Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum Volume 2012 Issue 1

Background & Objectives: Both exercise and hypoxia acutely elicit changes in systemic growth factors and cytokines that mediate increases in erythropoiesis, angiogenesis and, perhaps, arteriogenesis. To what extent the down-stream responses to these interventions are inter-related is, as yet, unclear. A role for circulating micro RNAs (cmiRNAs) in the regulation of these processes is a novel prospect. Thus the aims of this s Read More

Introduction: Both insulin deficiency and insulin resistance are reported in patients with β thalassemia major (BTM). The use of CGMS among the different methods for early detection of glycaemic abnormalities has not been studied thorough. The aims of this study are: 1. to detect glycemic abnormalities in young adults with BTM using fasting blood glucose (FBG), (OGTT), 72-h continuous glucose concentration by CGMS, and Read More

Background & objectives: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS), including obesity, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia and hypertension, associated with an increased predisposition to cardiovascular disease (CVD), is especially high in the Middle East, primarily amongst young Qataris. Both insulin resistance and endothelial dysfunction have been proposed to contribute to the pathogenesis of CVD in obese patients. Rec Read More

Background: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is one of the most common complications of diabetes that affects nerve functions and may occur in 25% of patients with 10 or more years of diabetes and up to 50% with 20 years of diabetes. Patients with DPN experience a high incidence of injuries while walking and have a low level of perceived safety. In certain cases the impaired judgment - mainly due to impaired propri Read More

Inflammation, in general, has been found to be associated with many human health complications. Postprandial inflammation, provoked soon after ingesting a meal, is transient in duration, but with dreadful consequences on human health over a period of time depending on the compositions of the meal. However, many populations, particularly in the Western countries, are in a constant postprandial state, which is likely to initiat Read More

Background: Mast cell proteases represent major protein components of secretory granules. The proteases are classified into a chymases, tryptases and carboxypeptidase (hMC-CPA). Little is known about the function of human lung carboxypeptidase A (hMC-CP) except for its ability to cleave angiotensin I. This suggests that the human mast cell carboxypeptidase A may play a role in the hypertension disease. Objectives Read More

Background: Traumatic chest injury (TCI) constitutes quarter of trauma-related deaths worldwide. Objective: To identify the pattern and outcome of TCI in Qatar in relation to age. Methods: Data were collected from all patients who sustained TCI between January 2008 and December 2010 in Qatar. Patients were classified and analyzed in 3 age groups (group 1 <18, group 2 between 18 and 45 and group 3 above 45 years). Th Read More

Background: In the State of Qatar, the majority of workers are expatriates from different ethnicity and culture. Most of them are liable to pedestrian motor vehicle crashes (MVC). We sought to understand the anatomy, time and date of injuries amongst expat workers in relation to their country of origin, culture and traditions. Methods: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data obtained from trauma registry Read More

To study the effects of VitalStim therapy coupled with conventional swallowing training on recovery of neurogenic dysphagia, a total of 30 dysphagia patients were randomly selected among subacute post-traumatic brain injury and cerebrovascular accident cases. The cases were evenly divided into two groups: neuromuscular electric stimulation (NMSE) group, and NMSE plus conventional swallowing therapy group Read More

Background and Objectives: Biobank Qatar is a research enabling infrastructure requiring members of the Qatari public to donate health and lifestyle information coupled to biological samples to enable research towards better prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases common in Qatar. Building a biobank depends on the willing participation of the public. Recruitment of participants requires insight into public knowl Read More

Background: Unwanted hair is one of the most common medical problems affecting women of reproductive age inducing a lot of psychological stress and threatening their femininity and self-esteem. Old methods of removing unwanted hair include shaving, waxing, chemical epilation, and electrolysis, all of which have temporary results. However laser-assisted hair removal is the most efficient method of long-term hair rem Read More

In this study, the high sensitive ICP-MS was employed to detect the contents of titanium and copper in liver, lung, spleen, kidney, heart, testis, brain and blood after administering an acute dose of different nano particle sizes of titanium and copper to rats by a syringe via gastrointestinal tract. In coupling with pathological examinations, the target organs of nano- and micro-copper were successfully determined. Biodistribution exp Read More

