Evaluating Pharmacy Health Literacy and Its Barriers among Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases in Qatar

Background: Patients’ health literacy, which is their capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions, is a critical determinant of whether they are able to actively participate in their healthcare. The objective of this study was to measure the level of health literacy among patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and/or heart failure (HF) and to explore barriers and facilitators to health literacy among this population. Methods: The Abbreviated version of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S TOFHLA) and the Three-item Brief Health Literacy Screen (3-item BHLS) were used to assess health literacy levels among patients with ACS and/or HF. A qualitative approach was used to identify facilitators and barriers to health literacy with the use of one-to-one interviews for patients’ perspective and focus group discussions for healthcare providers’ perspective. Results: The prevalence of inadequate to marginal health literacy was found to be 36% using S TOFHLA and 54% using 3-item BHLS. The most prominent factors were found to contribute to health literacy including patient attitudes and attributes, healthcare provider skills and attitudes, healthcare facility attributes, communication-related aspects, care process, and resources. Conclusions: Limited health literacy is common among patients with ACS and/or HF in Qatar. Many aspects were found to play a role in the patient’s health literacy; therefore, combination of interventions may be necessary to yield the most improvement in patient understanding, health literacy, and health outcomes

Multi-Analytical Approach for Characterization of Archaeological Meroatic Potsherds

In this paper, the results obtained using a multi-analytical approach for characterization of six potsherds originally attributed to the 4th century BC excavated from Meroatic sites, Sudan were reported. Sort of the minerals and their structural deformation during the production forming process from the raw material used by artisan to ware were performed, in the particular, the maximum heating temperature obtained during burial and operative condition (open or close condition) of the kiln were performed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was the completing analysis to estimate the firing temperature from typical thermal reactions in potsherds. Further X-ray Ray Fluorescence, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) were used to analyze the morphology, chemical composition and find subsequent progress of vitrification levels. The XRD results give supportive information obtained from the FT-IR spectra. X-ray diffractometry results have shown the existence of quartz, albite (MER-02, MER-04, MER-06) anatase (MER-03) and manganite (MER-05) minerals. Thus, the mineralogical structure of a potsherds samples has a quite dissimilar composition that could suggest that different source of the raw material utilized for the potsherds production. Clay minerals can be used for re-establishment of previous production conditions. In the present paper TGA, FT-IR and XRD results potsherds are examined and information derived on potsherds technologies regarding raw materials and production conditions is confirmed by SEM observations relating to the extent of vitrification. The temperature at which potsherds were fired differs over range (700-900 ℃) depending on the sort of clay used and the kiln existing. The obtained data point out that the investigated potsherds were made from different raw materials and workshops

Spectroscopic Approach for Characterization of Archaeological Potsherds Excavated from Some Neolithic Sites from Sudan

In this paper multi-spectroscopic techniques for characterization of ancient potsherds excavated from different Neolithic sites (Esh-shaheinab, Kadero and Jebel-Um-Marahi), Sudan were reported. The experimental data inform us to the both elemental and mineralogical composition of the potsherds. Mineralogical composition of ancient pottery has been studied by both FTIR and XRD approaches. Further, studies by Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to indicate the firing temperature from typical thermal reaction in potsherds samples. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) coupled with an Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS) was used to study the internal morphology and chemical composition of the pottery. EDS was performed to figure out the elemental composition and the resultants were carried out statistically utilizing the ratio of SiO2 to Al2O3 due to their non-volatile character. However, XRD results Revealed the mineralogical composition of the potsherds the quartz is predominant all over the samples then microcline, illite, muscovite, albite, magnesium aluminum silicon oxides and rutile in different compositions and various firing temperatures of pottery samples were found to be in the 800-1100 ℃

A Comparative Study between Fixed-size Kernel Logistic Regression and Support Vector Machines Methods for beta-turns Prediction in Protein

