Enhanced 3-D OCDMA code family using asymmetric run length constraints

Abstract : This paper suggests an enhanced performance of the 3-D optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) codes, a space/wavelength/time spreading family of codes. The initial codes are in the format wavelength hopping/time sequence (WH/TS), selected according to their performance requirements and the TS sequence is constructed to achieve a linear space- time complexity. The asymmetric run length constraints are introduced in that regard, such that the positive bit positions align with the encoder/decoder frequency spacing pattern, yielding a 3-D WH/WS/TS. The selected 2-D OCDMA codes are one- coincidence frequency hopping codes (OCFHC) and optical orthogonal codes (OOC). As a time sequence code, the OOC code length is extended with a code rate of 0.04. The complexity and the bit error rate (BER) are herein given and compared with previous work. The results of the performance show not only an improvement in the number of simultaneous users due to the code length extension, but better correlation properties and hence a better signal-to-noise ratio

Optimization of resources for H.323 endpoints and terminals over VoIP networks

Abstract: We suggest a method of optimizing resource allocation for real time protocol traffic in general, and VoIP in particular, within an H.323 environment. There are two options in the packet network to allocate resources: aggregate peak demand and statistical multiplexing. Statistical multiplexing, our choice for this case, allows the efficient use of the network resources but however exhibits greater packet delay variation and packet transfer delay. These delays are often the result of correlations or time dependency experienced by the system’s queue due to the variations observed in different point processes that occur at a point of time. To address these issues, we suggest a queuing method based on the diffusion process approximated by Orstein-Ulenbeck and the non-validated results of Ren and Kobayashi

An access optimization approach for FFH-OCDMA system’s fiber bragg gratings encoder

Abstract: This paper suggests an adaptive 2-D Optical CDMA coding system based on one-coincidence frequency hopping (OCFH) code combined with an optical orthogonal code (OOC) in the format OCFH/OOC, suitable for the fast frequency hopping optical code division multiple access (FFH-OCDMA) channel, encoded by the Bragg gratings encoder with an aim to optimize the access network in terms of number of users and transmitted power. As wavelength hopping (WH) code, the OCFH code is herein adapted to the constraints of the encoder: the Bragg gratings chain put on the optical fiber..

Inflammatory profile of vertically HIV-1 infected adolescents receiving ART in Cameroon: a contribution toward optimal pediatric HIV control strategies

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has improved the lifespan of people living with HIV. However, their immune system remains in a state of sustained activation/inflammation, which favors viral replication and depletion of helper T-cells with varying profiles according to ART-response. We herein sought to ascertain the inflammatory profile of adolescents living with perinatal HIV-1 infection (ALPHI) receiving ART in an African context. In this cross-sectional and comparative study among ART-experienced ALPHI in Yaoundé-Cameroon, HIV-1 RNA was measured by Abbott Real-time PCR; CD4 cells were enumerated using flow cytometry; serum cytokines were measured by ELISA; HIV-1 proviral DNA was genotyped by Sanger-sequencing; and archived drug resistance mutations (ADRMs) were interpreted using Stanford HIVdb.v9.0.1. Overall, 73 adolescents were enrolled (60 ALPHI and 13 HIV-1 negative peers) aged 15 (13-18) years; 60.00% were female. ART median duration was 92 (46-123) months; median viral load was 3.99 (3.17-4.66) RNA Log10 (copies)/mL and median CD4 count was 326 (201-654) cells/mm3. As compared to HIV-negative adolescents, TNFα was highly expressed among ALPHI (p<0.01). Following a virological response, inflammatory cytokines (IFNγ and IL-12), anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-4 and IL-10) and inflammation-related cytokines (IL-6 and IL-1β) were highly expressed with viral suppression (VS) vs. virological failure (VF), while the chemokine CCL3 was highly expressed with VF (p<0.01). Regarding the immune response, the inflammatory cytokine TNFα was highly expressed in those that are immunocompetent (CD4≥500 cell/mm3) vs. immunocompromised (CD4<500 cell/mm3), p ≤ 0.01; while chemokine CCL2 was highly expressed in the immunocompromised (p<0.05). In the presence of ADRMs, IL-4 and CCL3 were highly expressed (p=0.027 and p=0.043 respectively). Among ART-experienced ALPHI in Cameroon, the TNFα cytokine was found to be an inflammatory marker of HIV infection; IFNγ, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-12 are potential immunological markers of VS and targeting these cytokines in addition to antiretroviral drugs may improve management. Moreover, CCL3 and CCL2 are possible predictors of VF and/or being immunocompromised and could serve as surrogates of poor ART response

Inflammatory profile of vertically HIV-1 infected adolescents receiving ART in Cameroon: a contribution toward optimal pediatric HIV control strategies

