Exploring the Level of Managerial, Political, Academic, Economic and Social Women Empowerment in Saudi Arabia

Women empowerment may be utilized for sustainable development by using hidden un-utilized potential of the country. The present research is estimated the perception-based level of managerial, academic, economic, political and social women empowerment from a well-structured questionnaire. The Cronbach Alpha test is corroborated the reliability of each item in the hypothesized women empowerment dimension. We corroborate the satisfactory level of women empowerment in all hypothesized dimensions as per perception of the respondents. The highest average score is found for social women empowerment. It means that social women empowerment played a greatest role among others to empower the Saudi women. The second rank is achieved by academic women empowerment and the third position is for economic empowerment. Thus, economic empowerment and academic empowerment are playing their significant role in empowering the Saudi women. The lowest average mean is found for political empowerment. Hence, political domain need attention to provide women rights in political participation and processes

Human Wharton's Jelly Stem Cell (hWJSC) Extracts Inhibit Ovarian Cancer Cell Lines OVCAR3 and SKOV3 in vitro by Inducing Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis

Ovarian cancer is a highly lethal and the second highest in mortality among gynecological cancers. Stem cells either naïve or engineered are reported to inhibit various human cancers in both in-vitro and in-vivo. Herein we report the cancer inhibitory properties of human Wharton's jelly stem cell (hWJSC) extracts, namely its conditioned medium (hWJSC-CM) and cell lysate (hWJSC-CL) against two ovarian cancer cell lines (OVCAR3 and SKOV3) in-vitro. Cell metabolic activity assay of OVCAR3 and SKOV3 cells treated with hWJSC-CM (12.5, 25, 50, 75, 100%) and hWJSC-CL (5, 10, 15, 30, and 50 μg/ml) demonstrated concentration dependent inhibition at 24–72 h. Morphological analysis of OVCAR3 and SKOV3 cells treated with hWJSC-CM (50, 75, 100%) and hWJSC-CL (15, 30, and 50 μg/ml) for 24–72 h showed cell shrinkage, membrane damage/blebbings and cell death. Cell cycle assay demonstrated an increase in the sub-G1 and G2M phases of cell cycle following treatment with hWJSC-CM (50, 75, 100%) and hWJSC-CL (10, 15, and 30 μg/ml) at 48 h. Both OVCAR3 and SKOV3 cells demonstrated mild positive expression of activated caspase 3 following treatment with hWJSC-CM (50%) and hWJSC-CL (15 μg/ml) for 24 h. Cell migration of OVCAR3 and SKOV3 cells were inhibited following treatment with hWJSC-CM (50%) and hWJSC-CL (15 μg/ml) for 48 h. Tumor spheres (TS) of OVCAR3 and SKOV3 treated with hWJSC-CM (50, 75, 100%) and hWJSC-CL (10, 15, 30 μg/ml) for 48 h showed altered surface changes including vacuolations and reduction in size of TS. TS of OVCAR3 and SKOV3 also showed the presence of few ovarian cancer stem cells (CSCs) in minimal numbers following treatment with hWJSC-CM (50%) or hWJSC-CL (15 μg/ml) for 48 h. Real-time gene expression analysis of OVCAR3 and SKOV3 treated with hWJSC-CM (50%) or hWJSC-CL (15 μg/ml) for 48 h demonstrated decreased expression of cell cycle regulatory genes (cyclin A2, Cyclin E1), prostaglandin receptor signaling genes (EP2, EP4) and the pro-inflmmatory genes (IL-6, TNF-α) compared to untreated controls. The results indicate that hWJSC-CM and hWJSC-CL inhibit ovarian cancer cells at mild to moderate levels by inducing cellular changes, cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, decreasing the expression of CSC markers and related genes regulation. Therefore, the stem cell factors in hWJSCs extracts can be useful in cancer management

Comprehensive molecular biomarker identification in breast cancer brain metastases

