Cytotoxic activity of Thymus capitatus collected from Hail region in Saudi Arabia with mechanistic study via induction of caspase-dependent apoptosis and S-phase arrest

Thymus capitatus is a plant grows in Mediterranean area and some Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia. It possesses numerous medicinal values. Its common name is Zaatar and it belongs to family Lamiaceae Thymus capitatus leaves and stem were collected from Hail region, Saudi Arabia. Then both leaves and stem were extracted with ethanol. This study was performed to evaluate cytotoxic activity of Thymus capitatus leaves and stem ethanolic extract in details. Doxorubicin was used as a standard and the relevant half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values were computed for each cell line by 3-(4,5- diemthylthiazole-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. In addition, further mechanistic study was carried out by using Apoptosis assay to explore cytotoxic activity of plant extract. Both leaves and stems extracts were screened against HepG2, A-549, HCT-116 and   MCF-7 cancer cell lines. It was found that leaves’ extract shows high and moderate cytotoxic activity against both A-549 and HepG2 cancer cell lines, respectively (with IC50 = 13.6 and 21.5 μg/ml, respectively), while stem’s extract exerted moderate cytotoxic activity against A-549 cancer cell lines (with IC50 = 21.38 μg/ml).  Further mechanistic study was carried out on A-549 cells by using apoptosis assay. It showed that leaves’ extract resulted in arrest of S-phase and caused apoptosis through activation of caspase-3, p53 and Bax, in addition to down regulation of Bcl-2

Adherence to antidiabetic medication during the month of Ramadan among diabetes mellitus patients in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Background: Ramadan may lead to reduced adherence to antidiabetic medications among Saudi diabetes patients due to fasting, changes in daily routine, social and cultural influences, health risks, and inadequate awareness. This study aimed to assess the Saudi population adherence to the diabetes management medication in Ramadan. Methodology: A convenience sampling method was used to recruit participants for the study. Participants were sourced from social media platforms, diabetes mellitus patient groups, and healthcare providers groups. The Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS), a tool, was used to assess medication compliance. Results: A total of 384 individuals were included in this study, 20.3% were from Riyadh, 52.3% were males, 35% aged 31-50 years, and 64.1% had type 2 diabetes mellitus of participants. Age between 31-50 years was negatively associated with compliance (β = -1.06, p = 0.002), while age between 51-65 years is positively associated ((β= 1.00, p = 0.003). Being male was negatively associated with compliance (β= -0.72, p = 0.001). Different fasting behaviors like non-fasting one day or more (β = -2.92, p < 0.001) and fasting all month (β = -2.90, p < 0.001), significantly affect compliance scores with negative associations indicating lower compliance during fasting periods. Various HbA1c levels were significant predictors of compliance. Higher HbA1c levels were associated with increased compliance. Conclusions: The study reveals that age, gender, fasting behaviors and HbA1c levels significantly impact medication compliance among patients with diabetes mellitus during Ramadan

Geographic variation in breeding system and environment predicts melanin-based plumage ornamentation of male and female Kentish plovers

Sexual selection determines the elaboration of morphological and behavioural traits and thus drives the evolution of phenotypes. Sexual selection on males and females can differ between populations, especially when populations exhibit different breeding systems. A substantial body of literature describes how breeding systems shape ornamentation across species, with a strong emphasis on male ornamentation and female preference. However, whether breeding system predicts ornamentation within species and whether similar mechanisms as in males also shape the phenotype of females remains unclear. Here, we investigate how different breeding systems are associated with male and female ornamentation in five geographically distinct populations of Kentish plovers Charadrius alexandrinus. We predicted that polygamous populations would exhibit more elaborate ornaments and stronger sexual dimorphism than monogamous populations. By estimating the size and intensity of male (n = 162) and female (n = 174) melanin-based plumage ornaments, i.e. breast bands and ear coverts, we show that plumage ornamentation is predicted by breeding system in both sexes. A difference in especially male ornamentation between polygamous (darker and smaller ornaments) and monogamous (lighter and larger) populations causes the greatest sexual dimorphism to be associated with polygamy. The non-social environment, however, may also influence the degree of ornamentation, for instance through availability of food. We found that, in addition to breeding system, a key environmental parameter, rainfall, predicted a seasonal change of ornamentation in a sex-specific manner. Our results emphasise that to understand the phenotype of animals, it is important to consider both natural and sexual selection acting on both males and females

