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In this study, 316L stainless steel Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) samples were manufactured under three different building orientations (0°, 45°, and 90°). Mechanical, microstructural, tribological and corrosion resistance properties were analyzed for all samples. The results demonstrate that the build orientation significantly influences the microstructure, resulting in variations in grain size, texture and defect distribution. Specifically, 0° (Horizontal) samples exhibited excellent mechanical properties, including ultimate tensile strength of 784 MPa and a hardness of 292 HV, while the vertical (90°) samples showed enhanced wear resistance, characterized by reduction in the coefficient of friction. Corrosion resistance was found to be highest in the 0° samples, with a corrosion current density of 0.650 μA/cm2, compared to 1.580 μA/cm2 in the 90° samples. The results from this study show the non-linear effects of build orientation for certain properties and indicates that individual studies are not sufficient to predict the performance of LPBF parts. Therefore, combined studies are required for orientation-based optimization of the mechanical, tribological and corrosion properties of LPBF parts. This study offers valuable insights into the relationship between build orientation and material properties, providing a pathway to tailor the properties of LPBF parts for specific applications.

Abstract Polylactic acid modified with graphene oxide (PLA/GO) is proposed to interact with ZnO through 6 different schemes. Density functional theory at B3LYP/LANL2DZ level was utilized to calculate total dipole moment (TDM), HOMO/LUMO energy gap (ΔE) and to map the molecular electrostatic potential (MESP). Results indicated that PLA/GO interacted with ZnO through O-atom forming PLA/GO/OZn composite. This composite interacts with methane, hydrogen sulfide, humidity (H2O), carbon dioxide and ethanol. The same gases were supposed to interact further with PLA/GO/Cu2O. Adsorption energy for the interaction between each composite and the proposed gases were calculated. Both PLA/GO/OZn and PLA/GO/Cu2O composites interacted favorably with H2O. Adsorption energy for interaction of other gases with studied structures are generally low compared to H2O. PLA/GO/OZn have adsorption energy slightly higher than that of PLA/GO/Cu2O. PLA/GO/OZn has higher TDM values than those of PLA/GO/Cu2O, indicating a more polar material. Conversely, PLA/GO/Cu2O exhibited larger ΔE values than those of PLA/GO/OZn. TDM and energy gap results for both studied structures indicated good sensing capabilities. Further insights come from analyzing the calculated density of states (DOS) and partial density of states (PDOS). PLA/GO/Cu2O exhibited high peak for copper in its DOS and PDOS spectra compared to zinc and oxygen in case of PLA/GO/OZn. This means a higher density of available electronic states associated with Cu.

The literature on the causes of corruption has been preoccupied with the corrupt individual or the socio-political and economic contexts in which corruption occurs. This has resulted in macro-level counter-corruption approaches that focus on the root causes of corruption. In the last few decades, however, new Western criminological theories and approaches have been developing. Environmental criminology – and its family of theories – is one example of theories that provide a different perspective on crime prevention by focusing on the crime rather than the criminal. In this context, situational crime prevention (as part of environmental criminology) brings in micro-level preventive techniques, such as the immediate manipulation of the criminogenic situations, rather than focusing on the distant causes of crime. The Western literature on criminology abounds in successful experiences of the ability of situational crime prevention to prevent several types of crime, including white-collar crime. In the Arab world, nevertheless, there is a dearth of studies, if any, that apply situational crime prevention in terms of crime prevention. This paper furthers another area of research where it has been argued that criminology in the Arab world is still dominated by modern criminology theories where the individual criminal is the centre of attention. As a result, environmental criminology has notably been absent in the Arab criminological discourse. Taking Kuwait as an example of an Arab country, and embezzlement as a unit of analysis, this paper argues that situational crime prevention is also a promising crime prevention approach in the Arab world.

