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Obesity has become a global epidemic, and it is a major risk factor for other metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes and cardiometabolic disease. Dietary protein is effective for body-weight management. This study aimed to investigate the effect of grilled meat supplemented with cinnamon, green coffee and cardamom on serum liver function of obese rats. Fourty-two adult male rats weighing approximately (150 ± 5 g.) fed on basal diet for one week for adaptation. After this week rats divided into two main groups; the first main group (6 rats) fed on basal diet (as a control negative group), The second main group (36 rat) fed on high fat diet for four weeks then divided as follows: Subgroup (1) fed on high fat diet (as a control positive group). Subgroups (2) fed on high fat diet containing half amount of protein from grilled meat without any supplementation. Subgroups (3) fed on high fat diet containing half amount of protein from grilled meat supplemented with 5% cinnamon. Subgroups (4) fed on high fat diet containing half amount of protein from grilled meat with 5% green coffee.

This paper demonstrates an intruder detection system using a strain-based optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG), machine learning (ML), and adaptive thresholding to classify the intruder as no intruder, intruder, or wind at low levels of signal-to-noise ratio. We demonstrate the intruder detection system using a portion of a real fence manufactured and installed around one of the engineering college’s gardens at King Saud University. The experimental results show that adaptive thresholding can help improve the performance of machine learning classifiers, such as linear discriminant analysis (LDA) or logistic regression algorithms in identifying an intruder’s existence at low optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) scenarios. The proposed method can achieve an average accuracy of 99.17% when the OSNR level is

The problem of automatic modulation format identification (MFI) is one of the main challenges in adaptive optical systems. In this work, we investigate MFI in super-channel optical networks. The investigation is conducted by considering the classification of seven multiplexed channels of 20 Gbaud, each with six commonly used modulation formats, including polarization division multiplexing (PDM)-BPSK, PDM-QPSK, and PDM-MQAM with (M = 8, 16, 32, 64). The classification performance is assessed under different values of optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) and in the presence of channel interference, channel chromatic dispersion, phase noise, and $1^{st}$ polarization mode dispersion (PMD). Furthermore, the effect of fiber nonlinearity on the MFI accuracy is investigated. A well-established machine learning algorithm based on histogram features and a convolutional neural network has been used in this investigation. Results indicate that accurate identification accuracy can be achieved within the OSNR range of practical systems and that the MFI accuracy of side subcarriers outperforms that of middle subcarriers at a fixed value of OSNR. The results also show that the MFI accuracy of PDM-16QAM and PDM-64QAM are affected more by channel interference than the other modulation formats, especially when the ratio of the subcarrier bandwidth to subcarriers spacing is $\geq$ 1.4. Finally, laboratory experiments have been conducted for validation purposes. The experimental results were found in good agreement with those achieved by simulation.

Biometric-based identity authentication is integral to modern-day technologies. From smart phones, personal computers, and tablets to security checkpoints, they all utilize a form of identity check based on methods such as face recognition and fingerprint-verification. Photoplethysmography (PPG) is another form of biometric-based authentication that has recently been gaining momentum, because it is effective and easy to implement. This paper considers a cloud-based system model for PPG-authentication, where the PPG signals of various individuals are collected with distributed sensors and communicated to the cloud for authentication. Such a model incursarge signal traffic, especially in crowded places such as airport security checkpoints. This motivates the need for a compression–decompression scheme (or a Codec for short). The Codec is required to reduce the data traffic by compressing each PPG signal before it is communicated, i.e., encoding the signal right after it comes off the sensor and before it is sent to the cloud to be reconstructed (i.e., decoded). Therefore, the Codec has two system requirements to meet: (i) produce high-fidelity signal reconstruction; and (ii) have a computationallyightweight encoder. Both requirements are met by the Codec proposed in this paper, which is designed using truncated singular value decomposition (T-SVD). The proposed Codec is developed and tested using a publicly available dataset of PPG signals collected from multiple individuals, namely the CapnoBase dataset. It is shown to achieve a 95% compression ratio and a 99% coefficient of determination. This means that the Codec is capable of delivering on the first requirement, high-fidelity reconstruction, while producing highly compressed signals. Those compressed signals do not require heavy computations to be produced as well. An implementation on a single-board computer is attempted for the encoder, showing that the encoder can average 300 milliseconds per signal on a Raspberry Pi 3. This is enough time to encode a PPG signal prior to transmission to the cloud.

