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Abstract Background Burullus Lake has received a great attention because of its environmental and economic importance for being a significant source of fish production in Egypt. It is subjected to many of environmental changes due to the huge amount of discharges originated from different sources as well as many human activities. The Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is an abundant sedentary fish present in the most Egyptian lakes, Nile River, and ponds. The study was designed to evaluate some metal pollution in Burullus Lake. Results The values of heavy metals (Mn, Zn, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Pb) were measured in lake water and muscles of O. niloticus fish during winter and summer 2014. Water samples were collected from six sampling sites, while fish samples were collected from the three sectors (eastern, middle, and western) of the lake. The mean values of heavy metals (Mn, Zn, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Pb) in surface water of Burullus Lake during winter and summer for the year 2014 were 1.09, 10.50, 29.38, 6.87, 2.05, and 5.98 μg/L, respectively, whereas the annual means of heavy metals (Mn, Zn, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Pb) in the muscles of O. niloticus fish were 0.68, 4.70, 10.62, 0.52, 0.39, and 0.46 μg/g wet wt., respectively. Conclusions In lake water, Mn was the lowest concentration of the six sampling sites, while Fe was the highest concentration, whereas in fish muscles, Cu recorded the lowest concentration of the three sectors, while Fe was the highest concentration. The southern part of Burullus Lake had the highest heavy metal values as it influenced by the discharge of massive amounts of domestic sewage as well as agricultural and industrial effluents. The accumulation of heavy metals in fish muscles of the three sectors showed different patterns. Generally, the values of metals in the fish muscles were accepted by the international legislation limits and are safe for human consumption.

The principles of Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability (FAIR) have been put forward to guide optimal sharing of data. The potential for industrial and social innovation is vast. Domain-specific metadata standards are crucial in this context, but are widely missing in the energy sector. This report provides a collaborative response from the low carbon energy research community for addressing the necessity of advancing FAIR metadata standards. We review and test existing metadata practices in the domain based on a series of community workshops. We reflect the perspectives of energy data stakeholders. The outcome is reported in terms of challenges and elicits recommendations for advancing FAIR metadata standards in the energy domain across a broad spectrum of stakeholders.

Mohsen M El Gammal,1 Maria Lim,1 Rajan Uppal,2 Richard Sainsbury1 1Department of Breast Surgery, Parapet Breast Centre, Frimley Health Foundation Trust, Windsor, 2Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Wexham and Heatherwood Hospital, Frimley Health Foundation Trust, Slough, UK Introduction: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines recommend that breast reconstruction should be available to all women undergoing mastectomy and discussed at the initial surgical consultation (2002, and updated 2009). The National Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction Audit (2009) showed that 21% of mastectomy patients underwent immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) and 11% had delayed breast reconstruction (DBR). Breast reconstruction has been shown to have a positive effect on quality of life postmastectomy. This retrospective study investigated the impact of the introduction of a dedicated oncoplastic multidisciplinary meeting (OP MDM) on our unit’s breast reconstruction rate.Patients and methods: A retrospective analysis of 229 women who underwent mastectomy, of whom 81 (35%) underwent breast reconstruction between April 2014 and March 2016. Data were analyzed before and after introduction of OP MDM in April 2015. Data on patient age, type of surgery (mastectomy only, mastectomy and reconstruction), timing of reconstruction (IBR, DBR), and type of reconstruction (implant, autologous) were collected.Results: Between April 2015 and March 2016, following establishment of OP multidisciplinary team in April 2015, of the 120 patients who had mastectomy, 50 (42%) underwent breast reconstruction with 78% (39/50) choosing IBR (56% implant reconstruction and 22% autologous). Compared to the period between April 2014 and March 2015 preceding the OP MDM, of 109 patients who underwent mastectomy, only 31 (28%) had breast reconstruction with 64% (20/31) choosing IBR (45% implant reconstruction and 19% autologous). The rate of DBR was lower, 22% (11/50), following OP MDM compared to 35% (11/31) before OP MDM.Conclusion: There has been an increased uptake of breast reconstruction surgery from 28% to 42%. The biggest impact was on those opting for the immediate type reconstruction option (78%). The OP MDM has significantly contributed to this increased rate of reconstruction. Keywords: breast cancer, delayed reconstruction, uptake rate, mastectomy

