Functional and genetic evidence that nucleoside transport is highly conserved in Leishmania species: Implications for pyrimidine-based chemotherapy
Journal ArticleLeishmania pyrimidine salvage is replete with opportunities for therapeutic intervention with enzyme inhibitors or antimetabolites. Their uptake into cells depends upon specific transporters; therefore it is essential to establish whether various Leishmania species possess similar pyrimidine transporters capable of drug uptake. Here, we report a comprehensive characterization of pyrimidine transport in L. major and L. mexicana. In both species, two transporters for uridine/adenosine were detected, one of which also transported uracil and the antimetabolites 5-fluoruracil (5-FU) and 5F,2'deoxyuridine (5F,2'dUrd), and was designated uridine-uracil transporter 1 (UUT1); the other transporter mediated uptake of adenosine, uridine, 5F,2'dUrd and thymidine and was designated Nucleoside Transporter 1 (NT1). To verify the reported L. donovani model of two NT1-like genes encoding uridine/adenosine transporters, and an NT2 gene encoding an inosine transporter, we cloned the corresponding L. major and L. mexicana genes, expressing each in T. brucei. Consistent with the L. donovani reports, the NT1-like genes of either species mediated the adenosine-sensitive uptake of [3H]-uridine but not of [3H]-inosine. Conversely, the NT2-like genes mediated uptake of [3H]-inosine but not [3H]-uridine. Among pyrimidine antimetabolites tested, 5-FU and 5F,2'dUrd were the most effective antileishmanials; resistance to both analogs was induced in L. major and L. mexicana. In each case it was found that the resistant cells had lost the transport capacity for the inducing drug. Metabolomics analysis found that the mechanism of action of 5-FU and 5F-2'dUrd was similar in both Leishmania species, with major changes in deoxynucleotide metabolism. We conclude that the pyrimidine salvage system is highly conserved in Leishmania species - essential information for the development of pyrimidine-based chemotherapy.
Juma Ahmed Mohamed Ali, (08-2017), Netherlands: International journal for parasitology. Drugs and drug resistance, 2 (7), 206-226
Lesion Segmentation in Dermoscopy Images Using Particle Swarm Optimization and Markov Random Field
Conference paperMalignant melanoma is one of the most rapidly increasing cancers globally and it is the most dangerous form of human skin cancer. Dermoscopy is one of the major imaging modalities used in the diagnosis of melanoma. Early detection of melanoma can be helpful and usually curable. Due to the difficulty for dermatologists in the interpretation of dermoscopy images, Computer Aided Diagnosis systems can be very helpful to facilitate the early detection. The automated detection of the lesion borders is one of the most important steps in dermoscopic image analysis. In this paper, we present a fully automated method for melanoma border detection using image processing techniques. The hair and several noises aredetected and removed by applying a bank of directional filters and Image Inpainting method respectively. A hybrid method is developed by combining Particle Swarm Optimization and Markov Random Field methods, in order to delineate the border of the lesion area in the images. The method was tested on a dataset of 200 dermoscopic images, and the experimental results show that our method is superior in terms of the accuracy of drawing the lesion borders compared to alternative methods.
Khalid Ahmad A Eltayef, (06-2017), 2017 IEEE 30th International Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems (CBMS): IEEE, 739-744
Hybrid technique for robust image watermarking using discrete time fourier transform
Conference paperThe current paper proposes a novel scheme for non-blind watermarking of images, making use of discrete wavelet transform (DWT), discrete time Fourier transform (DTFT), as well as singular value decomposition, or SVD. During the process of embedding, 1-level DWT is used to decompose the host image into its various frequency sub-bands. After this, the high-frequency sub band receives an application of DTFT. This is followed then by SVD, after which the watermark becomes embedded into the now-transformed host image's singular matrix. Then, the inverses of 1-level DWT, DTFT and SVD are applied in order to obtain a watermarked final image. This paper evaluates the performance of the proposed method of watermarking against a number of attacks, including sharpening, salt and pepper noise, AWGN, gamma correction, histogram equalisation, flipping and cropping. Results obtained during experiments have found that the scheme as proposed does provide high levels of robustness and imperceptibility against various signal processing attacks.
