AUDIT REPORT LAG: DO COMPANY CHARACTERISTICS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE FACTORS MATTER? EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM LEBANESE COMMERCIAL BANKS

The objective of this study is to investigate the determinants (company specific characteristics and corporate governance factors) of audit report lag (ARL) in a developing country, namely, Lebanon. This paper adds and contributes to the limited literature that investigated the determinants of ARL in the developing Middle East countries through focusing on the Lebanese context. The study is carried out depending on a sample of Lebanese commercial banks operating in Lebanon, covering the period from 2012 to 2017. The researchers used the multiple regression analysis to examine the impact of the explanatory variables on ARL. The results show a significant relationship between ARL and each of bank size, leverage, board independence, board diligence, audit committee (AC) independence, and AC diligence. The regression outcomes reveal that banks with longer ARL are smaller, have higher leverage, their boards and ACs are less diligence, their boards are more independent, and their ACs include less independent and non-executive members

A hidden cause of infertility in hypothyroid patients

Methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene mutations could be the cause of infertility in hypothyroid patients. Hence, it is worthy to screen for MTHFR gene mutations in infertile hypothyroid females and their partners if infertility persists after optimizing thyroid function

Insulin Growth Factor-1 in Egyptian Children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: Correlation with Growth Pattern and Disease Activity

Background: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a systemic, chronic, inflammatory disease that affects patients under 18 years. Interactions between growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and the immune system are complex. Many studies found that chronic inflammation suppresses GH/IGF-1 axis.Objective: To assess if there is correlation between the serum level of IGF-1 and the growth pattern in children with JIA in Egypt, and to evaluate the correlation between the serum level of IGF-1 and disease activity among these patients. Patients and Method: The study was a case control study which included 80 patients with JIA and 40 normal children as a control. Their ages ranged from 5-15 years. All patients were subjected to full history taking from their care givers, clinical examination, growth assessment, and laboratory measurement of serum IGF-1 level, CRP, ESR, and CBC.Results: There was a statistically significant decrease in serum level of IGF-1 among patients with JIA. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between serum level of IGF-1 with height, weight and BMI. There was a statistically significant difference between patients and controls regarding Height-for-Age-Z-Score (HAZ), 35% of patients had short stature. There was a statistically significant decrease in weight and BMI, 90% of patients were underweight. There was no statistically significant correlation between serum level of IGF-1 and the disease activity. Conclusion: There was a statistically significant positive correlation between IGF-1 with height, weight and BMI. Short stature and underweight were common among JIA patients. There was no significant correlation between serum level of IGF-1 and the disease activity among JIA patients

AgroSupportAnalytics: big data recommender system for agricultural farmer complaints in Egypt

The world’s agricultural needs are growing with the pace of increase in its population. Agricultural farmers play a vital role in our society by helping us in fulfilling our basic food needs. So, we need to support farmers to keep up their great work, even in difficult times such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, which causes hard regulations like lockdowns, curfews, and social distancing procedures. In this article, we propose the development of a recommender system that assists in giving advice, support, and solutions for the farmers’ agricultural related complaints (or queries). The proposed system is based on the latent semantic analysis (LSA) approach to find the key semantic features of words used in agricultural complaints and their solutions. Further, it proposes to use the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm with Hadoop to classify the large agriculture dataset over Map/Reduce framework. The results show that a semantic-based classification system and filtering methods can improve the recommender system. Our proposed system outperformed the existing interest recommendation models with an accuracy of 87%

