Evaluation of Apoptotic Marker Bcl2, CD4+, Human Hepatocyte Growth Factor and Metalloproteinase-9 as Tumor Markers for Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma     

Eman R. Youness  Mohamed El Nemr  F. S. Oraby  Nadia M. Ahmed  Mohamed A. Moghni  Hanan F. Aly  Hanaa H. Ahmed 《Indian journal of clinical biochemistry : IJCB》2014,29(3):351-356

To examine the possible involvement of human B cell leukemia/lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), CD4+ cells, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), and metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), as biomarkers in early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), activities of these biomarkers in serum were demonstrated by the method of Enzyme Linked Immunosorbant Assay. Two groups of subjects (60 for each), were examined in this study; healthy controls and patients with HCC. The present results declare that, significant decrease in Bcl-2 (p ≤ 0.0001), and CD 4+ (p ≤ 0.001), while significant increase in HGF and MMP-9 (p ≤ 0.05). These findings imply an influence of these biomarkers by the existence of hepatic carcinoma that might reflect the progression of disease and a distinction between the pathological mechanisms involved in hepatic carcinoma. Since, the serum MMP-9 activity was significantly varied between each stage of HCC. An individual profile of the present investigated parameters was detected that might serve as an easy accessing serum marker to monitor the progression of hepatic cell disorders.  相似文献   

Review and redesign of the curriculum of a Masters programme in telecommunications engineering – Towards an outcome-based approach     

Khaled Gharaibeh  Bassam Harb  Haythem Bany Salameh  Asem Zoubi  Ahmed Shamali  Noel Murphy 《European Journal of Engineering Education》2013,38(2):194-210

This article presents the methodology and results of the curriculum review of the Masters of Science programme in Wireless Communications offered by the Telecommunications Engineering Department at Yarmouk University in Jordan. The review is based on expert opinion collected through questionnaires and meetings about the programme and focuses on two main aspects: the first is relevance of the programme to the needs of local and regional telecommunications industry and the second is comparability to similar programmes in the EU.

Through an extensive analysis of the collected data, a set of recommendations for improvement of the existing curriculum was developed. These recommendations were then used to redesign the curriculum with regard to contents, teaching methodology and assessment.  相似文献   

The Saudi Arabian international student experience: from a gender-segregated society to studying in a mixed-gender environment     

Ahmed Alhazmi  Berenice Nyland 《Compare》2013,43(3):346-365

In Saudi Arabia gender segregation is a cultural practice that occurs across all public and private domains. This segregation has shaped the lives of Saudi citizens and is driven socially through cultural and religious discourses and politically through regulation and policy. For Saudi students undertaking their education in western countries, the transitioning experience can be challenging. This paper draws on research conducted in Australia that has attempted to explore and understand this transitioning experience. The aim of the study was to highlight the dialectical relationship between participants’ cultural identity and the acculturation experience of cross-cultural contact. The findings indicate that Saudi students’ cultural identity has a significant influence on the experience of being in a mixed-gender environment. Findings also suggest a relationship between current experience and cultural identity. Drawing on in-depth interviews, the paper provides context to help understand the transitioning experience of Saudi students.  相似文献   

Elderly African Immigrants in Minnesota: A Case Study of Needs Assessment in Eight Cities     

Kebba Darboe  Lul S. Ahmed 《Educational gerontology》2013,39(10):855-866

Needs assessment is the process of identifying the gap between a target population's needs and its services. If a gap exists, a program can be designed to effectively respond to those needs. This aticle explores the needs of elderly African immigrants in Minnesota through the use of qualitative interviews. A convenience sampling was used to collect data from 200 available elderly people in eight cities in Minnesota. Data analyses revealed that 90% of them want appropriate nutrition and better delivery of services. Recommendations include support for informal caregivers like family members becuase these efforts can keep older people at home.  相似文献   

Quantitative changes of nitrergic neurons during postnatal development of chicken myenteric plexus     