Epoxy grouts, consisting of epoxy resins, hardeners, and fillers, are extensively used in under-grouting due to their excellent mechanical attributes. Waste material incorporation into grout composites is becoming more popular because of growing environmental consciousness and a greater focus on sustainability. Recent research focuses on integrating date palm waste into epoxy grout composites for compression-based applications, such as under-grouting. Additionally, there is a notable gap in the literature regarding the scaling-up process from laboratory experimentation to industrial-scale manufacturing of such grout composites. The present study aims to investigate the feasibility of using date palm midrib wastes for under-grouting heavy machinery and equipment in local industries within Saudi Arabia. Three kinds of epoxy grouts of the exact composition of resin and hardener but with different substitutions of silica sand with date palm midrib waste were made. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the synthesized epoxy grout composites containing varying percentages (2%, 5%, and 10%) of date palm waste, specifically comprising midribs and midrib fibres, are critically assessed. The results show that using midrib fibers resulted in lower mechanical performance of the grout composite than when date palm midribs were used. Moreover, as the amount of date palm waste increases, the mechanical performance of grout specimens decreases. At a 28-day curing time, adding up to 10% date palm waste led to a loss in compressive strength of up to 5% and 66% for the composite containing midribs and midrib fibers, respectively. Correspondingly, adding up to 10% date palm waste reduced flexural strength by 32% and 68% for composite containing midribs and midrib fibers, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy shows that the decline in the mechanical properties of the epoxy composite containing the midrib fibers is attributed to the presence of augmented voids within the microstructure of the specimens. Optical microscopy of epoxy date palm (EDP) specimens shows that the presence of date palm content results in crack propagation along midrib boundaries and through midribs during compressive loading. Except for the grout composite containing 10% midrib fiber, the synthesized epoxy grout composites incorporating date palm midrib waste are more durable and sustainable than the benchmark grout material specified for foundation and heavy machinery applications. The absence of chemical treatments and specialized facilities simplifies the scalability of grout specimen preparation from laboratory to industrial scale.

Abstract Introduction Herbal medicine is a medical system based on the utilization of plants or plant extracts for therapy. The continual increase in global consumption and the trade of herbal medicine has raised safety concerns in many regions. These concerns are mainly linked to microbial contamination, which could spread infections with multi-resistant bacteria in the community, and heavy metal contamination that may lead to cancers or internal organs’ toxicity. Methods This study was performed using an experimental design. A total of 47 samples, herbal medicine products sold in local stores in Qassim region, were used in the experiments. They were tested for bacterial contamination, alongside 32 samples for heavy metal analysis. Bacterial contamination was determined by the streak plate method and further processed to determine their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns using MicroScan WalkAway96 pulse; heavy metals were determined using a spectrometer instrument. Results A total of 58 microorganisms were isolated. All samples were found to be contaminated with at least one organism except three samples. The majority of the isolated bacterial species were gram negative bacteria, such as Klebsiella spp., Pseudomonas spp. and E. coli., which could be of fecal origin and may lead to pneumonia, skin, or internal infections. Furthermore, most of the gram-positive bacteria were found to be multi-drug resistant. Moreover, for heavy metals, all samples had levels exceeding the regulatory limits. Conclusion This study demonstrated the presence of bacteria and heavy metals in samples of herbal medicines. Using these contaminated products may spread resistant infections, metal toxicities, or even cancers in the community.

Background: Hypospadias is a wide-world congenital malformation that accounts for 1 of 300 live male births. Many procedures were considered for its management. As the tubularised incised plate (TIP) urethroplasty, the most prevalent technique, caused many complications, several modifications were applied to the original operation to improve the outcomes and alleviate complications. The aim of this study was to compare the outcome of the ordinary TIP urethroplasty with the technique modified without dissection of the glans penis. Materials and Methods: A total of 82 patients with a mean age of 18.8 (±14.8) months, were randomly assigned to undergo TIP with either complete glans wings mobilisation (Group A, n = 42 patients) or without glans dissection (Group B, n = 40 patients). To evaluate the effect of modified TIP urethroplasty without glanular dissection for treatment of distal hypospadias in contrast to classical TIP repair. Results: Both techniques showed similar outcomes regarding functional repair, with good to excellent results between 88% and 90% after 6 months of follow-up. Most confronted post-operative complications were wound infection, oedema, urethrocutaneous fistulas and meatal stenosis. Less frequently haematoma, post-operative bleeding and glans dehiscence were encountered. The differences in complication rates between the two studied groups were statistically insignificant except for oedema (P = 0.04), and need for urethral dilatation (P = 0.002) that were more prevalent among patients who were treated with classic TIP repair with complete glans wings mobilisation. Conclusion: From our point of view, it seems that TIP without glanular dissection technique does not outweigh TIP with complete glans wings mobilisation regarding functional outcomes and post-operative complications.

