Empirical analysis of South African Muslims’ acceptance of Takaful life insurance

Abstract: This study investigated the acceptance and purchasing of Takaful life insurance policies among South African Muslims using the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) as the theoretical model. Data were obtained by administering a survey to 235 Muslims in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. Statistical analysis of the data was carried out using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences Research and SmartPls. The results suggest that attitude towards Takaful life insurance purchases and subjective norms are salient determinants of participants’ behavioural intention towards Takaful insurance policies. Furthermore, actual behaviour towards this Islamic financial product is significantly predicted by behavioural intention. The findings of the study contribute to enhancing our understanding of Takaful life insurance policies acceptance and purchase among South African Muslims – an area that is sparsely investigated – and validate the TRA in a South African Muslim sample

Extensive ileocaval and renal vein thrombosis mimicking acute pyelonephritis

Renal vein thrombosis (RVT) is a rare clinical diagnosis which is the presence of thrombus in the major renal veins or its tributaries. Major causes include nephrotic syndrome, trauma, malignancy, hypercoagulable states. Presentation could be unilateral or bilateral flank pain and/or haematuria. Symptoms could be confused with nephrolithiasis. A normal ultrasonography (USG) in the initial stage could delay the diagnosis and hence propensity for dreaded complications such as loss of renal function and pulmonary embolism. Anticoagulation is the mainstay of therapy for RVT. Review of the literature reveals that thrombolytic therapy can also be used in patients with the most severe disease. Here we present a case of a young male, who initially suspected to have acute pyelonephritis, turned out to have extensive Iliocaval and unilateral RVT secondary to factor V leiden mutation who underwent catheter directed thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy

Microwave-assisted green synthesis and antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticles derived from a supercritical carbon dioxide extract of the fresh aerial parts of Phyllanthus niruri L

Purpose: To synthesize and evaluate the antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) derived from a supercritical carbon dioxide extract of the fresh aerial parts of Phyllanthus niruri. Methods: The synthesis of AgNPs of a P. niruri extract was carried out in a microwave oven. The extraction was carried out using a supercritical fluid extractor. The AgNPs were characterized by the Ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectral analysis, Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) zetasizer analysis, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The antimicrobial assays of AgNPs were carried out against different bacterial and fungal strains. Results: Results of various analytical techniques confirmed the synthesis of AgNPs of a P. niruri extract. The UV–vis spectroscopy showed an intense silver surface plasmon resonance band at 415 NM. The AgNPs had a mean size of 110 nm in the Zetasizer analysis. TEM images illustrated spherical AgNPs having a mean particle size of 110 nm. The X-ray diffractograms showed peaks at 38.17°, 44.28°, and 64.52°. The average crystallite size of Ag-NPs was found to be 110 nm. FT-IR spectra confirmed the stability of the AgNPs. The AgNPs demonstrated good antimicrobial effects against several tested pathogenic microbes. Conclusion: An efficiently synthesized AgNPs of P. niruri (SC-CO2) extract has been prepared by a simple, eco-friendly, cost-effective, rapid green chemistry methodology. The AgNPs of P. niruri extract possesses significant antimicrobial properties against the tested bacterial and fungal strains. Keywords: Nanoparticles, Phyllanthus niruri, Supercritical fluid extraction, Microwave, Antimicrobial activit

Not an innocent bystander: case series of tranexamic acid induced cortical necrosis

Acute cortical necrosis accounts for <2% of all acute kidney injuries. Pregnancy complications, viperine snake bites, haemolytic uremic syndrome, shock, and severe pancreatitis are all linked to it. There are relatively few case reports of acute cortical necrosis secondary to tranexamic acid, which is utilised in the treatment of acute bleeding because of its antifibrinolytic actions. Acute cortical necrosis is very infrequently brought on by medicines. Here, we present a group of three instances, each of which experienced the onset of oligo-anuria soon after receiving tranexamic acid. Cortical necrosis was demonstrated by contrast computed tomography (CT) and renal biopsy. While the third patient had patchy cortical necrosis and had partially recovered renal functions, the other two patients both had total acute cortical necrosis and are still reliant on dialysis. This case series demonstrates the need for clinicians to be cautious while using tranexamic acid and to be aware of the possibility of abrupt renal cortical necrosis following its administration

Improving User Experience and Communication of Digitally Enhanced Advanced Services (DEAS) Offers in Manufacturing Sector

Digitally enhanced advanced services (DEAS), offered currently by various industries, could be a challenging concept to comprehend for potential clients. This could result in limited interest in adopting (DEAS) or even understanding its true value with significant financial implications for the providers. Innovative ways to present and simplify complex information are provided by serious games and gamification, which simplify and engage users with intricate information in an enjoyable manner. Despite the use of serious games and gamification in other areas, only a few examples have been documented to convey servitization offers. This research explores the design and development of a serious game for the Howden Group, a real-world industry partner aiming to simplify and convey existing service agreement packages. The system was developed under the consultation of a focus group comprising five members of the industrial partner. The final system was evaluated by 30 participants from engineering and servitization disciplines who volunteered to test online the proposed system and discuss their user experience (UX) and future application requirements. The analysis of users’ feedback presented encouraging results, with 90% confirming that they understood the DEAS concept and offers. To conclude, the paper presents a tentative plan for future work which will address the issues highlighted by users’ feedback and enhance the positive aspects of similar applications

The prospect of identifying resistance mechanisms for castrate-resistant prostate cancer using circulating tumor cells : is epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition a key player?

