Risk and Protective Factors Associated with Ovarian Cancer among Two Egyptian Cohorts

Context: Ovarian cancer is a global health crisis, as it is one of the devastating diagnoses for the patient and family. A nurse is a key person in the effort of health promotion, screening, and early detection. As well as care through the illness continuum.Aim: This study aims to determine the risk factors of ovarian cancer among two Egyptian cohorts and determine the possible protective factors of ovarian cancer among two Egyptian cohorts. Methods: A descriptive exploratory (Case/control) prospective research design was used to achieve the study aim. The study was conducted in two clinical settings: National Cancer Institute (for cases) and El-Minia General Hospital (for controls). The study recruited 80 cases with a confirmed diagnosis of ovarian cancer and 456 healthy controls without ovarian cancer. A structured interview questionnaire was used to collect data regarding the presence of possible risk and protective factors. Results: The results of the present study revealed a highly statistically significant difference between cases and controls regarding their educational level, family history of ovarian cancer, types of other cancers, hysterectomy, and eating a low-fat diet at p<0.001. The study also showed a statistically significant difference regarding age at menopause, the degree of relationship with colorectal cancer relatives, and history of endometriosis at p<0.05. Conclusion: The study signifies the level of education, hysterectomy, late age at menopause, and eating a low-fat diet as protective- factors against ovarian cancer while signifies the positive family history of ovarian cancer and endometriosis as risk factors associated with ovarian cancer. The study recommended trained health care providers to monitor trends in ovarian cancer occurrence, disparities in care and health assurance assistance, provide screening and early detection activities, care, education for healthy women at risk for ovarian cancer

Nonparametric Density Estimation Using Partially Rank-Ordered Set Samples With Application in Estimating the Distribution of Wheat Yield

We study nonparametric estimation of an unknown density function $f$ based on the ranked-based observations obtained from a partially rank-ordered set (PROS) sampling design. PROS sampling design has many applications in environmental, ecological and medical studies where the exact measurement of the variable of interest is costly but a small number of sampling units can be ordered with respect to the variable of interest by any means other than actual measurements and this can be done at low cost. PROS observations involve independent order statistics which are not identically distributed and most of the commonly used nonparametric techniques are not directly applicable to them. We first develop kernel density estimates of $f$ based on an imperfect PROS sampling procedure and study its theoretical properties. Then, we consider the problem when the underlying distribution is assumed to be symmetric and introduce some plug-in kernel density estimators of $f$. We use an EM type algorithm to estimate misplacement probabilities associated with an imperfect PROS design. Finally, we expand on various numerical illustrations of our results via several simulation studies and a case study to estimate the distribution of wheat yield using the total acreage of land which is planted in wheat as an easily obtained auxiliary information. Our results show that the PROS density estimate performs better than its SRS and RSS counterparts.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, 4 table

Growth Of Post-Weaned Grazing Dairy Heifers When Evaluating The Effects Of Providing Shade Or Parasite Control

