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This study was conducted on bentonite deposits in Um Al Rozm and Ain Al Ghazala areas that lie between Latitudes º32 “00 ‘30 and º32 “33 ‘30 N and Longitudes º23 “00 ‘30 and º23 “20 ‘30 E in Northeast Libya. The objective of this study is the assessment of geological, physiochemical, mineralogical, and rheological properties and the potentiality of utilizing these rocks as drilling fluids for oil and gas wells. Chemical and mineralogical analyses were performed by XRF and XRD, respectively. Rheological properties are investigated before and after the treatment process by adding additive materials such as Na2CO3 and CMC. The chemical analysis results of bentonite showed a discrepancy in the proportions of the major components. The results after the treatment process for bentonite in Um Al Rozm exhibit rheological properties consistent with those stipulated by API and other standard bentonites, but for Ain Al Ghazala, the results are unsatisfactory. Mineral analysis of bentonite from the two areas revealed a difference in the mineral composition. The bentonite of the Um Al Rozm area is Na-bentonite, while the bentonite of the Ain Al Ghazala area is Ca-bentonite, whose rheological properties aren’t acceptable as drilling fluid properties stipulated by API.

Abstract This study reports the design, synthesis, and antibacterial evaluation of a library of novel polyheterocyclic derivatives featuring a unique fused pyrimidopyridopyrazole moiety. A cyclocondensation reaction between an amino−pyrazolopyridopyrimidine precursor and malonates afforded a series of pyrimidopyridopyrazolopyrimidine derivatives. Further diversification was achieved through nucleophilic cyclocondensation, yielding a collection of complex polyheterocyclic systems encompassing various ring structures. All synthesized compounds were rigorously characterized using spectroscopic techniques and elemental analysis. The antibacterial activity of the newly synthesized compounds was assessed against a panel of Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria. Notably, several compounds exhibited promising antibacterial activity, highlighting their potential as leads for the development of novel antibiotics.

Abstract This study aimed to prepare antifouling and highly mechanical strengthening membranes for brackish and underground water desalination. It was designed from cellulose acetate (CA) loaded anatase. Anatase was prepared from tetra-iso-propylorthotitanate and carboxymethyl cellulose. Different concentrations of anatase (0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, and 0.8)% were loaded onto CA during the inversion phase preparation of the membranes. The prepared membranes were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM & EDX), mechanical properties, swelling ratio, porosity determination, and ion release. The analysis confirmed the formation of anatase on the surface and inside the macro-voids of the membrane. Furthermore, anatase loading improved the CA membrane’s mechanical properties and decreased its swelling and porosity rate. Also, CA-loaded anatase membranes displayed a significant antibacterial potential against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The results showed that the salt rejection of the CA/anatase films as-prepared varies considerably with the addition of nanomaterial, rising from 46%:92% with the prepared membranes under the 10-bar operation condition and 5 g/L NaCl input concentration. It can be concluded that the prepared CA-loaded anatase membranes have high mechanical properties that are safe, economical, available, and can stop membrane biofouling.

Abstract Background Tecothane (medical grade of polyurethane) is strongly involved in the fabrication of metallic and polymeric-based medical devices (e.g., catheters and stents) as they can withstand cardiac cycle-related forces without deforming or failing, and they can mimic tissue behavior. The main problem is microbial contamination and formation of pathogenic biofilms on such solid surfaces within the human body. Accordingly, our hypothesis is the coating of tecothane outer surfaces with antibacterial agents through the electro-deposition or chemical grafting of anti-biofilm agents onto the stent and catheter surfaces. Results Tecothane is grafted with itaconic acid for cross-linking the polyethyleneimine (PEI) as the protective-active layer. Accordingly, the grafting of poly-itaconic acid onto the Tecothane was achieved by three different methods: wet-chemical approach, electro-polymerization, or by using plasma treatment. The successful modifications were verified using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, grafting percentage calculations, electrochemical, and microscopic monitoring of biofilm formation. The grafting efficiency of itaconic acid was over 3.2% (w/w) at 60 ℃ after 6 h of the catheter chemical modification. Bio-electrochemical signals of biofilms have been seriously reduced after chemical modification because of the inhibition of biofilm formation (for both Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus) over a period of 9 days. Conclusion Chemical functionalization of the polyurethane materials with the antimicrobial and anti-biofilm agents led to a significant decrease in the formation of pathogenic biofilms. This promising proof-concept will open the door to explore further surface protection with potential anti-biofilm agents providing better and sustainable productions of stents and catheters biomaterials. Graphical Abstract

In domains such as telehealth, intelligent transportation, and autonomous agriculture, ensuring secure routing of collected and exchanged data is paramount. Since its inception, there have been many research challenges for the RPL routing protocol that operates in resource-constrained environments and utilizes battery-powered IoT devices. Hence, researchers have focused on this crucial challenge by advising solutions to mitigate attacks that deplete nodes’ energy and hence create energy gaps in the network. In this article, we study the impact of two energy exhaustion attacks (hello flooding and version number modification) on the RPL protocol and we present a novel mitigation solution based on behavioural trust. We present an in-depth study of the impact on radio energy consumption of the hello flooding and version number modification attacks in RPL as the number of network nodes increases. We showed that the impact of the former is localized to nodes in the vicinity of the attacker while the latter has a global impact that extends to the entire network. The obtained results from our simulations show that version number modification attack in particular has devastating impact on the network. We also propose a trust-based solution to mitigate these attacks and demonstrate its effectiveness. Accordingly, we conduct comparative study of these attacks and empirically investigate their impact on network performance by running extensive evaluation experiments. Our findings verify the effectiveness of our proposed trust system in mitigating both attacks.

Faults and system failure components are primarily two causes of unstable or deteriorating control performance of power system. In this study, we present a novel approach to the decentralized restoration of large DC microgrids using fault-tolerant control (FTC). The microgrid achieves decentralization by partitioning into several smaller grids. Each independent grid views the actions of the other grids as an external disturbance. The malfunction of the controller is represented in the input matrix as a norm-bounded uncertainty. The disturbance impact is diminished due to the proposed invariant-set approach. The proposed control can address simultaneous failures in actuators with random placement and degradation levels. In a passive FTC system, when the defect cannot be detected (or the fault may not have been clearly addressed), the proposed technique is utilized. After the fault has occurred, it can be viewed as an uncertainty in system dynamics. The controller that stabilizes the system is obtained by solving iteratively bilinear matrix inequalities as linear matrix inequalities. In addition, this study presents and discusses positive outcomes of applying this method to a system of six interconnected DC microgrids in the event of multiple fault types. The proposed control successfully stabilizes the severe case of simultaneous actuator faults.

The Internet of Things (IoT) and wireless sensor networks (WSNs) utilize their connectivity to enable solutions supporting a spectrum of industries in different and volatile environments. To effectively enhance the security and quality of the service of networks, empirical research should consider a variety of factors and be reproducible. This will not only ensure scalability but also enable the verification of conclusions, leading to more reliable solutions. Cooja offers limited performance analysis capabilities of simulations, which are often extracted and calculated manually. In this paper, we introduce the Build–Launch–Consolidate (BLC) framework and a toolkit that enable researchers to conduct structured and conclusive experiments considering different factors and metrics, experiment design, and results analysis. Furthermore, the toolkit analyzes diverse network metrics across various scenarios. As a proof of concept, this paper studies the flooding attacks on the IoT and illustrates their impact on the network, utilizing the BLC framework and toolkit.

The arrival of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally different from prior technologies used in educational settings. Educators and researchers of online, blended, and in-person learning are still coming to grips with how to employ current AI technologies in the learning experience, let alone understanding the potential consequences that future and unknown developments in AI will produce. Despite potential risks, AI may revolutionize previous models of teaching and learning, and perhaps create opportunities to realize progressive educational goals. Given the longstanding tradition of using philosophy to examine questions surrounding ethics, ontology, technology, and education, the purpose of this critical reflection paper is to draw from prominent philosophers across these disciplines to address the question: how can AI be employed in future educational contexts in a humanizing and ethical manner? Drawing from the work of Gunther Anders, Michel Foucault, Paolo Freire, Benjamin Bloom, and Hannah Arendt, we propose a framework for assessing the use and ethics of AI in modern education contexts regarding human versus AI generated textual and multimodal content, and the broader political, social, and cultural implications. We conclude with applied examples of the framework and implications for future research and practice.

System stability deterioration in microgrids commonly occurs due to unpredictable faults and equipment malfunctions. Recently, robust control techniques have been used in microgrid systems to address these difficulties. In this paper, for DC-islanded microgrids that have sensors faults, a new passive fault-tolerant control strategy is developed. The suggested approach can be used to maintain system stability in the presence of flaws, such as faulty actuators and sensors, as well as component failures. The suggested control is effective when the fault is never recognized (or when the fault is not being precisely known, and some ambiguity in the fault may be interpreted as uncertainty in the system’s dynamics following the fault). The design is built around a derived sufficient condition in the context of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) and the attractive ellipsoid technique. The ellipsoidal stabilization idea is to bring the state trajectories into a small region including the origin (an ellipsoid with minimum volume) and the trajectories will not leave the ellipsoid for the future time. Finally, computational studies on a DC microgrid system are carried out to assess the effectiveness of the proposed fault-tolerant control approach. When compared with previous studies, the simulation results demonstrate that the proposed control technique can significantly enhance the reliability and efficiency of DC microgrid systems.

This experimental study was done at the Biological Control Laboratory, Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Sakha, Kafrelsheikh, Egypt. We aimed to estimate the impact of different cold (10 °C) storage durations [0 (non-cold-stored parasitized eggs), 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, and 30 days], on Trichogramma evanescens (Westwood) (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) during the pupal stage using the eggs of Sitotroga cerealella after exposing to T. evanescens. The emergence percentage of non-cold-stored eggs of S. cerealella was higher than all cold-stored durations. Also, the female’s percentages of T. evanescens in the cold storage durations were lower than the non-cold storage one, and they were influenced by extended cold storage durations. There were non-significant differences in the female’s longevity of T. evanescens obtained from 0, 3, and 6 days cold-stored parasitized eggs of S. cerealella at 10 °C, but it began to decrease from those produced after 9 days of cold-stored eggs. In addition, the emergence percentage in F1 progeny of T. evanescens was greater than 50% until 21 days of cold storage. It could be concluded that cold storage reduced the % emergence, % females, female’s longevity, and emergence percentage in F1 progeny of T. evanescens. For a successful biological control program, the decrease of T. evanescens performance after cold storage durations should be considered in mass production, and the release percentage should be increased by the equivalent of a lack of % emergence. Also, the economic importance of using cold storage periods in commercial mass rearing should be assessed in the biological control program.

Azza Gaber Antar Farag,1 Hala Said El-Rebey,2 Mohamed Abd El-Moneim Shoeib,1 Shimaa Mohammed Ahmed El-Fiky,3 Mustafa Elsayed Elshaib,4 Amal Farid Mostafa2 1Dermatology, Andrology and STDs Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin ElKom, Egypt; 2Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin ElKom, Egypt; 3Department of Dermatology, Ministry of Health, AlMahala General Hospital, Shebin ElKom, Egypt; 4Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin ElKom, EgyptCorrespondence: Azza Gaber Antar FaragDermatology, Andrology and STDs Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Al-Menoufia, Gamal AbdElnasser Street, 3251, Shebin ElKom, 32511, EgyptTel +20 1097787204Fax +20 48 2226454Email azzagaber92@yahoo.comBackground: Nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) mainly includes basal (BCC) and squamous (SCC) cell carcinoma. Trophoblast cell-surface antigen2 (TROP2), a cell–signal transduction, is one of the tumor-related calcium signal transducer gene family. TROP2 was highly expressed in many cancers, however, its role in BCC and SCC has not yet been studied.Objective: To investigate TROP2 immunohistochemical expression in BCC and SCC (lesional and peri-lesional) skin compared to controls and correlates its expression with the clinicopathologic parameters of the studied cases.Methods: This case–control study included 17 BCC and 15 SCC patients as well as 12 age and sex matched controls. History and clinical examination were completed. Histological examination of skin biopsies was done together with TROP2 immune-staining.Results: In the studied BCC and SCC cases, there was a significant stepwise up-regulation of TROP2 H score from control to peri-lesional, ended by lesional epidermis in one hand (p=0.003 for BCC and p< 0.001 for SCC) and tumor island in another hand (p=0.001 for BCC and p=0.003 for SCC). TROP2 expression in both BCC and SCC tumor tissues was not affected by any of the studied clinicopathological parameters of the investigated cases.Conclusion: TROP2 could have an important role in BCC and SCC pathogenesis. TROP2 targeting may have appraising effect in clinical application in BCC and SCC management.Keywords: BCC, SCC, TROP2, clinical, immunohistochemical

