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Moisture accumulation in the building components/assemblies that form building envelopes can lead to material deterioration and moisture related issues such as mould growth. As a part of the building envelope, this study focusses on assessing the moisture performance and energy performance (i.e., hygrothermal performance) of roofing systems. As roofs can be built with high initial construction moisture, numerical simulations were conducted with and without high initial construction moisture in order to investigate: (a) the hygrothermal performance of cool and black roofs having material layer with high initial construction moisture content, (b) the time needed so that the moisture content reaches acceptable level as per the building code requirements, (c) whether moisture accumulation and mould growth occur in the roofs, and (d) the energy savings as a result of installing white/cool roof instead of black roof. An advanced numerical model is used to conduct the numerical simulations for black and cool roofs when they are subjected to hot climate. This model solves simultaneously the Heat, Air and Moisture (HAM) transport equations in all layers of the building assemblies. The model was extensively validated by comparing its predictions with the experimental data of different building components at various operating conditions. For the roofing systems investigated in this paper, the results showed that mould growth occurred in the black and cool roofs only for the case with high initial construction moisture. The mould has totally disappeared after 378.8 day for the black roof and 479.3 day for the cool roof. The temperatures of the cool roof were much lower than those for the black roof. The total yearly energy load with the black roof was 77% greater than that with the cool roof.

This research investigates the energy efficiency of a novel double-glazing system incorporating solid–solid phase change materials (SSPCMs), which offer significant advantages over traditional liquid–solid phase change materials. The primary objective of this study is to develop a 3D numerical model using the finite volume method, which will be followed by a parametric study under real climatic boundary conditions. A proposed double-glazing setup featuring a 2 mm layer of SSPCM applied on the inner glass pane within the air gap is modeled and analyzed. The simulations consider various transient temperatures and ranges of the SSPCM to evaluate the energy performance of the system under different weather conditions of Miami, FL during the coldest and hottest days of the year, both in sunny and cloudy conditions. The results demonstrate a notable improvement in energy performance compared to standard double-glazing windows (DGWs), with the most efficient SSPCM configuration exhibiting a phase transition temperature and range of 25 °C and 1 °C, respectively. This configuration achieved energy savings of 24%, 26%, and 23% during summer sunny, winter sunny, and winter cloudy days, respectively, relative to DGWs during cooling and heating degree hours. However, a 3% energy loss was observed during summer cloudy days. Overall, the findings of this study have shown the potential for energy savings by incorporating SSPCM with suitable thermophysical properties into double-glazing systems.

Background: It is well-established that specific herbal plants contain natural active ingredients that have demonstrated anti-cancer potential. Therefore, they are considered highly beneficial as a potential adjuvant, alternative or complementary agent in anti-cancer therapy. However, the low chemical stability and limited bioavailability of 3, 3′-Diindolylmethane (DIM), a plant-derived compound used in clinical settings, limit its therapeutic applications. To overcome this challenge, researchers have focused on developing innovative approaches to improve DIM's biological activity, such as utilizing nanoformulations. Here, we investigated the potential benefits of coating DIM nanoparticles (DIM-NPs) with PEG/chitosan in the treatment of breast cancer. Our results demonstrate the molecular mechanism underlying the activity of DIM-NPs, highlighting their potential as an effective therapeutic strategy for breast cancer treatment. Methods: DIM-PLGA-PEG/chitosan NPs were synthesised and characterised using dynamic light scattering (DLS) and evaluated the impact of these NPs on two breast cancer cell models. Results: DIM-NPs had an average diameter of 102.3 nm and a PDI of 0.182. When treated with DIM-NPs for 48 h, both MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cells displayed cytotoxicity at a concentration of 6.25 g/mL compared to untreated cells. Furthermore, in MDA-MB-231 cells, treatment with 2.5 μg/mL of DIM-NPs resulted in a significant decrease in cell migration, propagation, and angiogenesis which was further enhanced at 10 μg/mL. In chicken embryos, treatment with 5 μg/mL of DIM-NPs on day 2 led to a significant reduction in angiogenesis. Furthermore, this treatment induced cell death through a regulatory pathway involving the upregulation of Bax and p53, as well as the downregulation of Bcl-2. These results were supported by in-silico analysis of DIM's binding affinity to key proteins involved in this pathway, namely Bax, Bcl-2, and p53. Conclusion: Our findings show that DIM-NPs induces apoptosis, inhibit migration, and reduce angiogenesis in breast cancer. However, further research using a preclinical cancer model may be necessary to determine the pharmacokinetics of DIM-NPs and ensure their safety and efficacy in vivo.

