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Many plants are well-known for their use in traditional medicine to treat diseases associated with inflammations and oxidative stress. This study aimed to investigate a medicinal plant from the Saharan region of Algeria, Pituranthos chloranthus. Phytochemical analysis showed that it is rich in polyphenols (8.93 ± 0.736 mg GAE/g) and flavonoids (0.78 ± 0.023 mg EQ/g). The treatment of hypoglycemic individuals with a P. chloranthus extract showed effectiveness when compared to control diabetic rats not treated with this extract. The latter showed a high average glucose at 3.11 ± 0.769 g/L when compared to the two treated rat groups, 0.8 ± 023 g/L and 0.54 ± 0.08 g/L when fed 500 and 250 mg/Kg body weight of P. chloranthus extract, respectively. The in vitro antioxidant evaluation, using the DPPH (IC50 = 0.156 ± 0.23 mg/mL) and FRAP (IC50 = 0.718 ± 0.09 mg/mL) tests and ratio to ascorbic acid 0.0037 ± 0.505 mg/mL showed an important antioxidant potential.

Data centralization is increasingly non-viable in the changing landscape of data privacy and data governance. New models of data sharing are needed, in particular when privacy-preserving record linkages (PPRL) are being used to connect data within restricted data enclaves and public open enclaves. We share a privacy-preserving data-sharing infrastructure that employs a linkage honest broker implementation of PPRL connecting structured electronic health record data between the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) National Clinical Cohort Collaborative (N3C), a restricted data enclave, with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA), a public open enclave. In particular we will address: • Data governance models needed when linking data from restricted vs. public enclaves • Specific privacy-preserving consideration when linking to imaging data which contain specific structured data and imaging considerations • Privacy-preserving data aggregation when combining multi-modal data from restricted data enclaves with publicly discoverable imaging data

Clinker and cement production is an energy-intensive and high resource requirement industry with significant environmental impacts, and yet, there is a dearth of environmental research in Tunisia on its Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Additionally, there is a tendency either to overlook or underestimate the selection of appropriate life cycle impact assessment methods. This study aims to address these issues by conducting a comprehensive LCA of Tunisian cement production with the goal of analyzing and comparing the results using various methods and benchmarking against existing literature. Three different Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods, including IMPACT 2002+, CML (baseline), and ReCiPe Midpoint (2008–2016) (H), were used. These methods were chosen for their different coverage (regional/global) of their impact categories, leading to a more comprehensive comparison of the performance of clinker and cement to the literature. In addition, the similarity with published values demonstrates reliability for LCA results, except ionizing radiation, ozone layer depletion, and respiratory organics in IMPACT 2002+ for clinker, CEM-I, and CEM-II; fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity and marine aquatic ecotoxicity in CML (baseline) for CEM-I; and photochemical oxidant formation: ecosystem quality and human health in ReCiPe for CEM-I. This low variability with the reported values in the literature suggests the capability of using the benchmarking approach as a proxy in a context of lack of data.

Abstract Objectives To determine the relationship between different parameters (age, periodontal phenotype, contact point height, and crown shape) and the height of the interproximal papilla around the teeth of/in the maxillary anterior sector. Material and Methods A total of 45 subjects were involved in this study, with 315 interproximal papillae of the maxillary anterior sector. The interproximal papillae were clinically classified according to the Norland and Tarnow classification. The periodontal phenotype was assessed by periodontal probe transparency through the marginal gingiva. The height of the papilla, the height of the contact points, and the width/length ratio of the crown were also measured using the periodontal probe. The relationship between the variables was studied using Pearson's correlation. Statistical significance was set at a value of p

Introduction: A substantial proportion of obese subjects are metabolically healthy and free from metabolic complications. Many mechanisms that could explain the existence of the metabolically healthy obese phenotype have been suggested, involving in particular a healthy lifestyle and diet. The aim of this study was to study the anthropometric, nutritional and biological profile of two groups: obese with metabolic syndrome (MS+) and obese without metabolic syndrome (MS-).

Background: The purpose of the present study was to assess saliva reliability in diagnosis and monitoring type 2 diabetes instead of blood. Methods: Blood and unstimulated whole saliva were collected from 300 type 2 diabetic subjects and 300 healthy controls in fasting. Then, the salivary flow rate was calculated. All parameters including glucose, urea, amylase, total protein, albumin, C-reactive protein (CRP), immunoglobulin A (IgA), potassium, calcium and chloride were assessed in the supernatant, using an autoanalyzer. Oral exam was conducted by a single examiner on full mouth excluding third molars. Statistical analysis was performed by the SPSS 20.0 version. Results: Saliva screening showed that glucose, urea, amylase, total protein, potassium, calcium and chloride were significantly higher in patients compared to controls (p < 0.05). Whereas, the IgA level and salivary flow rate were significantly reduced in patients (p < 0.05). No significant difference was found in albumin and CRP levels (p > 0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between salivary and plasma glucose levels (r = 0.887, and r = 0.900, p < 0.001), as well as, salivary and blood urea (r = 0.586, and r = 0.688, p < 0.001) in patients and controls, respectively. Conclusions: From this study, saliva could be suggested as a useful diagnostic tool for type 2 diabetes.

Riadh Messaoud,1 Lamia El Fekih,2,3 Anis Mahmoud,1 Hager Ben Amor,4 Radhouane Bannour,5 Serge Doan,6,7 Moncef Khairallah41Department of Ophthalmology, Tahar Sfar University Hospital, Mahdia, Tunisia; 2Department of Ophthalmology, Internal Security Forces Hospital, La Marsa, Tunisia; 3Faculty of Medicine, Tunis-El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia; 4Fattouma Bourguiba University Hospital, Monastir, Tunisia; 5Ophthalmology Private Practice, Monastir, Tunisia; 6Department of Ophthalmology, Bichat Hospital, Paris, France; 7Fondation A de Rothschild, Paris, FrancePurpose: To evaluate the clinical improvement in ocular symptoms and signs in patients suffering from Demodex anterior blepharitis after using a novel cleansing wipe impregnated with 2.5% terpinen-4-ol and 0.2% hyaluronic acid.Study design: This was an exploratory, multicenter, open, randomized, two-parallel group comparative study.Methods: Forty-eight patients with Demodex anterior blepharitis were randomly assigned to apply the sterile wipe T1172 (Blephademodex®), either once daily (n=24, Group 1) or twice daily (n=24, Group 2) for 29 days. Overall ocular discomfort and other individual symptoms were measured using a 0–10 numeric rating scale at Day 8 and Day 29. Ocular signs, including eyelid margin hyperemia and number of cylindrical dandruff, were examined at slit lamp. Overall treatment performance by investigator, patient satisfaction and tolerance were evaluated with questionnaires.Results: Overall ocular discomfort was significantly reduced from baseline (p

Most self-proclaimed sustainable neighborhoods cover various concepts pertaining to the economic, social, environmental, and institutional pillars of sustainability. Depending on the developers’ motivations, these concepts can be integrated unevenly. This study develops a framework to characterise the gap between what is advocated as necessary for sustainable neighborhoods and what is marketed as sustainable neighborhoods. A framework based on a sustainable neighborhood typology is developed using the Canadian province of Quebec as a case study. This is based on the main concepts underlying the four pillars of sustainability, but from a practical perspective. An analysis of sustainable initiatives ('n '= 29) shows a clear prioritisation of urban morphology on individual livability at the expense of participatory governance and sustainability awareness, especially for large projects promoted by private developers. A co-occurrence analysis suggests that smaller projects manage to integrate more sustainability aspects. The framework can be used to identify similarities and differences between development types for developing practical policy measures. This research highlights the importance involving public and private stakeholders at the early planning stage, in order to design more integrated projects. 'Policy relevance' A gap is revealed between what is defined as urban sustainability and what is actually delivered by developers. Citizen participation is generally beneficial, but often lacking. There is scope for policymakers to provide compelling encouragement to build citizen involvement into the planning processes, particularly for larger neighborhood developments. From the example of the province of Quebec, this can take several forms. In some cases, more incentives from the public sector to involve citizens at the early stage of planning is favorable. This can allow stakeholders to outline the development strategy in neighborhoods. In other cases, municipalities can involve residents through a charter or regular local meetings. This requires more systemic municipal approaches to urban sustainability. Evidence suggests that local relocation of food and/or energy production can lead to successful cases of citizen participation and social solidarity.

The efficiency of automated multi-issue negotiation depends on the available information about the opponent. In a competitive negotiation environment, agents do not reveal their parameters to their opponents in order to avoid exploitation. Several researchers have argued that an agent's optimal strategy can be determined using the opponent's deadline and reserve points. In this paper, we propose a new learning agent, so-called Evolutionary Learning Agent (ELA), able to estimate its opponent's deadline and reserve points in bilateral multi-issue negotiation based on opponent's counter-offers (without any additional extra information). ELA reduces the learning problem to a system of non-linear equations and uses an evolutionary algorithm based on the elitism aspect to solve it. Experimental study shows that our learning agent outperforms others agents by improving its outcome in term of average and joint utility.

