A Strategic Roadmap for Maximizing Big Data Return

Big Data has turned out to be one of the popular expressions in IT the last couple of years. In the current digital period, according to the huge improvement occurring in the web and online world innovations, we are facing a gigantic volume of information. The size of data has expanded significantly with the appearance of today's innovation in numerous segments, for example, assembling, business, and science. Types of information have been changed from structured data-driven databases to data including documents, images, audio, video, and social media contents referred to as unstructured data or Big Data. Consequently, most of the organizations try to invest in the big data technology aiming to get value from their investment. However, the organizations face a challenge to determine their requirements and then the technology that suits their businesses. Different technologies are provided by variety of vendors, each of them can be used, and there is no methodology helping them for choosing and making a right decision. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to construct a roadmap for helping the organizations determine their needs and selecting a suitable technology and applying this conducted proposed roadmap practically on two companies

Trabeculectomy with Ologen implant versus mitomycin C in congenital glaucoma secondary

AIM: To compare the efficacy and safety of collagen matrix implant [Ologen (OLO) implant] versus mitomycin C (MMC) with subscleral trabeculectomy (SST) for the surgical treatment of congenital glaucoma (CG) in Sturge- Weber Syndrome (SWS). METHODS: A prospective comparative randomized study of 20 eyes of 16 patients with CG associated with SWS was divided into two groups. The first group (MMC Group) included 10 eyes that were subjected to SST with MMC. The second group (OLO Group) included 10 eyes that were subjected to trabeculectomy with a collagen matrix implant (OLO implant). Postoperative evaluation included intraocular pressure (IOP) level, bleb evaluation, complications, and the need for further medication or surgical intervention. RESULTS: The mean preoperative IOP was 29±3.16 mm Hg in MMC and 29.8±3.08 mm Hg in OLO eyes. Mean 12-month percentage reduction in IOP was significant in both groups (57.9% and 56.3%). At the end of the 12 postoperative follow-up month, in the MMC Group, 80% of eyes achieved the complete success, 20% of eyes had qualified success with no failed surgery in comparison to OLO Group which 70% of eyes achieved the complete success, 20% of eyes had qualified success with 10% failed surgery. In terms of complications, the MMC Group had a higher rate of complications than the OLO Group in the form of thin polycystic bleb in 6 eyes (60%), blebitis in only one eye (10%) treated with topical antibiotics, shallow anterior chamber in two eyes (20%). CONCLUSION: This study proves that the use of a collagen matrix implant yields equally effective results as MMC when combined with trabeculectomy for the treatment of CG in SWS. Furthermore, OLO implantation is safe and has low incidences of complications

Safety and efficacy of photodynamic therapy using BCECF-AM compared to mitomycin C in controlling post-operative fibrosis in a rabbit model of subscleral trabeculectomy

AIM: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of cellular photoablation using BCECF-AM [2’, 7’-bis-(2-carboxyethyl)-5-(and-6)-carboxyfluorescein, acetoxymethyl ester mixed isomers] as a method to control postoperative fibrosis in subscleral trabeculectomy (SST) compared to mitomycin C (MMC) in a rabbit model. METHODS: A comparative prospective case-control animal study was conducted. Fourteen rabbits were subjected to SST with intraoperative use of wound modulating agents (MMC or BCECF-AM) of the right eye (study groups I and II respectively) and SST without use of intraoperative wound modulating agents for the left eye (control group II). Two rabbits 4 eyes were considered as control group I with no surgical intervention. BCECF-AM was injected subconjunctivally 30min before surgery followed by intraoperative illumination with diffuse blue light for 10min. Antifibrotic efficacy was established by clinical response and histological examination. Clinical response was assessed by measuring intraocular pressure (IOP) at day 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21 postoperatively. Success was defined by ＞20.0% reduction in IOP from the preoperative values without anti-glaucoma medications. RESULTS: The mean percentage of reduction was 35.0% in the study group I with only one eye (14.3%) had 12.5% reduction. The mean percentage of reduction was 28.0 % in the study group II with two eyes (28.6%) in study group II had 14.2% reduction each. Regarding the control group II, the mean percentage of reduction was 14.3 % with 64.3% eyes had ＜20.0% reduction. There was a highly statistically significant difference between each of the study groups (right eyes) and the corresponding control group II (left eyes) as regards the mean postoperative IOP values started from day 5 in both study groups and this highly significant difference remained so till the end of the follow up period. Histologically, MMC treated blebs showed thinning of conjunctival epithelium with marked reduction of the goblet cells relative to control. Marked sub-epithelial edema was seen along with variable collagen dispersion. Mild cellularity was noted in sub-epithelial tissue. BCECF-AM treated blebs showed normal conjunctival epithelial thickness with abundant goblet cells. Mild sub-epithelial edema was noted along with moderate collagen dispersion. No histological abnormality was noted in the ciliary body or the cornea in any of the studied groups. CONCLUSION: Cellular photoablation using BCECF-AM is a safe and effective wound modulating agent to control postoperative fibrosis in trabeculectomy. However MMC considered as a more potent adjuvant to trabeculectomy than BCECF-AM in promoting IOP reduction

Potential use of iontophoresis for transdermal delivery of NF-κB decoy oligonucleotides

Topical application of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) decoy appears to provide a novel therapeutic potency in the treatment of inflammation and atopic dermatitis. However, it is difficult to deliver NF-κB decoy oligonucleotides (ODN) into the skin by conventional methods based on passive diffusion because of its hydrophilicity and high molecular weight. In this study, we evaluated the in vitro transdermal delivery of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-NF-κB decoy ODN using a pulse depolarization (PDP) iontophoresis. In vitro iontophoretic experiments were performed on isolated C57BL/6 mice skin using a horizontal diffusion cell. The apparent flux values of FITC-NF-κB decoy ODN were enhanced with increasing the current density and NF-κB decoy ODN concentration by iontophoresis. Accumulation of FITC-NF-κB decoy ODN was observed at the epidermis and upper dermis by iontophoresis. In mouse model of skin inflammation, iontophoretic delivery of NF-κB decoy ODN significantly reduced the increase in ear thickness caused by phorbol ester as well as the protein and mRNA expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the mice ears. These results suggest that iontophoresis is a useful and promising enhancement technique for transdermal delivery of NF-κB decoy ODN