Abstract Background Breast cancer brain metastases (BCBM) develop in about 20–30% of breast cancer (BC) patients. BCBM are associated with dismal prognosis not at least due to lack of valuable molecular therapeutic targets. The aim of the study was to identify new molecular biomarkers and targets in BCBM by using complementary state-of-the-art techniques. Methods We compared array expression profiles of three BCBM with 16 non-brain metastatic BC and 16 primary brain tumors (prBT) using a false discovery rate (FDR) p  2. Biofunctional analysis was conducted on the differentially expressed probe sets. High-density arrays were employed to detect copy number variations (CNVs) and whole exome sequencing (WES) with paired-end reads of 150 bp was utilized to detect gene mutations in the three BCBM. Results The top 370 probe sets that were differentially expressed between BCBM and both BC and prBT were in the majority comparably overexpressed in BCBM and included, e.g. the coding genes BCL3, BNIP3, BNIP3P1, BRIP1, CASP14, CDC25A, DMBT1, IDH2, E2F1, MYCN, RAD51, RAD54L, and VDR. A number of small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) were comparably overexpressed in BCBM and included SNORA1, SNORA2A, SNORA9, SNORA10, SNORA22, SNORA24, SNORA30, SNORA37, SNORA38, SNORA52, SNORA71A, SNORA71B, SNORA71C, SNORD13P2, SNORD15A, SNORD34, SNORD35A, SNORD41, SNORD53, and SCARNA22. The top canonical pathway was entitled, role of BRCA1 in DNA damage response. Network analysis revealed key nodes as Akt, ERK1/2, NFkB, and Ras in a predicted activation stage. Downregulated genes in a data set that was shared between BCBM and prBT comprised, e.g. BC cell line invasion markers JUN, MMP3, TFF1, and HAS2. Important cancer genes affected by CNVs included TP53, BRCA1, BRCA2, ERBB2, IDH1, and IDH2. WES detected numerous mutations, some of which affecting BC associated genes as CDH1, HEPACAM, and LOXHD1. Conclusions Using complementary molecular genetic techniques, this study identified shared and unshared molecular events in three highly aberrant BCBM emphasizing the challenge to detect new molecular biomarkers and targets with translational implications. Among new findings with the capacity to gain clinical relevance is the detection of overexpressed snoRNAs known to regulate some critical cellular functions as ribosome biogenesis

An Empirical Study of Mobile Commerce and Customers Security Perception in Saudi Arabia

Digital transformation of businesses has seen tremendous growth recently, moreover, COVID-19 has increased online shopping. However, it is important for businesses that customers’ online shopping experience is secure and joyful. In this paper, customers’ security perception regarding some leading mobile commerce applications in Saudi Arabia is explored. Our survey questions focused on three aspects, namely: Consumer rating, trustworthiness, and credit card security. The results highlight that consumers perceive that mobile commerce applications in Saudi Arabia need further improvement in security. In this work, a model to improve customers’ security perception in Saudi Arabia is presented. This model can be generalized to other geographical regions as well. The model outlines different actions for practitioners and policymakers that help in improving security infrastructure, authentication mechanisms, and trustworthiness

Microarray Expression Data Identify <i>DCC</i> as a Candidate Gene for Early Meningioma Progression

<div><p>Meningiomas are the most common primary brain tumors bearing in a minority of cases an aggressive phenotype. Although meningiomas are stratified according to their histology and clinical behavior, the underlying molecular genetics predicting aggressiveness are not thoroughly understood. We performed whole transcript expression profiling in 10 grade I and four grade II meningiomas, three of which invaded the brain. Microarray expression analysis identified deleted in colorectal cancer (<i>DCC</i>) as a differentially expressed gene (DEG) enabling us to cluster meningiomas into <i>DCC</i> low expression (3 grade I and 3 grade II tumors), <i>DCC</i> medium expression (2 grade I and 1 grade II tumors), and <i>DCC</i> high expression (5 grade I tumors) groups. Comparison between the <i>DCC</i> low expression and <i>DCC</i> high expression groups resulted in 416 DEGs (<i>p</i>-value < 0.05; fold change > 2). The most significantly downregulated genes in the <i>DCC</i> low expression group comprised <i>DCC</i>, phosphodiesterase 1C (<i>PDE1C</i>), calmodulin-dependent 70kDa olfactomedin 2 (<i>OLFM2</i>), glutathione S-transferase mu 5 (<i>GSTM5</i>), phosphotyrosine interaction domain containing 1 (<i>PID1</i>), sema domain, transmembrane domain (TM) and cytoplasmic domain, (semaphorin) 6D (<i>SEMA6D</i>), and indolethylamine N-methyltransferase (<i>INMT</i>). The most significantly upregulated genes comprised chromosome 5 open reading frame 63 (<i>C5orf63</i>), homeodomain interacting protein kinase 2 (<i>HIPK2</i>), and basic helix-loop-helix family, member e40 (<i>BHLHE40</i>). Biofunctional analysis identified as predicted top upstream regulators beta-estradiol, TGFB1, Tgf beta complex, LY294002, and dexamethasone and as predicted top regulator effectors NFkB, PIK3R1, and CREBBP. The microarray expression data served also for a comparison between meningiomas from female and male patients and for a comparison between brain invasive and non-invasive meningiomas resulting in a number of significant DEGs and related biofunctions. In conclusion, based on its expression levels, <i>DCC</i> may constitute a valid biomarker to identify those benign meningiomas at risk for progression.</p></div