Analyzing Recent Coronary Heart Disease Mortality Trends in Tunisia between 1997 and 2009.

BACKGROUND: In Tunisia, Cardiovascular Diseases are the leading causes of death (30%), 70% of those are coronary heart disease (CHD) deaths and population studies have demonstrated that major risk factor levels are increasing. OBJECTIVE: To explain recent CHD trends in Tunisia between 1997 and 2009. METHODS: DATA SOURCES: Published and unpublished data were identified by extensive searches, complemented with specifically designed surveys. ANALYSIS: Data were integrated and analyzed using the previously validated IMPACT CHD policy model. Data items included: (i)number of CHD patients in specific groups (including acute coronary syndromes, congestive heart failure and chronic angina)(ii) uptake of specific medical and surgical treatments, and(iii) population trends in major cardiovascular risk factors (smoking, total cholesterol, systolic blood pressure (SBP), body mass index (BMI), diabetes and physical inactivity). RESULTS: CHD mortality rates increased by 11.8% for men and 23.8% for women, resulting in 680 additional CHD deaths in 2009 compared with the 1997 baseline, after adjusting for population change. Almost all (98%) of this rise was explained by risk factor increases, though men and women differed. A large rise in total cholesterol level in men (0.73 mmol/L) generated 440 additional deaths. In women, a fall (-0.43 mmol/L), apparently avoided about 95 deaths. For SBP a rise in men (4 mmHg) generated 270 additional deaths. In women, a 2 mmHg fall avoided 65 deaths. BMI and diabetes increased substantially resulting respectively in 105 and 75 additional deaths. Increased treatment uptake prevented about 450 deaths in 2009. The most important contributions came from secondary prevention following Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) (95 fewer deaths), initial AMI treatments (90), antihypertensive medications (80) and unstable angina (75). CONCLUSIONS: Recent trends in CHD mortality mainly reflected increases in major modifiable risk factors, notably SBP and cholesterol, BMI and diabetes. Current prevention strategies are mainly focused on treatments but should become more comprehensive

Switched-current filter structure for synthesizing arbitrary characteristics based on follow-the-leader feedback configuration

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Wenshan Zhao, Yigang He, and Yichuang Sun, ‘Switched-current filter structure for synthesizing arbitrary characteristics based on follow-the-leader feedback configuration’, Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing, (2015), Vol. 82 (2): 479-486. The version of record is available online at doi: 10.1007/s10470-014-0477-8 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Premature mortality attributable to smoking among Tunisian men in 2009

INTRODUCTION: Tobacco smoking is a significant public health threat in the world, a risk factor for many diseases, and has been increasing in prevalence in many developing countries. In this study, we aimed to estimate the burden of premature deaths attributable to smoking among Tunisian men aged 35-69 years in 2009. METHODS: The number of deaths attributable to smoking was estimated using the population attributable risk fraction method. Smoking prevalence was obtained from a nationally representative survey. Causes of death were obtained from the registry of the National Public Health Institute. Relative risks were taken from the American Cancer Society Prevention Study (CPS-II). RESULTS: Total estimated premature deaths attributable to smoking among men in Tunisia were 2601 (95% CI: 2268-2877), accounting for 25% (95% CI: 23.3-26.6) of total male adult mortality. Cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases were the major causes of premature deaths attributable to smoking with 1272 (95% CI: 1188-1329), 966 (95% CI: 779-1133) and 364 (300-415) deaths, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Tobacco smoking is highly relevant and is related to substantial premature mortality in Tunisia, around double that estimated for the region as a whole. This also has not decreased over the past 20 years. Urgent actions are needed to reduce this pandemic

