Gene Transfer and Cloning of the Amino-Acid Transport System L from Human Cells

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72389/1/j.1749-6632.1985.tb14893.x.pd

Hepcidin and iron status in chronic kidney disease

Hepcidin is a critical inhibitor of iron export frommacrophages, enterocytes, and hepatocytes. Given that itis filtered and degraded by the kidney, its elevated levelsin renal failure have been suggested to play a role in thedisordered iron metabolism of uremia. It is a smalldefensin-like peptide whose production by hepatocytes ismodulated in response to anemia, hypoxia, orinflammation. Hepcidin could also act as an indicator offunctional iron deficiency (FID) in chronic kidneydisease (CKD) patients. This study was performed toassess hepcidin and its correlations with renal function,iron status parameters {serum iron, serum ferritin,transferrin saturation (TSAT) and soluble transferrinreceptor (sTfR)}, inflammatory cytokines (IL-6&IFN-?)and inflammatory markers (CRP) in patients with CKDeither on conservative treatment or on maintenancehemodialysis (HD). Serum prohepcidin was higher inHD patients compared to controls and CKD patients. Inthe whole patient group, serum hepcidin correlatedsignificantly with hemoglobin (Hb), IL-6, creatinine,CRP, sTfR and urinary hepcidin. In HD groupprohepcidin correlated significantly with creatinine.Multiple regression analysis showed that prohepcidinwas most predicted by serum creatinine and CRP.Elevated prohepcidin levels in HD patients studied couldmainly be due to its accumulation in impaired renalfunction in addition to low-grade inflammation,frequently encountered in this population

Novel ensemble learning approach with SVM-imputed ADASYN features for enhanced cervical cancer prediction.

Cervical cancer remains a leading cause of female mortality, particularly in developing regions, underscoring the critical need for early detection and intervention guided by skilled medical professionals. While Pap smear images serve as valuable diagnostic tools, many available datasets for automated cervical cancer detection contain missing data, posing challenges for machine learning models' efficacy. To address these hurdles, this study presents an automated system adept at managing missing information using ADASYN characteristics, resulting in exceptional accuracy. The proposed methodology integrates a voting classifier model harnessing the predictive capacity of three distinct machine learning models. It further incorporates SVM Imputer and ADASYN up-sampled features to mitigate missing value concerns, while leveraging CNN-generated features to augment the model's capabilities. Notably, this model achieves remarkable performance metrics, boasting a 99.99% accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score. A comprehensive comparative analysis evaluates the proposed model against various machine learning algorithms across four scenarios: original dataset usage, SVM imputation, ADASYN feature utilization, and CNN-generated features. Results indicate the superior efficacy of the proposed model over existing state-of-the-art techniques. This research not only introduces a novel approach but also offers actionable suggestions for refining automated cervical cancer detection systems. Its impact extends to benefiting medical practitioners by enabling earlier detection and improved patient care. Furthermore, the study's findings have substantial societal implications, potentially reducing the burden of cervical cancer through enhanced diagnostic accuracy and timely intervention

Genotyping of PPAR-γ gene polymorphism in Egyptian neonates affected with sepsis disease and its severity

Background: Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma (PPARγ) is a ligand-dependent transcription factor involved in inflammatory process. PPAR-γ gene was mentioned as having a modulating role in the pathological status of sepsis. The present study aimed to make a correlation between The Pro12Ala polymorphism in PPAR-γ gene and occurrence of neonatal sepsis and its severity among a sample of Egyptian neonates suffering sepsis.Subjects and methods: This case-control study included 30 neonates (11 females and19 males) newly admitted with neonatal sepsis at the intensive care unit (NICU) (mean age 10.3 days ± 6.23). The control group included 50 age and sex matched neonates (23 females and 27 males) (mean age 10.20 days ± 5.36 days). All the neonates (preterm and full term) included were with clinical signs and laboratory data consistent with neonatal sepsis. Genotyping for PPARc gene region harboring the Pro12Ala variant locus were carried out using Tetra ARMS technique.Results: About 56.7% of the patients group was homozygote (GG) for polymorphic locus (coding for Alanine/Alanine) while 30% was heterozygote for polymorphic locus (CG) (coding for Proline/Alanine) and up to 13.3% was homozygote for the polymorphic locus (CC) (coding for Proline/Proline). Compared to the control group where homozygotes for CC were the most prevalent (90%) and the CG were 10% with absence of GG genotypes. There was a strong  statistical significant difference between patients and the normal control group as regards  prevalence of PPAR-γ gene  polymorphism in occurrence of neonatal sepsis and its severity. Also, there were strong relation between genotype GG and low birth weight, neonatal fever, prematurity and depressed neonatal reflexes.Conclusion: PPAR-γ gene has been suggested to be a candidate gene for neonatal sepsis. Therefore, Pro12Ala polymorphism might be useful in predicting the risk factor of neonatal sepsis and its severity