Ping Yang  Jameel Ahmed Gandahi  Qian Zhang  Lin-li Zhang  Xun-guang Bian  Li Wu  Yi Liu  Qiu-sheng Chen 《Journal of Zhejiang University. Science. B》2013,14(10):886-895

Objective

Information regarding the development of the enteric nervous system (ENS) is important for understanding the functional abnormalities of the gut. Because fertilized chicken eggs provide easy access to embryos, chicken models have been widely used to study embryonic development of myenteric plexus; however, no study has been focused on the postnatal period. The aim of this study was to perform a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the nitrergic neurons in the myenteric plexus of developing chickens in the postnatal period.

Methods

Whole-mount preparations of the myenteric plexus were made in 7-d, 15-d, and 40-d old (adult) chickens of either sex (n=15). The myenteric plexus was studied after nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase (NADPH-d) histochemistry using light microscopy, digital photography, and Image-Pro Plus 6.0 software. The numbers of positively stained neurons and ganglia were counted in the duodenum, jejunum, ileum, caecum, and colon in the different age groups. Data were expressed as mean±standard deviation (SD), and statistical analysis was performed using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test.

Results

The positively stained neurons showed various morphologies and staining intensities, and formed bead-shaped and U-shaped arrangements in the myenteric plexus. The densities of neurons and ganglia increased with age. However, the number of positive neurons per ganglion increased. The number of NADPH-d-positive neurons was highest in the colon, followed by the ileum, the jejunum, the duodenum, and the caeca in all age groups.

Conclusions

Developmental changes in the myenteric plexus of chickens continue in the postnatal period, indicating that the maturation process of the gastrointestinal function is gradual. In addition, no significant difference is happening among different intestinal segments during postnatal development, suggesting that the function of different intestinal segments had been determined after birth.  相似文献   

A new eccentricity-based simulation to generate ultimate confined interaction diagrams for circular concrete columns     

Ahmed Abd El-Fattah  Asad Esmaeily 《Journal of The Franklin Institute》2011,348(7):1163-1176

The analysis of circular concrete columns using unconfined concrete models is a well established practice. However, there is a necessity to develop realistic analysis and design tools that predict the extreme ultimate capacity of such columns since modern codes and standards like AASHTO LRFD are introducing extreme load events. The increase in strength and ductility due to full axial confinement is not applicable to pure bending and bending plus axial load simply because the area of effective confined concrete is reduced. The higher the eccentricity the smaller the compressed portion of the confined core. Accordingly, the ultimate confined strength is gradually reduced from the fully confined value f_cc′ (at zero eccentricity) to the unconfined value f_c′ (at infinite eccentricity) as a function of eccentricity to diameter ratio. A numerical analysis algorithm is developed using the finite layer procedure and the secant stiffness approach within a framework of incremental-iterative moment of area computations. The resulting nonlinear section analysis requires radial loading in which the eccentricity is kept constant or the axial load is proportional to the applied moment. The results are compared with existing experimental data and the widely used Mander model to benchmark the present predictions.  相似文献   

The Effects of One versus Two Years of Intensive Reading Intervention Implemented with Late Elementary Struggling Readers          下载免费PDF全文

Jeremy Miciak  Garrett Roberts  W. Pat Taylor  Michael Solis  Yusra Ahmed  Sharon Vaughn  Jack M. Fletcher 《Learning disabilities research & practice》2018,33(1):24-36

We examined the effectiveness of a researcher‐provided reading intervention with 484 fourth graders with significant reading difficulties. Students were randomly assigned to one year of intervention, two years of intervention, or a business‐as‐usual comparison condition (BAU). Students assigned to two years of intervention demonstrated significantly greater gains in reading fluency compared to students who received one year of intervention and the BAU group. Students in both the one‐ and two‐year groups demonstrated similar and significantly larger gains in word reading in comparison to the BAU group. There were no statistically significant differences between the three groups on standardized measures of reading comprehension. We discuss these results in the context of research with late elementary and secondary students targeting reading comprehension.  相似文献   