Effect of rosemary leaves and essential oil on turkey sausage quality

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of rosemary essential oil (250–1000 ppm) or its leaves (0.5–2%) on the quality of turkey sausage. The addition of essential oil had no significant effect on the sausage texture and colour parameters. A high rosemary leaves level resulted in an increase in sausage hardness and chewiness and a decrease in lightness (L*) with respect to the control sausage. Sensory evaluation indicated that rosemary essential oil and its leaves increased the taste and the aroma scores of turkey sausage depending on the concentration. The obtained results also showed that rosemary leaves (0.5%) were more effective than essential oil in reducing total plate counts, TBARS, K232, and K270 values during chill storage, in comparison with the control product. This will contribute to reducing the use of chemical additives, which are badly perceived by consumers, while increasing the sensory properties of such products

Waterpipe (narghile) smoking among medical and non-medical university students in Turkey

Objectives. This investigation was performed in order to determine the prevalence rate of waterpipe smoking in students of Erciyes University and the effects of some socio-demographic factors

Symbolic analysis of analog circuits containing voltage mirrors

7 páginas, 7 figuras, 2 tablas, 4 imágenes.-- Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License.The pathological elements voltage mirror (VM) and current mirror (CM) have shown advantages in analog behavioral modeling and circuit synthesis, where many nullor-mirror equivalences have been explored to design and to transform voltage-mode circuits to current-mode ones and viceversa. However, both the VM and CM have not equivalents to perform automatic symbolic circuit analysis. In this manner, we introduce nullor-equivalents for these pathological elements allowing to include parasitics and to perform only symbolic nodal analysis. The nullor-equivalent of the CM is extended to provide multiple-outpus (MO-CM). Finally, two active filters containing VMs, CMs and MO-CMs are analysed to show the usefulness of the models.This work is supported by: UC-MEXUS and CONACyT under grants CN-09-310 and 48396-Y; by Promep-Mexico under grant UATLX-PTC-088; by Consejeria de Innovacion, Ciencia y Empresa, Junta de Andalucia-Spain TIC-2532; and by the JAE-Doc program of CSIC co-funded by FSE, Spain.Peer reviewe

Synthesis and in vitro antiproliferative activity of novel (4-chloro- and 4-acyloxy-2-butynyl)thioquinolines

The series of new acetylenic thioquinolines containing propargyl, 4-chloro-2-butynyl, and 4-acyloxy-2-butynyl groups have been prepared and tested for antiproliferative activity in vitro against human [SW707 (colorectal adenocarcinoma), CCRF/CEM (leukemia), T47D (breast cancer)] and murine [P388 (leukemia), B16 (melanoma)] cancer lines. Most of the obtained compounds exhibited antiproliferative activity, especially compounds 8, 12, and 21 showed the ID50 values ranging from 0.4 to 3.8 μg/ml comparable to that of cisplatin used as reference compounds

Next generation sequencing in family with MNGIE syndrome associated to optic atrophy: Novel homozygous POLG mutation in the C-terminal sub-domain leading to mtDNA depletion

Introduction Mitochondrial diseases are a group of disorders caused mainly by the impairment of the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation process, due to mutations either in the mitochondrial or nuclear genome. Among them, the mitochondrial neuro-gastrointestinal encephalo-myopathy (MNGIE) syndrome affects adolescents or young adults, and is mostly caused by TYMP mutations encoding a cytosolic thymidine phosphorylase (TP). Patients and methods The present study reports the molecular investigation by next-generation re-sequencing of 281 nuclear genes, encoding mitochondrial proteins, of consanguineous family including two individuals with MNGIE syndrome associated to optic atrophy. Bioinformatic analysis was also performed in addition to mtDNA deletion screening and mtDNA copy number quantification in blood of the two patients which were carried out by solf clipping program and qPCR respectively. Results Next-generation re-sequencing revealed a novel homozygous c.2391G > T POLG mutation (p.M797I) co-occurring with the hypomorphic c.1311A > G OPA1 variant (p.I437M). Analysis of the mitochondrial genome in the two patients disclosed mtDNA depletion in blood, but no deletion. Bio-informatics investigations supported the pathogenicity of the novel POLG mutation that is located in the C-terminal subdomain and might change POLG 3D structure, stability and function. Conclusion The novel homozygous p.M797I POLG mutation is responsible for MNGIE combined to optic atrophy and mtDNA depletion in the two patients