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has improved the lifespan of people living with HIV. However, their immune system remains in a state of sustained activation/inflammation, which favors viral replication and depletion of helper T-cells with varying profiles according to ART-response. We herein sought to ascertain the inflammatory profile of adolescents living with perinatal HIV-1 infection (ALPHI) receiving ART in an African context. In this cross-sectional and comparative study among ART-experienced ALPHI in Yaoundé-Cameroon, HIV-1 RNA was measured by Abbott Real-time PCR; CD4 cells were enumerated using flow cytometry; serum cytokines were measured by ELISA; HIV-1 proviral DNA was genotyped by Sanger-sequencing; and archived drug resistance mutations (ADRMs) were interpreted using Stanford HIVdb.v9.0.1. Overall, 73 adolescents were enrolled (60 ALPHI and 13 HIV-1 negative peers) aged 15 (13-18) years; 60.00% were female. ART median duration was 92 (46-123) months; median viral load was 3.99 (3.17-4.66) RNA Log10 (copies)/mL and median CD4 count was 326 (201-654) cells/mm3. As compared to HIV-negative adolescents, TNFα was highly expressed among ALPHI (p<0.01). Following a virological response, inflammatory cytokines (IFNγ and IL-12), anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-4 and IL-10) and inflammation-related cytokines (IL-6 and IL-1β) were highly expressed with viral suppression (VS) vs. virological failure (VF), while the chemokine CCL3 was highly expressed with VF (p<0.01). Regarding the immune response, the inflammatory cytokine TNFα was highly expressed in those that are immunocompetent (CD4≥500 cell/mm3) vs. immunocompromised (CD4<500 cell/mm3), p ≤ 0.01; while chemokine CCL2 was highly expressed in the immunocompromised (p<0.05). In the presence of ADRMs, IL-4 and CCL3 were highly expressed (p=0.027 and p=0.043 respectively). Among ART-experienced ALPHI in Cameroon, the TNFα cytokine was found to be an inflammatory marker of HIV infection; IFNγ, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-12 are potential immunological markers of VS and targeting these cytokines in addition to antiretroviral drugs may improve management. Moreover, CCL3 and CCL2 are possible predictors of VF and/or being immunocompromised and could serve as surrogates of poor ART response

Optimization of resources allocation for H.323 endpoints and terminals over VoIP networks

M.Phil. (Electrical & Electronic Engineering)Without any doubt, the entire range of voice and TV signals will migrate to the packet network. The universal addressable mode of Internet protocol (IP) and the interfacing framing structure of Ethernet are the main reasons behind the success of TCP/IP and Ethernet as a packet network and network access scheme mechanisms. Unfortunately, the success of the Internet has been the problem for real-time traffic such as voice, leading to more studies in the domain of Teletraffic Engineering; and the lack of a resource reservation mechanism in Ethernet, which constitutes a huge problem as switching system mechanism, have raised enough challenges for such a migration. In that context, ITU-T has released a series of Recommendation under the umbrella of H.323 to guarantee the required Quality of Service (QoS) for such services. Although the “utilisation” is not a good parameter in terms of traffic and QoS, we are here in proposing a multiplexing scheme with a queuing solution that takes into account the positive correlations of the packet arrival process experienced at the multiplexer input with the aim to optimize the utilisation of the buffer and bandwidth on the one hand; and the ITU-T H.323 Endpoints and Terminals configuration that can sustain such a multiplexing scheme on the other hand. We take into account the solution of the models from the M/M/1 up to G/G/1 queues based on Kolmogorov’s analysis as our solution to provide a better justification of our approach. This solution, the Diffusion approximation, is the limit of the Fluid process that has not been used enough as queuing solution in the domain of networking. Driven by the results of the Fluid method, and the resulting Gaussian distribution from the Diffusion approximation, the application of the asymptotic properties of the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) as the central limit theorem allowed capturing the fluctuations and therefore filtering out the positive correlations in the queue system. This has resulted in a queue system able to serve 1 erlang (100% of transmission link capacity) of traffic intensity without any extra delay and a queue length which is 60% of buffer utilization when compared to the ordinary Poisson queue length

Archiving of mutations in HIV-1 cellular reservoirs among vertically infected adolescents is contingent with clinical stages and plasma viral load: Evidence from the EDCTP-READY study

