An Efficient Automatic Mass Classification Method In Digitized Mammograms Using Artificial Neural Network

In this paper we present an efficient computer aided mass classification method in digitized mammograms using Artificial Neural Network (ANN), which performs benign-malignant classification on region of interest (ROI) that contains mass. One of the major mammographic characteristics for mass classification is texture. ANN exploits this important factor to classify the mass into benign or malignant. The statistical textural features used in characterizing the masses are mean, standard deviation, entropy, skewness, kurtosis and uniformity. The main aim of the method is to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the classification process in an objective manner to reduce the numbers of false-positive of malignancies. Three layers artificial neural network (ANN) with seven features was proposed for classifying the marked regions into benign and malignant and 90.91% sensitivity and 83.87% specificity is achieved that is very much promising compare to the radiologist's sensitivity 75%.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure

The Effect of Rehabilitation Exercises Accompanied by The Shock Wave Device on The Strength of Some Muscles and Chronic Lower Back Pain for Weightlifters

Athletes who engage in sports that demand the use of great force to overcome great resistance—like weightlifters—are subjected to various loads during training that place stress on their bodies, particularly the musculoskeletal system. As a result, it is common for these athletes to experience lower back pain. One of the most common consequences of spinal injuries that needs to be treated is chronic lower back pain. Natural therapeutic approaches are among the significant and secure approaches that the world has recently started to focus on with great strides, as contemporary methods and techniques have been applied, Physical therapy facilities have used a wide range of treatment techniques, but take caution Shockwave electrophoresis using the shockwave apparatus is an effective method that targets enhancing the muscles' capacity to resume their original function. The purpose of the research was to develop rehabilitation workouts that would work with the shock wave strength gadget. For weightlifters, some lower back stiffness and muscular soreness over time. Find out how exercise affects Treatment for persistent lower back pain with the shock wave gadget enhances muscular strength. For those who exercise weights in between pre- and post-tests. Using a single experimental group design, the researcher used the experimental technique to identify the research community. The Karbala Governorate is home to weightlifting athletes, five of them are wounded

A study for the properties of the Portland cement from different sources available in the Iraqi market

The quality of the cement used is the most important criteria for the implementation of the plain and reinforced concrete mixtures as well as the finishing works. So that the durability of concrete members and other cement applications is a function of the quality of the cement used. In recent years,the Iraqi marketimported many types of cement from another countries, most of them have no typical tests for their chemical and physical properties or not confirm with the Iraqi specifications.In this study a comparisonwas made between random types of cements which are common used in Iraq throughout an experimental investigation. All tests werecarried in a accordance with the Iraqi specifications. For this purpose the cement mix was prepared with cement content of 300 kg/m3 and W/C ratio of 0.45. Mix proportioning of 1:1.5:3 was used for all of tested mixes. The initial and find setting times and slump tests were performedin order to identify thepropertiesof fresh concrete. On the other hand, tests of compressive strengths were adoptedto evaluatethe properties of hardened concrete. The resultsobtained showed that the locally produced cement (type Al-Muthana) is the most favorable cement compared with the other tested samples (from another countries), because of its high compressive strength and less water requirements to reach the standard consistenc

Steganography and Cryptography Techniques Based Secure Data Transferring Through Public Network Channel

من المعلوم انه غالبا ما يتم مهاجمة البيانات المنقولة عبر شبكة الانترنيت ملايين المرات في اليوم الواحد. ولمعالجة هذه المشكلة، تم اقتراح طريقة آمنة تقوم بتأمين البيانات المنقولة عبر الشبكة. الطريقة المقترحة تعتمد تقنيتين لضمان النقل الآمن للرسالة المنقولة. اذ يتم تشفير الرسالة كخطوة أولى، ثم يتم إخفاؤها في غلاف فيديو معين. تقنية التشفير المقترحة هي خوارزمية تشفير انسيابية (RC4) لزيادة سرية الرسالة، وكذلك تحسين خوارزمية تضمين البتات الأقل أهمية (LSB) لتوفير مستوى أمان إضافي. يأتي تحسين طريقة الـ LSB التقليدية من خلال استبدال الاختيار المتسلسل المعتمد سابقا في طريقة الاختيار العشوائي لكل من الإطارات والبكسل من خلال استخدام مفتاحين عشوائيين سريين على التوالي. لذا، تبقى الرسالة المخفية محمية حتى إن تم اختراق الكائن المخفي(stego) لأن المهاجم سيكون غير قادر على معرفة الإطارات والبكسلات الحقيقية التي تتضمن كل جزء من أجزاء الرسالة السرية بالإضافة إلى صعوبة إعادة بناء الرسالة بشكل صحيح. النتائج المتحصلة من البحث تشير إلى أن الطريقة المقترحة توفّر أداءً جيدًا وفقا لمقاييس التقييم المعتمدة عند مقارنتها بعدد كبير من الطرق السابقة ذات الصلة بهذا النوع من الاعمال.Attacking a transferred data over a network is frequently happened millions time a day. To address this problem, a secure scheme is proposed which is securing a transferred data over a network. The proposed scheme uses two techniques to guarantee a secure transferring for a message. The message is encrypted as a first step, and then it is hided in a video cover.  The proposed encrypting technique is RC4 stream cipher algorithm in order to increase the message's confidentiality, as well as improving the least significant bit embedding algorithm (LSB) by adding an additional layer of security. The improvement of the LSB method comes by replacing the adopted sequential selection by a random selection manner of the frames and the pixels with two secret random keys. Therefore, the hidden message remains protected even if the stego-object is hacked because the attacker is unable to know the correct frames and pixels that hold each bit of the secret message in addition to difficulty to successfully rebuild the message. The results refer to that the proposed scheme provides a good performance for evaluation metric that is used in this purpose when compared to a large number of related previous methods