Objective: Trichogramma species are minute endoparasitoids of insect eggs that are considered one of the most efficient natural enemies due to their vital role against lepidopteran pests. This experiment was achieved to evaluate the effect of the emergence time of T. evanescens (Westwood) on the emergence rate, % females, % males, sex ratio, longevity, and the emergence of first generation (F1). Methods: Mass rearing of Sitotroga cerealella and T. evanecsens was performed and the previous parameters were investigated throughout an emergence period extended to 16 hrs. Results and conclusion: The emergence time has a clear impact on the tested biological parameters. The highest values of % emergence of T. evanecsens was obtained at the 7th hrs of emergence. The female percentage increased gradually to achieve the highest rate (63.58%) at the 3rd hrs, then it declined gradually to record the lowest rate (50.00%) at the 15th hrs and 16th hrs of emergence. A significant decrease in the female numbers was started after 8th hrs. There were significant negative correlations between the emerging time and each of emergence percentages and the % female. There was a negative correlation between the emerging time and longevity of T. evanescens. The longevity was 3.06 days for the parasitoid wasp adults emerged at the 1st hr and enhanced to be 3.19 days at the 3rd hrs. Also, there was a negative correlation between the emerging time and the emerging percentages of F1. Finally, the impact of developmental time on the fitness of female wasps proposes that the high quality of T. evanescens could be enlarged by enhancing the percentage of the individuals emerging early at the 7th hrs of emergence.

Recently the integration of renewable energy resources to direct-current microgrids has become a hot research topic. The voltage stability problem is of paramount importance when the system is subject to external disturbances, parameters uncertainties, and plug-and-play regimes. This paper introduces a novel decentralized voltage tracking for a direct-current islanded microgrid. It consists of numerous Distributed Generation units. The decentralized controller of each distributed generator adjusts the voltage at the point of common coupling to track the desired reference. The proposed control copes with the plug-and-play operation of the microgrid. This means that the possibility of connection/disconnection distributed generators without deteriorating the stability of the overall microgrid is done through the invariant ellipsoid set and the linear matrix inequality optimization. Another merit of the proposed control is that updating the rest of the controllers is not required when a distributed generator is plugged in or out. Moreover, the proposed decentralized controller just uses local states (information) of its distributed generator only. Many simulations and practical studies with different scenarios have been conducted in this paper to verify the performance of the proposed controllers. Comparison with the existing schemes is included.

Typha capensis, commonly referred to as one of indigenous medicinal plants that are traditionally used to treat male fertility problems and various other ailments. Previous studies revealed that T. capensis has indeed a beneficial effect on male reproductive functions and aging male symptoms. LNCaP cells incubated with different concentrations of crude aqueous extract of T. capensis rhizomes (0.01, 0.02, 0.1, 1, 10 and 100 μg/ml) and control (without extract) for 24 and 96 hours, after incubation. The following parameters were evaluated: cell morphology and viability (determined by means of MTT assay). LNCaP cells showed a decline in cell viability at the incubation period 96 hours (-82.4%) more than 24 hours (-64.7%) indicating more cell death. cell early apoptosis (determined by means of Annexin V-Cy3 binding), DNA fragmentation (determined by means of the TUNEL assay). After 96 hours of exposure, all concentrations caused a dose-dependent increase in early apoptosis in the cells. At higher concentrations (10 and 100 μg/ml), a significant increase of 38.8% (P=0.009) and 52.3%(P

Establishing service-driven IoT systems that are reliable, efficient, and stable requires building trusted IoT environments to reduce catastrophic and unforeseen damages. Hence, building trusted IoT environments is of great importance. However, we cannot assume that every node in wide-area network is aware of every other node, nor can we assume that all nodes are trustworthy and honest. As a result, prior to any collaboration, we need to develop a trust model that can evolve and establish trust relationships between nodes. Our proposed trust model uses subjective logic as a default artificial reasoning over uncertain propositions to collect recommendations from other nodes in the IoT environment. It also manages and maintains existing trust relationships established during direct communications. Furthermore, it resists dishonest nodes that provide inaccurate ratings for malicious reasons. Unlike existing trust models, our trust model is scalable as it leverages a Fog-based hierarchy architecture which allows IoT nodes to report/request the trust values of other nodes. We conducted extensive performance studies, and confirm the efficiency of our proposed trust model. The results show that at an early stage of the simulation time (i.e., within the first 2% of the number of transactions), our trust model accurately captures and anticipates the behavior of nodes. Results further demonstrate that our proposed trust model isolates untrustworthy behavior within the same FCD and prevents untrustworthy nodes from degrading trustworthy nodes’ reputations.

Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) is one of the standard application layer protocols for the Internet of Things. It uses a publish/subscribe mechanism which organizes a set of clients around a server called the broker, which delivers published data to its intended recipients. This article proposes an architecture that allows MQTT brokers to cooperate and share their data with other interested MQTT brokers. It is a service-oriented architecture that wraps an MQTT broker with a well defined WebSockets-based interface which allows it to offer its topic space and published data to other MQTT brokers. The wrapped MQTT broker is called a broker service, and it discovers other broker services through a discovery service. Each broker service only connects to services that have data its clients are interested. Furthermore, these services are authenticated by obtaining tokens from an authentication service that registers and issues JSON Web Tokens for them. These tokens contain the identity and claims of their owners and they can be verified without contacting the authentication service. The proposed architecture simplifies data sharing and improves the security in scenarios with multiple MQTT brokers where clients can move between them. In these scenarios, the MQTT brokers need to obtain data based on their clients interests, which are constantly changing. It does so by isolating MQTT brokers into services that can be discovered and consumed over well-defined interfaces. The architecture was implemented in javascript using MQTT 3.1.1 standard complaint library. We demonstrate the performance characteristics of our architecture using our implementation through three scenarios, which are designed to compare the delay from publisher to subscriber when they operate within the same MQTT broker and different MQTT brokers. The results show that the overhead of our architecture is around 50% in two synthetic scenarios (performed on a single machine) and around 27% in a third scenario performed on the cloud with multiple virtual machines hosting the broker services and simulated clients.

