Facial flatness indices: application in orthodontics

Facial flatness indices have been used in anthropology to discern differences among populations. They were evaluated on skulls from around the world. Aims (1) to evaluate the use of facial flatness indices in orthodontics and (2) to assess their variation among malocclusions, age and sex. Materials and Methods A total of 322 cone beam computed tomography radiographs were digitized and three facial indices (frontal, simotic and zygomaxillary) along with three transverse distances (fmo1–fmo2, zma1–zma2 and n1–n2) were assessed and compared between different groups. Results The zygomaxillary index was increased in Class II (32.6 ± 0.42; p < 0.001) and decreased in Class III malocclusions (29.4 ± 0.66; p < 0.001) compared to Class I (31.18 ± 0.3; p < 0.001). The frontal and nasal flatness are not characteristic features of any of the sagittal malocclusions. Facial flatness indices did not differ between males and females and between growing and non-growing patients. Conclusion The position of subspinale point (A point) forward or backward relative to the zygomaxillary width is a factor of assessment of facial flatness. The zygomaxillary index could be helpful in weighting proportionally the width of the maxilla (expansion) relative to its sagittal position in Class II and Class III malocclusions

Study of MicroRNA192 as an Early Marker of Nephropathy in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous ubiquitous non-coding single-stranded (ss) RNA transcripts, frequently of 19–25 nucleotides in length. They alter the differentiation, growth, apoptosis and proliferation of cells by interfering with protein synthesis by either inducing mRNA degradation or repressing translation. miRNAs are expressed in many diseases and different cancers such as diabetes and have the potential to become new kinds of diagnostic markers. miRNA-192 is highly expressed in kidney especially in renal cortex. Many studies have confirmed that miRNA-192 played important roles in the fibrosis of kidney and liver. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the use of microRNA-192 as early predictor in cases of diabetic nephropathy. Patients and methods: This study was conducted on volunteers from Internal Medicine Department - Suez Canal Authority Hospitals. 80 subjects were divided into: 60 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who were further subdivided into (normal albuminuria group (n= 20), microalbuminuria group (n= 20), and macroalbuminuria group (n=20)), and 20 healthy control group. MicroRNA-192 was quantified in blood using Reverse Transcription TaqMan MicroRNA Assay.Results: There was a statistical significance decrease in micro RNA-192 level in macro-albuminuria group comparedto other groups and also in microalbuminuria group compared to normal albuminuria group and healthy control group. Conclusions: We concluded that there is a possible role of miRNA-192 in the pathogenesis and progression of diabetic kidney disease in humans. Also, blood miRNA-192 may be a useful biomarker for predicting the development and the stage of diabetic kidney disease

L'impact de l'environnement sur la pratique du contrôle de gestion : Cas des hypermarchés marocains

&nbsp; In an attempt to analyze the impact of contingency factors, specifically the "environment" determinant, on the practice of management control in large retail outlets, particularly Moroccan hypermarkets, an empirical study was carried out with a view to quantifying the impact of each item making up the "environment" explanatory variable on the "management control" response variable. To this end, a semi-structured interview was conducted with management control professionals and practitioners in Moroccan hypermarkets, providing significant results for these items on the practice of financial, commercial, managerial and organizational management control. However, this survey was carried out using the multiple linear regression method in order to measure the contribution of these items on the different angles of the practice of management control in this type of commercial structure. &nbsp; Key words: Environment, management control, contingency, Morocco Classification&nbsp;JEL&nbsp;: C10, D01, D22 Paper type :&nbsp; Empirical ResearchDans une tentative d’analyser l’incidence des facteurs de contingence, spécifiquement le déterminant «&nbsp;environnement&nbsp;» sur la pratique du contrôle de gestion dans les grandes surfaces commerciales, notamment les hypermarchés marocains, une étude empirique a été mise en œuvre dans un motif de quantifier l’impact de chaque item constituant la variable explicative «&nbsp;environnement&nbsp;» sur la variable réponse « contrôle de gestion&nbsp;». Dans ce sillon, un entretien semi-directif a été entamé auprès des professionnels et praticiens de contrôle de gestion dans les hypermarchés au Maroc, permettant des résultats significatifs de ces items sur la pratique du contrôle de gestion dans le volet financier, commercial, managérial, et organisationnel. Toutefois, cette prospection a été réalisée à l’aide de la méthode de régression linéaire multiple afin de mesurer la contribution de ces items sur les différents angles de la pratique du contrôle de gestion dans ce type de structure commerciale. &nbsp; Mots clés : Environnement, contrôle de gestion, contingence, Maroc JEL Classification&nbsp;: C10, D01, D22 Type du papier&nbsp;: Recherche empiriqu

Multi-Objective Optimisation Method for Posture Prediction and Analysis with Consideration of Fatigue Effect and its Application Case

Automation technique has been widely used in manufacturing industry, but there are still manual handling operations required in assembly and maintenance work in industry. Inappropriate posture and physical fatigue might result in musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in such physical jobs. In ergonomics and occupational biomechanics, virtual human modelling techniques have been employed to design and optimize the manual operations in design stage so as to avoid or decrease potential MSD risks. In these methods, physical fatigue is only considered as minimizing the muscle or joint stress, and the fatigue effect along time for the posture is not considered enough. In this study, based on the existing methods and multiple objective optimisation method (MOO), a new posture prediction and analysis method is proposed for predicting the optimal posture and evaluating the physical fatigue in the manual handling operation. The posture prediction and analysis problem is mathematically described and a special application case is demonstrated for analyzing a drilling assembly operation in European Aeronautic Defence & Space Company (EADS) in this paper

Physical Layer Security of a Dual-Hop Regenerative Mixed RF/UOW System

Ensuring physical layer security is a crucial task in conventional and emerging communication systems, which are typically characterized by stringent quality of service and security requirements. This also accounts for wireless technologies in the context of the Internet of Things paradigm, which are expected to exhibit considerably increased computational complexity. Based on this, the present contribution investigates the secrecy outage performance of a dual-hop decode-and-forward (DF) mixed radio-frequency/underwater optical wireless communication (RF/UOWC) system. Such wireless network configurations are particularly useful in efficient and demanding scenarios, such as military communications. Therefore, our analysis considers one single-antenna source node $(S)$ communicating with one legitimate destination node $(D)$ via a DF relay node $(R)$ equipped with multiple antennas for reception. Particularly, the relay receives the incoming signal from S via an RF link, applies selection-combining (SC) technique, fully decodes it, re-encodes it and then forwards it to the destination via a UOWC link. The communication is performed under the eavesdropper's attempt to intercept the $S-R$ hop (RF side). In this context, a closed-form expression for the secrecy outage probability is derived along with a thorough asymptotic analysis in the high SNR regime, based on which the achievable diversity order is provided. The offered results provide useful insights on the impact of some key system and channel parameters on the secrecy outage performance, such as the number of eavesdroppers, the number of relay antennas, fading severity parameters of RF links, and water turbulence severity of the UOWC link. The conducted analysis shows that the secrecy outage probability is dominated only by the $R-D$ link in the high SNR regime, regardless of the $S-R$ parameters, such as the number of relay antennas and the average SNR at the relay branches. The offered analytic results are corroborated with respective results from computer simulations. Since these parameters are closely related with the computational complexity at the involved terminals, the offered insights are useful for the design and deployment of such systems.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe