Neonatal midgut volvulus: Spectrum of findings at color Doppler sonography

AbstractObjectiveThis study was conducted to evaluate the spectrum of findings of neonatal midgut volvulus by color Doppler sonography.Patients and methodsFrom March 2010 to December 2013, fourteen neonates was retrospectively analyzed and diagnosed as midgut volvulus. The clinical and radiological data were evaluated with special concern about the color Doppler sonography findings. The radiological data were correlated with surgical diagnosis.ResultsColor Doppler sonography found proximal bowel dilatation in 8 cases, SMA/SMV inversion of relationships in 12 cases, whirlpool sign in 13 cases and SMV dilatation was found in 10 cases. US sensitivity was 92% to diagnose midgut volvulus.ConclusionUltrasonography is an ideal examination for diagnosis of midgut volvulus and should be performed early in neonates with bilious vomiting

Patterns of surgical causes of inguinoscrotal lesions in neonates in Sohag, Upper Egypt: a single-center experience

Background/purpose: Inguinoscrotal lesions (ISLs) are not uncommon during the first month of life. Most of the lesions are congenital. Although physical examination can detect most of the lesions, differential diagnosis is sometimes difficult. Our objective was to evaluate different patterns and spectrums of surgical causes of ISLs seen in the neonatal period.Patients and methods: This prospective observational study included neonates with surgical causes of ISL presented during the period from June 2015 to September 2016. Neonates with nonsurgical causes of ISL were excluded. All cases were subjected to management strategies that consist of physical examinations, imaging studies accordingly, and surgical repair, when needed. The approval of the ethics committee was obtained. Demographic data, presence of associated anomalies, operative data, and outcome of surgical intervention during neonatal period all were reported and analyzed.Results: There were 63 neonates with surgical causes of ISL. The spectrum of findings was as follows: 28 (44.4%) patients with hernia including complicated hernias, 18 (28.6%) patients with hydrocele, 12 (19%) patients with empty scrotum (unilateral or bilateral), three (4.8%) patients with scrotal anomalies, one patient with torsion, and one patient with hematoma.Conclusion: ISL in neonates carries a wide range of varieties. Although congenital inguinal hernia is the commonest, other causes should be kept in mind for differential diagnosis.Keywords: hydrocele, inguinoscrotal lesions, neonatal congenital inguinal herni

An ensemble model to detect packet length covert channels

Covert channel techniques have enriched the way to commit dangerous and unwatched attacks. They exploit ways that are not intended to convey information; therefore, traditional security measures cannot detect them. One class of covert channels that difficult to detect, mitigate, or eliminate is packet length covert channels. This class of covert channels takes advantage of packet length variations to convey covert information. Numerous research articles reflect the useful use of machine learning (ML) classification approaches to discover covert channels. Therefore, this study presented an efficient ensemble classification model to detect such types of attacks. The ensemble model consists of five machine learning algorithms representing the base classifiers. The base classifiers include naive Bayes (NB), decision tree (DT), support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), and random forest (RF). Whereas, the logistic regression (LR) classifier was employed to aggregate the outputs of the base classifiers and thus to generate the ensemble classifier output. The results showed a good performance of our proposed ensemble classifier. It beats all single classification algorithms, with a 99.3% accuracy rate and negligible classification errors

Forecasting Aquaponic Systems Behaviour With Recurrent Neural Networks Models

Aquaponic systems provide a reliable solution to grow vegetables while cultivating fish (or other aquatic organisms) in a controlled environment. The main advantage of these systems compared with traditional soil-based agriculture and aquaculture installations is the ability to produce fish and vegetables with low water consumption. Aquaponics requires a robust control system capable of optimizing fish and plant growth while ensuring a safe operation. To support the control system, this work explores the design process of Deep Learning models based on Recurrent Neural Networks to forecast one hour of pH values in small-scale industrial Aquaponics. This implementation guides us through the machine learning life-cycle with industrial time-series data, i.e. data acquisition, pre-processing, feature engineering, architecture selection, training, and model verification.publishedVersionPaid open acces

Factors Associated with Adverse Events Related to Topical Whitening Products Used among College Female Students in Sudan

This study aimed to explore the factors associated with adverse events related to topical whitening products used and to explore the reasons for using topical whitening products among female students in Sudan. A cross-sectional study was conducted from September to October 2023 in Sudan. The Medicine and Pharmacy programs were purposively selected as the study area. The total sample size was 208 participants. The self-administered questionnaire was constructed with a total of seventeen questions. For data analysis, we performed descriptive statistics analysis, bivariate analysis with simple logistic regression, and multivariable analysis with binary logistic regression presenting with adjusted odds ratio (AOR) and  95% confidence interval (95% CI). The results imply that students with middle household income were 93% less likely to get adverse events compared to those students with low household income with p-value = 0.030 (AOR: 0.07, 95% CI: 0.06 ,0.77). Students who have tested the topical whitening products before using them were 99.9% less likely to get adverse events compared to those who do not test, with p-value = <0.001 (AOR: 0.001, 95% CI: 0.001,0.00). Students who shared whitening products with family/friends were 89% less likely to get adverse events than those who do not share with p-value = 0.009 (AOR: 0.11, 95% CI: 0.021, 0.57). Furthermore, students who used whitening products with added water or other agents to whitening products were 95% less likely to get adverse events compared to those who did not use with p-value = 0.038 (AOR: 0.05, 95% CI:0.02, 0.84). The top two reasons respondents for using topical whitening products were acne (26.9%) and for beautification (24.5%). The study suggested the local government and health sectors should educate and raise the awareness of the safety of whitening products use among female students.Keywords: Adverse events, female students, Sudan, Whitening topical product

