Research Profiles

This collaborative proposal between the University of Texas at Dallas, Qatar University, and Rutgers University aims to address the challenge of providing high-performance, low-cost broadband access anytime, anywhere. The proposal aims to mitigate interference, a major performance-limiting impairment in wireline and wireless systems, by proposing a new low-complexity interference mitigation framework with performance guarantees. The proposal is transformative in nature as it connects the future of broadband communications to the mathematics of compressive sensing theory, and it also makes fundamentally novel contributions to the field of CS by connecting the mathematics of CS theory to the mathematics of finite frame theory. Successful outcomes of this proposal will aid in bringing the broadband revolution to its logical conclusion, generate valuable intellectual property for Qatar, help train Qatari students to become leaders in technological innovations of the future, and have broader impacts on oil and gas exploration projects in and around Qatar.

The project addressed research issues related to power conversion, control, and communications in an islanded micro-grid distributed generation system, with multiple electric vehicles (EVs) connected to the grid. The research focused on integrating smart electric chargers with the micro-grid controller while accounting for the variable nature of the renewable energy sources. The interactions between the Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment and the micro-grid were studied in a real-time simulation environment, and various battery-charging power conversion systems were analyzed for efficiency and performance. The project also explored the use of silicon carbide super junction transistors for power-stabilizing converters and demo EV charging converters, as well as the improvement of communication reliability in vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems.

Data centers are critical infrastructure that provide cloud computing services to users and organizations around the world. The design of data center networks that interconnects massive numbers of servers and provides efficient and fault-tolerant routing services to upper-layer applications is a fundamental challenge for both academia and industry. A new type of data center interconnect, LacoNet, is proposed to combine the advantages of previous architectures while avoiding their limitations. The project aims to develop LacoNet, investigate its architectural and topological properties, design routing algorithms, develop protocols and active queue management schemes to provide QoS, and establish a benchmarking testbed to evaluate and compare various data center architectures under realistic and practical environments. The proposal reviews existing work related to the project and is divided into work done by others and work done by the Principal Investigator (PI). The proposed LacoNet architecture aims to solve several issues, including scalability, performance, cost, and QoS.

The world's growing population has triggered a healthcare revolution, leading to a shift towards eHealth solutions. The use of interconnected digital devices in healthcare, enabled by the "Internet of Things" (IoT), offers vast opportunities for preventive and continuing care, while reducing overcrowding in hospitals. However, this also creates new security threats, making it essential to implement appropriate security measures to protect patient data. This project aims to investigate the security of eHealth/mHealth systems and propose tailored solutions that strike a balance between security and usability, considering the limitations of IoT devices, including power consumption and processing power, and their reliance on backscatter transmission. The proposed solutions will focus on protecting patient information during wireless transmission from wearable sensors to local controllers, and from controllers to healthcare systems' servers, as well as during emergency response teams' movement.

This research proposal aims to develop a Secure Federated Edge Intelligence Framework to optimize the experience of Federated Edge Learning (FEEL) under network, data, and spectrum constraints while enhancing security and privacy. FEEL allows machine learning models to be trained by aggregating local learning models at the edge servers instead of users' raw data to preserve users' privacy. The proposed framework consists of three sub-objectives, developing reliable and resource-efficient edge intelligence algorithms, efficiently managing RF spectrum resources, and securing the FEEL and enhancing users' privacy. The developed FEEL algorithms will be tested against real-world datasets, and a software-defined radio-based prototype will be implemented for smart spectrum management.

The rise of chronic diseases has put pressure on healthcare systems to provide patient-centered services. In Qatar, non-communicable chronic diseases are responsible for most mortalities, with cardiovascular disorders being the leading cause. The proposal aims to address this problem by introducing non-intrusive smart IoT sensors to monitor cardiac conditions and detect irregularities early through an AI model. The proposed approach will allow for continuous home-monitoring of ECG signals and timely interventions by physicians, while preserving patient privacy. The outcomes of the project are expected to deliver affordable and privacy-preserving solutions supporting the delivery of early warning on cardiovascular anomalies.

During this research project, the focus was on studying incremental relaying technique for single carrier transmission and extending it to broadband channels. The project also investigated the effect of I/Q imbalance on the outage probability of relaying networks. Outage probability and symbol error rate were derived analytically and verified by simulations. The findings of this study contribute to the development of more efficient and reliable relaying systems, which could have implications for future telecommunications technologies.