SUMMARY:Reprogramming autologous adult cells to pluripotent cells allows for relatively safe cell replacement therapy. This can be achieved by nuclear transfer, cell fusion, or induced pluripotent stem cell technology However, the epigenetic memory of the cell is considered as a great challenge facing the complete reprograming of cells by these methods. Introducing oocyte-specific factors into differentiated cells may present a promising approach by mimicking cellular reprogramming during fertilization. METHODS:Human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (hBM-MSCs) were cultured with different concentrations of human metaphase II (M II) oocyte extract (0.1, 1, 5, 10, 30 ng/μl). Reprogramming was assessed at various exposure times (1, 4, 7 days). Cells were tested for their proliferation rate, morphological changes, expression of pluripotency markers, expression of mesenchymal to epithelial transition markers, and mitochondrial rejuvenation. (mitochondrial localization, morphological changes, bioenergetics, transmembrane potential, and levels of reactive oxygen species, ROS). RESULTS:Treatment of human BM-MSCs with 10 ng/μl oocyte extract resulted in increased cell proliferation, which was associated with the upregulation of the pluripotency genes OCT-4, NANOG, and SOX-2 and a concomitant downregulation of mesenchymal-specific genes. MSCs exhibited small, immature round mitochondria with few swollen cristae localized proximal to the cell nucleus. This was accompanied by morphological cell changes, a metabolic shift towards oxidative phosphorylation, a high mitochondrial membrane potential, and increased ROS production. CONCLUSION:These data show that treatment with 10 ng/μl human MII-phase oocyte extract induced genetic and mitochondrial reprogramming of human BM-MSCs to a more embryonic phenotype.

The use of gold nanorods (GNRs) as a contrast agent in bioimaging and cell tracking has numerous advantages, primarily due to the unique optical properties of gold nanorods which allow for the use of infrared regions when imaging. Owing to their unique geometry, Au NRs exhibit surface plasmon modes in the near-infrared wavelength range, which is ideal for carrying out optical measurements in biological fluids and tissue. Gold nanorod functionalization is essential, since the Cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide CTAB gold nanorods are toxic, and for further in vitro and in vivo experiments the nanorods should be functionalized to become optically stable and biocompatible. In the present study, gold nanorods with an longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) position around 800 nm were synthesized in order to be used for photoacoustic imaging applications for stem cell tracking. The gold nanorods were functionalized using both thiolated poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) to stabilize the gold nanorods surface and a CALNN–TAT peptide sequence. Both ligands were attached to the gold nanorods through an Au–sulfur bond. CALNN–TAT is known as a cell penetrating peptide which ensures endocytosis of the gold nanorods inside the mesenchymal stem cells of mice (MSCD1). Surface modifications of gold nanorods were achieved using optical spectroscopy (UV–VIS), electron microscopy (TEM), zeta-potential, and FTIR. Gold nanorods were incubated in MSCD1 in order to achieve a cellular uptake that was characterized by a transmission electron microscope (TEM). For photoacoustic imaging, Multi-Spectral Optoacoustic Tomography (MSOT) was used. The results demonstrated good cellular uptake for PEG–CALNN–TAT GNRs and the successful use of modified gold nanorods as both a contrast agent in photoacoustic imaging and as a novel tracking bioimaging technique.

