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Objective: Endothelin1 (ET1) is 21- amino acid vasoconstrictor peptide secreted by endotheliumwhich has an important role in the pathoohysiology of preeclampsia (PE). The objective of this study was to evaluate the binding sites and quantitative changes in ET1 in umbilical cord vessels of PE patients. Methods: This study recruited 40 pregnant women between 20-40 years old at 3rd trimester. All cases selected for this study underwent an elective cesarean section, grouped into 2 groups; PE group of 20 pregnant women (at 3rd trimester) who proved to have pregnancy induced hypertension and proteinuria. The control group was of 20 healthy pregnant females at the same average of gestational age and with the same exclusion criteria and no PE, underwent elective caesarean section. Umbilical cord tissues were taken from the maternal side, fixed with formalin, paraffin, embedded sections of umbilical cord were treated with Endothelin1 antibody. The immunoreactivity of ET1 was assessed using Aperio image scope software. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS program. Results: The results demonstrated a significant increase (P = 0.001) of ET1 expression in cord vessels of PE group with respect to control group (mean 28.5±1.7, 2.6±0.4 respectively). Conclusion: It is concluded that ET1 is markedly increase in PE and may be the cause behind promoted vascular smooth muscle cell contraction and blood pressure elevation in PE.

Streptococcus agalactiae is well known to be a potential etiology of bacterial meningitis in neonates. Invasive S. agalactiae has been also reported in nonpregnant adults. Among adults, the incidence of invasive group B Streptococcus (GBS) has been increasing 2–4 times in the past 2 decades. Chronic medical disease was suspected to increase the susceptibility for invasive GBS, especially diabetes mellitus. There was only one case reported to have GBS meningitis from acute otitis media infection in otherwise healthy individual. Hereby, we are reporting the second invasive GBS meningitis from acute otitis media infection with mastoiditis.

Extensive research work has been carried out to define the exact significance and contribution of regulated necrosis-like cell death program, such as necroptosis to cardiac ischemic injury. This cell damaging process plays a critical role in the pathomechanisms of myocardial infarction (MI) and post-infarction heart failure (HF). Accordingly, it has been documented that the modulation of key molecules of the canonical signaling pathway of necroptosis, involving receptor-interacting protein kinases (RIP1 and RIP3) as well as mixed lineage kinase domain-like pseudokinase (MLKL), elicit cardioprotective effects. This is evidenced by the reduction of the MI-induced infarct size, alleviation of myocardial dysfunction, and adverse cardiac remodeling. In addition to this molecular signaling of necroptosis, the non-canonical pathway, involving Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII)-mediated regulation of mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) opening, and phosphoglycerate mutase 5 (PGAM5)–dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp-1)-induced mitochondrial fission, has recently been linked to ischemic heart injury. Since MI and HF are characterized by an imbalance between reactive oxygen species production and degradation as well as the occurrence of necroptosis in the heart, it is likely that oxidative stress (OS) may be involved in the mechanisms of this cell death program for inducing cardiac damage. In this review, therefore, several observations from different studies are presented to support this paradigm linking cardiac OS, the canonical and non-canonical pathways of necroptosis, and ischemia-induced injury. It is concluded that a multiple therapeutic approach targeting some specific changes in OS and necroptosis may be beneficial in improving the treatment of ischemic heart disease.

Diabetic macular edema (DME) is the most common cause of visual impairment among patients with diabetes mellitus. Anti-vascular endothelial growth factors (Anti-VEGFs) are considered the first line in its management. The aim of this research has been to develop a deep learning (DL) model for predicting response to intravitreal anti-VEGF injections among DME patients. The research included treatment naive DME patients who were treated with anti-VEGF. Patient’s pre-treatment and post-treatment clinical and macular optical coherence tomography (OCT) were assessed by retina specialists, who annotated pre-treatment images for five prognostic features. Patients were also classified based on their response to treatment in their post-treatment OCT into either good responder, defined as a reduction of thickness by >25% or 50 µm by 3 months, or poor responder. A novel modified U-net DL model for image segmentation, and another DL EfficientNet-B3 model for response classification were developed and implemented for predicting response to anti-VEGF injections among patients with DME. Finally, the classification DL model was compared with different levels of ophthalmology residents and specialists regarding response classification accuracy. The segmentation deep learning model resulted in segmentation accuracy of 95.9%, with a specificity of 98.9%, and a sensitivity of 87.9%. The classification accuracy of classifying patients’ images into good and poor responders reached 75%. Upon comparing the model’s performance with practicing ophthalmology residents, ophthalmologists and retina specialists, the model’s accuracy is comparable to ophthalmologist’s accuracy. The developed DL models can segment and predict response to anti-VEGF treatment among DME patients with comparable accuracy to general ophthalmologists. Further training on a larger dataset is nonetheless needed to yield more accurate response predictions.

This study includes synthesis and characterization of new derivatives of 3-(2-(6-oxo-1,3-thiazinan-3-yl)-R)-1,3-oxazepane-4,7-dione and N-Bromo amines 1,3-oxazepane-4,7-dione derivatives. Schiff's bases reactions through one step process in inert solvents. Some employing Schiff's bases [1- 4]; in addition, synthesized by the reaction of different amines with (Salicylaldehyde) in absolute ethanol under reflux. Heterocyclic rings of 1,3-oxazepane-4,7-dione prepared by the reaction of succinic anhydride with Schiff's bases [1-4] and 3-(2-(6-oxo-1,3-thiazinan-3-yl)-R)-1,3-oxazepane-4,7-dione derivatives were prepared by the reaction of 3-mercaptopropanoic acid with 1,3-oxazepane-4,7-dione[A1-A4] in 1,4-dioxan. Synthesis of some N-bromo amine derivatives by the reaction of 1,3-oxazepane-4,7-dione[A1-A4] with 2,4,4,6-TBCD (2,4,4,6-tetrabromocyclohexa-2,5-dienone) in dry benzene; The prepared compounds were identified by melting point, FT-IR, UV-Vis and 1H- NMR spectroscopy.

Abstract Background Metabolic syndrome (MetS) describes a combination of risk factors that increase the risk of developing chronic diseases. The prevalences of MetS and its risk factors are increasing, especially in the Arab region. A cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the prevalences of MetS and its associated risk factors among adolescents in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods A total of 596 students (308 boys and 288 girls) aged 10 to 15.9 years old were recruited from 14 public secondary schools in Dubai, UAE. Anthropometric and biochemical data were measured. Results According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria, the prevalence of MetS was 3.7%, and it was more common among boys than girls (12 boys versus 10 girls). MetS was also more likely to be found in students who were obese or overweight than those with normal weight. The most prevalent and significant MetS risk factor was low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. Conclusions This study indicates the importance of carrying out further investigations about the constituents of HDL and their atherogenic effects. Additionally, these results strongly recommend setting a consensus for HDL measurement, since small variations in methodologies may lead to substantial deviations in results.

Background; basal cell carcinoma (BCC) has been considered the commonest diagnosed skin cancer, which has been more evident on the sun-exposed areas of the head and neck. The number of reported cases which have been diagnosed with BCC of the areola and nipple is gradually increasing. BCC of the areola and nipple has been considered more aggressive than BCC which has been detected in other sites of the body, as it has a greater liability for local invasion and metastatic spread to regional lymph nodes. Thus, early diagnosis and management of BCC of the areola and nipple is beneficial to decrease the incidence of its spread, hence improve patient's prognosis. Up-till 2016, only fifty-five cases of BCC of the areola and nipple had been diagnosed and reported. In the current case study, we have diagnosed another characteristic case of multifocal BCC of the nipple and areola in a sixty years old female patient, who had complained of enlargement and multi-focal ulceration of the nipple and areola. Keywords: Basal cell carcinoma, Nipple, Areola, Female breast

Abstract Background Injuries represent an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In retrospective epidemiological studies, estimated rates of reported injuries often decline considerably when information is included from periods more than a few months before the data collection. Such low rates are usually regarded as a consequence of memory decay. It is largely unknown whether the extent of memory decay depends on external factors otherwise affecting injury rates. Methods A statistical model was introduced to separate the influence of external factors on true injury rates from effects on memory decay. The relationship between apparent rates and time elapsed between injury occurrence and data collection was described by a parametric regression model. Relationships between memory decay and external factors were modelled by effect modification of the relationship with time. The procedure was applied to data collected in a retrospective household survey, carried out in Khartoum State in 2010, which elicited information about injuries that had occurred during the last year. The survey included 5661 individuals in 973 households, reporting a total of 481 non-fatal injuries. Results In the data from Khartoum State, differences in memory recall were observed between socioeconomic groups, with considerably faster memory decay in the lower socioeconomic tertile. In this tertile the estimated probability that an injury which occurred 6 months ago was reported was only 18%, compared to probabilities of about 35% in the remainder of the population. In the lower socioeconomic tertile, in contrast to other groups, a simple exponential model was not sufficient for describing memory decay. Memory decay did not depend on sex, age, urban/rural status or education. Road traffic injuries were subject to less memory decay than injuries due to falls, mechanical causes and burns. Memory decay seriously affected crude overall injury rates and also to some degree estimated relative rates. Conclusion In the statistical analysis of retrospective injury data it is important to take into account the effects of memory decay.

Abstract We aimed to study the association between three different methods of assessing the amount of amniotic fluid (subjective method (SM), deepest vertical pocket (DVP) and amniotic fluid index (AFI)) and estimated fetal weight (EFW) (in percentile or Z-score) after adjustment on maternal-fetal parameters. We performed a nationwide cross-sectional study through the French network of obstetric sonographers using the “flash” study method and including low-risk singleton pregnancies from 18–40 weeks. Crude and adjusted odds ratio were computed after stratification upon 2nd and 3rd trimester of pregnancy. 1667 ultrasound scans performed by 65 operators were included. Only Z-score of EFW was significantly associated with SM in both trimesters. For DVP and AFI, Z-score of EFW and male fetal gender was significantly associated with them in 2nd trimester. In the 3rd trimester, both Z-score of EFW and large (LGA) or small for gestational age (SGA) fetus were significantly associated with AFI. and DVP. Overweight woman and class I obesity women were also significantly associated with DVP modification. In conclusion, all three methods of amniotic fluid evaluation are significantly associated to estimated fetal weight. DVP and AFI appeared equivalent except that maternal-fetal factors seemed to have a higher impact in DVP than AFI.

Iranian National University Entrance Exam (INUEE) as a nationwide high-stakes test is held annually to screen Iranian high school graduates and admit them into higher education programs in universities. This high-stakes examination has a wide range of impacts on test takers as the primary stake-holders and the parents, teachers, and high school principals as the secondary stakeholders. As a part of a larger project, this study reports the impacts of INUEE on high school teachers and principals. To this aim, 27 teachers and 18 principals from three western provinces of Iran sat for a structured interview. Each interview lasted nearly 30 minutes. All the interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Next, following the Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) as the basis of analysis, the transcriptions were subjected to word-by-word content analysis to extract common patterns and recurring themes. Content analysis was applied to codify the transcribed interview data through an inductive process of frequent moving back and forth to extract common patterns and recurring themes of the data. After coding and 'quantitizing' the data (Dörnyei, 2007), the basic themes were identified, frequency counted, and tabulated. The results indicated that from the majority of the participants' perspective, the INUEE has detrimental consequences for students, teachers, school principals, and the educational curriculum. The findings of the study underscore the consequential invalidity and unfairness of the test and its negative impacts on different aspects and layers of the educational system. The findings of the study provide practical implications for educational policy-makers, school principals, and teachers highlighting the necessity of their awareness of the negative consequences of INUEE.

Predicting the temporal and spatial patterns of South Asian monsoon rainfall within a season is of critical importance due to its impact on agriculture, water availability, and flooding. The monsoon intraseasonal oscillation (MISO) is a robust northward-propagating mode that determines the active and break phases of the monsoon and much of the regional distribution of rainfall. However, dynamical atmospheric forecast models predict this mode poorly. Data-driven methods for MISO prediction have shown more skill, but only predict the portion of the rainfall corresponding to MISO rather than the full rainfall signal. Here, we combine state-of-the-art ensemble precipitation forecasts from a high-resolution atmospheric model with data-driven forecasts of MISO. The ensemble members of the detailed atmospheric model are projected onto a lower-dimensional subspace corresponding to the MISO dynamics and are then weighted according to their distance from the data-driven MISO forecast in this subspace. We thereby achieve improvements in rainfall forecasts over India, as well as the broader monsoon region, at 10- to 30-d lead times, an interval that is generally considered to be a predictability gap. The temporal correlation of rainfall forecasts is improved by up to 0.28 in this time range. Our results demonstrate the potential of leveraging the predictability of intraseasonal oscillations to improve extended-range forecasts; more generally, they point toward a future of combining dynamical and data-driven forecasts for Earth system prediction.

For ethnoracially minoritized and immigrant youth, identity formation involves efforts to integrate social identities that are derived from their ethnic-racial group memberships (i.e., ethnic-racial identity) and their connection to the country in which they reside (i.e., national identity). This study investigated the extent to which these two social identities were simultaneously associated with adolescents' psychosocial adjustment via their associations with the integration of these identities (i.e., bicultural identity integration) and across adolescents' identity domains (i.e., global identity coherence). This cross-sectional study (January 2020) included a US ethnoracially diverse sample of 355 adolescents (M[subscript age] = 15.95 years; SD = 0.79; 50.4% female; 40.6% Latino/a/x, 29.0% White, 13.2% Black, 8.2% Asian, 7.0% other; 76.1% US-born; 76.9% had at least one foreign-born parent) who completed online surveys in class. Structural equation path analyses with bias-corrected bootstrapping were conducted to test a theoretical sequential mediation model of identity and adjustment. Findings indicated that national American identity explained significant variance in adolescent psychosocial adjustment (i.e., higher academic engagement and self-esteem) via its unique associations with bicultural identity integration and global identity coherence. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses revealed some support for alternate models suggesting that the examined identity constructs may work in tandem with one another to inform adolescent psychosocial adjustment. This study highlights the multifaceted nature of social identity development and provides preliminary evidence regarding how the simultaneous development of adolescents' ethnic-racial and national identities informs their psychosocial adjustment.

Studies have documented the significance of scaffolding as a sociocultural theory driven type of assistance for the development of English as foreign language (EFL) learners' language skills in general; however, the comparative efficacy of various cognitive and/or metacognitive scaffolding procedures for EFL learners' listening comprehension development and progress has received scant attention. As a partial attempt in this regard, this study investigated the comparative efficacy of cognitive and metacognitive scaffolding strategies for EFL learners' listening comprehension development. For this purpose, 90 intermediate level EFL learners aged 15 to 20 were selected to participate in this study. The participants' actual proficiency level was assessed using a sample TOEFL Junior Standard test and relatively homogeneous classes of nearly 15 learners were formed and randomly assigned to two experimental conditions and a control one. The listening section of TOEFL Junior standard test was used as the pre- and posttest. While the learners in both experimental conditions worked in groups of three or four learners on some listening comprehension tasks, the participants of the first experimental condition received cognitive scaffolding strategies, and the second experimental group members were treated using metacognitive scaffolding strategies, the control group members received teacher-fronted non-scaffolding instruction. In addition to a listening comprehension posttest, a semi-structured interview was given to a number of participants of each experimental condition to explore their attitudes towards given scaffolding strategies. The analyses verified that metacognitive scaffolding strategies had a significant superior effect on EFL learners' listening development compared to cognitive scaffolding strategies and non-scaffolding instruction. Furthermore, the analyses revealed that the EFL learners were generally more pleased with the metacognitive scaffolding procedures and viewed them as instructive, innovative, and effective for finding problems, better comprehension and increased readiness.

Thermal treatments such as torrefaction and fast pyrolysis are commonly employed methods to produce biofuels with high-energetic properties. In this study, wood chips were heat-treated at different temperatures of torrefaction (315 °C) and fast pyrolysis (400 and 454 °C) to form energetic pellets. Three softwoods, jack pine (JP), balsam fir (BF), and black spruce (BS), were evaluated. Pellets are produced using 20% moisture content and 15% pyrolytic lignin as a binder. Untreated- and treated-wood residues were characterized by surface chemistry, elemental analysis, and chemical composition, whereas all pellets were characterized in terms of density, high heat value (HHV), and durability. Results showed that both thermal treatments caused significant changes in the physicochemical structure of wood residues. Using temperatures higher than 315 °C leads to the disappearance of hydroxyl groups, a decrease in oxygen and hydrogen contents, and an increase in carbon content. Regardless of the treatment temperature, pellets made from heat-treated JP had the best durability (93%). In contrast, the calorific values of wood-treated pellets reached up to 31 MJ/kg, compared to untreated-wood pellets (19 MJ/kg). Thus, the densification of the thermal-treated wood residues represents a potential approach for producing biofuels with high energetic value.

Radiotherapy dose calculation requires accurate Computed Tomography (CT) imaging while tissue delineation may necessitate the use of contrast agents (CA). Acquiring these two sets is a common practice in radiotherapy. This study aims to evaluate the effect of CA on the dose calculations. Two hundred and twenty-six volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) patients that had planning CT with contrast (CCT) and non-contrast CT (NCCT) of different cancer sites (e.g., brain, head, and neck (H&N), chest, abdomen, and pelvis) were evaluated. Treatment plans were recalculated using CCT, then compared to NCCT. The variation in Hounsfield units (HU) and dose distributions for critical structures and target volumes were analyzed using mean HU, mean and maximum relative dose values, D2%, D98%, and 3D gamma analysis. HU variations were statistically significant for most structures. However, this was not clinically significant as the difference in mean HU values was within 30 HU for soft tissue and 50 HU for lungs. Variation in target volumes’ D2% and D98% were insignificant for all sites except brain and nasopharynx. Dose maximum differences were within 2% for the majority of critical structures and target volumes. 3D gamma analysis results revealed that majority of plans satisfied the 2% and 2 mm criteria. CCT may be acquired for VMAT radiotherapy planning purposes instead of NCCT, since there is no clinically significant difference in dose calculations based on either image set.

Stem cells are primary, unspecialized and mother of all cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and can produce more stem cells. These cells are classified into totipotent, pluripotent and multipotent. Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body and can replace damaged tissues and repaired them in the human body. Therefore, the use of stem cells shows the extraordinary ability to treat a wide range of disabling diseases. Stem cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease and injury. They stimulate the body to repair itself. Stem cells can be used for treating and preventing many diseases such as diabets, spinal cord injuries, cardiac infarction, arthritis, Alzheimer, Parkinson and wound healing. Researchers have recently used these cells to treat parasitic diseases in some cases. The findings show that the use of these cells in the treatment of various parasitic diseases such as malaria, trypanosomyosis, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis and echinococcosis, have inhibitory effects which improves the function of the tissue and involved organs. This study summarizes the new advances in the stem cell therapy against parasitic infections.

