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Showing papers by "University of Jordan published in 2017"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The qualitative and quantitative results prove the efficiency of SSA and MSSA and demonstrate the merits of the algorithms proposed in solving real-world problems with difficult and unknown search spaces.

3,027 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This review provides an objective and comprehensive account of the cellular uptake of NPs and the underlying parameters controlling the nano-cellular interactions, along with the available analytical techniques to follow and track these processes.
Abstract: Nanoscale materials are increasingly found in consumer goods, electronics, and pharmaceuticals. While these particles interact with the body in myriad ways, their beneficial and/or deleterious effects ultimately arise from interactions at the cellular and subcellular level. Nanoparticles (NPs) can modulate cell fate, induce or prevent mutations, initiate cell–cell communication, and modulate cell structure in a manner dictated largely by phenomena at the nano–bio interface. Recent advances in chemical synthesis have yielded new nanoscale materials with precisely defined biochemical features, and emerging analytical techniques have shed light on nuanced and context-dependent nano-bio interactions within cells. In this review, we provide an objective and comprehensive account of our current understanding of the cellular uptake of NPs and the underlying parameters controlling the nano-cellular interactions, along with the available analytical techniques to follow and track these processes.

1,498 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Ting Shi1, David A. McAllister2, Katherine L. O'Brien3, Eric A. F. Simões4, Shabir A. Madhi5, Bradford D. Gessner, Fernando P. Polack, Evelyn Balsells1, Sozinho Acácio6, Claudia Aguayo, Issifou Alassani, Asad Ali7, Martin Antonio8, Shally Awasthi9, Juliet O. Awori10, Eduardo Azziz-Baumgartner11, Eduardo Azziz-Baumgartner12, Henry C. Baggett12, Vicky L. Baillie5, Angel Balmaseda, Alfredo Barahona, Sudha Basnet13, Sudha Basnet14, Quique Bassat6, Quique Bassat15, Wilma Basualdo, Godfrey Bigogo10, Louis Bont16, Robert F. Breiman17, W. Abdullah Brooks11, W. Abdullah Brooks3, Shobha Broor18, Nigel Bruce19, Dana Bruden12, Philippe Buchy20, Stuart Campbell1, Phyllis Carosone-Link20, Mandeep S. Chadha21, James Chipeta22, Monidarin Chou23, Wilfrido Clara12, Cheryl Cohen24, Cheryl Cohen5, Elizabeth de Cuellar, Duc Anh Dang, Budragchaagiin Dash-Yandag, Maria Deloria-Knoll3, Mukesh Dherani19, Tekchheng Eap, Bernard E. Ebruke8, Marcela Echavarria, Carla Cecília de Freitas Lázaro Emediato, Rodrigo Fasce, Daniel R. Feikin12, Luzhao Feng25, Angela Gentile26, Aubree Gordon27, Doli Goswami11, Doli Goswami3, Sophie Goyet20, Michelle J. Groome5, Natasha B. Halasa28, Siddhivinayak Hirve, Nusrat Homaira29, Nusrat Homaira11, Stephen R. C. Howie30, Stephen R. C. Howie8, Stephen R. C. Howie31, Jorge Jara32, Imane Jroundi15, Cissy B. Kartasasmita, Najwa Khuri-Bulos33, Karen L. Kotloff34, Anand Krishnan18, Romina Libster35, Romina Libster28, Olga Lopez, Marilla G. Lucero36, Florencia Lución26, Socorro Lupisan36, Debora N. Marcone, John P. McCracken32, Mario Mejia, Jennifer C. Moïsi, Joel M. Montgomery12, David P. Moore5, Cinta Moraleda15, Jocelyn Moyes5, Jocelyn Moyes24, Patrick K. Munywoki37, Patrick K. Munywoki10, Kuswandewi Mutyara, Mark P. Nicol38, D. James Nokes39, D. James Nokes10, Pagbajabyn Nymadawa40, Maria Tereza da Costa Oliveira, Histoshi Oshitani41, Nitin Pandey9, Gláucia Paranhos-Baccalà42, Lia Neu Phillips17, Valentina Picot42, Mustafizur Rahman11, Mala Rakoto-Andrianarivelo, Zeba A Rasmussen43, Barbara Rath44, Annick Robinson, Candice Romero, Graciela Russomando45, Vahid Salimi46, Pongpun Sawatwong12, Nienke M Scheltema16, Brunhilde Schweiger47, J. Anthony G. Scott10, J. Anthony G. Scott48, Phil Seidenberg49, Kunling Shen50, Rosalyn J. Singleton51, Rosalyn J. Singleton12, Viviana Sotomayor, Tor A. Strand14, Tor A. Strand52, Agustinus Sutanto, Mariam Sylla, Milagritos D. Tapia34, Somsak Thamthitiwat12, Elizabeth Thomas43, Rafal Tokarz53, Claudia Turner54, Marietjie Venter55, Sunthareeya Waicharoen56, Jianwei Wang57, Wanitda Watthanaworawit54, Lay-Myint Yoshida58, Hongjie Yu25, Heather J. Zar38, Harry Campbell1, Harish Nair59, Harish Nair1 