Background : Because of the relatively increased prevalence of unrecognized and undiagnosed Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) cases, there is a strong need to develop an accepted screening tool for OSA in the population. This study aimed at assessing the predictive probabilities of STOP-BANG Questionnaire (SBQ) for OSA. Methods: A cross-sectional study included 216 patients presenting to the outpatient clinic of Chest Department, Zagazig University Hospital suspected to have OSA. They were studied through: history taking, clinical examination, chest radiography, routine laboratory tests, arterial blood gases. All patients in the study completed SBQ and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) prior doing Polysomnography (PSG) which the gold standard for the diagnosis of OSA. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of SBQ and ESS were calculated. Results: Of 216 screened patients; OSA patients in this study represents 90.7% of the studied cases diagnosed by PSG in which (12% mild, 19.4% moderate and 59.23% severe).89.8% of studied cases were high risk for OSA by SBQ while 65.7% were at high risk for OSA by ESS. SBQ had sensitivity of 95.3% and specificity 58.7% in diagnosis of moderate to severe OSA but 97.7% sensitivity and 63.6% specificity in diagnosis of severe OSA. ESS had sensitivity of 60.6% and specificity 73.9% in diagnosis of moderate to severe OSA but 50.8% sensitivity and 77.3% specificity in diagnosis of severe OSA. Conclusions: SBQ has an excellent sensitivity and can predict moderate and severe OSA patients. The superiority of SBQ was obvious when compared with ESS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A comparative gross anatomical study was carried out on six apparently healthy adult male albino rats (Rattus norvegicus) and albino mice (Mus musculus) (Three rats and three mice) The aim of the current work is to demonstrate the gross anatomical topography, morphology, and fixation of (liver, kidney, spleen, stomach and pancreas) in order to highlight similarities and differences between both species. The animals were brought from local animal markets and delivered to the anatomy laboratory of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Cairo University, Egypt. After euthanasia, animals were anatomically dissected via mid laparotomy to study the concerned abdominal viscera in both species. The organs were removed separately and preserved by both freezing and immersion in a container filled with 10% neutral buffered formalin solution for further examination. Photographs of the organs insitu and isolated were taken, discussed and compared with that of the other lab mammals in previous literatures. The study confirmed the absence of the gall bladder and the round ligament of liver in albino rat, while the hepatorenal ligament was absent in albino mouse. Also, the site of renal impression was found to be located on the right lateral hepatic lobe in albino rat while on the caudate process of liver in albino mouse. Albino rats and mice had a bean shaped smooth unipapillated kidneys, however the position of kidneys greatly varied between both species. The characteristic crescentic-shaped stomach in rats with a tightly closed esophageal opening compared to the thumb-shaped stomach of mice with slightly loose esophageal opening were anatomical remarks. The proper knowledge of the normal morphology and topography of these abdominal viscera would assist veterinarians in designing of therapeutic surgical approaches in abdominal cavity and experimental transplantations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, we introduced two approximation methods to investigate the spherically compressed lithium atom under the influence of Debye plasma. Specifically, the diffusion and the variational Monte Carlo methods are used for the first time to study this case. We incorporated an exponential screening into the nuclear Coulomb potential to account for the plasma influence. We focused our investigation on analyzing the combined effect of compression and plasma environment on the behavior of the lithium atom in its ground state. The resulting outcomes exhibited consistent pattern across various confinement radii Rc and Debye plasma lengths μ. Many of the results are novel contributions, as they have yet to be explored. Moreover, the findings from this study demonstrated reasonable agreement with the limited existing theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

System performance, which depends on the data transmission rates and propagation distances between two satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) based on wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) techniques, is thoroughly studied. This study demonstrates the effect of WDM techniques on multi transceiver inter-satellite wireless optical communications. The system performance parameters with propagation distance at a multiple transceiver system are discussed using two previous models. The system performance parameters are investigated with 250 Gb/s transmission bit rates and 5000 km propagation distances for 16 transceiver systems. The maximum quality factor (Q factor), light peak signal per noise ratio, and signal peak per noise ratio are the primary important performance parameters in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]