Beta-turn is an important element of protein structure; it plays a significant role in protein configuration and function. There are several methods developed for prediction of beta-turns from protein sequences. The best methods are based on Neural Networks (NNs) or Support Vector Machines (SVMs). Although Kernel Logistic Regression (KLR) is a powerful classification technique that has been applied successfully in many classification problems, however it is often not found in beta-turns classification, mainly because it is computationally expensive. Fixed-Size Kernel Logistic Regression (FS-KLR) is a fast and accurate approximate implementation of KLR for large-scale data sets. It uses trust-region Newton’s method for large-scale Logistic Regression (LR) as a basis, to solve the approximate problem, and Nystrom method to approximate the features' matrix. In this paper we used FS-KLR for beta-turns prediction and the results obtained are compared to those obtained with SVM. Secondary structure information and Position Specific Scoring Matrices (PSSMs) are utilized as input features. The performance achieved using FS-KLR is found to be comparable to that of SVM method. FS-KLR has an advantage of yielding probabilistic outputs directly and its extension to the multi-class case is well-defined. In addition its evaluation time is less than that of SVM method. Beta-turn is an important element of protein structure; it plays a significant role in protein configuration and function. There are several methods developed for prediction of beta-turns from protein sequences. The best methods are based on Neural Networks (NNs) or Support Vector Machines (SVMs). Although Kernel Logistic Regression (KLR) is a powerful classification technique that has been applied successfully in many classification problems, however it is often not found in beta-turns classification, mainly because it is computationally expensive. Fixed-Size Kernel Logistic Regression (FS-KLR) is a fast and accurate approximate implementation of KLR for large-scale data sets. It uses trust-region Newton’s method for large-scale Logistic Regression (LR) as a basis, to solve the approximate problem, and Nystrom method to approximate the features' matrix. In this paper we used FS-KLR for beta-turns prediction and the results obtained are compared to those obtained with SVM. Secondary structure information and Position Specific Scoring Matrices (PSSMs) are utilized as input features. The performance achieved using FS-KLR is found to be comparable to that of SVM method. FS-KLR has an advantage of yielding probabilistic outputs directly and its extension to the multi-class case is well-defined. In addition its evaluation time is less than that of SVM method

Combined Approach Using Capillary Electrophoresis and Molecular Modeling for an Understanding of Enantioselective Recognition Mechanisms

Many molecular modeling methods have been recently proposed as powerful tools to obtain information about the emerging interaction of inclusion complexes between chiral selectors and enantiomers and then to elucidate chiral recognition processes. In this review the contribution of chiral capillary electrophoresis in combination with molecular modeling to a better understanding of the chiral recognition mechanisms with CDs as chiral selectors will be discussed

A cache framework for nomadic clients of web services

This research explores the problems associated with caching of SOAP Web Service request/response pairs, and presents a domain independent framework enabling transparent caching of Web Service requests for mobile clients. The framework intercepts method calls intended for the web service and proceeds by buffering and caching of the outgoing method call and the inbound responses. This enables a mobile application to seamlessly use Web Services by masking fluctuations in network conditions. This framework addresses two main issues, firstly how to enrich the WS standards to enable caching and secondly how to maintain consistency for state dependent Web Service request/response pairs

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer Electron Ionization (GC-MS -EI)method for the Analysis of MalathionResidue in Tomato

In this a study tomato sampleswere collected from Khartoum, extracted with acetone, dichloromethane and petroleum ether (1:1:1) and cleaned up by florisil column. Malathion quantitative determination is carried out by gas chromatograph-mass spectrometerusing the optimum ionization mode electron ionization (EI). The detection ofmalathionis confirmed by retention time and comparison of primary and secondary ions.Recovery studies   were performed at two spikes (0.5,0.25mg kg-1) fortification levels of malathion and the recovery obtained ranged from 81% to 97%. The method showed good linearity(R²> 0.995) over the range assayed (from 0.05 to 7.0mg L-1) and the calculated limits of detection (LOD) and quantification(LOQ) were0.03 mg kg-1and 0.11 mg kg-1, respectively. These limits  werelower than the maximum residue levels(MRL) established by European legislations (0.5mg kg-1)

