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Asmaa Gomaa,1 Naglaa Allam,1 Aisha Elsharkway,2 Mohamed El Kassas,3 Imam Waked1 1Hepatology Department, National Liver Institute, Shebeen EL Kom, 2Endemic Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, 3Endemic Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt Abstract: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major public health burden in Egypt, where it bears the highest prevalence rate in the world. Estimates for prevalence are based upon data reported from the 2008 and 2015 Egypt Demographic Health Surveys. In this review, we demonstrate the prevalence results of both surveys and analyze the difference in the results. The overall HCV prevalence is estimated to be declining. However, the clinical impact of chronic HCV infection is expected to grow considerably. A mathematical model shows that by increasing the rate of treatment, the expected number of patients will decline significantly in 2030. The current and expected future burden of chronic HCV infection to the Egyptian economy, including direct and indirect costs due to disability and loss of lives, has been estimated and discussed in this review. The economic burden will continue to grow, but a model shows that the introduction of highly effective therapies will result in a significant reduction in the cumulative total economic burden of HCV by 2030. In recognition of the HCV tremendous health and economic burden, the Egyptian government established the National Committee for Control of Viral Hepatitis to implement an integrated nationwide strategy to provide patient care and ensure global treatment access. This review illustrates the epidemiological and disease burden aspects of HCV in Egypt in addition to introducing the national plan and program for managing HCV, which has been successful so far in treating a large number of patients, with the aim of achieving disease control and eventual elimination in Egypt. Keywords: hepatitis C in Egypt, prevalence, HCV burden, treatment strategy

OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed at determining the difference in hamstring tightness between dominant and non-dominant legs and to detect the correlation between LBP and hamstring tightness. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred females with hamstring tightness of at least 15 degrees have been included in the study. Hamstring shortening was examined by the Active Knee Extension test (AKE) and Straight Leg Raising test (SLR), whilst the functional disability' degree was measured by Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). RESULTS: The straight leg raising and the AKE of the dominant leg were significantly more flexible than the non-dominant ones. There was a weak positive non-significant correlation between ODI and AKE of the dominant side (r = 0.162, p = 0.1) and the non-dominant side (r = 0.071, p = 0.48). There was a weak negative non-significant correlation between ODI and SLR of the dominant side (r = - 0.29, p = 0.77) and the non-dominant side (r = - 0.53, p = 0.6). CONCLUSIONS: There was no relation between the degree of hamstring tightness and LBP in female students at Jouf University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coronavirus illness 2019 (COVID-19) was first observed to induce fever, dry cough, pneumonia, and dyspnea in the lower respiratory tract. Atypical manifestations, including digestive problems and cardiac symptoms, were also observed. The rate of mortality in the older population is greater than in the younger group, as well as in individuals suffering from comorbidities. Oxygen supplementation through a facemask, non-invasive ventilation, mechanical ventilation, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation ECMO are some of the available supportive techniques. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) is thought to boost tissue oxygenation by increasing plasma soluble oxygen levels. HBOT also reduces inflammatory responses in COVID-19 patients, minimizing the negative impacts of the cytokine storm. Because the existing data on the efficacy of HBOT in COVID-19 patients is limited, the purpose of this article is to review the possible mechanisms of HBO, as well as data available on potential advantages, side effects and uses in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stress corrosion cracking (SCC) behavior of a-aluminum bronze (Cu7Al) has been investigated in nitrite solution under open circuit and at different anodic potentials and compared to a-brass using the constant slow strain rate technique. The electrochemical behavior was also studied using Tafel and electrochemical frequency modulation (EFM) techniques. While α-brass was quite susceptible to SCC in relatively concentrated sodium nitrate (NaNO2) and highly anodic potentials. α-Al bronze was found to be resistant to SCC. The resistance of α-Al bronze to SCC was attributed to the presence of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) on its surface. Although the time to failure and stress ratio remained virtually constant for α-Al bronze, they decreased sharply with increasing the anodic potential in the case of α-brass. The mode of failure was predominantly ductile for α-Al bronze under various conditions. Previous findings for the change of the mode of failure from intergranular at open-circuit potential to transgranular cracking under anodic potentials were confirmed. The electrochemical corrosion parameters obtained from potentiodynamic polarization and EFM are in good agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plastic Pyrolysis is a thermal degradation process; it offers an important alternative energy. The aim of this study is to model a batch reactor to be used for plastic pyrolysis. Consequently, four experiments with different heating and cooling cycles are done using an empty pyrolysis batch reactor and four temperatures are measured at different locations on the reactor. On the other hand, the empty reactor is modeled and several simulations are done, using COMSOL Multiphysics software, under the same experimental conditions. By comparing the temperatures obtained from simulation to those measured experimentally, it is noticed that the results are very close with a maximum error of 4%, hence the model is validated.