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Purpose: Despite several publications comparing the educational outcomes of Community-Based Education (CBE) to non-CBE Medical schools, evidence on utilization of community-based research (CBR) is largely lacking. Therefore, the objective of this research was to compare the utilization and quality of community-based research approaches between four community-based education and non-CBE medical school in Sudan and Saudi Arabia. Methods: A review of the literature from four schools in Sudan and Saudi Arabia was performed by searching PubMed electronic database using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Classification of studies and appraisal of quality of community engagement was performed. Results: The review identified a total of 573 articles, 79.4% (455) of which were produced by non-CBE medical schools (Khartoum and Taibah) and 20.6% (118) produced by CBE medical schools (Gezira and Jazan). However, only 9.08% (52) of the articles were CBR while more than a fifth (21.19%) of the school CBE articles were CBR with only almost 6% CBR from the production of non-CBE medical schools. This demonstrates that despite on-CBE schools’ significant production of articles relative to CBE schools, nevertheless researchers were more inclined to utilize hospital, laboratory and internal facilities rather than community-based facilities to conduct research activities. The mean scores obtained for quality of community participation among the 52 CBR reviewed studies conducted by CBE and non-CBE medical schools were 1.33 and 0.07, respectively which effectively translates to significantly higher quality of community engagement in research at CBE schools. Conclusion: Conducting a research in the community instead of the laboratory, hospital or clinical setting does not make it a community-based research. The main challenges facing Community-Based Participatory Research are therefore building and maintaining genuine partnership and trust; sustainability of relationships and commitments; developing the knowledge, capacity and values; sustaining funding, staff, programs, and policy changes. Capacity development for both researchers and communities is required a long with developing policies and funding opportunities within higher education institutions to enhance CBPR as a tool for promotion of equity and social justice.

Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, easy, and on-demand network access to a shared aggregation of configurable computing sources. Adopting of cloud computing in the pharmaceutical manufacturing is influenced by a group of critical success factors. Therefore, this paper depends on the technological-organizational-environmental (TOE) framework to explore the factors that influence on cloud computing adoption by pharmaceutical industry firms in Jordan through proposing a model for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Companies. Complexity, compatibility, relative advantage, top management support, firm size, technical readiness, competitive pressure, and trading partner pressure, are the eight critical success factors that have been tested. A survey was utilized to collect data from 16 pharmaceutical manufacturing firms in the capital of Jordan – Amman. Relevant hypotheses were developed and examined by multiple regression analysis. The results of the data analysis generally support the suggested model. In summary, the results of this research have shown that all above-mentioned factors were found to have a significant influence on adoption of cloud computing for the pharmaceutical industry in Jordan. This finding of adoption in cloud computing in the pharmaceutical industry will help firms to take into consideration their information for technologies investments.

Abstract Background Malaria infection during pregnancy can result in placental malaria and is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes particularly among primigravidae. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and risk factors for placental malaria and its effect on pregnancy outcomes in Blue Nile state, Sudan. Methods A cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted consecutively during January 2012–December 2015 in three main hospitals in Blue Nile State, Sudan. At delivery, peripheral and placental blood samples were collected from consenting women. Finger prick blood was used for preparation of peripheral smears and for haemoglobin measurement. Smears were stained with Giemsa and examined microscopically for malaria parasites. Pregnancy outcomes in association to placental malaria were investigated. Results A total of 1149 mothers and their newborns were recruited. The mean (SD) of the age was 23.3 (5.2) years. Detection of malaria parasites was confirmed in 37.8% of the peripheral blood films and 59.3% of the placental films with Plasmodium falciparum as the only species detected. In multivariate analysis, younger age ≤23.2 years old (AOR = 3.2, 95% CI 1.9–5.5; P