University of Edinburgh1, University of Glasgow2, Johns Hopkins University3, University of Colorado Boulder4, University of the Witwatersrand5, International Military Sports Council6, Aga Khan University7, Medical Research Council8, King George's Medical University9, Kenya Medical Research Institute10, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh11, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention12, Tribhuvan University13, University of Bergen14, University of Barcelona15, Utrecht University16, Emory University17, All India Institute of Medical Sciences18, University of Liverpool19, Boston Children's Hospital20, National Institute of Virology21, University of Zambia22, University of Health Sciences Antigua23, National Health Laboratory Service24, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention25, Austral University26, University of Michigan27, Vanderbilt University28, University of New South Wales29, University of Auckland30, University of Otago31, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala32, University of Jordan33, University of Maryland, Baltimore34, National Scientific and Technical Research Council35, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine36, Pwani University College37, University of Cape Town38, University of Warwick39, Academy of Medical Sciences, United Kingdom40, Tohoku University41, École normale supérieure de Lyon42, John E. Fogarty International Center43, Charité44, Universidad Nacional de Asunción45, Tehran University of Medical Sciences46, Robert Koch Institute47, University of London48, University of New Mexico49, Capital Medical University50, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium51, Innlandet Hospital Trust52, Columbia University53, Mahidol University54, University of Pretoria55, Thailand Ministry of Public Health56, Peking Union Medical College57, Nagasaki University58, Public Health Foundation of India59
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors estimated the incidence and hospital admission rate of RSV-associated acute lower respiratory infection (RSV-ALRI) in children younger than 5 years stratified by age and World Bank income regions.

1,470 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The researchers were able to provide an overview of the main themes and trends covered by the relevant literature such as the role of social media on advertising, the electronic word of mouth, customers’ relationship management, and firms’ brands and performance.

602 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The comprehensive results and various comparisons reveal that the EPD has a remarkable impact on the efficacy of the GOA and using the selection mechanism enhanced the capability of the proposed approach to outperform other optimizers and find the best solutions with improved convergence trends.
Abstract: Searching for the optimal subset of features is known as a challenging problem in feature selection process. To deal with the difficulties involved in this problem, a robust and reliable optimization algorithm is required. In this paper, Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA) is employed as a search strategy to design a wrapper-based feature selection method. The GOA is a recent population-based metaheuristic that mimics the swarming behaviors of grasshoppers. In this work, an efficient optimizer based on the simultaneous use of the GOA, selection operators, and Evolutionary Population Dynamics (EPD) is proposed in the form of four different strategies to mitigate the immature convergence and stagnation drawbacks of the conventional GOA. In the first two approaches, one of the top three agents and a randomly generated one are selected to reposition a solution from the worst half of the population. In the third and fourth approaches, to give a chance to the low fitness solutions in reforming the population, Roulette Wheel Selection (RWS) and Tournament Selection (TS) are utilized to select the guiding agent from the first half. The proposed GOA_EPD approaches are employed to tackle various feature selection tasks. The proposed approaches are benchmarked on 22 UCI datasets. The comprehensive results and various comparisons reveal that the EPD has a remarkable impact on the efficacy of the GOA and using the selection mechanism enhanced the capability of the proposed approach to outperform other optimizers and find the best solutions with improved convergence trends. Furthermore, the comparative experiments demonstrate the superiority of the proposed approaches when compared to other similar methods in the literature.

341 citations


Book ChapterDOI
27 Sep 2017
TL;DR: The future of the epidemiology of GBM will depend on multicenter studies generating large clinical data sets of genomic data potentially leading to further understanding of the roles of genes and environment in the development of this devastating disease.