Abstract Background Tolvaptan slows progression of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) by antagonizing the vasopressin-cAMP axis. Nitric oxide (NO) stimulates natriuresis and diuresis, but its role is unknown during tolvaptan treatment in ADPKD. Methods Eighteen patients with ADPKD received tolvaptan 60 mg or placebo in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double blind, crossover study. L-NMMA (L-NG-monomethyl-arginine) was given as a bolus followed by continuous infusion during 60 min. We measured: GFR, urine output (UO), free water clearance (CH2O), fractional excretion of sodium (FENa), urinary excretion of aquaporin-2 channels (u-AQP2) and epithelial sodium channels (u-ENaCγ), plasma concentrations of vasopressin (p-AVP), renin (PRC), angiotensinII (p-AngII), aldosterone (p-Aldo), and central blood pressure (cBP). Results During tolvaptan with NO-inhibition, a more pronounced decrease was measured in UO, CH2O (61% vs 43%) and FENa (46% vs 41%) after placebo than after tolvaptan; GFR and u-AQP2 decreased to the same extent; p-AVP increased three fold, whereas u-ENaCγ, PRC, p-AngII, and p-Aldo remained unchanged. After NO-inhibition, GFR increased after placebo and remained unchanged after tolvaptan (5% vs −6%). Central diastolic BP (CDBP) increased to a higher level after placebo than tolvaptan. Body weight fell during tolvaptan treatment. Conclusions During NO inhibition, tolvaptan antagonized both the antidiuretic and the antinatriuretic effect of L-NMMA, partly via an AVP-dependent mechanism. U-AQP2 was not changed by tolvaptan, presumeably due to a counteracting effect of elevated p-AVP. The reduced GFR during tolvaptan most likely is caused by the reduction in extracellular fluid volume and blood pressure. Trial registration Clinical Trial no: NCT02527863 . Registered 18 February 2015.

In this paper, an integral finite-time sliding mode control scheme is presented for controlling a chaotic permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM). The controller can stabilize the system output tracking error to zero in a finite time. Using Lyapunov’s stability theory, the stability of the proposed scheme is verified. Numerical simulation results are presented to present the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Abstract Background Acute appendicitis in a neonate and premature baby is still considered a rare entity as diagnosis is always made after surgical exploration for acute abdominal findings mimicking necrotizing enterocolitis. Our reported case is a premature baby who had a perforated appendix with no evidence of peritonitis. Case presentation We describe the case of a premature Bahraini girl born at 29 weeks of gestation by spontaneous vaginal delivery to a 39-year-old G6P5 mother. She was kept on a ventilator for the first 6 days of life, and had an uneventful Neonatal Intensive care stay until her 47th day of life when she developed sepsis that required ventilator support for 3 days. At day 51 she developed abdominal distension and was referred to a pediatric surgeon by day 54 with pneumoperitoneum. Her abdomen was soft with minimal tenderness and no evidence of erythema or edema. In view of pneumoperitoneum and previously reported sepsis, she was taken for exploratory laparotomy. The findings were consistent with a perforated appendix with no evidence of peritonitis or necrotizing enterocolitis. An appendectomy was performed. She had a smooth postoperative recovery. Conclusions Neonatal appendicitis continues to be a diagnostic challenge. Only with a high index of clinical suspicion and teamwork can these cases be managed successfully and mortality and morbidity rates may reduce.

Primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDs) are a group of rare, chronic disorders with deficient or malfunctioning immune system. It commonly affects the hematopoietic system, with skin the second most affected organ. Skin involvement is observed in half of pediatric PID cases and often precedes the final diagnosis. Skin infections and eczemas are the two most common manifestations in PID.[1] Skin manifestations associated with PIDs can be of infectious and noninfectious causes. Common noninfectious causes are eczema, erythroderma, cutaneous granulomas, dysplasia, vasculitis, and telangiectasia. It is important to be aware of skin manifestations in pediatric patients as early detection of PID may aid in the management of serious immunologic conditions and prevent associated morbidity and mortality.