Need of the Research: The role of agriculture has been marked significantly in sustaining societies throughout the globe and its relevance to hot arid regions is more particular. Qatar’s efforts in safeguarding food security have been witnessed greatly in recent years due to the country’s increased food demands, caused by its rapid population growth and economic development. A detailed study is proposed to explore the options for climate-smart farming in Qatar to meet its food security and sustainability targets as a part of the National Food Security Program and Qatar’s National Vision 2030. Scientific Objectives: This project will strive to develop innovative smart agricultural practices to improve and explore the possibility of expanding the acreage and productivity of date palms and vegetables (tomatoes and eggplant) in Qatar to achieve the self-sufficiency goals of food security and sustainability. The proposed project illustrates a multidisciplinary approach with five scientific objectives to promote sustainable date palm and vegetable production in Qatar: I) Precision soil conservation for improving soil health by introducing bio-solids and organic amendments, II) Developing and applying artificial intelligence-based machine vision technologies to identify plant pests (diseases) in real-time for targeted applications of agrochemicals, III) Introduce sustainable sensor-based smart irrigation systems to optimize quantity and timing of water allocation for crop production, IV) Drones-assisted monitoring and mapping of plants and soil health for early warning and field terrain to attain sustainable resource allocation, and V) Promoting circular bio-economy and performing life cycle analysis of wastes to improve current agriculture management practices. This research project will concentrate on developing novel, innovative, and cost-effective technologies, which are capable of accounting for spatial and temporal variability in soil and crop characteristics to improve yield and quality in the open field and greenhouse-grown crops. The economically viable and environmentally efficient technologies developed through this research project have great potential to achieve self-sufficiency by accurately allocating resources for the sustainable agriculture industry in Qatar. The proposal objectives are closely aligned with the National Food Security Program and Qatar’s National Vision 2030 to promote local agriculture production technologies, conserve, and optimize resources and reduce the state’s reliance on food imports through self-sufficiency and food security. Development and application of smart technologies (i.e. machine vision, artificial intelligence, deep learning, precision soil conservation, sensor-based sustainable irrigation, bio-circular economy) for vegetable and date palms to promote sustainable food production adds novelty and innovation to the project. Project Team Plan: The multidisciplinary project team is composed of researchers from CNA-Q, collaborating institutions, and industry stakeholders to tackle different aspects of the proposed project. The project team has the skills and expertise to take on the proposed scientific objectives. The previous experience of the researchers on the project team will be very valuable to achieve the proposed scientific objectives. With the significant increase in food production activity in Qatar, combined with the expertise of the research team in the proposed project areas, collaboration with the Qatar Government, local industries, and availability/access of equipment through College of North Atlantic-Qatar and this proposal, greatly enhances the feasibility of this research. Effective planning, communications, and training of highly qualified personnel will help to achieve deliverables/outcomes. Moreover, the Government’s mandate to promote innovation and technology in agriculture with the vision of self-sufficiency and food security adds great value to this proposal. Expected Outcomes: This research will help farmers/stakeholders in Qatar to optimize crop productivity, improve soil health, lower environmental risks, and reduce production costs by applying agricultural inputs on an as-needed basis. Introducing the circular bio-economy concept for converting the waste into value-added products that can potentially be used as soil amendments, has a good potential to improve soil health and productivity. Development of innovative systems based on scientific investigations, engineering skills, and lab/field evaluations will train early career researchers and students with expertise in climate-smart agriculture production technologies and secure employment in industry, government, and academia. Research and development in emerging areas of climate-smart agriculture practices will make Qatar a world leader in technology development and its use to ensure food security. Expected Impact of the Project: The proposed project will have a social, economic, and environmental impact while exploring the pathway for sustainable agriculture. The long-term project impact is described below. i. The project outcomes will fill the knowledge gap by conducting extensive fundamental/applied research. ii. Create awareness and promote sustainable agriculture practices to achieve the goals of food security and self-sufficiency. iii. Lower input cost by applying crop inputs (i.e., fertilizer, irrigation, and pesticides) on an an-as-needed basis – resource optimization and improve environmental efficiency. iv. Capacity building by training the Qatari students and research staff in an emerging area of sustainable agriculture technologies to improve self-reliance, sustainability, and food security v. Develop new systems and practices to tackle the agriculture production issues of Qatar through state-of-the-art climate-smart agriculture practices. vi. Create social awareness to produce and consume local food through c

In recent decades, enacted strict laws and the public's attention to environmental protection have led to green methods being considered by researchers as well as industrial sectors. In these methods, efforts are made to minimize the consumption of chemicals during the process. One of these green methods is the use of extracts of various plants or agricultural wastes as a medium for the synthesis of nanoparticles. The extracts of most plants contain large amounts of antioxidants that can play the role of reducing and stabilizing agent and therefore convert a wide range of metal salts to the corresponding metal or metal oxide. Due to the fact that various plants are found in abundance in nature, it is possible to produce different nanoparticles using their extracts through a simple and inexpensive approach. Various industries, such as cosmetics, plastics, leather, food, and textiles, daily bring large amounts of wastewater into the environment, often containing toxic substances and pollutants that are harmful to the environment. One of these pollutants is the various dyes used in these industries. Due to the high solubility of dyes in water, dyes are known to be a potential environmental pollutant. In recent years, among various methods applied for the removal of dyes from effluents, photocatalytic degradation has attracted the attention of researchers because of its excellent ability to degrade organic contaminations. On the other hand, one of the abundant as well as free sources of light is sunlight. Since Qatar has many sunny days, the photocatalytic destruction under solar radiation is an economical yet efficient technique to remove many toxic pollutants, especially from industrial effluents. In this project, various metal oxide nanoparticles with photocatalytic property, including SnO2, ZrO2, CeO2, and ZnO will be produced using the extracts of plants waste available in Qatar as a natural material having reducing and stabilizing properties. The performance of synthesized nanoparticles will be then evaluated in photocatalytic degradation of various organic dyes dissolved in water under solar irradiation. Moreover, the effect of different parameters such as reaction time, amount of catalyst and initial pH of the solution on the degradation efficiency will be investigated by applying experimental design approach. Finally, the optimal degradation conditions will be determined at the last stage of the project.

Qatar’s agriculture and livestock sector witnessed huge growth from 2017 to 2019. Qatar’s Strategic Food Security Projects 2019-2023 aim at increasing the local livestock and food production from the existing %18 of total demand of the country to about %30 percent by 2023. The current agriculture and livestock market contribute 0.2% to the GDP of Qatar (MDPS, 2013-2018) and there are several new projects going on. The livestock farming produce not only meat but also a huge amount of bulky organic and nutrient wastes that require a good management and usage planning. On the other hand, food waste is a huge concern for Qatar, with studies showing that over half of the municipal garbage is composed of food waste and only a minimal portion of this discarded food is being recycled. Moreover, Qatar’s food consumption has been forecast to grow to 1.9mn tonnes in 2023 due to several reasons such as rising population, the increase in tourist arrivals, and social and sport activities. The combination of the country’s very high consumption rate and very low recycling rate, mean that mountains upon mountains of food are being dumped. Therefore, developing and applying new technologies to manage and convert food wastes to some value-added products is of great importance to the sustainable development of state of Qatar. Composting is a viable mean for treating the majority of organic wastes. It is a biological process in which the mesophilic and thermophilic micro-organisms convert a biodegradable organic waste into a value-added product such as a fertilizer. This project is aimed at designing, sizing, constructing, and optimizing a semi-automatic and low-cost composting system that is capable to treat various types of bulky organic wastes existing in Qatar and convert them into economically-valuable products that are more concentrated and have a high amount of nutrients like N, K, and P.

Global demand for clean fresh water is rising due to the increasing world population, industrial activities, and climate change. The decline of natural freshwater resources in recent years has also been recognized as one of the main environmental challenges on a global level. Desalination methods have become more important and currently are critical for producing fresh water from salty water to meet the increasing water demands, especially in water-stressed countries. Qatar as one of the GCC’s fastest-growing economies possesses a population of 2.8 million with an annual growth rate of 2%, which consumes about 460 liters of water per capita per day. This consumption rate continues to remain high despite the state warnings and several initiatives, especially, given insignificant non-renewable water resources, precipitation below 75 mm a year, and high temperatures evaporating the little rainfall the country gets. This project is aimed to investigate the bio-desalination of saline water using microalgae and CO2 absorption as a sustainable and energy-efficient approach to desalinate brackish and seawater sources for agricultural and municipal water use, whilst simultaneously producing useful products. The emphasis of this research will be on using valuable local resources and collecting local microalgae strains with high tolerance to increased water salinity and CO2 levels and developing growth media with optimized operating conditions in order to increase the microalgae productivity and desalination performance. The outcomes of this research project can play a significant role in supporting the local economy by offsetting greenhouse gas emissions and producing usable water and bioproducts, which are vital in achieving a more sustainable future for Qatar.

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is highly affected by outdoor emission sources particularly in congested urban areas, invariably associated with vehicle-induced emissions as well as construction and industrial emissions. Since people spend most of their time indoors, the effect of IAQ on personal exposure and human health is often more pronounced than outdoor air. Educational institutions like schools and universities act as specific indoor environments, which house highly vulnerable individuals (i.e. adolescents and young adults), who may potentially be exposed to various harmful air contaminants that could increase their health risks. Hence, the proposed research aims to undertake the assessment of IAQ determinants in educational institutions such as universities located in different urban / congested areas with particular emphasis on indoor-outdoor (IO) correlations and the associated health implications.

"Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for almost one-third of the total global deaths. Early CVD risk assessment and management (RAM) has demonstrated to be effective in decreasing CVD-related burden. However, CVDRAM services face many challenges and barriers in the community. Mobile technology has been advocated to facilitate access to CVDRAM for both healthcare providers and patients to overcome these barriers. Nevertheless, there is limited availability and use of CVDRAM-related mobile technology in the Middle East region.

Objectives: To implement an English and Arabic version of a mobile and web application for CVDRAM in both, community pharmacies and selected primary health care centers (PHCCs) in Qatar.

Methodology: A prospective observational study (QCARxE) is underway to explore the feasibility of using the ERC in patients accessing primary health care services for CVDRAM, including community pharmacies and primary health care centers (PHCC).

Results: To date, a total of 36 patients have enrolled in the QCARxE study (20 from PHCC and 16 from community pharmacies). At their initial CVD risk assessment visit, the mean CVD risk score for these patients was 28.3%, and the most prevalent risk factor was obesity (mean BMI = 30.2 kg/m²).

Conclusion: Preliminary data derived from the QCARxE study indicates a significant proportion of patients accessing primary health care services are at high CVD risk. It is speculated that the use of the ERC will enable patients to become better aware of their CVD risk and improve access to risk factor interventions."

"Prolongation of the QTc interval (QTcI) is a concern for all clinicians as it can be followed by a life threatening polymorphic ventricular tachyarrhythmia called torsades de pointes (TdP). The potential risk of TdP raises concerns among health care providers when prescribing medications that can prolong QTcI, particularly in patients who may be predisposed. In daily practice, because of an ever-increasing number of medications available and other non-drug factors that must be accounted for, clinicians may face difficulties on how to assess, manage, monitor or refer patients at risk of drug-induced QTcI prolongation. The psychiatric population appears to be particularly vulnerable to these types of adverse events, due to polypharmacy and because many psychotropic medications are known to prolong the QTcI. To address this, an algorithm was developed based on an extensive literature review of the latest available guidelines for the assessment, monitoring and management of drug-induced QTcI prolongation. The steps on this algorithm were tested by experts in the field of cardiology and mental health, showing strong content validity.

This project will aim at transforming this validated QTc algorithm into a web-based electronic clinical decision support (ECDS) application to help clinicians in non-acute health care settings improve clinical decision making at the time of prescribing. This project will facilitate further integration of this application into clinical information systems (CISs) in tertiary health care. Improving the ability of health care professionals providing care to patients with mental illness who may be at higher risk of QTcI prolongation through the integration of ECDS into their practice will facilitate further integration of mental health services in Qatar, a key priority of the National Health Strategy 2018-2022 and the Qatar National Vision 2030."

"Phase I:
Background: QTc interval (QTcI) prolongation leads to serious complications, making it a concern for clinicians. Assessing the risk of QTcI prolongation in the psychiatric population is important because they are exposed to multiple medications known to increase the risk of life-threatening arrhythmias.

Objectives: The study aims to validate the content of an algorithm for the assessment, management and monitoring of drug-induced QTc prolongation in the psychiatric population.

