A Mechanism using the Electronic Signature to Verify the Power of Attorney and the Requested Activity

The rapid development that accompanies computer and information technology imposes its applications on all societies in general and developed coun tries in particular. In this paper, we present an algorithm to apply the electronic signature to verify the credibility of power of attorney and the credibility of activity requested using power of attorney. The verification algorithm is to be used in cour ts of law; the algorithm ensures a credible approval by the owner to the agent who has the power of attorney to submit the activity under concern. Selling a real estate property is an example of an activity which might be con ducted by the agent using the " power of attorney". This system, which we designed, implemented and tested, takes into consideration all the financial and security information needed. Our system requirements adopted the financial requirements such as banks and financial firms in number o f societies and countries such as the United States, the European Union and Jordan

Common HLA Alleles Associated with Health, but Not with Facial Attractiveness

Three adaptive hypotheses have been proposed to explain the link between the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) genes, health measures and facial attractiveness: inbreeding avoidance, heterozygote advantage and frequency-dependent selection. This paper reports findings that support a new hypothesis relating HLA to health. We suggest a new method to quantify the level of heterozygosity. HLA heterozygosity did not significantly predict health measures in women, but allele frequency did. Women with more common HLA alleles reported fewer cold and flu bouts per year, fewer illnesses in the previous year and rated themselves healthier than women with rare alleles. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show a positive correlation between HLA allele frequency and general health measures. We propose that certain common HLA alleles confer resistance to prevalent pathogens. Nevertheless, neither HLA heterozygosity nor allele frequency significantly predicted how healthy or attractive men rated the female volunteers. Three non-mutually exclusive explanations are put forward to explain this finding

Circulating Cytokine Profiles and Their Relationships with Autoantibodies, Acute Phase Reactants, and Disease Activity in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Our objective was to analyse the relationship between circulating cytokines, autoantibodies, acute phase reactants, and disease activity in DMARDs-naïve rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients (n = 140). All cytokines were significantly higher in the RA cohort than in healthy controls. Moderate-to-strong positive intercorrelations were observed between Th1/Th2/macrophage/fibroblast-derived cytokines. RF correlated significantly with IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, IL-12, G-CSF, GM-CSF, IFN-γ, and TNF (P < .0001), and aCCP and aMCV with IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, and IL-10 (P < .0002), while IL-6 correlated best with the acute phase reactants, CRP, and SAA (P < .0001). In patients with a DAS28 score of ≥5.1, IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-1Ra, TNF, GM-CSF, and VEGF were significantly correlated (P < .04–.001) with high disease activity (HDA). Circulating cytokines in RA reflect a multifaceted increase in immune reactivity encompassing Th1 and Th2 cells, monocytes/macrophages, and synovial fibroblasts, underscored by strong correlations between these cytokines, as well as their relationships with RF, aCCP, and aMCV, with some cytokines showing promise as biomarkers of HDA

HLA-DRB1 shared epitope genotyping using the revised classification and its association with circulating autoantibodies, acute phase reactants, cytokines and clinical indices of disease activity in a cohort of South African rheumatoid arthritis patients

INTRODUCTION: The revised shared epitope (SE) concept in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is based on the presence (S) or absence (X) of the SE RAA amino acid motif at positions 72 to 74 of the third hypervariable region of the various human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DRB1 alleles. The purpose of this study was to investigate SE subtypes on the basis of the American College of Rheumatology 1987 revised criteria for the classification of RA in a cohort of South African RA patients (n = 143) and their association with clinical and circulating biomarkers of disease activity (autoantibodies, acute phase reactants and cytokines). METHODS: Genomic DNA was analysed using high-resolution recombinant sequence-specific oligonucleotide PCR typing of the HLA-DRB1 allele. Subtypes of the SE were classified according to the amino acids at positions 72 to 74 for the RAA sequence, and further sub-divided according to the amino acids at positions 70 and 71, which either contribute to (S2, S3P), or negate (S1, S3D) RA susceptibility. Disease activity was assessed on the basis of (1) Disease Activity Score in 28 joints using C-reactive protein (CRP), (2) rheumatoid factor (RF), (3) CRP and (4) serum amyloid A by nephelometry, anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (aCCP) by an immunofluorometric procedure, and cytokines by multiplex bead array technology. RESULTS: Of the 143 RA patients, 81 (57%) were homozygous (SS) and 50 (35%) were heterozygous (SX) for the SE alleles with significant overexpression of S2 and S3P (respective odds ratios (ORs) 5.3 and 5.8; P < 0.0001), and 12 (8%) were classified as no SE allele (XX). Both the SS and SX groups showed a strong association with aCCP positivity (OR = 10.2 and P = 0.0010, OR = 9.2 and P = 0.0028, respectively) relative to the XX group. Clinical scores and concentrations of the other biomarkers of disease activity (RF, CRP and T helper cell type 1 (Th1), Th2, macrophage and fibroblast cytokines) were also generally higher in the SS group than in the SX and XX groups. CONCLUSIONS: RA susceptibility alleles investigated according to revised criteria for the classification of RA were significantly increased in South African RA patients and strongly associated with aCCP in particular as well as with circulating cytokines and disease severity.The Connective Tissue Diseases Research Fund, University of the Witwatersrandhttp://arthritis-research.com/content/13/5/R16

Common HLA Alleles Associated with Health, but Not with Facial Attractiveness

Three adaptive hypotheses have been proposed to explain the link between the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) genes, health measures and facial attractiveness: inbreeding avoidance, heterozygote advantage and frequency-dependent selection. This paper reports findings that support a new hypothesis relating HLA to health. We suggest a new method to quantify the level of heterozygosity. HLA heterozygosity did not significantly predict health measures in women, but allele frequency did. Women with more common HLA alleles reported fewer cold and flu bouts per year, fewer illnesses in the previous year and rated themselves healthier than women with rare alleles. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show a positive correlation between HLA allele frequency and general health measures. We propose that certain common HLA alleles confer resistance to prevalent pathogens. Nevertheless, neither HLA heterozygosity nor allele frequency significantly predicted how healthy or attractive men rated the female volunteers. Three non-mutually exclusive explanations are put forward to explain this finding

Innate immunity

Innate immune mechanisms confer essential first-line host defence against the unrelenting threat posed by environmental microbial and viral pathogens.http://www.cmej.org.za/index.php/cme