Abstract: Hypertension is a challenge for public health professionals all-over the world. It is the leading and most important modifiable risk factor for coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, stroke, renal diseases, retinopathy and many other diseases. The aim of the present study is to evaluate and study the most identifiable risk factors for patients with diseases of hypertension and diabetes mellitus such as age, gender, marital status, tobacco smoking, life style and with associated diseases (dyslipidemia and diabetes) treated at city hospital in Tripoli (Tripoli Medical Centre). This was a cross sectional prospective study which was carried out during October 2013 and January 2014. The study included 200 consecutive patients (102 females and 98 males) who are older than 30 years and who came for a regular follow up at the OPD of Tripoli medical centre. During this study, variables like age, gender, diabetes, smoking and dyslipidemia were taken into account in relation to hypertension. In addition, it is assorted some important biochemical parameters such as total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein, high density lipoprotein and fasting blood glucose in the studied population and compared them with available data. The findings revealed that Libyan population not only old age and male gender are potential threat for an early hypertensive but other variables like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, dyslipidemia, obesity, migraine and obstructive apnea are also playing an important role in hypertension complications. It is concluded that this population is more prone to hyperglycemia and high pulse pressure with hypertension in the majority of survey population

Abstract— Diagnosing skin cancer in its early stages is a challenging task for dermatologists given the fact that the chance for a patient’s survival is higher and hence the process of analyzing skin images and making decisions should be time efficient. Therefore, diagnosing the disease using automated and computerized systems has nowadays become essential. This paper proposes an efficient system for skin cancer detection on dermoscopic images. It has been shown that the statistical characteristics of the pigment network, extracted from the dermoscopic image, could be used as efficient discriminating features for cancer detection. The proposed system has been assessed on a dataset of 200 dermoscopic images of the ‘Hospital Pedro Hispano’ [1] and the results of cross-validation have shown high detection accuracy.

Seed size is a key functional trait that affects plant fitness at the seedling stage and may

vary greatly with species fruit size, growth form and fecundity. Using structural equation

modelling (SEM) and correlated trait evolution analysis, we investigated the interaction network

between seed size and fecundity, postfire regeneration strategy, fruit size, plant height

and serotiny (on-plant seed storage) among 82 species of the woody shrub genus, Hakea,

with a wide spectrum of seed sizes (2–500 mg). Seed size is negatively correlated with fecundity,

while fire-killed species (nonsprouters) produce more seeds than resprouters

though they are of similar size. Seed size is unrelated to plant height and level of serotiny

while it scales allometrically with fruit size. A strong phylogenetic signal in seed size revealed

phylogenetic constraints on seed size variation in Hakea. Our analyses suggest a

causal relationship between seed size, fecundity and postfire regeneration strategy in

Hakea. These results demonstrate that fruit size, fecundity and evolutionary history have

had most control over seed size variation among Hakea species.

We provide a validation of a formal approximate solution to the problem of the evolution of a slowly varying harvested logistic population. Using a contraction mapping proof, we show that the initial value problem for the population has an exact solution lying in an appropriately small neighbourhood of this approximate solution, under quite general conditions.

This work considers a harvested logistic population for which birth rate, carrying capacity and harvesting rate all vary slowly with time. Asymptotic results from earlier work, obtained using a multiscaling technique, are combined to construct approximate expressions for the evolving population for the situation where the population initially survives to a slowly varying limiting state, but then, due to increasing harvesting, is reduced to extinction in finite time. These results are shown to give very good agreement with those obtained from numerical computation.

