The Relationship between Iron Deficiency Anemia and the Incidence of Febrile Convulsions

OBJECTIVES To determine the role of iron deficiency anemia in patients with febrile convulsions in the 06 to 60 months in a tertiary care hospital.METHODOLOGY This cross-sectional study was undertaken at Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad, from January 2020 to February 2022. Patients with typical and atypical febrile seizures were recruited for the study, while patients with neurodegenerative diseases, meningoencephalitis, epilepsy, trauma, nephritic syndrome, and hypertensive seizures were excluded from the study. Iron deficiency was identified concerning a complete blood count. The data were analyzed in SPSS version 21, and the significance value was kept at < 0.005.RESULTSIn the present study, 102 patients were enrolled. The mean age of the sample was 15 months, with an age range of 6-54 months. The male-to-female ratio was 2:1. The mean haemoglobin (HB) of the sample observed was 9.9±1.9, mean corpuscular volume (MCV) 73±13, red cell distribution width (RDW) 16±7.9 white cell count (WBC) 12.9±7.1 and platelets of 312±180. The use of cow milk in febrile seizures was 41%, and only 33% of parents were unaware of proper milk dilution. CONCLUSION We concluded that patients with atypical febrile seizures and those with seizures more than once have a significantly higher degree of iron deficiency anemia than those with typical febrile seizures. Moreover, the group with prolonged seizures has severe anemia compared to the group with brief seizures

Privacy of User Identities in Cellular Networks

This thesis looks into two privacy threats of cellular networks. For their operations, these networks have to deal with unique permanent user identities called International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI). One of the privacy threats is posed by a device called IMSI catcher. An IMSI catcher can exploit various vulnerabilities. Some of these vulnerabilities are easier to exploit than others. This thesis looks into fixing the most easily exploitable vulnerability, which is in the procedure of identifying the subscriber. This vulnerability exists in all generations of cellular networks prior to 5G. The thesis discusses solutions to fix the vulnerability in several different contexts. One of the solutions proposes a generic approach, which can be applied to any generation of cellular networks, to fix the vulnerability. The generic approach uses temporary user identities, which are called pseudonyms, instead of using the permanent identity IMSI. The thesis also discusses another solution to fix the vulnerability, specifically in the identification procedure of 5G. The solution uses Identity-Based Encryption (IBE), and it is different from the one that has been standardised in 5G. Our IBE-based solution has some additional advantages that can be useful in future works. The thesis also includes a solution to fix the vulnerability in the identification procedure in earlier generations of cellular networks. The solution fixes the vulnerability when a user of a 5G network connects to those earlier generation networks. The solution is a hybridisation of the pseudonym-based generic solution and the standardised solution in 5G. The second of the two threats that this thesis deals with is related to the standards of a delegated authentication system, known as Authentication and Key Management for Applications (AKMA), which has been released in July 2020. The system enables application providers to authenticate their users by leveraging the authentication mechanism between the user and the user's cellular network. This thesis investigates what requirements AKMA should fulfil. The investigation puts a special focus on identifying privacy requirements. It finds two new privacy requirements, which are not yet considered in the standardisation process. The thesis also presents a privacy-preserving AKMA that can co-exist with a normal-mode AKMA.Väitöskirjassa tutkitaan kahta yksityisyyteen kohdistuvaa uhkaa mobiiliverkoissa. Näissä verkoissa käyttäjät tunnistetaan yksikäsitteisen pysyvän identiteetin perusteella. Hyökkääjä voi uhata käyttäjän yksityisyyttä sellaisen radiolähettimen avulla, joka naamioituu mobiiliverkon tukiasemaksi. Tällainen väärä tukiasema voi pyytää lähellä olevia mobiililaitteita kertomaan pysyvän identiteettinsä, jolloin hyökkääjä voi esimerkiksi selvittää, onko tietyn henkilön puhelin lähistöllä vai ei. Väitöskirjassa selvitetään, millaisilla ratkaisuilla tämän tyyppisiltä haavoittuvuuksilta voidaan välttyä. Viidennen sukupolven mobiiliteknologian standardiin on sisällytetty julkisen avaimen salaukseen perustuva suojaus käyttäjän pysyvälle identiteetille. Tällä ratkaisulla voidaan suojautua väärän tukiaseman uhkaa vastaan, mutta se toimii vain 5G-verkoissa. Yksi väitöskirjassa esitetyistä vaihtoehtoisista ratkaisuista soveltuu käytettäväksi myös vanhempien mobiiliteknologian sukupolvien yhteydessä. Ratkaisu perustuu pysyvän identiteetin korvaamiseen pseudonyymillä. Toinen esitetty ratkaisu käyttää identiteettiin pohjautuvaa salausta, ja sillä olisi tiettyjä etuja 5G-standardiin valittuun, julkisen avaimen salaukseen perustuvaan menetelmään verrattuna. Lisäksi väitöskirjassa esitetään 5G-standardiin valitun menetelmän ja pseudonyymeihin perustuvan menetelmän hybridi, joka mahdollistaisi suojauksen laajentamisen myös aiempiin mobiiliteknologian sukupolviin. Toinen väitöskirjassa tutkittu yksityisyyteen kohdistuva uhka liittyy 5G-standardin mukaiseen delegoidun tunnistautumisen järjestelmään. Tämä järjestelmä mahdollistaa käyttäjän vahvan tunnistautumisen automaattisesti mobiiliverkon avulla. Väitöskirjassa tutkitaan järjestelmälle asetettuja tietoturvavaatimuksia erityisesti yksityisyyden suojan näkökulmasta. Työssä on löydetty kaksi vaatimusta, joita ei ole toistaiseksi otettu huomioon standardeja kehitettäessä. Lisäksi työssä esitetään ratkaisu, jolla delegoidun tunnistautumisen järjestelmää voidaan laajentaa paremmin yksityisyyttä suojaavaksi

