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Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL) has proven to be successful in cooperative assignments. MARL is used to investigate how autonomous agents with the same interests can connect and act in one team. MARL cooperation scenarios are explored in recreational cooperative augmented reality environments, as well as realworld scenarios in robotics. In this paper, we explore the realm of MARL and its potential applications in cooperative assignments. Our focus is on developing a multi-agent system that can collaborate to attack or defend against enemies and achieve victory withminimal damage. To accomplish this, we utilize the StarCraftMulti-Agent Challenge (SMAC) environment and train four MARL algorithms: Q-learning with Mixtures of Experts (QMIX), Value-DecompositionNetwork (VDN), Multi-agent Proximal PolicyOptimizer (MAPPO), andMulti-Agent Actor Attention Critic (MAA2C). These algorithms allow multiple agents to cooperate in a specific scenario to achieve the targeted mission. Our results show that the QMIX algorithm outperforms the other three algorithms in the attacking scenario, while the VDN algorithm achieves the best results in the defending scenario. Specifically, the VDNalgorithmreaches the highest value of battlewonmean and the lowest value of dead alliesmean. Our research demonstrates the potential forMARL algorithms to be used in real-world applications, such as controllingmultiple robots to provide helpful services or coordinating teams of agents to accomplish tasks that would be impossible for a human to do. The SMACenvironment provides a unique opportunity to test and evaluateMARL algorithms in a challenging and dynamic environment, and our results show that these algorithms can be used to achieve victory with minimal damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar and renewable energies applications got a great interest and attention in the last few decades. Problems related to CO2 emissions, air pollution, Ozone layer depletion, global warming and environment issues raise the necessity for getting a clean and safe energy. For this purpose, the Center for Solar Energy Studies (CSERS) in Libya conducted a huge research work in different applications for solar and renewable energies. One of these important activities is the Solar Gradient Solar Pond technology. It is an effective solar energy collection and storage system which presents a relatively simple and economic method of providing low grade energy with the advantage of annual storage cycle. This paper presents a general review on researches and studies on solar ponds that were conducted by CSERS research team. Tajoura’s Experimental Solar Pond (TESP) is designed as an experimental facility enabling the investigation of various aspects of pond performance. It is constructed by the Center for Solar Energy Studies, in joint cooperation with a Swiss company, with a surface area of about 830 m2, and a depth of 2.5 m, coupled with an evaporative pond of 105 m2 area and 1.5 m deep, equipped with all necessary equipments and measuring control system. The paper also shows the experience of operating MSF desalination unit coupled with TESP solar pond. Finally, other factors affecting the solar pond’s thermal stability were also discussed.

A solar powered desalination unit which is working on a humidification –dehumidification technique (HDH) is one of the most important techniques used in seawater desalination in remote and rural areas. It is easy to design, operate and maintain. In this paper, a theoretical study based on a design methodology for a solar assisted desalination unit working on a HDH principle under the prevailing conditions of Tajoura-Libya is carried out. The main target is to study the effect of different design and operating parameters that influence the performance of the unit and its productivity under different design scenarios; (spring, summer, autumn and winter). Results show that the productivity of the unit is increased with a corresponding increase in the inlet air mass flow rate to the solar air heater, inlet water mass flow rate to the humidifier and cooling water mass flow rate to the dehumidifier. A significant increase in the productivity of the unit is achieved when the initial water temperature and the initial mass of water inside the storage tank were increased. Moreover, Gained Output Ratio, GOR, values vary between (0.27 and 0.79) for winter and spring designs and (1.94 and 2.75) for autumn and summer designs respectively. In general, the productivity of the unit is estimated to be within a range from a minimum of (2 ~ 4) kg/m2.day, in winter to a maximum of (10 ~ 12) kg/m2.day, in summer, which makes it very convenient for using in rural and remote areas.

