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This article briefly describes Egypt’s acute respiratory infection (ARI) epidemic preparedness and containment plan and illustrates the impact of implementation of the plan on combating the early stage of the COVID-19 epidemic in Egypt. Pillars of the plan include crisis management, enhancing surveillance systems and contact tracing, case and hospital management, raising community awareness, and quarantine and entry points. To identify the impact of the implementation of the plan on epidemic mitigation, a literature review was performed of studies published from Egypt in the early stage of the pandemic. In addition, data for patients with COVID-19 from February to July 2020 were obtained from the National Egyptian Surveillance system and studied to describe the situation in the early stage of the epidemic in Egypt. The lessons learned indicated that the single most important key to success in early-stage epidemic containment is the commitment of all partners to a predeveloped and agreed-upon preparedness plan. This information could be useful for other countries in the region and worldwide in mitigating future anticipated ARI epidemics and pandemics. Postepidemic evaluation is needed to better assess Egypt’s national response to the COVID-19 epidemic.

BackgroundSentinel surveillance of influenza-like illness (ILI) in Egypt started in 2000 at 8 sentinel sites geographically distributed all over the country. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 was added to the panel of viral testing by polymerase chain reaction for the first 2 patients with ILI seen at one of the sentinel sites. We report the first SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A(H1N1) virus co-infection with mild symptoms detected through routine ILI surveillance in Egypt. ObjectiveThis report aims to describe how the case was identified and the demographic and clinical characteristics and outcomes of the patient. MethodsThe case was identified by Central Public Health Laboratory staff, who contacted the ILI sentinel surveillance officer at the Ministry of Health. The case patient was contacted through a telephone call. Detailed information about the patient’s clinical picture, course of disease, and outcome was obtained. The contacts of the patient were investigated for acute respiratory symptoms, disease confirmation, and outcomes. ResultsAmong 510 specimens collected from patients with ILI symptoms from October 2019 to August 2020, 61 (12.0%) were COVID-19–positive and 29 (5.7%) tested positive for influenza, including 15 (51.7%) A(H1N1), 11 (38.0%) A(H3N2), and 3 (10.3%) influenza B specimens. A 21-year-old woman was confirmed to have SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A(H1N1) virus coinfection. She had a high fever of 40.2 °C and mild respiratory symptoms that resolved within 2 days with symptomatic treatment. All five of her family contacts had mild respiratory symptoms 2-3 days after exposure to the confirmed case, and their symptoms resolved without treatment or investigation. ConclusionsThis case highlights the possible occurrence of SARS-CoV-2/influenza A(H1N1) coinfection in younger and healthy people, who may resolve the infection rapidly. We emphasize the usefulness of the surveillance system for detection of viral causative agents of ILI and recommend broadening of the testing panel, especially if it can guide case management.

Due to increasingly strict environmental regulations, the cost of handling various waste streams is gradually rising. Therefore, it is crucial to minimize unnecessary stream merging when designing distributed wastewater treatment systems, to reduce the overall treatment flow rate whenever possible. In a distributed wastewater treatment system, the wastewater streams are separated for treatment and only combined when necessary. This results in a significant reduction in the total treatment flow rate compared to traditional centralized treatment systems where all the streams are merged before treatment. Design of a distributed wastewater treatment system can be accomplished using pinch analysis and mathematical programming approaches. This paper suggests a straightforward approach for designing such networks, with the following steps in the design process: First, the primary function of each treatment unit is determined. Next, using the pinch method, the lowest treatment quantity is determined for the primary pollutant for each unit. Finally, a three-unit group is selected, with the pinch stream partially treated, the streams above the pinch completely treated, and the stream below the pinch completely bypassed. Two literature case studies demonstrate the viability and effectiveness of this strategy.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus A(H5N1) has been detected among poultry in >60 countries, with sporadic transmission to humans that results in a large number of deaths (1). Of 842 [...]

