Diagnostic value of Autoantibodies to GAD65 and IA-2 in Patients with Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adult (LADA)

Background: Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) accounts for11 % of all cases of diabetes and often misdiagnosed as type 2diabetes. LADA resembles type 1diabetes and shares common physiological characteristics of type 1 but it does not affect children and has beenclassified distinctly as being separate from juvenile diabetes.  Autoantibodies against glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GADA) and tyrosine phosphatase (IA-2) are found frequently in patients withLADA. The presence of these autoantibodies in LADA predicts inevitable M cell failure and poor response to oral hypoglycemic therapy i.e., patients with LADA do not respond to oral hypoglycemic therapy.Objective: To determine an immunological marker to diagnose patients not responding to oral hypoglycemic therapy.Patients and methods: A facility-based cross sectional study was  conducted in Jabbir Abu Eliz Diabetes Center, located at Khartoum 2. Venous blood samples were obtained from the study patients. They were divided into three groups, group1 included 27 diabetic patients treated withinsulin, group2 included 15 diabetic patients of type 2 diabetes as controls, and group3 included 15 newly diagnosed patients older than 35 years at onset of diabetes. A standardized pre-tested administered questionnaire was used for data collection and the collected data were analyzed.Results: Males encountered in the study were 28 (49.1%). On patient recently diagnosed to have type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was positive for autoantibodies to GDA/IA-2. These autoantibodies were also positive in 15 patients with diabetes mellitus type 1 (T1DM)Conclusions: Autoimmune diagnostics is of particular importance in adults to discriminate between type 1 and type 2 diabetes and to assess the diagnosis of latent autoimmune diabetes in adults. The current study results revealed that autoantibodies to GAD/IA-2 are good marker for diagnosis of latent onset DM type 1. On the other hand, data indicate that the vast majority of cases of type 1 diabetes may be considered as immune-mediated, that multiple autoantibody to GAD/IA-2 analysisare of prognostic value to predict complications e.g., retinopathy. The current study recommends using of anti-GAD/IA-2 antibodies as marker for diagnosis of latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) who are not responding to oral hypoglycemic and may be at risk for getting complications. On the other hand, the study recommends using of anti-GAD/IA-2 antibodies for prognosis of the clinical progression of diabetes type 1 for prediction of insulin dependence

Influence of heat shock pretreatment on growth and development of tomatoes under controlled heat stress conditions

The effect of a previous heat shock (HS) on growth and development of different tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) cultivars under defined heat stress (HSt) conditions were investigated. Plants were grown under two day/night temperature regimes (26/20 ºC and 37/27 ºC, respectively) in growth chambers at the Department of Vegetable Crops, Institute for Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture, Humboldt University of Berlin. The experiments were conducted twice and were set up in a randomized design with five replicates. The reproductive processes in tomato were more sensitive to high temperatures than the vegetative ones. The number of pollen grains, number of fruits and fruit fresh masses produced by the heat tolerant cultivars were higher than those of the heat sensitive cultivars. However, HS pretreatments had no positive effects on tomato growth and development

Numerical Simulation of the Donor-Assisted Stir Material for Friction Stir Welding of Aluminum Alloys and Carbon Steel

In this research effort, we explore the use of a donor material to help heat workpieces without wearing the tool or adding more heat than necessary to the system. The donor material would typically be a small piece (or pieces) of material, presumably of lower strength than the workpiece but with a comparable melting point. The donor, a sandwich material, is positioned between the tool head and the material to be welded, where the tool initially plunges and heats up in the same manner as the parent material that is intended for welding. The donor material heats up subsequent to tool penetration due to friction and as a result heats up the material beneath it. This preheating technique softens the harder parent material, which helps to minimize tool wear and produce better weld performance. The goal is to investigate the use of the donor material as a preheating technique that minimizes wear and tear on the tool head without negatively impacting the structural properties of the weld. To demonstrate the donor material concept, a combination of Cu-Al, Cu-1045 Carbon steel (CS), and Al-1045 CS sets of donor and parent materials were used in the simulation, in addition to control samples Al-Al and CS-CS. We simulated two thicknesses of donor material 25 and 50% of the parent material thickness, respectively. The simulation suggests that the donor material concept generates phenomenal results by reducing the temperature and axial forces for the friction stir welding of aluminum AA6061 and carbon steel 1045. It also assists downstream during welding, resulting from frictional mechanical work which is converted into stored heat

Kinetic Spectrophotometric Determination of Certain Cephalosporins in Pharmaceutical Formulations