We aimed to understand the risks and benefits of post-inflatable penile prosthesis (IPP) implantation drainage and optimal duration. Our patients were divided into 3 groups: Group 1 (n = 114) had no drain placed, Group 2 had a drain placed for 24 h (n = 114) and Group 3 had a drain placed for 72 h (n = 117). Postoperative scrotal hematoma and prosthesis infection rates were compared between the groups. The patients from Group 3 demonstrated a statistically significant lower incidence of hematoma on the 10th postoperative day: (n = 1, 0.9%) compared to Group 2: (n = 11, 9.6%) and Group 1: (n = 8, 7%), (p = 0.013). However, on the 3rd postoperative day, there was a statistically significant lower incidence of hematoma in both Groups 3 and 2: (0.9% and 6.1%, respectively) vs. Group 1: (11.4%), (p = 0.004). Hematoma rates followed the same group order after the first day of surgery: 1.7% (n = 2), 5.3% (n = 6), and 8.8% (n = 10), respectively, (p = 0.05). Five patients (4.4%) in Group 1 and four patients (3.5%) in Group 2 developed an IPP associated infection, opposed to only a single patient (0.85%) in Group 3, (p = 0.210). We concluded that prolonged scrotal drainage for 72 h after virgin IPP implantation significantly reduces hematoma and infection rates.

In this work, Ni and Ni-graphene, Ni-G, films were electrodeposited on copper substrate by potentiostatic deposition. To achieve superhydrophobicity, myristic acid, MA, was used to modify the surface of the electrodeposited coatings. The manufactured Ni film modified with myristic acid, Ni-MA, and the Ni-G film modified with myristic acid, Ni-G-MA, show excellent superhydrophobic, SHP, properties with a water contact angle of 159° and 162°, respectively. The surface morphology of the prepared SHP films was investigated using a Scanning Electron Microscope, and the results revealed micro-nano structures in both Ni-MA and Ni-G-MA films. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer data showed that the Ni-MA and Ni-G-MA films were successfully grafted on the copper metal. The Ni-G-MA film possessed higher chemical stability and mechanical abrasion resistance than Ni-MA. The Ni-MA and Ni-G-MA films exhibit long-term durability in the outdoor environment for more than four months. The potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results demonstrated that the SHP films on the copper substrate exhibit remarkable corrosion resistance in 0.5 M NaCl.

A reconfigurable optical-to-electrical signal aggregation is proposed, for the first time, using optical signal processing and photo-mixing technology. Two optically modulated quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) signals are aggregated into a single 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) signal and, simultaneously, carried over a 28-GHz millimeter wave (MMW) carrier using an optimized heterodyne beating process through a single photodiode. To demonstrate the system reconfigurability, aggregation of two optical binary phase-shift keying signals is mapped into MMW QPSK or four-level pulse amplitude modulation signals by controlling the relative phases and amplitudes, respectively, of the input signals. In addition, the aggregation of two 16-QAM signals into a 256-QAM signal and the aggregation of three QPSK signals into a 64-QAM format are achieved. Besides, we report the effect of laser phase noise on signal aggregation performance. The de-aggregation of the aggregated MMW signals is performed electrically using a successive interference cancellation algorithm. Moreover, a proof-of-concept experiment is conducted to validate the numerical simulations. Two 1-Gbaud BPSK (1 Gbps) and QPSK (2 Gbps) optical signals are optically transmitted over a 20-km single-mode fiber as MMW over fiber signals. Then, the signals are aggregated into QPSK (2 Gbps) and 16-QAM (4 Gbps) 28-GHz MMW signals, respectively. The aggregated signal is further transmitted over a 1-m wireless channel. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated using bit error rate and error vector magnitude metrics.