Objectives. To explore the magnitude and determinants of burnout among emergency physicians and nurses working at emergency departments of hospitals in Abha and Khamis Mushait cities. Subjects and Methods. A cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted in emergency departments of hospitals in Abha and Khamis Mushait cities belonging to Ministry of Health. All physicians (n=95) and nurses (n=187) currently working at these sites were invited to participate in the study by filling a validated self-administered questionnaire including two main sections: personal and professional characteristics of physicians and nurses as well as Maslach burnout inventory (MBI) to assess the three components of the burnout syndrome: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Results. The study included 282 physicians and nurses. The age of more than half of them (54.3%) ranged between 31 and 35 years. Most of them (70.9%) were females. About two-thirds of the respondents (66.3%) were nurses while the remaining 33.7% were physicians. Majority of the emergency healthcare professionals (88.7%) had high emotional exhaustion. The prevalence of high depersonalization (cynicism) was 20.6% whereas that of low personal accomplishment was 41.1% among emergency healthcare professionals. The overall prevalence of burnout among healthcare professionals was 16.3%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that male healthcare professionals were at almost higher three-folded risk for developing burnout compared to females (aOR=2.76; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.21-6.28, p=0.017)). Smokers were at higher significant risk for burnout compared to nonsmokers (aOR=15.37; 95% CI: 7.06-33.45, p

The Center for Solar Energy Research and Studies (CSERS) has a good experience in operating and evaluating the thermal performance of small scale 5 m3/day Multi-Stage Flushing (MSF) desalination plant connected to solar pond according to the local weather conditions of Tajoura area. However, a new project has been suggested to run the desalination plant with vacuum tubes solar thermal collectors utilizing available technology and experience. In this study an attempt was made to make the best use of readily available components to operate the MSF desalination unit with field of solar thermal collectors. Several configurations of collectors and tank arrangements were designed and examined through the use of simulation software, TRNSYS. The study has shown that the layout-3 (two 500 litre storage tanks each of them connected to 9x5 vacuum tube collectors) gives the best performance with an annual solar fraction over 77% at load temperature of 70 °C with flow rate of 2500 lit/hr, and over 68% at load temperature of 80 °C for working condition of 8 hours daily. The study has also shown that running the desalination plant for 24 hours a day reduces the solar fraction of the solar collector field to 25%

OBJECTIVE: Natural wound dressings composed of gelatin (GEL) and chitosan (CH) impregnated with bioactive compounds (Nigella sativa oil) were prepared and characterized to evaluate their potential application. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The formulated composite was subjected to γ-irradiation. In vitro, the ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay and antibiofilm activities were evaluated. In vivo, the tissue wound-healing process was studied by applying GEL-CH-Nigella in dorsal skin rabbit tissue. On days 7 and 14, the biochemical biomarker and histological analysis were determined. RESULTS: At 10 kGy, FRAP assays exhibited the highest antioxidant activity (380 mmol/ kg). A significant inhibition of anti-biofilm activity was observed against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) (p<0.01). Fourteen days post-surgery, a significant reduction in thiobarbituric acid-reactive compounds (TBARs) was observed compared to the GELCH group. Concerning oxidative stress status, GEL-CH-Nigella significantly improved superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities. A histological analysis revealed that GEL-CH-Nigella accelerated wound closure and improved collagenisation and enhanced epidermal tissue thickness. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that GEL-CH-Nigella wound dressing is a promising biomaterial for engineered tissue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Redhwan A Al-Naggar,1 Mahfoudh Abdulghani,2,14 Muhamed T Osman,3 Waqar Al-Kubaisy,1 Aqil Mohammad Daher,15 Khairun Nain Bin Nor Aripin,4 Ali Assabri,5 Dawood A Al-Hidabi,6 Mohamed Izham B Mohamed Ibrahim,7 Ahmed Al-Rofaai,8 Hisham S Ibrahim,9 Hassanain Al-Talib,10 Alyaa Al-Khateeb,11 Gamil Qasem Othman,6 Qaid Ali Abdulaziz,6 Karuthan Chinna,12 Yuri V Bobryshev131Population Health and Preventive Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 2Pharmacology Department, International Medical School, Management and Science University, 3Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine & Defence Health, National Defence University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 4Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Islamic Science University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 5Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Sana'a