Reduced heat stress and lower gastrointestinal parasite loads can increase growth rate in heifers, potentially reducing the age at first breeding and lowering the costs associated with raising replacement dairy heifers. Providing shade is a recommended practice for reducing heat stress of grazing animals and is considered important for their wellbeing and productivity. However, limited information is available on the growth performance of young grazing dairy heifers when they are provided shade. Likewise, numerous products exist to prevent gastrointestinal parasites in animals. The development of new anthelmintic products, such as LongRange® (eprinomectin), increase the need for research to help understand the effects of these products on growth rates and fecal egg counts (FEC) in post-weaned dairy heifers. Studies were conducted to evaluate management strategies for reducing heat stress and parasite loads in pre-pubertal grazing dairy heifers. The objectives of these studies were: Study 1) to determine the effects of shade on the growth performance of grazing Holstein dairy heifers throughout the summer months, and Study 2) to compare the effect of eprinomectin (LongRange ® ) and doramectin (Dectomax® ) on weight gain, structural growth, and FEC of post-weaned dairy heifers grazed over the summer months. In study 1, 76 (n = 44 in 2012 and n = 32 in 2013) Holstein heifers were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups according to BW (163.8 ± 7.27 kg, 150.6 ± 8.5 d age). Groups were assigned to 1 of 2 treatments: no shade (NOSHADE) or 1.7 m2 shade/heifer in 2012 and 2.3 m2 shade/heifer in 2013 (SHADE). In study 2, 48 Holstein heifers were randomly assigned to 1 of 12 groups according to BW (169.5 ± 8.5 kg, 149.8 ± 13.8 d of age) in 2014. Groups were assigned to 1 of 2 treatments: 1) treated with injectable eprinomectin (LongRange ® ) (LGR) or 2) treated with injectable doramectin (Dectomax® ) and pyrethroid impregnated fly tags (DFT). Body weight (BW), hip height (HH), withers height (WH), hip width (HW), body condition score (BCS), and heart girth (HG) were measured every 4 weeks in all years. Rectal temperatures were collected every 4 weeks in study 1. Blood samples were collected for plasma urea nitrogen (PUN) analysis in all years. The duration of the studies were from May until September in years 2012 and 2013 and from May until August in year 2014. For study 2, individual fecal samples were collected for FEC and fly counts were determined. Data on water intake was collected in 2013 and 2014. Temperature and relative humidity were recorded using data loggers in all years. Data were analyzed using PROC MIXED in SAS. Growth data were analyzed as repeated records with paddock as the experimental unit. Providing shade during the summer months or treating for gastrointestinal parasites did not change BW (P = 0.72) and (P = 0.70), respectively. The ADG was similar between the treatments in both studies. Skeletal measurements, including HH, WH, HW, and HG, were similar both in study 1 (P = 0.25) and in study 2 (P = 0.34). In study 1, when data were compared by year, BW and ADG were similar between years (P = 0.27). Skeletal measurements including HH, WH, HG, and HW were different between the years (P \u3c 0.01). The BCS and rectal temperatures were different between the years (P \u3c 0.01), but no treatment differences were detected (P \u3c 0.85). Temperature loggers recorded lower average ambient temperatures in SHADE compared to NOSHADE in both 2012 (32.1 and 33.1°C, respectively) and in 2013 (27.7 and 28.7°C, respectively) during mid-day (1200 to 1500 hr). Providing shade did not improve the growth performance of Holstein dairy heifers in study 1. In study 2, heifers receiving LGR had lower FEC (P = 0.02). In contrast, heifers treated with DFT tended to be lower in count of horn flies (P = 0.08). Water intake and face fly counts were similar between the treatments (P = 0.24). The two parasite control products had similar effects on growth of post-weaned dairy heifers; however, the LGR treatment reduced FEC and the DFT treatment reduced horn flies

Marital economies: A comparative class study in two contemporary Cairo neighborhoods