Abstract: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive malignant primary brain tumor With an incidence rate of 319 per 100,000 persons in the United States and a median age of 64 years, it is uncommon in children The incidence is 16 times higher in males compared to females and 20 times higher in Caucasians compared to Africans and Afro-Americans, with lower incidence in Asians and American Indians GBM is commonly located in the supratentorial region (frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes) and is rarely located in cerebellum Genetic and environmental factors have been investigated in GBM Risk factors include prior radiotherapy, decreased susceptibility to allergy, immune factors and immune genes, as well as some single nucleotide polymorphisms detected by genomic analysis Use of anti-inflammatory medication has been found to be protective against GBM Survival from GBM is poor; only few patients survive 25 years and less than 5% of patients survive 5 years following diagnosis Survival rates for patients with GBM have shown no notable improvement in population statistics in the last three decades Molecular epidemiology integrates molecular technology into epidemiological studies and outcomes The future of the epidemiology of GBM will depend on multicenter studies generating large clinical data sets of genomic data potentially leading to further understanding of the roles of genes and environment in the development of this devastating disease

301 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Dec 2017
TL;DR: This paper investigates the analytic and approximate solutions of second-order, two-point fuzzy boundary value problems based on the reproducing kernel theory under the assumption of strongly generalized differentiability.
Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the analytic and approximate solutions of second-order, two-point fuzzy boundary value problems based on the reproducing kernel theory under the assumption of strongly generalized differentiability. The solution methodology is based on generating the orthogonal basis from the obtained kernel functions, while the orthonormal basis is constructing in order to formulate and utilize the solutions with series form in terms of their r-cut representation in the space $$\oplus _{j=1}^2 W_2^3 \left[ {a,b}\right] $$źj=12W23a,b. An efficient computational algorithm is provided to guarantee the procedure and to confirm the performance of the proposed method. Results of numerical experiments are provided to illustrate the theoretical statements in order to show potentiality, generality, and superiority of our algorithm for solving such fuzzy equations. Graphical results, tabulated data, and numerical comparisons are presented and discussed quantitatively to illustrate the possible fuzzy solutions.

279 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This report describes “in detail” selected standard protocols for the synthesis, purification, and characterization of various types of colloidal inorganic nanoparticles including gold nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles and iron oxide nanoparticles.
Abstract: Synthesis, characterization, and applications of colloidal nanoparticles have been a prominent topic of current research interests within the last two decades. Available reports in the literature that describe the synthesis of colloidal nanoparticles are abundant with various degrees of reproducibility and simplicity. Moreover, different methods for the characterization of colloidal nanoparticle’s basic properties are employed, resulting in conflicting results in many cases. Herein, we describe “in detail” selected standard protocols for the synthesis, purification, and characterization of various types of colloidal inorganic nanoparticles including gold nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles, iron oxide nanoparticles, and quantum dots. This report consists of five main parts: The first and the second parts are dedicated to describing the synthesis of various types of hydrophobic and hydrophilic nanoparticles in organic solvents and in aqueous solutions, respectively. The third part describes surface modific...

210 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The present review summarizes the most recent literature pertaining to resveratrol as a chemotherapeutic agent against multiple diseases and provides an assessment of the potential of this natural compound as a complementary or alternative medicine.
Abstract: Many natural products present in our diet, including flavonoids, can prevent the progression of cancer and other diseases. Resveratrol, a natural polyphenol present in various fruits and vegetables, plays an important role as a therapeutic and chemopreventive agent used in the treatment of various illnesses. It exhibits effects against different types of cancer through different pathways. It additionally exerts antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidant effects in a variety of cell types. Furthermore, the cardiovascular protective capacities of resveratrol are associated with multiple molecular targets and may lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for atherosclerosis, ischemia/reperfusion, metabolic syndrome, and heart failure. Accordingly, this article presents an overview of recent developments in the use of resveratrol for the prevention and treatment of different diseases along with various mechanisms. In addition, the present review summarizes the most recent literature pertaining to resveratrol as a chemotherapeutic agent against multiple diseases and provides an assessment of the potential of this natural compound as a complementary or alternative medicine.

207 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the mechanical properties of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) produced by adding chopped basalt fibers (BF) with contents of 0.1, 0.3, 1, and 1.5%.

204 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a conceptual framework was developed through extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, hedonic motivation, habit, social influence, price value and facilitating conditions) by incorporating two additional factors, namely, trust and selfefficacy.
Abstract: Purpose This research aims to examine the factors that may hinder or enable the adoption of e-learning systems by university students. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual framework was developed through extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, hedonic motivation, habit, social influence, price value and facilitating conditions) by incorporating two additional factors, namely, trust and self-efficacy. Data were collected from students at two universities in England using a cross-sectional questionnaire survey between January and March 2015. Findings The results showed that behavioral intention (BI) was significantly influenced by performance expectancy, social influence, habit, hedonic motivation, self-efficacy, effort expectancy and trust, in their order of influencing the strength and explained 70.6 per cent of the variance in behavioral intention. Contrary to expectations, facilitating conditions and price value did not have an influence on behavioral intention. Originality/value The aforementioned factors are considered critical in explaining technology adoption but, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there has been no study in which all these factors were modeled together. Therefore, this study will contribute to the literature related to social networking adoption by integrating all these variables and the first to be tested in the UK universities.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results show that perinatal immunisation strategies for children aged younger than 6 months could have a substantial impact on RSV-related child mortality in low-income and middle-income countries.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an assessment of biomass resources potential in Jordan for power/heat generation and biogas production is presented, based on five crucial requirements toward process sustainability and production cost.