Background and Objectives: Obesity is associated with a state of chronic inflammation and increased cardiometabolic disease risk. The present study examined the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and cardiometabolic and inflammatory biomarkers among normal weight, overweight, and obese subjects. Methods: Subjects (n = 1,805, aged 18 to 79 years) from Canada were examined for associations betw Read More

Store-operated calcium entry (SOCE) is a ubiquitous Ca2+ influx pathway leading to a sustained, low amplitude Ca2+ signal that activates multiple physiological process including gene transcription and secretion, and contributes to store refilling. We here describe a novel mechanism, that we call "Ca2+ funneling", which allows efficient activation by SOCE of Calcium-activated chloride channels (CaCl2) in the xenopus oocyte to Read More

Background and Objective: Vascular aging is associated with changes in the structure and function of the vascular system and such changes contribute to the risk for the development of diabetes and associated cardiovascular diseases. Vascular senescence reflects the limited ability of vascular cells to divide and proliferate and is accompanied by specific phenotypic changes in morphology, gene expression and function Read More

Biobank Qatar aims to establish a large national bioresource that will support the development of cutting edge medical research during the next decades. While the design of Biobank Qatar has similarities with other large-scale population-based prospective cohort studies established in other parts of the world, it is unique in the region and excels for its highly innovative scientific and technological features. Biobank Qatar will in Read More

The olfactory receptors (ORs), which are G-protein coupled receptors, number more than 1,000 and comprise the largest gene family in the mammalian genome. ORs are expressed both monogenically and monoallelically in olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) and the mechanism that controls their regulation is largely unknown. ORs reside in constitutive heterochromatin and selection of one OR and from one allele occ Read More

Background: For the past two decades, cationic lipids have remained one of the most widely used non-viral gene delivery vectors due in large to their safety and ease of use despite having low efficiency. We and others believe that the key to improving the effectiveness of non-viral agents is unlocking the still unsolved mechanism behind lipid gene delivery. Our objective is the rational design, synthesis and evaluation of the D Read More

Recently, the role of tumor microenvironment (niche) in regulating cancer progression has been indicated. Tumor microenvironments consists of tumor vasculature, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, immune cells and the components of the extracellular matrix. It is believed that the phenotypic advantages acquired by tumor cells are partly the outcome of their interaction with their niche. Endothelial cells are the buil Read More

Background & Objectives: Epigenetic changes include two types of changes DNA methylation and Histone modifications. These modifications are influenced by the change in various environmental factors resulting in a stable form of gene expression changes. Type II Diabetes incidence keeps rising with so little understanding of the actual cause at gene expression level despite the massive amount of research around the subje Read More

Calreticulin (CRT) is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca²+ binding chaperone, which regulates many of cellular processes. Previous work from our lab showed loss of CRT leads to increased resistance to apoptosis. We also showed loss of CRT leads to increased AKT phosphorylation and activation of the proteosome activity. Thus we hypothesized that in the absence of CRT function, NFκB signaling is activated leading to e Read More

Background and objectives: This study was conducted to understand the dimensions important for quality assurance in pediatric services of public and private hospitals in Qatar. Method: The study employed Fuzzy- Quality Function Development (Fuzzy-QFD) approach to translate the patients expectations into appropriate service specifications and to perform assessments of the existing processes. The importance of this tool li Read More

Background & Objectives: Muscle mass is a major determinant of power development during maximal sprinting. The ability to recover and subsequently reproduce high-intensity efforts (termed repeated-sprint ability, RSA) is closely related to match-performance in soccer. The aim of this study is to assess any relationship between anthropometric parameters and RSA performance in a national soccer team in the Middl Read More

Hypoxia has been shown to exacerbate the performance loss during Maximal Intensity Intermittent Exercise (MIIE). However, the effect of hypoxia on the development of central and peripheral mechanisms of fatigue during MIIE is unknown. The aim of the study is to explore the development of both central and peripheral fatigue during multiple bouts of MIIE under varying severity levels of hypoxia. On separate days, 14 healthy Read More