This thesis topic emerged out of my own personal experience. When my daughter engaged many questions came to my mind, such as what is the criterion upon which our family and the groom\u27s family will run the marital expenditures needed for them to start their new life. As it was the first experience to my family I started to discuss this matter with people who belong to my community and who had experiences in that regard to benefit from their past experiences. I primarily noticed that their marital monetary decisions are not identical. Then, I started to widen my discussion to include different social segments; the disparities between their choices was not based only on their different socioeconomic circumstances as I thought. As there were various opinions and beliefs between the older and younger members in the one family. I also noticed that when people make specific choices regarding marital economic imperatives they not only aim to purchase the material function of the commodity, but they portray and represent themselves according to the self-image they previously have or aim to become. Which obviously appear in the different patterns of consumption they practice. Exploring the driving forces that control their choices was what ignited my curiosity as a researcher. While the process of establishing a new family consists of different social, economic and cultural elements, it was important to problematize my study within the dominant socio-economic and cultural climate in the Egyptian context, which is characterized by the implementation of neoliberal economic policies. In addition to consumption culture that led to the commodification of everything including marriage. My thesis has attempted to fill a research gap through looking at how new subjectivities are made and remade in two economically and socially distinct areas; Ain-Shams and Al-Rehab city. This is a novelty because most (if not all) ethnographies conducted on the Egyptian household tend to focus on lower income communities. The research enhances the debates in the field by examining the shifts in marital imperatives patterns of consumption among the different segments of the middle-class Egyptians after 2011th revolution, with a particular focus on how these modes of consumption in addition to self- commodification work to constitute new socioeconomic subjectivities and status distinctions in changing urban spaces. This specific focus represents another novelty in my thesis. While the research focusses on the disparate modes of consuming marital imperatives I argue that consumption practices in Egypt deserve more scholarly attention than they have received. This research could be a foundational read for future researchers interested in the topic and many fruitful future research questions can be found in its pages. For example, it may interest those working on urban space, youth, and the social consequences of economic transformation; in addition to urban redistribution in contemporary Egypt. The ethnographic research methodology was my primary method of collecting data, participant observation and face-to-face interaction with my interlocutors facilitates my attempt to explore how individuals in the two assigned neighborhoods construct, reconstruct and display new subjectivities under the logic of commodification. In other words, it helped me to touch the actuality of the theoretical framework of my thesis. I have accomplished a comprehensive insight about the way in which the commodification of marriage as a part of the commodification of all walks of life under neoliberalism and capitalist economy affects the process of selfsubjectification through two possible mechanisms. first by self-understanding which is mediated by consuming marital imperatives that holds specific social images. In this sense, self-definition depends on the appropriation of the traits of commodities. We know who we are, we judge the quality of our inner experience and we represent ourselves through identification with the things we buy. Second by self-commodification that involves the reorganization of our personal lives and relationships on the model of market relations. This adaptation is well illustrated by the recent practice of personal branding a strategy of cultivating a name and image of ourselves that we manipulate for economic gains. In my research I had presented several examples of self- branding within the economics of marriage. Both meanings of self-commodification concern the terms in which we define and display ourselves and our well-being. Money is at the heart of the construction of new subjectivity within the economics of marriage. On the one hand, it is needed for purchasing marital imperatives and on the other hand it is the main destination for selfcommodification and obtaining independence especially for the young generations who are suffering from the longevity of dependency on their families. Which negatively affects their freedom to choose their priorities in spending the cost of marriage. The precarious state of being within the Egyptian neoliberal context has been expanded to contain different social segments such as well-educated young generations which forced a great number of them to invest in themselves; the individuals are constituted as subjects of human capital . In sum, some of the motivations that lead the economic choices among Al-Rehab residents was the lifestyle and peer and social pressure while for Ain Shams inhabitants were money, traditions and showing off

Measuring Sensitive Nursing Outcomes in Patient with Acute Myocardial Infarction: Tool Development and Validation

Context: The outcomes movement is a young science; improving care by determining the outcomes of nursing interventions will give scientific validity to strategies used by nursing in various venues. Cardiovascular nurses contribute significantly to health outcomes and frequently assume responsibility for the clinical and organizational processes to ensure positive outcomes for patients and families. Aims: This study aimed to identify nursing-sensitive outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction, to develop a tool to measure nursing-sensitive outcomes of caring patients with myocardial infarction, and to evaluate the content, face validity, reliability, and nursing sensitivity of 46 nursing-sensitive outcomes concerning bio-psycho-socio-educational aspects of care for patients with myocardial infarction from the Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC). Methods: A survey research design was used in this study to assess the content and face validity of the designed instrument, and inter-rater reliability was utilized to assure its reliability. Thirty patients with acute myocardial infarction were subjected to measuring their nursing-sensitive outcomes during their stay in the CCUs or intermediate units. Fifty-nine experts were invited to participate in this study. Nursing-Sensitive Outcomes Measuring Scale was developed and subjected to testing reliability, validity, and sensitivity. Results: Most of the studied outcomes showed a high degree of consistency, as indicated by ICC above 0.900. 100% of the experts rated 14 out of 46 outcomes as very important; the remaining outcomes were assessed by more than 75% of the experts as important. Also, 18 out of 46 outcomes were rated by the 100% experts as very sensitive to the contribution of nursing intervention; no one outcome was rated as not important or not sensitive to nursing contribution. Conclusions: The study provided evidence of outcomes content validity, reliability, and nursing sensitivity of the studied outcomes. The study recommended the testing of NOC outcomes in various clinical settings with appropriate training for nurses and the inclusion of NOC into nursing curricula to be utilized in clinical education as a continuum for nursing diagnoses classification

A study on relationship between CAMELS Index's and Risk taking: A case study of Iranian banking industry

