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In this study, two stock engine oils were developed using different blends of a vegetable oil (canola oil), mixed with fully synthetic oil (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% of synthetic oil). The viscosity of the prepared blends was determined at different temperatures (20 °C - 80 °C). Tribological experiments were conducted, according to the conditions of the prepared lubricants, to investigate the influence of the newly developed oil on the frictional characteristics of mild steel material against stainless steel subjected to adhesive wear loading. Scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the worn surface of the mild steel. The results revealed that blending the canola oil with synthetic oil increases the viscosity of the lubricants. Moreover, the viscosity of the canola oil and its blends with synthetic oil is controlled by the environmental temperature since increasing the temperature reduces viscosity. The experimental results revealed that the frictional coefficient of the mild steel was dependent on the applied load and velocity rather than the sliding distance. In addition, pure canola oil as a lubricant was able to compete in performance with a blend of 80% synthetic and 20% canola oils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of biorenewable alternative fuel resources from biofuels (ethanol or biodiesel) has produced promising solutions to reduce some toxic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from gas turbine engines (GTEs). Despite the reduced hydrocarbon associated with adopting alternative bio-renewable fuel resources, GTE operations still emit toxic gases due to inefficient engine performance. In this study, we assess the impact of the integration of plasma combustion technology on a micro-GTE using biodiesel fuel from animal fat with the aim of addressing performance, fuel consumption, and GHG emission reduction limitations. Laboratory design, fabrication, assembly, testing, and results evaluation were conducted at Kuwait’s Public Authority for Applied Education and Training. The result indicates the lowest toxic emissions of sulfur, nitrogen oxide (NO), NO2, and CO were from the biodiesel blended fuels. The improved thermal efficiency of GTE biodiesel due to the volume of hydrogen plasma injected improves the engine’s overall combustion efficiency. Hence, this increases the compressor inlet and outlet firing temperature by 13.3 °C and 6.1 °C, respectively. The Plasma technology produced a thrust increment of 0.2 kgf for the highest loading condition, which significantly impacted horsepower and GTE engine efficiency and reduced the cost of fuel consumption.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common genetic disorder with a well described risk of sudden cardiac death; however, risk stratification has remained a challenge. Recently, novel parameters in cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) have shown promise in helping to improve upon current risk stratification paradigms. In this manuscript, we have reviewed novel CMR risk markers and their utility in HCM. The results of the review showed that T1, extracellular volume, CMR feature tracking, and other miscellaneous novel CMR variables have the potential to improve sudden death risk stratification and may have additional roles in diagnosis and prognosis. The strengths and weaknesses of these imaging techniques, and their potential utility and implementation in HCM risk stratification are discussed.

Objectives: Bariatric surgery is a well-established treatment for obesity and type 2 diabetes. Tirzepatide, a dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist, has emerged as a promising therapy for type 2 diabetes. This study aimed to compare the effects of bariatric surgery, semaglutide (a GLP-1 receptor agonist), and tirzepatide in Sprague-Dawley rats fed a high-fat diet., Methods: Rats were divided into surgery, semaglutide, and tirzepatide treatment groups, along with a control group (sham). Weight, oral glucose tolerance, and levels of metabolic markers were assessed, along with adipose and liver tissue analysis., Results: Surgery led to a 15.5% weight reduction, while rats treated with semaglutide exhibited a 10.7% reduction. Tirzepatide treatment at various concentrations (10, 50, and 100 nmol/kg) resulted in weight reductions of 5.0%, 14.9%, and 17.7%, respectively, compared to the sham group. Metabolic analyte levels decreased in intervention groups compared to the sham group, indicating improved metabolic health and glucose tolerance. Adipose tissue weight and hepatic liver fat droplets decreased in the intervention groups., Conclusion: Bariatric surgery and tirzepatide treatment significantly improved metabolic