The determination of thermal resistances (R-values) for enclosed airspaces, including those with one or more low-emittance surfaces, has advanced from one-dimensional heat transfer between large parallel planes to multi-dimensional heat flow in a wide variety of physical configurations. The key elements in this advancement, however, are the evaluation of the heat flow due to conduction-convection and the solution for radiation that includes all surfaces bounding the region of interest. The model used in this study has been validated against several sets of laboratory test data, including the data from the U.S. National Bureau of Standards for the thermal resistance of airspaces, which has been the basis for handbook values for reflective airspaces for five decades. In addition, this model has been previously used to determine the reductions in the R-values of reflective insulations assemblies due to imperfect installations and internal defects in multilayer reflective systems with cross-airflow between the layers. In this study, the model is used to examine the impact on R-value of air intrusion of different air changes per hour (ACH) at various exterior air temperatures into reflective insulation assemblies with a range of effective emittance from 0 to 0.82. Two cases are considered in this study. In the first case, called “infiltration”, exterior air enters the assembly through an opening located in the hot side of the assembly and exits through another opening located in the cold side of the assembly. In the second case, called “wind washing”, the exterior air enters the assembly through an opening located in the hot side of the assembly and exits through another opening located in the same side of the assembly. To quantify the reductions in the R-values due to infiltration and wind washing conditions, a reference case is included in this study for the case in which no air intrusion occurs in the reflective insulation assemblies. Finally, consideration is given to investigating the effect of the aspect ratio on the R-values of reflective insulation assemblies without air intrusion and with air intrusion of different ACH at various exterior air temperatures. The results show that the aspect ratio has a significant impact on the R-value of reflective insulation assemblies with and without air intrusion. Additionally, the results show that the impact of infiltration and wind washing on R-values of reflective insulation assemblies increase as the difference between the exterior air temperature and the undisturbed temperature of the cavity increases.

Enclosed airspaces of various effective emittances exist in the building envelope in walls, roofs, and double/triple glazing windows, curtain walls and skylight devices. Assessing the energy performance of a building component with enclosed reflective airspaces requires evaluation of all modes of heat transport inside the airspace. The thermal resistance (R-value) of the enclosed airspaces depends on the dimensions and orientation of the airspace, and the emittance and temperature of all surfaces that bound the airspace. To the best of our knowledge, the existing methods used around the world to evaluate the airspace thermal performance (e.g., ISO 6946, AUS/NZ 4859, and methods based on the U.S. NBS data) are one-dimensional and assume isothermal conditions on the hot and cold surfaces. In actual applications, however, the temperatures of both the hot and cold surfaces vary (i.e., they are non-isothermal), and the heat transfer takes place via conduction, convection and surface-to-surface radiation. In some cases, convection is absent or negligible, as is the case for downward heat flow or situations with a small temperature difference between the hot and cold surfaces. Radiation transport is significantly reduced by the presence of a low-emittance surface in the heat flow path. One of the goals of this study is to answer the question “is it a good assumption to use the isothermal conditions on both the hot and cold surfaces for determining/reporting the R-value of enclosed airspaces for different building applications?” A complete evaluation of the thermal performance of enclosed airspaces that includes the impact of bounding materials can now be undertaken in multiple dimensions with convective transport described by computational fluid dynamics. In addition to providing a relatively complete evaluation of the thermal performance of the enclosed airspaces, the adequacy of popular simplifying assumptions can be evaluated. This paper describes the computational process used, along with examples of the variation in thermal resistance with the airspace aspect ratio, realistic thermal boundary conditions and radiative heat transport on all surfaces that bound the airspace. The analysis completed in this research shows that the assumption of isothermal hot and cold surfaces affects calculated R-values for enclosed reflected airspaces by less than 3%. This was demonstrated for the five conventionally considered heat-flow directions and effective emittances from 0 to 0.82.

The building envelope provides thermal comfort, an excellent visual view, and sunlight for the occupants. It consists of two parts: (i) an opaque (non-transparent) part (e.g., walls and roofs) and (ii) a transparent part (e.g., windows, curtain walls, and skylight devices). Recently, the use of fully-glazed facades, especially in large cities, has increased due to their aesthetical and structural advantages. This has led this study to review the performance of the currently passive smart glazing technologies. Phase Change Materials (PCMs) as latent energy storage material is the focus of this review, as well as other individual and combined techniques, including shading systems, solar cells (photovoltaic), and chromogenic (thermotropic and thermochromic) materials. PCM-integrated glazing systems have been extensively studied and rapidly developed over the past several decades from the standpoint of unique system designs, such as passive, active, and passive/active mixed designs, intelligent management, and sophisticated controls. In the academic literature, numerous studies on PCM-integrated building envelopes have been conducted, but a comprehensive review of PCM-integrated GUs combined with other passive and active techniques using dialectical analysis and comparing the climatic conditions of each study using Köppen-Geiger climate classification climate classification has been performed only rarely. Consequently, the primary objective of this study is to reduce this discrepancy for all types of glazing, excluding glazed roofs. This review article also contains literature tables as well as highlights, limitations, and further research suggestions at the end of each subsection.