A simple, reliable, and sensitive kinetic spectrophotometric method was developed for determination of eight cephalosporin antibiotics, namely, Cefotaxime sodium, Cephapirin sodium, Cephradine dihydrate, Cephalexin monohydrate, Ceftazidime pentahydrate, Cefazoline sodium, Ceftriaxone sodium, and Cefuroxime sodium. The method depends on oxidation of each of studied drugs with alkaline potassium permanganate. The reaction is followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the rate of change of absorbance at 610 nm. The initial rate and fixed time (at 3 minutes) methods are utilized for construction of calibration graphs to determine the concentration of the studied drugs. The calibration graphs are linear in the concentration ranges 5–15 μg mL−1 and 5–25 μg mL−1 using the initial rate and fixed time methods, respectively. The results are validated statistically and checked through recovery studies. The method has been successfully applied for the determination of the studied cephalosporins in commercial dosage forms. Statistical comparisons of the results with the reference methods show the excellent agreement and indicate no significant difference in accuracy and precision

Epidemiology of cesarean delivery in Kassala, Eastern Sudan: a community-based study 2014- 2015

Background: Cesarean delivery is a main obstetrical operation and its rate should be optimized where the World Health Organization regards that a cesarean delivery rate of 5-15% is an optimal range, putting in consideration the necessity of the procedure as a lifesaving intervention for both the mother and fetus.Objectives: To investigate the epidemiology of cesarean delivery in Kassala, Eastern Sudan from December 2014 to March 2015.Materials and Methods: A stratified, multistage, household survey was carriedout. Questionnaires were applied to gather mode of delivery and its determinants.Results: Out of 303 women, 87 (28.7%), 100 (33%), 116 (38.3) were primiparous, secondiparous and multiparous, respectively, Mothers' age ranged from 13 to 48 with mean (SD) 27.79 (5.94) years. In logistic regression, elder women (OR=1.1, 95 CI= 1.01-1.34, p = 0.005), primparae (OR= 6.4, 95% CI = 1.3-31.8, p = 0.001) and women who had medical disease (OR= 2.9, 95% CI= 1.16-7.6, p= 0.023) were at higher risk to deliver by caesarean delivery.Conclusion: The rate of cesarean delivery in Kassala in the current study is17.8% and the elder women, primiapare and women with medical disorders were at a higher risk to deliver by caesarean delivery.Keywords: Cesarean, Kassala, pregnancy, Suda

Approximate Analytical Technique to Design Reflectarray Antenna

This paper presents an analysis and design for a reflectarray antenna composed of an array of rectangular patches printed on a grounded dielectric slab. A simple analytical technique based on equivalent surface impedance is used to determine the reflection of the elements in reflectarray antenna. This equivalent surface impedance is obtained analytically in a closed form. The effect of the angle of incidence on each element in the reflectarray is included in calculations. To author’s knowledge, this property has not been included in previous analysis techniques of reflectarray antenna

Global, regional, and national burden of chronic kidney disease, 1990–2017 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background Health system planning requires careful assessment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) epidemiology, but data for morbidity and mortality of this disease are scarce or non-existent in many countries. We estimated the global, regional, and national burden of CKD, as well as the burden of cardiovascular disease and gout attributable to impaired kidney function, for the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017. We use the term CKD to refer to the morbidity and mortality that can be directly attributed to all stages of CKD, and we use the term impaired kidney function to refer to the additional risk of CKD from cardiovascular disease and gout. Methods The main data sources we used were published literature, vital registration systems, end-stage kidney disease registries, and household surveys. Estimates of CKD burden were produced using a Cause of Death Ensemble model and a Bayesian meta-regression analytical tool, and included incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, mortality, years of life lost, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). A comparative risk assessment approach was used to estimate the proportion of cardiovascular diseases and gout burden attributable to impaired kidney function. Findings Globally, in 2017, 1·2 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 1·2 to 1·3) people died from CKD. The global all-age mortality rate from CKD increased 41·5% (95% UI 35·2 to 46·5) between 1990 and 2017, although there was no significant change in the age-standardised mortality rate (2·8%, −1·5 to 6·3). In 2017, 697·5 million (95% UI 649·2 to 752·0) cases of all-stage CKD were recorded, for a global prevalence of 9·1% (8·5 to 9·8). The global all-age prevalence of CKD increased 29·3% (95% UI 26·4 to 32·6) since 1990, whereas the age-standardised prevalence remained stable (1·2%, −1·1 to 3·5). CKD resulted in 35·8 million (95% UI 33·7 to 38·0) DALYs in 2017, with diabetic nephropathy accounting for almost a third of DALYs. Most of the burden of CKD was concentrated in the three lowest quintiles of Socio-demographic Index (SDI). In several regions, particularly Oceania, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America, the burden of CKD was much higher than expected for the level of development, whereas the disease burden in western, eastern, and central sub-Saharan Africa, east Asia, south Asia, central and eastern Europe, Australasia, and western Europe was lower than expected. 1·4 million (95% UI 1·2 to 1·6) cardiovascular disease-related deaths and 25·3 million (22·2 to 28·9) cardiovascular disease DALYs were attributable to impaired kidney function. Interpretation Kidney disease has a major effect on global health, both as a direct cause of global morbidity and mortality and as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. CKD is largely preventable and treatable and deserves greater attention in global health policy decision making, particularly in locations with low and middle SDI