Designing an IT-Based System for Optimizing Lung Cancer Management

Digital health offers lung cancer patients to improve their health status while allowing patients, providers, and administrators to coordinate data and care at individual and community levels. While technology improvements provide lung cancer patients and healthcare providers with a valuable new tool for disease management, these are yet to be widely accepted. In particular, we aim to: (1) develop a Machine Learning (ML)-based framework for data collection from active online lung cancer forums and other parameters for patients, providers and their organizations, (2) build an AI-based model to develop a cancer ontology for exploring different factors and patients’ emotions associated to lung cancer management, (3) Design a mHealth app to set up a support system in terms of providing patients with information and social support, and ML models-based treatment recommendation system. The IT-based support system will provide the best and most specific treatment plan and recommendation system for lung cancer management

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Complementary and Alternative Medicine among Program’s Residents in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) focuses on stimulating the body’s ability to heal itself through energy alignment, herbal supplementation, and other balancing techniques. AIM: The objective of the study was to investigate and compare the Knowledge Attitude Practice (KAP) of CAM among program’s residents in Tabuk region. METHODS: A cross-sectional CAP study was conducted among program’s residents in Tabuk region. All program’s residents of all specialties in Tabuk region were included in the study. Data were collected by predesigned electronic questionnaire covering the needed items. Collected data were coded and analyzed using SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA. The Chi-square test was used as a test of significance and p = 0.05 or less was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Most (95.8%) of the participants have heard about CAM, 25% have used CAM in treatment before, and 72.3% of them reported beneficial outcome, 25.7% strongly agree and 48.6% agree that CAM is a useful complement to pharmacological medicine, 38.2% believed that the results of CAM are usually due to the placebo effect, and 52.1% recommended using CAM. On the other hand, 79.9% have knowledge about acupuncture, 54.9% spiritual healing and herbal medicine, 43.1% massage, 41% yoga, 70.8% bloodletting cupping, and 56.3% about cauterization. More than third (38.2%) of the participants agreed that the use of herbal products is a valid form of drugs which can be used for the treatment of variety of diseases, 48.6% agreed that CAM is a useful complement to pharmacological medicine, while 36.1% strongly agreed that CAM treatments are not tested in a scientifically recognized manner. CONCLUSION: In our study, the majority of program’s residents in Tabuk region agree that CAM is a useful complement to pharmacological medicine and recommended using CAM while reasonable percentage of them believed that the results of CAM are usually due to the placebo effect

Absenteeism and Turnover: Alpha Battery Ltd

Alpha Battery Ltd (ABL), automotive battery manufacturer located in SITE, Karachi is one of the largest manufacturers in Pakistan. Turnover of employees has been one of the problems the company had to tackle. This problem was compounded by its close proximity to disturbed localities of Karachi and adverse working conditions of the manufacturing premises. The turnover was further aggravated by the ethnic composition of the labor class, since the inherent characteristics of the work force is an important consideration while hiring the laborers.The management of ABL was able to solve this problem by identifying the root cause of the turnover by a series of organizational development measures comprising of changing the composition of the workforce, reducing the shift timings and providing incentives to the work force. These measures led to improvement in level of job satisfaction of the working class which eventually controlled the turnover problem.Keywords: Automotive Battery Manufacturer, Adverse Working Conditions, Composition of Work Force, HR Initiatives, Turnover

Association Between Hemoglobin A1C and the Severity of Acute Ischemic Stroke in Sudanese Patients in Omdurman Military Hospital

Background: Hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) levels are known to be linked to a higher risk of stroke. However, no research data is available on the impact of HbA1C on the severity of acute ischemic stroke in Sudan. Methods: This study is a descriptive, cross-sectional hospital-based study of 40 cases of acute ischemic stroke. Ischemic stroke was confirmed using computed tomography (CT) scan at admission; all subjects’ blood HbA1C levels were also measured. Participants were divided into two subgroups based on HbA1C at admission, good glycemic control (GGC) (<7 HbA1C) and poor glycemic control (PGC) (>7 HbA1C), and neurological impairment was assessed using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). Results: The age distribution of the participants was 45-85 years, with an average age of 63.5±9.2 years with the highest frequency (67.5%) in the age group of 55-75 years. PGC had a statistically significant high HbA1C value of 8.9±1.3 (P=0.000), when compared to GGC subgroups 5.1±0. The association between stroke severity and HbA1C levels on admission in this study was statistically significant (P value=0.005), on admission (78.6%) PGC had moderate to severe stroke (> 18.8 NIHSS) versus (33.3%) that of the GGC (>10.4NIHSS). The frequency of elevated HbA1C levels in patients with acute ischemic stroke was 70% in this study. Conclusion: PGC was shown to be linked to the occurrence of stroke and to its severity

ANTI-INFLAMMATORY EFFECT OF NIGELLA SATIVA OIL ON CHEMORADIATION-INDUCED ORAL MUCOSITIS IN PATIENTS WITH HEAD AND NECK CANCERS