Cisplatin (CISP) is one of the most widely used anti-cancer chemotherapeutic agents with remarkable efficacy against various types of cancers. However, it has been associated with nephrotoxicity amongst other undesirable side effects. Pomegranate (PE) is a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent effective against cancer, with a superior benefit of not being associated with the common toxicities related to the use of conventional chemotherapeutic agents. However, the application of PE is limited by its reduced solubility and decreased bioavailability. We investigated the potential of a novel nanoparticle (NP) enclosing PE to enhance its solubility and improve its bioavailability, and efficacy to prevent CISP-associated nephrotoxicity in a mice model of Ehrlich solid carcinoma (ESC). All mice were grouped into four cohorts: (I) control, (II) tumor, (III) CISP, and (IV) CISP + PE-NPs. The data obtained demonstrated that PE-NPs was beneficial in potently ameliorating CISP-induced nephrotoxicity in ESC mice. PE-NPs significantly attenuated CISP-induced oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation in the kidney via improving activities of antioxidants (SOD, GSH, and CAT). Additionally, PE-NPs considerably decreased CISP-induced inflammation in the kidney by decreasing the levels of NF-kB, IL-1β, and TNF-α. Notably, PE-NPs did not assuage the antitumor efficacy of CISP as revealed by histological assessment and tumor weight data. In summary, PE-NPs may be a potent alternative anticancer therapy devoid of nephrotoxicity.

In this paper, the generalization of pre-topological spaces called bipretopological spaces (briefly, π-pre-topology) depending on two pre-topologies on an arbitrary universal set has been introduced. New kinds of separations axioms on π-pre-topological spaces are established and some of their properties are investigated. A comparison between four separation axioms on π-pre-topological spaces and pre-topological spaces with different sorts of counterexamples are presented. The topological property for some π-pre-separation axioms are satisfied and its relation with disubgraphs are discussed. A human heart will be studied through it is generated digraph. It is noted that all separation axioms for human heart are not all satisfied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of chitosan or brassinolide applications on morphology and physiology parameters of Azadirachta indica grown under water deficient stress. The plants received different irrigation intervals, and were sprayed monthly with either chitosan or brassinolide each at concentrations of 50, 100 and 200 ppm, while the control plants were sprayed only with tap water. The results showed that water stress reduced all growth parameters, chemical constituents of pigments content, total carbohydrates, N, P, and K%, total indoles, while proline and total phenols content were increased. Instead, the plants sprayed with the higher concentrations of chitosan or brassinolide resulted in significant increase in growth parameters, pigments content, total carbohydrates, proline content, N, P and K%, total indoles while reduced total phenols content. Based on the obtained results it can be concluded that, foliar application of chitosan or brassinolide at 200 ppm can alleviate the adverse effects of water deficient stress on the growth and physiology parameters of Azadirachta indica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developmental times, reproduction rate and life table parameters of Tetranychus urticae Koch of two ornaments plants Marshmallow and Salvia treated with four doses of gamma radiation 15, 25, 35 and 45 Kilo rad was studied under laboratory conditions at 25 ± 2°C, 65% RH. The results indicate that applied of gamma radiation had a significant effect on the duration of male and female feeding on salvia and Marshmallow leaves irrigated. The life cycle and generation period of irradiated females increased with increasing doses of gamma radiation and were significantly higher than the control. The female oviposition and longevity periods of T. urticae significantly increased with an increased dose of gamma radiation. The mean fecundity and daily rate significantly decreased with increasing doses of gamma radiation on salvia and marshmallows. A significant positive correlation was found between all immature stages, generation, and oviposition periods and the dose of gamma radiation. The Intrinsic rate of increase (rm) and net reproductive rate (R0) of T. urticae was the lowest at 45 Kilo rad (0.148 female/female/day and 20.59 female/female) and the highest value was found at control (0.256 female/female/day and 44.70 female/female), respectively on salvia leaves. The radiation of salvia and Marshmallow seeds reduced the fecundity of T. urticae females and prolonged the generation time than in control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractBackground Curcumin has been used in the treatment of several diseases; however, its low pharmacologic profile reduces its therapeutic use. Towards improving its biological activity, nanoformulations have emerged. Thus, we aimed to determine whether curcumin nanoparticles (Cur-NPs) coated with PEG/chitosan improve the treatment of liver cancer (LC) cells and underpin the molecular mechanisms underlying their anti-cancer activity.Methods Cur-NPs were synthesised in the form of Cur-PLGA-PEG/chitosan NPs. The effect of Cur-NPs was assessed in HepG2 and Huh 7 LC cells and THLE-2 normal liver cells.Results The size of synthesised Cur-NPS was determined in the standard range of 141.2 ± 47.5 nm. Compared to THLE-2 cells, LC cells treated with Cur-NPs exerted cytotoxicity at 6.25 µg/mL after 48h. Treatment of HepG-2 cells with 2.5 µg/mL of Cur-NPs inhibited cell migration and this inhibition was augmented at 10 µg/mL (p

Liver cancer (LC) ranks as the second most prevalent cause of cancer-related deaths. Herbaceous plants are valuable sources of complementary, adjuvant, or alternative anti-tumor therapy as they contain natural active ingredients with anti-cancer potential. Although the clinical use of 3, 3′-Diindolylmethane (DIM) has been established, its low chemical stability and bioavailability, limits its therapeutic applications. Increasing effort has been undertaken to improve DIM’s biological activity including nanoformulations. Here, we evaluated the efficacy of DIM nanoparticles (DIM-NPs) coated with PEG/chitosan for the treatment of liver cancer and elucidated the underlying molecular mechanisms contributing to its anti-tumor activity. DIM-PLGA-PEG/chitosan NPs were synthesized and characterized using dynamic light scattering (DLS). The effect of newly synthesized DIM-NPs was evaluated in HepG-2 and HUH-7 hepatocarcinoma cells and compared to THLE-2 immortal normal liver cells and WI-38 (normal lung fibroblast cells). These cells were treated with different non-cytotoxic concentrations of DIM-NPs and MTT assay and other functional assays were performed. Compared to normal cells, DIM-NPs induced cytotoxicity in HepG-2 cells at 6.25 µg/mL after 48 h of treatment. Treatment of HepG-2 cells with the 50 % inhibitory concentration (IC50) 12.5 µg/mL of DIM-NPs inhibited cell migration (p

