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Over the last decade, nanotechnology has widely addressed many nanomaterials in the biomedical area with an opportunity to achieve better-targeted delivery, effective treatment, and an improved safety profile. Nanocarriers have the potential property to protect the active molecule during drug delivery. Depending on the employing nanosystem, the delivery of drugs and genes has enhanced the bioavailability of the molecule at the disease site and exercised an excellent control of the molecule release. Herein, the chapter discusses various advanced nanomaterials designed to develop better nanocarrier systems used to face different diseases such as cancer, heart failure, and malaria. Furthermore, we demonstrate the great attention to the promising role of nanocarriers in ease diagnostic and biodistribution for successful clinical cancer therapy.

The olive mill wastewater harbors several natural products that are generally wasted in the environment without valorization. The polyphenols are the most predominant compounds found in olive mill wastewater exhibiting toxic effects of the ecosystems when they disposed at high concentrations. Therefore, green technology was recently used for the recovery of the valuable wasted compounds and their application in various industrial and medical applications. Hence, the bioremediation using microorganisms proved the potent ability of several strains, especially yeasts to grow on olive mill wastewater and to bioconvert polyphenols into valuable bioproducts. In this review, several types of valorization of olive mill wastewater are discussed. The combination of green technology and bioconversion gives an alternative not only to reduce pollution but also leads to generate high-added bioproducts with an effective economic impact. In addition, some drawbacks that may affect the bioremediation process are also presented.

Landslides are considered to be the most important and frequent natural events causing considerable damage. Many areas in Algeria and elsewhere in the world are affected by this type of phenomenon. Located in the Tellian Chain of the Northwest of Algeria, Fergoug watershed is largely affected by several landslide events that led to (siltation of dams and roads, bridges, and buildings destruction). The damage cost amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars and sometimes exceeds the reaction of the authorities concerned. In order to help local authorities in their prevention approach, a landslide sensitivity map has been realized using different models: (i) the frequency ratio (FR), (ii) the linear multiple regressions (MLR), and (iii) the information value model (IVM). The landslide inventory was established and includes 142 landslides and 10 conditioning factors (slope angle, slope aspect, profile curvature, distance to rivers, roads, faults, earthquakes, land use, lithology, and precipitation). These factors were prepared from several multisource data sources. The results were validated using the operating characteristic of the receiver and the areas under the curves obtained using the methods FR, IVM, and MLR are respectively 0.87, 0.83, and 0.81. It is proposed that the landslide susceptibility map produced from the FR model be more useful for the study area. The results demonstrate that for the frequency ratio model, the very high, high, moderate, low, and very low susceptibility classes are 58%, 24%, 5%, 2%, and 9.5%, respectively. Almost 73 landslides events are situated along the Fergoug River. These results could reveal the relative importance of different factors in explaining landslides and help engineers plan land use planning.

In this study, severe and extreme episode (dry and wet) periods were analyzed by the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), using 42 weather stations in the Macta watershed (Northwest Algeria) over a period of 42 years (1970–2011). First, short- and medium-term (1, 3, 6, and 9 months) and long-term (12 months) SPIs were calculated, and then their trends were detected using the innovative trend analysis (ITA) method, which identifies trends in low, medium, and high values within series. Results show that in the short and medium term, the 42 studied stations, in the Macta watershed, are gradually subject to meteorological and then agricultural drought, marking a water deficit since 1970, affecting vegetation. On the other hand, and in the long term, this deficit is compensated by severe and extreme wet conditions (a water balance will be established between dry and wet episodes). In anticipation, the ITA shows that, on average, 82% of stations, with severe and extreme dry conditions, underwent a gradual reduction, accompanied by 59% of stations showing a reduction in severe and extreme wet conditions. In the long term, convergence between severe and extreme dry conditions and wet ones has been detected, making the situation towards normal conditions. In addition, the majority of the stations suffer from a severe meteorological drought in the center-East of the basin (drought frequency above 100), whereas on the hydrological scale (SPI-12), the situation is balanced (drought frequency below 50).

