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ABSTRACT Members of the order Trypanorhyncha are cestode parasites that are frequently found infecting the muscles of several marine fish species, affecting fish health, and resulting in consumers’ rejection of fish. Fifty-two specimens of marine fish were freshly caught throughout the year 2020 from boat landing sites at the Alexandria coast along the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt, including the grey trigger fish Balistes carolinensis (F: Balistidae); the mottled grouper Mycteroperca rubra (F: Serranidae) and the common sole Solea vulgaris (F: Soleidae). Blastocysts were isolated and ruptured; the generated pleurocerci were described morphologically and morphometrically by light and scanning electron microscopy. Also, multiple-sequence alignment was performed, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed following maximum likelihood analysis of the 18s and 28s ribosomal RNA sequences of the recovered worms. Thirty fish were infected; the infection was recorded as blastocysts embedded in fish flesh. Three different parasitic species were recovered and classified morphologically as Gymnorhynchus isuri, Pseudotobothrium dipsacum and Heteronybelinia estigmena. The taxonomic position of these parasites was justified by molecular analysis of their 18s and 28s rRNAs, which revealed high percentages of homology with species recovered from the GenBank. The accession numbers ON157059, ON139663 and ON139662 were respectively assigned to the recovered parasites after their deposition in GenBank. The results obtained from the molecular analyses confirmed the morphological records of the recovered parasites. Since metacestodes are found in the musculature of infected fish specimens, it is necessary to remove these areas in the commercialization of fish.

Introduction:: The consequences of neurogenic bowel dysfunction in patients with neurogenic lower urinary tract disease requiring urinary tract reconstruction with bowel harvest remains unclear. A working group was formed by the International Continence Society (ICS) to generate a consensus statement highlighting the key issues to be addressed and optimised peri-operatively. Methods:: Nominal group technique was used to derive consensus. Principal aspects of assessment and surgery decision-making were agreed and a series of statements was generated by a core focus group of experts, which were subsequently modified and ratified by the wider working group. This was followed by final voting by the full working group. Results:: General considerations included the importance of understanding the neurological condition in terms of degree of disability, prognosis and risk of progression, an assessment of cognition and dexterity and an inter-disciplinary assessment to ensure suitability and feasibility of surgery. Peri-operative recommendations included using an enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol when appropriate and taking additional precautions if there is a risk of autonomic dysreflexia or the presence of implants such as ventriculo-peritoneal shunts, baclofen pumps, sacral or spinal cord stimulators. Extra consideration must be taken post-operatively to minimise the risk of venous thrombo-embolism formation, formation/exacerbation of pressure sores and long-term bowel disturbance. Conclusion:: The consensus opinion indicates that urinary tract reconstruction using bowel segments is feasible in carefully selected and optimised patients with neurogenic bowel dysfunction, provided the potential implications for serious adverse events are carefully considered and there is access to appropriate inter-disciplinary expertise.

Representing more than half of the Egyptian cities’ land use, housing is a major contributor to energy consumption and carbon emissions. What can be called; the 5th generation of Egyptian sustainable urban settlements is evaluated in this research. The potential of new housing typology arranged around courtyards with earth construction envelope to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon footprints. For a south-east oriented apartments, the energy performance simulation of conventional detached and clustered attached housing with different envelope materials are compared. Results show that the clustered housing paradigm, accompanied with the Compressed Earth Blocks (CEB) envelope, reduced cooling loads during summer by 15.6%, annual energy consumption by 8.5% and 11.6% of carbon emissions compared to the conventional case of detached housing and Solid Cement Blocks (SCB) envelope. The study demonstrates the significance of employing such passive design strategies on improving sustainability measures, along with spotting a light on the character of such urban housing typology as another coin side.

As prognostic methods for buildings’ performance in present and future, energy simulations mainly rely, among other inputs, on weather datasets including Typical Meteorological Years (TMY), where the selected measurement period of the weather station is a crucial parameter. To quantify the predicted energy consumption’s discrepancies that may occur while using a recently generated TMY (2018-TMYx) instead of the commonly used Egyptian TMY (ETMY) that were created in 2003, both weather datasets, in addition to their future climate change projections in 2050 and 2080, were applied into Design Builder’s energy performance simulations for two residential buildings in different regions of Cairo and Aswan, Egypt. Results show that using weather datasets from different periods caused a maximum difference in annual energy consumption per flat by 933 kWh in present and 1508 kWh in 2080. The study proves the obsolescence of the commonly used ETMY due to the significant differences in energy simulation readings compared to the 2018 datasets.

Energy consumption of the buildings sector has increased dramatically over the past decade. In Egypt, existing buildings consume 60% of electrical energy. Improving existing buildings through energy retrofitting and using different techniques of integrated PV may serve as a step towards improving the energy performance in buildings in Egypt and achieving nZEB levels. This research aims to explore the potential of achieving nZEB levels through retrofitting office buildings’ typical prototypes in Cairo, Egypt, with basic designs, layouts, and orientations. In this study, 12 hypothetical office buildings (linear, square (courtyard), and L-shaped) with both open and closed plans N-S and E-W oriented were simulated using DesignBuilder. The proposed retrofitting strategy succeeded in decreasing annual energy consumption by 46%–65% for all retrofitted cases. Four retrofitted cases met the nZEB target, these are the closed squared office building oriented E-W, closed squared office building oriented N-S, the closed linear office building oriented E-W, and open-plan linear office building oriented E-W. This study may be considered prototypical to encourage policymakers to urgently enforce existing energy conservation codes and set retrofitting measures, to start a national retrofit process of existing office buildings in Egypt.

The trend of urban and suburban developments is concluding that more than 70% of the world population will be living in urban areas by mid-21st century within dis-comfortable built environment. In Egypt, a concern about climate change resilient communities is having more listeners after Paris climate agreement in 2015. Therefore, assessing present and future outdoor microclimatic effects on the indoor environmental quality and energy consumption in turn is crucial to build the capacities for mitigation and adaptation strategies. In this research work, the coupled outdoor–indoor simulation methodology is applied using ENVI-met and DesignBuilder to let buildings respond to the street canyon conditions since indoor simulation packages does not consider urban details. Such mutual relation is explored in a site case in Borg El-Arab, Alexandria, Egypt, in which urban canopy green coverage (trees, green walls and roofs) have been applied. Comparing results of indoor thermal comfort for the examined site buildings in present until end of century (2020, 2050 and 2080) with and without the urban canopy green coverage; show that indicators and adaptation strategies can be developed for climate change scenarios. Keywords: Coupled simulations, Environmental performance, Canopy green coverage, Climate change

Buildings design at the time of climate change must enhance their energy performance and in turn to minimize the undesired impacts on our environment. In this work, a comparative simulation analysis has been conducted to an administration building in Cairo, Egypt, to assess its performance after the application of passive design features in comparison to its conventional construction. The proposed passive design features include courtyards, double walled envelope, shading devices, and cross ventilation whereas the base case include none. To do so, Design Builder simulations were made using the generated weather data for the site using Meteonorm. Results show the superiority of applying the passive design, which lead to 11 % reduction in the annual energy consumption. Keywords: Energy simulations, Environmental performance, Green buildings, Climate change, Passive design

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of ensiling and /or exogenous fibrolytic enzyme supplementation date press cake using in vitro batch culture technique . Untreated date press cake (DPC) and ensiled DPC with exogenous fibrolytic enzymes (ZAD1 and ZAD2) and with or without adding urea compared to corn grains were in vitro evaluated using batch culture technique. DM, NDF and ADF degradation and total gas production as well as fermentation parameters of the incubated samples were determined after 24 h of fermentation. Total VFAs, proportions are not affected (P > 0.05) by any of the treatments. However, value of ammonia concentration was higher (P < 0.05) with ZAD2+U group and urea group than date press cake (DPC). The pH value was highest (P>0.05) with the ensiling treatments. There were no significant differences in the values of DMD and OMD between the different treatments. But, the values of NDFD and ADFD were increased (P0.05) between the corn grain and the DPC without any treatments. While, values of metabolizable protein (MP) and efficiency of microbial biomass production (EMP) were increased (p

In the current study, voriconazole (VCZ) augmented glycerosomes were optimized for topical otomycosis management according to a 23 factorial design, employing a thin film hydration method. By optimizing Glycerol volume, limonene: VCZ ratio and Span® 60: soybean phosphatidyl choline (PC) ratio, glycerosomes with maximum percentage entrapment efficiency (%EE) and zeta potential (ZP) and minimum vesicle size (VS) and polydispersity index (PDI) were to be obtained. An optimal augmented glycerosomal formula (OAG) that contained 10 mg VCZ, 150 mg PC, and 3 mL glycerol, comprising 2.5: and 0.92:1 ratios of the latter two independent variables, was proposed via numerical optimization. OAG exhibited high %EE and ZP values and acceptable low values for VS and PDI (84.3 ± 2.0 %, −38.8 ± 1.8 mV, 191.0 ± 1.1 nm, and 0.192 ± 0.01, respectively). Extensive in vitro testing of OAG revealed the entrapment of VCZ within OAG, biphasic in vitro release profile, stability for up to 3 months at 2–8 °C and spherical morphology of OAG with VS like that obtained via zetasizer. OAG demonstrated higher permeated amounts of VCZ and flux values than VCZ suspension, leading to an enhancement ratio of 2.56 in the ex vivo permeation study. The deeper penetration ability of OAG demonstrated by Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy and its superior in vitro antifungal activity confirmed the validity of the ex vivo study. Also, the histopathological study confirmed the safety of OAG for topical use, suggesting that VCZ OAG was a promising topical antimycotic formula.

Abstract Background Gastric carcinoma (GC) is a fatal disease. Detection of new biomarkers that can be utilized in the early diagnosis of GC is a pressing need. This present study assessed centrosomal protein-55 (CEP55)’ serpin family E member 1 (SERPINE1) and sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 3 (SMPD3) genes and proteins in gastric adenocarcinoma with different tumor progression features. Thirty surgically resected gastric tissue samples from thirty patients suffered from gastric cancers were obtained. The gastric tissue samples were divided into tumorous (with different stages and grades) and adjacent non-tumorous samples. CEP55, SERPINE1 and SMPD3 genes were assessed by quantitative qRT-PCR, and their proteins were assessed by ELISA in the gastric tissue samples. Results As regards SERPINE1, CEP55 genes and proteins, results revealed significant elevations in the GC samples (p

Abstract Background Hemoglobinopathies represent a set of inherited red blood cell (RBCs) disorders, characterized by abnormal hemoglobin molecule. They include qualitative and quantitative hemoglobinopathies, with a structurally abnormal globin chain in the first and defective production in the later. This study assessed, for the first time, the significance of the mathematically calculated RBC indices to identify patients with hemoglobinopathies from normal subjects or iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and to differentiate various types of hemoglobinopathies from each other. Subjects and methods The study was a comparative hospital based and included 167 participants with hemoglobinopathies (group 1) and 49 participants with IDA (group 2) as an active comparator. Another 50 healthy volunteers (group 3) were also included. All participants were subjected to medical history, clinical examination, CBC, and HPLC. Next, 10 RBC indices were mathematically calculated from the CBC for each participant. Results Gender analysis shows that females represent 36.8% in thalassemia group, 42% in sickle cell disease (SCD) group, and 71.4% in IDA group. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve shows that Ehsani index (EI) is the most reliable screening tool for thalassemics because of showing the highest Youden index and specificity of 41.88% and 88.89%, respectively, followed by Shine and Lal index (SL), with Youden index (YI) value, specificity, and sensitivity equal to 39.78%, 69.70%, and 70.09%, respectively. Similar results were found for IDA. For SCD, SL index is the most suitable screening tool. In conclusion, the mathematically calculated RBC indices are available, cheap, reliable, and sensitive tools for screening patients with hemoglobinopathies.

This descriptive review focuses on the evolution of polyetheretherketone [PEEK] for the reconstruction of cranio-maxillofacial defects. This treatment modalityis now trending and growing throughout the different aspects of the oral and maxillofacial specialty to include customized patient specific implants for reconstructive surgeries, and a material that is used in dental implants.The PEEK implants are created using computer tomography [CT]to reconstruct the defect either in the midface or cranial defects and match with the opposite side, all implants were secured using screws. Cases were followed up for 12 months, and there were no postoperative problems. This came to an end that PEEK is consideredas a safe and good implanted bone substitute for the fixation of complex defects of the cranio-maxillofacial.

Highlights Traditional and molecular techniques were used to screen domestic dogs and attached ticks for TBPs. A wide range of TBPs in dogs and attached ticks was detected in Egypt. Some accidental pathogens, such as A. marginale from other hosts, were identified in dogs. Some canine isolates from Anaplasmataceae family have high homology to those isolated from humans.

