Demographic and Geographic Variations in Respiratory and Allergic Conditions Among Adolescents in the United Arab Emirates

The prevalence of asthma and allergic diseases among adolescents has been increasing worldwide. This study examines the prevalence and geographic distribution of respiratory and other allergic conditions among youths residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This cross-sectional study administered the ISAAC questionnaire to collect data on the respiratory and allergy profiles of 6363 adolescents aged between 13 and 20 attending grades 10–12 of randomly selected private and public schools in 9 educational zones in the UAE. Overall, the prevalence rates of self-reported wheeze ever, wheeze in the last 12 months, wheeze during or after exercise, and night cough were 15%, 11.6%, 15.7%, and 33.4%, respectively. A total of 12% of participants reported ever having asthma, and 6.0% had been hospitalized for asthma or any respiratory problem. The prevalence rates of rhinitis ever, rhinitis in the last 12 months, itchy rash in the past 6 months, and itchy rash in the past 12 months were 33.2%, 26%, 8.4%, and 7.4%, respectively. There were significant differences among expatriate and Emirati adolescents in prevalence of asthma and rash symptoms. Rates of asthma and other allergies varied significantly across the UAE’s nine educational zones.In conclusion, self-reported wheeze, asthma symptoms, and other allergy-related diseases are common among adolescents in the UAE. Geographic and demographic differences were found across the different UAE regions, as well as between the Emirati and expatriate populations

Handling Two-Way TCP Traffic in Bandwidth Asymmetric Networks

The TCP congestion control protocol assumes bandwidth symmetric paths. As two-way asymmetric connections will probably become common case in the future with the widespread use of ADSL and satellites technologies, it will be important to assure that congestion is properly handled in these environments. A lot of researches were done to find way to do this, but most of them are ad hoc solutions unable to go very far in solving the general problem.In this context, we propose two new approaches for handling two-way traffic over links that exhibit bandwidth asymmetry:  an Adaptive Class-based Queuing mechanism called ACQ and a Virtual Ack-based Queuing mechanism called VAQ. Both mechanisms runs at the entry of the slow link. ACQ relies on two separate classes, one for Ack packets and one for Data and proposes to adapt the weights of both classes according to the crossing traffic and to an utility function defined by the user or the network operator. VAQ relies on two virtual classes, one for Ack packets and one for Data. It grants a credit to the Data class and adapts this credit according to the crossing traffic through a WFQ scheduling scheme.We show by simulations that our mechanisms are able to reach a good utilization of the available resources managing then to maximize the satisfaction of the user of such asymmetric connections. We also demonstrate by simulations the robustness of ACQ and VAQ when confronted to different network settings

Role of Sleep Disturbance in Chronic Hepatitis C Infection

Chronic infection with the hepatitis C virus (CHC) is associated with physical and mental symptoms including fatigue and depression that adversely affect quality of life. A related complaint, sleep disturbance, has received little attention in the literature, with the exception of sleep changes noted in cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease. We present an overview of studies indicating sleep problems in patients with CHC, with about 60% to 65% of individuals reporting such complaints. Evidence suggests that impairments in sleep quality exist independent of antiviral therapy with interferon-α and prior to advanced stages of liver disease. Further investigation of sleep disturbance in CHC patients with a mild stage of liver disease may provide important information on disease course as well as allow additional opportunities for patient support

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Handling two way tcp traffic in asymmetric networks

The TCP congestion control protocol is mainly designed for bandwidth symmetric paths. As two-way asymmetric connections will probably become common case in the future with the widespread use of ADSL, satellites and other high-speed technologies, it is important to make sure that congestion will be properly handled in these environments. To this end, we propose in this paper a new Adaptive Class-based Queuing mechanism called ACQ for handling two-way TCP traffic over links that exhibit bandwidth asymmetry. ACQ runs at the entry of the slow link and relies on two separate classes, one for ACK packets and one for Data packets. ACQ proposes to adapt the weights of both classes according to the crossing traffic in order to maximize some utility function defined by the user or the network operator. We show by simulations that our mechanism is able to reach a good utilization of the available resources, managing then to maximize the satisfaction of the user of such asymmetric connections. Document type: Part of book or chapter of boo

Assessing and testing the usability of student portal

Recent research comparing usability assessment methods has been interpreted by some to imply that usability heuristic evaluation is no longer necessary because other techniques such as usability testing can find some usability problems more easily and cost-effective than heuristic evaluation. Usability testing is a technique used in user-centered interaction design to evaluate a product by testing it on users. Student portal service provides users with channels of information and resources needed for their studies this includes access to library service, course information, and materials. However, there are challenges that come with this development such as lack of effectiveness, efficiency, accuracy, and performance of the student portal service. This article provides information on usability assessment and testing on the student portal of University Utara Malaysia. The study was conducted using a l7 item questionnaire based on efficiency, effectiveness, performance, and accuracy of the student portal service. The result shows that more than 70% of the users are satisfied with student portal service and also agree to its efficiency and performance. This article will impact the designers and system developers by informing them about the views of a user on a performance of the portal and also give them the window for improvement

From Policy to Implementation: Adaptation to the Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture on Egypt/ من السياسة إلى التنفيذ: التكيف مع اثار تغير المناخ على الزراعة في مصر

Dead crops, fruitless trees, and barren lands. Such is the print left by the climate catastrophe in Egypt. As these impacts increase in intensity and frequency, Egypt lies between a rock and a hard place. The global economic and food crisis, internal demographic pressures, and a cash-strapped financial state coupled with the climate crisis have set the government’s teeth on edge. Adapting to climate change impacts on agriculture to feed over 100 million citizens and protect the livelihoods of over 25 million actors in the agro-food industry has become one of the most pressing policy issues of the government. National policies and efforts have long been engaged and focused on agricultural development, water resources management, and irrigation. Despite these efforts, ongoing challenges have highlighted that strategies and policies have had limited progress toward effective and efficient implementation. Research and consultations conducted under this policy paper revealed an implementation gap in the agricultural sector. The Egyptian dilemma in adapting to climate change in agriculture is neither a science nor a planning-based challenge but that of effective implementation. While there is a considerable progress in agricultural policies and strategies and ongoing efforts to address water, food, and development challenges, the actual implementation of climate change adaptation strategies has yet to reach Egypt’s farmers and workers in the agro-food industry. At the national level, limited capacities, financing, and coordination have hindered the impacts of efforts to cover existing and prioritize future projects. This policy paper provides three policy alternatives as possible options to accelerate the implementation of strategies: a) agricultural technological innovation through technology transfer; b) a specialized climate-finance resource mobilization unit; and c) economic/market and structural policy options on the agro-food chain

Neuropsychological functioning among individuals infected with hepatitis C: a comparison of pre- and post-transplant performance

t is well established that patients with end stage liver disease (ESLD) experience cognitive and mood problems; however, little is known about changes in cognitive and emotional functioning following liver transplantation, especially over the past decade with the epidemic of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection taking over as the leading indication for liver transplantation. Seventeen patients with ESLD secondary to chronic HCV were assessed pre- and post-liver transplantation using a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. After an average of four years post-transplant, patients demonstrated significant improvements in most cognitive functioning and depressive symptoms. However, 18% of liver recipients continued to exhibit mild cognitive impairment mainly in areas of attention/executive functioning, motor speed, and learning. Liver transplantation is a life-extending surgery that reverses most, but not all, cognitive and mood difficulties. It is crucial to evaluate cognition after liver transplantation, especially in these three domains, and to consider the effect on daily functioning