Abstract: An assessment of biomass resources potential in Jordan for power/heat generation and biogas production is presented in this paper. The investigation is based on five crucial requirements toward process sustainability and production cost. These requirements include biomass analysis and availability, conversion technologies, optimizing efficiency, reduction of environmental impact, and political decisions. All of these requirements collectively work in synergy toward commercial implementation of bioconversion technologies of biomass into energy. The information obtained in this study is expected to be useful for both decentralized and centralized wastes based energy planning by policymakers and industry developers, which can increase the biomass based renewable energy share to the energy mix. Direct biomass resources including agricultural residues, animal manure and municipal solid waste are considered in the analysis. Jordan produces more than 5.83 MT of wastes and residues annually, where 42% of which are estimated as available sources for energy generation and biogas production. The corresponding annual biogas and power potential is 313.14 MCM and 847.39 GWh, respectively. The produced biogas could replace almost 23.64% of Jordan primary energy consumed in the year 2012 in the form of natural gas (656 toe). Amongst all wastes and residues, municipal solid waste generated in the middle region of Jordan has the highest potential for biogas and power generation at 24.26%. This is followed by poultry manure with 18.58% and olive residues with 15.1%. The potential of the other wastes and residues is estimated at 42.06%.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results expand the morbid genome of ID and support the adoption of genomics as a first-tier test for individuals with ID.
Abstract: Intellectual disability (ID) is a measurable phenotypic consequence of genetic and environmental factors. In this study, we prospectively assessed the diagnostic yield of genomic tools (molecular karyotyping, multi-gene panel and exome sequencing) in a cohort of 337 ID subjects as a first-tier test and compared it with a standard clinical evaluation performed in parallel. Standard clinical evaluation suggested a diagnosis in 16% of cases (54/337) but only 70% of these (38/54) were subsequently confirmed. On the other hand, the genomic approach revealed a likely diagnosis in 58% (n=196). These included copy number variants in 14% (n=54, 15% are novel), and point mutations revealed by multi-gene panel and exome sequencing in the remaining 43% (1% were found to have Fragile-X). The identified point mutations were mostly recessive (n=117, 81%), consistent with the high consanguinity of the study cohort, but also X-linked (n=8, 6%) and de novo dominant (n=19, 13%). When applied directly on all cases with negative molecular karyotyping, the diagnostic yield of exome sequencing was 60% (77/129). Exome sequencing also identified likely pathogenic variants in three novel candidate genes (DENND5A, NEMF and DNHD1) each of which harbored independent homozygous mutations in patients with overlapping phenotypes. In addition, exome sequencing revealed de novo and recessive variants in 32 genes (MAMDC2, TUBAL3, CPNE6, KLHL24, USP2, PIP5K1A, UBE4A, TP53TG5, ATOH1, C16ORF90, SLC39A14, TRERF1, RGL1, CDH11, SYDE2, HIRA, FEZF2, PROCA1, PIANP, PLK2, QRFPR, AP3B2, NUDT2, UFC1, BTN3A2, TADA1, ARFGEF3, FAM160B1, ZMYM5, SLC45A1, ARHGAP33 and CAPS2), which we highlight as potential candidates on the basis of several lines of evidence, and one of these genes (SLC39A14) was biallelically inactivated in a potentially treatable form of hypermanganesemia and neurodegeneration. Finally, likely causal variants in previously published candidate genes were identified (ASTN1, HELZ, THOC6, WDR45B, ADRA2B and CLIP1), thus supporting their involvement in ID pathogenesis. Our results expand the morbid genome of ID and support the adoption of genomics as a first-tier test for individuals with ID.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The paper reports the limited influence KM has on staff JP, one of the few studies that fills the gap in the literature concerned with the relationship between KM and JP and perhaps the first to provide insights about the KM intricacies at a Jordanian University.