Up to the present date, according to the official reports of the World Health Organization (WHO), 205,338,159 patients have been confirmed with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and 4,333,094 have died as a consequence of this infectious disorder. The majority of COVID-19 patients will develop hematological, biochemical, immunological, hormonal and other complex alterations of their laboratory data which may be diagnosed using different biomarkers. In this paper, we review the alterations of the hematology, immunology, biochemistry, hormonal and other laboratory panels discovered in the subjects diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection, based on the available data in the literature.

Skin ulceration disease is widespread among aquacultured holothuroids. Herein, we report on the skin ulceration disease of juvenile Holothuria atra reared in the Aquaculture Laboratory of the National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries in Hurghada, Red Sea, Egypt. The disease caused the death of the animals within 3 days, and the signs included depigmentation of the epidermis, visceral ejection, and autolysis of the body. The dominant bacterial isolate obtained from the individuals with lesions on the skin was labelled as HAT3, and was selected for characterization and disease induction assay. Based on the morphological and biochemical characteristics, and 16s rDNA gene sequence analysis, the isolate HAT3 was identified as a strain of Vibrio alginolyticus and designated as V. alginolyticus strain HAT3. The 16s rDNA gene sequence was deposited in the GenBank under the accession number MW546612. The experimental infection of healthy H. atra with V. alginolyticus strain HAT3 induced the disease with the same signs as the naturally infected H. atra. Our results revealed that V. alginolyticus strain HAT3 was the causative pathogen of skin ulceration disease in reared H. atra.

Background There are many surgical approaches which described extent of resection of the colon for adequate surgical management of splenic flexure cancer, but up till now there is no established surgical procedure, this is because the presence of double lymphatic drainage of the mesenteric vessels. Segmental resection of the colon for the management of splenic flexure cancer was a recently accepted surgical procedure. Objective In the present study, we aimed to compare three surgical management techniques to clarify the best management approach of Egyptian patients with splenic flexure cancer regarding operative, clinical, and oncological outcomes: segmental resection, and extended left or right hemicolectomy,. Materials and Methods In the present study, we included 90 patients with splenic flexure cancer. Cases were divided into 3 groups. Each group included 30 patients in order to compare three surgical techniques: segmental resection, extended left hemicolectomy, and extended right hemicolectomy. Results We have found no statistically significant differences between the three included groups regarding operative findings, postoperative complications, local recurrence, distant recurrence, disease progression, recurrence-free survival rate, progression-free survival rate, and overall survival rate. The operative time was longer, and the number of lymph nodes was higher in the extended right hemicolectomy group (p

Egypt has extensive expertise and experience in future centres through cooperation between independent research institutes and its external partners. The important step forward will be the combination of this experience and the competence of Egyptian institutions to eventually develop a bottom-up regional community of connected educators, scientists, students, practitioners, policymakers and local communities for future foresight. This paper examines the current state of foresight of future and practices among Egyptian universities' faculty members and students, proposing to increase public awareness and comprehension of foresight of future promotion performance in Egypt. A questionnaire designed based on an intensive online project-based bootcamp was done by entrepreneurship club at Cairo University to increase the participants' awareness of the foresight. The questionnaire was distributed to 173 students and participants who attended the camp from 10 faculties of Cairo University and other Egyptian universities. The findings revealed that students were unaware of the Framework Foresight (FF) program and had poor knowledge. Students' awareness of the FF program correlated positively with educational level, age, gender, and specialization. This work provides an approach to understanding the quality of foresight knowledge used or generated throughout the foresight exercises and their significance in sustainable development challenges.

Abstract Background Plantar fasciitis due to calcaneal spur is a common cause of heel pain and functional disability, and its management presents a huge challenge for clinicians which results sometimes in unpleasant clinical outcomes. The efficacy of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) as an alternative therapeutic option to surgical management after failure of conservative treatment has been addressed. Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of ESWT in the treatment of plantar fasciitis in calcaneal spur patients using ultrasonography. Results The mean plantar fascia (PF) thickness was statistically significantly higher in the calcaneal spur patient group (5.66 ± 1.14 mm) than in the healthy control group (2.40 ± 0.35 mm), (P = 0.001). Significant PF thickness reduction, visual analog scale (VAS), and Roles and Maudsley score (RMS) improvement were observed (P < 0.001) after 4 sessions of ESWT. Conclusion PF thickness increases significantly in calcaneal spur patients and responds to treatment. ESWT decreases the thickness of the PF and improves pain and function significantly.

Background: Impaired cerebral waste clearance (CWC) has been associated with a broad range of both physiological and pathophysiological neurologic conditions.1,2 Because of the unique anatomy of the brain parenchyma, theoretically, in the brain parenchyma, biochemically inert waste such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents can only be removed through two possible pathways: cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pathway, and/or vascular pathway. Despite the controversy, there seems to be a solid consensus on the participation of the CSF pathway in CWC.3 In contrast to the CSF system, the current consensus is that the parenchymal vascular system does not participate in CWC. Considering there is a big difference in flow rate between the blood (2 mL/min) and the CSF (3.7 µL/min) and the brain is the most bioactive, energy-consuming organ (20% nutrition for about 5% of body weight) in the body, it is illogical that the brain would rely on the slow CSF circulation for CWC while less bioactive tissues outside the brain require both the fast vascular and slow lymphatic systems to remove waste in a timely manner.4,5 Methods: Superparamagnetic iron oxide–enhanced susceptibility-weighted imaging (SPIO-SWI) and quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) methods were used to simultaneously study 7 T MRI signal changes in parenchymal veins, arteries, and their corresponding para-vascular spaces in 26 rats, following intra-cisterna magna (ICM) infusion of different CSF tracers (FeREX, ferumoxytol, Fe-Dextran) to determine the amount of tracer in the artery and vein quantitatively. Results: The parenchymal venous system participated in CSF tracer clearance following ICM infusion of different MRI tracers with different concentrations of iron. Parenchymal venous participation was more obvious when 75 μg iron was injected. In the parenchymal veins, the relative mean (±SE) value of the susceptibility increased by 13.5±1.0% at 15 min post-tracer infusion (p

Automatic segmentation of brain tumor from Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) is one of the challenging tasks in computer vision. Many proposals investigate the use of Deep Neural Networks (DNN) in image segmentation as they have a high performance in automatic segmentation of brain tumors images. Due to the gradient diffusion problem and complexity, it generally takes a lot of time and extra computational power for training deeper neural networks. In this paper, we present an automatic technique for brain tumor segmentation depending on Deep Residual Learning Network (ResNet) to get over the gradient problem of DNN. ResNets accomplish more accuracy and can make the training process faster compared to their equivalent DNN. To achieve this enhancement, ResNets add a shortcut skip connection parallel to convolutional neural networks layers. Simulation examples have been carried out on dataset BRATS 2015 to verify the superiority of the proposed technique. Results verify that the proposed technique has an improved accuracy of 83%, 90%, and 85% for the complete, core, and enhancing regions, respectively. Moreover, it has an average computation time (3 times) faster than other DNN techniques.

