Search

This study investigated the impact of openings on the punching shear strength of 'non-coarse aggregate acrylic polymer concrete' (APC) slabs. Twelve specimens representing scaled models of a flat, with different parameters such as concrete type, opening size, and distance from the column edge. The specimens were divided into five groups, including a control group of normal strength concrete and APC specimen without openings, as well as APC specimens with various opening sizes and distances, along with APC enhancement specimens. Experimental results were validated using Abaqus finite element software, demonstrating good agreement between the experimental and simulated outcomes. The analysis encompassed several aspects, including load-deflection response, ultimate loading capacity, post-ultimate loading capacity, failure patterns, and strain distribution. The absence of coarse aggregate in APC significantly impacted its shear resistance, leading to a reduction in internal friction. Compared to ordinary concrete slabs, the ultimate capacity of APC slabs without openings was approximately 36% lower. The presence of two openings adjacent to the column further decreased the ultimate capacity by approximately 33%. The size and distance of the openings played a crucial role in determining the ultimate capacity of APC slabs. Notably, the APC specimens exceeded the design ultimate load calculated by Egyptian Code of Practice (ECP-203-2020) and ACI-318-19 codes by approximately 1.4 and 1.6, respectively. However, the study advises against relying solely on APC in shear-sensitive constructions without integrating additional enhancements for shear resistance, as the results indicate a significant reduction in the shear resistance compared to ordinary concrete slabs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative pressure therapy plays an important role in the healing process of different types of wounds. Aim of the study: this study aimed to compare between modified and traditional method of vacuum wound closure for chronic wounds. Thirty participants with chronic ulcers completed the study, their ages ranged from 47 to 65 years, from Benha city, divided randomly into two groups, it was carried out from December 2017 to March 2019. The first group treated by the traditional method of vacuum assisted wound closure for 8 weeks; dressing was changed 3 times weekly, at 125 mmHg. The mode of 2 min off and 5 min on was used. The second group treated by the modified method by switching off the device at the fifth week and applying traditional dressing for one week then ended by three weeks of vacuum wound closure. Assessment was performed before and after the study. Student t -test was used for analysis. Paired t -test showed a significant improvement in wound surface area as well as volume for pre and post treatment in each group (p < 0.05). On the other hand independent t-test revealed a non-significant difference between the two groups pre as well as post treatment (p > 0.05). There is no significant difference between the two programs on healing of chronic ulcers. NCT03701152 - at Clinicaltrials.gov. • The aim is to clarify the significance of our modified method. • Modified method meets social and emotional needs. • There is no significant difference in healing between the two methods. • We recommend applying the modified method of negative pressure therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to conduct a matched-pair analysis to determine the effect of prior lumbar spine surgery (LSS) on clinical outcomes of hip arthroscopy.Methods: Data were prospectively collected on all patients undergoing hip arthroscopy during the study period from April 2008 to December 2012. Patients were excluded if they had previous hip conditions or had undergone prior hip surgery. Patients in the LSS group (history of LSS) were matched in a 1:1 ratio to a control group (no history of LSS) according to age ±5 years, gender, body mass index categories, Tönnis grade, and labral treatment. The following outcomes were recorded in each group: modified Harris Hip Score, Non-Arthritic Hip Score (NAHS), Hip Outcome Score-Sports Specific Subscale, Hip Outcome Score-Activities of Daily Living, and visual analogue scale (VAS) score for pain, patient satisfaction, and rates for revision hip arthroscopies and conversion to total hip arthroplasty (THA).Results: During the study period, 1,405 hip arthroscopies were performed with 1,017 eligible for matching. A total of 873 (85.8%) patients had a minimum 2-year follow-up. Fifty-seven patients were matched in each group. Both groups demonstrated significant improvement in patient-reported outcome (PRO) and VAS scores. The LSS group had a lower mean for all preoperative PRO scores. There was no significant difference for the postoperative mean PRO score and change in the PRO score compared with the control group except for NAHS. The mean change in the NAHS demonstrated a greater magnitude of improvement in the LSS group. There was no significant difference between mean VAS scores, patient satisfaction, and rates for revision arthroscopy and conversion to THA between the groups.Conclusions: Prior LSS does not adversely affect outcomes of hip arthroscopy at a minimum 2-year follow-up. These patients have lower preoperative scores but similar magnitude of improvement and revision/THA rates compared with a matched comparative group of patients without prior LSS.Level Of Evidence: Level II, retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Serum PCT, CRP, and leukocyte count were significantly elevated in the acute bacterial meningitis group. • Procalcitonin rises earlier than CRP in acute bacterial meningitis making it more sensitive and specific than CRP. • Serum PCT can be used as an early diagnostic marker in cases of acute bacterial meningitis in children. Abstract Early diagnosis and initial therapy are important to reduce the complications of bacterial meningitis. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of serum procalcitonin in children with acute meningitis. We included 40 children (4 months–14 years) suspected to have acute meningitis in our study. Based on the clinical scenario, physical examination and complete analysis of cerebrospinal fluid, patients were assigned into two groups: bacterial meningitis group (24 patients) and aseptic meningitis group (16 patients). Twenty-five apparently healthy children of matched age and sex served as a control group. Procalcitonin, C-reactive protein, and leukocyte count were measured initially at the time of admission and again after 72 h. Initially, patients with bacterial meningitis showed statistically significant higher values of serum procalcitonin than both patients with aseptic meningitis and the control groups (p < 0.001). After 72 h of treatment, patients of bacterial meningitis group showed statistically significant lower values of serum procalcitonin than their initial values (P < 0.05). The cutoff point of procalcitonin needed for early diagnosis of bacterial meningitis was >10 ng/ml at the time of admission. However, values of procalcitonin >2 ng/ml had 100% sensitivity. Whereas, the specificity, negative predictive value and positive predictive value of procalcitonin were 63%, 100%, and 67% respectively. Serum Procalcitonin can be used as an early diagnostic marker of acute bacterial meningitis and its differentiation from aseptic meningitis. In acute bacterial meningitis, it can be used to follow the response to antibiotic therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fusarium graminearum is a major global pathogen of cereals and is considered the main causal agent of Fusarium head blight disease in wheat. Infection with F. graminearum causes a significant reduction in crop yield and quality; therefore, it is very important to improve wheat pathogen resistance. In the present study, the plasmid pAHCht-2 harboring the rice chitinase ( Cht-2 ) gene for pathogen resistance and the plasmid pAB6 containing the gus reporter and bar selectable marker genes were used for genetic transformation of immature embryo-derived calli of the Egyptian wheat cultivar Giza 164 using particle bombardment. The presence and integration of transgenes were assessed by PCR analysis using specific primers for the Cht-2 , bar and gus genes. The incorporation of the Cht-2 gene into the genome of the transformants was confirmed by dot-blot analyses. The transformation efficiency (number of transgenic plants/number of embryos) was 6.01%. Additionally, associated changes in defense mechanisms in the transgenic plants were investigated. The results showed variations in biochemical characteristics between transgenic and non-transgenic wheat lines (cv. Giza 164). The transgenic plants had significantly decreased total protein content, phenolic compounds and antioxidant enzyme activities (peroxidase and catalase), and significantly increased phenylalanine ammonia lyase and chitinase activities compared with non-transgenic plants under biotic stress conditions caused by F. graminearum infection. Our results show that activating a specific program of gene expression related to particular environmental stress conditions can reduce the cost of the stress on plant metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Denoising of surface and intramuscular EMG signals using time–frequency decomposition. • A novel Variational mode decomposition based denoising algorithm using SOFT iterative interval thresholding, effective equally for both surface and intramuscular EMG. • A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the proposed method. • To compare the proposed method with previously proposed methods based on Variational mode decomposition, Empirical mode decomposition and Wavelet denoising. • To explore the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed denoising method. Electromyographic signals contaminated with noise during the acquisition process affect the results of follow-up applications such as disease diagnosis, motion recognition, gesture recognition, and human–computer interaction. This paper proposes a denoising technique based on the variational mode decomposition (VMD) for both surface electromyography signals (sEMG) and intramuscular electromyography signals (iEMG). sEMG and iEMG obtained from 5 healthy subjects were first decomposed using VMD into respective variational mode functions (VMFs), then thresholds were set to remove the noise, and finally, the denoised signal was reconstructed. The denoising efficacy of interval thresholding (IT) and iterative interval thresholding (IIT) techniques in combination with SOFT, HARD, and smoothly clipped absolute deviation (SCAD) thresholding operators was quantitatively evaluated by using Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and further statistically validated by Friedman test. The results demonstrated that IIT provides better SNR values than IT at all noise levels (P-value < 0.05) for sEMG signals. For iEMG, IIT outperformed IT at 0db and 5db noise levels, but at a noise level of 10db and 15db, IT