Biochemical Perspective of Alcohol Prohibition in Islam and Implications on Legal Alcohol Content of Drinks in Islamic Countries

An analysis of the concepts of intoxication in blood and the required amount of alcohol to reach that level was analyzed from physiological and religious perspectives. The exact value of potentially allowed alcohol concentration was determined. The results indicate a BAC of 0.05% (w/v) as a set level for intoxication.  The determined pure alcohol amount required to reach this level was 27 g (for a 70 kg female) at least.  Accordingly, the determined allowed alcohol concentration is 0.45% (w/v) for what would be considered non-intoxicating.  This was compared to published results regarding the reported alcohol content of various foods and drinks. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to allow for variation in the considered BAC and the corresponding alcohol concentration in drinks.  An analysis of alcohol content in various cooked foods showed an interesting spread in the alcohol content. A review of set legal limits in some Islamic countries is recommended

LIG at MediaEval 2015 Multimodal Person Discovery in Broadcast TV Task

ABSTRACT In this working notes paper the contribution of the LIG team (partnership between Univ. Grenoble Alpes and Ozyegin University) to the Multimodal Person Discovery in Broadcast TV task in MediaEval 2015 is presented. The task focused on unsupervised learning techniques. Two different approaches were submitted by the team. In the first one, new features for face and speech modalities were tested. In the second one, an alternative way to calculate the distance between face tracks and speech segments is presented. It also had a competitive MAP score and was able to beat the baseline

Predictive Modeling of Smoke Potential Using Neural Networks and Environmental Data

This study presents a neural network-based model for predicting smoke potential in a specific area using a Kaggle-derived dataset with 15 environmental features and 62,631 samples. Our five-layer neural network achieved an accuracy of 89.14% and an average error of 0.000715, demonstrating its effectiveness. Key influential features, including temperature, humidity, crude ethanol, pressure, NC1.0, NC2.5, SCNT, and PM2.5, were identified, providing insights into smoke occurrence. This research aids in proactive smoke mitigation and public health protection. The model's accuracy and feature analysis empower decision-makers, with potential applications in real-time smoke event monitoring and preparedness strategies. This work contributes to the field of air quality forecasting and environmental stewardship, offering a data-driven approach to address smoke-related challenges and enhance community well-being

The everchanging epidemiology of meningococcal disease worldwide and the potential for prevention through vaccination.

Neisseria meningitidis is a major cause of bacterial meningitis and septicaemia worldwide and is associated with high case fatality rates and serious life-long complications among survivors. Twelve serogroups are recognised, of which six (A, B, C, W, X and Y) are responsible for nearly all cases of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD). The incidence of IMD and responsible serogroups vary widely both geographically and over time. For the first time, effective vaccines against all these serogroups are available or nearing licensure. Over the past two decades, IMD incidence has been declining across most parts of the world through a combination of successful meningococcal immunisation programmes and secular trends. The introduction of meningococcal C conjugate vaccines in the early 2000s was associated with rapid declines in meningococcal C disease, whilst implementation of a meningococcal A conjugate vaccine across the African meningitis belt led to near-elimination of meningococcal A disease. Consequently, other serogroups have become more important causes of IMD. In particular, the emergence of a hypervirulent meningococcal group W clone has led many countries to shift from monovalent meningococcal C to quadrivalent ACWY conjugate vaccines in their national immunisation programmes. Additionally, the recent licensure of two protein-based, broad-spectrum meningococcal B vaccines finally provides protection against the most common group responsible for childhood IMD across Europe and Australia. This review describes global IMD epidemiology across each continent and trends over time, the serogroups responsible for IMD, the impact of meningococcal immunisation programmes and future needs to eliminate this devastating disease

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p<0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p<0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised

Promoting trade in services in the MENA region : a pilot project; final technical report

Analyses of policy restrictions and regulatory measures in the three services sectors of telecommunications, transport, and financial services, were carried out in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Morocco. Objectives of the project were to: assess the current situation of the services sectors; describe the regulatory frameworks; and propose policy recommendations and regional and multilateral strategies for promoting services liberalization and economic development in the selected MENA countries. Regulatory reforms have had varying degrees of impact on market structure depending on the countries and the sectors. Outputs, activities, and various aspects of the pilot project are reported on