Regulatory natural killer cell expression in atopic childhood asthma

Introduction: Different subsets of natural killer (NK) cells were found to play a role in pathogenesis of allergy. We sought to investigate the expression of regulatory NK cells (CD56+CD16+CD158+) in atopic children with bronchial asthma in order to outline the value of these cells as biomarkers of disease severity and/or control.Methods: A cross sectional controlled study was carried out in the Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Unit, Ain Shams University. The study included 45 atopic children [mean age(SD)= (2.9) years] with bronchial asthma (BA) and/or allergic rhinitis (AR)as well as 40 healthy matched controls. Enrolled subjects underwent complete blood counting and flow cytometric measurement of NK cell (CD16+ CD56+) and regulatory NK cells (CD16+CD56+CD158+).Results: Patients had significantly higher regulatory NK cell percentages [mean (SD)= 41 (52) %] than controls [mean (SD)=15 (7.1)]; p≤0.001. Regulatory NK cell counts and percentages did not vary with the concomitant presence of AR or the degree of asthma control. Regulatory NK cell counts tended to be higher in children with moderate/severe BA compared to those with mild asthma but the difference did not reach statistical significance (U= -1.8, p=0.06). NK cell counts [mean (SD)= 159 (164) cells/μl] and percentages [mean (SD)= 3.7 (3.2) %] were comparable among patients and controls and did not vary with the presence of AR (p= 0.51, 0.95) or with the degree of asthma control. NK cells absolute counts and percentages tended to be higher among patients with moderate/severe compared to mild asthma but the difference did not reach statistical significance.Conclusions: Regulatory NK cells seem to be increased in childhood asthma. We recommend wider scale prospective studies on steroid-naïve subjects involving measurement of cytokines that are secreted by different types of NK cells.Keywords: Natural killer, regulatory, asthma, children, allerg

Desarrollo y caracterización de una nueva formulación nano-lipoosómica de alendronato sódico con un polímero biodegradable

This work was supported by the pharmacological departmental grant.Background: Alendronate Sodium (ALDS) is the drug of choice for treatment of osteoporosis. However, 50% of the osteoporotic patients ceased the treatment within the first year due to its potential side effect on the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Objective: The current study aimed to utilize nanotechnology to develop a nano-oral liposomal preparation containing biodegradable polymer (Starch) that enhance the drug prosperities. Methods: Nanoliposomes of ALDS were prepared using different concentrations of solubilized starch (0.1 - 0.5 g ) by thin film hydration method. A new method of alendronate quantitative determination was used to overcome the obstacle of its determination by using a new highly sensitive derivatization method. The selected formula was visualized using TEM, in vitro release studies and Stability study was also carried out. Furthermore, ulcerogenicity studies were performed to compare between the optimum prepared formula and a standard nonliposomal ALDS. Results: Six nano-oral liposomal formulations were prepared with zeta potentials ranging from -12 mV to -39 mV and a particle size ranging from 94 nm to 298 nm. The encapsulation efficiency studies demonstrated that the amount of ALDS entrapped within liposomes increased with increasing starch concentration. The stability studies confirmed the role of starch in increasing the stability of the prepared liposomes. In vitro release studies have demonstrated a relative delay in ALDS releases from the liposome core. Ulcerogenicity studies proofed that the prepared formula has a significant gastric tolerance. Conclusion: a novel liposomal formula of ALDS was developed with better tolerability. However, further clinical investigations are necessary to evaluate its therapeutic effectiveness.Antecedentes: El alendronato sódico (ALDS) es el fármaco de elección para el tratamiento de la osteoporosis. Sin embargo, el 50% de los pacientes osteoporóticos cesaron el tratamiento en el primer año debido a su posible efecto secundario en el tracto gastrointestinal (GIT). Objetivo: El presente estudio tiene como objetivo utilizar la nanotecnología para desarrollar una preparación liposomal nano-oral que contiene polímero biodegradable (almidón) que mejoran la prosperidad de la droga. Métodos: Se prepararon nanoliposomas de ALDS utilizando diferentes concentraciones de almidón solubilizado (0,1 - 0,5 g) mediante un método de hidratación de película delgada. Se utilizó un nuevo método de determinación cuantitativa de alendronato para superar el obstáculo de su determinación utilizando un nuevo método de derivatización altamente sensible. La fórmula seleccionada se visualizó utilizando TEM, estudios de liberación in vitro y se realizó también un estudio de estabilidad. Además, los estudios de ulcerogenicidad se realizaron para comparar entre la fórmula óptima preparada y un estándar no liposomal ALDS. Resultados : Se prepararon seis formulaciones liposomales nano-orales con potenciales zeta que oscilaban entre -12 mV y -39 mV y un tamaño de partícula que variaba de 94 nm a 298 nm. Los estudios de eficacia de la encapsulación demostraron que la cantidad de ALDS atrapada dentro de los liposomas aumentaba con el aumento de la concentración de almidón. Los estudios de estabilidad confirmaron el papel del almidón en el aumento de la estabilidad de los liposomas preparados. Los estudios de liberación in vitro han demostrado un retraso relativo en las liberaciones de ALDS del núcleo de liposomas. Los estudios de ulcerogenicidad demostraron que la fórmula preparada tiene una tolerancia gástrica significativa. Conclusión: se desarrolló una nueva fórmula liposomal de ALDS con mejor tolerabilidad. Sin embargo, otras investigaciones clínicas son necesarias para evaluar su efectividad terapéutica