Objectives: Cisplatin (CISP) is an effective chemotherapy used in the treatment of various types of cancer, but it causes nephrotoxicity and other adverse effects. Thymoquinone (THY) is an effective anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compound, which might protects against many chemotherapies associated toxicities. However, THY applications are hindered by its poor solubility and low bioavailability. This study evaluated the efficacy of a novel nanoparticle (NP) encapsulting THY to overcome its poor solubility, enhance its bioavilability, efficacy for the protection against CISP-induced nephrotoxicity in an Ehrlich solid carcinoma (ESC) mice model. Methods: Four treatment groups were included: 1) control, 2) tumour, 3) CISP, and 4) CISP + NP THY. Results: The results showed that NP THY was effective in preventing CISP-induced kidney toxicity in ESC mice and improved its function and pathology. NP THY effectively ameliorated CISP-induced oxidative stress conditions in the kidney tissue via increasing the levels of antioxidants both non-enzymatic (GSH) and enzymatic (SOD and CAT). NP THY, also, significantly reduced CISP-induced kidney inflammation by reducing TNF-α, IL-1β, and NF-kB levels. NP THY didn’t hinder the antitumor activity of CISP as shown by tumour weight and histological examination data. Conclusions: In conclusion, NP THY could be an adjuvant therapy to CISP cancer treatment to prevent associated nephrotoxicity and other adverse effects without compromising CISP antitumor efficacy.

Introduction: Glomangioma is an uncommon hypervascular tumor typically found in the extremities, with primary occurrences in the mediastinum being exceedingly rare., Case Presentation: A 38-year-old male presented to our cardio-thoracic surgery department with chest pain. Chest computed tomography (CT) revealed a 45 mm posterior paravertebral right solidocystic mass, a finding confirmed by Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a solidocystic mass in the posterior paravertebral right pleura suggesting a fibrous tumor exhibiting cystic degeneration. Surgical intervention under right thoracotomy involved the complete resection of the tumor. Postoperative analysis confirmed the diagnosis of a glomus tumor., Discussion: Glomus tumors are uncommon growths that arise from neuromyoarterial glomus bodies, which are specialized structures involved in regulating blood flow and skin surface temperature through arteriovenous connections. Our case represents the ninth instance of a glomus tumor in the mediastinum. The clinical manifestation of intrathoracic glomus tumors lacks specificity and can vary depending on the location and size of the tumor, often resembling typical thoracic tumors. Surgical resection remains the foremost approach for diagnosing and treating thoracic glomus tumors. Given the potential for malignancy, a radical resection is advised to ensure complete removal with clear margins., Conclusion: This case describes an uncommon presentation of a benign glomus tumor in the posterior mediastinum, highlighting its exceptional localization and emphasizing the critical importance of surgical resection for optimal management., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Currently, graph-based molecular structure descriptors are frequently used in QSAR (Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship) and QSPR (Quantitative Structure-Property Relationship) modeling of the properties of chemical compounds. Octane isomers have an important role in the testing of such relationships. In this study, we compute some well-known topological descriptors of the molecular graphs of isomeric octanes and their line graphs, both indices and coindices. Then we analyze the correlation coefficients between the physicochemical properties of the octane isomers and some well-known topological indices and their coindices of the molecular graphs and the line molecular graphs of the octane isomers, to find the particular topological descriptors that have the best predictive values., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: The optimal triage strategy for patients suspected of acute ischemic stroke due to large vessel occlusion (LVO) remains debated. We explored trends in presentation mode and their outcomes for mechanical thrombectomy (MT) hospitalizations based on the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database., Methods: We retrospectively explored the NIS database from 2016 to 2020 for stroke hospitalizations with MT. We compared outcomes at discharge for MT hospitalizations with direct vs. transferred presentation. Outcomes comprised favorable discharge disposition (home without assistance), in-hospital mortality, and radiographic intracranial hemorrhage (ICH)., Results: This study included 100,865 patients undergoing MT, of whom 32,685 patients (32.4 %) were transferred (median age 71[60-81] years, 16775(51.2 %) women). The utilization of MT in the U.S. nearly doubled during the study period, whereas the proportion of in-hospital transfers for MT remained unchanged (32.1-33.2 %). White race, higher presenting NIHSS, hospital size, status, and location were independent predictors of transferred status. Transferred status was significantly associated with a lower likelihood of achieving favorable outcome (OR:0.80,95 % CI: [0.72,0.89],P<0.001) and a higher likelihood of ICH (OR:1.18, 95 % CI:[1.07,1.31],P=0.001), whereas no association was observed between presentation mode and in-hospital mortality (OR:1.07,95 % CI:[0.93,1.23],P=0.33)., Conclusion: Patients with direct presentation for MT after a stroke had better discharge outcomes and a lower risk of hemorrhagic transformation compared to those who were transferred from another facility. Determining the optimal triage strategy for MT following LVO stroke is an insightful area for future clinical trials., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflicting or competing interest in the subject matter of this manuscript, (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: Mistreatment in healthcare is defined by the set of behaviors, acts, and omissions committed by the healthcare providers on patients. Pregnant women can be exposed to this behavior during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. It can have several aspects and affects the women's mental health, social and professional life, and also their newborns and families., Objective: This study was made to estimate the frequency of mistreatment during the peripartum period in a Tunisian maternity unit, determine its impact on the parturient and her entourage, and draw up recommendations