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the seroprevalence of coinfections with bovine herpes virus-1 (BHV-1), bovine viral diarrhea (BVD), bluetoungue virus (BTV) and bovine herpes virus-4 (BHV-4) in cattle with reproductive problems in Sudan, and to determine the relation of single or mixed seropositivity with abortion, infertility and death after birth. Materials and methods: Meta-analysis of the results from our earlier serosurveys conducted with a total of 688 dairy cattle was carried out in order to determine prevalence of seropositivity of single and mixed (coinfection) viral infections. Reults: The meta-analysis of the data indicated high seroprevalence of coinfections with various combinations of these agents; only few animals were singly infected. An infection with BHV-1 was observed to be higher than the prevalence of associations between BHV-1 and the other three viral agents. Prevalence of seropositivities to coinfection with BHV-1/BTV; BHV-1/BVD; BHV-1/BTV/BVD were the highest while seropositivities prevalences that involved BHV-4 were much lower. The highest abortion rates were encountered in coinfections with BHV-1/BVD/BTV (31%) and BHV-1/BVD/BTV/BHV-4 (30%) while most infertility cases were noticed in coinfection with BHV-1/BVD/BTV (44%) and BHV-1/BVD/BTV/BHV-4 (21%), and coinfections with the four viruses were encountered in most of the death after birth cases (25%). Overall mixed infections with BHV-1/BVD/BTV (34%) and BHV-1/BVD/BTV/BHV-4 (22.5%) were involved in the majority of reproductive problems studied. Conclusion: Mixed infections constitutes the vast majority of cases and are involved in the majority of reproductive disorders investigated. The high prevalence of seropositivity to all of the four viruses should call for an intervention strategy to reduce the impact of these viruses. [J Adv Vet Anim Res 2016; 3(4.000): 332-337]

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of submicroscopic infections and to assess its impact on maternal anaemia and low birth weight. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 1149 consented pregnant women who delivered at 3 main hospitals in the Blue Nile State, between January 2012 and December 2015. From a matched maternal peripheral, placental maternal side, and cord blood sample, blood films and dried spots were prepared for microscopic examination and nested polymerase chain reaction (n-PCR), respectively. 107 out of 447 negative blood films were found to have submicroscopic infection detected using n-PCR in any of the three compartments. Placental samples had a significantly higher prevalence (142) of submicroscopic infections compared with the peripheral (6.5%) and cord (8.1%) samples. The mean (SD) of the maternal haemoglobin (Hb) was significantly lower in cases with submicroscopic parasitaemia (10.9 (0.8) vs. 12.1 (0.7) g/dl, P

Background. The most prominent variant surface antigens (VSAs) of Plasmodium falciparum are the var gene-encoded Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) family, which serves as a parasite-sequestering ligand to endothelial cells. In this study we have examined the antibody reactivity of autologous plasma from symptomatic and asymptomatic malaria infected children against the infected erythrocytes’ surface antigens using flow cytometry. Methods. Ethidium-bromide-labelled erythrocytic mature forms of P. falciparum parasites obtained from symptomatic and asymptomatic children were sequentially incubated with autologous plasma and fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated (FITC) antihuman IgG. Plasma antibody reactivity was detected by flow cytometry. Results. Asymptomatic children had more prevalence of trophozoites in peripheral blood (66%) compared to symptomatic children (16%), p=0.002. The mean percentage of infected RBCs reacting with autologous sera was 89.78 among symptomatic children compared to 79.62 among asymptomatic children (p=0.09). Moreover, the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) in the asymptomatic was significantly higher compared to symptomatic children (p value = 0.040). Conclusion. Variant surface antigens on Plasmodium falciparum infected RBCs from symptomatic malaria children tend to be better recognized by IgG antibodies. This may suggest a role of some IgG antibodies in severity of malaria.

Aim: This cross-sectional survey was conducted to detect anti- N. caninum antibodies in bovine dams' sera samples in nine States of the Sudan. Materials and Methods: Two hundred and seventy six bovine dams' sera samples collected from nine States in the Sudan were screened for anti-Neospora caninum antibodies using a commercial competitive ELISA (cELISA) kits. Results: The results showed an overall prevalence rate of 15.9% (range 6.7% - 70%) of Neospora caninum antibodies. The prevalence rates were high in White Nile (70%) and North Kordofan (30%), moderate in the Northern (15.6%), Red Sea (13.3%) States and was low in the South Kordofan (9.4%) and River Nile (6.7%). States with high values of percentage inhibition (PI) detected in White Nile State compared to other States. No antibodies were detected in El Gadarif, Kassala and South Darfur States. The prevalence was observed to be high in crossbred dams (70%) with statistically significant difference (P