Superhydrophobic films were successfully designed for a copper substrate using potentiostatic deposition of Ni and Ni-graphene composite followed by treatment with stearic acid (SA). A scanning ele...

Background: Propylthiouracil (PTU) is a drug widely used in the management of hyperthyroidism. The drug was observed to cause hepatitis and fulminant liver failure.Spirulinais documented to exhibit several therapeutic effectsincluding hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, and antioxidant activities. Objective: This study aimed to assess the nutritional value of Spirulina,and to examine its ameliorative effects against PTU-induced hypothyroidism associated with hyperlipidemia, liver, and kidney toxicity in rats. Materials and Methods: This experiment was carried out on 50 rats (5 groups, n = 10). Hypothyroidism was induced in 40 ratsvia injecting 10 mg/kg/day PTUfor 6 weeks. Results: The results of this study showed that Spirulina contains 57.30 % of its dry weight proteins while it contains only 8.2% of its dry weight fats. It contains several minerals and vitamins (E and β-carotene).Spirulina increases the final body weight, food intake, and body weight gain % values compared to PTU rats. The Alga increased FT3 and FT4 levels, while decrease TSH level compared to PTU rats. Spirulina significantly decreased serum liver enzymes (ALT, AST, and ALP) and serum kidney function markers (creatinine and urea) compared to PTU rats. Besides, it reduced serum lipid profile markers (TC, TG, and LDL-C) and increased HDL-C. The Alga reduced the lipid peroxidation product and increased glutathione peroxidase concentrations. Conclusion: The results of this study confirmed the protective role of Spirulina versus PTU associated hypothyroidism, hyperlipidemia, hepatic, and nephrotoxicity. The antioxidant impact of Spirulina may elucidate its defensive effect against various PTU toxicities.

Background: Prone position is one of the challenging and widely used surgical positions with high rates of complications. The applied position and selected ventilation parameters during the operation are known to influence the pulmonary mechanics. Objective: This study was conducted to compare two modes of ventilation; volume controlled and pressurecontrolled ventilation and their effect on improvement of respiratory dynamics. Patients and Methods: This prospective randomized controlled study included a total of 60 patients who had posterior lumbar spine surgery in prone position, attending at Department of Anesthesiology and Surgical ICU, Aswan University Hospital, Egypt. This study was conducted between June 1, 2017 to December 13, 2018. Patients were randomly divided between two groups, 30 patients each; Group (I): were received VCV mode and Group (II): were received PCV mode. Then study parameters were recorded intraoperative and postoperative in the two groups of ventilation modes. The study parameters which were recorded: Peak inspiratory pressure (Ppeak), Plateau pressure (Pplateau), dynamic compliance (Cdyn), ETCO2, Tidal volume (VT), respiratory rate (RR). Results: As regarding Ppeak and Pplat, they were statistically significant lower in PCV group than VCV group at both supine and prone positions. As regarding Cdyn, it was statistically significant higher in PCV group than VCV group at both supine and prone positions. Arterial oxygen tension (PaO2) was significantly higher in PCV group intraoperative in prone position and postoperative. Conclusions: Compared with VCV, PCV is better regarding the respiratory dynamics including lower Ppeak and Pplat. It has also higher Cdyn and oxygenation. PCV it is more suitable for general anesthesia of posterior lumbar spine surgery patients in prone position.

Increasing scientific evidence suggests potential adverse effects on children’s health from synthetic chemicals used as food additives. Synthetic food colors are food additives are widely used as colorants in food. This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of quinoa powder as nutraceuticals on lipids profile for young experimental rats exposed to chronic administration of synthetic food colores (azo dyes),chocolate brown (CH) or sunset yellow (SY). Seventy healthy young male albino rats "Sprague Dawley" strain weighing (90 ± 10g), were used and divided randomly into two main groups; the first main group (n=10 rats) was kept as (-ve) control group and fed on basal diet. The second main group (n =60 rats) were divided into 6 sub-groups (equal groups) and fed on basal diet as follow: The first three subgroups were fed on chocolate brown oral dose (0.3 mg/kg b.wt.) one was kept as a (+ve) control group, while the other two subgroups were fed on quinoa as powder mixed with the basal diet (5%, 10% respectively) as replacement from starch. The other three subgroups were fed on SY oral dose (2.5 mg/kg b.wt.) one was kept as a(+ve) control group, while the other two subgroups were fed quinoa as powder mixed with the basal diet (5%,10%respectively) as replacement from starch. At the end of the experiment (56 days), feed intake (FI), body weight gains (BWG%), feed efficiency ratio (FER)were finally calculated. Rats were sacrificed and relative weights of livers, kidneys, hearts, spleens were calculated, blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis: T.C, T.G, LDL-C,VLDL-C and HDL-C. Moreover, histopathological changes of hearts were examined. The results indicated that chronic administration of synthetic food colors CH or SY recorded significant changes for all above biochemical parameters. While the treatment with quinoa powder revealed significant improvement in all of them. Histopathological examination supported these findings. It could be concluded that quinoa was effective in treatment dysfunction induced by azo dyes. This effect may be due to high content of phenolic compounds in quinoa.

In this work, we investigate the performance of an ambiguity function-shaped waveform (AFSW) using a millimeter-wave photonics-based radar system at 100 GHz. An AFSW is a radar waveform whose ambiguity function can be shaped to increase the peak-to-sidelobe ratio (PSR) for better detectability of targets in a desired range/velocity region. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first in the literature that investigates the performance of such a waveform in a photonics-based radar system. We experimentally compare the AFSW performance to the conventional frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW). The experimental results show the ability of the AFSW to achieve a PSR of 38.35 dB compared to the PSR of 14.5 dB obtained using the conventional FMCW. Moreover, we investigate the effects of some optical system impairments on the AFSW, such as: (i) optical modulator nonlinearity, (ii) optical modulator bias drift, and (iii) sampling offset error between the transmitter and receiver.

Eco-friendly and sustainable plant disease management employing Trichoderma spp. as bioagents is an economically feasible and ecologically sustainable approach. Therefore, their use in agriculture should be encouraged. The two main goals of the present study were to evaluate the abilities of two Trichoderma isolates to prevent Fusarium wilt disease, which is caused by Fusarium solani, in vitro and under greenhouse conditions, as well as their potential as biofertilizers to enhance cherry tomato growth and development. The results of a dual culture test revealed that T. viride and T. harzianum are antagonistic against the F. solani pathogen. The antagonism mechanisms include competition for nutrients and space, mycoparasitism, and antibiosis, according to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) findings. Additionally, T. harzianum reduced the mycelial growth of F. solani by 78.0%, whereas T. viride inhibited the growth by 61.2%, 10 days post-inoculation. In a greenhouse experiment, cherry tomato plants treated with each of these antagonistic Trichoderma isolates separately or in combination significantly suppressed Fusarium wilt disease, improved plant growth parameters, increased macro- and micronutrients uptake, and increased the content of photosynthetic pigments and total phenols. In conclusion, effective applications of Trichoderma isolates have the potential to mitigate Fusarium wilt disease, which is caused by F. solani in cherry tomato plants, while simultaneously promoting the growth and development of cherry tomatoes.

Brillouin fiber sensors have demonstrated strong capability in discriminative and high-sensitivity multiparameter measurements. In this study, we proposed and numerically investigated novel ring core fiber–based stimulated Brillouin scattering for the simultaneous measurement of temperature and strain. The novel fiber, referred to as ring hyperbolic tangent (R-HTAN) fiber, is characterized by a shape parameter (α) that controls the optical refractive index and longitudinal acoustic velocity profiles. Numerical modal simulations indicated that the Brillouin gain spectrum contained multiple widely spaced and high-gain peaks, which were attributed to the strong interaction between the optical linearly polarized mode (i.e., LP0,1 as a pump wave) and multiple high-order longitudinal acoustic modes. The designed R-HTAN fiber enabled the discriminative sensing of temperature and strain with levels that clearly surpassed values recently reported in the literature. In case of straight R-HTAN fiber (α = 0), the maximum C ( α = 0 ) T and C ( α = 0 ) ε are 1.928 MHz/ ∘ C and 0.087 MHz, respectively. In case of graded R-HTAN fiber (α = 1), the maximum C ( α = 1 ) T and C ( α = 1 ) ε are 1.872 MHz/ ∘ C and 0.0842 MHz/μɛ, respectively. The errors associated with temperature measurements (maximum δT(α=0) = 0.0846 ∘ C and maximum δT(α=1) = 7.4184 ∘ C) and strain measurements (maximum δɛ(α=0) = 0.7250 μɛ and maximum δɛ(α=1) = 7.4184 μɛ) demonstrated that the proposed fiber could be a promising candidate for next-generation Brillouin sensing systems for enabling temperature and strain discrimination.

Notwithstanding scientific advances, a significant number of the treatments in male infertility remained stayed vague. This study was aimed to study the impact of AlpiniaOfficinarum on sex hormones, serum antioxidant and biochemical markers in rats. Forty adult male rats, of (220 ± 10g) were partitioned into five groups (each consists of eight rats). The primary group was negative control group (-ve) and fed on basal diet only. The other four groups were subcutaneously injected with a single dose of lead acetate (200 mg/kg b.w) to reduce fertility, then were divided into 4 subgroups: including control positive group, and 2nd, 3rd and 4th subgroup were fed on basal diet with supplementation of dried A. officinarum at (5, 7.5 and 10%) respectively for two month. The results revealed that, supplementation with A. officinarum caused a significant positive effectson testes which due to a significant increase in the levels of serum total testosterones, Follicular stimulating Hormone (FSH), Luteinizing Hormone (LH) and Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) levels while Malondialdehyde (MDA) level was diminished. In addition, liver functions and serum lipid profiles were significantly improved compared to the positive control group. In conclusion: Our findings provide a scientific evidence to substantiate A. officinarum in improving fertility in human which may be due to its potent antioxidant properties and androgenic activities.

Mobile Health (mHealth) technologies are becoming integral to our healthcare system. This study evaluated the feasibility (compliance, usability and user satisfaction) of a mHealth application (app) for delivering Enhanced Recovery Protocols (ERPs) information to Cardiac Surgery (CS) patients peri-operatively. This single centre, prospective cohort study involved patients undergoing CS. Patients received a mHealth app developed for the study at consent and for 6–8 weeks post-surgery. Patients completed system usability, patient satisfaction and quality of life surveys pre- and post-surgery. A total of 65 patients participated in the study (mean age of 64 years). The app achieved an overall utilization rate of 75% (68% vs 81% for 65 and

Background and Aim. Cancer is the leading cause of death in economically developed countries and is a threat to human lives. Cancer and chemotherapy side effects may affect the daily activity of cancer patients and their families on many levels confronted by changes in health status and lifestyles, leading to impaired self-care efficacy. Objective. To assess the needs and self-care efficacy for cancer patients suffering from side effects of chemotherapy. A descriptive cross-sectional design was conducted. A purposive sample of 150 adult cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy during the period from January to June 2020 was studied at the Oncology Outpatients Clinic at Al Rantisi Hospital in Gaza Strip. Tools. Tools of the study involved the following: structure interviewing questionnaire, patient assessment needs’ tool, and self-care activity for side effects of chemotherapy; Part I: assessment of self-care efficacy and Part II: assessment of physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs of patients and activity of daily living. The findings of this study indicated that, concerning the duration of illness, 44.5% of studied patients started complaining of symptoms of cancer for about two years, and more than one-third of them, 69.3%, started chemotherapy more than one year ago. More than half of the studied patients, 55.3%, had poor knowledge about cancer, side effects of chemotherapy, how to manage these side effects, and level of self-care efficacy. The majority of studied subjects, 87.3%, had a financial burden, and nearly two-thirds of patients, 61.3%, need reassurance to cope with illness. There was high statistical significance between self-care efficacy and daily living activity. Regarding physical problem, the most affected systems were the gastrointestinal and the dermatological system. Also, the majority of patients were independent in walking, dressing, toileting, and feeding, but more than two-thirds of them needed assistance toward the ability to handle finance, shopping, housekeeping, food preparation, and travelling.

