Analysis of Effects of Selected Aerosol Particles to the Global Climate Change and Health using Remote Sensing data: The Focus on Africa

The desert's dust and anthropogenic biomass burning's black carbon (BC) in the tropical regions are associated with many effects on climate and air quality. The dust and BC are the selected aerosols, which affect health by polluting the breathable air. This research discusses the effects of both the aerosols, especially while they interact with the clouds. The respective aerosol extinction optical thickness (AOT) extinction was analysed with the sensible heat from Turbulence. The research purposes to quantitatively study the remote sensing data for fine particulate matter, PM2.5, heterogeneously mixing both the dust and the pulverized black carbon's soot or ash, to analyse at which levels PM2.5 can endanger human health in the sub-Saharan region. The mainly analysed data had been assimilated from different remote sensing tools; the Goddard interactive online visualization and analysis infrastructure (GIOVANNI) was in the centre of data collection; GIS, the research data analysis software. In results, the rise and fall of the averaged sensible heat were associated with the rise and fall of averaged aerosol extinction AOT; the direct effects of the selected aerosols on the clouds are also presented. Regarding the health effects, PM2.5 quantities are throughout beyond the tolerably recommended quantity of 25μg/m3; thus, having referred to erstwhile research, inhabitants would consume food and drug supplements which contain vanillic acid during dusty seasons. Keywords: Geographic Information System (GIS), remotely sensed data, spatio-temporal (data) analysi

Assessment of aflatoxin and fumonisin contamination levels in maize and mycotoxins awareness and risk factors in Rwanda

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites of fungi that are toxic to humans and animals when consumed in contaminated food and feed. The Rwandan climate conditions like steady temperature and sufficient rainfall favor the growth of fungi leading to high probability of mycotoxins contamination. Mycotoxins get into maize throughout the value chain from the field to processed products. Maize is  promoted in Rwanda under the Crop Intensification Program (CIP), for nutrition and food security. The aim of the study was to evaluate mycotoxins (Aflatoxin and fumonisin) levels in maize and assess awareness and factors associated with mycotoxin contamination in Rwanda. Maize samples (227 kg) from season B 2019 were collected in 15 Districts in five provinces of Rwanda after an interview with a representative of the household or cooperative using a structured questionnaire. The samples were analyzed for aflatoxin and  fumonisin using Reveal Q+ and AccuScan Gold Reader. From the interview, most of the respondents were not aware about aflatoxin (59.7 %) and 99 % did not know the effect of mycotoxins on human health. The average of aflatoxin contamination in surveyed districts was 6.69±13 μg/kg. In general, 90.4 % of samples scored below the limit of aflatoxin level regulated in East Africa/Kenya regulation standards (10 μg/kg). The levels of aflatoxin ranged between 0 and 100.9 μg/kg. The means aflatoxin levels within districts ranged between 1.36±0.5 μg/kg and 13.75±25 μg/kg. Among 9.6 % of the samples containing aflatoxins above the EU and Kenyan regulations standard limit, 5.7 % were above the US standards of 20 μg/kg. Within clusters, the level of aflatoxin more than 10 μg/kg was 5 %, 7 % and 18 % for stores, household and market samples, respectively. From the study, as mechanical damage of grains, moisture content of grains and the temperature of the store house increased, Aflatoxin level also increased. Fumonisin analyzed in maize ranged from 0 to 2.3 μg/g and only one sample from market showed a slightly higher level of fumonisin than the EU and US limit of 2 μg/g. More effort for aflatoxin mitigation is needed at the market level. Farmers need to be aware and taught how they can improve their agricultural system and more knowledge on mycotoxin control is needed. The results point to appropriate measures to recommend for control ofmycotoxins in Rwanda and awareness creation. Key words: AccuScan, Aflatoxin, Fumonisin, Fungal, Maize, Mycotoxins, Reveal Q+, Rwand

