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Abstract Background Patients with congenital afibrinogenemia suffer from spontaneous recurrent severe bleeding. While fibrinogen concentrates are known to effectively treat bleeding episodes, thrombotic complications often occur upon replacement therapy, rendering clinical management highly challenging. Case Presentation We hereby report a case of combined afibrinogenemia and congenital antithrombin deficiency manifested by recurrent life-threatening bleeding, as well as spontaneous severe arterial occlusion, such as acute coronary syndrome and stroke, and venous thromboses like pulmonary embolism. Secondary fibrinogen prophylaxis is recommended following any initial life-threatening bleeding episode in patients with afibrinogenemia, yet the high associated risk of thrombosis illustrates the complexity of choosing the most effective prophylaxis strategy combining fibrinogen concentrate with antithrombotic agent for optimal protection against the risk of both severe bleeding and thrombosis. For our patient, the thrombin generation assay objectively confirmed her prothrombotic tendency. Conclusion This case may help us better understand the pathophysiology of arterial thrombosis in afibrinogenemia, while highlighting the difficulty of managing such complications.

ZnO nanorods (NRs) have been successfully grown onto Silicon (Si) substrates. The properties of ZnO NRs have been characterized using field emission scanning microscopy, Photoluminescence, and X-ray diffraction. Results showed that the growth temperature (85, 90, 95, and 100oC) significantly affected the properties of ZnO NRs. At a temperature of 95oC, the structural and optical properties have been significantly enhanced, besides, well-aligned ZnO NRs have been obtained. With the rise of growth temperature from 85 to 95oC, the crystallite size increases (52 to 94 nm), and the near band edge emission to deep level emission ratio is enhanced. Besides, the aspect ratio for the prepared ZnO NRs has increased significantly reaching 19.42. This study emphasizes the significance of growth temperature in tunning the structural and microstructural and subsequently the physicochemical properties of ZnO NRs by fine control of the growth temperature. Moreover, a facile and cost-efficient method for fabricating ZnO nanorods for electronic applications based on silicon is presented in this study.

The opportunistic pathogen Mycobacterium abscessus subsp. abscessus (Mab) has become an emerging public health threat due to the increasing number of Mab-associated chronic pulmonary disease cases. Treatment requires multiple drug courses and is often combined with surgical resection. Cure rates are only ~50% due to treatment failure and comorbidities. Deeper understanding of the biology of Mab is required to illuminate potential avenues for the development of better therapeutics against Mab infections. The ESX-3 type VII protein secretion system of Mab has an important role in host inflammatory and pathological responses during infection. In this work, we demonstrate a functional link between ESX-3 and an iron uptake system based on an unusual mycobactin-type siderophore (designated MBT Ab) and exploit this link to implement a large screen for transposon mutants with an impaired ESX-3. Most mutants we identified carry insertions in genes encoding predicted ESX-3 secretion machinery components or potential ESX-3 substrates. The mutants overproduce MBT Ab, a trait consistent with an iron uptake defect. Our characterization of MBT Ab revealed structural features reminiscent of nocardial mycobactin-like compounds with cytotoxicity. This finding raises the possibility that MBT Ab may play roles in pathogenesis unlinked to iron homeostasis. The mutants generated herein will facilitate research to better understand the role of ESX-3 and its interplay with the siderophore system.

Donkeys are a cornerstone in human existence, having played an important role throughout history in different economic activities, such as working in brick kilns in Egypt. This study was conducted from January 2017 to the end of April 2017 in the El-Saf brick kilns, which are located to the south of the Giza Governorate and 57 Km away from Cairo. Physical clinical health and behavior data were collected from 179 donkeys spanning over a random sample of 20 brick kilns selected from the El-Saf brick kilns. Behavioral, physical health, harness, and environmental parameters were assessed and recorded. The study found that 80 ± 3% (n = 179) of kiln donkeys have some type of wound, and the most serious wound is a beating wound (49 ± 3.7%), which is caused by drivers hitting the donkeys. The drivers are mostly children, who have insufficient knowledge, skills, and attitudes to effectively communicate with their donkeys and no motivation to enhance the welfare of these equids. Other wounds are related to the harness, such as the breeching (10 ± 2.2%), saddle (43 ± 3.7%), neck collar (40 ± 3.6%), and shaft of the cart (12 ± 2.4%). A poor body condition was seen in 56 ± 3.7% of kiln donkeys. A correlation in terms of the prevalence of wounds was found between the body condition (p-value < 0.01) and/or cleanliness of the harness. There was a negative association between the body condition and wound prevalence in brick kilns (Pearson coefficient of correlation −0.71). The physical enviromental factors that affect the body condition of working donkeys are the working hours of donkeys/day, the number of donkeys in a kiln, the distance from loading to the oven, and the concentrated food/donkey (p-value < 0.01). These three variables can explain 78.85% of the variability in body conditions based on a 1–5 scale. In addition to health parameters, behavior parameters, such as the donkeys’ general attitude, reaction to observers, and chin contact are associated with the body condition (p-value < 0.01). As a consequence, it is important for the owners of working donkeys to pay attention to their body condition in order to avoid compromising their body condition and welfare.

The wall-less flow phantoms with recognized acoustic features (attenuation and speed of sound), interior properties, and dimensions of tissue were prepared, calibrated, and characterized of Doppler ultrasound scanning demands tissue-mimicking materials (TMMs). TMM phantoms are commercially available and ready-made for medical ultrasound applications. Furthermore, the commercial TMM phantoms are proper for ultrasound purpose or estimation of diagnostic imaging techniques according to the chemical materials used for its preparation. However, preparing a desirable TMM for wall-less flow phantom using a specific chemical material according to the specific applications is required for different flow. In this review, TMM and wall-less flow phantoms prepared using different chemical materials and methods were described. The chemical materials used in Doppler ultrasound TMM and wall-less flow phantoms fabricated over the previous decades were of high interest in this review.

We report a facile synthesis of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod arrays using an optimized, chemical bath deposition method on glass, PET and Si substrates. The morphological and structural properties of the ZnO nanorod arrays were investigated using various techniques such as field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements, which revealed the formation of dense ZnO nanorods with a single crystal, hexagonal wurtzite structure. The aspect ratio of the single-crystal ZnO nanorods and the growth rate along the (002) direction was found to be sensitive to the substrate type. The lattice constants and the crystallite size of the fabricated ZnO nanorods were calculated based on the XRD data. The obtained results revealed that the increase in the crystallite size is strongly associated with the growth conditions with a minor dependence on the type of substrate. The Raman spectroscopy measurements confirmed the existence of a compressive stress in the fabricated ZnO nanorods. The obtained results illustrated that the growth of high quality, single-crystal ZnO nanorods can be realized by adjusting the synthesis conditions.