In this paper, and for the first time in literature, optical performance monitoring (OPM) of super-channel optical networks is considered. In particular, we propose a novel machine learning OPM technique based on the use of transformed in-phase quadrature histogram (IQH) features and support vector regressor (SVR) to estimate different optical parameters such as optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) and chromatic dispersion (CD). Two transformation methods, the two-dimensional (2D) discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and 2D discrete cosine transform (DCT), are applied to the IQH to extract features with a considerably reduced dimensionality. For the purpose of simulation, the OPM of a 7 × 20 Gbaud dual-polarization–quadrature phase shift keying (DP-QPSK) is considered. Simulations reveal that it can accurately estimate the various optical parameters (i.e., OSNR and CD) with a coefficient of determination value greater than 0.98. In addition, the effectiveness of proposed OPM scheme is examined under different values of polarization mode dispersion and frequency offset, as well as the utilization of different higher order modulation formats. Moreover, proof-of-concept experiments are performed for validation. The results show an excellent matching between the simulation and experimental findings.

Among all optical sensing techniques, the distributed Sagnac loop (SI) sensor has the advantage of being simple to implement with low cost. Most of the proposed techniques for using SI exploit the frequency null method for event localization. However, such a technique suffers from the low spectrum signal power, complicating event localization under environmental noise. In this work, event localization using time-domain instead of frequency null signals is achieved using machine learning (ML), which is increasingly being exploited in many science fields, including sensing applications. First, a training dataset that includes 200 events is generated over a 50 km effective sensing fiber. These time-domain signals are considered as features for training the ML algorithm. Then, the random forest (RF) ML algorithm is used to develop a model for event location prediction. The results show the capability of ML in predicting the event’s location with 55 m mean absolute error (MAE). Further, the percentage of test realizations with prediction error > 200 m is 0.7%. The sensing signal bandwidth is investigated, showing better performance results for sensing signals of larger bandwidths. Finally, the proposed model is validated experimentally. The results showed good accuracy with MAE < 100 m.

The safety and efficacy of early second session shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) compared with laser ureteroscopy (URS) for the treatment of upper ureteric stones were evaluated.From January to October 2019, 108 patients with upper ureteric stones ( 1.5 cm and ≤ 1000 Hounsfield unit (HU)) were randomized into SWL and laser URS groups. The second SWL session was performed within 48-72 h of the first session. Using plain abdominal X-ray and ultrasonography, patients were evaluated 48-72 h after the first SWL session and one week after the second and third SWL sessions or one week after URS. The procedure was considered a success when no additional procedures were needed to clear the stone. To determine the stone-free rate (SFR), noncontrast computed tomography of the urinary tract was performed three months postoperatively.In the SWL group, the success rates were 92.6% and 94.4% after the second and third sessions. The SFR was 96.2% in the laser URS group. The success rates were not significantly different between the second and third SWL sessions versus the laser URS (p = 0.418 and 0.660, respectively). Operative and fluoroscopy times were significantly longer in the SWL group (p = 0.001), and JJ stent insertions were needed after laser URS.Ultraslow full-power SWL treatment of patients with upper ureteric stones ( 1.5 cm and ≤ 1000 HU) with an early second session is safe and effective compared to laser URS. Patients who do not respond to early second SWL session should be shifted to another treatment modality.