Major depression and disease activity among systemic lupus erythematosus Egyptian females

AbstractAim of the workThe aim of this study was to identify the relationship between disease activity in SLE Egyptian females and the presence, severity and pattern of major depression in these patients.Patients and methodsThe study sample included 100 female patients; fifty SLE patients and fifty healthy adults with matching age serving as control. Patients were assessed using Beck Inventory Score for the presence of major depression, SLEDAI to determine disease activity, SLICC/ACR damage index and HAQ score for functional disability.ResultsThe majority of patients had symptoms of major depression 32/50 (64%) based on Beck Inventory Score while in controls only 16/50 (36%) had major depression. The most common depressive symptoms in SLE patients were: Guilty feeling (92%), Self-dislike (91.6%), Self-criticalness (90.4%), Crying spells (87.5%), Loss of pleasure (83.3%), Change in appetite (83.3%), Agitation (82.8%) and Pessimism (82%). Patients with major depression presented a trend toward having greater severity of SLE disease activity compared with those without major depression (p=0.04). The presence of major depression was significantly associated with functional disability measured by HAQ score (p=0.01). The patients with major depression did not differ significantly from patients without major depression regarding their steroid dosage (p=0.55), SLICC/ACR damage score (p=0.16) and disease duration (p=0.69) but differed significantly as regards Beck Hopelessness Scale (p<0.0001) and suicidal ideation score (p=0.009).ConclusionMajor depression was highly presented in Egyptian SLE patients (64%); its severity was associated with disease activity, but not with steroid administration, cumulative damage or disease duration

Major depression and disease activity among systemic lupus erythematosus Egyptian females

AbstractAim of the workThe aim of this study was to identify the relationship between disease activity in SLE Egyptian females and the presence, severity and pattern of major depression in these patients.Patients and methodsThe study sample included 100 female patients; fifty SLE patients and fifty healthy adults with matching age serving as control. Patients were assessed using Beck Inventory Score for the presence of major depression, SLEDAI to determine disease activity, SLICC/ACR damage index and HAQ score for functional disability.ResultsThe majority of patients had symptoms of major depression 32/50 (64%) based on Beck Inventory Score while in controls only 16/50 (36%) had major depression. The most common depressive symptoms in SLE patients were: Guilty feeling (92%), Self-dislike (91.6%), Self-criticalness (90.4%), Crying spells (87.5%), Loss of pleasure (83.3%), Change in appetite (83.3%), Agitation (82.8%) and Pessimism (82%). Patients with major depression presented a trend toward having greater severity of SLE disease activity compared with those without major depression (p=0.04). The presence of major depression was significantly associated with functional disability measured by HAQ score (p=0.01). The patients with major depression did not differ significantly from patients without major depression regarding their steroid dosage (p=0.55), SLICC/ACR damage score (p=0.16) and disease duration (p=0.69) but differed significantly as regards Beck Hopelessness Scale (p<0.0001) and suicidal ideation score (p=0.009).ConclusionMajor depression was highly presented in Egyptian SLE patients (64%); its severity was associated with disease activity, but not with steroid administration, cumulative damage or disease duration

Hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus in pregnant Sudanese women

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The epidemiology of viral hepatitis during pregnancy is essential for health planners and programme managers. While much data exist concerning viral hepatitis during pregnancy in many African countries, no proper published data are available in Sudan.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>The study aimed to investigate the sero-prevalance and the possible risk factors for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) among antenatal care attendants in central Sudan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>During 3 months from March–June 2006, sera were collected from pregnant women at Umdurman Maternity Hospital in Sudan, and they were tested for markers of hepatitis B virus (HBVsAg) and HCV.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>HBVsAg was detected in 41 (5.6%) out 728 women, Anti-HCV was detected in 3 (0.6%) out of 423 women, all of them were not aware of their condition. Age, parity, gestational age, residence, history of blood transfusion, dental manipulations, tattooing and circumcision did not contribute significantly to increased HBVsAg sero-positivity.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Thus 5.6% of pregnant women were positive for HBVsAg irrespective of their age, parity and socio-demographic characteristics. There was low prevalence of Anti-HCV.</p