for the prevention of this public health problem., Study Design: We conducted a cross-sectional survey in Department C of the Tunis Maternity and Neonatology Center from July 2022 to September 30, 2022. Our questionnaire encompassed verbal and physical abuse, patient information, consent, unprofessional conduct, poor communication, and discrimination., Results: This study included 400 patients. The average age was 29.3+-5.65. Single women represented 12.3% of the cases. Seventy-five percent of women reported having been victims of at least one type of violence during childbirth. Verbal abuse was the most frequent type observed. Eighty-two percent of women reported verbal abuse, while 23.25% underwent physical violence. After the delivery, 391 women (97.8%) stated that the delivery was a source of anxiety and that they were not ready to repeat the experience. Six of them were followed up in psychiatry. Mistreatment was expressed by a lack of information and/or respect for consent, unprofessional conduct, or poor communication between the caregiver and the patient., Conclusion: This study emphasizes the significance of including women in decision-making processes regarding their care. Establishing systematic approaches for providing information and obtaining consent is crucial, ensuring a dynamic approach that promotes women's freedom of choice., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccharide that occurs naturally in the cell wall of brown seaweeds and has substantial biological efficacy. Optimizing the extraction of fucoidan from different brown seaweeds was the primary goal of this research. The optimization of fucoidan extraction was applied on the brown macroalga Turbinaria turbinata using a Box-Behnken Design (BBD) to inspect the impacts of different pH (3, 5, 7), temperature (70, 80, 90 °C) and extraction duration (60, 120, 180 min) on both the yield and sulfate content of fucoidan. The optimized parameters recorded to maximize the fucoidan yield and its sulfate content were a pH of 3.44 and a temperature of 82.26 °C for 60 min. The optimal conditions obtained from BBD were used for fucoidan extraction from T. turbinata, Sargassum cinereum, Padina pavonica, and Dictyota dichotoma. The highest average of fucoidan yield was derived from P. pavonica (40.76 ± 4.04 % DW). FTIR, 1 H NMR, and HPLC were used to characterize extracted fucoidan. The extracted fucoidan's Physical characteristics, biochemical composition, antioxidant potential, antitumor effect against breast cancer cells (MCF-7), and antimicrobial and anticoagulant activity were assessed. The extracted fucoidan from D. dichotoma, followed by that extracted from S. cinereum, which had the highest sulphate content, depicted the highest antioxidant, anticancer, and anticoagulant activities. Fucoidan has demonstrated a strong antimicrobial action against some pathogenic microorganisms; Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Candida albicans. The anticoagulant properties of fucoidan from D. dichotoma were stronger than those of fucoidan from S. cinereum, T. turbinata, and P. pavonica due to its higher sulphate content. These findings could be used for various biomedical applications to improve the pharmaceutical industry., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have declared no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Alginate is a natural polysaccharide obtained from brown seaweeds and having advantageous health usefulness, was employed extensively in nutraceutical sectors and the pharmaceutical industry. This research was devoted for optimization of alginate extraction from different brown seaweeds. A Box-Behnken Design (BBD) was used for the optimization of alginate extraction from Padina pavonica by analyzing the influence of temperature (30, 40, and 50 °C), time (60, 120, and 180 min), and alkaline concentration (1 %, 2 %, and 3 %) on extraction yield and uronic acid content. The optimal conditions recorded to maximize the alginate yield and its uronic content were an alkali concentration of 2.5 % and a temperature of 39.95 °C for 102.5 min. The optimized parameters achieved from BBD were used to compare alginate extraction from P. pavonica, Sargassum cinereum, Turbinaria turbinata, and Dictyota dichotoma. FTIR, 1 H NMR, and HPLC were used to characterize the extracted alginate. The bioactivity of alginate against free radicals, breast cancer cells (MCF-7), some pathogenic microbes, and SARS-CoV-2 viruses was tested. Under the optimized conditions, alginate was extracted from P. pavonica at a rate of 21.13 ± 2.47 % DW, S. cinereum at 24.08 ± 0.33 % DW g/L, T. turbinata at 17.47 ± 0.26 % DW, and D. dichotoma at a rate of 19.57 ± 3.60 % DW. The alginate extracted from D. dichotoma showed the highest antioxidant, anticancer, and antiviral activity., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Cerebral vasospasm is a serious sequela of traumatic brain injury (TBI) which leads to further neurologic injury subsequent to the initial trauma. The natural history and associated risk factors are not well understood. The objective of this study is to evaluate the clinical and radiographic characteristics of patients with TBI., Methods: This is a descriptive case series of all patients with TBI who underwent cerebral angiogram for evaluation and rescue therapy for posttraumatic arterial vasospasm (PTV) between October 2017 and November 2019. The association of clinical and radiographic characteristics with cumulative severity of angiographic vasospasm was evaluated. The clinical characteristics comprised of age, sex, Glascow Coma Scale (GCS) and need for surgery. The radiographic characteristics were presence of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), location of SAH, presence of contusion, presence of subdural hemorrhage (SDH), and presence of pseudoaneurysm., Results: Twenty-two patients with PTV were identified requiring 69 cerebral angiograms (mean: 3.2; range: 1-9 angiograms per patient) during this period. The average age upon presentation was 40 years old, 81% of the patients were male sex, and the average GCS was 6.8. 67% of the patients underwent craniotomy or craniectomy. All patients had SAH, although only 60% had cisternal SAH. Parenchymal contusion was noted on 90% as well as SDH in 90%. The PTV was noted between 3 and 19 days after trauma. There was more vasospasm involving proximal arteries and higher severity of vasospasm in patients with cisternal SAH. Otherwise, there was no strong association between the clinical or radiographic characteristics and cumulative severity noted on the angiograms for each patient., Conclusion: Posttraumatic vasospasm can be detected as early as posttrauma day 3-19 in patients with TBI and SAH. The absence of cisternal SAH does not rule out the occurrence of the vasospasm during the course of treatment., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2024 Brain Circulation.)