Sensitivity and Specificity of Gold Chromatography Immuno-Assays IgM/IgG Antibody Test for COVID-19: Review of the current literature

Abstract: Background: The World Health Organization recommends molecular tests (PCR) to the diagnosis of COVID-19, which detect the (SARS-CoV2) virus RNA. However, these tests are expensive and give a high negative result. There were urgent medical and public health needs for early diagnosis and treatment to minimize the spread of COVID-19. This review aimed to summarize known to date information about the latest research progress of the sensitivity and specificity of rapid combined IgM/IgG antibody test to diagnose the pandemic novel coronavirus. Methods: The literature search was conducted using PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, supplemented by (Web of Science electronic databases), with the search term (COVID19 or COVID-19, novel coronavirus, SARS CoV-2 or SARS CoV2, Rapid antibody test, IgM/IgG, sensitivity, specificity). Results: The review included eight clinical studies for a total of 782 patients with COVID-19 and 631 healthy control. The sensitivity and specificity of Gold Chromatography Immuno-Assays (GCIAs) IgM/IgG rapid test vary greatly among published studies. The IgM/IgG sensitivity ranged from 73.9 to 89.3% in 6/8 (75%) studies and the IgM/IgG specificity ranged from 88.9 to 100% in the eight (100%) reviewed studies. The pooled data revealed that the average of sensitivity and specificity was 70% and 94.5%, respectively. They agreed on its simplicity, fastness, and fewer requirements. Conclusion: The GCIAs IgM/IgG rapid tests are simply fast and safe. Besides their short turnaround time, no specific equipment or skilled technicians’ requirements, they can serve as a rapid diagnostic test of RT-PCR-negative symptomatic patients and screening of SARS CoV-2 carriers. It cannot take the place of PCR, but the huge lab diagnosis pressure can be greatly relieved and more research is needed to detect its reliability in limited-resource settings.  Keywords: COVID-19, Rapid Test, IgM/IgG, Sensitivity, Specificity, Limited-resource

Association of methionine synthase reductase (MTRR A66G) polymorphism with susceptibility to acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Background and Objectives. The enzyme methionine synthase reductase is involved in cellular methylation reactions, DNA synthesis, and epigenetic processes. It is encoded by the MTRR gene, which garnered a lot of attention in current medical genetics research. This study was conducted to study the association between MTRR (A66G) polymorphism and the risk of developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia among Sudanese patients. Materials and Methods. This is a case-control study in which 150 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and 150 healthy participants as a control group were enrolled. DNA was extracted and analyzed for the MTRR (A66G) polymorphism using the real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results. Based on flow cytometry results, B-ALL was more common (79%) than T-ALL (21%). The comparison of hematological parameters in acute lymphoblastic leukemia subtypes showed a statistically significant high mean total white blood count (P=0.000) and mean blast percentage (P=0.050) in patients with T-ALL. The molecular analysis showed that the incidence of the MTRR homozygous genotypes AA and GG were higher in the patients (44% and 9.3%, respectively) compared to the control group (40% and 6.7%, respectively). In comparison, the heterozygous genotype AG was lower in the patients (46.7%) than in the control group (53.3%). However, the association between the polymorphism and acute lymphoblastic leukemia risk was not statistically significant (OR: 1.179, 95% CI 0.7459-1.865, P=0.445). Conclusions. This study concluded that MTRR A66G polymorphism was not associated with the risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia among the Sudanese population

High prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis in two communities in South Darfur: implication for interventions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There are few data on the prevalence of schistosomiasis in Darfur. We conducted this study in response to reports of 15 laboratory confirmed cases of schistosomiasis and visible haematuria among children from two communities in South Darfur. The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of schistosomiasis in the area and to decide on modalities of intervention.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional survey involving 811 children and adults from schools and health facilities was conducted in two communities of South Darfur in March 2010. Urine samples were collected and examined for ova of <it>Schistosoma haematobium </it>using a sedimentation technique. A semi-structured format was used to collect socio-demographic characteristics of the participants.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eight hundred eleven (811) urine samples were collected, 415 from Alsafia and 396 from Abuselala. Of the collected samples in 56.0% (95% Confidence Interval (CI); 52.6-59.4) <it>Schistosoma </it>eggs were found. The prevalence was high in both Abuselala 73.3% (95% CI; 68.9-77.6) and Alsafia 39.5% (95% CI; 34.8-44.2). More males (61.7%, 95%CI; 56.5-64.9) were infected than females (52.1%, 95%CI; 48.2-56.0). Children in the age group 10-14 has the highest (73.0%, 95%CI; 68.7-77.2) infection rate. School age children (6-15 years) are more likely to be infected than those >15 years (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 2.70, 95% CI; 1.80-4.06). Individuals in Abuselala are more likely to be infected than those who live in Alsafia (AOR = 4.3, 95% CI; 3.2-5.9).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The findings of this study indicate that <it>S. hematobium </it>is endemic in Alsafia and Abuselala South Darfur in Sudan with a high prevalence of infection among older children. This signifies the importance of urgent intervention through Mass Drug Administration (MDA) to halt the infection cycle and tailored health messages to targeted groups. Based on the findings MDA was conducted in the villages.</p