This paper presents a real case study of a micropiling process that was developed to stop the continuous tilting of a 9-story residential building in Dakahlia, Egypt. Shortly after the construction of the building, the surface raft foundation exhibited severe settlement problems. In order to carry out a geotechnical investigation, boreholes were drilled around the constructed building. It was discovered that in addition to a thick, soft clay layer in the soil profile, there was also a crucial eccentricity between the centroid of the total building loads and the centroid of the raft. The issue needed to be addressed immediately, and a micropiling system was proposed to satisfy the geotechnical and structural conditions associated with the case history. In addition to describing the field measurements, detailed methodology, and micropile installation process, this paper also presents three different design approaches for determining the number and location of the micropiles. Although the underpinning process itself initially induced some settlement, micropiling the raft proved to be an efficient solution to stop the continuous tilting of the building. A micropile load test confirmed the advantageous effect of the grouting technique used for Type B micropiles, where the grout is injected under high pressure.

Patients infected with COVID-19 are at an increased risk for thrombosis, suggesting a possible role of COVID-19 in the induction of coagulopathy. This study aimed to investigate the presence of prothrombotic antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) and antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) in the course of COVID-19 infection and to correlate these markers with severity and fatality, suggesting that COVID-19-induced autoimmune thrombosis is a possible axis in the inflammatory circuit of this infection. To investigate this, we conducted a case-control study which included patients with a positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test of COVID-19 and a control group with negative COVID-19 PCR and antibody (IgG-IgM and IgA nucleoprotein) ELISA results. An indirect immunofluorescence assay using granulocyte biochips (Aesku slides from AESKU DIAGNOSTICS, Germany) was used to detect ANCA (IgG), as well as multiplex ELISA for the detection of antiphospholipid antibodies for all patients with COVID-19 and for the control group. The results revealed the detection of antiphospholipid antibodies (IgG) in one patient out of the 45 patients in the case group. 1/45(2.2%) and 7/45(15.6%) tested positive for ANCA. Five were men and two were females, with one case revealed to be positive for both aPL and ANCA. A cytoplasmic reaction on the eosinophil granulocytes was observed in 2 cases; both were positive for ANCA. Other markers (CRP, APTT, PT, INR, ESR, and neutrophil and lymphocyte counts) were included in the study, along with demographic data. No aPL or ANCA reactions were detected for any of the control groups. These findings suggest that aPL and ANCA may be induced during the course of inflammation in COVID-19 and possibly contribute to the disease’s severity and mortality.

Autogenic free fat tissue (FFT) is widely used in neurosurgery. Since the 1960s, there has been discussion on the usefulness of fat graft in spinal surgery. Unfortunately, fat undergoes atrophy, fibrosis, and rebuild, and up to 55% of primary volume disappears. This review focuses on the following aspects: development of radiological assessment, evaluation of morphological changes, and the influence of fat graft on outcome. Fat graft in the spinal canal disappears after degeneration processes. High amounts of collagen in the studied tissue and proliferation of blood vessels were observed. Use of fat as a filler and dural sac sealer is well grounded; however, the prevention of scar formation is uncertain. The use of fat does not eliminate adhesion and scar formation near the dural sac. Meanwhile, as the results of the discussed studies show, routine use of fat graft in prevention of scar formation cannot be justified.

Azza GA Farag,1 Hesham N Khaled,1 Mostafa A Hammam,1 Mustafa Elsayed Elshaib,2 Nermin Reda Tayel,3 Sahar Elsoudy Ibrahim Hommos,4 Eman Masoud Abd El Gayed5 1Dermatology, Andrology and STDs Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom, Egypt; 2Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom, Egypt; 3Department of Molecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics, Genetic Engineering Biotechnology Research Institute, Sadat City, Egypt; 4Dermatology Department, Elsherouk General Hospital, Cairo, Egypt; 5Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom, EgyptCorrespondence: Azza GA FaragDermatology, Andrology and STDs, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom 32511, EgyptTel +20 109 778 7204Fax +20 2482 226 454Email azzagaber92@yahoo.comBackground: Keloids represent chronic fibroproliferative skin disorders in which there is deposition of extracellular components, especially type 1 collagen, fibronectin and elastin, in excessive amounts. NEDD4 is associated with fibrosis found in abnormal wound healing through increased fibroblast proliferation and regulation of type 1 collagen expression. The exact etiology of keloid formation is undefined, but the role of genetic factors was demonstrated.Objective: To investigate the polymorphism of the NEDD4 gene rs8032158 in a sample of Egyptian patients who have keloids.Methods: The current case–control study was conducted in 160 unrelated subjects; 100 keloid patients and 60 ages and sex coincided with apparently healthy controls. All subjects underwent a complete history, and weight and length were measured to calculate body mass index (BMI). The Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS) was used to assess keloid severity. An analysis of the polymorphism of the NEDD4 gene rs8032158 T/C was performed using taqman allelic discrimination (real-time PCR).Results: The rs8032158 CC genotype was observed significantly in keloid patients and increased the risk of keloid development by approximately 2 times (p = 0.003, OR = 1.80). The C allele significantly increased the risk of keloid development by approximately 2 times (P = 0.002, OR = 2.08). The carriers of the CC genotype were significantly associated with severe keloid form and with the highest VSS values.Conclusion: The polymorphism of the NEDD4 gene rs8032158 could participate in the formation of keloids in the Egyptian population. The NEDD4 rs8032158 CC genotype may have a role in keloid severity.Keywords: NEDD4, keloid, gene polymorphism

