Association of LOXL1 gene common sequence variants in Jordanian patients with exfoliation syndrome and exfoliative glaucoma

AIM：To investigate the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms （SNPs） in the LOXL1 gene with exfoliation syndrome/glaucoma （XFS/XFG） among Jordanians.METHODS：Sixty-one patients with XFS/XFG and 59 healthy control individuals were recruited in the study.Patients were diagnosed with XFS/XFG using standard clinical examination techniques. The exonic rs1048661SNP and the intronic rs2165241 SNP in LOXL1 gene were genotyped using sequencing technique. Allele and genotype frequencies were compared between cases and controls using Chi-square analysis.RESULTS：The G allele of the rs1048661 SNP and the T allele of the rs2165241 SNP were common in the sample with frequencies of 86.4% and 81.4%, respectively. In addition, there were no significant differences in the genotypic and allelic distributions between patients and controls for rs1048661 SNP （P=0.770, OR=1.21, 95%CI：0.56-2.60） and for rs2165241 SNP （P=0.605, OR=1.12,95%CI：0.59-2.09）. In addition, no significant associations were found between haplotypes of the examined SNPs and XFS/XFG in the sample （P〉0.05）. CONCLUSION：Variations in LOXL1 gene may not be associated with XFS/XFG in the Jordanian population.More studies are required to confirm the current findings.

Gastric malignancies in Northern Jordan with special emphasis on descriptive epidemiology

AIM:To study the epidemiology of gastric malignancies in Jordan as a model for Middle East countries where such data is scarce. METHODS:Pertinent epidemiological and clinicopathological data for 201 patients with gastric malignancy in north of Jordan between 1991 and 2001 were analyzed. RESULTS:Male:female ratio was 1.8:1.The mean age was 61.2 years,and 8.5% of the patients were younger than 40 years of age.The overall age-adjusted incidence was 5.82/100 000 population/year.The age specific incidence for males raised from 1.48 in those aged 30-39 years to 72.4 in those aged 70-79 years.Adenocarcinomas, gastric lymphomas,malignant stromal tumors,and carcinoids were found in 87.5%,8%,2.5%,and 2% respectively.There was an average of 10.1-month delay between the initial symptoms and the diagnosis.Only 82 patients underwent“curative”gastrectomy.Among adenocarcinoma groups,Lauren intestinal type was the commonest(72.2%)and the distal third was the most common localization(48.9%).The mean follow up for patients with gastric adenocarcinoma was 25.1 mo(range 1-132mo).The 5-year survival rates for stages Ⅰ(n=15), Ⅱ(n=41),Ⅲ(n=59),and Ⅳ(n=53) were 67.3%,41.3%, 5.7%,and 0% respectively(P=0.0001).The overall 5 year survival was 21.1%. CONCLUSION:Despite low inddence,some epidemiological features of gastric cancer in Jordan mimic those of high- risk areas.Patients are detected and treated after a relatively long delay.No justification in favor of a possible gastric cancer screening effort in Jordan is supported by our study;rather,the need of an earlier diagnosis and subsequent better care.

ON THE KINETICS AND MECHANISM OF THE COPOLYMERIZATION OF ACRYLONITRILE WITH STYRENE IN THE PRESENCE OF COPPER CHLORIDE

The copolymerization of styrene (St) and acrylonitrile (AN) complexed with CuCl_2 monomer by a free radicalmechanism was performed using benzoyl peroxide as an initiator at 65℃ under N_2 atmosphere for 150 min. The rate ofpolymerization (R_p) was found to increase linearly with the concentration (in mol/L) of CuCl_2, AN and St through scalingrelations. The activation energy of the copolymerization process in the presence and absence of CuCl_2 was found to be46.5 kJ/mol and 102 kJ/mol, respectively. The viscosity average molecular weigh of the copolymer and the k_p^2/k_t ratio weredctermired to further assess the accelerating effect of CuCl_2 on the copolymerization process. The copolymerization processin the presence of CuCl_2 has a radical complex mechanism.

Evaluation of Traffic Improvement Options Using Traffic Simulation

This research aimed at evaluating traffic improvement options for urban street networks using traffic simulation. Traffic, geometric and control data were collected from a selected study area which consisted of eight major at-grade intersections in Irbid city, Jordan, and the traffic simulation software （CORSIM） was used to evaluate the proposed traffic improvement options. The results of the network level analysis showed that the scenario of two rings of one-way streets provided the highest average travel speed （40% increase） and the lowest average traffic delay （47% reduction） as compared to the existing condition. It was found that a network with moderate intersections traffic volumes performs better with roundabouts than with signals. Replacing the network roundabouts by coordinated and optimized traffic signals provided more improvement in the average travel speed than the average traffic delay.

Using distance education in teaching orthotic fabrication to occupational therapy students

Occupational therapy (OT) education requires educators to provide students with entry level skills in orthotic fabrication. These skills have been taught in a traditional face-to-face classroom and labs. The concept of distance education (DE) has evolved over the years with the advancement of the technology. DE started with print media, radio broadcasting, and progressed to utilizing video conferencing. Currently DE relies heavily on using the internet to deliver quality, cost-effective and convenient education. DE Literature focused on teaching basic knowledge, however, no research was found that compared DE to traditional education in teaching skills or the application of knowledge. This pilot study investigated the effectiveness of using DE pedagogy in teaching OT students the skills of splint making, and to compare effectiveness of DE to that of traditional classroom. Forty OT students participated in the study, they self-selected to be in the experimental, or control group. The experimental group received training on splint making via the Blackboard?, while the control group received similar training the traditional way. The quality of splints was evaluated;Mann-Whitney concluded that the difference between the means of the two groups was no significant, indicating that the quality of the splints were equivalent.

Human Detection by Robotic Urban Search and Rescue Using Image Processing and Neural Networks

This paper proposes a new approach for detecting human survivors in destructed environments using an autonomous robot. The proposed system uses a passive infrared sensor to detect the existence of living humans and a low-cost camera to acquire snapshots of the scene. The images are fed into a feed-forward neural network, trained to detect the existence of a human body or part of it within an obstructed environment. This approach requires a relatively small number of images to be acquired and processed during the rescue operation, which considerably reduces the cost of image processing, data transmission, and power consumption. The results of the conducted experiments demonstrated that this system has the potential to achieve high performance in detecting living humans in obstructed environments relatively quickly and cost-effectively. The detection accuracy ranged between 79% and 91% depending on a number of factors such as the body position, the light intensity, and the relative color matching between the body and the surrounding environment.