When addressing concrete carbonation as a carbon mitigation option, studies leave out the effect that a temporal difference between the CO _2 emissions and uptake happening throughout concrete’s life cycle have on climate change. In this study, the role played by carbonation on concrete’s carbon mitigation potential is investigated through a dynamic life cycle assessment, to properly position CO _2 uptake and release. The carbon balance in concrete structures built and demolished from 2018 to 2050 is modelled as a case study. The potential uptake due to crushed concrete carbonation is over 9% of the cumulative global warming effect of concrete manufacturing. It is comparable to the reduction potential of the most promising strategy, namely replacing clinker, totaling 12%. If stimulated in a wide scale, crushed concrete carbonation can push the industry towards meeting carbon mitigation targets faster. Future environmental impact assessments should rely on dynamic models to increasingly consider this phenomenon.

The Government of Canada has embraced circular economy and is supporting an increasing number of initiatives in the field. However, implementation examples remain scattered and certain stakeholders are eager to see a greater level of commitment from policy makers. The purpose of this study is to provide a Canadian perspective on how, and to what extent, forest products are compatible with circular economy strategies. This topic was investigated through interviews with 16 Canadian experts in eco-design, circular economy, forest products and/or waste management, with a focus on construction and packaging. Efforts made by forest industries at the manufacturing stage to reduce resource consumption were acknowledged, but the implementation of other circular economy strategies, such as reuse, recycling and energy recovery, is uneven. While there is low-hanging fruit for incremental improvements, such as the processing of recovered lumber in wood panels and not mixing cardboard fibres with other paper streams to avoid downcycling, several barriers to the widespread adoption of the most promising strategies were identified. The experts consulted proposed several solutions to accelerate the deployment of circular economy strategies for forest products, for which government interventions would need to be tailored to the different policy readiness levels (PRLs) observed in the construction and packaging sectors. With circularity having economy-wide implications, setting a clear policy direction at the national level, with a circular economy roadmap for Canada for example, could accelerate coordinated implementation within and across sectors, including forest industries.

A specimen of dusky spinefoot Siganus luridus (Rüppel, 1829) was recorded in the peri-Mediterranean lagoon of Bizerte in northern Tunisia. This record constitutes the northernmost range of the species in Tunisian waters and the westernmost range on North African coasts. Siganus luridus is the second record known to date of a teleost Lessepsian species in a restricted brackish area. We describe the specimen, include morphometric measurements and meristic counts, and discuss the distribution of this herbivorous species in the Lagoon of Bizerte, in Tunisian waters and in the Mediterranean Sea.

The building sector is responsible for extensive resource consumption and waste generation, resulting in high pressure on the environment. A way to potentially mitigate this is by including environmental considerations during building design through the concept known as eco-design. Despite the multiple available approaches of eco-design, the latter is not easily achieved in the building sector. The objective of this paper is to identify and discuss what barriers are currently hindering the implementation of eco-design in the building sector and by which measures building designers can include environmental considerations in their design process. Through a systematic literature review, several barriers to implementation were identified, the main ones being lack of suitable legislation, lack of knowledge amongst building designers, and lack of suitable tools for designers to use. Furthermore, two specific tools were identified that allow the inclusion of environmental consideration in building design, along with nine design strategies providing qualitative guidance on how to potentially minimize energy and material consumption, as well as waste generation. This paper contributes a holistic overview of the major barriers to and existing tools and method for the eco-design of buildings, and provides guidance for both future research and practice.

L Ben Amor,1,2 S Chantal,3 A Bairam41Department of Psychiatry, Hotel Dieu de Levis, 2Department of Psychiatry, Laval University, 3Enfant Jesus Hospital, 4Department of Paediatrics, Laval University, Quebec, CanadaAbstract: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder in school-aged children, and prematurity is a recognized risk factor. Late-preterm birth, which represents 75% of premature births, is associated with ADHD symptoms, impaired cognitive performance, and behavior problems. However, little is known of the characteristics of ADHD associated with late prematurity. The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical, neuropsychological, and neurobiochemical characteristics associated with late-preterm ADHD with those of at-term ADHD.Methods: Eighty-six children with ADHD, aged 5–13 years, were recruited. They included 20 late-preterm children with ADHD and 66 at-term children with ADHD. The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-IV and the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) were used to evaluate their clinical and neuropsychological characteristics. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to measure the ratio of metabolites (glutamate, choline, and N-acetyl-aspartate) to creatine in both the prefrontal and striatal regions as well as the left cerebellum.Results: The groups did not differ in regards to clinical outcomes. However, the ADHD late-preterm group had worse omissions and commissions T-scores on CPT (P ≤ 0.05) than the ADHD at-term group. The ADHD late-preterm group also had lower ratios of glutamate in the left prefrontal cortex than the ADHD at-term group (P ≤ 0.05).Conclusion: Among children with ADHD, those born at late preterm have lower attention scores as evaluated by CPT and are associated with lower relative concentrations of glutamate in the prefrontal region than those born at term. Etiological factors could play a role in the expression of ADHD.Keywords: attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, preterm, neuropsychological, risk factors, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, glutamate, prefrontal cortex