Mapping technological innovation in organizations is one of the important activities that help companies to identify where organizations are clustering their innovation efforts, and where their unexplored innovation spaces are. Current published innovation mapping models do not take into consideration the comparison and benchmarking between organizations in one model. The objectives of this paper are to map innovation in three international petrochemical companies: Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC), Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), and Dow Chemical; compare and benchmark the results; and explore the possible areas for their innovation opportunities. An innovation mapping model was developed. Innovation data covering three years (2010-2012), were collected, analyzed and mapped on the model. The results showed that the three companies introduced a total of 194 innovations; 53% by Dow Chemical, 38% by SABIC and 9% by GPIC. Product innovations were the dominant type as they presented 57% of total innovations, where 54% of these were introduced by Dow Chemical, 46% by SABIC, and none by GPIC. Position and paradigm innovations were the least innovation type produced, where only 3% of the total innovations were in position and 1% in paradigm. The results also showed that multi-dimensional innovation represented 23.7% of total innovations, where 67.5% of these were produced by Dow Chemical, 28% by SABIC, and only 4.5% by GPIC. Product-process innovations represented 50% of the total multi-dimensional innovations. During this period only 5.7% of the total innovations were radical innovations; these were all introduced by Dow Chemical. The benchmarking results showed that product innovation was the strength in SABIC; process innovation was the strength in GPIC; and product, radical, product-position, process-position and product-paradigm were the strengths in Dow Chemical. For GPIC there are possible innovation opportunities in product, product-process and process-position innovations; for Dow Chemical and SABIC, in the process area. There are possible opportunities in radical innovation in GPIC and SABIC and plenty of innovation opportunities in the position and paradigm areas for the three companies.

High cost and limited resources of pediatrics renal transplant in low-resource countries limits the number of transplants. However, the collaboration between government and community sector provided high quality care for these patients. Here we highlight the impact of a non-governmental organization in facilitating pediatrics renal transplant. Data was collected from files of all pediatric patients withend stage renal disease who received renal transplant between January 2010 and December 2017 at Soba University Hospital (77 patients). The 8-year period was divided into 16 intervals of 6 months each. The number of patients who received renal transplant ranged from 1 to 12 patients in each interval. There was a rise in 2017 when 21 (28.7%) patients received kidney transplant. In the last 6 months in 2017 there was a significant reduction in duration of hospital stay compared to the rest of the period; it dropped from 16.36 to 9.92 days (P=0.003). Partnership between governmental and non-governmental sectors is a good strategy in low resource area to bridge some of the gaps of healthcare delivery system.

Resultante do contato com a alteridade inglesa, o texto de Tayeb Salih, Tempo de migrar para o norte, publicado há mais de meio século, continua a suscitar reflexões de uma questão que causa conflitos no mundo hodierno, a migração dos povos. Retratando de maneira intensa a intrincada relação Colônia versus Metrópole, o autor nos apresenta uma outra versão da história que, por tanto tempo, esteve sob controle do colonizador. Considerada uma das mais importantes obras árabes do século XX, foi traduzida ao português pela primeira vez no ano de 2004, e é o único texto árabe, com exceção de As mil e uma noites, a ser reeditado no Brasil. Dada a importância da novela tanto para o sistema literário árabe como para os estudos pós-coloniais, no presente trabalho propomos uma abordagem do texto que não só o apresente como uma obra que denuncia a exploração colonial inglesa, mas também se posta como um contradiscurso no processo dialógico nas relações Oriente-Ocidente. Por fim, analisaremos alguns excertos do texto que julgamos expressivos e que o distingue como uma obra vanguardista.

Background: We aimed to investigate the scolicidal effects of Holothuria leucospilota extract and CeO2 nanoparticles against protoscoleces of hydatid cysts in-vitro and in-vivo. Methods: Hydatid cysts were collected from, Urmia slaughterhouses between years 2016-2017 and the hydatid fluid aspirated from the fertile cysts. Various concentration of H. leucospilota extract, CeO2 NPs and combination of CeO2-NPs/H. leucospilota were used for 10-60 min to evaluate the viability of protoscoleces by 0.1% eosin method. CASPASE -3 activity measured for assessment of cell apoptosis in treated protoscoleces. BALB/c mice were infected intraperitoneally with 2000 viable protoscoleces and treated daily for 4 wk by intragastrical inoculation with H. leucospilota, CeO2 NPs, combination of CeO2 NPs/H. leucospilota and Albendazole. Cyst development was macroscopically analyzed. Results: H. leucospilota extract and combination of CeO2 NPs/H. leucospilota have potent scolicidal activity at concentration of 20 mg/ml and 15 mg/ml after 60 min treatment. Maximum caspase-3 activity was observed when protoscoleces expose with H. leucospilota and combination H. leucospilota & CeO2 NPs. After treatment of cyst infected mice with extract and CeO2 NPs, combination of CeO2 NPs/H leucospilota and albendazole, a significant decrease in number of cysts, size and volume of cyst (P