Background: Previous cardiac operations may complicate mitral valve exposure, as adhesions and loss of mobility in the surrounding tissues may be present. In such cases, the conventional left atrial (LA) incision may not offer satisfactory visualization in the surgical site of the valve. Therefore, several alternative approaches have been proposed for satisfactory visualization of the mitral valve intraoperatively.Aim of the work: to evaluate the outcome of the transseptal and transatrial approaches for mitral valve replacement in patients undergoing redo mitral valve surgery.Patients and Method: This is a prospective study that was conducted at Cardio-thoracic surgery department of Al-Azhar University hospital (Damietta) and other centers during the period from the January 2018 to May 2019. It included 30 patients undergoing redo mitral valve surgery; 15 of them had transseptal approach and 15 with transatrial approach.Results: Age was comparable between studied groups. There was 6 males (40.0%) in group I and 7 males (46.7%) in group II. Smoking was reported in 8 (53.3%) in group I and 7 (46.7%) in group II. Hypertension and pulmonary disease were reported in 6 (40.0%) versus 7 (46.7%) and 2 (13.3%) versus 3 (20.0%) in groups I and II respectively. Diabetes mellitus was reported in 9 (60.0%) in group I versus 4 (26.7%) in group II. Finally, there was no significant difference between both approaches as regard to intraoperative or postoperative data. Conclusion: Transatrial approach has been used in most of previous studies; the transseptal approach appears to be equally effective.

Azza Gaber Antar Farag,1 Shymaa A El Askary,2 Waleed M Fathy,3 Fathia Elbassal,3 Ayman Ali Azzam,4 Nermin Reda Tayel,5 Samah Saad Abdul Karim,6 Wafaa Ahmed Shehata1 1Dermatology, Andrology & STDs Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Al Menoufia, Egypt; 2Medical Microbiology and Immunology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Minufya, Egypt; 3Clinical Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Minufya, Egypt; 4Clinical Biochemistry Department, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Minufya, Egypt; 5Department of Molecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics, Genetic Engineering Biotechnology Research Institute, Sadat City, Egypt; 6Dermatology Department, Shebin ElKom Teaching Hospital, Minufya, EgyptCorrespondence: Azza Gaber Antar FaragDermatology, Andrology & STDs Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin ElKom, Al Menoufia 32511, EgyptTel +20 109 778 7204Fax +20 2482 226 454Email azzagaber92@yahoo.comBackground: Leprosy is a chronic contagious disease caused by Mycobacterium lepraea. CD163 is a monocyte trans-membrane glycoprotein receptor (mCD163) that sheds from the cell surface and circulates as a soluble (serum) form (sCD163). Changes in the mCD163 and sCD163 levels could mirror the categorization of inflammatory procedure, demonstrating a possible use of CD163 as a diagnostic indicator of inflammation.Objective: To investigate the possible role of CD163 (sCD163 and mCD163) in leprosy pathogenesis and to assess whether CD163 is a helpful inflammatory marker of leprosy development and typing.Patients and Methods: This case control study included 70 leprosy patients and 30 healthy controls. Leprosy patients were classified according to the Madrid criteria (1953) into: tuberculoid leprosy (TT), border-line leprosy (BL), and lepromatous leprosy (LL). For all participants, complete blood count (CBC), serum CD163 using ELISA and monocytes positive for CD163 using flow cytometry were done.Results: Leprosy patients had significantly low WBCs and platelet counts (p< 0.001) and had significantly higher sCD163 (p=0.025) and mCD163 (p=0.042) that were highest in LL followed by BL, then TT patients (p< 0.001). There was a significant positive correlation between mCD163 and sCD163 levels in leprosy patients (r=0.896, p< 0.001). ROC analysis revealed a significant role of serum sCD163 and of mCD163 positive monocytes in the detection (p< 0.001) and typing of leprosy (p=0.002 and p< 0.001, respectively).Conclusion: Both sCD163 and mCD163 positive monocytes may have an active role in leprosy pathogenesis. They could be potential biomarkers for leprosy detection and typing.Keywords: CD163 positive monocytes, flow cytometry, leprosy, sCD163

Haneya AA Anani,1 Amany M Tawfeik,1 Soheir S Maklad,1 Abeer M Kamel,2 Enas E El-Said,3 Asmaa S Farag2 1Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt; 2Dermatology Department, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt; 3Clinical Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, EgyptCorrespondence: Haneya AA Anani Email haneya.amr2008@yahoo.comBackground: Cell lesion and apoptosis with release of cell-free DNA (CFD) in circulation are associated with chronic inflammation of psoriasis.Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the CFD concentrations in sera of patients with psoriasis, to assess its relationship with disease severity as defined by Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) and other inflammatory biomarkers (C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)) levels, and to monitor the efficacy of treatment.Patients and Methods: Thirty adult patients with different types of psoriasis (25 vulgaris; 10 mild, 15 moderate and 5 erythroderma; severe) were evaluated during the exacerbation phase of the disease, before starting (T0) and after 12 weeks (T12) of treatment with topical therapy for mild cases, narrowband-ultraviolet light B (NB-UVB) for moderate cases and methotrexate for severe cases. Twenty healthy controls were also involved in the study. The concentrations of CFD in sera were measured before and after treatment by quantitative real time PCR (qPCR) using primers of the human β-globin gene.Results: At T0, all patients presented significant higher levels of ESR (P=0.05) and CFD (P=0.001) compared with controls. Highly significant elevations of all parameters were observed in severe disease (erythroderma) compared to mild/moderate disease (vulgaris). Methotrexate treatment induced highly significant reductions in all inflammatory markers including CFD (P= 0.042) while topical and UV irradiation therapies had no effects. CFD concentrations showed positive correlations with both PASI (r=0.422, P=0.020) and ESR (r=0.321, P=0.023) only before the start of treatment.Conclusion: The level of circulating CFD could be used to monitor psoriasis severity. However, its level cannot be stated for the treatment, except in severe erythrodermic patients upon successful treatment with methotrexate. We recommend validation of a convenient and accurate DNA assay applied directly to biological samples which does not require prior DNA extraction and amplification.Keywords: circulating cell-free DNA, Psoriasis Severity Index, C-reactive protein, psoriasis therapy