Knowledge and Practice of PHC Physicians toward the Detection and Management of Hypertension and Other CVD Risk Factors in Egypt

Aim. To assess the knowledge and practice of PHC physicians toward the detection and management of hypertension (HTN) and other CVD risk factors. Methods. A cross-sectional study of all primary health care physicians of the FHU of three rural districts of Egypt was conducted. Each physician was subjected to a prevalidated interview questionnaire on the WHO-CVD risk management package for low and medium resources, and a checklist of observation of daily practices. Results. Hypertension was a priority problem in about two-thirds (62.9%) of physicians, yet only 19% have guidelines for HTN patients. Clinical history recording system for HNT was available for 50% of physicians. Levels of knowledge varied with regard to definition of HTN (61.3%, fair), procedures for BP measurement (43.5%, poor), indications for referral (43.5%, poor), patient counseling (61.3%, fair), patient treatment (59.8%, fair). Availability of clinical history recording system for HNT was a significant predictor for physician's level of knowledge (P = 0.001). Overall level of practice was fair (68.5%). Conclusion. PHC physicians have unsatisfactory knowledge and practice on hypertension. There is a need of more continuing medical education. Local and international manuals, workshops, and seminars on how to make use of these guidelines would improve doctors' performance

Power Consumption and Energy Estimation in Smartphones

A developer needs to evaluate software performance metrics such as power consumption at an early stage of design phase to make a device or a software efficient especially in real-time embedded systems. Constructing performance models and evaluation techniques of a given system requires a significant effort. This paper presents a framework to bridge between a Functional Modeling Approach such as FSM, UML etc. and an Analytical (Mathematical) Modeling Approach such as Hierarchical Performance Modeling (HPM) as a technique to find the expected average power consumption for different layers of abstractions. A Hierarchical Generic FSM “HGFSM” is developed to be used in order to estimate the expected average power. A case study is presented to illustrate the concepts of how the framework is used to estimate the average power and energy produced

Optimized state feedback regulation of 3DOF helicopter system via extremum seeking

In this paper, an optimized state feedback regulation of a 3 degree of freedom (DOF) helicopter is designed via extremum seeking (ES) technique. Multi-parameter ES is applied to optimize the tracking performance via tuning State Vector Feedback with Integration of the Control Error (SVFBICE). Discrete multivariable version of ES is developed to minimize a cost function that measures the performance of the controller. The cost function is a function of the error between the actual and desired axis positions. The controller parameters are updated online as the optimization takes place. This method significantly decreases the time in obtaining optimal controller parameters. Simulations were conducted for the online optimization under both fixed and varying operating conditions. The results demonstrate the usefulness of using ES for preserving the maximum attainable performance

A Direct Substrate-Substrate Interaction Found in the Kinase Domain of the Bifunctional Enzyme, 6-Phosphofructo-2-kinase/Fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase

To understand the molecular basis of a phosphoryl transfer reaction catalyzed by the 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase domain of the hypoxia-inducible bifunctional enzyme 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase (PFKFB3), the crystal structures of PFKFB3{radical dot}AMPPCP{radical dot}fructose-6-phosphate and PFKFB3{radical dot}ADP{radical dot}phosphoenolpyruvate complexes were determined to 2.7 Å and 2.25 Å resolution, respectively. Kinetic studies on the wild-type and site-directed mutant proteins were carried out to confirm the structural observations. The experimentally varied liganding states in the active pocket cause no significant conformational changes. In the pseudo-substrate complex, a strong direct interaction between AMPPCP and fructose-6-phosphate (Fru-6-P) is found. By virtue of this direct substrate-substrate interaction, Fru-6-P is aligned with AMPPCP in an orientation and proximity most suitable for a direct transfer of the γ-phosphate moiety to 2-OH of Fru-6-P. The three key atoms involved in the phosphoryl transfer, the β,γ-phosphate bridge oxygen atom, the γ-phosphorus atom, and the 2-OH group are positioned in a single line, suggesting a direct phosphoryl transfer without formation of a phosphoenzyme intermediate. In addition, the distance between 2-OH and γ-phosphorus allows the γ-phosphate oxygen atoms to serve as a general base catalyst to induce an associative phosphoryl transfer mechanism. The site-directed mutant study and inhibition kinetics suggest that this reaction will be catalyzed most efficiently by the protein when the substrates bind to the active pocket in an ordered manner in which ATP binds first. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved