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Nowadays, traditional methods for dye removal from industrial effluents have been integrated with chemical oxidation processes, mainly advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) which are able to degrade complex organic substances. In this paper, the integration of membrane process and hydrodynamic cavitation for the treatment of a dyeing wastewater is presented. The degradation efficiency of two dyes (methyl orange and methylene blue) obtained in previous experimental activity and here resumed are used as an input to simulate an integrated treatment cycle in which dyeing wastewater is pre-treated, filtrated through a membrane operation, subjected to an AOP with hydrodynamic cavitation in a hybrid configuration. The integration among physical treatment (membrane) and chemical/physical treatment (hydrodynamic cavitation coupled with Fenton treatment) allows to obtain a depurated stream (permeate) that can be reused as process water and a concentrated stream (retentate) that after the treatment can be safely discharged into superficial body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: early respiratory rehabilitation is required for patients with Coronavirus virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) sequelae to reduce the risk of serious disabilities after hospital discharge. Methods: it was a comparative prospective study including patients with persistent symptoms one month after discharge. The patients were hospitalized at the pneumology department D of Abderahman Mami hospital for COVID-19 pneumonia. The study involved two groups: (G1) included patients who participated in respiratory muscle training program (twice a week during 6 weeks), and a control group (G2). The groups were matched based on age, sex and body mass index (BMI). Persistent symptoms and pulmonary lung function (forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), total lung capacity (TLC) and diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO), maximal inspiratory pressure (PI max) and maximal expiratory pressure (PE max), 6 Minute Walk distance (6-MWD) at baseline and after 6 weeks were compared between the two groups. Results: the two groups of patients were comparable in terms of age, sex, BMI, comorbidities, and extent of lung computed tomography (CT) lesions. Compared to G2, a significant improvement of persistent symptoms was noted in G1, including dry cough (p=0.002), dyspnea (p=0.001), chest pain (p=0.002), and fatigue (p=0.001). The mean of percutaneous oxygen saturation (SpO2) increased from 96.68% to 97.93% (p<0.01) in G1. A significant improvement in the percentages of change of FEV1 (p=0.005), FVC (p=0.003), TLC (p<0.001), DLCO (p<0.001), and 6-MWD (p=0.015) was also noted in G1 after this program. Nevertheless, only the percentage of FEV1 (p=0.02) increased in the control group. No impact of respiratory muscle training on PI max and PE max was noted. Conclusion: the present study demonstrated a significant improvement of persistent symptoms and exercise tolerance after short-term respiratory muscle training in patients suffering from COVID-19 sequelae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging concept of small conductance Ca2+-activated potassium channels (SKCa) as pharmacological target for cancer treatment has significantly increased in recent years. In this study, we isolated the P01 toxin from Androctonus australis (Aa) scorpion venom and investigated its effect on biological properties of glioblastoma U87, breast MDA-MB231 and colon adenocarcinoma LS174 cancer cell lines. Our results showed that P01 was active only on U87 glioblastoma cells. It inhibited their proliferation, adhesion and migration with IC50 values in the micromolar range. We have also shown that P01 reduced the amplitude of the currents recorded in HEK293 cells expressing SK2 channels with an IC50 value of 3 pM, while it had no effect on those expressing SK3 channels. The investigation of the SKCa channels expression pattern showed that SK2 transcripts were expressed differently in the three cancer cell lines. Particularly, we highlighted the presence of SK2 isoforms in U87 cells, which could explain and rely on the specific activity of P01 on this cell line. These experimental data highlighted the usefulness of scorpion peptides to decipher the role of SKCa channels in the tumorigenesis process, and develop potential therapeutic molecules targeting glioblastoma with high selectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This trial aimed to assess the efficacy of Atorvastatin reloading on the prevention of Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) in patients pre-treated with this statin and undergoing coronary catheterization. Methods: This was a prospective randomized controlled study including patients on chronic atorvastatin therapy. We randomly assigned the population to the Atorvastatin Reloading group (AR group), by reloading patients with 80 mg of atorvastatin one day before and three days after the coronary procedure, and the Non-Reloading group (NR group), including patients who received their usual dose without a reloading dose. The primary endpoints were the incidence of cystatin (Cys)-based CIN and Creatinine (Scr)-based CIN. The secondary endpoints consisted of the changes in renal biomarkers (Δ biomarkers) defined as the difference between the follow-up level and the baseline level. Results: Our population was assigned to the AR group (n = 56 patients) and NR group (n = 54 patients). The baseline characteristics of the 2 groups were similar. Serum creatinine (SCr)-based