With the advent of IoT, storing, indexing and querying XML data efficiently is critical. To minimize the cost of querying XML data, researchers have proposed many indexing techniques. Nearly all the techniques, partition the XML data into a number of data-streams. To evaluate a query, existing twig pattern matching algorithms process a subset of the data-streams simultaneously. Processing many data-streams simultaneously results in some or all of the following four problems, namely, the accessing of many data nodes which don't appear in the final solution of a given query, the generation of duplicate results, the generation of huge number of intermediate results, and the cost of merging the generated intermediate results. To the best of our knowledge, all the existing twig pattern matching algorithms suffer from some or all of the above mentioned problems. This paper proposes a new twig pattern matching algorithm called MatchQTP which processes one data-stream at a time and avoids all the above mentioned four problems. It also proposes a new indexing technique called RLP-Index and a new XML node labeling scheme called RLP-Scheme, both of which are used by MatchQTP. Unlike the existing indexing techniques, RLP-Index stores a subset of the data nodes. The rest of the data nodes can be generated efficiently. This minimizes storage space utilization and query processing time and makes RLP-Index the first of its kind. Many experiments were conducted to study the performance of MatchQTP. The results show that MatchQTP is very efficient and highly scalable. It was also compared with four algorithms, three of which are used frequently in the literature to compare the performance of new algorithms and the fourth algorithm is the state-of-the-art algorithm. MatchQTP significantly and consistently outperformed all of them.

Azza Gaber Antar Farag, 1 Dalia Rifaat Al-Sharaky, 2 Sawsan Samy Allam, 3 Hesham Nabil Khaled 1 1Dermatology, Andrology and STDs Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin ElKom, Egypt; 2Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin ElKom, Egypt; 3Dermatology, Ministry of Health, Damanhour, Behera, EgyptCorrespondence: Azza Gaber Antar FaragDermatology, Andrology and STDs, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin ElKoom, Al Menoufia 32511 EgyptTel +201097787204Fax +20 248 2226454Email azzagaber92@yahoo.comBackground: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a recognized T helper (Th)2, allergic, skin disease. Galectin-9 (gal-9) is a member of galectin family. It alters T-cell balance resulting in Th2 polarization. These Th2 cells yield various cytokines that may influence E selectin expression. Therefore, we hypothesized that gal-9 may have an active role in AD and this role could be mediated through E selectin.Objective: To assess this hypothesis, immunohistochemical expression of gal-9 and E selectin was investigated in skin lesions, from atopic dermatitis patients, and compared.Methods: Twenty-two atopic dermatitis patients and ten controls were included in this case-control study. SCORAD score was used to evaluate atopic dermatitis severity. Biopsies from skin lesions of AD patients and matched sites of controls were taken and stained immunohistochemically by gal-9 and E selectin polyclonal antibodies.Results: Compared to controls, atopic dermatitis patients exhibited a significant increased gal-9 H score, percent of expression, cellular localization (P˂0.001) and intensity (P=0.04) as well as dermal cellular infiltrate (P˂0.001). Also, there were significant elevations in E selectin H score (P=0.002), percent of expression (P=0.001) and cellular localization (P< 0.001) as well as dermal inflammatory infiltrates in AD cases than controls. In AD, 20 cases showed co expression of both gal-9 and E selectin in the epidermis with insignificant correlation between their H scores.Study Limitations: This study only included a small number of studied subjects.Conclusion: Galectin-9 and E selectin participates independently in atopic dermatitis pathogenesis, that may help in development of new therapeutic agents in atopic dermatitis management program.Keywords: galectins, E- selectin, atopic dermatitis

Abstract Background Algal biomass fermentation is one of the promising alternatives for bioethanol production. The bioethanol yield relies on fermentation conditions as the algal biomass amount, the yeast volume (% v/v), and the fermentation time. In this work, algal biomass harvested from a pilot-scale high rate algal pond (HRAP) was fermented anaerobically using immobilized Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ATCC 4126). The HRAP was constructed at the Zenin wastewater treatment plant (WTP), Giza, Egypt. A separate hydrolysis fermentation process (SHF) was applied for algal biomass. The effect of the algal biomass amount, the yeast volume (% v/v), and the time of fermentation as three independent variables were studied simultaneously and analyzed statistically using Design-Expert software V6.0.8. Results The harvested algal biomass from HRAP contains 45% carbohydrates and was dominated by Microcystis sp. The results revealed that optimum bioethanol yield 18.57 g/L is achieved by fermenting 98.7 g/L algae using 15.09% of the volume immobilized yeast for 43.6 h with a 95% confidence interval. Conclusion Microalgae grown on wastewater are a promising source of bioethanol production. Maximizing the ethanol production is achieved by optimizing the fermentation parameters as algal biomass, fermentation time, and yeast volume percent. The simultaneous optimization of the parameters using a statistical program is an effective way to maximize the production and predict a model that describes the relationship between these parameters and their response. The prospective research is going to study the effect of these predicted parameters on continuous fermentation on the semi-pilot scale.

The Internet of things is a popular concept in the current digital revolution. Nowadays, devices worldwide can be connected to the Internet, enhancing their communication, capabilities, and intelligence. Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Network (6LoWPAN) was specifically designed to build wireless networks for IoT resource-constrained devices. However, 6LoWPAN is susceptible to several security attacks. The fragmentation mechanism, in particular, is vulnerable to various attacks due to the lack of fragment authentication and verification procedures in the adaptation layer. This article provides a survey of fragmentation attacks and available countermeasures. Furthermore, the buffer reservation attack, one of the most harmful fragmentation attacks that may cause DoS, is studied and simulated in detail. A countermeasure for this attack is also implemented based on a reputation-scoring scheme. Experiments showed the harmful effects of the buffer reservation attack and the effectiveness of the implemented reputation-scoring countermeasure.

Video-game development, despite being a multi-billion-dollar industry, has not attracted sustained attention from software engineering researchers and remains understudied from a software engineering perspective. We aim to uncover, from game developers’ perspectives, which video game development topics are the most asked about and which are the most supported, in order to provide insights about technological and conceptual challenges game developers and managers may face on their projects. To do so, we turned to the Game Development Stack Exchange (GDSE), a prominent Question and Answer forum dedicated to game development. On that forum, users ask questions and tag them with keywords recognized as important categories by the community. Our study relies on those tags, which we classify either as technology or concept topics. We then analysed these topics for their levels of community attention (number of questions, views, upvotes, etc.) and community support (whether their questions are answered and how long it takes). Related to community attention, we found that topics with the most questions include concepts such as 2D and collision detection and technologies such as Unity and C#, whereas questions touching on concepts such as video and augmented reality and technologies such as iOS, Unreal-4 and Three.js generally lack satisfactory answers. Moreover, by pairing topics, we uncovered early clues that, from a community support perspective, (i) the pairing of some technologies appear more challenging (e.g., questions mixing HLSL and MonoGame receive a relatively lower level of support); (ii) some concepts may be more difficult to handle conjointly (e.g., rotation and movement); and some technologies may prove more challenging to use to address a given concept (e.g., Java for 3D). Our findings provide insights to video game developers on the topics and challenges they might encounter and highlight tool selection and integration for video game development as a promising research direction.

The essential prerequisites for secure customer service are power system stability and reliability. This work shows how to construct a robust switching control for studying power system load changes using an invariant ellipsoid method. Furthermore, the suggested control ensures stability when the system is subjected to random stochastic external disturbances, and functions randomly in two conditions: normal and contingency. The extreme (least) reliability state is chosen as the most severe scenario (corresponding to a transmission line outage). As a two-state Markov random chain, the transition probabilities are utilized to simulate the switching between normal and contingency modes (or processes). To characterize the dynamics of the studied system, a stochastic mathematical model is developed. The effect of stochastic disturbances and random normal/contingency operations is taken into account during the design stage. For a stochastic power system, a novel excitation control is designed. The attractive ellipsoid approach and linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) optimization are used to build the best two-controller gains. Therefore, the proposed modeling/design technique can be employed for the power system under load changes, stochastic topological changes, and random disturbances. Finally, the system’s random dynamics simulation indicates the effectiveness of the designed control law.

Azza Gaber Antar Farag,1 Rehab Samaka,2 Eman Nabil Elshafey,1 Wafaa Ahmed Shehata,1 Eman Gamal El Sherbiny,3 Mostafa Ahmed Hammam11Department of Dermatology, Andrology and STDs, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin AlKom, Egypt; 2Department of Histopathology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin AlKom, Egypt; 3Dermatology, Andrology and STDs, Ministry of Health, Berkt Alsaba, Menoufia, EgyptBackground: Human JAKs are responsible for generating docking sites for human SSTAT phosphorylation. The role of JAKs in psoriasis pathogenesis has not been clearly explained.Aim: To investigate the role of JAK1 in psoriasis pathogenesis and to assess if this role is mediated through STAT3 or not, through evaluation of their immunohistochemical expression in the skin of psoriatic patients.Methods: This case–control study was carried out on 26 patients presenting with psoriasis vulgaris versus 26 age- and sex-matched apparently healthy volunteers. Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) scores were used to evaluate psoriasis severity. From all controls and cases (lesional and perilesional), skin biopsies were taken for histopathological and immunohistochemical JAK1 and STAT3 evaluation.Results: There was significant stepwise upregulation of JAK1 from controls to perilesional to lesional psoriatic skin of the patient group in both epidermis and dermis (P≤0.001 for both). Dermal JAK1 H-score was significantly associated with psoriasis severity (P=0.01). STAT3 was significantly overexpressed in lesional psoriatic skin over nonlesional skin (P

Azza Gaber Antar Farag,1 Azza Mohamed Kamel Abdu Allah,2 Hala Said El-Rebey,3 Kawthar Ibraheem Mohamed Ibraheem,4,5 Asmaa Shams El Dein Mohamed,3 Azza Zaghlol Labeeb,6 Ayman Elhussien Elgazzar,1 Magda Mostafa Haggag11Department of Dermatology, Andrology and STDs, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shibīn al Kawm, Egypt; 2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular biology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shibīn al Kawm, Egypt; 3Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shibīn al Kawm, Egypt; 4Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; 5Microbiology Department, Taibah University, Medina, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 6Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shibīn al Kawm, EgyptBackground: Skin tags (STs) are benign connective tissue neoplasms, in which insulin-like growth factor −1 (IGF-1) has a mitogenic and antiapoptotic activity.Purpose: We aimed to study for the first time, the possible role of IGF-1 (CA) 19 and rs6214 gene polymorphisms, and its tissue immunoreactivity in the pathogenesis of STs.Patients and methods: This case–control study included 40 ST patients and 20 controls. We searched for (CA) 19 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) using conversional PCR and for rs6214 gene polymorphism using real-time PCR. IGF-1 tissue immunoreactivity was investigated using polyclonal IGF-1 antibody.Results: IGF-1 immunoreactivity showed significantly strong upregulation in epidermis (p=0.002) and dermal components (endothelial cells [p=0.038] and fibroblasts [p=0.004]) of excised STs than control skin. TT and CT rs6214 genotypes and its T allele were significantly associated with STs (p=0.006 and P=0.002, respectively). Also (p=0.013). These 4 genotypes were significantly associated with development of multiple STs and epidermal IGF-1 tissue immunoreactivity in studied patients.Conclusions: IGF-1 (CA) 19 and rs6214 gene polymorphisms may contribute to a predisposition of STs in Egyptian patients, the role of which could be mediated through local upregulation of IGF-1 in cutaneous tissues.Keywords: skin tags, insulin growth factor-1, gene polymorphism, immunohistochemistry

Aflatoxins (AFS) are toxic and carcinogenic fungal metabolites. Aflatoxin B1 is the most toxic and has been classified as a Group I carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Samples of imported rice were analyzed for their AFS content. Finley ground rice subsamples were extracted with water/methanol (100:150 v/v) followed by purification with Immunoaffinity columns (IAC). AFS purified from extracts were determined with RP-HPLC-FLD using post column electrochemical derivatization with a Kobra Cell. Concentrations of aflatoxin B1 and total AFS in test rice samples were ≤0.123 and ≤2.58 µg/kg, respectively. Tween 80 improved recoveries (86 and 106%) of aflatoxin B1 and aflatoxin G1 from brown rice. Recoveries of Aflatoxin B2 and aflatoxin G2 were substantially reduced (non-detected to 27%) by Tween 80 used in IAC cleanup of brown rice extracts. Visible dense growth of Aspergillus parasiticus (food isolate) occurred at 25 °C but higher aflatoxin B1amounts (23.9–39.3 µg/kg) accumulated when the mold grew at 37 °C in rice seeds stored for three weeks. It could be concluded that levels of aflatoxin B1 and total AFS in rice samples were within the permissible amounts of the EU and other international legislations. Keywords: Rice, Brown rice, Saudi Arabia, Aflatoxins, Aflatoxin B1, HPLC-FLD, Aspergillus parasiticus, Tween 80