Introduction: Cervical cancer is among the most common types of cancer in women and is associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. The association between cervical cancer and high-risk HPV infection has been well documented. However, the effect of simultaneous infection with high- and low-risk HPV or low-risk HPV alone on the risk of developing cervical malignancy remains unanswered in guidelines., Method: We investigated the association of high and low-risk HPVs (HR or LR) genotypes with cervical carcinoma risk and pathological and cytological information in cases recruited from a population-based cohort study of 790 patients. Correlation matrix and t-test were used for analysis., Results: The percentage of HR+LR and HR-HPV16/18 were 9.30% and 11.20% in class II, 7.15% and 7.10% in class IV, and 7.15% and 5.80% in As-CUS smears. Interestingly, concurrent infection with HR-HPV and LR-HPV types led to a significant reduction in the risk of developing malignancy compared to the high-risk group (OR=0.3 (0.098-0.925), pvalue=0.04). The percentage of individuals with cervical malignancy was 10.2% and 28.2% within the co-infected and the HR-HPV participants., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that simultaneous infection with high- and low-risk HPV may reduce the risk of cervical malignancy., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

In this research paper, we investigate the existence and uniqueness of solutions for neutral functional differential equations with sequential fractional orders, specifically involving the [Formula: see text]-Caputo operator. To obtain the desired results, we employ the Banach fixed point theorem (BFPT), a nonlinear variation of the Leray-Schauder fixed point theorem (SFPT), and the Krasnoselski fixed point theorem (KFPT). Additionally, we provide illustrative examples that demonstrate the key findings. Furthermore, we address a scenario where an initial value integral condition is considered., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Debbar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Neurointerventional robotic systems have potential to reduce occupational radiation, improve procedural precision, and allow for future remote teleoperation. A limited number of single institution case reports and series have been published outlining the safety and feasibility of robot-assisted diagnostic cerebral angiography., Methods: This is a multicenter, retrospective case series of patients undergoing diagnostic cerebral angiography at three separate institutions - University of California, Davis (UCD); University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The equipment used was the CorPath GRX Robotic System (Corindus, Waltham, MA)., Results: A total of 113 cases were analyzed who underwent robot-assisted diagnostic cerebral angiography from September 28, 2020 to October 27, 2022. There were no significant complications related to use of the robotic system including stroke, arterial dissection, bleeding, or pseudoaneurysm formation at the access site. Using the robotic system, 88 of 113 (77.9%) cases were completed successfully without unplanned manual conversion. The principal causes for unplanned manual conversion included challenging anatomy, technical difficulty with the bedside robotic cassette, and hubbing out of the robotic system due to limited working length. For robotic operation, average fluoroscopy time was 13.2 min (interquartile range (IQR), 9.3 to 16.8 min) and average cumulative air kerma was 975.8 mGY (IQR, 350.8 to 1073.5 mGy)., Conclusions: Robotic cerebral angiography with the CorPath GRX Robotic System is safe and easily learned by novice users without much prior manual experience. However, there are technical limitations such as a short working length and an inability to support 0.035" wires which may limit its widespread adoption in clinical practice., Competing Interests: Competing interests: ST previously consulted for Corindus Vascular Robotics in 2018 and 2019 but currently has no relationship or stock options with the company. BW was a consultant for Siemens/Corindus in 2020 but currently has no relationship or stock options with the company., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

The green microalga Chlorella vulgaris was used as a test organism during this study for evaluation of the impact of different heavy metal stress, Mn 2+ , Co 2+ , and Zn 2+ , on enhancing the biodiesel production. The algal cultures were grown for 13 days under heavy metal stress after which were subjected to estimation of growth, some primary metabolites, lipid, and fatty acid profiles. The maximum lipid accumulation (283.30 mg/g CDW) was recorded in the algal culture treated with 3 µM cobalt nitrate. Application of 2 mM manganese chloride; 1, 2, and 3 μM cobalt nitrate; and 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 mM zinc sulfate caused highly significant increases in the lipid contents amounting to 183.8, 191.4, 230.6, 283.3, 176.3, 226.0, and 212.1 mg/g CDW, respectively, in comparison to control (153.4 mg/g CDW). The maximum proportion of saturated fatty acids (SFA) (64.44%) was noted in the culture treated with 6 mM MnCl 2 due to the existence of palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0), and pentadecylic acid (C15:0) which are represented by 53.59%, 5.96%, and 1.37%, respectively, of the total FAs. Relative increase in energy compound (REEC) showed that 1, 2, and 3 µM Co 2+ lead to the highest stimulation in lipid and carbohydrate contents to 0.207, 0.352, and 0.329 × 10 3 %, respectively. Empirical formulas were used for the assessment of biodiesel fuel properties based on FAME composition. The estimated properties met the prescribed international standard criteria., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Pharmacokinetic (PK) models are increasingly