Association of hypoadiponectemia with smokeless/dipping tobacco use in young men

Background: Low levels of adiponectin, an adipocytokine with anti-diabetic, antiatherogenic and cardioprotective properties, is associated with increased risk of coronary disease in young men. Previous studies have demonstrated that smokeless tobacco is linked with a reduction of plasma adiponectin levels. However, the influence of smokeless tobacco (dipping tobacco) on plasma adiponectin levels still remains unknown. This study was conducted to assess the plasma adiponectin levels in young men who were using dipping tobacco. Methods: This was a community based study, which consisted of 186 young lean healthy males aged 20 to 35 years. Among these, 96 men were dipping tobacco users (BMI = 23.07 ± 2.68) and 90 were non-dipping tobacco users (BMI = 23.67 ± 1.46). Serum adiponectin levels were assessed by Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA). Results: A statistically significant difference in the mean adiponectin level between tobacco dipper and non-dipper groups was observed (p = 0.0001). A significant difference between the two groups was also observed in baseline parameters including triglyceride and random blood sugar levels (p < 0.05). However, no significant difference was observed between the two groups in other clinical parameters. Conclusions: Findings of this study suggest that dipping tobacco use was significantly associated with low level of adiponetin in community dwelling young males. This emphasizes the importance of developing community intervention to reduce the use of dipping tobacco, which will reduce the tobacco associated disease burden in the community and will improve public health

AI in Bioinformatics

In bioinformatics science and computational molecular biology, artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly gained interest. With the availability of numerous types of AI algorithms, it has become prevalent for researchers to use off-shelf programmes to identify their datasets and mine them. At present, researchers are facing difficulties in selecting the right approach that could be extended to a given data collection, with numerous intelligent approaches available in the literature. Researchers need instruments that present the data in an intuitive manner, annotated with meaning, precision estimates, and description. In the fields of bioinformatics and computational molecular biology (DNA sequencing), this article seeks to review the use of AI. These fields have evolved from the needs of biologists to use the large volumes of data continuously obtained in genomic science and to better understand them. For several approaches to bioinformatics and DNA sequencing, the fundamental impetus is the evolution of species and the difficulty of dealing with incorrect results. The type of software programmes developed by the scientific community to search, identify and mine numerous usable biological databases are also mentioned in this article, simulating biological experiments with and without mistakes. The review of antibody-antigen interactions and their diversity, and the study of epidemiological evidence that can help forecast antibody-antigen interactions and the induction of broadly neutralising antibodies are important questions to be answered in the field of vaccinology

Solutions for the Power Distribution System of Karachi Electric (K- Electric) to Prevent Deaths in Rainy Season