University, 6University of Science and Technology, Sana'a, Yemen; 7College of Pharmacy, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar; 8School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, Penang, Malaysia, 9Physiology Discipline-Faculty Of Medicine and Health Sciences-Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia, 10Laboratory Medical Science Cluster, Drug Discovery & Health Community of Research, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 11Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine Discipline, Drug Discovery & Health Community of Research, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 12Social and Preventive Medicine, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 13Faculty of Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia; 14Pharmacology Department, Unaizah College of Pharmacy (UCP), Qassim University, Al Qassim, Saudi Arabia; 15Department of Community medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Defence Health, National Defence University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaBackground: Students’ perceptions of their learning environment, by defining its strengths and weaknesses, are important for continuous improvement of the educational environments and curriculum. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore students' perceptions of their learning environment, among medical students in Malaysia. Various aspects of the education environment were compared between year levels and sex.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Management and Science University, Shah Alam, Malaysia in 2012. A total number of 438 medical students participated in this study, and the response rate was 87.6%. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Comparisons of the mean scores of Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) subscales were calculated. The t-test was used to determine statistically significant differences.Results: The majority of the study participants were female, Malay, and from year 3 (68.7%, 65.3%, and 55.7%; respectively). Analysis of each of the 50 items of the DREEM inventory showed that 47 items scored ranged between 2.00 and 3.00, and three items scored below 2.00. These were identified as problem areas in this medical school that are required to be critically addressed. The overall score showed that the medical students’ perceptions were positive. The students' perception toward educational environment was positive for all five DREEM subscales.Conclusion: The study found that, in general, the perceptions of the participants about the learning environment were positive. Nevertheless, the study also found there is a need for curriculum improvement in this school and identified priority areas for such improvement.Keywords: students’ perceptions, DREEM, Malaysia, learning environment, medical education

One of the main problems that negatively affect the operation of salt gradient solar ponds and influence its thermal stability is the maintenance of salt gradient profile. Evaporation pond (EP) is designed to generate the salt which is lost by upward salt diffusion from the lower convective zone (LCZ) of the solar pond. Another attractive method is the Evaporation Surface facility (ES). Regions with moderate to high precipitation favor Evaporation Surfaces over Evaporation Ponds. Dry climates will generally favor Evaporation Ponds for the brine re-concentration. This paper investigates the differences between (EP) and (ES) both as a source for salt brine generation by evaporation. The effect of (EP) depth on the area ratio and daily variations of salt concentrations for three years of operation is shown. Results show that evaporation can be a reasonable method for salt brine generation. Reducing the depth of (EP) improves the capability of (EP) for brine re-concentration. It also increases the (EP) surface area for the same quantity of saline water used. Therefore, ESs are more powerful than Eps in salt re-concentration.

The object detection technique depends on various methods for duplicating the dataset without adding more images. Data augmentation is a popular method that assists deep neural networks in achieving better generalization performance and can be seen as a type of implicit regularization. This method is recommended in the case where the amount of high-quality data is limited, and gaining new examples is costly and time-consuming. In this paper, we trained YOLOv7 with a dataset that is part of the Open Images dataset that has 8,600 images with four classes (Car, Bus, Motorcycle, and Person). We used five different data augmentations techniques for duplicates and improvement of our dataset. The performance of the object detection algorithm was compared when using the proposed augmented dataset with a combination of two and three types of data augmentation with the result of the original data. The evaluation result for the augmented data gives a promising result for every object, and every kind of data augmentation gives a different improvement. The mAP@.5 of all classes was 76%, and F1-score was 74%. The proposed method increased the mAP@.5 value by +13% and F1-score by +10% for all objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous agents can explore the environment around them when equipped with advanced hardware and software systems that help intelligent agents minimize collisions. These systems are developed under the term Artificial Intelligence (AI) safety. AI safety is essential to provide reliable service to consumers in various fields such as military, education, healthcare, and automotive. This paper presents the design of an AI safety algorithm for safe autonomous navigation using Reinforcement Learning (RL). Machine Learning Agents Toolkit (ML-Agents) was used to train the agent with a proximal policy optimizer algorithm with an intrinsic curiosity module (PPO+ ICM). This training aims to improve AI safety and minimize or prevent any mistakes that can cause dangerous collisions by the intelligent agent. Four experiments have been executed to validate the results of our research. The designed algorithm was tested in a virtual environment with four different models. A comparison was presented in four cases to identify the best-performing model for improving AI safety. The designed algorithm enabled the intelligent agent to perform the required task safely using RL. A goal collision ratio of 64% was achieved, and the collision incidents were minimized from 134 to 52 in the virtual environment within 30 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Cholinergic urticaria is uncommon and accounts for 10% of all young adults. To date, there is no effective therapy for cholinergic urticaria.Objective To determine the therapeutic efficacy of different drug combinations in the treatment of cholinergic urticaria.Patients and Methods The participants included in the study are in the age range of 16 to 29 years, with cholinergic urticaria of any duration as diagnosed by physicians. Patients were recruited from Asthma and Allergy Centers in Baghdad and Tikrit. The selected patients were divided randomly into 3 groups according to the treatment protocol. All patients completed screening before treatment.Results The study indicated that cholinergic urticaria was completely controlled in 30.4% of patients (group A) receiving 4 mg of chlorpheniramine maleate, half hour before the exercise, plus chlordiazopoxide (5 mg) and clindium bromide (2.5 mg) tablets, 3 times daily. However, cure rate was higher (83.1%) in patients (group B) receiving 4 mg of chlorpheniramine maleate (histadine), 3 times daily, plus 25 mg of maprotiline HCl (ludiomil), once daily at night. Furthermore, the complete cure rate was 85.4% in patients (group C) receiving 4 mg of chlorpheniramine maleate (histadine)3 times daily, plus 200 mg of cimetidine (tagadine), 3 times daily. The frequency of relapse was higher in group A (89%) as compared with group B (68.4%) and group C (23.5%) (P

Intrinsic motivation helps autonomous exploring agents traverse a larger portion of their environments. However, simulations of different learning environments in previous research show that after millions of timesteps of successful training, an intrinsically motivated agent may learn to act in ways unintended by the designer. This potential for unintended actions of autonomous exploring agents poses threats to the environment and humans if operated in the real world. We investigated this topic by using Unity's MachineLearningAgent Toolkit (ML-Agents) implementation of the Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) algorithm with the Intrinsic Curiosity Module (ICM) to train autonomous exploring agents in three learning environments. We demonstrate that ICM, although designed to assist agent navigation in environments with sparse reward generation, increasing gradually as a tool for purposely training misbehaving agent in significantly less than 1 million timesteps.We present the following achievements: 1) experiments designed to cause agents to act undesirably, 2) a metric for gauging how well an agent achieves its goal without collisions, and 3) validation of PPO best practices. Then, we used optimized methods to improve the agent's performance and reduce collisions within the same environments. These achievements help further our understanding of the significance of monitoring training statistics during reinforcement learning for determining how humans can intervene to improve agent safety and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neutron transport codes are essential tools in nuclear reactor and shielding design. Transport codes implement an iterative technique that suffers from slow convergence while solving highly scattering problems. This necessitated the development of acceleration methods, among which, the diffusion synthetic acceleration (DSA) is the fastest and the only stable method.In this paper we present the development of “TDMGDSA”, a two dimensional multi-group diffusion synthetic accelerated neutron transport computer code. TDMGDSA implements DSA to solve the discrete ordinate equations in X–Y geometry for three spatial differencing schemes; the diamond, weighted diamond, and linear discontinuous differencing. TDMGDSA is the first to implement a linear form of DSA for the diamond differencing, and is one of the first to implement DSA for the weighted diamond and linear discontinuous differencing schemes. TDMGDSA has been tested and is shown to be working reliably.

The synchronisation in wireless cooperative relay networks is impossible to achieve in real environment utilising orthogonal space time block coding. There have been several approaches proposed to mitigate the effect of synchronisation among the relay nodes at the receiver. All have managed to reduce the inter‐symbol interference at the expense of low data rate with high detection complexity. Others achieved full data rate and high cooperative diversity using high decoding complexity that requires a feedback link. In this paper, a new approach is presented that reduces inter‐symbol interference, achieves full data rate and full cooperative diversity with low complexity. This uses a new efficient distributed orthogonal space time block coding design with a sub‐optimum detection scheme utilising dual relay nodes. This reduces the number of timing misalignments among the relay nodes and minimises the detection complexity. Furthermore, the new proposed method uses linear decoding process to achieve full data rate and full cooperative diversity without the need for any a feedback link. The analytical analysis and simulation results confirmed that sub‐optimum approach with the new efficient design are very effective at reducing the lack of synchronisation among the relay nodes at the destination node with low encoding and decoding complexities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endogenous pectin methylesterase (PME) is the enzyme responsible for phase separation and cloud loss in orange juice (OJ) manufacturing. The effect of kiwi's PME inhibitor (PMEI), nanomilling, and pasteurization on OJ quality was evaluated. The microbial quality, PME activity, OJ separation, pH, ascorbic acid content and the sensory characteristics of the juice were followed during 5 weeks storage (4°C). PMEI as freeze‐dried kiwi powder (0.3%, w/w) succeeded in inhibiting 89.3% of the OJ PME without affecting the microbial and the sensory quality. Nanomilling of OJ pulp, to prepare nano‐particles OJ (NPOJ), reduced the initial microbial load by 1.65 and 1.83 log for psychrotrophs and yeasts and molds, respectively; significantly (p <.05) inactivated 40.9% of the residual PME activity and the juice separation was significantly reduced by 48.3% (after 14 days of storage). Nanomilling exhibited no effect on OJ pH, but slight (p <.05) decrease in ascorbic acid content was noted. The combination of PMEI with NPOJ resulted in improved OJ stability with reduced separation to 36.4% of that of control. Such combination also allowed to use a lower pasteurization temperature at lower exposure time (60°C/5 min) needed to obtain new NPOJ with comparable high quality as fresh OJ and which has a shelf life of 3 weeks (4°C). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Restless leg syndrome (RLS) has been described to be common in multiple sclerosis (MS). However, the relationship between RLS and sleep quality, fatigue and clinical disability in MS patients has not been fully investigated. Objective: To study the frequency of RLS in a sample of Egyptian patients with MS and if it correlates with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. Methods: We studied fifty patients with MS compared to thirty healthy volunteers who matched patients group for age and sex as a control group. The patient group was subjected to full clinical and neurological assessment, including the diagnosis of RLS, neurological impairment was evaluated by multiple sclerosis severity scale (MSS), fatigue Descriptive Scale (FDS) for assessment of fatigue, quality of sleep by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS), and MRI of the brain and spinal cord were done. Results: Our results showed that RLS frequency among our sample was 20%, which is higher than control group (6.66%), and revealed that there is affection of sleep quality among RLS positive patients in comparison to RLS negative patients in which their PSQI and ESS are higher among RLS positive group. Regarding MRI lesion, there was no statistically significant difference between MS patients with RLS and those without. Conclusion: RLS is significantly associated with MS and can lead to sleep disturbance in MS patients. In clinical practice, the routine screening of patients for insomnia and symptoms of RLS is encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is widely believed that factors such as stress and anxiety may not only be a result of certain diseases but can themselves exacerbate disease, and sometimes may be the cause. Objective: To clarify the association between stress and some dermatoses using an objective scale. Patients and Methods: This is a case control study conducted at the Dermatology Clinic in Tikrit Teaching Hospital. A total of 735 subjects were included in the study. Among them there were 139 with psoriasis, 159 with vitiligo, 172 with alopecia areata, and 265 with acne vulgaris. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was used to determine the stress level. In addition, two control groups were used in the study. The first was a diseases control group and the second was a healthy individuals group. Results: This study indicated that stress made the state of disease studied, worse. According to patients view, there was a highly significant association between stress and diseases such as psoriasis (OR=8), acne (OR= 7.45), vitiligo (OR= 4.35), and alopecia areata (OR= 4.026). When the data of all the above four diseases was collected together, there was also a positive association between these diseases and stress (P < 0.05; OR= 5.76). There was a significant difference in the mean perceived stress scale (PSS) values between the group of patients who claimed presence of positive association and those who did not. In addition, there was a significant correlation between PSS values and disease grading scales in patients with psoriasis (r=0.77; P<0.0001) and acne (r=0.82; P<0.0001). However, the correlation was significantly higher in patients claiming a positive association (Psoriasis: r=0.76,P<0.0001; Acne: r=0.72,P<0.001) as compared to those who claimed absence of association (Psoriasis: r=33,P<0.05; Acne: r=0.43,P<0.001). Conclusion: The dermatoses included in this study are being activated by stress as a significant association was demonstrated depending on patients view or by determination of PSS. Thus, it is recommended to use psychological therapies in the management of these skin disorders. Abrogation of mast-cell activation seems to be a promising approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates coda deletion phenomenon in Yemeni Tihami dialect (YTD). The paper presents an autosegmental analysis of coda deletion determining how the phonological process takes place. The study is conducted theoretically and supported by practical evidence from the Yemeni Tihami context. The data were analysed and examined within the framework of the Autosegmental Phonology Theory. Methodologically, the data were elicited by employing different methods, viz. Swadesh list, the two tasks of Labovian models - word list reading and passage reading, interviews, oral phonology questionnaires, recordings and participant observations. As a consequence of the autosegmental analysis, the findings affirmed that the postulation of Spencer (1996: 77) that says 'the loss of a coda consonant leads to a lengthening of the nucleus of that syllable' is not applicable to YTD. Therefore, evidence from YTD demonstrates that the postulation of Spencer (1996) is probably applicable to some, but definitely not all, languages/dialects of the world as illustrated in YTD, and thus is not a universal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenon of phonotactics pronunciation is a common hurdle amongst Yemeni speakers of English while learning English language as a foreign language. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the phonological phonotactics in English syllable-initial and syllable-final consonant clusters by Yemeni speakers of English. The study was conducted in Universiti Science Malaysia (USM) on 30 Yemeni students who study their Masters and doctoral programmes in different schools. The present study adopts Selinker's (1972) IL "interlanguage" theory as a framework for the study since it "offers a general account of how L2 acquisition takes place" (Ellis, 1997: 34). Two tasks of the Labovian model, viz, passage reading task and word list reading task were utilized for eliciting data collection for the study. The former task proved to be much more effective than the latter in compiling good data. The results show that the subjects of the study seem to have difficulties in pronouncing English syllable-initial consonant clusters and syllable-final consonant clusters, particularly the three consonant clusters in the syllable-initial (in the passage reading task only) and the target three consonant clusters and four consonant clusters in the syllable-final. Besides, the results show that Yemeni speakers of English have tendency to insert vowel sounds in the English syllable-initial and syllable-final consonant clusters. The results further reveal interesting phenomena in the production of pronunciation in syllable-initial and syllable-final consonant clusters produced by Yemeni speakers of English, such as reduction, substitution and deletion. Last but not least, pedagogical implications and recommendations for further studies were yielded as to assist Yemeni speakers of English, teachers of English and curriculum designers with regard to their production and teaching of English pronunciation particularly the English syllable-initial consonant clusters and syllable-final consonant clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Absract In multiple sclerosis (MS), the immune system attacks and destroys the fatty myelin coating that surrounds and insulates nerve cells in a process known as demyelination. MS is a lifelong condition, and common symptoms include fatigue, muscle spasms, walking difficulties, or numbness and tingling of the face, body, arms and legs. These symptoms can worsen with time, affecting daily activities and reducing a person's quality of life. The disease is highly variable, and some people are affected more than others upon and after diagnosis. Treatments are available to help manage a number of symptoms. Life expectancy for people with MS has increased considerably in the last 20 to 25 years. On average, however, a person with MS can expect to live seven fewer years than someone without this disease. According to the National MS Society, on average, an MS patient lives about seven fewer years than someone in the general public, largely because of disease complications or other medical conditions, like cardiovascular disease. Only rarely does the disease progress so quickly that it is deadly. Due to advances in treatments, care, and lifestyle adjustments, MS often progresses slowly. Many studies show that, nowadays, about two-thirds of all patients retain a fair degree of mobility--the ability to walk, although likely with an assisted device--some 20 years after being diagnosed. Assisted devices can range from supports to aid in walking, to scooters used on occasion to save energy and avoid fatigue. The course of the disease depends on each patient's risk factors, like having a family member with MS, cigarette smoking, and vitamin D sunlight exposure. And, among African-Americans, the