outperformed IIT. However, the results for the 10db noise level were statistically insignificant. The SOFT thresholding operator outperforms HARD and SCAD at all noise levels for sEMG, as well as iEMG (P-value < 0.05). The study demonstrates that the combination of the IIT thresholding technique with the VMD-based SOFT thresholding operator yields the best denoising results while retaining the original signal characteristics. The proposed method can be used in the fields of disease diagnosis, pattern recognition, and movement classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSN) has recently become an important field due to the importance of underwater exploration. The unique characteristics of underwater environment make the designing of routing protocol a challenging task. It is difficult to replace the batteries, therefore, it is very important to design a routing protocol that gives maximum network lifetime. Depth Based Routing (DBR) and Energy Efficient Depth Based Routing (EEDBR) are two such routing protocols which give very good performance in underwater environment. In DBR and EEDBR while forwarding the data all the neighboring nodes receive the data. In our work by limiting the number of forwarding nodes, we have extended the network lifetime and energy consumption of DBR and EEDBR. Extensive simulations have been conducted in which show considerable improvement in terms of network lifetime and energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Purpose: To investigate the correlation between the dose predicted by the treatment planning system using digitally reconstructed radiographs or three-dimensional (3D)–reconstructed CT images and the dose measured by semiconductor detectors, under clinical conditions of high-dose-rate brachytherapy of the cervix uteri. Patients and methods: Thirty-two intracavitary brachytherapy applications were performed for 12 patients with cancer of the cervix uteri. The prescribed dose to Point A was 7Gy. Dose was calculated for both International Commissioning on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) bladder and rectal points based on digitally reconstructed radiographs and for 3D CT images–based volumetric calculation of the bladder and rectum. In vivo diode dosimetry was performed for the bladder and rectum. Results: The ICRU reference point and the volumes of 1, 2, and 5cm3 received 3.6±0.9, 5.6±2.0, 5.1±1.7, 4.3±1.4 and 5.0±1.2, 5.3±1.3, 4.9±1.1, and 4.2±0.9Gy for the bladder and rectum, respectively. The ratio of the 1cm3 and the ICRU reference point dose to the diode dose was 1.8±0.7 and 1.2±0.5 for the bladder and 1.9±0.6 and 1.7±0.5 for the rectum, respectively. Conclusions: 3D image–based dose calculation is the most accurate and reliable method to evaluate the dose given to critical organs. In vivo diode dosimetry is an important method of quality assurance, but clinical decisions should be made based on 3D-reconstructed CT image calculations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The synthesis of novel tadalafil analogues in which the benzodioxole moiety is replaced by 2-bromophenyl; the chiral carbons swing from R,R to R,S, S,R and S,S; the piperazinedione ring is maintained or reduced to the 5-membered imidazolidinedione or thioxoimidazolinone is described. The prepared analogues were evaluated for their capacity to inhibit the cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) selective phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) isozyme and the growth of human HT-29 colon adenocarcinoma cells. The R absolute configuration of C-5 in the β-carboline-hydantoin and C-6 in the β-carboline-piperazinedione derivatives was found to be essential for the PDE5 inhibition. In addition, tadalafil analogues that were synthesized from l-tryptophan were more active than those derived from d-tryptophan, which is of economic value and expands the horizon for the discovery of new carbolines as PDE5 inhibitors. While some analogues displayed potent tumor cell growth inhibitory activity, there was no apparent correlation with their PDE5 inhibitory activity, which leads us to conclude that other PDE isozymes or PDE5 splice variants may be involved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A new method has been approached to reduce the dislocation density in hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE)-grown GaN epi-layers. By this method, state of the art quality, GaN layers were grown on sapphire substrates with an in situ treatment of SiN x in HVPE process. It was found out that the in situ treatment worked most effectively when introduced after the deposition of the nucleation layer (NL). Amorphous SiN x served as a mask allowing only selective growth of GaN seeds as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis and thus a reduction of the dislocation density (down to 106 cm−2) with one order of magnitude lower compared to the standard samples (grown without the SiN x treatment) was obtained. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies revealed that dislocations with a mixed (both screw and edge component) character mostly thread into the GaN layer. Low-temperature photoluminescence showed good optical quality of the layers grown with optimal position of SiN x treatment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Two series with the general formula of 4,6-diaryl-2-oxo-1,2 dihydropyridine-3-carbonitriles and their isosteric 4,6-diaryl-2-imino-1,2-dihydropyridine-3-carbonitrile were synthesized through one pot reaction of the appropriate acetophenone, aldehyde, ammonium acetate with ethyl cyanoacetate or malononitrile, respectively. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for their tumor cell growth inhibitory activity against the human HT-29 colon tumor cell line, as well as their PDE3 inhibitory activity. Compound 4-(2-Ethoxyphenyl)-2-oxo-6-thiophen-3-yl-1,2-dihydropyridine-3 carbonitrile (21) showed tumor cell growth inhibitory activity with an IC50 value of 1.25 μM. Meanwhile, 4-(4-Ethoxyphenyl)-2-imino-6-(thiophen-3-yl)-1,2-dihydropyridine-3-carbonitrile (26) showed inhibitory effect upon PDE3 using cAMP or cGMP as substrate. No correlation exists between PDE3 inhibition and the tumor cell growth inhibitory activity. Docking compound 21 to other possible molecular targets showed the potential to bind PIM1 Kinase. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Two series of 4,6-diaryl-2-imino-1,2-dihydropyridine-3-carbonitriles and their isosteric 4,6-diaryl-2-oxo-1,2-dihydropyridine-3-carbonitriles were synthesized through a combinatorial approach. The prepared analogues were evaluated for their in vitro capacity to inhibit PDE3A and the growth of the human HT-29 colon adenocarcinoma tumor cell line. Compound 6-(4-bromophenyl)-4-(2-ethoxyphenyl)-2-imino-1,2-dihydropyridine-3-carbonitrile (Id) exhibited the strongest PDE3 inhibition when cGMP but not cAMP is the substrate with a IC50of 27μM, which indicates a highly selective mechanism of enzyme inhibition. On the other hand, compound 6-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-4-(2-ethoxyphenyl)-2-imino-1,2-dihydropyridine-3-carbonitrile (Ii) was the most active in inhibiting colon tumor cell growth with a IC50 of 3μM. The electronic effects, steric effects and conformational aspects of Id seem to be the most crucial for the PDE3 inhibition. Meanwhile, steric factors and the H-bonding capability seem to be the most important factors for tumor cell growth inhibitory activity. Conversely, there is no direct correlation between PDE3 inhibition and anticancer activity for the prepared compounds. An in silico docking experiment indicates the potential involvement of other potential molecular targets such as PIM-1 kinase to explain its tumor cell growth inhibitory activity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Several analogues of the 3-substituted-2-oxoindole chemotype were synthesized by condensing isatin or the appropriate haloisatin with some amino acids or histamine under neutral conditions. All the imino derivatives produced were tested for kinase inhibitory properties against three serine/threonine kinases, namely CDK1/cyclin B, CDK5/p25 and GSK3α/β. Most of the histidine derivatives showed inhibitory properties to the three kinases in the low micromolar range. The histamine derivatives were less potent against CDK1/cyclin B and CDK5/p25 and totally inactive against GSK3α/β. So, the management of the carboxyl function may be a tool to impart selectivity in such family of kinases. Docking of 2-{[-5-bromo-2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene]amino}-3-(1H-imidazol2-yl)propanoic acid 14 to CDK5/p25 indicates that this compound can interact with the enzyme through four hydrogen bonds; for GSK/3β, the ligand poses itself in another orientation, also four hydrogen bonds can be formed between the ligand and the receptor, otherwise hydrophobic interactions seem to predominate. Also, all the final compounds were tested for their in vitro antitumor properties against MCF7 (breast), NCI-H460 (lung) and SF268 (CNS) cancer cell lines. None of the synthesized compounds was cytotoxic at 10–4 molar concentration. Moreover, compounds 13 and 14 were tested for potential antiangiogenic properties by testing their ability to inhibit the proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), cord formation and migration in response to chemoattractant. Only compound 14 showed moderate inhibitory properties to HUVECs proliferation and cord formation while its non-brominated derivative 13 did not. Thus, the antiangiogenesis properties are not apparently caused by inhibition of any of the tested kinases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Six derivatives of the general formula 2- or 4-(7-trifluoromethylquinolin-4-ylamino) benzoic acid N′-(nitrooxyacetyl or propionyl) hydrazide and an oxime of the formula 1-[4-(7-trifluoromethylquinolin-4-ylamino)phenyl]ethanone oxime were synthesized and tested for their in vivo anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and ulcerogenic properties, as well as their in vitro nitric oxide release ability. Compound 2-(7-trifluoromethylquinolin-4-ylamino)benzoic acid N′-(2-nitrooxy propionyl)hydrazide 12 showed an anti-inflammatory activity comparable to that of indomethacin in the carrageenan-induced rat paw edema test, and equipotency to glafenine in the acetic acid mice induced writhing model at 100mg/kg p.o., respectively. All the final compounds showed no tendency to induce stomach ulceration in rats; nitric oxide seems to contribute to their excellent safety profile. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Total elbow allograft transplantation is an option for patients who have extensive joint defects secondary to tumor surgery, trauma, or failed total elbow arthroplasty. This salvage procedure provides patients with a useful, painless range of motion of the elbow. We report our experience with two complete elbow allograft reconstructions after tumor resection surgery with 5 and 6 years of follow-up. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]