As the largest country in Africa, Algeria is rich in substantial mineral reserves. This mineral potential continues to be revealed day by day; but unfortunately, they are generally underutilized. The detailed mechanisms of marine sedimentary phosphates origin are still imperfectly known. Our study aims to reconstitute the depositional environment of phosphorites of El Kouif locality NE of Algeria. Our method used an extensive sequential analysis, Microscopic Petrography, X-ray diffractometry, and geochemical analysis. Cross-sections carried out on the outcrops of the El Kouif city, have shown a sub-tabular formation containing almost eight layers of phosphorites. The sequential analysis revealed that the phosphatic series have taken place in a reduced negative mega-sequence. Petrographic observations have shown phosphatic intraclasts bearer of the organic matter at various rates. XRD of whole-rock powder has confirmed the presence of apatite minerals, carbonates quartz, clays, sulfides, and gypsum. The geochemical trend has indicated a high fluctuating content of P2O5. The dispersion pattern, correlation coefficient, and mutual relationship of significant major oxides, represented by plotted diagrams; showed that SiO2, CO2, MgO, are antipathetically related to P2O5. The geochemical behavior between P2O5 contents and of CaO, H2O, Na2O, SO3 contents have shown a positive relationship. The richness of the phosphatic rocks in Apatite is autonomous of the depth in the Tebessa basin. The results of the chemical analysis from purified grains were used to calculate the structural formulas for apatite. This non-stoichiometric apatite presented significant anionic substitutions affecting up to 24% of the sites. The higher values of CO2 have obviously resulted in the richness of organic substance, the notable presence of sulfides minerals, indicated through the high concentration of SO3, and the lower concentration of Na suggested that the reducing conditions of the basin were prevailing at the time of phosphatic formation in a shallow marine environment.

Background Longitudinal cohort studies provide important information about the clinical effectiveness of an intervention in the routine clinical setting, and are an opportunity to understand how a population presents for treatment and is managed. Methods INTEREST IN CD2 (NCT01753349) is a prospective, international, 3-year, longitudinal, observational study following the course of adult idiopathic cervical dystonia (CD) treated with botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT-A). The primary objective is to document long-term patient satisfaction with BoNT-A treatment. Here we report baseline data. Results This analysis includes 1036 subjects (67.4% of subjects were female; mean age was 54.7 years old; mean TWSTRS Total score was 31.7). BoNT-A injections were usually given in line with BoNT-A prescribing information. The most commonly injected muscles were splenius capitis (87.3%), sternocleidomastoid (82.6%), trapezius (64.3%), levator scapulae (40.9%) and semispinalis capitis (26.9%); 35.5% of subjects were injected using a guidance technique. Most subjects (87.8%) had been previously treated with BoNT-A (median interval between last pre-study injection and study baseline was 4 months); of these 84.8% reported satisfaction with BoNT-A treatment at peak effect during their previous treatment cycle and 51.5% remained satisfied at the end of the treatment. Analyses by geographical region revealed heterogeneity in the clinical characteristics and BoNT-A injection practice of CD subjects presenting for routine treatment. Conclusions These baseline analyses provide sizeable data regarding the epidemiology and clinical presentation of CD, and demonstrate an international heterogeneity of clinical practice. Future longitudinal analyses of the full 3-year study will explore how these factors impact treatment satisfaction. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00415-017-8698-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Water management remains a complex task due to the multiplicity of users-consumers, which necessitates the use of planning tools and decision support in a rigorous manner. The objective of the present study is to find an alternative solution to the water use conflict applied to a scale of a hydrographic unit. Our choice focused on the Mebtouh River watershed (1306 km2), where there is a chronic water shortage. With an irrigated perimeter of 8200 ha and an urban area with a regional dimension, the hydraulic system is based on a Dam (Cheurfa) with a capacity of 83 hm3 and diversions by pumping over the river. The methodology adopted is the application of the WEAP software, with a view to constructing a water resource allocation model by 2050. The data set consists of the physical parameters of the study area, hydroclimatic records for the reference year (2015), and the estimation of urban and agricultural water demand sites. The results obtained by the WEAP model applied to our study area confirm the validation of the data used. Therefore, it is timely to develop a water resources management tool to reduce user-consumer tensions at the planned planning timeline.