Among the activists of the money market, banks as the most important financial institutions undertake an important role in optimal appropriation of financial short-term resources. Furthermore, they allocate the short-term surplus funds to enterprises, which have a short-term need. Holding a main part of the funds in economy circulation, banks have a critical role in adjustment of economic relations. Banks are facing different types of risks in their daily operations. In the banking system, the CAMELS indictors are used to evaluate and rate of the performance of banks. The CAMELS rating model is one of the most effective systems of financial assessment in banks. Therefore, in this research, the effects of CAMELS indicators of banks on risk taking of Iranian banks are studied. The statistical population of the national banking system includes all governmental and private banks. The whole statistical population is studied as a research sample during 2006-2011. Taking into consideration the fact that the research data or section-bounded and time-bounded, a combinational regression analysis has been used. The results of the combinational regression analysis have supported the presence of a reverse and meaningful effect of the indicators of assets quality and sensitivity of market risk on risk taking in national banks. In addition, the results have supported the direct and meaningful effects of capital sufficiency and quality of profit-making on risk taking, however, the effects of the indicators of management quality and liquidity quality on risk taking have been rejected

Disidentification, anxiety and narration as epistemological windows: questioning the process of knowledge construction in a research in Chiapas, Mexico

One possible question to open the debate on the specific modes of intervention in the field of social research is: How to build a narrative that accounts for the actors’ ability to generate knowledge? Based on this question, the paper proposes a set of tools to analyze the institutional conditions of social research practice, which facilitates the recognition of hierarchies that pervade the relationship between actors and researchers. This awareness creates the possibility for an encounter whose purpose is the joint production of social knowledge which transcends the academic institutional logic.Uma possível questão para iniciar o debate sobre os modos específicos de intervenção no campo da pesquisa social é: como construir uma narrativa que explana a capacidade dos atores para gerar conhecimento? Com base nesta questão, o artigo propõe um conjunto de ferramentas para analisar as condições institucionais da pesquisa social que facilita o reconhecimento das hierarquias que permeiam a relação entre atores e investigadores. Esta consciencialização cria a possibilidade de um encontro cujo objetivo é a produção conjunta de conhecimento social que transcende a lógica institucional académica.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Stimulated luminescence behavior by embedding activated silver nanoparticles in tellurite glass

A series of samarium doped magnesium tellurite glass embedded silver nanoparticles has successfully been prepared by melt quenching technique. The amorphous nature of the glass is determined by X-ray diffraction method while the existences of Ag NPs are confirmed using Transmission Electron Microscopy analysis. The optical measurements are performed by UV-Vis absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy. It is found that the glass is amorphous in nature while the TEM image displays the randomly oriented spherical and non-spherical silver NPs with an average size of about 17 nm in diameter. From the UV-Vis absorption spectra, the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peaks are detected at 550 and 578 nm while from the PL spectra, a single emission band for each composition which corresponds to 4G5/2?6H11/2 transition is observed under an excitation of 554 nm. The intensity of this transition enhances as the concentration of AgCl is increased up to 0.4 mol%. Meanwhile the Q-factor increases with the increasing of up to 0.4 mol% AgCl which indicates the phonon loss through the non-radiative emission is reduced. At this composition, the decay lifetime reduces which indicate that the energy transfer from Ag NPs to Sm3+ ions have effectively taken place, resulted in a small dissipation of energy. On the other hand, beyond 0.4 mol% AgCl, the Q-factor is decreased while the decay lifetime is increased

AN INTEGER PROGRAMMING APPROACH FOR SINGLE TRUCK ROUTING-AND-SCHEDULING PROBLEMS TO ISLANDS WITH TIME-VARYING FERRY SCHEDULES

This study aims to develop a solving model for the single trucks routing-and-scheduling problems to islands with variations in ferry schedules. In this problem, the travel time is asymmetric and the truck routing is based on the sequence of island visits, known and unknown. The models are developed using an integer programming approach. Integer non-linear programming is formulated to solve problems where the sequence is unknown, whereas integer linear programming for the sequence is known. Besides, a delivery day scenario is built to determine the optimal route and schedule with minimum total travel time on each departure day. Numerical experiments were carried out on the case of a small distribution of a small industry in Central Moluccas, Indonesia. The results showed that the model developed could provide solutions to solve problems