Effects of Raloxifene Hydrochloride on Bone Mineral Density and Serum Lipids in Kuwaiti Postmenopausal Women with Osteoporosis

Background: Osteoporosis is currently a major cause of mortality, morbidity, and medical expense worldwide. Aim: This study was designed to detect the effect of raloxifene hydrochloride on bone mineral density (BMD) and serum lipids in Kuwaiti postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Subjects and Methods: Eighty postmenopausal women, who received raloxifene 60 mg with calcium 500 mg and 200 IU Vitamin D daily for 2 years were included in this prospective study which was conducted from August 2011 to August 2013 after informed consent and approval of the study by hospital ethical committee. BMD measured by dual‑energy X‑ray absorptiometry (DXA) and serum lipids were assessed before and after the treatment to detect the effect of raloxifene on BMD and on serum lipids. Unpaired t‑test was used to compare lumbar spine, total hip BMD and serum lipid values before and after the raloxifene treatment. Results: Lumbar spine and total hip BMD were significantly increased from 0.92 (3.8) and − 0.83 (5.6); respectively before treatment to 3.21 (5.4) and 1.62 (7.4); respectively 2 years after treatment. Also, Ward`s triangle and trochanter BMD were significantly increased from 1.53 (6.6) and − 1.4 (6.4); respectively to 4.84 (9.3) and 1.78 (8.5); respectively. Total cholesterol and low‑density lipoprotein cholesterol were significantly decreased from 5.15 (4.5) and 3.82 (4.6) mmol/L; respectively before treatment to 3.57 (3.4) and 2.56 (3.7) mmol/L; respectively 2 years after treatment. While, changes in high‑density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides after treatment were statistically insignificant. Conclusions: Raloxifene appears to be an effective, well tolerated option for treating osteoporosis in Kuwaiti postmenopausal women, suitable for long term use with favorable effect on serum lipid profiles.Keywords: Bone mineral density, lipid metabolism, osteoporosis, postmenopausal, raloxifen

The Ligand Substitution Reactions of Hydrophobic Vitamin B12 Derivatives. Reaction of Cobyric Acid Heptapropyl Ester with Heterocyclic N-donor Ligands

The hydrophobic cobyrinic acid heptapropyl ester corrinoids XCbs-Pr (axial ligand X=CN–, SO32–, CH3– and CH3CH2–) have been prepared from vitamin B12 by hydrolysis of the amide side chains and their conversion to propyl esters. Both the position of the γ-band and the general shape of the UV-visible spectra of these complexes show significant solvent dependence as the polarity of the solvent is varied. The equilibrium constants, K, for the reaction of five-membered heterocyclic nitrogenous bases (the azoles imidazole, pyrazole and 1,2,4-triazole) with displacement of coordinated H2O in aquacyanocobyrinic acid heptapropyl ester, and coordination by the predominantly five-coordinate complexes sulphitocobyrinic acid heptapropyl ester, ethylcobyrinic acid heptapropyl ester and methylcobyrinic acid heptapropyl ester, have been determined spectrophotometrically at 25 °C in water, methanol, acetonitrile, ethyl acetate and toluene. Values of K are dependent on the identity of the trans ligand (X=CN–>SO3 2–> CH3 – > CH3CH2 –); they increase with the basicity of the azole (pyrazole < 1,2,4-triazole < imidazole); and they increase as the solvent polarity increases (toluene<ethyl acetate< acetonitrile< methanol< H2O). Molecular mechanics calculations suggest that these effects are largely electronic in origin.Keywords: Hydrophobic vitamin B12, cobalt corrinoids, equilibrium constants, solvent polarity, trans influencePDF and Supplementry file attache

Dental Students’ Attitude towards Problem-Based Learning before and after Implementing 3D Electronic Dental Models

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Undoped gallium antimonide studied by positron annihilation spectroscopy

Positron lifetime spectroscopy has been used to study the vacancy type defects in undoped gallium antimonide. Temperature dependent positron trapping into the VGarelated defect having a characteristic lifetime of 310ps was observed in the as-grown sample. The lifetime data were well described by a model involving the thermal ionization (0/-) of the VGa-related defect and its ionization energy was found to be E(0/)=83meV. For the electron irradiated sample, the VGa-related defect with lifetime of 310ps that was found in the non-irradiated samples was also identified. Moreover, another lifetime component (280ps) was only observed in the electron irradiated sample but not in the non-irradiated sample. It was also attributed to the V Ga-related defect. The two identified VGa-related defects should have different microstructures because of their difference in characteristic lifetimes. The 280ps component remains thermally stable after the 500°C annealing while the 310ps component anneals at 300°C.published_or_final_versio