Abstract: This is an empirical study of knowledge management performance (KMP) at a university and the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between knowledge management process (KMPR), KMP and job performance (JP).,The data were collected using a questionnaire, as the instrument for the primary data collection, with total collected back responses of 207 from university lecturers who have actually participated. Structural equation modeling technique was used to fully analyze the data in order to determine what level of the relationship between knowledge management (KM) and JP existed.,The main findings were related to confirming the two main hypotheses of the research that were related to testing if there were relationships between the KMPR (represented by seven surrogate measures, namely, knowledge identification, knowledge creation, knowledge collection, knowledge organizing, knowledge storage, knowledge dissemination and knowledge application) and KMP, as well as if the KMP was related to the JP.,This paper focuses on investigating the actual role of KM at a university, which is assumingly a knowledge factory. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that presumes the importance of KM and specially when there is no proper KM regiment in place, the paper reports the limited influence KM has on staff JP. It is one of the few studies that fills the gap in the literature concerned with the relationship between KM and JP and perhaps the first to provide insights about the KM intricacies at a Jordanian University.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of online satisfaction and e-trust as mediators in the relationship between electronic service quality (e-SQ) and online loyalty (integrating behavioral and attitudinal elements), in the context of e-shopping was analyzed.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the role of online satisfaction and e-trust as mediators in the relationship between electronic service quality (e-SQ) and online loyalty (integrating behavioral and attitudinal elements), in the context of e-shopping. In an increasingly competitive environment, e-retailers need to know the determinants of the success of their online distribution channels in terms of service quality and the influence of this on e-satisfaction, e-trust and e-loyalty. Using a sample of 302 website users of amazon.com in Jordan, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were performed to test the relationship between these dimensions. Three dimensions were found to be the main explanatory factors of e-SQ, namely efficiency, privacy and customer service. In addition, it was confirmed that satisfaction mediates the relationship between e-SQ and behavioral and attitudinal loyalty.

Journal ArticleDOI
Daniela A. Braun1, Jia Rao1, Géraldine Mollet2, Géraldine Mollet3, David Schapiro1, Marie Claire Daugeron4, Weizhen Tan1, Olivier Gribouval3, Olivier Gribouval2, Olivia Boyer2, Olivia Boyer3, Patrick Revy2, Patrick Revy3, Tilman Jobst-Schwan1, Johanna Magdalena Schmidt1, Jennifer A. Lawson1, Denny Schanze, Shazia Ashraf1, Jeremy F.P. Ullmann1, Charlotte A. Hoogstraten1, Nathalie Boddaert3, Nathalie Boddaert2, Bruno Collinet5, Bruno Collinet4, Gaëlle H. Martin2, Gaëlle H. Martin3, Dominique Liger4, Svjetlana Lovric1, Mónica Furlano2, Mónica Furlano6, Mónica Furlano3, I. Chiara Guerrera2, Oraly Sanchez-Ferras7, Jennifer Hu8, Anne Claire Boschat, Sylvia Sanquer2, Björn Menten9, Sarah Vergult9, Nina De Rocker9, Merlin Airik1, Tobias Hermle1, Shirlee Shril1, Eugen Widmeier1, Eugen Widmeier10, Heon Yung Gee1, Heon Yung Gee11, Won-Il Choi1, Carolin E. Sadowski1, Werner L. Pabst1, Jillian K. Warejko1, Ankana Daga1, Tamara Basta4, Verena Matejas12, Karin Scharmann13, Karin Scharmann14, Sandra D. Kienast13, Sandra D. Kienast14, Babak Behnam15, Babak Behnam16, Brendan Beeson17, Amber Begtrup18, Malcolm Bruce17, Gaik Siew Ch’ng19, Shuan-Pei Lin20, Shuan-Pei Lin21, Jui Hsing Chang21, Chao Huei Chen, Megan T. Cho18, Patrick M. Gaffney22, Patrick E. Gipson23, Chyong Hsin Hsu21, Jameela A. Kari24, Yu Yuan Ke, Cathy Kiraly-Borri17, Wai Ming Lai, Emmanuelle Lemyre25, Rebecca O. Littlejohn26, Amira Masri27, Mastaneh Moghtaderi28, Kazuyuki Nakamura29, Fatih Ozaltin30, Marleen Praet9, Chitra Prasad31, Agnieszka Prytuła9, Elizabeth Roeder26, Patrick Rump32, Rhonda E. Schnur18, Takashi Shiihara29, Manish D. Sinha33, Neveen A. Soliman34, Kenza Soulami, David A. Sweetser1, Wen Hui Tsai, Jeng Daw Tsai35, Jeng Daw Tsai20, Jeng Daw Tsai21, Rezan Topaloglu30, Udo Vester36, David Viskochil37, Nithiwat Vatanavicharn38, Jessica L. Waxler1, Klaas J. Wierenga39, Matthias T.F. Wolf40, Sik Nin Wong41, Sebastian A. Leidel13, Sebastian A. Leidel14, Gessica Truglio1, Peter C. Dedon42, Peter C. Dedon8, Annapurna Poduri1, Shrikant Mane43, Richard P. Lifton43, Richard P. Lifton44, Maxime Bouchard7, Peter Kannu45, David Chitayat45, Daniella Magen46, Bert Callewaert9, Herman van Tilbeurgh4, Martin Zenker, Corinne Antignac2, Corinne Antignac3, Friedhelm Hildebrandt1 
TL;DR: Four new monogenic causes of GAMOS are identified, a link between KEOPS function and human disease is described, and potential pathogenic mechanisms are delineated.