CIN occurred in 11.1% in the NR group, and in 8.9% in the AR group without any significant difference. Cys-based CIN occurred in 37% in the NR group and 26.8% in the AR group without any significant difference. The subgroup analysis showed that high dose reloading had significantly reduced the CYC-based CIN risk in patients with type 2 diabetes (43.5% vs 18.8%, RR = 0.43. CI 95% [0.18–0.99])). The comparison of "Δ Cystatin" and Δ eGFR between the AR and NR groups didn't show any significant difference. However, cystatin C had significantly increased between baseline and at 24 hours in the NR group (0.96 vs 1.05, p = 0.001), but not in the AR group (0.94 vs 1.03, p = 0.206). Conclusions: Our study did not find a benefit of systematic atorvastatin reloading in patients on chronic atorvastatin therapy in preventing CIN. However, it suggested that this strategy could reduce the risk of CyC-based CIN in diabetic type 2 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pan African Medical Journal is the property of Pan African Medical Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

As industrialization and globalization have advanced in recent years, an expanding volume of textile dye effluent and pharmaceutical wastewater has been discharged into the environment. Hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) and its combination with other advanced processes such as hydrogen peroxide (H²O²), were studied in this work for the removal of textile dye effluent from aqueous media. The effect of different molar ratio of H²O² dose was examined. The experimental tests were carried out at pH_ value= 2 and input pressure p_in=4.5 bar, with a mix of three types of textile wastewater sampled at different treatment times. The concentration of H²O² was varied from 0.1 M to 0.9 M. The evaluation of the efficiency of the combined process, in the removal of color and COD from textile wastewater, was investigated. The results showed that the degradation of textile wastewater using HC and HC in combination with other advanced oxidation process (AOP’s) followed a pseudo-first-order reaction kinetic. Under the following operative conditions of pH_ value= 2 and input pressure p_in=4.5 bar, the HC + H²O² process demonstrated a greater efficiency of 88%, 37%, and 65% the chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction in 60 minutes for (0.3, 0.7 and 0.9 mol/L,) of H2O2, respectively. combined process could be a useful technology for treating textile wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sleep health inequalities represent an increasing public health concern. Among multiple determinants affecting sleep health, there is people's socioeconomic status (SES), and no systematic review on the relationship between SES and sleep health has been previously conducted in Iran and Saudi Arabia. Following the Prisma protocol, ten articles were selected. Findings revealed that the combined number of participants was N = 37,455 participants, including 73.23% of children and adolescents (n = 27,670) and 26.77% of adults (n = 10,026). The smallest sample was N = 715 and the larger was N = 13,486. In all these studies, sleep variables were assessed using self-reported questionnaires. The studies conducted in Iran assessed the risk of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), while those in Saudi Arabia were interested in sleep duration, nap time, bedtime, rise time and insomnia. The studies performed on adult populations in Iran and Saudi Arabia concluded that there is no significant association between SES determinants and sleep components in adult populations. One study in Iran found a significant association between parent's low SES and children and adolescent insomnia; and one study in Saudi Arabia found a significant association between the father's education and the longer sleep duration of their children. More longitudinal studies are necessary to establish a causal relationship between public health policies and sleep health inequalities. An extension of the investigation to more sleep disturbances is required to cover the entirety of sleep health inequalities in Iran and Saudi Arabia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein we report the intriguing case of a 42‐year‐old woman presenting with grade three hypertension, severe hypokalemia and primary amenorrhea, which revealed to be the complete form of 17 alphahydroxylase deficiency. We also discuss the challenging therapeutic approach as well as the outcomes and the follow‐up of this patient. One should consider the diagnosis of 17 alpha hydroxylase as the etiology of hypertension, hypokalemia, and adrenal insufficiency regardless of the age of patients. Biochemical findings can be atypical with slightly elevated ACTH and normal aldosterone level. The management of this condition is challenging and should be multidisciplinary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Erysipeloid cutaneous leishmaniasis (ECL) is known as the chronic form of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). However, keeping its clinical presentation in view, there is a need to revisit this form of the disease. Aims: To describe ECL in view of clinical features and treatment modalities. Methods: We include a case series seen in Sfax (Southern Tunisia) from January 2017 to January 2021. All patients clinically suggestive and laboratory confirmed with a diagnosis of CL were registered. Patients of all age groups and of either gender having cutaneous lesions resembling erysipela on the face were included in the study. Different demographic features of the patients and clinical aspects were identified. Descriptive