Prognostic significance of del 17p, ZAP-70 and CD38 as independent indicators for B-CLL: Correlation to response to treatment and disease outcome

Prognostic markers as CD38 and ZAP-70 and specific chromosomal abnormalities as del 17p have now been developed to refine the risk of progressive disease in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). This study analyzed 40 recently diagnosed, untreated B-CLL patients for CD38 and ZAP-70 expression by flow cytometry and for del 17p by conventional cytogenetics (CCG) and by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique to evaluate their effect on the clinical course of CLL and as risk factors for disease progression in addition to their impact on response to treatment and disease outcome. Twenty healthy age- and sex-matched subjects were included as a control. The results revealed that CD38 and ZAP-70 expression were detected in 42.5% and 47.5% of cases, respectively. They were associated with an unfavorable clinical course. Higher levels were significantly associated with increased risk of unfavorable response to treatment (P = 0.003), with poor clinical outcome (P = 0.0001). Del 17p was detected in 35% of cases by FISH technique and in 7.5% by CCG. The deletion was significantly associated with progressive clinical course; poor response to treatment (P = 0.007) but not with disease outcome (P = 0.103). Combined analysis of ZAP-70 and CD38 yielded concordantly negative results in 50% of patients and concordantly positive results in 40% of patients, while 10% were discordant. CD38+/ZAP-70+ patients were significantly associated with progressive disease (P < 0.05) and with del 17p than CD38-/ZAP-70- patients (P = 0.008). Time to disease progression (TDP) was 6 months among CD38+/ZAP-70+ patients as compared to 16 months in CD38-/ZAP-70- patients. In patients with discordant results, the TDP was 9 months. Over-representation of the three parameters (CD38, ZAP-70 and del 17p) was detected in 22.5% of cases, and pointed towards even shorter TDP (4.5 months), more aggressive disease; more resistance to chemotherapy and poor outcome thus providing a precise tool for identifying high-risk patients. In conclusion, the combined expression of CD38 and ZAP-70 together with del 17p in CLL is a precise diagnostic tool for identifying high-risk patients and convey rapid progression; they are accurate predictors of clinical outcome thus could be used to indicate when more novel chemotherapeutic approaches are needed and provided help in guiding individual patient treatment.Keywords: CLL; CD38; ZAP-70; Del 17p; Immunophenotyping; FISH; Survival stud

In vitro performances of hypocotyl and cotyledon explants of tomato cultivars under sodium chloride stress

A plant tissue culture technique is a good method for the evaluation and screening of plant genotypes for salt tolerance. In vitro evaluations of sodium chloride (NaCl) effects on two tomato cultivars (Pearl and Beril) were investigated with four NaCl levels (0, 25, 50 and 75 mM) using hypocotyl and cotyledon explants. The explants were cultured in MS media having 2.0 mg/l BAP along with different concentrations of NaCl. Sodium chloride stress negatively affected the growth traits and chlorophyll content. Significant differences were noticed between the cultivars followed by different NaCl levels, where the Beril responded superior than that of Pearl. The type of explant showed a difference in their response to shoots regeneration under NaCl stress, where the cotyledon explants achieved best results than hypocotyl explants.Key words: Cotyledons, hypocotyls, In vitro, salt stress, tomato

