A reliable mobile application for safety on roads

Road traffic jams, roads construction works, maintenance activities, traffic incidents and other unplanned events represent a major concern in almost all countries that can result in considerable delays, higher fuel consumption, higher cost expenses and many other indirect effects which ultimately require immediate attention to alleviate such concerns that can influence the users. This was a motivation to combine mobile applications with traffic load analysis and develop an application that assists in giving drivers an access to traffic information, mainly road works and incidents, to help them better plan their daily journeys across the city. With this Mobile Application for the SAfety on Roads (MASAR), drivers can now stay in touch with latest information and traffic updates on the move in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. MASAR is dedicated to making drivers journey as safe and reliable as possible. Where delays occur, MASAR wants to make sure that you can access information quickly and easily. Furthermore, drivers can now take advantage of free travel news through MASAR. The current version of the application allows drivers to check how the traffic is flowing on highways and roads in Abu Dhabi before they begin their journey. The app only provides information for roads that are managed within Abu Dhabi, which are detailed within Abu Dhabi Network Maps. The travel information covers unplanned incidents such as accidents and congestion, plus lane closures and other restrictions due to improvement works. As future enhancements, the team is planning to covers all United Arab Emirates roads and makes the application compatible with almost all mobile phone platforms. © IFAC

Breast Cancer in Palestine: Expression of the Protein Activation Induced Cytidine Deaminase (AID)

Breast Cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide with an estimated more than one million new cases every year, and it is the leading cancer-related cause of death among women. In Palestine, breast cancer is the most common malignancy in total population and the most common adult female malignancy according to the Cancer Registry centers (CRC) and Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH). Activation induced cystidine deaminase (AID) is a member of APOBEC family of cystidine deaminase which deaminate cytosine in DNA leading to uracil. AID is an essential enzyme normally expressed in B cells. AID enzyme is necessary in diversifying the immune repertoire by two main processes; the first one is Class Switch Recombination (CSR), the second process is Somatic Hypermutation (SHM) which allows the immune system to adapt its response to any threats during the lifetime of an organism. Aberrant expression of AID causes genomic instability and induces mutations in multiple genes by favoring chromosome translocations and point mutations in both B and non-B cells, thereby stimulating cancer formation. AID expression has been reported in numerous cancers of non-B-cell origin, including breast, prostate, stomach, liver, and lung cancer. This study aims to screen the expression of AID protein in tissue sections of breast cancer in patients from Palestine and to determine the correlation between AID protein expression and the clinico-pathological data of these patients. To achieve this, paraffin blocks of 69 breast cancer with their clinico-pathological data were collected retrospectively, between years (2009-2013) from the pathology department of Beit Jala Hospital. The expression levels of AID protein were examined in these cases by Immunohistochemistry (IHC)analysis. Our results showed an aberrant AID expression in 26.1% (18 of 69) of the breast cancer cases. No statistical correlation was observed between AID protein expression and clinicopathological data of the patients such as age, tumor grade and tumor stage (p>0.05). Our study is the first one that examines AID protein expression protein in breast cancer tissue samples in Palestine and in the world. In conclusion, our study showed aberrant expression of AID protein in Palestinian breast cancer patients, and this study will shed the light on the cancer research in Palestine

Revitalizing the introductory programming course

In this paper we present our approach to revitalizing the introductory level programming course at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This course has been re-designed to make computer programming fun and accessible to female students who sign up for the IT program with no background in computing and in particular analytical and problem solving skills. The approach has been used at other universities and represents a marked departure from the use of a single programming language to employ multiple programming tools. The results we have obtained confirm the viability of the approach and is inspiring students to spend more time learning how to design and develop interesting applications that appeal to female students. In addition, ZU students have expressed a great deal of satisfaction and responded positively towards the new approach of learning how to program. © 2011 IEEE

Nanopesticides in comparison with agrochemicals: Outlook and future prospects for sustainable agriculture

Agrochemicals are products of advanced technologies that use inorganic pesticides and fertilizers. Widespread use of these compounds has adverse environmental effects, leading to acute and chronic exposure. Globally, scientists are adopting numerous green technologies to ensure a healthy and safe food supply and a livelihood for everyone. Nanotechnologies significantly impact all aspects of human activity, including agriculture, even if synthesizing certain nanomaterials is not environmentally friendly. Numerous nanomaterials may therefore make it easier to create natural insecticides, which are more effective and environmentally friendly. Nanoformulations can improve efficacy, reduce effective doses, and extend shelf life, while controlled-release products can improve the delivery of pesticides. Nanotechnology platforms enhance the bioavailability of conventional pesticides by changing kinetics, mechanisms, and pathways. This allows them to bypass biological and other undesirable resistance mechanisms, increasing their efficacy. The development of nanomaterials is expected to lead to a new generation of pesticides that are more effective and safer for life, humans, and the environment. This article aims to express at how nanopesticides are being used in crop protection now and in the future. This review aims to shed some light on the various impacts of agrochemicals, their benefits, and the function of nanopesticide formulations in agriculture

