Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a prevalent clinical condition, that affects millions of individuals worldwide. Objective: To assess the level of soluble HLA-E (sHLA-E) as a biomarker in the diagnosis and immunopathogenesis of GERD patients. Methods: The case-control prospective study included 40 GERD patients who were consulted at the Gastroenterology Unit of AlKindy Teaching Hospital, as along with 40 healthy control subjects. The study period extended from January 2023 to May 2024. Blood was drawn from both groups and serum was separated to assesssHLA-E using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. Results: There was a statistically significant difference in sHLA-E levels between GERD patients and healthy controls (P=0.021). The median sHLA-E level was significantly higher in GERD patients (0.370 ng/mL) compared to controls (0.148 ng/mL). A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was generated to evaluate the diagnostic performance of soluble HLA-E (sHLA-E) in predicting GERD. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was calculated to assess the discriminatory ability of sHLA-E with a vlue of 0.649 (95% CI: 0.534-0.752, p = 0.021). The optimal cutoff value for sHLA-E was determined to be ≤0.65 ng/mL, with a sensitivity of 85.1%, specificity of 27.3%, positive predictive value of 65.9%, negative predictive value of 69.4%, and accuracy of 35.0%. Conclusion: The study provides evidence of an association between elevated sHLA-E levels and GERD. It also suggests that sHLA-E has a moderate discriminatory ability as a biomarker in predicting GERD. © 2025, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.
In this paper, a new class of nonconvex sets and functions called strongly -convex sets and strongly -convex functions are introduced. This class is considered as a natural extension of strongly -convex sets and functions introduced in the literature. Some basic and differentiability properties related to strongly -convex functions are discussed. As an application to optimization problems, some optimality properties of constrained optimization problems are proved. In these optimization problems, either the objective function or the inequality constraints functions are strongly -convex.
The smart city concept has attracted high research attention in recent years within diverse application domains, such as crime suspect identification, border security, transportation, aerospace, and so on. Specific focus has been on increased automation using data driven approaches, while leveraging remote sensing and real-time streaming of heterogenous data from various resources, including unmanned aerial vehicles, surveillance cameras, and low-earth-orbit satellites. One of the core challenges in exploitation of such high temporal data streams, specifically videos, is the trade-off between the quality of video streaming and limited transmission bandwidth. An optimal compromise is needed between video quality and subsequently, rec
... Show MoreEssential approaches involving photons are among the most common uses of parallel optical computation due to their recent invention, ease of production, and low cost. As a result, most researchers have concentrated their efforts on it. The Basic Arithmetic Unit BAU is built using a three-step approach that uses optical gates with three states to configure the circuitry for addition, subtraction, and multiplication. This is a new optical computing method based on the usage of a radix of (2): a binary number with a signed-digit (BSD) system that includes the numbers -1, 0, and 1. Light with horizontal polarization (LHP) (↔), light with no intensity (LNI) (⥀), and light with vertical polarization (LVP) (↨) is represen
... Show MoreDiabetes mellitus type 2 [DMT2] is a disturbance of metabolism and complex diseases influenced by environmental, genetic agents, and linked with inflammation, happens when the pancreas either does not use the insulin as it should or the body does not make enough insulin, lead to insulin resistance [IR] alongside with gradual loss of ß-cell secretory ability. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of soluble L-selectin (sL-selectin) in diabetes mellitus type 2 patients in Iraqi Arabs patient. Study includes seventy six Iraqi Arabs patients (male and female) having newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), with Fifty three Iraqi Arabs healthy subjects matched in age, sex and ethnic group. Patients and healthy subjec
... Show MoreA mathematical eco-epidemiological model consisting of harvested prey–predator system involving fear and disease in the prey population is formulated and studied. The prey population is supposed to be separated into two groups: susceptible and infected. The susceptible prey grows logistically, whereas the infected prey cannot reproduce and instead competes for the environment’s carrying capacity. Furthermore, the disease is transferred through contact from infected to susceptible individuals, and there is no inherited transmission. The existence, positivity, and boundedness of the model’s solution are discussed. The local stability analysis is carried out. The persistence requirements are established. The global behavior of th
... Show MoreThe discourse surrounding lingual sovereignty within the African postcolonial context is profoundly intertwined with the fabric of cultural identity and self-determination. Language serves not merely as a conduit for communication but as a repository for a people's collective consciousness, encapsulating their traditions, thoughts, and perspectives. In the realm of postcolonial literature, this dialogue often grapples with the paradox of expressing indigenous narratives through the linguistic tools of former colonizers. Chinua Achebe's seminal work, "Things Fall Apart," exemplifies this conundrum, artfully weaving the orature and culture of Umuofia within the English language. Achebe's choice to write in English—a language imposed upon hi
... Show MoreCybersecurity involves protecting computer networks, systems, and data from unauthorized access and disruptions using advanced technologies. The purpose of this research is to establish a novel cyber security framework for strengthening cloud data protection. In this paper, we propose a novel Dung Beetle optimization-redefined Intelligent Random Forest (DB-IRF) for accurate detection of intrusions in a cloud environment. We obtained a dataset that includes cloud system logs and network traffic data, including normal and malicious activities, to train our proposed model. We utilized z-score normalization to pre-process the gathered raw data. Our suggested model enhances classification accuracy by integrating DB optimization with the
... Show MoreIllegal web platforms known as phishing websites adopted high-risk threats to mimic legitimate online platforms in order to steal important data of users, like login credentials and financial information. These forged platforms often involve internet tactics to attract unsuspecting victims through URL manipulation. Many recent machine learning techniques are proposed for detecting web attackers. However, under an increasing number of internet users, they struggle to reveal recent phishing strategies for stealing sensitive information covered by fake websites. This study presents a comprehensive methodology for detecting phishing websites through a proposed hybrid technique (RF_PSO) by involving the Random Forest (RF) classification algorith
... Show MoreDoxorubicin (DOX) is a chemotherapeutic agent; it is widely used in human malignancies. Its long-term use can cause neurobiological side-effects. Vitamin E and Coenzyme Q10may possess neuroprotective effects. This work was designed to investigate the effect of vitamin E and the coenzyme Q10(CoQ10) supplementation on neurotoxicity induced by doxorubicin(DOX) in rats. Forty nine adult rats of both sexes were used in this study; the animals were randomly enrolled into seven groups of 7 rats each. Group I: negative control (rats administered corn oil); Group II: Vitamin E at a dose of 100mg/kg/d for 3 weeks ; Group III: CoQ10 at a dose of 50 mg/kg/d for 3 weeks; Group IV: positive control (Doxorubicin 2
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