statistics were used for analysis. Results: Of 1300 registered patients with CL, 40 (3%) were diagnosed as ECL. Ages ranged from 15 to 65 years, and duration of lesions varied from 15 to 180 days. All patients had lesions over the face. Clinically, a painful infiltrated inflammatory placard of the central facial area with a butterfly shape was observed in 14 cases, as well as zones of the cheekbone (11 cases), cheekbone and nose (5 cases), cheekbone and eyelid (8 cases), and cheekbone with ear (2 cases). Several therapeutic methods were prescribed with a sufficient result with no recurrence. Conclusion: ECL is a rare presentation that typically occurs on the face, looking like erysipelas, in patients who are native from an endemic region of CL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pan African Medical Journal is the property of Pan African Medical Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

(1) Background: Germline variants in BRCA1/BRCA2 genes explain about 20% of hereditary breast/ovarian cancer (HBOC) cases. In the present paper, we aim to identify genetic determinants in BRCA-negative families from the South of Tunisia. (2) Methods: Exome Sequencing (ES) was performed on the lymphocyte DNA of patients negative for BRCA mutations from each Tunisian family with a high risk of HBOC. (3) Results: We focus on the canonical genes associated with HBOC and identified missense variants in DNA damage response genes, such as ATM, RAD52, and RAD54; however, no variants in PALB2, Chek2, and TP53 genes were found. To identify novel candidate genes, we selected variants harboring a loss of function and identified 17 stop-gain and 11 frameshift variants in genes not commonly known to be predisposed to HBOC. Then, we focus on rare and high-impact genes shared by at least 3 unrelated patients from each family and selected 16 gene variants. Through combined data analysis from MCODE with gene ontology and KEGG pathways, a short list of eight candidate genes (ATM, EP300, LAMA1, LAMC2, TNNI3, MYLK, COL11A2, and LAMB3) was created. The impact of the 24 selected genes on survival was analyzed using the TCGA data resulting in a selection of five candidate genes (EP300, KMT2C, RHPN2, HSPG2, and CCR3) that showed a significant association with survival. (4) Conclusions: We identify novel candidate genes predisposed to HBOC that need to be validated in larger cohorts and investigated by analyzing the co-segregation of selected variants in affected families and the locus-specific loss of heterozygosity to highlight their relevance for HBOC risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resource management in Underground Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) is one of the pillars to extend the network lifetime. An intriguing design goal for such networks is to achieve balanced energy and spectral resource utilization. This paper focuses on optimizing the resource efficiency in UWSNs where underground relay nodes amplify and forward sensed data, received from the buried source nodes through a lossy soil medium, to the aboveground base station. A new algorithm called the Hybrid Chaotic Salp Swarm and Crossover (HCSSC) algorithm is proposed to obtain the optimal source and relay transmission powers to maximize the network resource efficiency. The proposed algorithm improves the standard Salp SwarmAlgorithm (SSA) by considering a chaotic map to initialize the population along with performing the crossover technique in the position updates of salps. Through experimental results, the HCSSC algorithm proves its outstanding superiority to the standard SSA for resource efficiency optimization. Hence, the network's lifetime is prolonged. Indeed, the proposed algorithm achieves an improvement performance of 23.6% and 20.4% for the resource efficiency and average remaining relay battery per transmission, respectively. Furthermore, simulation results demonstrate that the HCSSC algorithm proves its efficacy in the case of both equal and different node battery capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel series of 5-amino-1H-pyrazole derivatives involving 2-furoyl moieties were synthesized in good yields from 2-cyano-3 ethoxyacrylonitrile or ethyl-2-cyano-3-ethoxyacrylate and of various furan-2-carbohydrazide compounds under microwave irradiation. We studied the reactivity of these new compounds toward the orthoesters using the same methodology. All structures were confirmed by analytical and spectral (FT-IR, ¹H NMR, 13C NMR, and elemental analysis) techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-fat diet (HFD) promotes oxidative stress, which contributes to the development of kidney dysfunction. We examined the protective effects of an ethanol extract of artichoke leaves (EEA) compared to Atorvastatin (ATOR) in the kidney of Wistar rats fed a high-fat diet. The experimental animals were divided into five groups: control (Cont), HFD, HFD treated with EEA (200 mg/kg), HFD treated with EEA (400 mg/kg), and HFD treated with ATOR. Organ weights, lipid profile, renal markers, and antioxidants enzymes were measured. Oral administration of EEA (200 and 400 mg/kg) for 60 days showed a significant decrease in organ weights and kidney markers levels accompanied by decreasing in oxidative stress biomarkers as compared to HFD groups. The histological findings showed a renoprotective effect of artichoke extract. These findings suggest that EEA exerts anti-oxidant kidney effects in HFD- induced obese rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pemphigus herpetiformis (PH) is a rare form of pemphigus, especially when occurring in childhood. Misdiagnosis