Aim: The survey was carried out to detect anti- C. burnetii antibodies in goat's sera samples in eight States in the Sudan during September 2010 – July 2011. Materials and Methods: In a preliminary study, four hundred and sixty caprine sera samples collected from eight States in the Sudan were screened for anti- Coxiella burnetii (the causative agent of Q fever) antibodies using a commercial indirect ELISA (iELISA) kit. Results: The results showed an overall prevalence rate 24.22% of Q fever antibodies. The prevalence rate of antibodies ranged from 6.7% in Kassala to 40% in South Darfur. The prevalence rates were highest in South Darfur (40%) and South Kordofan (34.7%), moderate in El Gazira (29.7%), Khartoum (29.1%), the Northern (24%) and the River Nile (20.2%) States. It was lowest in the White Nile (7.5%) and Kassala (6.7%) States. Conclusion: It could be concluded that Q fever is prevalent in goats in the Sudan. Therefore, further epizootiological investigations on Q fever in other farm animals and man at the country level is important to monitor and determine the magnitude of Q fever infection in order to estimate its economic impact on animal industry and its public health hazard in the Sudan. In addition, the impact of Q fever among shepherds should be studied. [Vet. World 2012; 5(7.000): 394-397]

The concentration level of urinary 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), an oxidative stress biomarker for various diseases especially cancer, has been attracted as a pathway suitable for diagnostic purposes. Determination of urinary 8-OHdG is challenging due to its low level within a complex matrix. In this study, a new approach of solid/liquid phase microextraction technique prior to high-performance liquid chromatography diode-array detection (HPLC-DAD) analysis was developed for the determination of trace levels of 8-OHdG in urine samples. The solid/liquid phase microextraction device was constructed by reinforcement of multi-walled carbon nanotubes into the pores of a short segment 2.5 cm of hollow fiber microtube with two ends heat sealed. Based on the optimized procedure, the selected analyte was extracted from an acidic sample solution (10 mL adjusted at pH = 5) into the five extraction devices. After the extraction period (30 min), the 8-OHdG was eluted from the extraction device using methanol (350 µL) under ultrasonication for 5 min. The analytical performance of the method in synthetic urine samples showed good linearity (R 2 > 0.999) with the limits of detection of 0.85 ng mL−1, and extraction recovery > 92.36%. The developed microextraction technique exhibited a confident sensitivity, feasible operation, and simplicity in comparison with other published methods and was valid to determinate trace 8-OHdG in urine cancer patients' samples by using a cheap and commonly available HPLC-DAD instrument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nephropathy due to BK virus (BKV) infection is an evolving challenge in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). We hypothesized that BKV infection was a marker of kidney function decline and a poor prognostic factor in HSCT recipients who experience this complication. In this retrospective study, we analyzed all patients who underwent their first allogeneic HSCT at our institution between 2004 and 2012. We evaluated the incidence of persistent kidney function decline, which was defined as a confirmed reduction in estimated glomerular filtration rate of at least 25% from baseline using the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology equation. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to model the cause-specific hazard of kidney function decline, and the Fine-Gray method was used to account for the competing risks of death. Among 2477 recipients of a first allogeneic HSCT, BK viruria was detected in 25% (n = 629) and kidney function decline in 944 (38.1%). On multivariate analysis, after adjusting for age, sex, acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), chronic GVHD, preparative conditioning regimen, and graft source, BK viruria remained a significant risk factor for kidney function decline (p < 0.001). In addition, patients with BKV infection and kidney function decline experienced worse overall survival. After allogeneic HSCT, BKV infection was strongly and independently associated with subsequent kidney function decline and worse patient survival after HSCT.

In this paper, the design and the implementation of a stabilising feedback law for an engine throttle valve system are investigated while taking into account the digital communication over the vehicle network. In particular, the digital communication between sensors, controller, and actuators is studied using the event-triggered theory. Considering the sampled-data nature of the closed-loop system, the emulation approach is used to synthesise the control law to stabilise the plant in the continuous-time domain. Next, we provide a systematic methodology to derive, both, time-triggering and event-triggering rules such that the closed-loop stability is preserved. The approach is illustrated by simulation on the dynamic model of the throttle valve system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]