Objective: Oral mucositis (OM) is a common treatment-induced toxicity in patients undergoing radiation or chemoradiation for head and neck cancers (HNC). The study aims to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of Nigella sativa (NS) oil in radiation-or chemoradiation-induced OM in HNC patients. Methods: From Forty HNC patients were randomized to two groups, each of 20 patients. The first group was treated with NS oil mouthwash five times daily, while the second group was treated with the Magic mouthwash and served as a control. All patients received radiotherapy (RT) (60-70 Gy) in 30-35 fractions over 6-7 w with or without chemotherapy. Patients were evaluated once per week to estimate the severity and duration of OM and the salivary levels of IL-6 and TNF-α. Results: 70% of patients were men and the commonest tumor locations were larynx (47.5%) and pharynx (22.5%) classified as stages III or IV. NS oil significantly reduces RTOG grade and OM severity after 3-4 w of RT, attenuates the elevation in salivary IL-6 and TNF-α production after 3-5 w. Conclusion: Nigella sativa oil mouthwash have a potential anti-inflammatory activity that may be beneficial in minimizing or preventing radiation-or chemoradiation-induced oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer

Floristic composition, life-forms and biological spectrum of Toor Al-Baha District, Lahej Governorate, Yemen

This paper enumerates 542 plant species belonging to 289 genera in 89 families of vascular plants collected from Toor Al-Baha district, Lahej governorate, Yemen, during 2008-2015. The Poaceae has the, relatively highest number of species (50 sp., 9.23%) followed by Asteraceae (38 sp., 7.01%), Euphorbiaceae (34 sp., 6.27%), Asclepiadaceae (30 sp., 5.54%), Fabaceae (28 sp., 5.17%) and Acanthaceae (26 sp., 4.80%). A genus represented by the greatest number of species is Euphorbia (19 species). Classification based on life form indicates that the chamaephytes (38.19%) comprise the largest proportion of the plants in the study area, followed by therophytes (28.60%) and phanerophytes (20.85%). The present results revealed that there are three parasitic species belong to two families these are: Cistanche phelypaea and Cistanche rosea (Orobanchaceae) and Striga angustifolia (Scrophulariaceae). Sixty three succulents taxa belong to eighteen families were recorded in the flora of the study area, among these families three are the richest ones (Asclepiadaceae 17, Euphorbiaceae 11 and Aloaceae 6)

Smart Palm: An IoT Framework for Red Palm Weevil Early Detection

Smart agriculture is an evolving trend in agriculture industry, where sensors are embedded into plants to collect vital data and help in decision making to ensure higher quality of crops and prevent pests, disease, and other possible threats. In Saudi Arabia, growing palms is the most important agricultural activity, and there is an increasing need to leverage smart agriculture technology to improve the production of dates and prevent diseases. One of the most critical diseases of palms if the red palm weevil, which is an insect that causes a lot of damage to palm trees and can devast large areas of palm trees. The most challenging problem is that the effect of the weevil is not visible by humans until the palm reaches an advanced infestation state. For this reason, there is a need to use advanced technology for early detection and prevention of infestation propagation. In this project, we have developed am IoT based smart palm monitoring prototype as a proof-of-concept that (1) allows to monitor palms remotely using smart agriculture sensors, (2) contribute to the early detection of red palm weevil. Users can use web/mobile application to interact with their palm farms and help them in getting early detection of possible infestations. We used Elm company IoT platform to interface between the sensor layer and the user layer. In addition, we have collected data using accelerometer sensors and we applied signal processing and statistical techniques to analyze collected data and determine a fingerprint of the infestation

Carbon-Based Materials (CBMs) for Determination and Remediation of Antimicrobials in Different Substrates: Wastewater and Infant Foods as Examples

The widespread use of antimicrobials within either a therapeutic or a veterinary rehearsal has resulted in a crisis on the long run. New strains of antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms have appeared. Contamination of water with pharmaceutically active materials is becoming a fact! and efficacy of wastewater treatment plants is a question. Adsorption is a promising technique for wastewater treatment. Carbon-based materials are among the most commonly used adsorbents for remediation purposes. Food production and commercialization are posing rigorous regulations. In this concern, almost all authoritarian societies are setting up standards for the maximum residue levels permissible in raw and processed food. Among these products is infant foods. The current trend is to use carbon-based and recycled from agricultural wastes, which can selectively remove target antimicrobials. Nanoparticles are among the most commonly used materials. With the enormous amount of data generated from an analytical process, there is a need for a powerful data processing technique. Factorial designs play an important role in not only minimalizing the number of experimental runs, and hence saving chemicals, resources, and reducing waste but also, they serve to improve the sensitivity and selectivity, the most important analytical outcomes

Uni-Planar MIMO Antenna for Sub-6 GHz 5G Mobile Phone Applications

This article presents the design of a uni-planar MIMO antenna system for sub-6 GHz 5G-enabled smartphones. The MIMO antenna designed comprises four loop-shaped radiators placed at each corner of the mobile phone board, which follows the principle of pattern diversity. The single-antenna element resonates at 3.5 GHz, its impedance bandwidth is noted to be 1.28 GHz (3-4.28 GHz) for S11 90%. The isolation of >10 dB between antenna elements is achieved for the MIMO configuration. Furthermore, the MIMO antenna designed provides enough radiation coverage to support different sides of the mobile phone board, which is an important feature for future 5G-enabled handsets. In addition, the impacts of human hands and heads on MIMO antenna performance are investigated, and acceptable performance in the data and conversation modes is observed.The authors sincerely appreciate the support from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant 80153