submitted to the FDA to support first-in-human (FIH) dose selection of immune-oncology products. To examine whether a simple PK modeling (SPM) using clearance for scaling was acceptable for dose estimation, FIH (SPM) doses were computed and compared to doses that were safely administered to patients. We concluded that the SPM approach is acceptable in FIH dose estimation, but the variables should be carefully selected for CD3 constructs. For CD3 constructs, use of 60 kg BW h , a clearance exponent of 0.75, and a targeted plasma concentration based on relevant and/or sensitive activity assays was an acceptable approach for FIH dose selection; use of 0.85 as the scaling factor is questionable at this time as it resulted in a FIH dose that was too close to the AHD for one product (7%). Immune activating mAbs were not sensitive to changes in the clearance exponent (0.75-0.85) or body weight (60-70 kg). For PD-1/PD-L1 mAbs, using products' in vitro EC50 in the model resulted in suboptimal FIH doses and clinical data of closely related products informed FIH dose selection. PK models submitted by sponsors were diverse in methods, assumptions, and variables, and the resulting FIH doses were not always optimal., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: The pattern of surgical treatments for Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) in the United States is not well-studied, specifically the trend of utilizing endovascular venous stenting (EVS) as an emerging technique., Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to explore the national trend of utilizing different procedures for the treatment of IIH including EVS, Optic Nerve Sheath Fenestration (ONSF), and CSF Shunting, with a focus on novel endovascular procedures. Moreover, we explored rates of 90-day readmission and length of hospital stay following different procedures, besides the effects of sociodemographic and clinical parameters on procedure choice., Results: 36,437 IIH patients were identified from records between 2010 and 2018. Those in the EVS group were 29 years old on average, and 93.4 % were female. Large academic hospital setting was independently associated with higher EVS utilization, while other factors were not predictive of procedure choice. The proportion of EVS use in IIH hospitalizations increased significantly from 2010 to 2018 (P < 0.001), while there was a relative decline in the frequency of shunting procedures (P = 0.001), with ONSF utilization remaining stable (P = 0.39). The rate of 90-day readmission and length of hospital stay were considerably lower following EVS compared to other procedures (Ps < 0.001)., Conclusion: This study presents novel population-level data on national trends in the frequency and outcome of EVS for IIH therapy. EVS was associated with shorter length of hospital stays and fewer readmission rates. In addition, a continuous increase in venous stenting compared to other procedures suggests an increasing role for endovascular therapies in IIH., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors of this study declared no conflicting or competing interest in the subject matter of this paper, (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: A paucity of data exists on how transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) practice has evolved in Ireland. This study sought to analyse temporal trends in patient demographics, procedural characteristics, and clinical outcomes at an Irish tertiary referral centre., Methods: The prospective Mater TAVI database was divided into time tertiles based on when TAVI was performed: Group A, November 2008-April 2013; Group B, April 2013-September 2017; and Group C, September 2017-February 2022. Patient and procedural characteristics and clinical outcomes were compared across groups., Results: A total of 1063 (Group A, 59; Group B, 268; and Group C:, 736) patients were treated with TAVI during the study period (mean age 81.1±7.4, mean Society of Thoracic Surgeons score 5.9±5.1).Conscious sedation (Group A, 0%; Group B, 59.9%; and Group C, 90.2%, p<0.001) and femoral artery access (Group A, 76.3%; Group B, 90.7%; and Group C, 96.6%, p<0.001) were used more frequently over time. The median length of hospital stay reduced from 9 days (IQR 7, 18) in Group A to 2 days (IQR 2, 3) in Group C. In-hospital death was numerically higher in Group A compared with Group C (6.8% vs 1.9%, p=0.078). At 1-year follow-up, the rate of death and/or stroke was similar in Group A and Group C (20.3% vs 12.0%, adjusted HR 1.49, 95% CI (0.59 to 3.74))., Conclusion: There was exponential growth in TAVI procedural volume during the study period. A minimalist approach to TAVI emerged, and this was associated with significantly shorter procedure duration and hospital stay. Clinical outcomes at 1-year follow-up did not change significantly over time., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Synthetic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers a scanning paradigm where a fast multi-contrast sequence can be used to estimate underlying quantitative tissue parameter maps, which are then used to synthesize any desirable clinical contrast by retrospectively changing scan parameters in silico. Two benefits of this approach are the reduced exam time and the ability to generate arbitrary contrasts offline. However, synthetically generated contrasts are known to deviate from the contrast of experimental scans. The reason for contrast mismatch is the necessary exclusion of some unmodeled physical effects such as partial voluming, diffusion, flow, susceptibility, magnetization transfer, and more. The inclusion of these effects in signal encoding would improve the synthetic images, but would make the quantitative imaging protocol impractical due to long scan times. Therefore, in this work, we propose a novel deep learning approach that generates