Automated Assessment of Facial Wrinkling: a case study on the effect of smoking

Facial wrinkle is one of the most prominent biological changes that accompanying the natural aging process. However, there are some external factors contributing to premature wrinkles development, such as sun exposure and smoking. Clinical studies have shown that heavy smoking causes premature wrinkles development. However, there is no computerised system that can automatically assess the facial wrinkles on the whole face. This study investigates the effect of smoking on facial wrinkling using a social habit face dataset and an automated computerised computer vision algorithm. The wrinkles pattern represented in the intensity of 0-255 was first extracted using a modified Hybrid Hessian Filter. The face was divided into ten predefined regions, where the wrinkles in each region was extracted. Then the statistical analysis was performed to analyse which region is effected mainly by smoking. The result showed that the density of wrinkles for smokers in two regions around the mouth was significantly higher than the non-smokers, at p-value of 0.05. Other regions are inconclusive due to lack of large scale dataset. Finally, the wrinkle was visually compared between smoker and non-smoker faces by generating a generic 3D face model.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, Accepted in 2017 IEEE SMC International Conferenc

The Impact of Administrative Management's Quality on Improving Local Government in Khartoum: An Applied Study on Karary Locality

The current study investigated the impact of administrative management on improving local government according to Sudan's local and future conditions. Sound local government helps localities identify, organize and implement their priorities. In order to test its hypotheses, the study adopted the analytical descriptive approach. The problem of the current study lies in the poor management of the localities in Khartoum – locality of Karary as a case study, resulting in absence of transparency of authorities and responsibilities. Consequently, this led to a great deal of shortcoming in providing the required services, and then inability to achieve local development. Various negative significant results were suggested; organizational structure negatively affected the efficiency of local government in Sudan regarding poor performance, lack of roles, overlapping of authorities and responsibilities and duplication of authorities. The study recommended the need to hold workshops focusing on reviewing the organizational structure to achieve the philosophy of local government, tackle low performance's problems and contribute to identifying the objectives and future visions of each locality, based on its potentialities and available resources (natural, human and physical)

Effects of leaf powder and ethanol extracts of selected plants on growth and incidence of onion pink root rot disease fungus (Phoma terrestris)

Onion is one of the most important vegetable crops grown throughout the world and  it suffers from several diseases. Pink root rot disease caused by Phoma terrestris is a limiting factor for onion production. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of basil, neem, lantana and argel extracts at 0.5,1.0 and 2.0 mg/l on fungal growth and disease incidence compared to the fungicide Premis FS (25%). All plant leaf extracts showed significant reductions in the growth of Phoma terrestris. Basil showed a complete inhibition zone of mycelial growth at 2.0 mg/l, followed by neem, lantana and the least inhibition was showed by argel. The fungicide Premis FS (25%), as a control, also caused a reduction of mycelial growth. All treatments of   plant extracts and the fungicide Premis FS (25%) significantly reduced pink root rot disease compared to the control under greenhouse conditions. The highest reduction of the disease incidence was achieved by the fungicide Premis FS (25%), followed by the extracts of  basil, neem, lantana and the least effect was shown by argel. In conclusion, it is recommended to control onion pink root rot disease using basil leaf extract at 2.0 mg/l.            يعتبر محصول البصل من أهم المحاصيل المزروعة حول العالم ولكنه يعانى من عدد من الأمراض. يعتبر مرض عفن جذور البصل الوردي الذى يسببه الفطر  Phoma terrestris من العوامل المحددة لإنتاج البصل. هدفت الدراسة لمعرفة تأثير مستخلصات الريحان و الحرجل و اللانتانا والنيم بتركيزات صفر و1و2 مليجرام/لتر على نمو الفطر ونسبة الإصابة بالمرض في وجود المبيد الفطري Premis FS (25%)  كشاهد. أظهرت الدراسة نقصاً معنوياً في نمو الفطر Phoma terrestris. ثبط الريحان في التركيز العالي (2 مليجرام/لتر) نمو الفطر تثبيطاً كاملاً تلاه النيم و اللانتانا وأخيراً الحرجل. كذلك نتج عن معاملة النباتات المصابة  في المشتل بالمستخلصات النباتية نقصاً في نسبة الإصابة وكان المبيد الفطري Premis FS (25%) الأعلى في التأثير على معدل الإصابة ثم تلاه الريحان ثم النيم و اللانتانا واخرها الحرجل. خلصت الدراسة للتوصية بمعاملة البصل المصاب بمرض تعفن جذور البصل الوردي بمستخلص أوراق الريحان بالتركيز العالي 2 مليجرام/لتر &nbsp