Omar Moftah Ibrahim Abodena, Erbug Celebi, Mary Agoyi, (05-2017), 2017 25th IEEE Signal Processing and Communications Applications Conference: IEEE, 1-4
Detection of melanoma skin cancer in dermoscopy images
Conference paperMalignant melanoma is the most hazardous type of human skin cancer and its incidence has been rapidly increasing. Early detection of malignant melanoma in dermoscopy images is very important and critical, since its detection in the early stage can be helpful to cure it. Computer Aided Diagnosis systems can be very helpful to facilitate the early detection of cancers for dermatologists. In this paper, we present a novel method for the detection of melanoma skin cancer. To detect the hair and several noises from images, pre-processing step is carried out by applying a bank of directional filters. And therefore, Image inpainting method is implemented to fill in the unknown regions. Fuzzy C-Means and Markov Random Field methods are used to delineate the border of the lesion area in the images. The method was evaluated on a dataset of 200 dermoscopic images, and superior results were produced.
Khalid Ahmad A Eltayef, (02-2017), Journal of physics: Journal of physics, 14-27
Detection of pigment networks in dermoscopy images
Conference paperOne of the most important structures in dermoscopy images is the pigment network, which is also one of the most challenging and fundamental task for dermatologists in early detection of melanoma. This paper presents an automatic system to detect pigment network from dermoscopy images. The design of the proposed algorithm consists of four stages. First, a pre-processing algorithm is carried out in order to remove the noise and improve the quality of the image. Second, a bank of directional filters and morphological connected component analysis are applied to detect the pigment networks. Third, features are extracted from the detected image, which can be used in the subsequent stage. Fourth, the classification process is performed by applying feed-forward neural network, in order to classify the region as either normal or abnormal skin. The method was tested on a dataset of 200 dermoscopy images
Khalid Ahmad A Eltayef, (02-2017), Journal of physics: Journal of physics, 30-45
Small-seeded Hakea species tolerate cotyledon loss better than large-seeded congeners
Journal ArticleSix Hakea species varying greatly in seed size were selected for cotyledon damage experiments. The
growth of seedlings with cotyledons partially or completely removed was monitored over 90 days. All
seedlings perished by the fifth week when both cotyledons were removed irrespective of seed size.
Partial removal of cotyledons caused a significant delay in the emergence of the first leaf, and reduction
in root and shoot growth of the large-seeded species. The growth of seedlings of small-seeded species
was less impacted by cotyledon damage. The rate of survival, root and shoot lengths and dry biomass
of the seedlings were determined after 90 days. When seedlings were treated with balanced nutrient
solutions following removal of the cotyledons, survival was 95–98%, but 0% when supplied with
nutrient solutions lacking N or P or with water only. The addition of a balanced nutrient solution failed
to restore complete growth of any species, but the rate of root elongation for the small-seeded species
was maintained. Cotyledons provide nutrients to support early growth of Hakea seedlings, but other
physiological roles for the cotyledons are also implicated. In conclusion, small-seeded Hakea species can
tolerate cotyledons loss better than large-seeded species.
Shhoob Mohamed imhmed Elahmir, Byron B. Lamont, Tianhua He, (01-2017), استراليا: Scientific Reports, 7 (1), 1-9
The Impact of Water and Some Salt Solutions on Some Properties of Hydrophilic Acrylamide Copolymeric Hydrogels
Journal ArticleAbstract-A series of polyelectrolyte hydrogels ranging from 92-98wt% were synthesized by copolymerization of acrylamide,
AAM with 2-acrylamido-2-methyl propane sulphonic acid, AMPS using 0.001g APS as initiator in the presence of 30wt% H2O
and 1.0wt% ethylene glycol dimethacrylate,EDMA as cross-linking agent. The final copolymers was obtained in the form of
glassy and transparent roads at room temperature, these roads were soaked in water for two days to remove unreacted
monomers. The swelling behavior of the hydrogels was studied in distilled water and salt solutions of 1.5 mol/l each of NaCl
and KCl. The Swelling in water shows decreasing values of q, LE, Ø1, EWC% and increasing polymer volume fraction, Ø2 by
increasing acrylamide, due to increasing hydrophobicity and decreasing the hydrophilicity. The swelling in salt solutions
shows a decreasing in the values of ESSNa%, WCNa%, SCNa%, ESSK%, WCK% and SCK% by increasing acrylamid
monomer in the feed due to increasing the hydrophobicity and decreasing the ionized ionic groups (SO3H). The increasing
values of ESSNa%, WCNa% and SCNa% compared with the values of ESSK%, WCK% and SCK% respectively, is due to
the higher charge density of sodium ion than that of potassium ion.
