A new gender-specific model for skin autofluorescence risk stratification

Advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) are believed to play a significant role in the pathophysiology of a variety of diseases including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Non-invasive skin autofluorescence (SAF) measurement serves as a proxy for tissue accumulation of AGEs. We assessed reference SAF and skin reflectance (SR) values in a Saudi population (n = 1,999) and evaluated the existing risk stratification scale. The mean SAF of the study cohort was 2.06 (SD = 0.57) arbitrary units (AU), which is considerably higher than the values reported for other populations. We show a previously unreported and significant difference in SAF values between men and women, with median (range) values of 1.77 AU (0.79–4.84 AU) and 2.20 AU (0.75–4.59 AU) respectively (p-value « 0.01). Age, presence of diabetes and BMI were the most influential variables in determining SAF values in men, whilst in female participants, SR was also highly correlated with SAF. Diabetes, hypertension and obesity all showed strong association with SAF, particularly when gender differences were taken into account. We propose an adjusted, gender-specific disease risk stratification scheme for Middle Eastern populations. SAF is a potentially valuable clinical screening tool for cardiovascular risk assessment but risk scores should take gender and ethnicity into consideration for accurate diagnosis

Fluoride in Drinking Water: a Comparison Between Two Areas in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Background: The fluoridation of drinking water is a systemic approach by health authorities to eradicate dental-related problems among the population at large. However, numerous studies have shown that consumption of high levels of fluoride from unchecked or untested sources may lead to dental fluorosis, which, in severe form, leads to brownish mottling of the teeth. Children aged between 6 months to 2 years who are exposed to high levels of fluoride (more than 1.5 mg/L) may suffer from this abnormality. Fluoride levels in a few Malaysian states were above the recommended levels and this may be a factor contributing to the higher prevalence of dental fluorosis among the population. This study aimed to determine levels of fluoride in drinking water between two areas, one in Selangor (Seri Serdang) and the other in Kuala Lumpur (Kampung Pandan). Subjects and Method: A cross sectional study was conducted in Seri Serdang, Selangor and Kampung Pandan, Kuala Lumpur involving a total of 111 water samples (71 from Seri Serdang, 40 from Kampung Pandan). Samples were analyzed using a HACH brand direct reading spectrophotometer model DR 1900. Results: Mean fluoride levels in drinking water for both areas did not exceed the recommended range (0.4 – 0.6 mg/L). Mean fluoride level in Seri Serdang was 0.49 + SD 0.12 mg/L, while in Kampung Pandan, it was 0.35 + SD 0.01 mg/L. Conclusion: Mean level of fluoride was low or within the stipulated range. A more thorough study is needed to determine other intakes of fluoride that may influence the formation of dental fluorosis. Keywords: fluoride, drinking water, Seri Serdang, Kampung Panda

Management of Foot Drop due to Post Injection Sciatic Nerve Injury

A three year clinical study on 215 patients with post injection sciatic nerve injury was conducted andmanagement was guided by nerve action potential (NAP) recordings, and thorough clinical assessment.During this study normal conventional and some modified methods were instituted in the rehabilitationtreatment. The treatment included electrotherapy, Stimulation of calf and foot to prevent denervationatrophy, maintaining T.A flexibility by T.A stretching exercises, facilitating gait with the use of light weightPolypropylene AFO (foot drop splint), and use of same splint during night to maintain ankle at neutralposition. Reassurance was given to care psychological set back caused due to foot drop.Out of 215 patients 155 patients achieved remarkable recovery in one year, this included 5 patients withmild weakness without foot drop. 35 patients achieved improvement in 18 months and 19 patients had poorrecovery where the drop foot did not recover, while as 6 patients were lost to follow up. It was concludedthat patients attending earlier for rehabilitation programme had purposeful motor recovery, no TA tightnessand minimum wasting. Light weight foot drop splint remarkably improved ambulation

On Nonlinear Nonlocal Systems of Reaction Diffusion Equations

The reaction diffusion system with anomalous diffusion and a balance law ut+-Δα/2u=-fu,v,   vt+-∆β/2v=fu,v, 0<α, β<2, is con sidered. The existence of global solutions is proved in two situations: (i) a polynomial growth condition is imposed on the reaction term f when 0<α≤β≤2; (ii) no growth condition is imposed on the reaction term f when 0<β≤α≤2

Soil salinity, household wealth and food insecurity in tropical deltas: evidence from south-west coast of Bangladesh