One of the most promising new targets for trypanocidal drugs to emerge in recent years is the cyclic AMP (cAMP) phosphodiesterase (PDE) activity encoded by TbrPDEB1 and TbrPDEB2. These genes were genetically confirmed as essential, and a highaffinity inhibitor, CpdA, displays potent antitrypanosomal activity. To identify effectors of the elevated cAMP levels resulting from CpdA action and, consequently, potential sites for adaptations giving resistance to PDE inhibitors, resistance to the drug was induced. Selection of mutagenized trypanosomes resulted in resistance to CpdA as well as cross-resistance to membranepermeable cAMP analogues but not to currently used trypanocidal drugs. Resistance was not due to changes in cAMP levels or in PDEB genes. A second approach, a genome-wide RNA interference (RNAi) library screen, returned four genes giving resistance to CpdA upon knockdown. Validation by independent RNAi strategies confirmed resistance to CpdA and suggested a role for the identified cAMP Response Proteins (CARPs) in cAMP action. CARP1 is unique to kinetoplastid parasites and has predicted cyclic nucleotide binding-like domains, and RNAi repression resulted in >100-fold resistance. CARP2 and CARP4 are hypothetical conserved proteins associated with the eukaryotic flagellar proteome or with flagellar function, with an orthologue of CARP4 implicated in human disease. CARP3 is a hypothetical protein, unique to Trypanosoma. CARP1 to CARP4 likely represent components of a novel cAMP signaling pathway in the parasite. As cAMP metabolism is validated as a drug target in Trypanosoma brucei, cAMP effectors highly divergent from the mammalian host, such as CARP1, lend themselves to further pharmacological development

Background: African trypanosomes are capable of both pyrimidine biosynthesis and salvage of preformed pyrimidines from the host, but it is unknown whether either process is essential to the parasite. Methodology/Principal Findings: Pyrimidine requirements for growth were investigated using strictly pyrimidine-free media, with or without single added pyrimidine sources. Growth rates of wild-type bloodstream form Trypanosoma brucei brucei were unchanged in pyrimidine-free medium. The essentiality of the de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis pathway was studied by knocking out the PYR6-5 locus that produces a fusion product of orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (OPRT) and Orotidine Monophosphate Decarboxylase (OMPDCase). The pyrimidine auxotroph was dependent on a suitable extracellular pyrimidine source. Pyrimidine starvation was rapidly lethal and non-reversible, causing incomplete DNA content in new cells. The phenotype could be rescued by addition of uracil; supplementation with uridine, 29deoxyuridine, and cytidine allowed a diminished growth rate and density. PYR6-52/ 2 trypanosomes were more sensitive to pyrimidine antimetabolites and displayed increased uracil transport rates and uridine phosphorylase activity. Pyrimidine auxotrophs were able to infect mice although the infection developed much more slowly than infection with the parental, prototrophic trypanosome line. Conclusions/Significance: Pyrimidine salvage was not an essential function for bloodstream T. b. brucei. However, trypanosomes lacking de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis are completely dependent on an extracellular pyrimidine source, strongly preferring uracil, and display reduced infectivity. As T. brucei are able to salvage sufficient pyrimidines from the host environment, the py

 Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is an endemic parasitic infection in the Mediterranean region, including Libya and 

its Al-jabal Al-gharbi province. We aimed at studying the occupational relevance as well as other epidemiological aspects 

of CL. We investigated 140 CL cases who attended at Gharyan outpatient polyclinic during a period of 6 months in 2009. 

CL infection was clinically diagnosed and confirmed by demonstration of Leishmania parasites on smears from lesions. 

Our findings showed that males were more affected than females (P=0.04), and people above 10-years were more af￾fected than younger ones (P=0.0001). A significant percent of CL cases belonged to Al-Kawasem subprovince 

(P=0.0001). Farm-related activities were the most frequent occupations among CL cases (P=0.04). In addition to farm 

workers, housewives and students are at risk groups since they are engaged at farm activities. Moreover, those who have 

occupations that require staying outdoors for a part of night, e.g., policemen, are also at risk. Compared to children, adult 

CL patients had multiple lesions (P=0.001) that were more prevalent in their upper and lower extremities than the face 

(P=0.0001). We conclude that CL is a major health problem in Al-jabal Al-gharbi province of Libya. The presence of ro￾dents and sandflies makes it a suitable environment for Leishmania to spread in an endemic epidemiological pattern. Be￾ing engaged in farming activities or outdoor occupations increases the risk of infection. Various clinical patterns of CL 

suggest the presence of more than 1 species of Leishmania at Al-jabal Al-gharbi province. We propose that the 2 species 

responsible for CL in this area are L. major and L. tropica. Further investigations to identify the leishmanial species re￾sponsible for CL at Al-jabal Al-gharbi together with adoption of preventive and control programs are needed.