Relation of common ABL kinase domain mutations with resistance to Tyrosine Kinase Inhibiters in patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in Middle Euphrates of Iraq

Background: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a hematopoietic stem cell disease, associated with a reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 9 and chromosome 22, lead to the formation of the BCRABL fusion gene (Philadelphia chromosome). This fusion gene is believed to play golden role in the initial development of CML with constitutive tyrosine kinase activation. Successful use of tyrosine kinase inhibiters (TKIs) play a role in improve survival and increase prevalence of CML, but un fortunately mutations in the BCR-ABL kinase domain may cause, or contribute to increase, resistance to TKIs in CML patients. . Objective: This study was designed to assess the association of five most common BCR-ABL kinase domain mutations (T315I, M351T, E255K, M244V and E255V) with resistance state of CML patients on TKIs in Iraqi Middle Euphrates region. Patients and methods: A retrospective case-control study in which 85 patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (45 patients as cases group and 40 patient as control group) were selected from three hemato-oncology centers in middle Euphrates in Iraq during the period from January 2016 till October 2016 out of a total of 240 CML patients (108 male and 132 female) who were registered during this period in these three centers and all patients on TKI (Imatinib and Nilotinib). Venous blood sampling done for BCRABL kinase domain mutations screening. Results: four patients from cases group (4/45) were carriers of one of five selected ABL kinase domain mutations and no one of control group. T315I mutation was detected in 3/45 (6.6 %) of resistant patients, with a significant risk association to develop resistance to TKI therapy (odd ratio and C. I.) (6.67, 0.3340 - 133.2255). E255V was detected in 1/45 (2.2 %) and also had significant risk association to develop resistance to TKIs (odd ratio, C.I.) (2.73, 0.1081 -68.9424). No one of these mutations had significance correlation with demographic or hematological features. M351T, E255K and M244V were not detected in any one of our study groups CML patients. Conclusions: T315I and E255V among five ABL kinas domain mutations were detected in our CML patients with resistance to TKIs. All of them may play a role in development variable degree of resistance to first and second generation TKIs weather primary or secondary.T315I mutation is most common mutation within BCR-ABL domain kinase gene

Health Figures: An Open Source JavaScript Library for Health Data Visualization

The way we look at data has a great impact on how we can understand it, particularly when the data is related to health and wellness. Due to the increased use of self-tracking devices and the ongoing shift towards preventive medicine, better understanding of our health data is an important part of improving the general welfare of the citizens. Electronic Health Records, self-tracking devices and mobile applications provide a rich variety of data but it often becomes difficult to understand. We implemented the hFigures library inspired on the hGraph visualization with additional improvements. The purpose of the library is to provide a visual representation of the evolution of health measurements in a complete and useful manner. We researched the usefulness and usability of the library by building an application for health data visualization in a health coaching program. We performed a user evaluation with Heuristic Evaluation, Controlled User Testing and Usability Questionnaires. In the Heuristics Evaluation the average response was 6.3 out of 7 points and the Cognitive Walkthrough done by usability experts indicated no design or mismatch errors. In the CSUQ usability test the system obtained an average score of 6.13 out of 7, and in the ASQ usability test the overall satisfaction score was 6.64 out of 7. We developed hFigures, an open source library for visualizing a complete, accurate and normalized graphical representation of health data. The idea is based on the concept of the hGraph but it provides additional key features, including a comparison of multiple health measurements over time. We conducted a usability evaluation of the library as a key component of an application for health and wellness monitoring. The results indicate that the data visualization library was helpful in assisting users in understanding health data and its evolution over time.Comment: BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 16.1 (2016

Restrained shrinkage behaviour of rapid hardening fibre reinforced concrete repairs