Cognitive radio network with secrecy and interference constraints

In this paper, we investigate the physical-layer security of a secure communication in single-input multiple-output (SIMO) cognitive radio networks (CRNs) in the presence of two eavesdroppers. In particular, both primary user (PU) and secondary user (SU) share the same spectrum, but they face with different eavesdroppers who are equipped with multiple antennas. In order to protect the PU communication from the interference of the SU and the risks of eavesdropping, the SU must have a reasonable adaptive transmission power which is set on the basis of channel state information, interference and security constraints of the PU. Accordingly, an upper bound and lower bound for the SU transmission power are derived. Furthermore, a power allocation policy, which is calculated on the convex combination of the upper and lower bound of the SU transmission power, is proposed. On this basis, we investigate the impact of the PU transmission power and channel mean gains on the security and system performance of the SU. Closed-form expressions for the outage probability, probability of non-zero secrecy capacity, and secrecy outage probability are obtained. Interestingly, our results show that the strong channel mean gain of the PU transmitter to the PU's eavesdropper in the primary network can enhance the SU performance. SafeCOP - Safe Cooperating Cyber-Physical Systems using Wireless Communicatio

Furosemide Enhances the Sensitivity of Urinary Metabolomics for Assessment of Kidney Function

Introduction The ability of urinary metabolomics to detect meaningful, tissue-specific, biological effects (i.e., toxicity, disease) is compounded by high background variability. We hypothesize that sensitivity can be enhanced by imposing a tissue-targeted metabolic stressor. Objective We tested whether the sensitivity of metabolomics to assess kidney function is improved under the diuretic stress of furosemide. Methods To mildly compromise kidney, rats were given a sub-acute dose of d-serine. Then at 24 h postdose, we administered vehicle solution (control) or the diuretic drug, furosemide, and conducted NMR-based urinary metabolomics. Results Principal Components and OPLS discriminant analyses showed no effects on urinary profiles in rats receiving d-serine alone. However, the effects of d-serine were observable under furosemide-induced stress, as urinary profiles classified separately from rats receiving furosemide alone or vehicle-treated controls (p \u3c 0.001). Furthermore, this profile was uniquely different from a co-treatment effect observed following co-administration of d-serine + furosemide. We identified 24 metabolites to classify the effects of furosemide in normal rats vs. d-serine-compromised rats. Most notably, a furosemide-induced increase in urinary excretion of α-ketoglutarate, creatinine, trigonelline, and tryptophan in control rats, was significantly reduced in d-serine exposed rats (p \u3c 0.05). Interestingly, increased tryptophan metabolism has been shown to correlate with the severity of kidney transplant failure and chronic kidney disease. Conclusions We attribute these effects to differences in kidney function, which were only detectable under the stress imposed by furosemide. This technique may extend to other organ systems and may provide improved sensitivity for assessment of tissue function or early detection of disease

Furosemide Enhances the Sensitivity of Urinary Metabolomics for Assessment of Kidney Function

Introduction The ability of urinary metabolomics to detect meaningful, tissue-specific, biological effects (i.e., toxicity, disease) is compounded by high background variability. We hypothesize that sensitivity can be enhanced by imposing a tissue-targeted metabolic stressor. Objective We tested whether the sensitivity of metabolomics to assess kidney function is improved under the diuretic stress of furosemide. Methods To mildly compromise kidney, rats were given a sub-acute dose of d-serine. Then at 24 h postdose, we administered vehicle solution (control) or the diuretic drug, furosemide, and conducted NMR-based urinary metabolomics. Results Principal Components and OPLS discriminant analyses showed no effects on urinary profiles in rats receiving d-serine alone. However, the effects of d-serine were observable under furosemide-induced stress, as urinary profiles classified separately from rats receiving furosemide alone or vehicle-treated controls (p \u3c 0.001). Furthermore, this profile was uniquely different from a co-treatment effect observed following co-administration of d-serine + furosemide. We identified 24 metabolites to classify the effects of furosemide in normal rats vs. d-serine-compromised rats. Most notably, a furosemide-induced increase in urinary excretion of α-ketoglutarate, creatinine, trigonelline, and tryptophan in control rats, was significantly reduced in d-serine exposed rats (p \u3c 0.05). Interestingly, increased tryptophan metabolism has been shown to correlate with the severity of kidney transplant failure and chronic kidney disease. Conclusions We attribute these effects to differences in kidney function, which were only detectable under the stress imposed by furosemide. This technique may extend to other organ systems and may provide improved sensitivity for assessment of tissue function or early detection of disease

