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Liquid fertilizers (LFs) produced by microwave-assisted acid hydrolysis of livestock and poultry wastes were applied to potted hot pepper ( Capsicum annuum L.) to evaluate their potential to be used as amino acid LFs. A preliminary experiment was conducted to determine the optimum acid-hydrolysis conditions for producing LFs from a mixture of pig hair and faeces (P) and another mixture of chicken feathers and faeces (C). Two LFs were produced under the optimum acid-hydrolysis conditions (acidification by sulphuric acid (7.5 mol L -1 ) in a microwave (200 W) for 90 minutes), and a commercial amino acid LF (Guo Guang (GG)) was used for comparison. P, C and GG fertilizers were tested in potted hot pepper cultivation at two doses, whereas no fertilizer application served as the control (CK). P and C fertilizers significantly increased the fruit yield compared with GG fertilizer, particularly at the higher dose. Moreover, the treatments improved the fruit vitamin C and soluble sugar contents in the order of C > P > GG compared with CK. These results could be attributed to more types of amino acids in C fertilizer than in P and GG fertilizers. The results also indicated that the prepared fertilizers could significantly increase the shoot and root dry weight, soil available nitrogen and phosphorus contents and nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) uptake by plants compared with CK. In conclusion, microwave-assisted acid hydrolysis could effectively convert unusable wastes into valuable fertilizers comparable or even superior to commercial fertilizers., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: The incidence of discharge against medical advice (DAMA) in emergency departments (EDs) among Indigenous people is a growing concern in Australia. This study aimed to determine the incidence of ED DAMA in public hospitals in Queensland (QLD) from 2016 to 2021 and investigate the disparities in ED DAMA between Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients. The study also assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of ED DAMA., Methods: A descriptive epidemiological study was conducted using aggregated data from QLD public hospital EDs. The data was retrieved from Clinical Excellence QLD, Healthcare Improvement Unit, in the QLD Health Open Data Portal for the period 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2021. Incidence rates and unadjusted odds ratios were calculated and compared using the chi-square test to identify differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients., Results: The annual incidence of DAMA in EDs was 7.7% among Indigenous patients, compared to 4.8% among non-Indigenous patients, with the highest rate (8.9%) reported in 2021 among Indigenous patients. The incidence of ED DAMA was higher for Indigenous patients in major cities (20.0%) than in very remote areas (7.4%). Patients in triage categories 4 (10.0%) and 3 (7.3%) accounted for the vast majority of ED DAMA events among Indigenous patients. The acute group A hospitals had the highest incidence of ED DAMA (10.9% for Indigenous patients and 6.5% for non-Indigenous patients). The COVID-19 pandemic had no impact on the incidence of ED DAMA., Conclusion: Indigenous patients experience a disparity in ED DAMA incidence. Addressing this issue requires collaborative efforts from healthcare providers, policymakers, and community organizations., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethical Approval The University of Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee approved an ethics exemption application for this study (HREC No: 2022/HE001308). Consent to participate is not applicable. Consent for Publication Not applicable. Competing Interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2023. W. Montague Cobb-NMA Health Institute.)