Ten sediment samples were gathered from several geographical locations around mangrove habitat, Red Sea coast, Egypt, during summer 2019. Actinobacteria are widespread in most mangrove soil samples. The average actinomycetes counts in sediment samples were ranged from 4 to 15 CFUg-1, also physico-chemical characters for soil samples were determined. Statistical analysis was applied to assess if the geographical location and physico-chemical characters influenced the communities of actinomycetes. A total of 10 actinomycetes were isolated and characterized physiologically and biochemically. The antimicrobial activities of different actinomycetes isolates were assessed. Isolate M3 was chosen as the most promising isolate with broad antagonistic activity against Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Escherichia coli ATCC 19404, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027, and Candida albicans ATCC 10231 with inhibition zones ranged from 12.0 ± 0.9 to 20.0 ± 1.9 mm. Genotypic characterization of isolate M3 was made using 16S rDNA sequence analysis and identified as Streptomyces mutabilis M3 with accession number MT483919. This strain exhibited anticancer activity against breast cancer cell line (Mcf7), liver cancer cell line (HepG2) and colon cancer cell line (HCT116) and the IC50 values were 324.77, 333.71 and 354.46, respectively. Streptomyces mutabilis M3 MT483919 had high bio-flocculating activity for seawater treatment, and the recovery of the samples ranged between 71.97 and 76.05%. The crude extract of Streptomyces mutabilis MT483919 M3 was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FT-IR) and Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

Abstract Background Although some investigators have confirmed the association between H. pylori and chronic ITP in adults, studies in pediatric patients are still few and have produced conflicting results. The study was carried out to detect the prevalence of H. pylori among chronic ITP children and to investigate the impact of treatment of H. pylori infection on platelet count response. Results The prevalence of H. pylori in chronic ITP children was 63%. The platelet count was statistically significantly higher among H. pylori stool antigen (HpSA)-negative children. A significant difference was reported in which platelet count increased from 70.55 ± 4.788 million/μL before H. pylori eradication therapy to 110.78 ± 15.128 million/μL after therapy. Conclusion We concluded that H. pylori eradication therapy was effective in increasing platelet count in H. pylori-positive chronic ITP patients.

Objectives: Platelet refractoriness complicates the platelet transfusion, which is essential for managing thrombocytopenia in patients with hematological disorders. It is associated with adverse clinical outcomes and increased health care costs. We conducted a prospective study to determine the effectiveness of cross-matched compatible platelets in a group of patients refractory to platelets from random donors and to evaluate human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-mediated refractoriness. Methods: This prospective study was conducted on 40 patients with different hematological disorders requiring platelet transfusions who were refractory to random platelets and presented to the hematology unit of Alexandria's main university hospitals between May 2020 and March 2021. They received 60 ABO-compatible platelet transfusions, either leuco-reduced or random donor platelets, stored for no more than 72 hours. A solid-phase red cell adherence technique (SPRCA) was used for platelet crossmatching. The corrected count increment (CCI) was used to monitor the effectiveness of each platelet transfusion with a cut-off value of 5 × 103/µL at 1 hour and 2.5 × 103/µL at 24 hours. Anti-HLA antibodies were assessed using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. Results: Out of 60 cross matches, 47 (78.3%) were compatible, and 13 (21.7%) were incompatible. Among 47 compatible results, 30 (63.8%) showed adequate CCI and 17 (36.2%) showed inadequate CCI at 1-hour post-transfusion. Among the incompatible results, 3 (23.1%) had adequate CCI and 10 (76.9%) had inadequate CCI. Significant improvements were found in the mean CCI when comparing cross-matched compatible platelets and incompatible platelets at 1hour or 24 hours (p=0.009 and p < 0.001, respectively). From the 40 studied patients, HLA alloimmunization was present in 18 patients (45.0%) and absent in the remaining 22 patients (55.0%). In the absence of HLA alloimmunization, patients showed significantly better responses at 1 hour and 24 hours (p =0.001 and p =0.015, respectively). There was better sensitivity of platelet crossmatching with random donor platelet concentrates than single donor platelet concentrates. Conclusions: Platelet crossmatching using SPRCA and HLA screening are effective and rapid tools for better management of patients' refractory to platelet transfusions.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of oral supplementation of rumen-protected L-arginine on semen quality, testes, and accessory genital glands biometry in rams. Ten apparently healthy and fertile rams were randomly divided into two equal groups; control, and rumen-protected L-arginine (20 mg/Kg body weight for 30 days) treated group. In all rams, ultrasonographic measurements of the testes and the accessory genital glands and blood sampling were performed at day (D)10, D20, and D30 (D0 is the start of supplementation). Semen ejaculates were collected twice/week and semen quantity, and quality was examined. Our results showed that, in the L-arginine treated group, there were significant increase in the ultrasound biometric measurement of right seminal vesicle (RSV) and right Cowper's gland (RCG) at D10, both testes, tail of the epididymis (TE), SV, and CG of both sides at D20, and of both testes, RTE, RSV, RCG, and LSV at D30. Semen quality and quantity parameters were significantly improved in L-arginine treated group. Moreover, testosterone level in the L-arginine treated group was significantly higher than that in the Control group. Serum thyroxine and glutathione peroxidase concentrations were significantly higher in the L-arginine treated group. The present study concluded that oral supplementation with rumen-protected L-arginine is beneficial in improvement of rams' fertility.