Abstract: Galloway-Mowat syndrome (GAMOS) is an autosomal-recessive disease characterized by the combination of early-onset nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) and microcephaly with brain anomalies. Here we identified recessive mutations in OSGEP, TP53RK, TPRKB, and LAGE3, genes encoding the four subunits of the KEOPS complex, in 37 individuals from 32 families with GAMOS. CRISPR-Cas9 knockout in zebrafish and mice recapitulated the human phenotype of primary microcephaly and resulted in early lethality. Knockdown of OSGEP, TP53RK, or TPRKB inhibited cell proliferation, which human mutations did not rescue. Furthermore, knockdown of these genes impaired protein translation, caused endoplasmic reticulum stress, activated DNA-damage-response signaling, and ultimately induced apoptosis. Knockdown of OSGEP or TP53RK induced defects in the actin cytoskeleton and decreased the migration rate of human podocytes, an established intermediate phenotype of SRNS. We thus identified four new monogenic causes of GAMOS, describe a link between KEOPS function and human disease, and delineate potential pathogenic mechanisms.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a comprehensive review of electrocoagulation processes for heavy metal ion removal from wastewaters is presented, and the impact of the main design and process operational parameters on the removal efficiency is discussed and analyzed.
Abstract: A vast number of publications have investigated the application of electrocoagulation (EC) process in heavy metal ions removal from wastewaters. Most of these studies were simple lab-scale using synthetic wastewater with the absence of holistic and systematic approach to consider the process complexity. This comprehensive review considers the fundamental aspects of EC processes such as mechanisms, kinetic models, and isotherm models used by different researchers. Furthermore, the impact of the main design and process operational parameters on the removal efficiency is discussed and analyzed. Many concluding remarks and perspectives are stated to give insights for possible future investigations.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Detailed phylogenetic analysis among landraces indicated that Ethiopia might represent a second center of origin of durum wheat, rather than a second domestication site as previously believed, and a global picture of the available genetic diversity for this crop is provided.
Abstract: Durum wheat is the 10th most important crop in the world, and its use traces back to the origin of agriculture. Unfortunately, in the last century only part of the genetic diversity available for this species has been captured in modern varieties through breeding. Here, the population structure and genetic diversity shared among elites and landraces collected from 32 countries was investigated. A total of 370 entries were genotyped with Axiom 35K array to identify 8,173 segregating single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Of these, 500 were selected as highly informative with a PIC value above 0.32 and used to test population structure via DAPC, STRUCTURE, and neighbor joining tree. A total of 10 sub-populations could be identified, six constituted by modern germplasm and four by landraces of different geographical origin. Interestingly, genomic comparison among groups indicated that Middle East and Ethiopia had the lowest level of allelic diversity, while breeding programs and landraces collected outside these regions were the richest in rare alleles. Further, phylogenetic analysis among landraces indicated that Ethiopia might represent a second center of origin of durum wheat, rather than a second domestication site as previously believed. Together, the analyses carried here provide a global picture of the available genetic diversity for this crop and shall guide its targeted use by breeders.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This study provides the first evidence for the endophytic colonisation of plants with two strains of B. brongniartii, an important biocontrol agent of Melolontha melolontha and other scarab beetles in several European countries, and thus extends previous reports on the ability of entomopathogenic fungi to act as endophytes.