Gradual refinement for application-specific MPSoC design from Simulink model to RTL implementation   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Kai Huang  Xiao-lang Yan  Sang-il Han  Soo-ik Chae  Ahmed A. Jerraya  Katalin Popovici  Xavier Guerin  Lisane Brisolara  Luigi Carro 《浙江大学学报(A卷英文版)》2009,10(2):151-164

The application-specific multiprocessor system-on-chip （MPSoC） architecture is becoming an attractive solution to deal with increasingly complex embedded applications, which require both high performance and flexible programmability. As an effective method for MPSoC development, we present a gradual refinement flow starting from a high-level Simulink model to a synthesizable and executable hardware and software specification. The proposed methodology consists of five different abstract levels： Simulink combined algorithm and architecture model （CAAM）, virtual architecture （VA）, transactional accurate architecture （TA）, virtual prototype （VP） and field-programmable gate array （FPGA） emulation. Experimental results of Motion-JPEG and H.264 show that the proposed gradual refinement flow can generate various MPSoC architectures from an original Simulink model, allowing processor, communication and tasks design space exploration.  相似文献   

The Muslim football player and Ramadan: current challenges     

Zerguini Y  Ahmed QA  Dvorak J 《Journal of sports sciences》2012,30(Z1):S3-S7

Islam is a monotheistic Abrahamic faith characterised by devotional orthopraxy. The actions expected of followers of Islam are closely prescribed in the Qur'an. Muslims understand Ramadan as a mandatory requirement, excused only in the event of illness, infirmity or extremes of age. Due to the increasing popularity of football among Muslims, more and more Muslim football players of all levels make the decision to follow the Ramadan fast while they need to practise and compete. Sports medicine clinicians and scientists have the responsibility to provide them with the knowledge and evidence on how exactly Ramadan fasting impacts on their performance and how to optimise their eating, drinking and sleeping in order to minimise negative effects of their religious practice, should any have been demonstrated. The first International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC) study concluded that biochemical, nutritional, subjective well-being and performance variables were not adversely affected in young male national level players who followed Ramadan fasting in a controlled environment. Match performance was however not measured and the study did not include elite level players, leading to the Ramadan consensus meeting in order to answer the remaining questions. The conclusions and recommendations published in this supplement suggest that the best coping strategies will remain individual - as is the choice to fast.  相似文献   

Modern standard Arabic speech corpus for implementing and evaluating automatic continuous speech recognition systems     

Mohammad Abd-Alrahman Mahmoud Abushariah  Raja Noor Ainon  Roziati Zainuddin  Assal Ali Mustafa Alqudah  Moustafa Elshafei Ahmed  Othman Omran Khalifa 《Journal of The Franklin Institute》2012,349(7):2215-2242

This paper presents our work towards developing a new speech corpus for Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), which can be used for implementing and evaluating Arabic speaker-independent, large vocabulary, automatic, and continuous speech recognition systems. The speech corpus was recorded by 40 (20 male and 20 female) Arabic native speakers from 11 countries representing three major regions (Levant, Gulf, and Africa). Three development phases were conducted based on the size of training data, Gaussian mixture distributions, and tied states (senones). Based on our third development phase using 11 hours of training speech data, the acoustic model is composed of 16 Gaussian mixture distributions and the state distributions tied to 300 senones. Using three different data sets, the third development phase obtained 94.32% and 8.10% average word recognition correctness rate and average Word Error Rate (WER), respectively, for same speakers with different sentences (testing sentences). For different speakers with same sentences (training sentences), this work obtained 98.10% and 2.67% average word recognition correctness rate and average WER, respectively, whereas for different speakers with different sentences (testing sentences) this work obtained 93.73% and 8.75% average word recognition correctness rate and average WER, respectively.  相似文献