Spironolactone (SP) is a potassium sparing diuretic with antiandrogenic properties. This study aimed at formulating SP into hyaluronic acid enriched cerosomes (HAECs) for topical management of hirsutism. HAECs were prepared by ethanol injection method, according to D-optimal design, after a proper in silico study. HAECs were evaluated by measuring their entrapment efficiency (EE%), particle size (PS), and polydispersity index (PDI). Optimal hyaluronic acid enriched cerosomes (OHAECs) were subjected to further in vitro and ex-vivo and in-vivo studies. The in silico study concluded better interactions between SP and phosphatidyl choline in presence of hyaluronic acid (HA) and high stability of their binding in water. The prepared HAECs had acceptable EE%, PS, and PDI values. The statistical optimization process suggested OHAEC containing 10.5 mg ceramide III and 15 mg HA, utilizing Kolliphor® RH40. OHAEC had EE% and PS of 89.3 ± 0.3% and 261.8 ± 7.0 nm, respectively. OHAEC was stable for up to 3 months. It also showed a mixed tubular and vesicular appearance under transmission electron microscope. The ex vivo and in vivo studies concluded better skin deposition and accumulation of SP from OHAEC. The histopathological study demonstrated the safety of OHAEC for topical application. Therefore, OHAEC could be considered as effective system for topical application of SP to manage hirsutism, with prolonged action, coupled with minimized side effects.

Article accepted. The article will be published here soon. Pending final quality checks.

The goal of this cross-sectional observational study was to assess dental students’ satisfaction regarding team-based learning (TBL) methodology in prosthodontics courses taught at College of Dentistry, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Saudi Arabia. Undergraduate dental students at second, third, fourth, and fifth years were taught prosthodontics courses through traditional and TBL pedagogies. TBL sessions consisted of preparation, readiness assurance, and application. At the end of each prosthodontics course, the students were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire that was divided into four sections to assess the effect of TBL on the following parameters: information acquisition, interpersonal skills improvement, classroom environment, and the students-instructors interaction. The responses of the questionnaire followed the Likert scoring method (scaled from 1 to 5). The t-test and ANOVA statistical analyses were performed using SPSS. Results. The response rate to the questionnaire was 86%. There were a significant relationship and correlation between TBL pedagogy and student satisfaction (P values ≤ 0.05) for all levels. The means of the responses for the second and fifth years were 4.36 and 4.56, respectively, where the means for the third and fourth years were 3.54 and 3.59, respectively. The parameter notably affected by TBL was interpersonal skills enhancement. All students strongly agreed that TBL enhances personal flexibility and boosts their self-esteem. Conclusion. Students showed positive perceptions about TBL pedagogy in terms of active engagement, knowledge acquisition, and improvement of interpersonal skills leading to more efficient learning outcome.

The mass-based metabolomic approach was implemented using GC-MS coupled with chemometric analysis to discriminate between the essential oil compositions of six cultivars of Citrus reticulata. The antiaging capability of the essential oils were investigated through measurement of their ability to inhibit the major enzymes hyaluronidase, collagenase, and amylase involved in aging. GC-MS analysis resulted in the identification of thirty-nine compounds including β-pinene, d-limonene, γ-terpinene, linalool, and dimethyl anthranilate as the main components. Multivariate analysis using principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchal cluster analysis (HCA) successfully discriminated the cultivars into five main groups. In vitro antiaging activity showed that Kishu mandarin (Km) (2.19 ± 0.10, 465.9 ± 23.7, 0.31 ± 0.01 µg/mL), Cara mandarin (Cm) (3.22 ± 0.14, 592.1 ± 30.1, 0.66 ± 0.03 µg/mL), and Wm (8.43 ± 0.38, 695.2 ± 35.4, 0.79 ± 0.04%) had the highest inhibitory activity against hyaluronidase, collagenase, and amylase, respectively. Molecular docking studies on the major compounds validated the activities of the essential oils and suggested their possible mechanisms of action. Based on our result, certain cultivars of Citrus reticulata can be proposed as a promising candidate in antiaging skin care products.

Objective The role of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in patients with acute respiratory failure is uncertain, so we conducted an observational trial of NIV comparing it with standard oxygen therapy in 109 patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure to detect the outcomes of NIV and the factors associated with NIV failure. Patients and methods All patients requiring NIV from March 2017 to September 2018 in respiratory ICU were entered into the study. The authors reported the etiology of acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF) and data were collected for heart rate, respiratory rate, and arterial blood gases (pH, PaO2, PaCO2). The patients were divided into group I standard oxygen therapy, group II NIV, and again group II was divided into group IIa, patients who avoid intubation and group II b, patients who need intubation. Results Simplified acute physiologic score (SAPS II) and acute physiologic and chroic health evaluation (APACHE) scores and mortality were higher in the VIN group but intubation rate, ICU, and hospital stay were higher in the oxygen group. Factors that were associated with failure of NIV were underlying immunosuppression, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) as a cause of AHRF, underlying malignancy, high SAPS II greater than 33 and APACHE II score of more than 25 and baseline PO2/FiO2 less than 211. Conclusion NIV was effective than oxygen therapy in the management of AHRF regarding intubation rate, complication, ICU, and hospital stay but mortality was higher in the NIV group may be because of severe cases. Factors associated with failure of NIV were immunosuppression, malignancy, ARDS, high SAPS II more than 33 and APACHE II more than 25 score and baseline PO2/FiO2 less than 211.

The aim of the present study was to isolate antagonistic actinomycetes from marine sediment collected from the Red Sea coast at Hurghada city and the Suez Gulf. A total of 16 actinomycete isolates were obtained in October 2018 and their antagonistic activities were evaluated against Aeromonas hydrophila, Vibrio damsela, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 14028, Escherichia coli ATCC 19404 and Candida albicans ATCC 10231 by using the agar well diffusion method. Among the 16 isolates, 14 (87.5%) isolates exhibited antimicrobial activity against most of the tested pathogens. The most potent isolate was identified by 16S rRNA sequence analysis as Streptomyces sp. and designated Streptomyces sp. MK388207. The experimental design of Plackett-Burman was implemented to optimize the culture conditions for antimicrobial agent(s) production by the most powerful isolate against C. albicans ATCC 10231 when grown in starch nitrate broth and the data revealed that negative (–) levels of KNO3, K2HPO4 and pH and positive (+) levels of starch, MgSO4.7H2O, FeSO4 and incubation period supported the production of the antimicrobial agent(s). Growth under the optimized culture conditions led to a 1.4-fold rise in antimicrobial activity. The ethyl acetate extract of Streptomyces sp.MK388207 was subjected to gas-liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (GC MS) and revealed the presence of six fractions with the major component being phenol, 2,4-bis (1,1 dimethylethyl). The findings of this study suggested that the antagonistic marine Streptomyces, in particular Streptomyces sp MK388207, the antibacterial compounds produced by this isolate, could be used as antibiotics that could have future applications in the pharmaceutical industry.

This work investigated the probable protective effect of an Alhagi maurorum ethanolic extract on the hepatotoxicity and neurotoxicity accompanied by neurobehavioral deficits caused by lead in rats. Rats in four groups were orally administered distilled water, ethanolic extract of A. maurorum (300 mg/kg BW daily), lead (100 mg/kg BW daily for 3 months), and lead + A. maurorum extract. The results demonstrated that lead exposure resulted in elevated locomotor activities and sensorimotor deficits associated with a decrease in brain dopamine levels. Moreover, lead exposure significantly increased liver function markers. In addition, the lead-treated rats exhibited extensive liver and brain histological changes and apoptosis. The lead treatment also triggered oxidative stress, as demonstrated by the increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations with a remarkable reduction in the activities of antioxidant enzymes, reduced glutathione (GSH) levels, and transcriptional mRNA levels of antioxidant genes in the liver and brain. Nevertheless, co-treatment with the A. maurorum extract significantly ameliorated the lead-induced toxic effects. These findings indicate that the A. maurorum extract has the ability to protect hepatic and brain tissues against lead exposure in rats through the attenuation of apoptosis and oxidative stress.

Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is a common organophosphorus insecticide. It is associated with negative consequences such as neurotoxicity and reproductive injury. This study aimed to observe the ability of olive leaf extract to attenuate chlorpyrifos toxicity, which induced neuro- and reproductive toxicity in male albino rats. Olive leaf extract (OLE) exhibits potent antioxidant and antiapoptotic properties. Twenty-two mature male rats were divided into four groups: control (saline), CPF (9 mg/kg), OLE (150 mg/kg), and CPF + OLE. Treatment was administered orally for 80 days. The CPF significantly reduced serum sex hormones, sperm counts and motility, high oxidants (MDA), and depleted antioxidants (GSH, SOD, TAC) in the brain and testes homogenate; additionally, it decreased serum AChE and brain neurotransmitters, increased Bax, decreased Bcl-2, and boosted caspase-3 immune expression in neural and testicular cells. Immunological expression of Ki 67 in the cerebrum, cerebellum, choroid plexus, and hippocampus was reduced, and α-SMA in testicular tissue also decreased. Histopathological findings were consistent with the above impacts. OLE co-administration significantly normalized all these abnormalities. OLE showed significant protection against neural and reproductive damage caused by CPF.

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of intraovarian injections of a reconstituted lyophilized growth-promoting factor extracted from horse blood platelets (L-GFequina) on the number of ovarian follicles, the recovery of cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs), and embryo development to the blastocyst stage in Holstein cows. Thus, 12 Holstein cows were assigned to three protocols. According to the number of punctured follicles in protocol 1, ovum pick-up (OPU) was conducted on days 6 and 14 of the cycle (day 0 = estrus). In protocol 2, every large follicle (more than 7 mm) was removed, and 1 mL of L-GFequina was intraovarian injected (day 0). Two days later, equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) was administered, and OPU sessions were conducted on days 6, 10, and 14. The same ovarian stimulation procedure as that in protocol 2 was performed in protocol 3, except that equine L-GFequina was not supplied. OPU was carried out on days 6 and 10 of the cycle. The results indicate that the intraovarian injection of L-GFequina significantly (p < 0.05) increased the number of OPU sessions per cycle, the recovery of cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs), and the production of blastocysts. In conclusion, an intraovarian injection of L-GFequina can improves OPU-IVEP results in Holstein cows.

Waste clearance (WC) is an essential process for brain homeostasis, which is required for the proper and healthy functioning of all cerebrovascular and parenchymal brain cells. This review features our current understanding of brain WC, both within and external to the brain parenchyma. We describe the interplay of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), interstitial fluid (ISF), and perivascular spaces within the brain parenchyma for brain WC directly into the blood and/or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). We also discuss the relevant role of the CSF and its exit routes in mediating WC. Recent discoveries of the glymphatic system and meningeal lymphatic vessels, and their relevance to brain WC are highlighted. Controversies related to brain WC research and potential future directions are presented.

Background: Recent emerging evidence has highlighted the potential critical role of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in cerebral waste clearance and immunomodulation. It is already very well-established that the central nervous system (CNS) is completely submerged in CSF on a macro-level; but to what extent is this true on a micro-level? Specifically, within the peri-neural and peri-vascular spaces within the CNS parenchyma. Therefore, the objective of this study was to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to simultaneously map the presence of CSF within all peri-neural (cranial and spinal nerves) and peri-vascular spaces in vivo in humans. Four MRI protocols each with five participants were used to image the CSF in the brain and spinal cord. Our findings indicated that all CNS neuro- and vascular-communication channels are surrounded with CSF. In other words, all peri-neural spaces surrounding the cranial and spinal nerves as well as all peri-vascular spaces surrounding MRI-visible vasculature were filled with CSF. These findings suggest that anatomically, substance exchange between the brain parenchyma and outside tissues including lymphatic ones can only occur through CSF pathways and/or vascular pathways, warranting further investigation into its implications in cerebral waste clearance and immunity.

The impact of dietary curcumin (CUR) on the growth, antioxidant activity, histomorphology of certain organs, proinflammatory cytokine production, and immune status of Oreochromis niloticus was evaluated. The fingerlings (n = 225, 41.60 ± 0.09 g/fish) were randomly allotted into five experimental groups in triplicate. Fish were fed basal diets complemented with 0, 200, 400, 600, or 800 mg curcumin/kg diet (CUR0, CUR200, CUR400, CUR600, and CUR800, respectively) for 10 weeks. An increase in fish growth was reported in the CUR200 and CUR400 groups. The feed conversion ratio was enhanced by 15% in the CUR400 group. Fish body protein content was increased in the CUR600 group (p ≤ 0.01). Body fat was decreased, and ash content was increased by CUR supplementation in a level-related way (p < 0.05). The villus height was increased in the CUR400 and CUR600 groups. The villus width was increased by CUR supplementation, with the best result found in the CUR600 group. The liver of CUR-fed fish displayed comparatively normal hepatocytes. TNF-α and caspase-3 were significantly upregulated by dietary CUR in a level-related way. The serum catalase activity and GSH level were increased in CUR200 and CUR400 groups. Curcumin supplementation boosted the serum SOD activity and reduced the MDA level. IL10 and IgM levels were increased in the CUR200 and CUR400 groups. Lysozyme activity was increased in the CUR200–400 groups. Serum complement 3 level was increased in the CUR400 group. The percentage survival of O. niloticus challenged with Aeromonas hydrophila was highest in the CUR200-CUR600 groups (100%) and decreased in the CUR800 group (80%). This study concluded that CUR could be added to Nile tilapia diets up to 400 mg·kg−1 to achieve better growth, antioxidant capacity, immune response, and intestinal histology. Long feeding periods on high levels of CUR (600 and 800 mg·kg−1) stimulate inflammatory reactions in fish tissues.