Lignocellulosic biomass ash (BA) has certain adsorption and passivation effects on heavy metals, but its function is generally weak. Amino acid salt can facilitate the leaching of heavy metals in soil. Therefore, modification of BA with amino acid salt may realize a higher leaching rate and better passivation of heavy metals in soil. In this study, BA was modified by amino acid hydrolysate obtained from the hydrolysis of chicken feathers by sulfuric acid. The physicochemical properties of BA and modified BA (MBA), their effects on Chinese cabbage (CC) yield and nutritional quality, and passivation effects on soil cadmium (Cd) were compared, and the related mechanisms were investigated. SEM-EDS, XRD, and FTIR demonstrated that BA was a CaCO 3 -type soil amendment, while MBA was a CaSO 4 -type soil amendment with the loading of amino acid. Compared with BA, MBA significantly increased the fresh weight, soluble sugar, vitamin C (Vc), and protein contents of CC in both non-Cd contaminated soil and Cd contaminated soil, and obviously decreased the nitrate content and Cd uptake of CC in Cd-contaminated soil. After the application of MBA, cadmium species in potted soil were transformed from higher plant availability, representing by exchangeable and carbonate-bound, into lower plant availability, representing by iron-manganese oxide bound, which was identified as the key reason for the significant reduction of Cd content in CC under MBA application., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective This study aimed to estimate and investigate the prevalence and the risk factors implicated in contact dermatitis among healthcare workers in the Al'Qassim region, Saudi Arabia, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology We conducted a cross-sectional survey among healthcare workers at hospitals in the Al'Qassim region. Data was collected using a standardized and validated Nordic Occupational Skin Questionnaire version 2002. We included 408 participants in the analysis. Results The majority of the respondents (66.7%) were females. The mean age of participants was 34 (SD: ±9) years. Most of the participants who reported contact dermatitis were nurses (58.6%). Direct patient care roles represent 78% of participants. Respondents who work 40-50 hours per week represent 61.5% of the sample. The most commonly recorded symptoms were dryness (92.9%), itchiness (50%), and redness (46.4%) of the skin. The most affected site was hand 93.5%. Hand cleanser was the commonest substance implicated in the worsening of the skin changes (59.2%). Protective glove material that worsens contact dermatitis, such as natural rubber/latex, represents 76% of responses. A significant association (p=0.001)was seen in the occurrence of contact dermatitis in those with a history of allergic eye symptoms (33.3%) and those without (58%). Participants with a mean age of 26.47 years were more prone to develop contact dermatitis (CI: 1.19-7.06; p=0.067). Pharmacists and interns had 3.69 and 4.90 times higher odds of having contact dermatitis (CI: 0.95-7.33; CI: 22.1; p=0.027; p=0.038, respectively). Those involved in patient education and research activities at work were 6.48 (p=0.017) and 20.51 (p=0.024) times likely to develop contact dermatitis (CI: 1.38-30.31; CI: 1.49-282.15, respectively). Conclusions We explored the prevalence and risk factors for occupational contact dermatitis among healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia. The prevalence of reported skin changes during the pandemic was 46.4%. Our study also showed that the risk factors of developing contact dermatitis include female gender, history of eye allergies, and young age group., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2020, Alluhayyan et al.)

Copper (Cu) is an abundant essential micronutrient element in various rocks and minerals and is required for a variety of metabolic processes in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. However, excess Cu can disturb normal development by adversely affecting biochemical reactions and physiological processes in plants. The present study was conducted to explore the potential of gibberellic acid (GA 3 ) on fibrous jute (Corchorus capsularis L.) seedlings grown on Cu mining soil obtained from Hubei Province China. Exogenous application of GA 3 (10, 50, and 100 mg/L) on 60-day-old seedlings of C. capsularis which was able to grow in highly Cu-contaminated soil (2221 mg/kg) to study different morphological, physiological, and Cu uptake and accumulation in different parts of C. capsularis seedlings. According to the results, increasing concentration of GA 3 (more likely 100 mg/L) alleviates Cu toxicity in C. capsularis seedlings by increasing plant growth, biomass, photosynthetic pigments, and gaseous exchange attributes. The results also showed that exogenous application of GA 3 reduced oxidative stress in C. capsularis seedlings by the generation of extra reactive oxygen species (ROS). The reduction in oxidative stress in C. capsularis seedlings is because that plant has strong enzymatic antioxidants [superoxidase dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and catalase (CAT)], which ultimately increased their activities to overcome oxidative damage in the cells/tissues. In addition to the plant growth, biomass, and photosynthesis, foliar application of GA 3 also helps to increase metal (Cu) concentration in different parts of the plants when compared to 0 mg/L of application of GA 3 . From these findings, we can conclude that foliar application of GA 3 plays a promising role in reducing ROS generation in the plant cells/tissues and increased phytoextraction of Cu in different plant parts. However, more investigation is needed on field experiments to find a combination of GA 3 with a very higher concentration of Cu using fibrous C. capsularis.