Effects of Electrohydraulic Therapy of Shock Waves on Pain and Lymphedema Measurement Post-Radical Mastectomy

Background: Lymphedema post-mastectomy remains a challenging problem. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of shock wave electrohydraulic treatment (ESWT) for patients with pain and lymphedema. Methods: Thirty patients (30 women) with pain & lymphedema post-radical mastectomy were evaluated to participate in this Clinical trial. They were recruited from the Minia Cancer Institute- Minia University and Deraya University outpatient clinics. Their ages varied between the ages of 40 and 50 years. They were divided into two groups. Group (1) 'Group of studies': 15 patients seeking ESWT in addition to conventional medical care. Group (2) 'Control group': 15 people seeking conventional medical care only. Patients of the study group (1) were treated with a number of impulses, at least 500 shocks at E2 at 4Hz (equivalent to 0.11mJ/mm square energy). Treatment sessions were delivered twice weekly for six treatments (3 weeks). The assessment used a Visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain and arm circumference midway between the shoulder and elbow for lymphedema measurement. Results: showed that (ESWT) on pain and lymphedema measurement post-radical mastectomy effectively decreased pain as evidenced by the highly significant decreases in the visual analogue scale. These results revealed a substantial VAS reduction (P<0.0001). Effects of the ESWT on lymphedema measurement via the arm circumference measurement at the point where the shoulder and the elbow meet post-radical mastectomy were investigated. These results revealed a notable reduction in the mean value of the arm circumference measurement (ACM) (P<0.0001). Conclusion: The significant reductions in VAS and assessment of the ACM arm range show that the ESWT, in addition to conventional therapy, significantly impacted upper limb structural components following radical mastectomy

Optimization of calcium carbonate precipitation during alpha-amylase enzyme-induced calcite precipitation (EICP)

The sand production during oil and gas extraction poses a severe challenge to the oil and gas companies as it causes erosion of pipelines and valves, damages the pumps, and ultimately decreases production. There are several solutions implemented to contain sand production including chemical and mechanical means. In recent times, extensive work has been done in geotechnical engineering on the application of enzyme-induced calcite precipitation (EICP) techniques for consolidating and increasing the shear strength of sandy soil. In this technique, calcite is precipitated in the loose sand through enzymatic activity to provide stiffness and strength to the loose sand. In this research, we investigated the process of EICP using a new enzyme named alpha-amylase. Different parameters were investigated to get the maximum calcite precipitation. The investigated parameters include enzyme concentration, enzyme volume, calcium chloride (CaCl2) concentration, temperature, the synergistic impact of magnesium chloride (MgCl2) and CaCl2, Xanthan Gum, and solution pH. The generated precipitate characteristics were evaluated using a variety of methods, including Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). It was observed that the pH, temperature, and concentrations of salts significantly impact the precipitation. The precipitation was observed to be enzyme concentration-dependent and increase with an increase in enzyme concentration as long as a high salt concentration was available. Adding more volume of enzyme brought a slight change in precipitation% due to excessive enzymes with little or no substrate available. The optimum precipitation (87%) was yielded at 12 pH and with 2.5 g/L of Xanthan Gum as a stabilizer at a temperature of 75°C. The synergistic effect of both CaCl2 and MgCl2 yielded the highest CaCO3 precipitation (32.2%) at (0.6:0.4) molar ratio. The findings of this research exhibited the significant advantages and insights of alpha-amylase enzyme in EICP, enabling further investigation of two precipitation mechanisms (calcite precipitation and dolomite precipitation)

Disparities in prevalence and barriers to hypertension control: a systematic review

Controlling hypertension (HTN) remains a challenge, as it is affected by various factors in different settings. This study aimed to describe the disparities in the prevalence and barriers to hypertension control across countries of various income categories. Three scholarly databases—ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Google Scholar—were systematically examined using predefined search terms to identify potentially relevant studies. Original research articles published in English between 2011 and 2022 that reported the prevalence and barriers to HTN control were included. A total of 33 studies were included in this systematic review. Twenty-three studies were conducted in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), and ten studies were from high-income countries (HIC). The prevalence of hypertension control in the LMIC and HIC studies ranged from (3.8% to 50.4%) to (36.3% to 69.6%), respectively. Concerning barriers to hypertension control, patient-related barriers were the most frequently reported (n = 20), followed by medication adherence barriers (n = 10), lifestyle-related barriers (n = 8), barriers related to the affordability and accessibility of care (n = 8), awareness-related barriers (n = 7), and, finally, barriers related to prescribed pharmacotherapy (n = 6). A combination of more than one category of barriers was frequently encountered, with 59 barriers reported overall across the 33 studies. This work reported disparities in hypertension control and barriers across studies conducted in LMIC and HIC. Recognizing the multifactorial nature of the barriers to hypertension control, particularly in LMIC, is crucial in designing and implementing customized interventions