Di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA) is a widely used plasticizer and prevalent environmental contaminant. In this study, DEHA concentrations in the milk, cheese, and butter samples wrapped with food-grade commercial polyethylene films and stored at 4 °C for 30 days were detected using gas chromatographic analysis. Also, the effects of exposure to a high dose of DEHA for a long duration on the liver, brain, and heart of Wistar rats were assessed. Besides, the possible beneficial effect of Peganum harmala oil (PGO), in relieving DEHA induced adverse effects was explored. For this purpose, four groups (8 rats/group) were orally given physiological saline, PGO (320 mg/kg bwt), DEHA (2000 mg/kg bwt), or PGO + DEHA for 60 days. The results revealed that the DEHA concentrations in the tested dairy products were ordered as follows: (butter > cheese > milk). Notably, the detected levels in butter were higher than the specific migration limit in foods. DEHA induced a significant increase in the serum levels of glucose, alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, acetylcholine esterase, creatine kinase–myocardium bound, malondialdehyde, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin-1β. But, significant hypoproteinemia, hypoalbuminemia, hypoglobulinemia, and hypocholesterolemia were evident following DEHA exposure. A significant reduction in the serum level of superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor was recorded. Besides, a significant downregulation in hepatic CYP2E1, brain glial fibrillary acidic protein, and cardiac troponin I gene expression was noticed. Moreover, DEHA exposure induced a significant decrease in Bcl-2 immunolabeling, but Caspase-3 immunoexpression was increased. On the contrary, PGO significantly recused DEHA injurious impacts. Therefore, PGO could represent a promising agent for preventing DEHA-induced hepatotoxicity, neurotoxicity, and cardiotoxicity.

We recently reported that the treatment with nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with tolerogenic cytokines suppressed the manifestations of lupus-like disease induced by the transfer of donor CD4+ T cells from DBA/2 mice into (C57BL/6 × DBA/2)F1 (BDF1) mice. Although the protective effects were ascribed to the induction of adaptive CD4+ and CD8+ T regulatory cells, the results suggested that another population of immune cells could be involved. Here we report that NK cells critically contribute to the protection from lupus-like disease conferred by NPs to BDF1 mice, and that this effect is TGF-β-dependent.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents around 85% of all known types of liver cancers and is estimated to be the fifth most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide. The current study assessed the preventive efficacy of isatin on diethylnitrosamine (DENA)/2-acetylaminofluorene (2-AAF)-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in male Wistar rats and investigated the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms. HCC was initiated by intraperitoneal injection of DENA (150 mg/kg/week) for two weeks, followed by oral 2-AAF (20 mg/kg) every other day for three successive weeks. Oral isatin or vehicle (control) was administered at 25 mg/kg for 20 weeks during and following HCC induction. Isatin ameliorated the deleterious effects of DENA/2-AAF on liver function as evidenced by reduced serum levels of AST, ALT, total bilirubin, albumin, and liver tumor biomarkers (CA19.9 and AFP) compared to control DENA/2-AAF-treated rats. Histopathological evaluations demonstrated that isatin-mediated protection against hepatocarcinogenesis was accompanied by a decline in hepatic lipid peroxidation, a marker of oxidative stress, and enhanced antioxidant capacity, as evidenced by increased glutathione and superoxide dismutase expression. Isatin treatment also upregulated expression of the major stress-response transcription factor Nrf2 and the detoxifying enzymes NAD(P)H quinine oxidoreductase and glutathione-S-transferase alpha 2 and downregulated expression of the proliferation marker Ki67. Moreover, isatin significantly reduced the DENA/2-AAF-induced decrease in hepatic expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl2 and the DENA/2-AAF-induced increases in pro-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic factors (TNF-α, NF-κB p50, NF-κB p65, p53, and caspase 3). Thus, it can be concluded that isatin may protect against chemically induced hepatocarcinogenesis by enhancing cellular antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification mechanisms, in part through upregulation of the Nrf2 signaling pathway.

This study aims to determine the influence of grafting and nano-silicon fertilizer on the growth and production of tomatoes (Solanumlycopersicum L.) under salinity conditions. A commercial tomato hybrid (cv. Strain B) was used as a scion and two tomato phenotypes were used as rootstocks: S. pimpinellifolium and Edkawy. The rootstock effect was evaluated by growing plants at two NaCl concentrations plus the control (0, 4000, and 8000 ppm NaCl). Nano-silicon foliar application (0.5 ppm) after 20, 28, and 36 days from transplanting was also used to mitigate salinity stress. Antioxidants, hormones, and proline were evaluated for a better understanding of the physiological changes induced by salinity and grafting. The results showed that grafting either on S. pimpinellifolium or Edkawy combined with nano-silicon application enhanced shoot and root growth, fruit yield, and fruit quality. The Edkawy rootstock was more effective than the S. pimpinellifolium rootstock in terms of counteracting the negative effect of salinity. Higher levels of mineral contents, GA3, ABA, and proline were detected in shoots that were subjected to grafting and nano-silicon application compared to the control treatment. This study indicates that grafting and nano-silicon application hold potential as alternative techniques to mitigate salt stress in commercial tomato cultivars.

Purpose: The purpose is to study the correlation between dry eye and refractive errors in young adults using noninvasive Keratograph. Methods: In this cross sectional study, a total of 126 participants in the age range of 19–25 years and who were free of ocular surface disease, were recruited from King Saud University Campus. Refraction was defined by the spherical equivalent (SE) as the following: 49 emmetropic eyes (±0.50 SE), 48 myopic eyes (≤−0.75 SE and above), and 31 hyperopic eyes (>+0.75 SE). All participants underwent full ophthalmic examinations assessing their refractive status and dryness level including noninvasive breakup time (NIBUT) and tear meniscus height using Keratograph 4. Results: The prevalence of dry eye was 24.6%, 36.5%, and 17.4% in emmetropes, myopes, and hypermetropes, respectively. NIBUT has a negative correlation with hyperopia and a positive correlation with myopia with a significant reduction in the average NIBUT in myopes and hypermetropes in comparison to emmetropes. Conclusion: The current results succeeded to demonstrate a correlation between refractive errors and dryness level.