The domain of underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) had received a lot of attention recently due to its significant advanced capabilities in the ocean surveillance, marine monitoring and application deployment for detecting underwater targets. However, the literature have not compiled the state-of-the-art along its direction to discover the recent advancements which were fuelled by the underwater sensor technologies. Hence, this paper offers the newest analysis on the available evidences by reviewing studies in the past five years on various aspects that support network activities and applications in UWSN environments. This work was motivated by the need for robust and flexible solutions that can satisfy the requirements for the rapid development of the underwater wireless sensor networks. This paper identifies the key requirements for achieving essential services as well as common platforms for UWSN. It also contributes a taxonomy of the critical elements in UWSNs by devising a classification on architectural elements, communications, routing protocol and standards, security, and applications of UWSNs. Finally, the major challenges that remain open are presented as a guide for future research directions.

Background: Untreated wastewater carries substantial amount of heavy metals and causes potential ecological risks to the environment, food quality, soil health and sustainable agriculture., Methodology: In order to reduce the incidence of nickel (Ni 2+ ) contamination in soils, two separate experiments (incubation and greenhouse) were conducted to investigate the potentials of rice straw biochar and elemental sulfur in remediating Ni 2+ polluted soil due to the irrigation with wastewater. Five incubation periods (1, 7, 14, 28 and 56 days), three biochar doses (0, 10 and 20 g kg -1 of soil) and two doses of sulfur (0 and 5 g kg -1 of soil) were used in the incubation experiment then the Ni 2+ was extracted from the soil and analyzed, while ryegrass seeds Lolium perenne L. (Poales: Poaceae) and the same doses of biochar and sulfur were used in the greenhouse experiment then the plants Ni 2+ -uptake was determined., Results: The results of the incubation experiment revealed a dose-dependent reduction of DTPA-extractable Ni 2+ in soils treated with biochar. Increasing the biochar dose from 0 g kg -1 (control) to 10 or 20 g kg -1 (treatments) decreased the DTPA-extractable Ni 2+ from the soil by 24.6% and 39.4%, respectively. The application of sulfur increased the Ni 2+ -uptake by ryegrass plant which was used as hyper-accumulator of heavy metals in the green house experiment. However, the biochar decreased the Ni 2+ -uptake by the plant therefore it can be used as animal feed., Conclusions: These results indicate that the biochar and sulfur could be applied separately to remediate the Ni 2+ -contaminated soils either through adsorbing the Ni 2+ by biochar or increasing the Ni 2+ availability by sulfur to be easily uptaken by the hyper-accumulator plant, and hence promote a sustainable agriculture., Competing Interests: The authors declare there are no competing interests., (©2020 Hashem et al.)

Big Data has gained much attention from the academia and the IT industry. In the digital and computing world, information is generated and collected at a rate that rapidly exceeds the boundary range. Currently, over 2 billion people worldwide are connected to the Internet, and over 5 billion individuals own mobile phones. By 2020, 50 billion devices are expected to be connected to the Internet. At this point, predicted data production will be 44 times greater than that in 2009. As information is transferred and shared at light speed on optic fiber and wireless networks, the volume of data and the speed of market growth increase. However, the fast growth rate of such large data generates numerous challenges, such as the rapid growth of data, transfer speed, diverse data, and security. Nonetheless, Big Data is still in its infancy stage, and the domain has not been reviewed in general. Hence, this study comprehensively surveys and classifies the various attributes of Big Data, including its nature, definitions, rapid growth rate, volume, management, analysis, and security. This study also proposes a data life cycle that uses the technologies and terminologies of Big Data. Future research directions in this field are determined based on opportunities and several open issues in Big Data domination. These research directions facilitate the exploration of the domain and the development of optimal techniques to address Big Data.