We report on low-cost fabrication and high-energy density of full-cell lithium-ion battery (LIB) models. Super-hierarchical electrode architectures of Li2SiO3/TiO2@nano-carbon anode (LSO.TO@nano-C) and high-voltage olivine LiMnPO4@nano-carbon cathode (LMPO@nano-C) are designed for half- and full-system LIB-CR2032 coin cell models. On the basis of primary architecture-power-driven LIB geometrics, the structure keys including three-dimensional (3D) modeling superhierarchy, multiscale micro/nano architectures and anisotropic surface heterogeneity affect the buildup design of anode/cathode LIB electrodes. Such hierarchical electrode surface topologies enable continuous in-/out-flow rates and fast transport pathways of Li+-ions during charge/discharge cycles. The stacked layer configurations of pouch LIB-types lead to excellent charge/discharge rate, and energy density of 237.6 Wh kg−1. As the most promising LIB-configurations, the high specific energy density of hierarchical pouch battery systems may improve energy storage for long-driving range of electric vehicles. Indeed, the anisotropic alignments of hierarchical electrode architectures in the large-scale LIBs provide proof of excellent capacity storage and outstanding durability and cyclability. The full-system LIB-CR2032 coin cell models maintain high specific capacity of ∼89.8% within a long-term life period of 2000 cycles, and average Coulombic efficiency of 99.8% at 1C rate for future configuration of LIB manufacturing and commercialization challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymeric nanocomposite materials have solved many problems due to their extensive applications such as aerospace, automobiles, coatings, and packaging materials. Low-density polyethylene (LDPE)/graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) impregnated by paraffin oil (PO) were fabricated by a hot compression technique. Elastic modulus was calculated by results of compression test that conducted on the testing nanocomposites using a universal testing machine. Microhardness of LDPE and its compositeswas measured by Vickers microhardness testing machine. Tribological properties of LDPE and its composites were investigated by pin-on-disc tester at 20N normal load, 1.2 ms-1 sliding velocity, and 212m sliding distance. The results showed that the elastic modulus and microhardness of LDPE/GNP nanocomposites are higher than that of pure LDPE and then gradually decreased by adding PO contents. Tribological properties proved that LDPE/GNP nanocomposites have lower coefficient of friction (COF) and wear rates in comparison with pure LDPE. By addingPOcontents to the LDPE and its composites,COFand wear rateswere gradually increased. Wear specimens' surfaces were imaged using scanning electron microscope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed at studying the recycling of shredded currency waste of The Egyptian Central Bank, ECB, in the form of good-quality products. The techniques used include soaking with chemicals, screening to separate the detached ink particles from the soaking step, pulping at high temperature, screening to separate large nylon pieces and small ink particles, flotation to separate large ink particles and small pieces of nylon and bleaching as the final step to increase the whiteness of the product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on low-cost fabrication and high-energy density of full-cell lithium-ion battery (LIB) models. Super-hierarchical electrode architectures of Li 2 SiO 3 /TiO 2 @nano-carbon anode (LSO.TO@nano-C) and high-voltage olivine LiMnPO 4 @nano-carbon cathode (LMPO@nano-C) are designed for half- and full-system LIB-CR2032 coin cell models. On the basis of primary architecture-power-driven LIB geometrics, the structure keys including three-dimensional (3D) modeling superhierarchy, multiscale micro/nano architectures and anisotropic surface heterogeneity affect the buildup design of anode/cathode LIB electrodes. Such hierarchical electrode surface topologies enable continuous in-/out-flow rates and fast transport pathways of Li + -ions during charge/discharge cycles. The stacked layer configurations of pouch LIB-types lead to excellent charge/discharge rate, and energy density of 237.6 Wh kg -1 . As the most promising LIB-configurations, the high specific energy density of hierarchical pouch battery systems may improve energy storage for long-driving range of electric vehicles. Indeed, the anisotropic alignments of hierarchical electrode architectures in the large-scale LIBs provide proof of excellent capacity storage and outstanding durability and cyclability. The full-system LIB-CR2032 coin cell models maintain high specific capacity of ∼89.8% within a long-term life period of 2000 cycles, and average Coulombic efficiency of 99.8% at 1C rate for future configuration of LIB manufacturing and commercialization challenges., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of China Science Publishing & Media Ltd.)