with how the proposed architecture was built. Moreover, it gives a brief functional description and implementation suggestions for each component in the architecture

Overview on the first human cytogenetic research in Sudan

Introduction: The present study is the first human cytogenetic project in Sudan which was titled: Cytogenetic and FISH analyses in Sudanese patients with dysmorphic features, ambiguous genitalia, and infertility. The aim of the present study was not only to characterize the genetic alterations in patients with dysmorphic features, ambiguous genitalia and/or infertility among Sudanese population, but also to attract the medical community attention to the importance of human cytogenetics in clinical genetics practice, and also to facilitate the introduction and clinical application of such valuable service in Sudan. Materials and Methods: In this study chromosomal G–banding and fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) analysis were performed on 44 Sudanese patients, 29 females, 14 males, and one patient with unassigned sex. Patients age ranging between 17 days-39 years (mean 18 years), Of the 44 patients, 20 had ambiguous genitalia, 8 dysmorphic features, 11 have puberty and/or fertility complains, and 5 were healthy individual (parents of 3 patients with dysmorphic features). Results: Cytogenetic analysis of 20 patients complaining of ambiguous genitalia (13 females and 6 males, and one case with unassigned sex) showed that 8 has karyotypes different from their assigned sex and the other cases showed karyotypes consistent with Edward syndrome (47,XX,+18) (case 7), and a case with 45,Xdel(X)(p11) (case 11) respectively, when using FISH the 45,Xdel(X)(p11) case showed translocation of the SRY (sex-determining region Y), gene to the active X chromosome. For the 8 patients of dysmorphic features; five showed karyotypes consistent with Down syndrome, of which one showed Robertsonian translocation, with both FISH and ordinary G-banding, and the other three showed normal karyotypes. All the parents showed normal karyotypes. Among the infertility cases all showed normal karyotypes, except for two which showed karyotypes consistent with Turner syndrome and one which showed a male karyotype although the case was raised as a female; ultrasound showed a mass in the position of prostate. Discussion: The study, the ever first one in Sudan, assured the importance, the possibility, and the need for cytogenetic and FISH analysis in diagnosis, management and genetic counseling of genetic diseases caused by constitutional chromosomal changes among Sudanese patients. Sudan Journal of Medical Sciences Vol. 1(1) 2006: 25-3

Big data analysis solutions using mapReduce framework

Recently, data that generated from variety of sources with massive volumes, high rates, and different data structure, data with these characteristics is called Big Data. Big Data processing and analyzing is a challenge for the current systems because they were designed without Big Data requirements in mind and most of them were built on centralized architecture, which is not suitable for Big Data processing because it results on high processing cost and low processing performance and quality. MapReduce framework was built as a parallel distributed programming model to process such large-scale datasets effectively and efficiently. This paper presents six successful Big Data software analysis solutions implemented on MapReduce framework, describing their datasets structures and how they were implemented, so that it can guide and help other researchers in their own Big Data solutions

Analysis of Tooth Extraction Causes and Patterns

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the causes and patterns of extraction of permanent teeth in the targeted population. METHODS: The study was conducted for a period of 11 months. An especially designed form was used to record the causes for extraction of a permanent tooth. Further, it was analyzed for age, gender, education, occupation, smoking, tooth position, endodontic treatment, chewing, esthetics, needs replacement, type of existing prosthesis, and causes for extraction. The various causes which were considered to determine association with the tooth extraction were dental caries, periodontal problems, trauma, orthodontics, prosthodontic failures, endodontic failures, and others. RESULTS: The percentage of extractions was almost the same in males and females aged. Maximum extractions were noticed in 36–45 years of age group (32.5%). The presence of caries was observed to be the main reason for extraction (68.1%), followed by periodontal problems (17.6%) and orthodontic problems (4.8%). The most frequently extracted posterior teeth were first mandibular molar (22.2%), followed by the third maxillary molar (15.2%). CONCLUSION: Dental caries was found to be the most common reason for the extraction of teeth. Molar teeth were found to be the most frequently extracted, with an increased number of extracted first premolars as a result of orthodontic treatment. Maxillary teeth are extracted more than mandibular, mainly due to caries and periodontal problems