As a creeping process, salinisation represents a significant long-term environmental risk in coastal and deltaic environments. Excess soil salinity may exacerbate existing risks of food insecurity in densely populated tropical deltas, which is likely to have a negative effect on human and ecological sustainability of these regions and beyond. This study focuses on the coastal regions of the Ganges–Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh, and uses data from the 2010 Household Income and Expenditure Survey and the Soil Resource Development Institute to investigate the effect of soil salinity and wealth on household food security. The outcome variables are two widely used measures of food security: calorie availability and household expenditure on food items. The main explanatory variables tested include indicators of soil salinity and household-level socio-economic characteristics. The results of logistic regression show that in unadjusted models, soil salinisation has a significant negative effect on household food security. However, this impact becomes statistically insignificant when households’ wealth is taken into account. The results further suggest that education and remittance flows, but not gender or working status of the household head, are significant predictors of food insecurity in the study area. The findings indicate the need to focus scholarly and policy attention on reducing wealth inequalities in tropical deltas in the context of the global sustainable deltas initiative and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals.ESPA Deltas projectBelmont Forum DELTAS projectESPA – DFIDESRCNER

Reputation Agent: Prompting Fair Reviews in Gig Markets

Our study presents a new tool, Reputation Agent, to promote fairer reviews from requesters (employers or customers) on gig markets. Unfair reviews, created when requesters consider factors outside of a worker's control, are known to plague gig workers and can result in lost job opportunities and even termination from the marketplace. Our tool leverages machine learning to implement an intelligent interface that: (1) uses deep learning to automatically detect when an individual has included unfair factors into her review (factors outside the worker's control per the policies of the market); and (2) prompts the individual to reconsider her review if she has incorporated unfair factors. To study the effectiveness of Reputation Agent, we conducted a controlled experiment over different gig markets. Our experiment illustrates that across markets, Reputation Agent, in contrast with traditional approaches, motivates requesters to review gig workers' performance more fairly. We discuss how tools that bring more transparency to employers about the policies of a gig market can help build empathy thus resulting in reasoned discussions around potential injustices towards workers generated by these interfaces. Our vision is that with tools that promote truth and transparency we can bring fairer treatment to gig workers.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, The Web Conference 2020, ACM WWW 202

Soil salinity, household wealth and food insecurity in tropical deltas: evidence from south-west coast of Bangladesh

As a creeping process, salinisation represents a significant long-term environmental risk in coastal and deltaic environments. Excess soil salinity may exacerbate existing risks of food insecurity in densely populated tropical deltas, which is likely to have a negative effect on human and ecological sustainability of these regions and beyond. This study focuses on the coastal regions of the Ganges–Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh, and uses data from the 2010 Household Income and Expenditure Survey and the Soil Resource Development Institute to investigate the effect of soil salinity and wealth on household food security. The outcome variables are two widely used measures of food security: calorie availability and household expenditure on food items. The main explanatory variables tested include indicators of soil salinity and household-level socio-economic characteristics. The results of logistic regression show that in unadjusted models, soil salinisation has a significant negative effect on household food security. However, this impact becomes statistically insignificant when households’ wealth is taken into account. The results further suggest that education and remittance flows, but not gender or working status of the household head, are significant predictors of food insecurity in the study area. The findings indicate the need to focus scholarly and policy attention on reducing wealth inequalities in tropical deltas in the context of the global sustainable deltas initiative and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals.ESPA Deltas projectBelmont Forum DELTAS projectESPA – DFIDESRCNER

Monitoring of particulate matter concentrations at high altitude ecosystems of Pakistan and China

Particulate matter exhibits different behavior with altitude. A comparative analysis was carried out to monitor PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM10 and PMTotal at elevations above 3000 m in both China and Pakistan. Real time monitoring of PM was carried out at both sites using a DustTrak DRX (model 8533, TSI Inc.) for 24 hours each. In Pakistan, the average value of PMTotal was 415 ± 16 μg/m3 while in China the value was considerably lower i.e. 110 ± 57 μg/m3. The 24-hour mean values recorded were well above the WHO recommended limit of 25 μg/m3. These results indicate that, even at sites some distance from anthropogenic sources, PM concentrations still pose a health risk

Targeted knock-down of miR21 primary transcripts using snoMEN vectors induces apoptosis in human cancer cell lines

We have previously reported an antisense technology, 'snoMEN vectors', for targeted knock-down of protein coding mRNAs using human snoRNAs manipulated to contain short regions of sequence complementarity with the mRNA target. Here we characterise the use of snoMEN vectors to target the knock-down of micro RNA primary transcripts. We document the specific knock-down of miR21 in HeLa cells using plasmid vectors expressing miR21-targeted snoMEN RNAs and show this induces apoptosis. Knock-down is dependent on the presence of complementary sequences in the snoMEN vector and the induction of apoptosis can be suppressed by over-expression of miR21. Furthermore, we have also developed lentiviral vectors for delivery of snoMEN RNAs and show this increases the efficiency of vector transduction in many human cell lines that are difficult to transfect with plasmid vectors. Transduction of lentiviral vectors expressing snoMEN targeted to pri-miR21 induces apoptosis in human lung adenocarcinoma cells, which express high levels of miR21, but not in human primary cells. We show that snoMEN-mediated suppression of miRNA expression is prevented by siRNA knock-down of Ago2, but not by knock-down of Ago1 or Upf1. snoMEN RNAs colocalise with Ago2 in cell nuclei and nucleoli and can be co-immunoprecipitated from nuclear extracts by antibodies specific for Ago2