The current study was conducted in Dhi Qar governorate, Iraq to determine the main types of microorganisms that cause female genital tract infection and the extent of the effect of the level of sex hormones (prolactin, progesterone, estrogen) on the presence of infection , 245 samples were collected for both vaginal swabs and blood (where take a vaginal swab and blood from every woman) , where 150 women were pregnant and 95 women non-pregnant women , aged 16-45 years . Among non-pregnant women, most were women who had a reproductive tract infection within the leuteal phases , where our study included 58 women at leuteal phase , 20 women were in follicular phase , 17 women within ovulation phase of the menstrual cycle . The study showed that Candida albicans , Staphylococcus aureus , Escherichia coli , Gardnerella vaginalis , Klebsiella pneumonia , Staphylococcus epidermids , Enterobacter cloaceae were isolated from women in follicular phase , the diversity of infections was lower in women in the ovulation stage, where they were isolated only Candida albicans , Staphylococcus aureus , Escherichia coli , Gardnerella vaginalis ,and from women with leuteal phase was obtained Candida albicans , Staphylococcus aureus , Escherichia col ,Gardnerella vaginalis , Klebsiella pneumonia , Staphylococcus epidermids , Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa , the precence of all type of pathogens in our study was associated with elevated estrogen and progesterone levels except the growth of Staphylococcus epidermids , Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Enterobacter cloaceae was associated with normal range of each hormones,as for the prolactin hormone did not have a clear effect as the levels ranged between natural and high for all women in the three phases. Pregnancy was accompanied by high levels of estrogen, progesterone and prolactin hormones, this is accompanied with existence Candida albicans , Staphylococcus aureus , Escherichia coli , Gardnerella vaginalis , Klebsiella pneumonia , Streptococcus agalactiae , Trichomonas vaginalis.

Cardiovascular disease is stabilizing in high-income countries and has continued to rise in low-to-middle-income countries. Association of lipid profile with lipoprotein lipase gene was studied in case and control subject. The family history, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking and alcohol consumption were the most risk factors for early-onset of coronary heart disease (CHD). Sudanese patients had significantly (P < 0.05) lower TC and LDL-C levels compared to controls. Allele frequency of LPL D9N, N291S and S447X carrier genotype was 4.2%, 30.7% and 7.1%, respectively. We conclude that lipoprotein lipase polymorphism was not associated with the incidence of CHD in Sudan.

This study was conducted to determine the effects of concentration of hydrochloric acids, temperature, and time on the hydrolysis of soya proteins (defatted soya flour) by determining the value of total protein nitrogen concentration, and amino nitrogen concentration of protein, peptides, and amino acids, and then calculated the hydrolysis rate of proteins. The variables of the conditions of hydrolysis process was achieved in this study with the following range value of tests parameter: Concentration of HCl solution ranged between 1-7 N, Hydrolysis temperature ranged between 35-95 °C, and The time of hydrolysis period ranged between 0.5-24 hr. Experiments were designed according to the central composite rotatable design. The practical study has shown the possibility of decreasing the negative effect of the acid on the biological characteristics of the protein; then affecting the possibility of using the product for biological purposes (for medical and microbiological laboratories) by: Decreasing the acid concentration used in the process of hydrolysis, firstly, and Decreasing the temperature of the hydrolysis process, secondly, and then Increasing the period of the time of hydrolysis process, thirdly.