Background: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by defects in LDLR and leads to the elevation of blood cholesterol levels. The worldwide prevalence of the disease is 1:500 and 1 in a million for heterozygous and homozygous respectively. Recently, the Arab allele has emerged as a potential founder mutation. Objectives: The aims of this study are to develop a rapid diagnostic assay to sc Read More

Objective: The purpose of this study is to assess the quality of pediatric services in public and private hospitals in Qatar. Methods: The objectives were achieved using a modified SERVQUAL scale. Data from 179 participants who visit public/private hospitals in Qatar were analyzed to find the gaps between expectations and perceptions. Results: The findings revealed that customers' expectations exceeded their perceptions, m Read More

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) kills nearly 3 million people and incurs at least 9 million new cases each year. While developing countries are most affected by this epidemic, migration contributes substantially to the spread of the disease. Qatar employs a vast migrant laborer workforce from TB epidemic countries, who live in high-density labor camps. Workers are grouped in the same camp rooms, and often work side by side. T Read More

Background: Studying diabetes and obesity is a priority for Qatar and for the entire world. Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a member of the FGF superfamily that has important endocrine functions in the regulation of glucose metabolism. Elevated plasma levels of FGF21 are seen in humans with type 2 diabetes and mouse models where FGF21-resistance is associated with a reduced response to the blood glucose an Read More

Gait analysis (GA) is often defined as the study of human walking; typically involving computerized and instrumented measurement of the movement patterns that make up walking. GA can reveal the timing and pattern of activation of muscles and joints, of body segment motions, and the forces that act on them. It can facilitate objective comparison of pathological versus normal gait and monitoring of progress in reha Read More

Background: Very dense crowds that exceed three people per square metre present many challenges in computer vision for efficiently measuring quantities such as density and pedestrian trajectories. An accurate characterisation of such dense crowds can improve existing models and help to develop better strategies for mitigating crowd disasters. Pedestrian models used for tracking are often based on assumptions which are Read More

Given the success of outdoor tracking via GPS and the rise of real-time context-aware services, users will soon rely on applications that require higher granularity indoor localization. This need is further manifested in countries like Qatar, where various social and business activities occur indoors. Wi-Fi-based indoor localization is one of the most researched techniques due to its ubiquitous deployment and acceptable accur Read More

Qatar is currently building one of the largest research infrastructures in the Middle East. In this orientation, Qatar foundation has constructed a number of universities and institutes composed of highly qualified researchers. In particular, QCRI institute is forming a scientific computing multidisciplinary group with a special interest in machine learning, data mining and bioinformatics. We are now able to address the com Read More

Background: Scheduling aircrafts on single or multiple runways is an important and difficult problem. This problem involves how aircrafts are sequenced on a runway and how they are assigned to runways has a significant impact on the utilization of the runways as well as on meeting the landing and departure target times. Most of the literature focuses on landing operations on a single runway as it is an easier problem to Read More

Overlaid cellular technology has been considered as a promising candidate to enhance the capacity and extend the coverage of cellular networks, particularly indoors. The deployment of small cells (e.g. femtocells and/or picocells) in an overlaid setup is expected to reduce the operational power and to function satisfactorily with the existing cellular architecture. Among the possible deployments of small-cell access points is Read More

Given the clear impact that mobility has on economical and social development, the continuous increase in the number of vehicles coupled with the increase in mobility behavior of people are creating new problems and challenges that need to be holistically addressed to ensure safe, sustainable, efficient and environmentally friendly mobility systems. Cooperative Intelligent Transportations Systems (ITS) allow the transportation inf Read More

Background and Objective: Reliable high-speed data communication that supports multimedia application for both indoor and outdoor mobile users is a fundamental requirement for next generation wireless networks and requires a dense deployment of physically coexisting network architectures. Due to the limited spectrum availability, a novel interference-aware spectrum sharing concept is introduced where netwo Read More