BIOMARKERS OF FATIGUE: Metabolomics Profiles Predictive of Cognitive Performance

Cognitive performance and fatigue are well known to be inversely related. Continuous and sustained actions in operational environments typically lead to reduced sleep normally required to perform optimally. These operational environments subject the warfighter to intense physical and mental exertion. Because fatigue continues to be an occupational hazard, leading to cognitive defects in performance, there has been a recognized need for real-time detection technologies that minimize fatigue-induced mishaps. I the current study, 23 subjects were subjected to 36h of sleep deprivation and cognitive psychomotor vigilance and automated neuropsychological assessment metric tests were conducted over the last 24 h of sleep deprivation. In addition, urine was collected prior to and over the course of the cognitive testing period for metabolite analysis using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Bioinformatics analysis of the NMR data identified 23 spectral resonances associated with specific urinary metabolites that could be used to classify subject fatigue susceptibility 12 h prior to cognitive testing and at 28 h of sleep deprivation on cognitive testing. Of these, 14 were found to statistically significant when associated with testing cognitive performance. A majority of these metabolites appeared to be associated with nutritional status and suggested that observed increases in dietary protein intake prior to cognitive testing led to increased cognitive performance when sleep deprived. NMR data were also found to correlate with previously reported psychological testing results of these same subjects. Taken together, our results indicate that a subset of urinary metabolites may provide a useful noninvasive biomarker screen for mission performance and readiness during sustained, demeaning missions

Urinary Metabolite Profiles May be Predictive of Cognitive Performance under Conditions of Acute Sleep Deprivation

Continuous and sustained actions in military and civilian operational environments typically lead to reduced sleep normally required to perform optimally. Because cognitive fatigue leading to defects in performance is an occupational hazard, there is a recognized need for real-time detection technologies that minimize cognitive fatigue-induced mishaps. Here, 23 individuals were subjected to 36 h of continuous wakefulness, and cognitive psychomotor vigilance and automated neuropsychological assessment metric tests were conducted over the last 24 h of wakefulness. Urine was collected prior to and during the cognitive testing period for metabolite analysis using proton NMR spectroscopy. Multivariate statistical analysis showed that temporal changes in urinary metabolite profiles mirrored cognitive performance during continuous wakefulness. Additionally, subjects identified by cognitive assessments as having a high tolerance (n=6) or low tolerance (n=6) to sleep deprivation could be classified separately with statistical confidence (

Urinary Metabolite Profiles May be Predictive of Cognitive Performance under Conditions of Acute Sleep Deprivation

Continuous and sustained actions in military and civilian operational environments typically lead to reduced sleep normally required to perform optimally. Because cognitive fatigue leading to defects in performance is an occupational hazard, there is a recognized need for real-time detection technologies that minimize cognitive fatigue-induced mishaps. Here, 23 individuals were subjected to 36 h of continuous wakefulness, and cognitive psychomotor vigilance and automated neuropsychological assessment metric tests were conducted over the last 24 h of wakefulness. Urine was collected prior to and during the cognitive testing period for metabolite analysis using proton NMR spectroscopy. Multivariate statistical analysis showed that temporal changes in urinary metabolite profiles mirrored cognitive performance during continuous wakefulness. Additionally, subjects identified by cognitive assessments as having a high tolerance (n=6) or low tolerance (n=6) to sleep deprivation could be classified separately with statistical confidence (