Abstract: Two experimental replicates were conducted to test whether strains of Beauveria brongniartii (BIPESCO2 and 2843) and Metarhizium brunneum (BIPESCO5) can endophytically colonise Vicia faba plants and improve their growth by comparing them with an endophytic strain of B. bassiana (NATURALIS®). The plants were inoculated through foliar spray and the effect of inoculation on plant height, leaf pair number, fresh root and shoot weights was measured at 7 and 14 days post inoculation (dpi). Endophytic colonisation of different plant parts with the tested fungal strains were confirmed 7 and 14 dpi through re-isolation of inoculated fungi onto selective media and subsequent Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) marker-based genetic identification. All tested strains were able to endophytically colonise leaves, stems, and even roots of inoculated plants 7 and 14 dpi, but per cent colonisation varied significantly among strains and plant parts within each sampling date. Foliar inoculation of plants with the tested st...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, heavy metal ions were proposed to form coordination bonds between the nonbridging Si O − and Al O − of GP framework (crosslinkers) leading to more effective stabilization of total ions in the GP matrix.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A paper-based biosensor developed is a powerful tool for the detection of S. aureus as a potential point-of-care diagnostic platform in hospitals and for use by regulatory agencies for better control of health-risks associated with contaminated food consumption.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In environmentally exposed communities and in the general population, the most consistent effect of exposure to PFOA, and to a less extent to PFOS, is the occurrence of hypothyroidism.
Abstract: Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) are two fluorinated compounds widely used in industry because of their useful chemical characteristics. They were identified as endocrine disruptors due to their ability to interfere with thyroid function. The resistance of PFOA and PFOS to environmental degradation, their bio-accumulation in food chains, and their long half-life raised concern in the scientific community, and several studies were performed with the aim to establish the real dangerousness of these compounds for the human health. The present review will focus on the effects of PFOA and PFOS on the thyroid gland taking into account in vitro experiments, animal studies, and human data. PFOS and PFOA reduce the circulating levels of thyroid hormones in diet-exposed animals, mainly by increasing their metabolic clearance rate. An accumulation of PFOS and PFOA was documented in thyroid cells, and a cytotoxic effect was observed after exposure to extremely high concentrations of these compounds. In environmentally exposed communities and in the general population, the most consistent effect of exposure to PFOA, and to a less extent to PFOS, is the occurrence of hypothyroidism. Women and children appear to be more at risk of developing mild thyroid failure. Pregnant women with circulating thyroid antibodies might be at risk of developing subclinical hypothyroidism, mainly when exposed at high doses of PFOS. The relative risks for thyroid cancer in people exposed to PFOA and PFOS were low and based on a few cases. Moreover, there was no consistent finding across all or even most studies.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the impact of knowledge management on innovation in telecommunication companies in Jordan, through the presence of a knowledge management as a mediator, and revealed that intellectual capital did have a significant impact on knowledge management and the latter on innovation.
Abstract: This study aims to investigate the impact of intellectual capital on innovation in telecommunication companies in Jordan, through the presence of knowledge management as a mediator. Data were collected using a self-administrated questionnaire from 498 employees working in three telecommunication companies in Jordan. Structural equation modelling approach based on AMOS 22.0 was used to examine the causal relationships and to test the hypotheses between the observed and latent constructs in the proposed research model. The results led to the confirmation of a mediation model as intellectual capital did not have a direct impact on innovation. The results revealed that intellectual capital did have a significant impact on knowledge management and the latter on innovation. In light of these findings, implications to both theory and practice are discussed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The higher uptake and transformation rates of algal- compared with coral-derived DOM suggest that reef community phase shifts from coral to algal dominance may stimulate DOM cycling through the sponge loop with potential consequences for coral reef biogeochemical cycles and food webs.
Abstract: Corals and macroalgae release large quantities of dissolved organic matter (DOM), one of the largest sources of organic matter produced on coral reefs. By rapidly taking up DOM and transforming it into particulate detritus, coral reef sponges are proposed to play a key role in transferring the energy and nutrients in DOM to higher trophic levels via the recently discovered sponge loop. DOM released by corals and algae differs in quality and composition, but the influence of these different DOM sources on recycling by the sponge loop has not been investigated. Here, we used stable isotope pulse-chase experiments to compare the processing of naturally sourced coral- and algal-derived DOM by three Red Sea coral reef sponge species: Chondrilla sacciformis, Hemimycale arabica and Mycale fistulifera. Incubation experiments were conducted to trace 13C- and 15N-enriched coral- and algal-derived DOM into the sponge tissue and detritus. Incorporation of 13C into specific phospholipid-derived fatty acids (PLFAs) was used to differentiate DOM assimilation within the sponge holobiont (i.e. the sponge host vs. its associated bacteria). All sponges assimilated both coral- and algal-derived DOM, but incorporation rates were significantly higher for algal-derived DOM. The two DOM sources were also processed differently by the sponge holobiont. Algal-derived DOM was incorporated into bacteria-specific PLFAs at a higher rate while coral-derived DOM was more readily incorporated into sponge-specific PLFAs. A substantial fraction of the dissolved organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) assimilated by the sponges was subsequently converted into and released as particulate detritus (15–24% C and 27–49% N). However, algal-derived DOM was released as detritus at a higher rate. The higher uptake and transformation rates of algal- compared with coral-derived DOM suggest that reef community phase shifts from coral to algal dominance may stimulate DOM cycling through the sponge loop with potential consequences for coral reef biogeochemical cycles and food webs.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a multistep reduced differential transformation method (MRDTM) is proposed for one-dimensional fractional heat equations with time fractional derivatives subjected to the appropriate initial condition.