parameters in obese rats. Tirzepatide, particularly at higher concentrations, showed pronounced improvements compared to surgery and semaglutide. These findings suggest that high doses of tirzepatide could be explored as an alternative to bariatric surgery for the treatment of obesity., (© 2024 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Coccidiosis is the most prevalent disease-causing widespread economic loss among farm and domestic animals. Currently, several drugs are available for the control of this disease but resistance has been confirmed for all of them. There is an urgent need, therefore, for the identification of new sources as alternative treatments to control coccidiosis. The present work aimed to study the effect of the Persea americana extract (PAE) as an anti-coccidial, anti-oxidant, and anti-apoptotic modulator during murine intestinal Eimeria papillata infection. A total of 25 male mice were divided into five groups, as follows: Group1: Non-infected-non-treated (negative control), Group2: Non-infected-treated group with PAE (500 mg/kg b.w). Group3: Infected-non-treated (positive control), Group4: Infected-treated group with PAE (500 mg/kg b.w.), and Group5: Infected-treated group with Amprolium (120 mg/kg b.w.). Groups (3-5) were orally inoculated with 1 × 10 3 sporulated E. papillata oocysts. After 60 min of infection, groups (4 and 5) were treated for 5 consecutive days with the recommended doses of PAE and amprolium. The fact that PAE has an anti-coccidial efficacy against intestinal E. papillata infection in mice has been clarified by the reduction of fecal oocyst output on the 5 th day post-infection by about 85.41%. Moreover, there is a significant reduction in the size of each parasite stage in the jejunal tissues of the infected-treated group with PAE. PAE counteracted the E. papillata-induced loss of glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and total antioxidant capacity (TCA). E. papillata infection also induced an increase in the apoptotic cells expressed by caspase-3 which modulated after PAE treatment. Moreover, the mRNA expression of the goblet cell response gene, mucin (MUC2), was upregulated from 0.50 to 1.20-fold after treatment with PAE. Based on our results, PAE is a promising medicinal plant with anti-coccidial, anti-oxidant, and anti-apoptotic activities and could be used as a food additive., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Biofilms, are significant component that contributes to the development of chronic infections, especially when medical devices are involved. This issue offers a huge challenge for the medical community since standard antibiotics are only capable of eradicating biofilms to a very limited degree. The prevention of biofilm formation have led to the development of a variety of coating methods and new materials. These methods are intended to coat surfaces in such a way as to inhibit the formation of biofilm. Metallic glassy alloys, in particular, alloys that include copper and titanium metals have gained popularity as desirable antibacterial coating. Meanwhile, there has been a rise in the use of the cold spray coating technique due to the fact that it is a proper approach for processing temperature-sensitive materials. The present study was carried out in part with the intention of developing a new antibiofilm metallic glassy consisting of ternary Cu-Zr-Ni using mechanical alloying technique. The spherical powders that comprised the end-product were utilized as feedstock materials for cold spray coatings to stainless steel surfaces at low temperature. When compared to stainless steel, substrates coated with metallic glassy were able to significantly reduce the formation of biofilm by at least one log., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way dentistry has been practiced the world over. This study sought to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the patterns of attendance for dental treatment in a large hospital in Kuwait through comparisons with data from the year prior to the pandemic., Methods: A total of 176,690 appointment records from 34,250 patients presenting to the AlJahra specialist hospital in Kuwait for dental treatment from April 2019 to March 2021 were analyzed. The types of procedures and the departments in which they presented were analyzed, and the patterns of attendance before and during the pandemic were compared., Results: While there was a significant reduction in the number of orthodontic, endodontic, and periodontal procedures, there were no impacts on oral surgery, restorative procedures, or pediatric dentistry., Conclusions: There has been a return in the number of patients obtaining dental treatment; however, there has been a definite shift in the use of certain dental procedures.

