Spread enhancement for firefly algorithm with application to control mechanism of exoskeleton system

Firefly algorithm (FA) is a swarm intelligence based algorithm for global optimization and has widely been used in solving problems in many areas. The FA is good at exploring the search space and locating the global optimum, but it always gets trapped at local optimum especially in case of high dimensional problems. In order to overcome such drawbacks of FA, this paper proposes a modified variant of FA, referred to as spread enhancement strategy for firefly algorithm (SE-FA), by devising a nonlinear adaptive spread mechanism for the control parameters of the algorithm. The performance of the proposed algorithm is compared with the original FA and one variant of FA on six benchmark functions. Experimental and statistical results of the approach show better solutions in terms of reliability and convergence speed than the original FA especially in the case of high-dimensional problems. The algorithms are further tested with control of dynamic systems. The systems considered comprise assistive exoskeletons mechanism for upper and lower extremities. The performance results are evaluated in comparison to the original firefly and invasive weed algorithms. It is demonstrated that the proposed approaches are superior over the individual algorithms in terms of efficiency, convergence speed and quality of the optimal solution achieved

Bacterrial Vaginosis

Among the causes of vaginal discharge, bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the commonest in most communities, with variation in the prevalence from one place to another and according to the method used and the group of patients studied. Evidences are available that, the disease is associated with preterm labour, pre mature rupture of the membranes, post-induced abortion pelvic inflammatory disease, post-hysterectomy vaginal cuff cellulitis and plasma cell endometeritis1-4. Moreover in pregnant women bacterial vaginosis may be associated with amniotic fluid infectionand post-partum endometeritis4. In Sudan, the disease was first reported in 2000 by Kafi and his coworkers who found bacterial vaginosis to be the commonest cause of vaginal discharge (17.2%) in a suburban Sudanese community. It's occurrence rate was almost equal to that of trichomonasis and gonorrhea (collectively) 5. Despite these facts to date, bacterial vagionosis is almost neglected as a cause of vaginal discharge, evidenced by lack of practical advices to the laboratory personnel on how to diagnose it. Moreover, no clinical attention is paid to the disease and its possible clinical outcome. The aim of this article is to throw light on this important subject particularly history, epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis and management. It is hoped that, this will draw the attention of the gynecologists and laboratory personnel to this subject

Application of Dried Blood Spots on Filter Paper for Detection of HIV Antibodies: Effect of Temperature and Duration of Storage

Background: Acquired immunodeficiecy syndrome (AIDS) is now adays a worldwide health problem affecting both the developed and developing countries. It has greater burden on the developing countries because of the increased cost of testing including specimen collection, transport, storage and laboratory examination. Moreover the present technique of collecting blood for diagnosis is associated with increased risk of infection, loss and contamination of specimen. This study aimed at evaluating the use of blood spot dried on filter paper (under different storage conditions) for detection of HIV antibodies in patient\'s serum as an alternative cheap and relatively safe method. Materials and methods: venous blood was collected from 100 known HIV infected patients and 50 healthy volunteers. Filter papesr (Whattman number 1) were soaked with the specimens, air-dried and then divided into 3 groups. Each group is containing a sample from each subject under study. The three groups were subjected to different storage conditions (room temperature, incubator at 37 o C and refrigerator at 4oC). PBS elutes from each group were tested for HIV antibodies using ELISA at regular intervals (48 hrs., 7,15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90 and 105 days). Results: All the dried blood on filter paper remained positive for HIV antibodies for one month. Thereafter some of the specimens started to progressively show negative results. Specimens stored in the refrigerator were more stable for HIV antibodies than those kept at room temperature and the incubator. Discussion: In this study, the results of testing elutes of dried blood spots on filter paper for HIV antibodies were found to be 100% positive in concordance with those of testing serum samples. HIV antibodies were stable in all specimens for one month under the different storage conditions. Conclusion: dried blood spot on filter paper can remain positive for HIV antibodies for at least one month under different storage conditions. It can therefore be recommended as a cheap, simple and reliable technique for collection of blood for HIV testing under field surviellance as it does not require complex setting and instruments and moreover it eases transportation of specimen. Keywords: immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), storage, heparinized, ELISA.Sudan Journal of Medical Sciences Vol. 3 (2) 2008: pp. 147-15

Use of Cowpea and Pigeon pea as Nutritional Ingredients in Culture Media

Background: Dehydrated commercial culture media are hygroscopic and expensive. Cheap, locally available plant seeds such as cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) could be used in the design and formulation of microbial culture media in order to reduce the cost.Objective: To make use of locally cheap seeds as a basic nutrient medium for the isolation of different microorganisms.Materials and methods: Solid culture media from locally available plants were designed to include three types, (i) simple; (ii) enriched with the addition of human blood; (iii) differential with lactose and phenol red as a pH indicator, and formulated to contain cowpea and pigeon pea flours in combination in a concentrations of 2%. The name DANIEL & SHAMSOUN (D & S) was used for the designed media. Twenty bacterial species and Candida albicans were inoculated for the observation of the growth response.Results: On D & S simple medium all the organisms grew typically except, Corynebacterium diphtheriae which did not grow and Streptococcus pyogenes and Neisseria meningitidis which revealed atypical colonies. On D & S human blood agar medium, all the organisms grew typically, but the β- hemolysis of some of the β-haemolytic species was not detected and some species revealed green pigmented colonies and green pigmentation on the medium. On D & S differential medium, all lactose-fermenting species revealed typical, yellow colonies and all non-lactose-fermenting species revealed typical, pink-red colonies, except, Vibrio cholerae, Bacillus cereus and Candida albicans which revealed typical, yellow colonies.Conclusion: The flours of cowpea and pigeon pea are good sources of protein, carbohydrates and minerals, so they can be used in the preparation of different types of culture media for the isolation of different species of bacteria and Candida albicans as shown in this study.Key words: Cowpea, pigeon pea, nutrient medium, DANIEL & SHAMSOUN

The clinical longevity of cantilever resin-bonded bridges

published_or_final_versio

Benchmark Problems in Eddy-Current NDE

Inversion of eddy-current data and the reconstruction of flaws is the preeminent problem in electromagnetic nondestructive evaluation (NDE). This places a premium on developing good forward models for computing field-flaw interactions, because all inversion algorithms must, of necessity, rely on such calculations. There has evolved in recent years several sophisticated computational models for the forward problem [1–4], but these models differ significantly in their theoretical and numerical approaches. For example, [1-3] use a volume-integral approach that incorporates fast Fourier transforms with conjugate gradients to solve the resulting linear system of equations, whereas [4] uses finite-elements

Diarrhea due to Cryptosporidium parvum in immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients in Khartoum State

Objective: The objective of this study is to search for Cryptosporidium parvum in Sudanese immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients presenting with diarrhea.Methods: Two hundred and thirteen stool specimens were collected from different groups of patients presenting with diarrhea and healthy control (immunocompromised: 78; immunocompetent: 90; Control: 45).The immunocompromised group included 25 HIV positive patients, 27 tuberculosis patients, 11 patients with renal failure and 15 patients receiving immunosuppressive chemotherapy. Antigen ELISA was performed to detect the presence of the parasite in stool. Positive specimens were examined by the modified ZN stain to look for the oocyst of C.parvum.Result: Seventy one of the immunocompromised patients (91.0%), twenty nine of immunocompetent patients (32.2 %) and ten of the control group (22.2%) were found to be positive for C.parvum. A significant difference was noticed between the immunocompromised patients and the other groups (

Seroprevalence of cytomegalovirus Antibodies among pregnant women and it’s correlation with spontaneous abortion in Khartoum state