a multiplicative correction term to capture unmodeled effects and correct the synthetic contrast images to better match experimental contrasts for arbitrary scan parameters. The physics inspired deep learning model implicitly accounts for some unmodeled physical effects occurring during the scan. As a proof of principle, we validate our approach on synthesizing arbitrary inversion recovery fast spin-echo scans using a commercially available 2D multi-contrast sequence. We observe that the proposed correction visually and numerically reduces the mismatch with experimentally collected contrasts compared to conventional synthetic MRI. Finally, we show results of a preliminary reader study and find that the proposed method statistically significantly improves in contrast and SNR as compared to synthetic MR images., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Protein-rich seaweeds are regarded as having commercial significance due to their numerous industrial applications. The green seaweed Halimeda opuntia was used during this study for the preparation of bioplastic film. A thin bioplastic film with better physical and mechanical properties was produced by optimizing the ratio of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to seaweed biomass. The films obtained were characterized by their thickness, tensile strength, elongation at break, Young's modulus, moisture absorption resistance, and solubility. To evaluate the composition and potential for chemical reactions of the films, an FTIR spectroscopy examination was conducted. Whereas TG-DTA and AFM were performed on films with high mechanical properties. The bioplastic film produced when algae percent was tripled in PVA concentration had better physical and mechanical characteristics, and the bioplastic films degraded in the environment within a short time. According to the current study, seaweed might serve as an alternative source for the production of bioplastic, which could help minimize the use of non-biodegradable plastics., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have declared no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The application of artificial intelligence (AI) in predictive analytics is growing in popularity. It has the power to offer ground-breaking solutions for a range of social problems and real world societal difficulties. It is helpful in addressing some of the social issues that today's world seems incapable of solving. One of the most significant phenomena affecting people's lives is divorce. The goal of this paper is to study the use of machine learning algorithms to determine the effectiveness of divorce predictor scale (DPS) and identify the reasons that usually lead to divorce in the scenario of Hail region, KSA. For this purpose, in this study, the DPS, based on Gottman couples therapy, was used to predict divorce by applying different machine learning algorithms. There were 54 items of the DPS used as features or attributes for data collection. In addition to the DPS, a personal information form was utilized to gather participants' personal data in order to conduct this study in a more structured and traditional manner. Out of 148 participants 116 participants were married whereas 32 were divorced. With the use of algorithms artificial neural network (ANN), naïve bayes (NB), and random forest (RF), the effectiveness of DPS was examined in this study. The correlation based feature selection method was used to identify the top six features from the same dataset and the highest accuracy rate was 91.66% with RF. The results show that DPS can predict divorce. This scale can help family counselors and therapists in case formulation and intervention plan development process. Additionally, it may be argued that the Hail region, KSA sampling confirmed the Gottman couples treatment predictors., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Robotic endovascular systems have the potential to reduce radiation exposure to physicians and expand timely neurointerventional access to patients in remote areas. The goal of the study was to determine the feasibility of robotic endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) in an in vitro model., Methods: In vitro procedures were conducted manually and robotically using the Corpath GRX robotic system in a human vascular simulator with an elastic ovine clot in the M1 segment of the left middle cerebral artery. Due to the limited device compatibility of the CorPath GRX, a simple technique with a stent retriever and guiding catheter without a balloon was used in the study. Seven robotic EVT and manual EVT were carried out in each group. Metrics including procedural time, success rate, and radiation dose were compared between the two groups., Results: In robotic EVT, the mean total preparation and procedural time was 892 s, which was significantly longer than manual operation at 357 (p = 0.0001). There was no significant difference in the success rate between the two approaches (robotic: 28.6% vs. manual 42.9%, p = 0.577). The mean radiation exposure to operating physicians was significantly lower during robotic operation compared to manual operation (0.02 μSv vs. 0.22 μSv, p < 0.0001)., Conclusions: Robotic EVT was feasible in our human vascular simulator with significantly reduced radiation exposure to the operating physicians, despite an increased length of procedure when compared to manual procedures. Future technological advancement is warranted for reducing procedural length using endovascular robotic techniques., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Naoki Kaneko, Medtronic, and Stryker. Satoshi Tateshima, consultant for Bolt Medical, Irvine Neurovascular, Balt USA, Cerenovus, Medtronic, Phenox GmbH, and Stryker. The other authors have no personal or financial interest in any of the materials or devices described in this article.