Gifted education in Hong Kong : perceptions of teachers, parents and experts

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.This study appears to be the first of its kind to adopt a comprehensive multi-pronged approach to investigate the perceptions of trained teachers, general school teachers and parents about gifted education in Hong Kong. The study also involved the input of local experts from multiple disciplines, who contributed their local, expert comments on the findings and gave their expert opinion about how gifted education might be further developed in Hong Kong. The significance of the research is to provide a better understanding of the factors that underpin the effective implementation of gifted education in Hong Kong and how the educational needs of gifted students in the future may be better served. The methodological research approach was mainly empirical analytic The subjects included trained teachers of gifted education, general school teachers with no prior gifted education training, local parents and five local experts of gifted education in Hong Kong. The 101 subjects were all obtained by convenience samples of volunteered participants. The research instruments developed, involved three separate sets of gifted education survey questionnaires: one was for use with both the general school teachers and trained teachers, another one for use with the parents and a third questionnaire for experts, during their semi-structured interviews with the researcher. Both quantitative and qualitative data were obtained from the samples. The study revealed a fairly low awareness about the common characteristics of the gifted and their possible learning disabilities, of general school teachers and parents as compared with trained teachers. It also revealed a somewhat low awareness in each group about the Hong Kong Government policy as well as the operation of gifted education in Hong Kong schools. More specifically, the critical factors used by the three respondent groups to initiate a referral of suspected gifted student for confirmatory assessment included, "highly creative”, "superior in mathematical reasoning ability” and "intellectual curiosity”. The education practices that each group perceived as helpful for identifying gifted students and as helpful for teaching/assisting and developing gifted students were described and discussed. The respondent groups' perception of the common progress and hindrances to gifted education and of how teachers and parents can help in the education of gifted students were also discussed. The views of local experts in gifted education about this study’s findings and how the education needs of gifted / learning disabled students would be better served were then examined and discussed. The thesis also examines the issues concerned with practical recommendations about the effective implementation of future school-based gifted education in Hong Kong and how the educational needs of gifted students may be better served

Extraction of forest plantation extents using majority voting classification fusion algorithm

© 2018 Proceedings - 39th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing: Remote Sensing Enabling Prosperity, ACRS 2018 Satellite Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar-2 has great advantages in extracting natural and industrial forest plantation in tropical areas, but it suffers from presence of speckle that create problem to identify the forest body. Optimal fusion of Landsat-8 operational land imager bands with ALOS PALSAR-2 can provide the ideal complementary information for an accurate forest extraction while suppressing unwanted information. The goal of this study is to analyze the potential ability of Landsat-8 OLI and ALOS PALSAR-2 as complementary data resources in order to extract land cover especially forest types. Comprehensive preprocessing analysis (e.g. geometric correction, filtering enhancement and polarization combination) were conducted on ALOS PALSAR-2 dataset in order to make the imagery ready for processing. Principal component index method as one of the most effective Pan-Sharpening fusion approaches was used to synthesize Landsat and ALOS PALSAR-2 images. Three different classifiers methods (support vector machine, k-nearest neighborhood, and random forest) were employed and then fused by majority voting algorithm to generate more robust and precise classification result. Accuracy of the final fused result was assessed on the basis of ground truth points by using confusion matrices and kappa coefficient. This study proves that the accurate and reliable majority voting fusion method can be used to extract large-scale land cover with emphasis on natural and industrial forest plantation from synthetic aperture radar and optical datasets

Molecular characterization of chromosome 7 in AML and MDS patients

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) share many features with acute myeloid leukemias (AML) and in fact 20 - 40% of the patients eventually develop a picture of full blown AML. Chromosome 7 has been a focus of attention as a site harboring tumor suppressor genes whose loss of function contributes to leukemia transformation or tumor progression. Abnormalities of chromosome 7 are frequently encountered in AML and MDS. The aim of the present study was to detect the molecular abnormalities of chromosome 7 in Egyptian AML and MDS patients using the FISH technique and whether the abnormality has an implication on the prognosis of the disease after a period of one year follow up. Fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) was performed for chromosome 7 using a locus specific probe for 7q31 and a centromeric probe from 7p11.1-q11.1 in a series of 30 patients diagnosed as: AML (20 patients) and MDS (10 patients) according to the FAB criteria. Aberrations of Chromosome 7 were found in 36.6% of AML patients: 3 cases showing monosomy with a mean positivity of 17.3%, 2 cases showing 7q deletion with a mean positivity of 11%. While both monosomy and deletion were detected in 3 cases. However, in MDS patients; monosomy for chromosome 7 was the only abnormality detected and was found in 30% of cases. Genetic abnormality of chromosome 7 showed a significant association with poor prognostic criteria. Patients who had normal FISH results showed a higher percentage (31.6%) of complete remission (CR) versus 0% in patients with monosomy or deletion who showed a higher percentage (100%) of death or poor response to therapy (NR). Although AML patients had a worse prognosis when compared to MDS patients, patients with genetic abnormalities showed the worst outcome. African Journal of Health Sciences Vol. 13 (3-4) 2006: pp. 33-4