ASSOCIATION OF OBESITY WITH RS1421085 AND RS9939609 POLYMORPHISMS OF FTO GENE WITH T2DM IN EGYPTIAN FEMALES

Objective: Obesity has been described as a worldwide increasing health problem and risk factor of various disorders including type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). So, our study aim to determine of common variants of fat mass and obesity associated gene polymorphisms rs1421085 and rs 9939609; confers risk of obesity and type 2 diabetic mellitus in Egyptian females.Methods: In this population rs1421085 and rs9939609 polymorphisms of fat mass and obesity (FTO) gene were genotyped in 105 obese patients and 100 healthy controls with ages 14-60 y were collected from Medicine Specialized Hospital, Mansoura University, Egypt during the period between Jul.-Oct. 2016, genotyping of SNPs was performed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assay, fasting blood glucose, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA IR), body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) lipid profile was determined.Results: There was the significantly higher frequency of the AA compared to controls p=0.0001) of genotypers9939609. Also, cases have shown a significantly higher frequency of the C allele, p<0.00001) of rs1421085 genotype polymorphisms increased the risks of obesity. On the other hand, there were no significant correlations between genotypes and obesity-related (anthropometric body composition) parameters. Only the fasting blood glucose was significantly higher in the TA p=0.004).Conclusion: The FTO rs9939609 and rs1421085 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was associated with increased risk of obesity in type 2 diabetic populations on Egyptian females

An Integrated Production-Inventory Model with Controllable Production Rates and Dynamic Price

513-519This paper presents an integrated production- inventory model that involves procurement, production, and delivery, in which product price is an unknown fluctuating pattern with time. A coordination policy is formulated to adapt the instantaneous production rate that reacts with continuous variation of product prices in such a way that the total cost is minimized. A solution procedure is coded to manage the optimal production rates, the economic raw material procurement quantity, the economic finished goods shipments to the customer, the number of shipments to the customer, and the number of raw material replenishment. The behaviour of the model is analysed in different numerical examples. The result of the model has been compared with a particular case of decreasing price over time in one of the previous studies. The results show that the proposed model supports and confirms to the success of reducing total cost in real time of the supply chain in such an environment

Inventory Level Policy for an Integrated Supply Chain with Time Variable Demand

842-846Find ways to decrease the total costs related to supply chain activities have given more attention to a more globalized trade. This paper proposes a way to react to time variable demand in an integrated inventory model that enables the manufacturer to reduce lead times and the corresponding variable demand effect. The objective of the model is to control the inventory level in such a way that the total cost of the supply chain is minimized. A solution procedure is suggested and the behavior of the model is analyzed in a numerical example

Modelling a Hospital as a Queueing Network: Analysis for Improving Performance

In this paper, the flow of different classes of patients into a hospital is modelled and analyzed by using the queueing network analyzer (QNA) algorithm and discrete event simulation. Input data for QNA are the rate and variability parameters of the arrival and service times in addition to the number of servers in each facility. Patient flows mostly match real flow for a hospital in Egypt. Based on the analysis of the waiting times, two approaches are suggested for improving performance: Separating patients into service groups, and adopting different service policies for sequencing patients through hospital units. The separation of a specific group of patients, with higher performance target, to be served separately from the rest of patients requiring lower performance target, requires the same capacity while improves performance for the selected group of patients with higher target. Besides, it is shown that adopting the shortest processing time and shortest remaining processing time service policies among other tested policies would results in, respectively, 11.47% and 13.75% reduction in average waiting time relative to first come first served policy

Affective Virtual Reality Gaming for Autism

Emotional impairment is one of the common symptoms of many mental diseases. Being able to learn the emotional reactions from subjects using nonintrusive human-computer interactions (HCI) would provide a novel and efficient approach to assist existing intervention and therapy. Psychologists conducted research using virtual reality (VR) as a tool for exposure starting from decades ago. However, early VR equipment was cumbersome in size and inefficient, which can only be used to simulate limited scenes, such as car driving and phobia scenarios. With the evolution of affordable and portable VR hardware, we are now able to design systematic VR games that can precisely control variables for different stimuli and testing cases. Furthermore, the VR nowadays can serve not only as exposure methods, but also real games that seamlessly and nonintrusively interact with users. The experience of immersion and presence has made VR naturally suitable for triggering strong emotions. Moreover, the study of affective computing, known as the study and development of systems and devices that can recognize, interpret, process, and simulate human affects, is a trendy and challenging topic in HCI field. Given current research and potential development, affective computing is seeking to develop emotional intelligence in machines. Integrating the concept of affective computing into game design and development will lead to a new type of serious games that interact with users’ emotions. This chapter reviews the methodologies commonly used in affective computing and related research projects using VR exposure as an intervention for people with special needs. It also describes a series of studies conducted to collect and analyze data. Our goal is to propose a game framework that recognizes users’ emotional reactions in a multimodal approach, which, with ideal expectation, adapts according to the fluctuation of the users’ emotional states dynamically. The system provides a guideline for affective gaming design for mental healthcare purposes. The application of the framework is to assist in intervention for autistic spectrum disorder and can be extended to other emotion-related mental illness

Heavy metal residues in milk and some dairy products with insight into their health risk assessment and the role of Lactobacillus rhamnosus in reducing the lead and cadmium load in cheese

Heavy metals were analyzed in buffalo's milk and some dairy products assembled from different dairy farms, supermarkets, and vendors in Mansoura, Egypt. The mean concentrations (mg/kg wet weight) of the heavy metals detected in raw milk, Kareish cheese, processed cheese, and milk powder were 0.0014, 0.0378, 0.0022, and 0.0204, respectively for mercury; 0.012, 0.0764, 0.052, and 0.120, respectively for arsenic; 0.1016, 0.2924, 0.1256, and 0.3352, respectively for lead; 0.07, 0.1172, 0.0576, and 0.1252, respectively for cadmium; 0.1044, 0.174, 0.1016, and 0.208, respectively for chromium; and 0.0656, 0.188, 0.1272, and 0.2496, respectively for copper. The probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus was incorporated into soft cheese as an attempt for reducing lead and cadmium whose concentrations were diminished by 81.5% and 74.5%, respectively within 48 h at 4 °C. The study concluded that although the maximum limit of Pb and Cd has been exceeded in 44% to 68% of the dairy products tested, the health risk assessment indices comprising Estimated Daily Intakes, Provisional Tolerable Daily Intakes, Target Hazard Quotient, and Hazard Index indicated no potential health risk upon consumption of such dairy products analyzed. The study also suggested the use of Lactobacillus rhamnosus probiotic for minimizing lead and cadmium levels in dairy food

State of the Art: Lung Cancer Staging Using Updated Imaging Modalities

Lung cancer is among the most common mortality causes worldwide. This scientific article is a comprehensive review of current knowledge regarding screening, subtyping, imaging, staging, and management of treatment response for lung cancer. The traditional imaging modality for screening and initial lung cancer diagnosis is computed tomography (CT). Recently, a dual-energy CT was proven to enhance the categorization of variable pulmonary lesions. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) recommends usage of fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) in concert with CT to properly stage lung cancer and to prevent fruitless thoracotomies. Diffusion MR is an alternative to FDG PET/CT that is radiation-free and has a comparable diagnostic performance. For response evaluation after treatment, FDG PET/CT is a potent modality which predicts survival better than CT. Updated knowledge of lung cancer genomic abnormalities and treatment regimens helps to improve the radiologists’ skills. Incorporating the radiologic experience is crucial for precise diagnosis, therapy planning, and surveillance of lung cancer