Azza Gaber Antar Farag,1 Eman AE Badr,2 Abdel Monem A Eltorgoman,3 Mohamed FA Assar,4 Eman N Elshafey,1,4 Nermin Reda Tayel,5 Hossam EA Aboutaleb4 1Department of Dermatology, Andrology and STDs, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom, Egypt; 2Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom, Egypt; 3Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom, Egypt; 4Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry Division, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom, Egypt; 5Department of Molecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics, Genetic Engineering Biotechnology Research Institute, Sadat City, Egypt Background: 11β HSD1 generates cortisol from cortisone. 11β HSD1 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was associated with metabolic syndrome (MeTS). Although the relation of acne vulgaris (AV) and skin tags (STs) with MeTS has been reported, the relationship between 11β HSD 1 SNP and cortisol activity in those patients has not studied till now.Aims: To investigate, two 11β-HSD1 SNPs (rs846910 and rs12086634), serum lipid profile and cortisol levels in patients with AV and STs in an Egyptian population.Patients and methods: This case–control study was performed on 50 patients having STs and 50 complaining of AV and 50 sex- and age-matched controls. We searched for serum lipid profile, cortisol levels, and 11β-HSD1 rs846910 and rs12086634 SNPs using real time-PCR.Results: Compared to controls,11β-HSD1 rs846910 GA genotype carriers had significantly higher risks for developing AV and STs by 3.4- and 4.9-fold, respectively, and its A allele increases these risks by 3.1 and 4.4 times, respectively. Also, 11β-HSD1 rs12086634 TG genotype increases the risk of AV by 3.2-fold, as well as STs by 3.5-fold, and its G allele increases the risk of AV by 3.2-fold and STs by 7-fold. In AV and ST patients, rs846910 GA genotype demonstrated significant associations with elevated body mass index (BMI), and cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL), cortisol, and decreased high density lipoprotein serum levels, respectively. However, rs12086634 GG genotype was significantly associated with increased BMI, cholesterol, and LDL serum levels in patients with AV and STs, in addition to the number of STs and serum cortisol levels in ST patients.Conclusion: 11β-HSD1 rs846910 and rs12086634 gene polymorphisms may contribute to AV and STs pathogenesis, that may be mediated through enhancing the enzymatic activity (increasing cortisol levels). AV and STs are associated with obesity and atherogenic lipid profile. Diagnosis of AV and STs may play a role in early detection of the MeTS. Keywords: skin tags, acne vulgaris, metabolic syndrome, 11 beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, single-nucleotide polymorphism

In this paper, we report on the design and synthesis of a novel series of quinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-dione derivatives as fluoroquinolone-like inhibitors of bacterial gyrase and DNA topoisomerase IV to identify and develop antimicrobial agents to prevent bacterial resistance problems. Their structures were confirmed using spectroscopic analyses (IR, NMR, and EI-MS). The novel quinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-dione derivatives were evaluated for their antimicrobial activities against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains using the Agar well diffusion method to study the antimicrobial activities and compared them with the standard drugs. Most compounds displayed moderate activity. Among the tested compounds, the most promising compounds 13 and 15 provided broad bioactive spectrum against Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains compared to the standard drugs.

Abstract Production of bioelectricity via microbial fuel cells (MFCs) may become an important source of energy in the near future due to the possibility of extracting electric current from a wide range of organic wastes. In this study, several nanostructures, such as platinum (Pt)‐reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite, graphene nanosheets, MnO2, and MnO2/RGO, were synthesized, characterized, and investigated as cathode catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction. The prepared catalysts were tested in a single‐chamber microbial fuel cell with anaerobic bacterial mixed culture. Power density produced from MFC closed circuit operation using the nanoengineered catalysts were about 68 times more than those obtained using the classical graphite electrodes. Moreover, there was a slight reduction of 5.8% in power density (from 170 to 160 mW/m2) when Pt nanoparticles were loaded on the RGO nanosheets compared to Pt/C cathode. By replacing the precious Pt catalyst with other nanomaterials, a significant reduction in power density was observed. For RGO‐based cathode, the MFC performance decreased by 31.1% (from 170 to 117 mW/m2) and the percent of reduction reached 48.5% (from 170 to 88 mW/m2) for MnO2‐based cathode MFC. However, in RGO/MnO2 nanocomposite cathode MFC, the percent of reduction in power density was 26.4% (from 170 to 125 mW/m2). It can be concluded that RGO nanosheets loaded with Pt nanoparticles is a starting point for finding an alternative economic and effective cathode.

* Context.--Changes in Paneth cell numbers can be associated with chronic inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. So far, no consensus has been achieved on the number of Paneth cells and their relevance to celiac disease (CD). Objectives.--To compare crypt and Paneth cell granule areas between patients with CD and those without CD (non-CD) using an artificial intelligence-based solution. Design.--Hematoxylin-eosin-stained sections of duodenal biopsies from 349 patients at the McGill University Health Centre were analyzed. Of these, 185 had a history of CD and 164 were controls. Slides were digitized, and NoCodeSeg, a code-free workflow using open-source software (QuPath, DeepMIB), was implemented to train deep learning models to segment crypts and Paneth cell granules. The total area of the entire analyzed tissue, epithelium, crypts, and Paneth cell granules was documented for all slides, and comparisons were performed. Results.--A mean intersection-over-union score of 88.76% and 91.30% was achieved for crypt areas and Paneth cell granule segmentations, respectively. On normalization to total tissue area, the crypt to total tissue area in CD was increased and the Paneth cell granule area to total tissue area decreased when compared to non-CD controls. Conclusions.--Crypt hyperplasia was confirmed in CD compared to non-CD controls. The area of Paneth cell granules, an indirect measure of Paneth cell function, decreased with increasing severity of CD. More importantly, our study analyzed complete hematoxylin-eosin slide sections using an efficient and easy to use coding-free artificial intelligence workflow. doi: 10.5858/arpa.2023-0074-OA), Paneth cells were first described by Paneth in 1888. (1) They are normally found in the small intestine, right colon, and appendix. They are usually located at the base of [...]