Introduction Globally, HIV-related adolescent deaths have increased about 50%, especially for those who are vertically infected. This could be driven by archived drug resistance mutations (DRMs) as children grow up, which might jeopardize antiretroviral therapy (ART). Our objective was to compare HIV-1 genotypic variation between plasma RNA and proviral DNA of vertically infected adolescents (aged 10-19 years) failing ART. Methods A comparative study was conducted in 2019 among 296 adolescents with perinatal HIV infection (ALPHI) failing ART in health facilities of the Centre Region of Cameroon. The WHO clinical stage, CD4 count and plasma viral load (PVL) were measured. For those failing ART (PVL >= 1000 copies/mL), RNA (plasma) and proviral DNA (buffy coat) were sequenced in the pol gene at Chantal BIYA International Reference Centre (CIRCB), Yaounde, Cameroon. HIV-1 subtypes and DRMs were interpreted using Stanford HIVdb v.8.8 and MEGA-X. Results Of the 30% (89/296) failing ART, 81 had both RNA and DNA sequences generated and three were excluded for APOBEC mutations: the mean age was 16 +/- 3 years; female-to-male ratio was 3:5; median PVL was 46 856 copies/mL [interquartile range (IQR): 19 898-271 410]; median CD4 count was 264 cells/mu L (IQR: 131-574); and 42% were at WHO clinical stage 3/4. Subtype concordance between RNA and DNA viral strains was 100%, with CRF02_AG being predominant (65%) and two potential new recombinants found (A1/G/K; F1/G). Adolescents with DRMs were significantly higher in plasma than in proviral DNA (92% vs. 86%, p < 0.0001). Prevalent DRMs by drug class (RNA vs. DNA respectively) were at position M184 (74% vs. 67%) for nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), K103 (63% vs. 59%) for non-NRTIs, and V82, L76 and M46 (2% vs. 2%) for protease inhibitors. A total of 35% (27/78) of adolescents had concordant DRM profiles in RNA and DNA, while 27% (21/78) had DRMs only in proviral DNA. The presence of archived DRMs was associated with advanced clinical stage 3/4 (OR = 0.14, p = 0.0003) and PVL < 5 Log (Copies/mL) (OR: 4.88, p = 0.006). Conclusions Although plasma RNA remains more sensitive for detecting HIV-1 DRMs, about a quarter of ALPHI experiencing ART failure in an African setting might have archived DRMs in viral reservoirs, indicating clinically occult resistance. Thus, to ensure effective ART success, proviral DNA profiling (alongside RNA genotyping) would provide additional DRMs for adolescents with advanced clinical stages and/or moderate PVL

The mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 and profile of viral reservoirs in pediatric population: A systematic review with meta-analysis of the Cameroonian studies.

BackgroundThe mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 (MTCT) remains on the major route of HIV-transmission among pediatric populations in Africa. Though a prevention of MTCT (PMTCT) high-priority country, data on the MTCT burdens in Cameroon remains fragmented.ObjectiveWe sought to assess the pooled MTCT rate, its risk-factors, and to characterize viral reservoirs of infected-children in Cameroon.MethodsAll relevant observational cohort and cross-sectional studies conducted in Cameroon were searched from PubMed, African Journals Online, Google scholar, ScienceDirect and academic medical education databases. Heterogeneity and publication bias were respectively assessed by the I2 statistic and the Egger/funnel plot test. Meta-analysis was performed using the random effects model. MTCT rate >5% was considered as "high". This review was registered in the Prospero database, CRD42021224497.ResultsWe included a total of 29 studies and analyzed 46 684 children born from HIV-positive mothers. The overall rate of MTCT was 7.00% (95% CI = 6.07-8.51). According to regions, the highest burden was in Adamaoua-region (17.51% [95% CI:14.21-21.07]) with only one study found. PMTCT option-B+ resulted in about 25% reduction of MTCT (8.97% [95% CI: 8.71-9.24] without option-B+ versus 2.88% [95% CI: 5.03-9.34] with option-B+). Regarding risk-factors, MTCT was significantly associated with the absence of PMTCT-interventions both in children (OR:5.40 [95% CI: 2.58-11.27]) and mothers (OR: 3.59 [95% CI: 2.15-5.99]). Regarding viral reservoirs, a pro-viral DNA mean of 3.34±1.05 log10/mL was observed among 5/57 children and archived HIV drug resistance mutations were identified in pro-viral DNA marker among 21/79 infected-children.ConclusionIn spite of the dropdown in MTCT following option-B+ implementation, MTCT remains high in Cameroon, with substantial disparities across regions. Thus, in this era of option-B+, achieving MTCT elimination requires interventions in northern-Cameroon. The variation in pro-viral load in infected-children underlines the relevance of characterizing viral reservoirs for possible infection control in tropical settings

Flow chart of the study selection process.

Flow chart of the study selection process.</p

Forest plot of MTCT in the ten regions of Cameroon.

The number of participants obtained in this forest plot depend on the studies that reported the region of sampling.</p