Shhoob Mohamed imhmed Elahmir, Abdurhman A.Abuabdalla Khalifa1, (01-2017), ابريطانيا: MAYFEB Journal of Materials Science, 1 (1), 7-16
Pedestrian Gap Acceptance and Crossing Decision outside Crossing Facilities along Urban Streets in Malaysia: A Case Study of Rughaya Street, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
Journal ArticleAbstract
Walking considered as one of the safest modes of
travel available, sustainable to human society as well as
environmentally beneficial. In this context, the aim of this
research is to investigate pedestrians’ traffic gap acceptance
and crossing decision for Mid-block Street crossing in urban
areas in Malaysia. Pedestrian crossing behaviour at
Rughaya Street has been examined in terms of the decision
to cross or not the street and size of traffic gaps accepted by
pedestrian, as well as the related contributing factors. A
field study was conducted to collect the data of pedestrians’
decisions under real mix traffic Condition using video
camera on a typical unsignalized urban street section. JPEG
files were obtained from video recording by using Snapshot
Wizard software. The data extracted included traffic
characteristics such as traffic size, traffic speed, etc.
pedestrian individual characteristics such as gender, in
addition to individual behavior such as waiting, frequency
of attempt, etc.). Furthermore, The extracted data were
used to develop and examine a pedestrian gap acceptance
model based on A lognormal regression model and binary
logistic model by SPSS (22) in order to validate the impact
of various parameters on the size of traffic gaps accepted by
pedestrians as well as the effect on the decision of
pedestrians to cross the street or not. So that the effect of
the gap accepted available and of other factors on the
decision of pedestrians to cross the street or not is examined.
These results indicate that the data set for this particular
location has a majority of male pedestrians which were
insignificant variables in both models moreover a lognormal
regression results shows that accepted gaps size depend on
traffic size, crossing distance, speed of approaching vehicle
and time spent by pedestrian at the curb waiting for a
suitable gap size to start crossing. The BL model performs
well for the reason that it captures the pedestrian decision
making process with traffic taking the relevant attributes
into consideration. According to the coefficients of BL
regression analysis equation we noticed that the illegal
parking, traffic size, traffic waiting time and gap size are the
vital attributes for the Pedestrian gap acceptance model..
Index Terms: Pedestrian crossing, gap acceptance, crossing
decision, multiple linear regression, binary logistic
regression.
Issam Omran m.f alajnaf, Moftah Masoud Almadani, Khaled Mohammad A Emhamed, (12-2016), ماليزيا: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, 1 (3), 18-22
A semantic-driven model for ranking digital learning objects based on diversity in the user comments
Conference paperThis paper presents a computational model for measuring diversity in terms of variety, balance and disparity. This model is informed by the Stirling’s framework for understanding diversity from social science and underpinned by semantic techniques from computer science. A case study in learning is used to illustrate the application of the model. It is driven by the desire to broaden learners’ perspectives in an increasingly diverse and inclusive society. For example, interpreting body language in a job interview may be influenced by the different background of observers. With the explosion of digital objects on social platforms, selecting the appropriate ones for learning can be challenging and time consuming. The case study uses over 2000 annotated comments from 51 YouTube videos on job interviews. Diversity indicators are produced based on the comments for each video, which in turn facilitate the ranking of the videos according to the degree of diversity in the comments for the selected domain.
Entisar Nassr Abdulati Abolkasim, (09-2016), Springer: Springer, 3-15
Improving a Bag of Words Approach for Skin Cancer Detection in Dermoscopic Images.
Conference paperAbstract—With a rapidly increasing incidence of melanoma
skin cancer, there is a need for decision support systems to
detect it in its early stages, which would lead to better decisions
in treating it successfully. However, developing such systems is
still a challenging task for researchers. Several Computer Aided-
Diagnosis (CAD) systems have been proposed in the last two
decades to increase the accuracy of melanoma detection. Image
feature extraction is a critical step in differentiating between
melanoma and normal skin lesions. In this paper, we propose
to improve a bag-of-words approach by combining features
consisting of the color histogram and first order moments with the
Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG). Experimental results
show that the proposed technique significantly improves the
detection accuracy, with an average sensitivity of 91% and
specificity of 85%. The proposed system was validated on a
dataset of 200 medically annotated images (40 melanomas and
160 non-melanomas) obtained from the database of the Hospital
Pedro Hispano.
Naser Alfed, Fouad Khelifi, Ahmed Bouridane, (04-2016), Saint Julian's, Malta: IEEE. DOI: 10.1109/CoDIT38383.2016, 24-27