is common in this age group. The disease exhibits diverse clinical and histological aspects. Further immunological investigations should be performed in order to make the right diagnosis with a correct management strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity plays a pivotal role in the insulin resistance disease, which is related to hypertension, hyperlipidemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The purpose of the present study was done to evaluate the effect of artichoke leaves extract (ALE) in the high-fat diet (HFD)-induced cellular obesity and cardiac damage in Wistar rats. Body and organ weights, serum lipid profile, cardiac markers, and antioxidants enzymes were measured. Oral administration of ALE at two doses 200 and 400 mg/kg for a period of 60 days showed a significant decrease in body and organ weights, serum total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDH, ALT accompanied by decreasing in oxidative stress biomarker (MDA, and AOPP) and increasing antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, and GPx) levels as compared to HFD groups. The histological findings showed a cardioprotective effect of ALE. These findings suggest that ALE exert anti-oxidant cardiac effects in HFD- induced obese rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatic injuries have been reported in patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 infection, particularly in those with moderate to severe illness. To date, pathological changes caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in liver tissue are unclear. Moreover, the mechanisms involved in liver injury in Coronavirus disease 2019 infection are not yet established. In this paper, we summarize the spectrum of pathologic findings of liver injury in patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 and we discuss the clinicopathological correlation and the mechanisms of liver damage in Coronavirus disease 2019 infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that poor prognostic indicators of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) include younger age at diagnosis, poorer tumor grade, negative estrogen receptor, lesser degree of pathological response in the breast and lymph nodes. METHODS: This is a retrospective study conducted over a period of 12 years between January 2008 and December 2019 at the medical oncology department at Habib Bourguiba University Hospital in Sfax. We included in this study women with confirmed IBC. We excluded patients with no histological evidence, those whose medical records were unusable. Data collection was done from patient files. The aim of this study was to analyze the factors of poor prognosis of this entity. RESULTS: During a period of 12 years (2008–2019), 2879 cases of breast cancer were treated at Habib Bourguiba hospital in Sfax. 81 IBC were included. The incidence of IBC was 3%. The average age was 52.4 years (26–87 years). Invasive ductal carcinoma was the most frequent histological type (85.7%). Hormone receptor were positive in 64%. Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-2 (HER2) was overexpressed in 35.9% of cases. The proliferation index Ki-67 was analyzed in 34 cases. It was >20% in 24 cases. Luminal A, luminal B, HER2+++, triple negative were found in 13%, 50.7%, 16% and 20% respectively. Metastases at diagnosis were found in 38%. Poor prognostic factors significantly influencing overall survival in univariate analysis were metastatic stage, high SBR grade, lymph node involvement, in particular greater than 3 nodes, negative hormone receptors, triple-negative molecular profile and occurrence of relapse. CONCLUSION: Number of positive lymph nodes greater than 3 and the occurrence of relapse were independent prognostic factors in case of localized IBC. Metastatic stage was associated with a very poor prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION The World Health Organization (WHO) had launched the Framework convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2003 in order to curve the epidemic of tobacco use worldwide. Since most smokers begin to smoke before the age of 18 years, Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) has been developed in order to monitor tobacco smoking among adolescents. Our aim was to assess smoking among Tunisian youth using GYTS 2017 data. METHODS GYTS is cross-sectional, two cluster school-based survey to produce a representative sample of students aged 13-15 years. It was conducted in 2017 in 67 secondary schools in Tunisia. The investigation tool was an anonymously answered questionnaire, which contained core questions about six majors tobacco related topics. RESULTS Lifetime cigarettes and waterpipe prevalence were 7.8% (14.4% of boys, 1.6% of girls, p<0.001) and 7.2% (13% of boys, 2.8% of girls, p<0.001), respectively. Among cigarette smokers, 62.5% were able to buy their own cigarettes. Overall, 23.5% of cigarette smokers and 41.5% of waterpipe smokers were not able to buy their products because of their age. Sixty percent of smokers wanted to quit and 56.4% had already tried to stop. Half of the respondents were exposed to SHS in their homes and 62.1% in indoor public places. CONCLUSIONS In Tunisia, tobacco prevalence among youth is high. Youth have free access to tobacco products and smoke-free regulations are only partially respected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is a system used to communicate with an external world through the brain activity. The brain activity is measured by electroencephalography (EEG) signal and then processed by a BCI system. EEG source reconstruction could be