Prostate cancer (PCa) is initially driven by excessive androgen receptor (AR) signaling with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) being a major therapeutic approach to its treatment. However, the development of drug resistance is a significant limitation on the effectiveness of both first-line and more recently developed second-line ADTs. There is a need then to study AR signaling within the context of other oncogenic signaling pathways that likely mediate this resistance. This review focuses on interactions between AR signaling, the well-known phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/AKT pathway, and an emerging mediator of these pathways, the Hippo/YAP1 axis in metastatic castrate-resistant PCa, and their involvement in the regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a feature of disease progression and ADT resistance. Analysis of these pathways in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) may provide an opportunity to evaluate their utility as biomarkers and address their importance in the development of resistance to current ADT with potential to guide future therapies

Discovery of 5α-pregnan-2β,3α-diol-20-one as a neuroHIV Protective Agent

Presenter: Md Imdadul Khanhttps://egrove.olemiss.edu/pharm_annual_posters_2021/1009/thumbnail.jp

Rank and wormhole attack detection model for RPL-based Internet of Things using machine learning

The proliferation of the internet of things (IoT) technology has led to numerous challenges in various life domains, such as healthcare, smart systems, and mission-critical applications. The most critical issue is the security of IoT nodes, networks, and infrastructures. IoT uses the routing protocol for low-power and lossy networks (RPL) for data communication among the devices. RPL comprises a lightweight core and thus does not support high computation and resource-consuming methods for security implementation. Therefore, both IoT and RPL are vulnerable to security attacks, which are broadly categorized into RPL-specific and sensor-network-inherited attacks. Among the most concerning protocol-specific attacks are rank attacks and wormhole attacks in sensor-network-inherited attack types. They target the RPL resources and components including control messages, repair mechanisms, routing topologies, and sensor network resources by consuming. This leads to the collapse of IoT infrastructure. In this paper, a lightweight multiclass classification-based RPL-specific and sensor-network-inherited attack detection model called MC-MLGBM is proposed. A novel dataset was generated through the construction of various network models to address the unavailability of the required dataset, optimal feature selection to improve model performance, and a light gradient boosting machine-based algorithm optimized for a multiclass classification-based attack detection. The results of extensive experiments are demonstrated through several metrics including confusion matrix, accuracy, precision, and recall. For further performance evaluation and to remove any bias, the multiclass-specific metrics were also used to evaluate the model, including cross-entropy, Cohn’s kappa, and Matthews correlation coefficient, and then compared with benchmark research

Apocynin and catalase prevent hypertension and kidney injury in Cyclosporine A-induced nephrotoxicity in rats.

Oxidative stress is involved in the pathogenesis of a number of diseases including hypertension and renal failure. There is enhanced expression of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADPH oxidase) and therefore production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) during renal disease progression. This study investigated the effect of apocynin, an NADPH oxidase inhibitor and catalase, an H2O2 scavenger on Cyclosporine A (CsA) nephrotoxicity in Wistar-Kyoto rats. Rats received CsA (25mg/kg/day via gavage) and were assigned to vehicle, apocynin (2.5mmol/L p.o.), catalase (10,000U/kg/day i.p.) or apocynin plus catalase for 14 days. Renal functional and hemodynamic parameters were measured every week, and kidneys were harvested at the end of the study for histological and NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) assessment. Oxidative stress markers and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were measured. CsA rats had higher plasma malondialdehyde (by 340%) and BUN (by 125%), but lower superoxide dismutase and total antioxidant capacity (by 40%, all P<0.05) compared to control. CsA increased blood pressure (by 46mmHg) and decreased creatinine clearance (by 49%, all P<0.05). Treatment of CsA rats with apocynin, catalase, and their combination decreased blood pressure to near control values (all P<0.05). NOX4 mRNA activity was higher in the renal tissue of CsA rats by approximately 63% (P<0.05) compared to controls but was reduced in apocynin (by 64%), catalase (by 33%) and combined treatment with apocynin and catalase (by 84%) compared to untreated CsA rats. Treatment of CsA rats with apocynin, catalase, and their combination prevented hypertension and restored renal functional parameters and tissue Nox4 expression in this model. NADPH inhibition and H2O2 scavenging is an important therapeutic strategy during CsA nephrotoxicity and hypertension