Optimal deep learning driven intrusion detection in SDN-Enabled IoT environment

In recent years, wireless networks are widely used in different domains. This phenomenon has increased the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and their applications. Though IoT has numerous advantages, the commonly-used IoT devices are exposed to cyber-attacks periodically. This scenario necessitates real-time automated detection and the mitigation of different types of attacks in high-traffic networks. The Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technique and the Machine Learning (ML)-based intrusion detection technique are effective tools that can quickly respond to different types of attacks in the IoT networks. The Intrusion Detection System (IDS) models can be employed to secure the SDN-enabled IoT environment in this scenario. The current study devises a Harmony Search algorithm-based Feature Selection with Optimal Convolutional Autoencoder (HSAFS-OCAE) for intrusion detection in the SDN-enabled IoT environment. The presented HSAFS-OCAE method follows a three-stage process in which the Harmony Search Algorithm-based FS (HSAFS) technique is exploited at first for feature selection. Next, the CAE method is leveraged to recognize and classify intrusions in the SDN-enabled IoT environment. Finally, the Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm (AFSA) is used to fine-tune the hyperparameters. This process improves the outcomes of the intrusion detection process executed by the CAE algorithm and shows the work’s novelty. The proposed HSAFS-OCAE technique was experimentally validated under different aspects, and the comparative analysis results established the supremacy of the proposed model

Prevalence of newly detected diabetes in pregnancy in Qatar, using universal screening.

Diabetes first detected during pregnancy is currently divided into gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and diabetes mellitus (DM)- most of which are type 2 DM (T2DM). This study aims to define the prevalence and outcomes of diabetes first detected in pregnancy based on 75-gram oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT)using the recent WHO/IADPSG guidelines in a high-risk population. This is a retrospective study that included all patients who underwent a 75 g (OGTT) between Jan 2016 and Apr 2016 and excluded patients with known pre-conception diabetes. The overall prevalence of newly detected diabetes in pregnancy among the 2000 patients who fulfilled the inclusion/exclusion criteria was 24.0% (95% CI 22.1-25.9) of which T2DM was 2.5% (95% CI 1.9-3.3), and GDM was 21.5% (95% CI 19.7-23.3). The prevalence of newly detected diabetes in pregnancy was similar among the different ethnic groups. The T2DM group was older (mean age in years was 34 ±5.7 vs 31.7±5.7 vs 29.7 ±5.7, p<0.001); and has a higher mean BMI (32.4±6.4 kg/m2 vs 31.7±6.2 kg/m2 vs 29.7± 6.2 kg/m2, p< 0.01) than the GDM and the non-DM groups, respectively. The frequency of pre-eclampsia, pre-term delivery, Caesarean-section, macrosomia, LGA and neonatal ICU admissions were significantly higher in the T2DM group compared to GDM and non-DM groups. Diabetes first detected in pregnancy is equally prevalent among the various ethnic groups residing in Qatar. Newly detected T2DM carries a higher risk of poor pregnancy outcomes; stressing the importance of proper classification of cases of newly detected diabetes in pregnancy.The authors received no specific funding for this wor

Hormonal and inflammatory modulatory effects of hesperidin in hyperthyroidism-modeled rats

The goal of the current study was to investigate the hormonal modulatory efficiency of hesperidin, through its regulatory potential of immunological, inflammatory, and/or antioxidant changes in on hyperthyroidism modeled adult female albino rats. Both normal and hyperthyroidism modeled rats (140-160g) were randomly divided into four groups (10 animals each) as follows: 1) healthy animals were daily ingested with saline for six weeks, and served as control group, 2) healthy animals were intraperitoneally injected with hesperidin (50 mg/kg/day) for a similar period, 3) hyperthyroidism-modeled animals without any treatment acted as positive control, and 4) hyperthyroidism-modeled animals were treated intraperitoneally with hesperidin for a similar period. The findings showed that hesperidin significantly modulated hyperthyroidism deteriorations, this was evidenced by a remarkable decline in serum T4, FT4, T3, FT3, TNF-α, IL1β-, IL4-, IL-6, and IL-10 levels, with a minor increase in TSH and significant raise in CD4+ level. Similarly, valuable improvement was observed in the oxidative status; serum SOD, GPx, CAT, and GSH levels were dramatically enhanced, associated with remarkable drop in MDA and NO levels. Also, hesperidin demonstrated nephro-hepatoprotective and anti-atherogenic potential, this was achieved from the notable reduction in ALAT and ASAT activities as well as urea, creatinine, cholesterol, and triglyceride close to the corresponding values of healthy group. These findings were supported by histological and immunohistochemical ones that showed a notable decrease in the expression of the calcitonin antibody. In conclusion, hesperidin possesses anti-hyperthyroidism, immunoinflammatory regulatory, and antioxidant activities that evidenced from the improvement of physio-architecture of the thyroid gland, reduction of inflammation and restoration of the impaired oxidative stress. This effect might be mechanized through immunological, inflammatory, apoptotic, and/or antioxidant modulatory pathways