Methodology: Qualitative semi-structured interviews of cardiologists, to gather information regarding their approach in assessing the risk of drug-induced QTc prolongation at the time of prescribing. After the interview, an orientation to the algorithm was provided with a link to a cross-sectional, anonymous survey. The online survey included quantitative and qualitative components to gather feedback on the relevance and appropriateness of each step in the algorithm.

Results: Interview responses were incorporated into 4 themes. Responses indicated a lack of a unified protocol when assessing QTcI prolongation, which supports the need of an algorithm that includes a verified risk scoring tool. Quantitative survey results showed a mean score ranging from 3.08 to 3.67 out of 4 for the appropriateness of the algorithm's steps, 3.08 to 3.58 for the safety and 3.17 to 3.75 for the reliability of references used. Additional analysis using the modified kappa and I-CVI statistical measures indicate high validity of contents and high degree of agreement between raters. As per the open-ended questions, cardiologists supported the implementation of the algorithm; however, they recommended simplification of the steps as they appear to be cumbersome.

Conclusion: The results demonstrate that the implementation of the algorithm after minor alterations can prove to be useful as a tool for the risk assessment of QTc prolongation. Further validation of the algorithm with mental health pharmacists and clinicians will be conducted as a separate phase of the study.

Phase II:
Background: Drug-induced QTc prolongation (QTcP) can lead to serious consequences, and is often a concern for mental health practitioners as access to experts, such as cardiologists, for consultation is time-limiting and can delay treatment decisions.

Objectives: This research aimed at validating the content of an algorithm for the assessment, management and monitoring of drug-induced QTcP in the psychiatric population.

Methodology: This is part two of a two-phase investigation which evaluated the appropriateness, safety and evidence to support the decision steps in the QTcP algorithm (QTcPA), using both, quantitative [surveys of health practitioners to assess the content validity index (CVI)], and qualitative (thematic analysis of feedback provided by mental health practitioners on the QTcPA). CVI for the steps and decision processes in the QTcPA were calculated from responses to the surveys.

Results: Cardiology experts and mental health practitioners found the QTcPA to be appropriate, safe, and evidence based as indicated by the CVI scores and reliability ratings of the references used in its development. Individual item-CVI analysis indicated high validity of the QTcPA as it scored 0.89 to 1 for all of the steps/decision statements in the three aspects assessed: appropriateness, safety, and reliability of the references used. The analysis of participant feedback on the QTcI Prolongation Algorithm revealed the emergence of five themes. Among these themes, three were identified as strengths, including practical usability, reliable references, and the benefits for pharmacists. Two themes were recognized as limitations, namely the need for additional clinical content and perceived barriers. Overall, the themes provide positive feedback on the algorithm's use, highlighting the potential for modifications to enhance its effectiveness.

Conclusion: These results suggest that the QTcPA may be a useful tool for clinicians to use at the time of prescribing drugs with a risk of QTcP. Future research will explore the implementation of the QTcPA into clinical practice using computerized decision support tools through web-based and mobile applications. "

"Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment and management (RAM) services face many challenges and barriers in the community. Mobile technology offers the opportunity to empower patients and improve access to health prevention strategies to overcome these barriers. However, there is limited information on the availability and use of CVDRAM-related mobile technology in the Arabic language.

Objectives: To pilot test an Arabic version of a CVDRAM application among potential end-users accessing community pharmacy services in Qatar.

Methodology: Translation of an established cardiovascular risk calculator (EPI·RxISK™) into the Arabic language was conducted. The English/Arabic version of the calculator was tested by potential end-users, consisting of a sample of community pharmacists (CRxs) and members of the public (MOP) accessing community pharmacy services. Semi-structured interviews were conducted based on the quality attributes of the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS). Data were analyzed using deductive content analysis.

Results: A total of 10 CRxs and 5 MOP were interviewed. Five themes emerged to describe the EPI·RxISK™ calculator: Engagement, Functionality, Attractiveness, Education, and Responsiveness. For the most part, positive subthemes were associated with each of these themes. The functionality and educational themes had some negative subthemes.

Conclusion: End-users of the EPI·RxISK™ calculator had mostly positive descriptors that were aligned with all five quality attributes of the web and mobile applications."