disease tends to be a more progressive formand progression can be quicker. MS prognosis is thought to be better for people with relapsingremitting MS than for those with progressive forms of MS, likely because of a better response to disease-modifying therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A causative role is now accepted for Helicobacter (formerly Campylobacter) pylori in type B gastritis, and evidence is accumulating that H. pylori infection in the Riyadh region of Saudia Arabia, using a specific and sensitive ELISA for IgG antibody against the high molecular weight cell-associated antigen of H. pylori (urease). Subjects were interviewed, demographic data were collected, and a serum sample was obtained. Subjects completed a questionnaire that included questions about level of education, smoking, medications used, presence and frequency of symptoms referable to the upper gastrointestinal tract, and family history of ulcer disease. We studied 557 individuals (ranging in age from 5 to 91 yr). The prevalence of H. pylori infection increased rapidly with age: from 40% of those ages 5-10 yr, to more than 70% of those 20 or older. H. pylori infection occurred with significantly more frequency in adults with less than 12 yr of schooling, compared with adults who had attended college. The high rate of acquisition of H. pylori infection in Saudia Arabia emphasizes that studies of H. pylori-disease associations must consider the baseline prevalence of H. pylori infection in that population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To explore the magnitude and determinants of burnout among emergency physicians and nurses working at emergency departments of hospitals in Abha and Khamis Mushait cities.Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted in emergency departments of hospitals in Abha and Khamis Mushait cities belonging to Ministry of Health. All physicians (n=95) and nurses (n=187) currently working at these sites were invited to participate in the study by filling a validated self-administered questionnaire including two main sections: personal and professional characteristics of physicians and nurses as well as Maslach burnout inventory (MBI) to assess the three components of the burnout syndrome: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment.Results: The study included 282 physicians and nurses. The age of more than half of them (54.3%) ranged between 31 and 35 years. Most of them (70.9%) were females. About two-thirds of the respondents (66.3%) were nurses while the remaining 33.7% were physicians. Majority of the emergency healthcare professionals (88.7%) had high emotional exhaustion. The prevalence of high depersonalization (cynicism) was 20.6% whereas that of low personal accomplishment was 41.1% among emergency healthcare professionals. The overall prevalence of burnout among healthcare professionals was 16.3%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that male healthcare professionals were at almost higher three-folded risk for developing burnout compared to females (aOR=2.76; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.21-6.28, p=0.017)). Smokers were at higher significant risk for burnout compared to nonsmokers (aOR=15.37; 95% CI: 7.06-33.45, p<0.001). Healthcare professionals who reported a history of taking medications for sleep disorders expressed higher risk for burnout opposed to those with no history of sleep disorder medication (aOR=6.59; 95% CI: 2.08-20.81, p=0.001).Conclusion: A considerable proportion of physicians and nurses working at emergency departments of hospitals in Abha and Khamis Mushait cities had burnout syndrome, particularly high emotional exhaustion and low personal accomplishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an abstract on a paper titled "Myocardial Blood Flow in Patients With Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus and Normal Coronary Angiography," presented at the 2011 Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR)/Euro CMR Joint Scientific Sessions held in France.

Background: carotid artery stenting (CAS) had become widely used as an alternative to carotid endarterectomy (CEA) in revascularization therapy of carotid artery stenosis, especially in some high risk patients for surgical intervention. Objective: the purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcome and follow up of cases that undergo extracranial CAS at the Neuroendovascular Unit of Ain Shams University Hospital. Methods: during a 30 month period, 50 cases were enrolled and underwent carotid artery stenting with open cell (Protégé® - EV3) or closed cell (Wall stent® - Boston scientific) stents. A filter device for embolic protection (Spider filter® - EV3) was used. Clinical assessment with the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) together with post procedural diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) was used to determine cerebral embolization. Results: CAS was performed in 50 cases; 40 (80%) symptomatic and 10 (20%) asymptomatic . A similar number of open-cell and closed-cell stents were used. New acute cerebral emboli were detected with DWMRI in 12% (6/50) of cases after the procedure. Three (3/50) cases (6%) showed corresponding clinical deterioration in NIHSS; two cases developed minor stroke and the third case developed a major stroke. Conclusion: CAS at Ain Shams Neuroendovascular Unit showed a high technical success rate and good short term clinical outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines some points to be applied and followed for the betterment of language learning among the pupils in Yemen, which include the role of teachers in making students interested in learning.