The functionality and durability of concrete overlays is compromised by delamination and large cracks that result from excessive shear and tensile stresses due to restrained shrinkage. Expansive cements could mitigate shrinkage problems, but as they are usually brittle, they still develop cracks under mechanical loads. Manufactured Steel fibres (MSF) can be used to control crack widths of repairs. However, to promote the sustainability of repairs, recycled fibres extracted from un-vulcanised rubber belt off-cuts can be used. They are also more cost effective than MSF. Currently, there is no accepted design approach to limit crack widths or to accurately quantify the effect of fibres on crack widths and crack spacings of overlays. The aim of this study is to contribute to the understanding of flexural performance and restrained shrinkage and subsequent deterioration of plain and recycled fibre reinforced rapid hardening overlays, especially the fibre effect on crack widths of overlays, and to promote more sustainable, yet efficient solutions. A combination of experimental, analytical and numerical investigation is employed to study: a) the effect of recycled clean steel fibres (RCSF) on the compressive and flexural behaviour of rapid hardening mixes, b) the effect of RCSF on the crack development of overlays and shear stresses at the interface and c) the effect of non-uniform shrinkage distribution across the depth of overlays on the tensile stress development, and therefore, on the risk of cracking in overlays. It was found that the RCSF are efficient in bridging cracks, resulting in flexural hardening properties. The RCSF reduce crack widths in overlays by about 60%. The available methods for predicting crack widths are found to be inaccurate. Therefore, a modified crack width equation is proposed and validated, and a new equation for estimating crack spacing is derived. The fibres are also found to positively contribute in reducing the risk of delamination. They are shown to enhance the shear strength and proven to reduce the shear stress development after crack development and reduce the level of deterioration of shear interface by controlling crack widths. The assumption of uniform shrinkage distribution in overlays underestimates the extent of hygral tensile stresses. An empirical equation to consider this effect is proposed. This work is expected to enable better and more sustainable designs for overlay repairs and strengthening

Information provision and retrieval in the farming industry in Western Australia

Agricultural information dissemination to farmers has been studied extensively. However, farmers preferred methods of delivery has not been investigated thoroughly within a Western Australia (WA) context. Availability of different information delivery channels have led to the overwhelming and overlapping of information available to farmers. As a consequence, the type of information required by WA farmers should be considered as knowing information needs could allow farmers to access relevant, concise and timely agricultural information. To answer the research questions, a survey was designed, using Likert-scale, close ended and open ended questions techniques, enabling qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The study‘s findings are relevant to agricultural information providers, government and public agencies, and other researchers who work in the agricultural and farming industries in Western Australia, and Australia

Detection of Aflatoxin B1 among Early and Middle Childhood Iraqi Patients

        أجريت الدراسة للكشف عن الأفلاتوكسين  AFB1في مصل وبول 42 مريض في مرحلة الطفولة المبكرة والمتوسطة (26 من الذكور و 16 من الإناث) يعانون مرض وظائف الكلى، وأمراض وظائف الكبد ، فضلا عن ضمور في النمو وأعراض أخرى اعتمادا على معلومات تم الحصول عليها من كل مريض. و 8 اطفال اصحاء ظاهريا كمجموعة سيطرة. تم استخدام تقنية HPLC للكشف عن AFB1 في جميع العينات. أظهرت النتائج أنه من بين 42 مريضا في مرحلة الطفولة ، 19 (45.2 %) منها اعطت نتيجة ايجابية في وجود AFB1 في المصل من بين جميع الفئات العمرية للمرضى بمعدل 0.88 نانوغرام / مل ومدى (0.12-3.04) نانوغرام / مل ، بالمقارنة مع مجموعه السيطرة التي لم تكتشف أي مستوى من الافلاتوكسين. بينما لم يتم اكتشف عن الافلاتوكسين في أي من عينات البول في كلا الجنسين. تم تسجيل النتائج الإيجابية للافلاتوكسين AFB1  في عينات المصل للذكور أكثر من الإناث وصلت إلى 12 (46.1%) و7 (43.7 %) على التوالي مع متوسط / مدى وصل إلى (1.08 /0.12 -2.91  و 0.82 /0.12 -1.30 ) نانوغرام / مل على التوالي، مقارنة مع مجموعة السيطرة ((8 والتي لم تكتشف عن وجود  أي قيمة للافلاتوكسين.      The study was conducted for the detection of Aflatoxin B1(AFB1) in the serum and urine of 42 early and middle childhood patients (26 male and  16 female ) with renal function disease, liver function disease, in additional to atrophy in the growth and other symptoms depending on the information within consent obtained from each patient, in addition to 8 children, apparently healthy, as  the control. The technique of HPLC was used for the detection of AFB1 from all samples. The results showed that out of 42 patient children, 19 (45.2%) gave positive detection of AFB1 in the serum among all age groups patients with a mean of 0.88 ng/ml and a range of (0.12-3.04) ng/ml. This was compared with the control that did not detect any level. On the other hand, AFB1 was not detected in any of urine samples in both of the sexes. Positive results of serum AFB1 were recorded in males more than females sample which reached 12(46.1%) and 7(43.7%) respectively with a mean/ range reached to (1.08 /0.12-2.91 and 0.82/0.12-1.30)ng/ml respectively, compared with 8 control samples that did not detect any value of aflatoxins

Development and Validation of the Inviting Teaching Effectiveness Scale based on the Invitational Theory

