It is widely accepted that early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) makes it possible for patients to gain access to appropriate health care services and would facilitate the development of new therapies. AD starts many years before its clinical manifestations and a biomarker that provides a measure of changes in the brain in this period would be useful for early diagnosis of AD. Given the rapid increase in the number of older people suffering from AD, there is a need for an accurate, low-cost and easy to use biomarkers that could be used to detect AD in its early stages. Potentially, the electroencephalogram (EEG) can play a vital role in this but at present, no reliable EEG biomarker exists for early diagnosis of AD. The gradual slowing of brain activity caused by AD starts from the back of the brain and spreads out towards other parts. Consequently, determining the brain regions that are first affected by AD may be useful in its early diagnosis. Higuchi fractal dimension (HFD) has characteristics which make it suited to capturing region-specific neural changes due to AD. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of HFD of the EEG as a biomarker which is associated with the brain region first affected by AD. Mean HFD value was calculated for all channels of EEG signals recorded from 52 subjects (20-AD and 32-normal). Then, p-values were calculated between the two groups (AD and normal) to detect EEG channels that have a significant association with AD. k-nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithm was used to compute the distance between AD patients and normal subjects in the classification. Our results show that AD patients have significantly lower HFD values in the parietal areas. HFD values for channels in these areas were used to discriminate between AD and normal subjects with a sensitivity and specificity values of 100% and 80%, respectively.
Introduction and Aim: Cancers are a complex group of genetic illnesses that develop through multistep, mutagenic processes which can invade or spread throughout the body. Recent advances in cancer treatment involve oncolytic viruses to infect and destroy cancer cells. The Newcastle disease virus (NDV), an oncolytic virus has shown to have anti-cancer effects either directly by lysing cancer cells or indirectly by activating the immune system. The green fluorescent protein (GFP) has been widely used in studying the anti-tumor activity of oncolytic viruses. This study aimed to study the anticancer effect of a recombinant rNDV-GFP clone on NCI-H727 lung carcinoma cell line in vitro. Materials and Methods: The GFP gene was inserted t
... Show MoreCoupling reaction of 4-amino antipyrene with 4-amino benzoic acid gave bidentate azo ligand. The prepared ligand was identified by Microelemental Analysis, 1HNMR, FT-IR and UV-Vis spectroscopic techniques. Treatment of the prepared ligand with the following metal ions (CoII, NiII, CuII and ZnII) in aqueous ethanol with a 1:2 M:L ratio and at optimum pH, yielded a series of neutral complexes of the general formula [M(L)2]Cl2 . The prepared complexes were characterized using flame atomic absorption, (C.H.N) Analysis, FT-IR and UV-Vis spectroscopic methods as well as magnetic susceptibility and conductivity measurements. Chloride ion content was also evaluated by (Mohr method). The nature of the complexes formed were studied following the mol
... Show MoreM(II) Ions using amino acid L- proline as a primary ligand and either Nicotinamide or 8- hydroxyqinoline as secondary ligand, respectively: a. The mixed ligand complexes of composition,[M(pro)2(na)2]. b. The mixed ligand complexes of composition , Na[M(pro)2(Q)]. Where proline (C5H9NO2) symbolized as pro H , Nicotinamide (C6H6N2O) symbolized as (NA) , 8- hydroxyqinoline, (C9H7NO2) symbolized as (8-HQ). The ligands and the metal chlorides were brought into reaction at room temperature (37ºc) in ethanol as solvent .The reaction required the following molar ratios [(1:2:2) metal:2NA:2pro-] and [(1:1:2) metal:Q:2pro-] with M+2 ions, where M = [Mn (II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II) and pd(II)]. Products were found to be solid crystall
... Show MoreVarious assays are used to determine the toxic effects of drugs at cellular levels in vitro. One of these methods is the dye exclusion assay, which measures membrane integrity in the presence of Trypan blue. Trypan blue the dye which was used in this study to investigate cytotoxic effect of a new Cis –dichloroplatinum (II) complex [(Qu)2PtCl2] on the viability of polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs). Three concentrations of platinum complex were prepared (70, 35and 17.5 µg/ ml) and the results revealed that the percentage of cell viability decreased as the platinum complex concentration increased in comparison with control.
... Show MoreAbstract Sweden is today one of the most active European countries in the regional and international environment despite the adoption of neutrality as a guiding principle in its foreign policy. For more than two centuries, the length of time for Swedish neutrality has made it a global standard, an agreed foreign policy at home and a political culture rooted in institutions and society. Swedish. Although discussions are still underway on Swedish security and foreign policies after the end of the Cold War, especially cooperation with NATO through the Partnership for Peaceprogram, EU accession and its impact on the principle of neutrality in foreign policy. Sweden, however, insists that it still maintains neutrality, but more adequately, in
... Show MoreThe antagonism of the rhizospheric bacteria toward pathogenic fungi Macrophomina phaseolina was investigated. Ten soil samples were collected from the rhizospheric zone around Cowpea root (Vignaunguiculata L.). These samples were used as the source of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and rhizobacterial isolates. Twenty-five bacteria were isolated and evaluated as an antagonistic agent against pathogenic fungi. M. phaseolina was isolated from infected roots of Cowpea and used as a pathogen. Twenty-five bacteria were isolated and evaluated as an antagonistic agent against pathogenic fungi. M. phaseolina was isolated from infected roots of Cowpea and used as a pathogen. The synergistic effect between A. siccitolerans and (AMF) Glomusmosseae,
... Show MoreThis study aims to assess the water quality index (WQI) according to the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment's Water Quality Index method (CCME WQI). Four locations (measurement stations) are selected along the Tigris River, in Iraq. Two of them are located in the north near Mosul City, (Mosul Dam and Mosul city), and the other two are located in the south near Al-Amarah city, (Ali Garbi and Al-Amarah). The water data collected is for the period 2011 to 2013, including eleven water quality parameters. These are magnesium (Mg+2), calcium (Ca2+), potassium (K+), sodium (Na+), sulfate (SO42-), chloride (Cl-), nitrate (NO3<
... Show MoreIn this paper the process of metal ions extraction (Zn(II) and Cu(II)) was studied in PEG-KCl aqueous two phase system was investigated without using an extracting agent. The experimental runs were performance at constant temperature (25 oC), constant mixing time (30 min), and constant PH of the solution (about 3). The effect of KCl salt concentration (from 10% to 25%), volumetric phase ratio of PEG solution to KCl solution (from 0.5 to 2), and the initial metal ion concentration (from 0.25 ml to 2 ml of 1 gm/L solution) were investigated on the percent extraction of Zn(II) and Cu(II). The results indicated that the percent extraction of metal ions increase with increasing of salt concentration and phase ratio, and slightly de
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