Health Care System Based on Semantic Web and XML Technologies

The purpose and the goal of the paper is using a semantic web and XML (the Extensible Markup Language) technologies for managing medical information during a diagnostic process is studied. Following a steady international move towards optimization of health care delivery, the latest development in information technology has drawn the health care industry decision makers’ attention. The introduction of proper information technology innovations within the health care processes should provide the necessary optimization. In this manner can be proposed an approach to manage medical data during the whole diagnostic process using the semantic Web and XML technologies. The purpose of the Semantic Web is to bring structure to the content of Web pages allowing software agents to carry out intelligent tasks for the user. This opens a new set of opportunities that can be utilized to improve health care management on a personal and health care provider level. The aim of this paper in progress is to identify the needs and match them to the services possible with the Semantic Web. In this paper, presented an ontology-based framework that successfully combines both Semantic Web and XML technologies to enable the integrated access to biological data sources. The main goal is the seamless integration and application of these technologies in such a way that their deficiencies are over come and their utility maximized. Keywords: Health Care, Semantic Web, Ontology, XM

Effect of Some Heavy Metals on Testosterone Hormone in Infertile Men

الخلفية: يتم تعريف العقم على أنه فشل في تحقيق الحمل بعد عام واحد وأكثر من الاتصال الجنسي غير المحمي بانتظام. ارتبط تعرض الجهاز التناسلي للمعادن الثقيلة أيضًا بالعقم عند الرجال. وهناك عدد كبير من المعادن عبارة عن مواد سامة للجهاز التناسلي ويشتبه في كونها مضطربة لنظام الغدد الصماء. المرضى والطرق: أجريت هذه الدراسة في المعهد العالي لتشخيص العقم والتقنيات المساعدة الإنجابية في جامعة النهرين ومركز استشاري التسمم / مستشفى الجراحات التخصصية في مدينة الطب في الفترة من نوفمبر 2018 إلى أبريل 2019. كان عدد الرجال 150 المسجلين في هذه الدراسة مقسمة إلى مجموعتين ، المريض ومجموعات المراقبة الطبيعية. وشملت مجموعة المرضى 100 رجل تتراوح أعمارهم بين 20-50 سنة. شملت المجموعة الثانية 50 رجلاً يتمتعون بصحة جيدة ولديهم طفلان على الأقل دون أي تاريخ سابق للأمراض الجهازية كمجموعة مراقبة. تم تقدير تركيزات المعادن الثقيلة لجميع مجموعات الدراسة. الهدف من الدراسة الحالية هو تقييم بعض تركيزات المعادن الثقيلة ، في الدم والدم الكامل للمجموعات. تقييم هرمون التستوستيرون في مصل الرجال المصابين بالعقم والضوابط الصحية ودراسة العلاقة بين هذا الهرمون والعناصر النزرة التي قدرت بين الحالات. النتائج : أظهرت تراكيز المعادن الثقيلة وهي كل من النحاس والرصاص والكادميوم زيادة معنوية عالية وتحت مستوى احتمالية اقل من 0.010.01 في مصل دم و دم الرجال العقيمين حيث سجلت (139.7+ 8.49 Mg/dl, 24.18 + 4.30 Mg/dl, 0.31 + 0.10 Mg/dl) على التوالي وعند المقارنة مع التراكيز في مصل الدم و دم الرجال السليمين ( السيطرة ) كانت النتائج  على التوالي(125.14 + 10.12 Mg/dl, 15.24 + 2.69 Mg/dl, 0.16 + 0.03 Mg/dl)  كما أظهرت متوسطات عنصر الزنك (القصدير) انخفاضا معنويا عاليا عند مستوى احتمالية اقل من 0.01      (70.82+9.48Mg/dl) في مصل دم الرجال العقيمين مقارنة مع مجموعة السيطرة حيث كانت كما أظهرت تراكيز هرمون الشحمون الخصوي انخفاضا معنويا عاليا وتحت مستوى احتمالية اقل من 0.01  (185.40 + 61.92 Ng/dl)  (450.35+131.27 Ng/dl) بالمقارنة مع مجموعة الرجال السليمين كذلك كانت علاقة الارتباط لمستويات تراكيز عنصر النحاس وهرمون الشحمون الخصوي في مصل الدم عكسية عند الرجال العقيمين. الاستنتاجات: خلصت هذه الدراسة إلى أن بعض المعادن الثقيلة أظهرت أنها مؤشرات لعقم الرجال. ارتبط مستوى النحاس في المصل سلبًا بمستوى هرمون التستوستيرون في المصل لدى الرجال المصابين بالعقم، وهذه النتيجة يمكن أن تفترض أن النحاس الزائد يعمل كمضاد هرموني. لم تظهر المعادن الثقيلة المتبقية ارتباطًا كبيرًا بالهرمونات المحددة.Background:  Infertility is defined as a failure of achieve a pregnancy after one year and more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. The exposure of reproductive system to heavy metals has also been associated with male infertility. A large number of metals are toxicants to the reproductive system and are suspected to be endocrine system disruptors.   Patients and methods:  This study performed at the high institute of infertility diagnosis and assisted reproductive technologies in Al-Nahrain University and the Poisoning consultation center / specialized surgeries hospital in the Medical city in period from November 2018 to April 2019.  Number of 150 men were enrolled in this study divided into two groups, the patient and the normal control groups. The infertile group included 100 men aged 20-50 years who they have abnormal seminal fluid analysis parameters. The second group included 50 healthy fertile men who have at least two children without any previous history of systemic diseases as a control group. Heavy metals and testosterone concentrations were estimated for all the study groups. Aim of current study are evaluation of some heavy metals concentrations, in serum and whole blood of groups. Assessment of testosterone hormone in serum of infertile men and healthy controls and study the correlation between this hormone and trace elements which were estimated among cases. Results: The heavy metals Cu, Pb and Cd showed a highly significant increase (p<0.01) in the serum and blood of infertile men (159.77±8.49 µg/dl, 24.18±4.30µg/dl, 0.31±0.10 µg/dl) respectively when compared with their concentrations in healthy control men (125.14±10.12 µg/dl, 15.74±2.69 µg/dl, 0.16±0.03 µg/dl) respectively. The mean levels of Zn showed a highly significant decrease (p<0.01) in the serum of infertile men (70.82±9.48 µg/dl) compared to its mean level in the healthy control group (95.70±11.41 µg/dl). Serum testosterone hormone in infertile men (185.40±61.92 ng/ml) showed a highly significant decrease (p<0.01) as compared with those of healthy men (450.35±131.27 ng/ml). Serum copper level was negatively correlated with serum testosterone level among infertile men. Conclusions: this study concluded that some heavy metals were shown to be an indicators for men infertility. Serum copper level was negatively correlated with serum Testosterone level among infertile men .This result can hypothesize that excess copper acts as a hormonal disrupter. The remaining heavy metals did not show significant correlation with the selected hormones