In this research three stainless steel alloys commonly used in the oil and gas industry in Qatar will be investigated. The purpose is to perform a comparative study about the corrosivity of the three alloys in sea water. The alloys are 304, 316, and duplex stainless steel. These alloys are very popular in applications that require good corrosion resistance. However, obtaining practical date related to their corrosion resistance in Qatar where the environmental conditions have a great effect on any material properties is very essential for good material selection process.

"Health information exchange is a national objective that allows sharing of all clinical and administrative data throughout healthcare settings in Qatar (1,2). To achieve the strategic priorities for improved healthcare outcomes in Qatar as set by the Qatar National Vision 2030, the National Development Strategy, the National Health Strategy, and the National eHealth and Data Management Strategy, the Ministry of Public Health is underway to develop and launch the central platform otherwise referred to as the Qatar Health Information Exchange Hub (QHIE-HUB). The QHIE-HUB has commenced in implementing a core central platform for storage of data, national e-Prescription, registries and management solutions, personal health record solution and data Warehouse that provides population health, reporting, and analytics capabilities (3). The Core central platform (Hub) will act as the backbone storing of all health relevant data including government, semi-government, and private entities . The Health Information Exchange will allow access to data across all Healthcare Providers within the country. The other solutions involve the e-prescriptions/pharmacy data and registries of disease management. Patient data will be also managed through the “Patient Longitudinal Record” portal. The QHIE-HUB program and all associated components are hosted on Azure Qatar cloud and shall be integrated to all Healthcare Providers within the country. The program will also be a stepping stone for the Qatar Health Insurance Scheme to support Health Insurance related services. The QHIE-HUB program has been conducting meetings with stakeholders for program implementation since 2022 and the launch of technology uptake is scheduled to happen by August 2023.

The scientific objectives of this project are to understand the impact of QHIE-HUB on patient care, quality improvement, financial costs, resource utilization and patient outcomes. The research team will evaluate the adoption and participation rates of entities in the program and examine the benefits and challenges of the implementation of the QHIE-HUB program compared to other countries (5). The research project will utilize a variety of methodologies to achieve these objectives. These include surveys, semi-structure interviews and data analytics.

The expected outcomes of the project are to generate insights and recommendations for stakeholders involved in the implementation of QHIE-HUB in Qatar. We will be able to 1) understand the benefits and challenges in implementing the QHIE-HUB program in Qatar compared to other countries; 2) examine the adoption and participation rates of entities in the QHIE-HUB program; 3) evaluate the impact of this program on financial costs, quality of care, resource utilization and patient outcomes in Qatar.

The expected impact of this project is to ensure and evaluate that Qatar’s population health needs are met through the adoption and implementation of a health information exchange program. "

"MPE is an emerging transdisciplinary field that incorporates molecular biomarkers into traditional epidemiologic studies to identify risk factors and explain exposure - disease associations.1 With the advancement of biomedical sciences and the development of Machine Learning (ML) analytical approaches, MPE studies are now feasible and will greatly enhance population-based epidemiologic studies. To our knowledge, no MPE study has been performed in the context of the UTI and RTI risks in DM. With its large population-based longitudinal cohort and the wealth of its lifestyle, clinical and metabolomic data, the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) offers this opportunity at a very low cost.13 Challenges of MPE are paucity of interdisciplinary experts and training programs and paucity of population-based cohorts that include molecular data in Qatar.14 Individuals with diabetes with respiratory tract infections and urinary tract infections were found to be associated with higher utilisation of healthcare services in Qatar.15
We will conduct a hypothesis generating MPE study to identify biomarkers that contribute to the understanding of the association between diabetes mellitus (DM) and infections using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).13 We will focus on the urinary tract (UTI) and respiratory tract infections (RTI, pneumonia and flu). In particular, we will leverage the CLSA metabolomic, lifestyle and clinical data to examine the role of biomarkers in quantifying the risk of RTI in those with versus (vs) without DM who received (or not) flu and streptococcal pneumonia vaccination. We will determine the role of biomarkers in explaining the higher risk of UTI in DM and examine the effect of the newer antidiabetic agents (inhibitors of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2, SGLT2, dipeptidyl peptidase 4, DPP4 and glucagon-like peptide 1, GLP1) 16 as well as that of the more traditional ones (metformin and sulfonylureas). Our study aligns with the Qatar National Vision 2030. It will be the first to consider metabolomic and epidemiological data to comprehensively assess the association between DM and UTI and RTI. "