a way to improve the accuracy of EEG classification in EEG based brain-computer interface (BCI). The source localization of the human brain activities can be an important resource for the recognition of the cognitive state, medical disorders, and a better understanding of the brain in general. In this study, we have compared 51 mother wavelets taken from 7 different wavelet families, which are applied to a Stationary Wavelet Transform (SWT) decomposition of an EEG signal. This process includes Haar, Symlets, Daubechies, Coiflets, Discrete Meyer, Biorthogonal, and reverse Biorthogonal wavelet families in extracting five different brainwave subbands for source localization. For this process, we used the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) for feature extraction followed by the Boundary Element Model (BEM) and the Equivalent Current Dipole (ECD) for the forward and inverse problem solutions. The evaluation results in investigating the optimal mother wavelet for source localization eventually identified the sym20 mother wavelet as the best choice followed by bior6.8 and coif5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pan African Medical Journal is the property of Pan African Medical Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is a system used to communicate with an external world through the brain activity. The brain activity is measured by electroencephalography (EEG) signal and then processed by a BCI system. EEG source reconstruction could be a way to improve the accuracy of EEG classification in EEG based brain-computer interface (BCI). The source localization of the human brain activities can be an important resource for the recognition of the cognitive state, medical disorders, and a better understanding of the brain in general. In this study, we have compared 51 mother wavelets taken from 7 different wavelet families, which are applied to a Stationary Wavelet Transform (SWT) decomposition of an EEG signal. This process includes Haar, Symlets, Daubechies, Coiflets, Discrete Meyer, Biorthogonal, and reverse Biorthogonal wavelet families in extracting five different brainwave subbands for source localization. For this process, we used the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) for feature extraction followed by the Boundary Element Model (BEM) and the Equivalent Current Dipole (ECD) for the forward and inverse problem solutions. The evaluation results in investigating the optimal mother wavelet for source localization eventually identified the sym20 mother wavelet as the best choice followed by bior6.8 and coif5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aural myiasis or otomyiasis is a rare disease that involves the external and/or middle ear. To the best of our knowledge, only one case of aural myiasis caused by I Muscidae i has been reported in a 3-year-old Indian child with a history of unilateral chronic otitis media.3 Aural myiasis is diagnosed by clinical examination and otoscopy. [Extracted from the article]

Background: The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to constitute an international public health concern. Few data are available on the duration and prognostic factors of the disease. We aimed to study the recovery time among a Tunisian cohort of COVID-19 confirmed patients and identify the prognostic factors.Methods: A retrospective, nationwide study was conducted from March 2 to May 8, 2020, recruiting all patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19, by RT-PCR methods, in Tunisia. Data were collected via phone call interview. Kaplan-Meir Methods and Cox proportional hazards regression models were, respectively, used to study the recovery time and estimate its prognostic factors.Results: One thousand and thirty patients with COVID-19 (aged 43.2 ± 18.2 years, 526 female (51.1%)) were enrolled. Among them 141 (14.8%) were healthcare professionals. Out of 173 patients (17.8%) admitted to the hospital, 47 were admitted in an intensive care unit. Among 827 patients who didn't require specialized care, 55.5% were self-isolated at home, while the rest were in specialized centers. Six hundred and two patients were symptomatic. A total of 634 (61.6%) patients have recovered and 45 (4.4%) patients died. The median duration of illness was estimated to be 31 days (95% CI: [29-32]). Older age (HR = 0.66, CI:[0.46-0.96], P = 0.031) and symptoms (HR = 0.61, CI:[0.43-0.81], P = 0.021) were independently associated with a delay in recovery time. Being a healthcare professional (HR = 1.52, CI: [1.10-2.08], P = 0.011) and patients in home isolation compared to isolation centers (HR = 2.99, CI: [1.85-4.83], P < 10¯3) were independently associated with faster recovery time.Conclusion: The duration of illness was estimated to be 1 month. However, this long estimated duration of illness may not equate to infectiousness. A particular attention must to be paid to elderly and symptomatic patients with closer monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving high data rate transmission is critically constrained by green communication metrics in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). A unified metric ensuring a successful compromise between the energy efficiency (EE) and the spectral efficiency (SE) is, then, an interesting design criterion in such systems. In this paper, we focus on EE-SE tradeoff optimization in Wireless Underground Sensor Networks (WUSNs) where signals penetrate through a challenging lossy soil medium and nodes' power supply is critical. Underground sensor nodes gather and send sensory information to underground relay nodes which amplify-and-retransmit received