Oral mucosal lesions in skin diseased patients attending a dermatologic clinic: a cross-sectional study in Sudan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>So far there have been no studies focusing on the prevalence of a wide spectrum of oral mucosal lesions (OML) in patients with dermatologic diseases. This is noteworthy as skin lesions are strongly associated with oral lesions and could easily be neglected by dentists. This study aimed to estimate the frequency and socio-behavioural correlates of OML in skin diseased patients attending outpatient's facility of Khartoum Teaching Hospital - Dermatology Clinic, Sudan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted in Khartoum from October 2008 to January 2009. A total of 588 patients (mean age 37.2 ± 16 years, 50.3% females) completed an oral examination and a personal interview of which 544 patients (mean age 37.1 ± 15.9 years, 50% females) with confirmed skin disease diagnosis were included for further analyses. OML were recorded using the World Health Organization criteria (WHO). Biopsy and smear were used as adjuvant techniques for confirmation. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (Version 15.0.1). Cross tabulation and Chi-square with Fisher's exact test were used.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 438 OML were registered in 315 (57.9%, males: 54.6% versus females: 45.6%, p < 0.05) skin diseased patients. Thus, a certain number of patients had more than one type of OML. <it>Tongue lesions </it>were the most frequently diagnosed OML (23.3%), followed in descending order by <it>white lesions </it>(19.1%), <it>red and blue lesions </it>(11%) and <it>vesiculobullous diseases </it>(6%). OML in various skin diseases were; <it>vesiculobullous reaction pattern </it>(72.2%), <it>lichenoid reaction pattern </it>(60.5%), <it>infectious lesions </it>(56.5%), <it>psoriasiform reaction pattern </it>(56.7%), and <it>spongiotic reaction pattern </it>(46.8%). Presence of OML in skin diseased patients was most frequent in older age groups (62.4% older versus 52.7% younger, p < 0.05), in males (63.2% males versus 52.6% females, p < 0.05), patients with a systemic disease (65.2% with systemic versus 51.9% without systemic disease, p < 0.05) and among current users of smokeless tobacco (toombak) (77% current use versus 54.8% no use, p < 0.00).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>OML were frequently diagnosed in skin diseased patients and varied systematically with age, gender, systemic condition and use of toombak. The high prevalence of OML emphasizes the importance of routine examination of oral mucosa in a dermatology clinic.</p

Protective effect of L-arginine in experimentally induced Necrotizing Enterocolitis in rats