Background: Cytomegalovirus is a common virus that infects most people at some time during their lives. It becomes dormant for a while and may reactivate later. In pregnant women, intrauterine infection may be  associated with congenital abnormalities, intrauterine growth retardation and intrauterine death of the fetus as well as late sequelae such as  developmental delay, blindness and congenital deafness.Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of CMV infection among women presenting with spontaneous abortion to major hospitals in Khartoum State and to find out the correlation between CMV infection and spontaneous abortion in the group under study.Methodology: In this study a total of 180 spontaneously aborted females, and 80 normally delivered females (control) were included. Three mls of venous blood were collected from each subject under study in a plain  container allowed to clot and after clot retraction centrifuged at 4000rpm. The sera were then separated and stored at -20c0 in a deep freezer. The stored sera were tested for CMV IgG and IgM antibodies using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (BIOTECH –ENGLAND).Results: In the case group, 176 (97.8%) women were positive for Anti-CMV IgG and 69 (38.3%) for Anti-CMV IgM. The CMV antibodies significantly co related with increasing age (P-value = -0.0185), the number of abortion (P-value = -0.0177) and congenital malformation in children (P value= 0.037).Conclusion: Seroprevalence of CMV antibodies was found to be 97.8% and 38.3% for IgG & IgM respectively. There was significant association  between CMV infection and frequency of abortion, age and congenital  malformation in children.Key words: CMV, seroprevalnce, pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, Suda

Screening the Efficacy of Some Traditional Herbal Drugs for Treatment of Hymenolepis diminuta Infection in Rats

Background: Hymenolepis nana (human infecting tapeworm) and H. diminuta (rodent infecting tapeworm) are currently incriminated to be the cause of non-specific bowel disturbances. They are in most instances resistant to the available anticestodal compounds due to misuse of drugs and probably adaptation of the parasites to the commercially available drugsObjective: Our objective is to study the toxicity and curative efficacy of different medicinal plants that are candidate for the treatment of tapeworm infections in man.Methods: Four medicinal plants were tested for their ability to treat Hymenolepis diminuta tapeworm infection in rats. These plants are Amaranthus viridis, Cucurbita maxima, Hagenia abyssinica and Balanites aegyptiaca. Selection of these plants was based on ethnobotanicalinformation. The evaluation of the efficiency of these medicinal plants was based on the “controlled test design”, modified from Moskey and Harwood10: Following pre-infection screening, and life cycle establishment rats were grouped to six experimental groups for each plant. Stool specimens were collected from all groups, the mean of eggs counts per gram of faeces were counted. The reduction percentage of eggs per gram (EPG) was calculated and time to clear eggs was compared with that of Niclosamide. Niclosamide drug was used in this study as a control treatment14.Results: There were no signs of toxic effect on the rats due to administration of any of the tested medicinal plants. Amaranthus viridis leavs exhibited a very weak efficacy. It did not reduce eggs ineither water or food significantly as compared to the untreated control group (p> 0.05). The deparasitization activity of this plant (35%) was not significant. Similarly, Balanites aegyptiaca seeds were not effective in treatment of the infection in rats. Egg counts and deparasitization infood and water, were not significantly (p> 0.05) different from those of the untreated control group. On the other hand, Cucurbita maxima and Hagenia abyssinica seeds were very effective in the treatment of Hymenolepis diminuta infection in rats. Egg reduction (100%) was highly significant (p< 0.01) in food and water as compared to that of the untreated control group of rats (zero%). C. maxima seeds in food deparasitized 80% of the worms, while Hagenia abyssinica deparasitized 100%.Conclusion: Our conclusion was that Hagenia abyssinica was the most active plant of this group in the treatment of Hymenolepis diminuta infection in rats

A Rare third ventricle solitary tuberculoma

The localization of the tuberculoma at the third ventricle is rare. The authors report a case of third ventricle solitary Tuberculoma which has occurred in a 10 year old patient and revealed by a syndrome of intracranial hypertension without tuberculosis stigma. This lesion appears clinically and radiologically as a primary brain tumor. A total removal using a subchoroidal approach to the third ventricle has been performed. Histological examination showed a tuberculous like granuloma. An adjuvant antituberculous chemotherapy  practiced for 6 months brought the complete cure. The authors insist on the diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties in front of a third ventricle solitary  tuberculoma