This study reports on a new instrument, the Inviting Teaching Effectiveness Scale (ITES), which is a 20-item measure based on the fundamental teaching competencies derived from the principles of Invitational Education (Purkey & Novak, 1984). The initial instrument had included 30 items and was then validated on a random sample of 640 students enrolled at the University of Bahrain. The final version of the developed Scale contains 20 items and measures four aspects of inviting teaching effectiveness: Invitational instruction, inviting relationships, invitational assessment and inviting classroom environment. As the new Scale displayed sound psychometric properties, it can be considered as a potentially useful tool to assess teacher performance and improve teaching practices at tertiary level of education. Information about test construction, reliability, validity, and generalizability are presented and implications and benefits associated with use of the instrument as a tool for measuring teaching effectiveness are discussed

Dynamic Hilbert clustering based on convex set for web services aggregation

In recent years, web services run by big corporations and different application-specific data centers have all been embraced by several companies worldwide. Web services provide several benefits when compared to other communication technologies. However, it still suffers from congestion and bottlenecks as well as a significant delay due to the tremendous load caused by a large number of web service requests from end users. Clustering and then aggregating similar web services as one compressed message can potentially achieve network traffic reduction. This paper proposes a dynamic Hilbert clustering as a new model for clustering web services based on convex set similarity. Mathematically, the suggested models compute the degree of similarity between simple object access protocol (SOAP) messages and then cluster them into groups with high similarity. Next, each cluster is aggregated as a compact message that is finally encoded by fixed-length or Huffman. The experiment results have shown the suggested model performs better than the conventional clustering techniques in terms of compression ratio. The suggested model has produced the best results, reaching up to 15 with fixed-length and up to 20 with Huffma

First record of Trichophrya intermedia Prost, 1952 (Ciliophora, Suctoria) in Iraq from the Mugilid fish Planiliza abu

     خلال المدة من شهر نيسان 2016 ولغاية نهاية شهر تموز 2016 فحصت 39سمكة خشني Planiliza abu من شبكة مبازل محافظة بابل، تم فحص الأسماك بحثا عن الطفيليات في مختبر كلية الطب البيطري في جامعة القاسم الخضراء. تم تسجيل نوع من الجنس Trichophrya لأول مرة في العراق وهو T. intermedia من جلد وغلاصم سمكة الخشني P. abu. أعطيت مواصفات وقياسات الطفيلي. بهذا التسجيل الحالي، وصل الآن عدد أنواع الجنس Trichophrya في أسماك العراق إلى ثلاثة أنواع.During the period from April 2016 till the end of July 2016, a total of 39 fish specimens belonging to Planiliza abu from the Babil drainage network Babylon province, were examined for parasites at a laboratory at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Al-Qasim Green University. Trichophrya intermedia Prost, 1952 was recorded for the first time in Iraq from the skin and gills of P. abu. The description and measurements of this parasite were given. With the present record, the number of Trichophrya species reached now three species in fishes of Iraq

Acoustical design of water features and their use for road traffic noise masking

This thesis examines the physical and perceptual properties of water sounds generated by small to medium sized water features, and their use for road traffic noise masking. A wide range of design factors have been tested in the laboratory for waterfalls, cascades, fountains and jets which can typically be found in open spaces such as gardens and parks. A number of field tests were also carried out to illustrate the variability of water sounds. The results obtained indicated that estimations can be made on how design factors affect sound pressure levels, frequency content and psychoacoustic properties. Key design factor findings include the higher sounds pressure levels obtained when distributing the same amount of water over several streams rather than over one uniform stream (+2-3 dB), the increase in the overall sound pressure level at high flow rates with increasing waterfall’s width (+2-3 dB), and the significant increases in sound pressure level with increasing height of falling water (+5-10 dB). Impact materials greatly affected acoustical and psychoacoustical properties, results showing however that changes in sound pressure level and spectra become less and less significant with increasing height and flow rate. Overall, water produced more mid and low frequencies (+5-10 dB compared to hard materials in the range 250 Hz – 2 kHz), whilst hard materials tended to increase the high frequency content of approximately 5 dB. Comparisons with road traffic noise showed that there is a mismatch between the frequency responses of traffic noise and water sounds, with the exception of waterfalls with large flow rates which can generate low frequency levels comparable to traffic noise. Auditory tests were carried out to assess water sound preferences in the presence of road traffic noise. These were undertaken in the context of peacefulness and relaxations within gardens or balconies where motorway noise was audible. Results showed that water sounds should be similar or not less than 3 dB below the road traffic noise level, and that stream sounds tend to be preferred to fountain sounds, which are in turn preferred to waterfall sounds. Analysis made on groups of sounds also indicated that low sharpness and large temporal variations were preferred on average, although no acoustical or psychoacoustical parameter correlated well with the individual sound preferences