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the neonatal intensive care unit which recently the etiology of NEC remains unclear, prevention and treatment strategies are often inadequate. Accordingly, a lot of research was conducted to evaluate L-arginine as one of the effective medications to protect the premature infants, where. The objective of the current study was to test the hypothesis that administration of L-arginine would have a protective effect in experimentally induced necrotizing enterocolitis in rats. The study was conducted on 46 male albino rats which were divided into three main groups:  Control group, L-arginine group, and the experimental group which has been divided into two sub-groups; Group A: received Lipopolysaccharides to induce NEC, Group B: injected by L-arginine prior to the disease induced by endotoxin, asphyxia and cold stress. After the animals had been scarified, histological changes were evaluated, gene expression of both iNOS and IL-12 were measured, and apoptosis also was detected by flowcytometry technique. The findings observed a significant increase in the expression of iNOS gene and IL-12 gene and a noticeable decrease of the apoptosis index. In addition, administration of L-arginine attenuated body weight, body temperature, and the histological changes were altered by LPS/asphyxia. As such, the study was able to demonstrate that L-arginine administration significant protective effect against NEC, but further clinical studies are still required on preterm infant to confirm these results. Key words: Necrotizing enterocolitis, L-arginine, Interleukin-12, Inducible nitric oxide synthase, Lipopolysaccharides, Messenger Ribonucleic acid (mRNA

Protective Impact of L-arginine against Necrotizing Enterocolitis

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most common acute surgical disease in preterm infants in intensive neonatal care. Premature infants are infant born prematurely and have a low birth weight. The disease is characterized by an inflammatory process in the intestines, which sometimes worsen and reach the level of necrosis. This process, in the intestinal wall, can destroy and kill the tissue of the intestinal wall and, later, it makes an intestinal perforation. Intestinal contents, in this case, leak to the abdominal cavity, endangering the child's life. Different studies showed that the arginine level in many premature infants is low, and subsequent studies have linked low arginine plasma concentrations with NEC disease. This paper concerned with awareness of this disease, its symptoms and its causes, in addition to L-arginine medication role in necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) treatment, which is a semi essential cationic amino acid

Clinical Staging and Flowcytomteric CD38 and Zap 70 Prognostic Indicators in Sudanese Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Background: The clinical course of chronic lymphocytic leukemia is highly variable. The determination of ZAP70 and CD38 is increasingly utilized as prognostic factor for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The aim of conducting this study was to investigate the frequency of CD38 and ZAP70 expression among Sudanese Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients and to relate them to the Binet and Rai clinical staging systems. Method: A total of 93 patients (mean age; 62.29 ± 11.68, sd) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. CD38 and ZAP70 expression levels were measured with four color flowcytometry using the cut-off values of 20% for ZAP70 and 30% for CD38 expression. Staging was assessed by using clinical examination and CBC for all patients. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social science for Windows (SPSS), version 22. Results: There were 93 CLL patients and the median age of the group was 63 years (36–95 years). About 71% of the patients presented with lymphadenopathy, 53.8% with splenomegaly, 73.1% with anemia, and 45.2% with thrombocytopenia. There was higher frequency of Binet stage C and Rai stage IV (62 [66.6%] patients and 34 [36.5%] patients, respectively). In addition, CD38 and ZAP70 showed higher frequency among Binet and Rai advance stages. ZAP70 and CD38 positivity were detected in 21 patients (22.6%) and 31 patients (33.3%), respectively. There was no statistically significant association between ZAP70 and CD38 and clinical staging systems (P-value &gt; 0.05). Conclusion: No significant association was observed between Flowcytometric (CD38 and Zap70) Prognostic Indicators and clinical staging systems. Keywords: chronic lymphocytic Leukemia, Flowcytometry, ZAP70, CD38, clinical staging system

Histopathological Effects on Testis of Adult Male Carp, Cyprinus carpio carpio, Following Exposure to Graded Concentrations of Water-Borne Bisphenol A

Purpose: To evaluate the estrogenic effect of Bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine disruptor on the histological features in carp testisMethods: Adult male fish, koi carp, Cyprinus carpio carpio, were exposed to three graded concentrations of BPA (10, 100 and 1000 μg/L) for a period of 21 days. A single dose of 17-β estradiol (1 ng/L) was used as positive control. The end points assessed at the end of the exposure period were condition factor, hepatosomatic index (HSI), gonadosomatic index (GSI), histopathological changes in the testis and lobular diameter.Results: BPA caused a significant decrease in gonadosomatic index (GSI) of the fish at the median concentration of 100 μg/L. The major alterations observed in the gonad structure were a significant decrease (p ≤ 0.001) in the lobular diameter (65.1 ± 12.2 μm) compared with control (211.7 ± 36.60 μm) and complete loss in lobular structure with degenerating spermatozoa in some carps. The histopathological effects also include delayed sperm maturation and impaired spermatogenesis.Conclusion: The findings clearly show marked adverse histopathological effects of gonads of adult carps when exposed to BPA.Keywords: Fish, Carp testis, Endocrine disruptors, Bisphenol A, Histopathology, Gonadosomatic index, Sperm maturation, Spermatogenesi