Karachi is the metropolitan city of Pakistan. In rainy or flood season many deaths occurred due to electric shock. For the prevention, we suggest here to K-Electric (Karachi Electric Supply Distribution company) to control death casualties due to electric shock in rainy season. In suggestion paper providing some suggestions to the big power supplier of Karachi (K-Electric) about safety, maintenance, and monitoring for the prevention from deaths occur in metropolitan city due to electric shock. Those deaths occur due to faults in electric pole and touch the fallen live wire. When people touch the pole, they got electric shock in rainy and storm condition due to these electric faults occur in this condition provides enough loss to humans in the form to lose their lives. For the prevention or overcome the loss of life and danger here are giving some suggestions, if do work on following safety, maintenance and monitoring system then get the control on that loss will occur in heavy rain or flood

Assessment of Municipal Solid Waste Management Practices in Bahawalpur City, Pakistan

Solid waste management is a global issue persisting in most of the developing countries like Pakistan. Current study briefly appraises the management and practices of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Bahawalpur city. Data were collected from different sources by using an in-depth interview and questionnaire tool. The findings reveal that domestic organic waste accounts for about 35.32% followed by debris, dirt and construction material waste (30.89%). About 273.69 tons solid waste is generated on daily basis whereas only 218.95 tons per day is collected and disposed. The collection rate of MSW varies from 61% to 80% in the city. The service coverage area was about 70%. The total sanitary staff was also very limited (735) as compared to the increasing population and served only 75% population of the Bahawalpur. The equipment and machinery used for MSW collection and disposal operation were also limited and out of fashion which were needed to be replaced. There is no proper landfill for disposal of solid waste which is openly thrown at five dumping sites and burned. This situation further creates many environmental and health issues. Recycling is almost absent in the city and behavior of the inhabitants also adds to an ineffective solid waste management in the city. It is necessary to create awareness among the people about bad effects of improper dumping of solid waste and the need to tackle this problem

Application of Gene Expression Programming (GEP) for the prediction of compressive strength of geopolymer concrete

For the production of geopolymer concrete (GPC), fly-ash (FA) like waste material has been effectively utilized by various researchers. In this paper, the soft computing techniques known as gene expression programming (GEP) are executed to deliver an empirical equation to estimate the compressive strength of GPC made by employing FA. To build a model, a consistent, extensive and reliable data base is compiled through a detailed review of the published research. The compiled data set is comprised of 298 experimental results. The utmost dominant parameters are counted as explanatory variables, in other words, the extra water added as percent FA (), the percentage of plasticizer (), the initial curing temperature (), the age of the specimen (), the curing duration (), the fine aggregate to total aggregate ratio (), the percentage of total aggregate by volume (), the percent SiO2 solids to water ratio () in sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) solution, the NaOH solution molarity (), the activator or alkali to FA ratio (), the sodium oxide (Na2O) to water ratio () for preparing Na2SiO3 solution, and the Na2SiO3 to NaOH ratio (). A GEP empirical equation is proposed to estimate the of GPC made with FA. The accuracy, generalization, and prediction capability of the proposed model was evaluated by performing parametric analysis, applying statistical checks, and then compared with non-linear and linear regression equations

Portfolio Diversification and Oil Price Shocks: A Sector Wide Analysis

This paper investigates the time-varying relationship between the oil price and disaggregated stock market of India using Dynamic conditional correlation multivariate GARCH and Continuous Wavelet Transformation modelling approaches. Our findings reveal the evolving relationship between the oil price and disaggregated stock market. The correlations are generally volatile before the 2007-08 crisis but since then the correlations are positive implying no diversification benefits for the investors during rising oil prices. As emerging markets in general, and India in particular, is expected to increase its share of oil consumption in the world's energy market, therefore for the stock market to grow, especially the oil-intensive industries, we recommend the government should increase its reliance on alternative energy resources. Furthermore, as rising oil prices can also have its adverse effect through exchange rate channel, we suggest the monetary policies should be time varying to manage the oil inflationary pressures arising out of extreme volatility in the oil prices. Keywords: DCC-GARCH, CWT, Disaggregated stock market, India, Oil price shocks, Diversification. JEL Classifications: C50; G10; O53; Q43 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.774