University student engagement inventory (USEI): psychometric properties

Academic engagement describes students’ investment in academic learning and achievement and is an important indicator of students’ adjustment to university life, particularly in the first year. A tridimensional conceptualization of academic engagement has been accepted (behavioral, emotional and cognitive dimensions). This paper tests the dimensionality, internal consistency reliability and invariance of the University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI) taking into consideration both gender and the scientific area of graduation. A sample of 908 Portuguese first-year university students was considered. Good evidence of reliability has been obtained with ordinal alpha and omega values. Confirmatory factor analysis substantiates the theoretical dimensionality proposed (second-order latent factor), internal consistency reliability evidence indicates good values and the results suggest measurement invariance across gender and the area of graduation. The present study enhances the role of the USEI regarding the lack of consensus on the dimensionality and constructs delimitation of academic engagement.Jorge Sinval received funding from the William James Center for Research, Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT UID/PSI/04810/2013). Leandro S. Almeida and Joana R. Casanova received funding from CIEd – Research Centre on Education, projects UID/CED/1661/2013 and UID/CED/1661/2016, Institute of Education, University of Minho, through national funds of FCT/MCTES-PT. Joana R. Casanova received funding from the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) as a Doctoral Grant, under grant agreement number SFRH/BD/117902/2016.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Detecting Credit Card Fraud using Machine Learning

Credit card is getting increasingly more famous in budgetary exchanges, simultaneously frauds are likewise expanding. Customary techniques use rule-based master frameworks to identify fraud practices, ignoring assorted circumstances, the outrageous lopsidedness of positive and negative examples. In this paper, we propose a CNN-based fraud detection system, to catch the natural examples of fraud practices gained from named information. Bountiful exchange information is spoken to by an element lattice, on which a convolutional neural organization is applied to recognize a bunch of idle examples for each example. Trials on true monstrous exchanges of a significant business bank show its boss presentation contrasted and some best-in-class strategies. The aim of this paper is to merge between Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM), and Auto-encoder (AE) to increase credit card fraud detection and enhance the performance of the previous models. By using these four models; CNN, AE, LSTM, and AE&LSTM. each of these models is trained by different parameter values highest accuracy has been achieved where the AE model has accuracy =0.99, the CNN model has accuracy =0.85, the accuracy of the LSTM model is 0.85, and finally, the AE&LSTM model obtained an accuracy of 0.32 by 400 epoch. It is concluded that the AE classifies the best result between these models

Comparing trastuzumab-related cardiotoxicity between elderly and younger patients with breast cancer : a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE: Trastuzumab is an HER-2 targeted humanized monoclonal antibody that significantly improves metastatic and non-metastatic breast cancer therapeutic outcomes. This study compares trastuzumab outcomes between two age cohorts in the Kuwait Cancer Control Centre (KCCC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a prospective comparative observational study, 93 HER-2 positive breast cancer patients undergoing different chemotherapy protocols + trastuzumab between April 2016 and April 2019 were included and divided into two cohorts based on their age (<60 and ≥60 years old). The individual decline in the LVEF from the baseline was calculated and compared between the two age cohorts. Logistic regression analysis was applied to investigate the association between age, comorbidities, BMI, anthracycline treatment, and baseline LVEF value, and trastuzumab-induced cardiotoxicity after adjustments made for the disease stage. RESULTS: The median baseline LVEF was 65% in both age cohorts (IQR 8% and 9% for older and younger patients, respectively). Whereas the median LVEF post-trastuzumab treatment was 51% and 55% in older and younger patients, respectively (IQR 8%; p-value = 0.22), even though older patients had significantly lower exposure to anthracyclines compared to younger patients (60% and 84.1%, respectively; p-value <0.001). 86.7% and 55.6% of older and younger patients, respectively, developed ≥10% decline in their LVEF from the baseline. Statistically, age was the only factor that significantly correlated with developing ≥10% decline in the LVEF (OR 4; p-value <0.012). CONCLUSIONS: Breast cancer patients aged 60 years and above in Kuwait were at a 4-fold higher risk of developing ≥10% decline in their LVEF from the baseline value compared to younger patients during trastuzumab treatment. Previous exposure to anthracyclines and comorbidities were not associated with a significantly increased cardiotoxicity risk in this study