Abstract: In this paper, we proposed a novel analytical technique for one-dimensional fractional heat equations with time fractional derivatives subjected to the appropriate initial condition. This new analytical technique, namely multistep reduced differential transformation method (MRDTM), is a simple amendment of the reduced differential transformation method, in which it is treated as an algorithm in a sequence of small intervals, in order to hold out accurate approximate solutions over a longer time frame compared to the traditional RDTM. The fractional derivatives are described in the Caputo sense, while the behavior of solutions for different values of fractional order α compared with exact solutions is shown graphically. The analysis is accompanied by four test examples to demonstrate that the proposed approach is reliable, fully compatible with the complexity of these equations, and can be strongly employed for many other nonlinear problems in fractional calculus.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A novel approach that uses ConvNet for classifying brain medical images into healthy and unhealthy brain images, using the modified version of the Alex Krizhevsky network (AlexNet) deep learning architecture on magnetic resonance images as a potential tumor classification technique.
Abstract: In recent years, Convolutional Neural Networks (ConvNets) have rapidly emerged as a widespread machine learning technique in a number of applications especially in the area of medical image classification and segmentation. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that uses ConvNet for classifying brain medical images into healthy and unhealthy brain images. The unhealthy images of brain tumors are categorized also into low grades and high grades. In particular, we use the modified version of the Alex Krizhevsky network (AlexNet) deep learning architecture on magnetic resonance images as a potential tumor classification technique. The classification is performed on the whole image where the labels in the training set are at the image level rather than the pixel level. The results showed a reasonable performance in characterizing the brain medical images with an accuracy of 91.16%.

Book ChapterDOI
17 Jan 2017
TL;DR: The experimental results show that the accuracy of intrusion detection using Deep Neural Network is satisfactory and the potential capability of Deep Neural network as a classifier for the different types of intrusion attacks is checked.
Abstract: Security of data is considered to be one of the most important concerns in today’s world. Data is vulnerable to various types of intrusion attacks that may reduce the utility of any network or systems. Constantly changing and the complicated nature of intrusion activities on computer networks cannot be dealt with IDSs that are currently operational. Identifying and preventing such attacks is one of the most challenging tasks. Deep Learning is one of the most effective machine learning techniques which is getting popular recently. This paper checks the potential capability of Deep Neural Network as a classifier for the different types of intrusion attacks. A comparative study has also been carried out with Support Vector Machine (SVM). The experimental results show that the accuracy of intrusion detection using Deep Neural Network is satisfactory.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Despite the limited number of patients in this study, the procedure described significantly improved the KOOS and knee cartilage thickness, indicating that they may enhance the functional outcome as well as the structural component.
Abstract: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a major health problem especially in the aging population. There is a need for safe treatment that restores the cartilage and reduces the symptoms. The use of stem cells is emerging as a possible option for the moderate and severe cases. This study aimed at testing the safety of autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) expanded in vitro when given intra-articularly to patients with stage II and III KOA. As a secondary end point, the study tested the ability of these cells to relieve symptoms and restore the knee cartilage in these patients as judged by normalized knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) and by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Thirteen patients with a mean age of 50 years suffering from KOA stages II and III were given two doses of BM-MSCs 1 month apart totaling 61 × 106 ± 0.6 × 106 by intra-articular injection in a phase I prospective clinical trial. Each patient was followed for a minimum of 24 months for any adverse events and for clinical outcome using normalized KOOS. Cartilage thickness was assessed by quantitative MRI T2 at 12 months of follow-up. No severe adverse events were reported up to 24 months follow-up. Normalized KOOS improved significantly. Mean knee cartilage thickness measured by MRI improved significantly. BM-MSCs given intra-articularly are safe in knee osteoarthrosis. Despite the limited number of patients in this study, the procedure described significantly improved the KOOS and knee cartilage thickness, indicating that they may enhance the functional outcome as well as the structural component. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02118519

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It can be concluded that heat stress impaired intestinal integrity which resulted in increased intestinal permeability to endotoxin, translocation of intestinal pathogens (Salmonella spp.) and serum inflammatory cytokines which is a significant factor in maintaining welfare, immune status and meat safety of broiler birds.