Weeds represent a major constraint for successful pea cultivation, resulting in loss of green pea yield and quality. Two field experiments were carried out during the winter seasons of 2018/2019 and 2019/2020. The objectives of the current study were to evaluate the efficacy of pendimethalin, butralin, fluazifop butyl, bentazon, and hoeing on weed control, and their impact on pea growth, nodule formation, yield, quality, and storability. The results indicated that hoeing and fluazifop butyl were the most effective treatments for weed control in terms of the lowest values of total weed dry weight. The bentazon and fluazifop butyl herbicides didn’t affect active nodules number, plant height, plant weight, root length, or number of leaves and branches. Additionally, bentazon and hoeing resulted in the highest total yield per plant and protein content. Butralin and pendimetalin achieved the lowest yield, and butralin also resulted in the lowest plant height and weight. Bentazon-treated peas had the highest chemical compositions in terms of chlorophyll, carotenoids, total sugar, and vitamin C contents in pea pods at harvest and during cold storage at 4 °C and 95 RH for 45 days. No detectable residues of the four herbicides under study were detected in green pods, suggesting that pods can be safely consumed at the time of harvesting. It can be concluded that nodules formation in pea was not affected significantly by the application of the tested herbicides, except pendimethalin and butralin. Furthermore, bentazon had a positive impact on nodules formation and pods quality and could be used effectively for controlling the broadleaf weeds, and it was simultaneously a selective and safe herbicide in pea cultivation.

Aim of the study: The aim of this study was to explore the role of the DWI in assessment of peri-anal fistula and whether it can replace post contrast study. Patients and methods: MRI examinations was done for 35 patients. Images were reviewed for the presence and number of visible fistulas, internal openings, secondary extension, horse shoe and abscess. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurement of suspected fistula tracks and abscess cavities was done to assess activity. Comparison between TIRM, DWI and post-contrast T1-weighted fat saturated sequences was done. Surgical findings were the reference standard. Results: Contrast enhanced images were superior to DWI in detection of primary fistula and internal opening while they were equivalent in detection of secondary extensions and abscess. There was no significant difference in overall accuracy of detection of perianal fistula and its complications between combined (DWI and TIRM images) and post contrast images. There was significant difference between ADC values of active and inactive fistulae and between abscess and inflammatory reaction. Conclusion: Combined DWI and TIRM is equivalent to post contrast images in detection of primary and complicated fistula. DWI is useful in differentiation between abscess and inflammatory reaction, and assessment of disease activity. Keywords: MR, Diffusion weighted images, Peri-anal fistula, Post-contrast, Fat suppression, Turbo inversion recovery magnitude (TIRM)

Many current NIDSs are rule-based systems, which are very difficult in encoding rules, and cannot detect novel intrusions. Therefore, a hybrid detection framework that depends on data mining classification and clustering techniques is proposed. In misuse detection, random forests classification algorithm is used to build intrusion patterns automatically from a training dataset, and then matches network connections to these intrusion patterns to detect network intrusions. In anomaly detection, the k-means clustering algorithm is used to detect novel intrusions by clustering the network connections’ data to collect the most of intrusions together in one or more clusters. In the proposed hybrid framework, the anomaly part is improved by replacing the k-means algorithm with another one called weighted k-means algorithm, moreover, it uses a proposed method in choosing the anomalous clusters by injecting known attacks into uncertain connections data. Our approaches are evaluated over the Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD’99) datasets.

Castor oil (CAO)/poly (N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) hybrid was synthesized at different reaction conditions including PVP/CAO weight ratio, temperature, and time. The results indicated that the optimum conditions to synthesis that hybrid is reacting of PVP having a molecular weight of 40,000 Da with CAO at a weight ratio of 30% and temperature of 150°C for 60 min. The synthesized hybrid was characterized via FTIR. Emulsification of such hybrid in water results in a white stable emulsion. The TEM analysis proved that the prepared emulsion of a particle size ranges from 320 to 370 nm. The technical feasibility to apply the produced emulsion for functional finishing of cotton fabric was studied. The results obtained indicated that treating cotton fabric with easy care finishing bath containing the synthesized emulsion results in enhancement in nitrogen content, tensile strength, whiteness index, stiffness, and antibacterial activities along with a decreasing in resiliency, wettability, and surface roughness properties of treated fabric, compared to the control sample. Moreover, incorporation of zinc oxide nano-particles (ZnO-NPs) or dihydroxybenzophenone (DHBP) in the above mentioned finishing bath enhances the functional properties of the finished fabric. Furthermore, dyeing fabric samples with different reactive and direct dyes followed by finishing using the aforementioned finishing bath, in absence of ZnO-NPs and DHBP, gives rise to an enhancement in the color strength of such samples compared to the dyed samples. The fastness to washing and perspiration of only the direct dye dyed/finished sample was improved. Almost all the dyed/ finished samples exhibited an improvement in their fastness to the wet rubbing and alkaline perspiration along with a reduction in fastness to light. In addition, the SEM, as well as EDX analysis of treated fabric, was investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current efforts in surface functionalization have not produced a robust technique capable of creating specific two-dimensional microscale geometrical arrays composed of multiple proteins. Such a capability is desirable for engineering substrates in sensing and cell patterning applications where at least two different protein functionalities in a specific configuration are required. Here we introduce a new approach for the creation of arrays of microscale geometries. We demonstrate our approach with a biomimetic structure inspired by the immunological synapse, a cell-cell interfacial structure characterized by two concentric rings of proteins: an outer adhesion protein structure and an inner recognition ligand core. The power of the technique lies in its ability to pattern any protein in any defined geometry as well as to create arrays in parallel.

This paper proposes a preventive maintenance scheduling model to optimize the cost and improve the effective age of machines in complex repairable systems. The objective of the developed model is to minimize the total maintenance costs while maintaining a defined level of availability and reliability. The maintenance costs include random failure cost, repair cost, replacement cost, and total planned downtime cost. Multilevel preventive maintenance actions such as inspection, repair, and replacement are considered through the whole planning horizon. A genetic algorithm was developed using a MATLAB program to provide a near-optimal solution for the optimization model. The proposed mathematical model was applied to a Chloride Sodium factory and the results show a reduction in the total maintenance cost by 34%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]