Evaluation of Antibacterial Activity of Pine Tar on Periodontal Pathogenic Bacteria: An In Vitro Study

BACKGROUND: Periodontal pathogens play an important role in etiology and pathogenesis of periodontitis. Microbiological examination of sub gingival plaque is used at the present time in etiological research as well as in clinical treatment of periodontitis to select the appropriate antibiotic agent if indicated. Pine tar has been used for the treatment of various skin diseases. So the study was done to evaluate the effect of Pine Tar oil on bacteria isolated from periodontitis patients.METHODS: Plaque samples from volunteer patients were collected using sterile paper points. Robertson's Cooked Meat (RCM) medium was used for the transportation and cultivation of aerobic, microaerophilic, and anaerobic microorganisms.RESULTS: The result suggests the use of Pine tar oil for topical application in periodontal diseases. Disc diffusion analysis was sufficient enough to illustrate that 75 μl tar oil solution produced growth inhibition of microbial strains.CONCLUSION: Pine tar oil has become one of the important areas of research both in pharmaceutical and periodontal research, hence in vivo studies has to be carried out with various form of pine tar.&nbsp

The influence of different joining processes on mechanical performance of carbon fiber/polyamide (CF/PA6) composites

تستخدم المواد المركبة المصنوعة من مادة البولي أميد (PA6) المقوى بألياف الكربون (CF) على نطاق واسع كمواد هيكلية في صناعات السيارات والفضاء نظرًا لخصائصها المتميزة. ومع ذلك ، نظرًا لمتطلبات السلامة الهيكلية للمواد المركبة ، لا تزال هناك محدودية فيما يتعلق بالإنتاج الفعلي للمواد المركبة المكونة من (CF/ PA6). الروابط القوية لصفائح CF/PA6 مطلوبة بشدة  لعمل تصميم خفيف الوزن يستخدم في العديد من المجالات. بهدف إجراء مقارنات ، تم تدراسة مختلف طرق المعالجة مثل الربط بمواد لاصقة والربط الحراري لتشكيل روابط اللإلفة بين صفحتين مركبتين من (CF/PA6). كما تم دراسة تأثير الطرق المختلفة ومتغيرات المعالجة  المختلفة على مقاومة القص للروابط. أظهرت النتائج أنه من السهل جدًا التعامل مع الروابط اللاصقة التقليدية وقد تتشكل روابط  أقوى إلى حد ما. يمكن استخدام الروابط الحرارية القائمة على التوصيل الكهربائي عن طريق CF لتشكيل توصيلات متلدنة بالحرارة مع المرونة في التصميم. يمكن أن تزيد الروابط الحرارية عن طريق الضغط الساخن من قوة الاتصال؛ عندما تتشكل بالضغط الساخن في ظروف مثالية في درحة حرارة تبلغ 250 درجة مئوية وضغط 2.5 ميجا باسكال ، فإن قوة القص للمفصل 138.85 ميجا باسكال. وبالتالي تم التأكيد على أنه يمكن الحصول على روابط قوية لأجزاء الصفائح للمادة المركبة CF/PA6  عن طريق الالتصاق الحراري عبرعملية الضغط  الساخن.Carbon fiber (CF) reinforced polyamide (PA6) composite materials are broadly used as structural materials in the automotive and aerospace industries due to their distinguished properties. However, due to requirements for the structural integrity of composite materials, there are still limitations in connection of the actual production of CF/PA6 composite. Strong joints of CF/PA6 laminates are highly required for the lightweight design in many fields. Aiming at making comparisons, different processing methods such as adhesive bonding and thermal jointing to form single lap joints between the two CF/PA6 composite laminates are studied. The influences of different processing methods and parameters on the shear strength of joints were also studied. Results showed that conventional adhesive bonding is quite easy to handle and may form rather stronger connections. Thermal joining based on electrical conductors of CF can be used to form a thermoplastic flexible joint design. Thermal joints by hot pressing can further increase the connection strength; when formed by hot pressing under optimum conditions of 250 °C and 2.5MPa, the joint has a shearing strength of 138.85 MPa. It is consequently confirmed that a strong joint of CF/PA6 composite parts could be obtained by thermal joints via the hot pressing process