In this work we attempt to understand the visual accents in Arabic facial expressions and create culture-specific facial expressions for a female multi-lingual, cross-cultural robot. This study will enable the investigation of the effect of creating such expressions on the quality of the human-robot interaction. Our work is twofold: we first identify the existence of accent variation in facial expressions across cultures, then we val Read More

Background: This trans-disciplinary study presents the initial outcomes of a key study undertaken to explore the role of augmented reality and motion detecting technologies in the context of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) for museums-related environments. Initial prototypes are in the form of an interactive infrared camera based application for children to engage with an Aboriginal puppet, and Arabic calligraphic writin Read More

Background: Nowadays, by considering the important advances in multimedia and networks including telemedicine applications, the amount of information to store and/or transmit has dramatically increased over time. To overcome the limitations of transmission channels or storage systems, data compression is considered a useful tool. In general, data compression addresses the problem of reducing the amount of Read More

Recent developments in radio frequency identification (RFID) technology have enabled the aviation industry to benefit from its huge potential to solve issues related to baggage mishandling and to improve passenger journeys. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that more than $733 million savings by airlines alone can be realized through RFID adoption when fully implemented in the top 200 airports. Read More

The advent of standards such as IEEE 11073 for device connectivity, Health Level Seven (HL7) etc., provide an assimilating platform for medical devices and seamless dataflow among modern health information systems (HIS). However, to date, these standards are either not widely accepted or lack the support of 'on-the-fly' formation of HIS in a disaster zone. In a situation where hybrid medical (standard compliant and the ot Read More

Automatic Information Extraction (IE) is a challenging task because it involves experts' skills and requires well developed Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms. Moreover, IE is domain dependent and context sensitive. In this research, we present a general learning approach that may be applied for different types of events. As a matter of fact, we observed that even if a natural language text containing a targ Read More

Background and Objectives: Multimedia tutorials are often useful for children with disabilities as they are better able to understand new concepts with the use of lessons that engage their senses. These tutorials should include images, sounds and videos. We propose a system to dynamically generate multimedia tutorials that can easily be customized by the instructor, with the use of domain specific information extraction. Me Read More

Spectrum sharing systems have been recently introduced to alleviate the problem of spectrum scarcity by allowing secondary unlicensed networks to share the spectrum with primary licensed networks under acceptable interference levels to the primary users. In this work, we develop interference-aware random beam selection schemes that provide enhanced performance for the secondary network under the conditio Read More

Background and Objectives: In dysprosodic speech, the prosody does not match the expected intonation pattern and can result in robotic-like speech, with each syllable produced with equal stress. These errors are manifested through inconsistent lexical stress as measured by perceptual judgments and/or acoustic variables. Lexical stress is produced through variations in syllable duration, peak intensity and fundamental fr Read More

Long Term Evolution (LTE) supports closed-loop MIMO techniques to improve its performance; however, in order to exploit the multiuser MIMO channel capabilities, the design of an efficient MAC scheme that supports MU-MIMO is essential and is still an open issue in the literature. This work proposes a novel, energy-efficient MAC scheme for LTE, which aims to achieve simultaneous downlink transmissions to multiple users th Read More

An important objective of modeling biological phenomena is to develop therapeutic intervention strategies to move an undesirable state of a diseased network towards a more desirable one. Such transitions can be achieved by the use of drugs to act on some genes/metabolites that affect the undesirable behavior. Biological phenomena are complex processes with nonlinear dynamics that cannot be perfectly described by Read More

In this paper we propose a hybrid approach to align single words, compound words and idiomatic expressions from English-Arabic parallel corpora. The objective is to develop, improve and maintain automatically translation lexicons. This approach combines linguistic and statistical information in order to improve word alignment results. The linguistic improvements taken into account refer to the use of an existing bilingual lexicon, Read More

Background and Objectives As e-commerce functions in a more perplex and conjoint environment than traditional businesses, a higher degree of trust is required between the users and online businesses. Uncertainties inherent to the current e-commerce environment give rise to a lack of trust and reliability in e-commerce partnerships, thereby reducing confidence and creating barriers to trade. The reason why most user Read More