Investigation on factors causing construction delay and their effects on the development of Oman’s construction industry

Construction delay in projects is a common manifestation in the construction industry. Delay in construction will lead to a bad relationship between the parties involved and will also lead to an increase in the allocated completion time. Delay in the ongoing project might result in the loss of the money, time and other facilities by the client and cause a lot of financial damage to the contractor due to its investment in the purchase of equipment, construction materials and the hire of skilled workers. Delay in construction is a common problem that occurs mostly due to the unforeseen problems during the design & construction stages which often lead to delays in the completion of the project. Oman’s construction industry is one of the most important industries for the country’s economic development and growth. In this study, analysis of some available literature was conducted, and a questionnaire survey was floated among contractors, consultants, clients, project managers, and engineers involved in construction projects. All the collected responses were evaluated by using SPSS. The results of the study identified a total of 60 causes of delay out of which three factors have a “High” significance level for construction delays. These factors of “High” significance were associated with “Client related issues only” in which the initial design was altered by the client, delaying in deciding by the client and, scope change by the client. Majority of the delay (84 %) was observed to be lying in the range of 1‑2 years. This study also recognized the effect and minimization of regular delay and delay resulted due to Covid-19. Minimizing construction delay criteria can be managed by having a proper control system in the project time and fund

What is the right sequencing approach? Solo VS extended family analysis in consanguineous populations.

Testing strategies is crucial for genetics clinics and testing laboratories. In this study, we tried to compare the hit rate between solo and trio and trio plus testing and between trio and sibship testing. Finally, we studied the impact of extended family analysis, mainly in complex and unsolved cases. Three cohorts were used for this analysis: one cohort to assess the hit rate between solo, trio and trio plus testing, another cohort to examine the impact of the testing strategy of sibship genome vs trio-based analysis, and a third cohort to test the impact of an extended family analysis of up to eight family members to lower the number of candidate variants. The hit rates in solo, trio and trio plus testing were 39, 40, and 41%, respectively. The total number of candidate variants in the sibship testing strategy was 117 variants compared to 59 variants in the trio-based analysis. We noticed that the average number of coding candidate variants in trio-based analysis was 1192 variants and 26,454 noncoding variants, and this number was lowered by 50-75% after adding additional family members, with up to two coding and 66 noncoding homozygous variants only, in families with eight family members. There was no difference in the hit rate between solo and extended family members. Trio-based analysis was a better approach than sibship testing, even in a consanguineous population. Finally, each additional family member helped to narrow down the number of variants by 50-75%. Our findings could help clinicians, researchers and testing laboratories select the most cost-effective and appropriate sequencing approach for their patients. Furthermore, using extended family analysis is a very useful tool for complex cases with novel genes

Transcriptional analysis of Rhazya stricta in response to jasmonic acid

Background: Jasmonic acid (JA) is a signal transducer molecule that plays an important role in plant development and stress response; it can also efficiently stimulate secondary metabolism in plant cells. Results: RNA-Seq technology was applied to identify differentially expressed genes and study the time course of gene expression in Rhazya stricta in response to JA. Of more than 288 million total reads, approximately 27% were mapped to genes in the reference genome. Genes involved during the secondary metabolite pathways were up- or downregulated when treated with JA in R. stricta. Functional annotation and pathway analysis of all up- and downregulated genes identified many biological processes and molecular functions. Jasmonic acid biosynthetic, cell wall organization, and chlorophyll metabolic processes were upregulated at days 2, 6, and 12, respectively. Similarly, the molecular functions of calcium-transporting ATPase activity, ADP binding, and protein kinase activity were also upregulated at days 2, 6, and 12, respectively. Time-dependent transcriptional gene expression analysis showed that JA can induce signaling in the phenylpropanoid and aromatic acid pathways. These pathways are responsible for the production of secondary metabolites, which are essential for the development and environmental defense mechanism of R. stricta during stress conditions. Conclusions: Our results suggested that genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis and aromatic acid synthesis pathways were upregulated during JA stress. However, monoterpenoid indole alkaloid (MIA) was unaffected by JA treatment. Hence, we can postulate that JA plays an important role in R. stricta during plant development and environmental stress conditions. How to cite: Hajrah, NH, Rabah SO, Alghamdi MK, et al. Transcriptional analysis of Rhazya stricta in response to jasmonic acid. Electron J Biotechnol 2021;50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejbt.2021.01.00

Isolation, Characterization, Crystal Structure Elucidation, and Anticancer Study of Dimethyl Cardamonin, Isolated from Syzygium campanulatum

Syzygium campanulatum Korth is an equatorial, evergreen, aboriginal shrub of Malaysia. Conventionally it has been used as a stomachic. However, in the currently conducted study dimethyl cardamonin or 2′,4′-dihydroxy-6′-methoxy-3′,5′-dimethylchalcone (DMC) was isolated from S. campanulatum Korth, leaf extract. The structural characterization of DMC was carried out by making use of various techniques including UV, IR, NMR spectral followed by LC-MS, and X-ray crystallographic techniques. For determining the purity of compound, highly effective techniques including TLC, HPLC, and melting point were used. The cytotoxicity of DMC and three different extracts of S. campanulatum was evaluated against human colon cancer cell line (HT-29) by three different assays. DMC and ethanolic extract revealed potent and dose-dependent cytotoxic activity on the cancer cell line with IC50 12.6 and 90.1 µg/mL, respectively. Quite astonishingly to our knowledge, this is the very first report on S. campanulatum as being a rich source (3.5%) of DMC, X-ray crystallography, and anticancer activity on human colon cancer cells

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London