Background
Celiac disease (CD) emerged as a public health problem, and the disease prevalence varies among different races. The present study was designed to investigate the prevalence of CD using serological markers in apparently healthy schoolchildren in Irbid City, Jordan. Additionally, the effect of positive serology on height, weight and body mass index (BMI) was evaluated.
Methods
The study population consisted of 1985 children (1117 girls and 868 boys), age range was 5.5 to 9.5 years. Height and weight were measured and blood samples were collected from each individual. Serum samples were analyzed for IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTG) using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). tTG positive samples were further analyzed for IgA anti-endomysium antibodies (EmA) with a commercial ELISA. Samples confirmed positive with EmA were considered seropositive.
Results
Sixteen children were CD positive. The serological prevalence was estimated to be 1:124 (0.8%; 95% CI, 0.5% to 1.3%). Significant impact on growth (height) was found in seropositive children. When both sexes were individually analyzed, only boys showed height reduction. Furthermore, seropositive boys also had a significant weight reduction.
Conclusion
This study demonstrated that CD is prevalent among schoolchildren in Jordan. The seropositive children tend to have lower height, weight, and BMI than the seronegative group. These differences were significant only for boys. None of the participants is known to have CD prior to the study.
The present study seeks to identify teachers' perceptions regarding STEM teaching professional development and to identify the factors that facilitate or hinder the success of teachers' professional development. The participants of the study were 35 teachers. A qualitative approach was used for data collection by conducting semistructured interviews with 11 teachers out of 35. All the participants were involved in the three focus group sessions. The findings of the study revealed that teachers have various perceptions toward the STEM professional development based on their experience, knowledge, and skills. Moreover, the study revealed different factors influencing STEM professional development among teachers including personal characteristics and internal factors including attitudes and beliefs toward STEM professional development activities, and teachers' capacity. Also, external factors such as design of the training program, availability of training material, and timing of training. The findings of the study could benefit the decision‐makers to be aware about these factors that influence professional development and the teachers' needs.
This paper presents a reliable and low cost greenhouse gas measurement system. The system mainly consists of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a set of calibrated sensors, a wireless system, and a microcontroller. The system can measure the concentration of greenhouse gases namely carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), and ozone (O 3 ) at different altitudes. It can also measure temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure. The system is able to send data to a remote monitoring station. The UAV is equipped with image processing based navigation and landing system so that it can land autonomously on a designated place. To ensure safe landing the system uses a specially designed parachute. This paper also presents some data generated by the system.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.