Antibacterial agents derived from conventional organic compounds have traditionally been employed as a biofilm protective coating for many years. These agents, on the other hand, often include toxic components that are potentially hazardous to humans. Multiple approaches have been investigated over the last two decades, including the use of various metallic and oxide materials, in order to produce a diverse variety of usable coating layers. When it comes to material coating approaches, the cold spray technique, which is a solid-state method that works well with nanopowders, has shown superior performance. Its capacity to produce unique material coating in ways that are not possible with other thermal methods is the primary reason for its importance in contemporary production. The present work has been addressed in part to explore the possibility of employing mechanically alloyed Cu 50 (Ti 50-x Ni x ) x ; x = 10, 20, 30, and 40 at.% metallic glass powders, for producing an antibiofilm/SUS304 surface protective coating, using the cold spray approach. In this study, elemental Cu, Ti, and Ni powders were low-energy ball milled for 100 h to fabricate metallic glassy powders with different Ni contents. The as-prepared metallic glassy powders were utilized to coat SUS304 sheets, using the cold spraying process. With high nanohardness values, the as-fabricated coating material, in particular Cu 50 Ti 20 Ni 30, demonstrated remarkable performance in comparison to other materials in its class. Furthermore, it displayed excellent wear resistance while maintaining a low coefficient of friction, with values ranging from 0.32 to 0.45 in the tested range. E. coli biofilms were formed on 20 mm 2 SUS304 sheet coated coupons, which had been injected with 1.5 108 CFU mL -1 of the bacterium. With the use of nanocrystalline Cu-based powders, it is feasible to achieve considerable biofilm inhibition, which is a practical strategy for accomplishing the suppression of biofilm formation.

Large amounts of plastic end up in the oceans every year where they fragment into microplastics over time. During this process, microplastics and their associated plasticizers become available for ingestion by different organisms. This study assessed the effects of microplastics (Polyethylene terephthalate; PET) and one plasticizer (Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate; DEHP) on mortality, productivity, population sizes and gene expression of the calanoid copepod Parvocalanus crassirostris. Copepods were exposed to DEHP for 48h to assess toxicity. Adults were very healthy following chemical exposure (up to 5120µg L -1 ), whereas nauplii were severely affected at very low concentrations (48h LC 50 value of 1.04 ng L -1 ). Adults exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of DEHP (0.1-0.3µg L -1 ) or microplastics (10,000-80,000 particles mL -1 ) exhibited substantial reductions in egg production. Populations were exposed to either microplastics or DEHP for 6 days with 18 days of recovery or for 24 days. Populations exposed to microplastics for 24 days significantly depleted in population size (60±4.1%, p<0.001) relative to controls, whilst populations exposed for only 6 days (with 18 days of recovery) experienced less severe depletions (75±6.0% of control, p<0.05). Populations exposed to DEHP, however, exhibited no recovery and both treatments (6 and 24 days) yielded the same average population size at the termination of the experiment (59±4.9% and 59±3.4% compared to control; p<0.001). These results suggest that DEHP may induce reproductive disorders that can be inherited by subsequent generations. Histone 3 (H3) was significantly (p<0.05) upregulated in both plastic and DEHP treatments after 6 days of exposure, but not after 18 days of recovery. Hsp70-like expression showed to be unresponsive to either DEHP or microplastic exposure. Clearly, microplastics and plasticizers pose a serious threat to zooplankton and potentially to higher trophic levels., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To document food acquisition experiences during Iraqi military occupation in Kuwait., Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study., Setting: Urban areas in Kuwait during occupation., Subjects: Those living in Kuwait during the period of occupation, and aged between 15 to 50 years at the time of occupation, recruited by snowball sampling. A total of 390 completed questionnaires (response rate 78%, 202 female and 188 male) were returned., Results: During the occupation, food became increasingly difficult to acquire. Two food systems emerged: (i) an underground Kuwaiti network linked to foods recovered from local food cooperatives and (ii) a black market supplied by food imported through Iraq or stolen locally. Food shortages led to reductions in meal size and frequency. Some respondents (47·7%) reported not having sufficient income to purchase food and 22·1% had to sell capital items to purchase food. There was a significant increase (P<0·01) in home production, with 23·1% of people growing vegetables and 39·0% raising animals to supplement food needs. Reduction in food wastage also emerged as a significant self-reported behaviour change. Respondents reported deterioration in the quality and availability of fish, milk, and fruit in particular. Despite a decrease in opportunities for physical activity, most respondents reported that they lost weight during the occupation., Conclusions: Although the Kuwaiti population fell by about 90 % and domestic food production increased during the 7-month occupation, the local population continued to rely heavily on imported food to meet population needs. The high prevalence of self-reported weight loss indicates the inadequacies of this food supply. High apparent food security in systems which significantly exceed the ecological carrying capacity of the local environment and rely on mass food importation remains vulnerable.

Calanoid copepods are an important food source for most fish larvae. Their role as a natural prey item means that it is important to develop culture technology for copepods to meet the requirements of larvae culture in aquaculture hatcheries. Copepods have been cultured successfully for some time; however, the implications of long-term cultivation or domestication on copepod life history traits have not yet been assessed. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine if the domesticated and wild populations of Parvocalanus crassirostris are phenotypically or physiologically different. Wild-caught P. crassirostris were compared to a long-held domesticated strain (>2 years) for size of developmental stage, fecundity and lifespan of adult females, culture density, ingestion rates, faecal pellet production and fatty acid profiles. The domesticated strain was significantly different from the wild strain in size (eggs, nauplii, copepodites and adults were larger in the domesticated strain), egg production (112.3 ± 1.8 eggs female(-1) vs. 64.6 ± 3.3 eggs female(-1)) and adult female lifespan (8.8 ± 0.1 days vs., 7.5 ± 0.1 days). At 1, 3 and 5 adults mL(-1), the domesticated strain performed significantly better than the wild strain in egg production (4189.8 ± 61.2, 11224.0 ± 71.7 and 21860.6 ± 103.6 eggs vs. 1319.5 ± 54.3, 2374.5 ± 80.9 and 4933.8 ± 269.5 eggs, respectively) and mean daily mortality rate (5.6% across all densities vs. 22.9 ± 1.6, 29.8 ± 1.2 and 31.3 ± 1.3%, respectively). The domesticated strain had significantly higher ingestion rates than the wild stain (888.4 ± 9.9 ng C l(-1) and 775.3 ± 11.2 ng C l(-1), respectively), while faecal pellet production was not significantly different between strains. Fatty acid profiles indicated higher levels (as % of total fatty acid) of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in the domesticated strain (36.2±0.4%) than the wild strain (16.1±0.1%). Overall, this study found that the reproductive capacity and tolerance to the culture environment of the calanoid P. crassirostris have improved significantly due to domestication.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to determine whether nutrition knowledge differs between male and female physicians working in Kuwait City, Kuwait., Design: The study employed a cross-sectional analysis of physician’s nutrition knowledge by using a sixteen-item multiple-choice questionnaire., Setting: Governmental hospitals in Kuwait City, Kuwait., Subjects: One hundred Kuwaiti physicians (fifty males; fifty females) working in Kuwait City, Kuwait., Results: A response rate of 73% was achieved (forty males; thirty-three females). The mean percentage of correctly answered questions was 60 %. The male and female physicians averaged 56% and 65% of correct responses, respectively (P50?042). However, only for two questions did male and female physicians’ scores differ significantly (P,0?05). The two age groups (,40 years; $40 years) had equal mean total correct scores (60 %, P50?935). Physicians’ knowledge was greatest for topics that have received a great deal of media coverage in Kuwait. Most (70 %) of the physicians described their nutrition knowledge as ‘moderate’., Conclusions: Physicians in Kuwait gave inaccurate information regarding common problems in Kuwaitis such as obesity, hypertension and osteoporosis. In view of the public’s perception of the role of the physician in providing nutrition advice, it is imperative that nutrition and diet training be part of continuing medical education to bridge these deficiencies in physicians’ knowledge.