It has been proposed that many factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis of unexplained recurrent spontaneous miscarriage (URSM). The objective of this study was to evaluate the levels of some antioxidants, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), luteinizing (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in URSM. Serum levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), LH, FSH as well as TNF-alpha in serum and the expression of TNF-alpha positive cells in placental tissues, were assayed in women suffering from unexplained first trimester miscarriage. Two groups were included, the first was represented by 16 women with URSM (number of abortions: 3-5) and the second one included 24 women with URSM (number of abortions > 5). The control groups included 20 women within their first trimester of pregnancy and 20 non pregnant healthy females within their follicular phase. The obtained results showed a highly significant decrease in serum levels of SOD and CAT, in the URSM groups compared to control groups (p < 0.05 for each comparison). Higher serum levels of TNF-alpha were detected in URSM groups compared to control groups (p < 0.05 for each comparison). A significant increase in serum levels of LH was encountered between URSM groups compared to control groups; on the other hand the mean levels of FSH expressed no significant changes among URSM groups as compared to first trimester pregnancies control group. A positive correlation was noticed between serum levels of TNF-alpha and the levels of LH (p < 0.05). We conclude that antioxidant enzymes (CAT, SOD), TNF-alpha, LH and FSH may play a major role in the pathogenesis of URSM. Much more work is required before the mechanisms, which lead to RSM, can be fully understood.

Background: Many factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis of unexplained recurrent spontaneous miscarriage (URSM)., Methods: The objective of this preliminary clinical study was to verify whether intravaginal sildenafil citrate tablets (25 mg intravaginally, 4 times/day for 24 days) are effective as a novel treatment of threatened miscarriage in patients with a history of URSM (n=4). We also evaluated changes in the concentrations of some antioxidants, the percent expression of cells positive for tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), CD56+T-cells [CD3+CD56+ natural killer cells (NKT cells) (cluster differentiation 3, 56 NKT cells)], which express one of the NK cell markers, and uterine artery pulsatility index (PI). We compared these results with healthy women in their first trimester of pregnancy (FTP n=4)., Results: Sildenafil improved the measured antioxidants concentrations [total antioxidant capacity (TAC), glutathione S-transferase (GSH-S-T) and catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD)], and improved oxidative stress by reducing malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) in the four patients under investigation. The improvement in antioxidants was close to concentrations seen in women in their FTP. The four patients had progressed to their third trimester of pregnancy using this novel application. The percentage of [CD3+CD56+ NKT cells] and TNF-alpha in peripheral blood was higher in URSM patients compared to women in their FTP. However, concentrations were greatly reduced and improved after sildenafil administration. We demonstrated that intravaginal sildenafil citrate tablets can reduce vasoconstriction by increasing blood flow through relaxation of uterine arteries as indicated from measured PI in URSM patients., Conclusions: We conclude that intravaginal sildenafil citrate tablets used as suppositories might be a novel, interesting, safe antiabortive option in the treatment of threatened miscarriage in patients with a history of URSM. We are the first to report this novel clinical application in four case reports in Egypt.

Background: Many factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis of unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA). The current study was conducted to determine the possible role of antioxidant status and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in URSA., Methods: Reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione reductase (GSH-R), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), nitric oxide (NO), malondialdehyde (MDA) and TNF-alpha were assayed in women suffering unexplained first-trimester abortions. Two groups were included, the first represented by 24 women with URSA (number of abortions 3-5) and the second included 16 women with URSA (number of abortions >5). The control group included 20 women within their first trimester of pregnancy and 20 non-pregnant healthy females within their follicular phase., Results: We observed that the antioxidant levels measured were significantly lower in URSA groups than in the control group (p<0.05 for each comparison). Higher TNF-alpha, MDA and NO production were detected in URSA groups compared to controls (p<0.05 for each comparison). URSA 3-5 was associated with significantly higher levels of antioxidants and lower levels of TNF-alpha compared to levels in URSA >5., Conclusions: Impaired antioxidant defense and an increase in oxidative reactive species may be responsible for recurrent abortion due to possible damage produced by their generation. In addition, the level of TNF-alpha apparently contributes to the pathogenesis of URSA.