signals to an aboveground sink node. We propose to optimize source and relay powers used for each packet transmission using an efficient recent metaheuristic optimization algorithm called Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA). Thus, the optimal source and relay transmission powers, which maximize the EE-SE tradeoff under the maximum allowed transmission powers and the initial battery capacity constraints, are obtained. Further, we study the case where the underground medium properties are dynamic and change from a transmission to another. For this situation, we propose to allocate different maximum node powers according to the soil medium conditions. Simulation results prove that our proposed optimization achieves a significant EE-SE tradeoff and prolongs the network's lifetime compared to the fixed allocation node power scheme. Additional gain is obtained in case of dynamic medium conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a novel code called two dimensional Pascal's triangle zero cross correlation (2D-PTZCC) for spectral/spatial coding with its structure of the corresponding system to implement in spectral amplitude coding optical code division multiple access (SAC-OCDMA) systems The novel code is derived from a one dimensional zero cross correlation (1D-ZCC) code using Pascal's triangle rule. The analytical results prove that the proposed code has totally removed the multiple access interference (MAI), in addition the phase induced intensity noise (PIIN) influence is highly reduced due to the zero cross correlation (ZCC) property. Comparing with the recent developed two-dimensional codes like 2D multi diagonal (2D-MD), 2D dynamic cyclic shift (2D-DCS), 2D diluted perfect difference (2D-DPD) and 2D perfect difference (2D-PD) codes for the same code length. The results of simulation show that the suggested code improve the system capacity and increase the number of simultaneous users reaches 29 % and 64 % comparing to 2D-DPD and 2D-PD codes, respectively. As well, it supplies higher signal power and data bit rates whereas it saves effective source power around −0.81dBm for 2D-DCS and 2D-DPD codes and consumes minor light spectral width. The passage from 1D to 2D ameliorated 1.68 times the system capacity and saved around − 4.27 d B m $ - 4.27{\rm{ dBm}}$ the effective power for each user. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: With the easing of restriction measures, repeated community-based sampling for tracking new COVID-19 infections is anticipated for the next 6 to 12 months. A non-invasive, self-collected specimen like saliva will be useful for such public health surveillance. Investigations on the use of saliva for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR have largely been among COVID-19 in-pa\tients and symptomatic ambulatory patients with limited work in a community-based screening setting. This study was carried out to address this paucity of data and reported discrepancies in diagnostic accuracy for saliva samples. Patients and Methods: From 29th June to 14th July 2020, adults presenting for COVID-19 testing at a community-based screening facility in Dubai, United Arab Emirates were recruited. Clinical data, nasopharyngeal swab in universal transport media and drooling saliva in sterile containers were obtained. Reverse transcriptase PCR amplification of SARS-CoV-2 RdRp and N genes was used to detect the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Results: Of the 401 participants, 35 (8.7%) had viral detection in at least one specimen type and the majority (n=20/35; 57.1%) were asymptomatic. Both swab and saliva were positive in 19 (54.2%) patients, while 7 (20.0%) patients had swab positive/saliva negative results. There were 9 (25.7%) patients with saliva positive/swab negative result and this included 5 asymptomatic COVID-19 patients undergoing repeat screening. Using the swab as the reference gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of saliva were 73.1% (95% CI 52.2– 88.4%) and 97.6% (95% CI 95.5– 98.9%) while the positive and negative predictive values were 67.9% (95% CI 51.5– 80.8%) and 98.1% (95% CI 96.5– 99.0%), respectively. Conclusion: The findings suggest good diagnostic accuracy for saliva and feasibility of utilization of specimen without transport media for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR. Saliva represents a potential specimen of choice in community settings and population-based screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video surveillance has been a major area of focus for researchers and engineers. Actually, video surveillance includes several useful and complex tasks such as tracking, human detection, re-identification and recognition. Multi-scale covariance (MSCOV) descriptor has recently grown in interest due to its good performances for person detection, re-identification and matching. Unfortunately, its original version requires heavy computations, and it is difficult to be executed in real time on embedded systems. This paper presents two aspects of improvement to adapt the MSCOV descriptor for embedded systems. First, the local binary pattern (LBP) features are introduced and a trade-off between accuracy and processing cost is used to define the best features combination. Second, parallel implementation and embedded co-processor are exploited to accelerate processing time on multi-core CPU architectures. Both optimizations are implemented and evaluated for executing a complete application of person re-identification systems. The software implementation is performed using the VIPeR dataset. Using LBP, 21.57% processing speed-up and 50% less memory requirements for the descriptor computation are achieved without any accuracy performance degradation. We also prototype the proposed design using Zynq platform based on ARM Cortex-A9. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the parallelization and conduct more than 11 times processing speed-up against the original algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TiO2 catalysts were synthesized via simple sol–gel method using different carboxylic acids. The synthesized materials were characterized by UV–Vis spectroscopy (DRS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 physisorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The photocatalytic activity of the samples was evaluated in the degradation of phenol under visible and solar light. The prepared catalysts using the carboxylic acids showed an improvement in the characteristics of TiO2. Particularly, the catalyst prepared with citric acid, showed a single pure anatase phase with a small crystallite size (of around 9.4 nm), larger surface area (81 m2/g) and narrower band gap (2.94 eV) compared to the non-modified TiO2 and the reference Degussa P25. Moreover, the results showed that using citric acid, a high conversion of phenol under visible light of around 46% was achieved and a complete degradation under sunlight in a shorter time of around 90 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pan African Medical Journal is the property of Pan African Medical Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Solar chimney power plant (SCPP) is an attractive way to produce electricity in the high solar radiations zones. It consists of three main components: collector, chimney and turbine. The chimney is considered as the most expensive part of the SCPP. This is due to the requirement of important height to achieve suitable performance. In this paper, a new chimney design of hyperbolic shape is proposed. The design is optimized by analyzing the impact of the divergence radius of the chimney on the SCPP performance using a 2D computational fluid dynamics code. For this end, the ratio of the hyperbolic chimney radius over the chimney height was varied from 0 to 0.3. Computational results were validated against test data from a developed experimental prototype. The comparison of the proposed designs with a conventional solar chimney power plant shows a significant performance improvement. In fact, the increase in the divergence chimney radius has led to more advanced power output. Specially, a rise of 295% of the total system efficiency is found when the divergence radius is set to 15 m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a public health problem worldwide. Characterizing its trends over time is a useful tool for decision-makers to assess the efficiency of TB control programs. We aimed to give an update on the current chronological trends of TB in Southern Tunisia from 1995 to 2016 and to estimate future trajectories of TB epidemic by 2030. Methods: We retrospectively collected data of all notified TB new cases by the Center of Tuberculosis Control between 1995 and 2016 in South of Tunisia. Joinpoint Regression Analysis was performed to analyze chronological trends and annual percentage changes (APC) were estimated. Results: In the past 22 years, a total of 2771 cases of TB were notified in Southern Tunisia. The annual incidence rate of TB was 13.91/100,000 population/year. There was a rise in all forms of TB incidence (APC = 1.63) and in extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) (APC = 2.04). The incidence of TB increased in children and adult females between 1995 and 2016 (APC = 4.48 and 2.37, respectively). The annual number of TB declined in urban districts between 2004 and 2016 (APC = -2.85). Lymph node TB cases increased (APC = 4.58), while annual number of urogenital TB decreased between 1995 and 2016 (APC = -3.38). Projected incidence rates would increase to 18.13 and 11.8/100,000 population in 2030 for global TB and EPTB, respectively. Conclusions: Our study highlighted a rise in all forms of TB and among high-risk groups, notably children, females and lymph node TB patients in the last two decades and up to the next one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cynara scolymus L. (Artichoke) has been used for the treatment of metabolic disorders. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the hepatoprotective effect of Cynara scolymus leaves extract against a high fat diet (HFD) induced rats. This study investigated the most abundant phenolic compounds rich Cynara scolymus leaves extract and it is antihypercholesterolemic and antioxidative effects in vivo. The hypercaloric high fat diet (HFD) was treated with 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg of ethanol extract (EEA) from leaves of Cynara and atorvastatin (ATOR) (10 mg/kg/day) during an 8-week period. Lipid profile was measured and oxidative stress systematic in hepatic tissue was determined. Our data revealed that HFD-induced hepatic dysfunction manifested by significant abnormal levels of AST, ALT, ALP, LDH, and OCT was accompanied by increasing levels of oxidative stress biomarker (ROS, MDA, and AOPP) while decreasing in antioxidant status. Coadministration of EEA significantly reduced serum lipid profile and hepatic disorders which was confirmed to be histological by reducing the fatty liver deposition in hepatic lobule. These findings suggest that Cynara leaves exert antiobesity and antioxidant liver effects in HFD-induced obese rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embedded signaling is an efficient method to blindly estimate