The aim of this work is to understand the role of unsaturated zone on the functioning of karst aquifers. The easy infiltration of water into the system explains the expansion of karstification through the saturated zone. The unsaturated zone is largely involved in the flow on the overall karstic system. For this purpose, we use the environmental tracing, namely the calco-carbonic equilibrium elements (CO2, CO32−, HCO3−, Ca2+, Mg2+), TOC, and isotopic elements (14C, 13C, and 3H) interesting tracers of residence time. Result obtained from TOC and Mg2+ enabled us to classify the behavior of systems to fissured type with a low average and restricted fluctuation of TOC concentrations and relatively high Mg2+ (inertial system). The second functioning type is characterized by a very high average and important variation of TOC with low contents of Mg2+ (perched system with fast infiltration). The values of 3H and 14C allow to distinguish three categories of water (old, mixture actual-old, and actual) with the predominance of actual waters. The comparison of the measured δ13C with those calculated shows that the majority of the karstic aquifers of Tlemcen Mountains are open systems with respect to the soil biogenic CO2. The piston flow in the unsaturated zone puts in charge the drains and stops drainage in the lower part of the system. The direct participation of infiltration is relatively low for all systems.

Ouarsenis mountain range located in the NW of Algeria is affected by numerous slope instabilities: (i) rock falls, related to Jurassic limestone formation and (ii) landslides initiated on moderate slopes angles ranging from 11 to 22 %, which can be related to very sensible lithology (colluviums and turbidity). These slopes show an important fluid circulation activity. This circulation is ensured by a complex karstic system embedded within the limestone mountains in high altitude (>900 m). The rose diagrams establishing of faults lineation, landslides, and elongate slope axis show a strong coincidence between the tectonic fractures and the rupture axis (RA) of the landslides (N10°, N40°, N120°, N140°). The orientations of elongate slope axis coincide mainly with the directions ~N30° and ~N160. The north slopes are affected by a high number of identified landslides because these mountain sides correspond to wetland areas. The topographic and border conditions can highly control the geometry of the landslides: the type of slope and the spread in length of the destabilized materials are strongly related. This is confirmed by the possible linear fit which links the mobility index to the maximum length of the landslides, either with fluid flow or situated in the front of tectonics overlap; these two types of landslides are characterized by low coefficients of friction 0.23 and 0.24, respectively. The landslides situated above the geomorphologic knickpoint are represented by a higher friction coefficient (0.25), as well as landslides initiated in zones without seepage water (0.29): these different apparent friction values can explained the spread in length variability of the debris. Moreover, the high landslide zone is located near a seismic area which can be related to an active deformation process associated to seismogenic faults (e.g., the earthquake which occurred in the Chlef area in October 1980).

The Ouarsenis area is one of the most developed karstic systems of Algeria. It is a karst reservoir drinking water with a population of more than 50,000 people taking fully benefit from it. To understand the development of this karstic system, the local tectonic history of the four main mountain ranges of this culminating area (Ouarsenis) has been analyzed. Although previously identified primarily Cenozoic tectonic activities have been observed, a set of NW-SE joints intersecting the Jurassic limestone has been associated to a post-nappes tectonic events. Moreover, numerous joint sets oriented NNE/SSW have been identified almost over the entire culminating area. These joints are the direct consequence of the following stress history: (i) a NW/SE shortening responsible for a major overlap and the first fold (P1) phase, (ii) a second NNE/SSW shortening stage responsible for the second folding (P2) phase associated with 70° N sinistral strike-slip trend, (iii) a WNW/ESE extension phase resulting from the change of σ 3 stress vertical axis, and (iv) a shearing stress creating a 120° N sinistral strike-slip fault. Only the late phases are responsible of the development of joints, which have been karstified later on. Indeed, significant families of karstified joints, i.e., 20° and 70° N have been found. These joints are related to the extensional and shearing modes, respectively, and linked to a particular in situ karstogenesis. Moreover, this study suggests an ancient establishment of the karstic systems in the Ouarsenis region in at least two stages: pre-figured and activated behaviors during the Cenozoic.