different parameters in wireless communication systems. In this paper, we propose a new nodes identification method based on embedded signaling for wireless relay systems. Data packets, modulated with high order modulations, are transmitted by a source node and forwarded by a relay node to a destination node. In the proposed identification scheme, source and relay nodes incorporate precoding sequences, based on codewords generated from block codes, into the data sequence. A novel soft treatment based on the computation of log-likelihood ratios is performed at the destination node to identify source and relay nodes involved in packets transmissions. This soft treatment avoids noise amplification encountered in previous works. Two types of identification schemes are proposed: the hierarchical scheme and the non-hierarchical scheme. The hierarchical scheme allows the destination to recover hierarchically the identities of transmitting source and relay nodes of received packets in two shots. The non-hierarchical scheme allows the destination to efficiently recover in one shot the identities of transmitting nodes. We study the complexities of both identification schemes and compare their performance in terms of identification error rate. Since the knowledge of the channel is necessary in the identification process, we propose a blind estimation technique allowing the destination to estimate the channel. Simulations results show that our proposed methods significantly outperform previous identification methods based on embedded signaling and hard decoding. Indeed, gains of approximately 1.5 dB and 2 dB are obtained at high signal to noise ratio when the non-hierarchical scheme is used respectively for 8 Phase Shift Keying and 16PSK modulations. Simulations show also that the non-hierarchical scheme always outperforms the hierarchical scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are interested in developing a new control architecture to command a mobile robot in a partially known environment. For that purpose, a hybrid control architecture is adopted, combining the reactive and the deliberative method. The reactive method consists of the hierarchical fuzzy controllers based on Type-2 Fuzzy Logic System (T2-FLS), dedicated to commanding the robot towards a mobile target while avoiding unexpected obstacles. A comparative study is made to show the efficiency of T2-FLS against Type-1 Fuzzy Logic System (T1-FLS). Additionally, the used deliberative method is the sliding mode, allowing the robot to track the mobile goal trajectory. Simulation results are given finally to test the proposed architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The study investigated the association between plasma homocysteine, folate and vitamin B12 with 5,10 methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR C677T and A1298C), thymidylate synthase (TYMS 2R → 3R) and methionine synthase (MTR A2756G) polymorphisms and methotrexate (MTX) treatment and toxicity in Tunisian Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.Methods: A total of 185 patients with RA were included. Homocysteine (Hcy) was assessed by fluorescence polarization immunoassay, and folate and vitamin B12 were measured by chemiluminescence immunoassays. The genetic polymorphisms were analyzed by PCR or PCR-RFLP. Hyperhomocysteinemia (HHC) was considered for Hcy > 15 µmol/L.Results: MTHFR C677T polymorphism was associated with HHC in RA patients (multi-adjusted OR, 95% CI 2.18, [1.07-4.57]; p = 0.031). No association was detected with the remaining polymorphisms. Plasma Hcy, folate, and vitamin B12 did not differ according to each polymorphism, or with MTX treatment or toxicity. However, HHC was more prevalent in patients with than those without MTX toxicity (32.7 vs. 16.7%; p = 0.035).Conclusions: The MTHFR 677TT genotype is an independent risk factor for HHC in Tunisians RA patients. HHC could be a useful marker of MTX toxicity in RA patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater image processing is widely increased over the last decade. It is a fundamental process for a most part of underwater research applications, because of the need of data acquisition. In this paper we will propose a novel approach of pipe detection in submarine environment. The system draws much of its power from a representation that describes an object class taking into account structure and content features which are computed through the multi-scale covariance descriptor. This approach describes an object detection model by training a support vector machine classifier using a large set of positive and negative samples. We present result on pipe detection using Maris dataset. Moreover, we show how the representation affects detection performance by considering mono-scale representation using Covariance descriptor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pan African Medical Journal is the property of Pan African Medical Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Pan African Medical Journal is the property of Pan African Medical Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The challenge of this work is to implement an algorithm which enables the robot to achieve independent activities in the purpose of achieving a common goal, which consists in autonomous navigation in a partially unknown environment. The use of multiagent system is convenient for such a problem. Hence, we have designed a structure composed of four agents dedicated to perception, navigation, static, and dynamic obstacle avoidance. Those agents interact through a coordination system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]