One of the major global health threats in the present era is antibiotic resistance. Biosynthesized iron oxide nanoparticles (FeNPs) can combat microbial infections and can be synthesized without harmful chemicals. In the present investigation, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to discover Streptomyces sp. SMGL39, an actinomycete isolate utilized to reduce ferrous sulfate heptahydrate (FeSO4.7H2O) to biosynthesize FeNPs, which were then characterized using UV–Vis, XRD, FTIR, and TEM analyses. Furthermore, in our current study, the biosynthesized FeNPs were tested for antimicrobial and antibiofilm characteristics against different Gram-negative, Gram-positive, and fungal strains. Additionally, our work examines the biosynthesized FeNPs’ molecular docking and binding affinity to key enzymes, which contributed to bacterial infection cooperation via quorum sensing (QS) processes. A bright yellow to dark brown color shift indicated the production of FeNPs, which have polydispersed forms with particle sizes ranging from 80 to 180 nm and UV absorbance ranging from 220 to 280 nm. Biosynthesized FeNPs from actinobacteria significantly reduced the microbial growth of Fusarium oxysporum and L. monocytogenes, while they showed weak antimicrobial activity against P. aeruginosa and no activity against E. coli, MRSA, or Aspergillus niger. On the other hand, biosynthesized FeNPs showed strong antibiofilm activity against P. aeruginosa while showing mild and weak activity against B. subtilis and E. coli, respectively. The collaboration of biosynthesized FeNPs and key enzymes for bacterial infection exhibits hydrophobic and/or hydrogen bonding, according to this research. These results show that actinobacteria-biosynthesized FeNPs prevent biofilm development in bacteria.

Background: Poor survival outcomes in periampullary cancer highlight the need for improvement in biomarkers and the development of novel therapies. Redox proteins, including the thioredoxin system, play vital roles in cellular antioxidant systems. Methods: In this retrospective study, thioredoxin (Trx), thioredoxin-interacting protein (TxNIP), and thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) protein expression was assessed in 85 patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and 145 patients with distal bile duct or ampullary carcinoma using conventional immunohistochemistry. Results: In patients with PDAC, high cytoplasmic TrxR expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.033). High cytoplasmic and nuclear Trx expression was significantly associated with better overall survival (p = 0.018 and p = 0.006, respectively), and nuclear Trx expression remained significant in multivariate Cox regression analysis (p < 0.0001). In distal bile duct and ampullary carcinomas, high nuclear TrxR expression was associated with vascular (p = 0.001) and perineural (p = 0.021) invasion, and low cytoplasmic TxNIP expression was associated with perineural invasion (p = 0.025). High cytoplasmic TxNIP expression was significantly associated with better overall survival (p = 0.0002), which remained significant in multivariate Cox regression analysis (p = 0.013). Conclusions: These findings demonstrate the prognostic importance of Trx system protein expression in periampullary cancers.

The widespread dissemination of fake news on social media has necessitated the development of more sophisticated detection methods to maintain information integrity. This research systematically investigates the effectiveness of different word embedding techniques—TF-IDF, Word2Vec, and FastText—when applied to a variety of machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models for fake news detection. Leveraging the TruthSeeker dataset, which includes a diverse set of labeled news articles and social media posts spanning over a decade, we evaluated the performance of classifiers such as Support Vector Machines (SVMs), Multilayer Perceptrons (MLPs), and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). Our analysis demonstrates that SVMs using TF-IDF embeddings and CNNs employing TF-IDF embeddings achieve the highest overall performance in terms of accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score. These results suggest that TF-IDF, with its capacity to highlight discriminative features in text, enhances the performance of models like SVMs, which are adept at handling sparse data representations. Additionally, CNNs benefit from TF-IDF by effectively capturing localized features and patterns within the textual data. In contrast, while Word2Vec and FastText embeddings capture semantic and syntactic nuances, they introduce complexities that may not always benefit traditional ML models like MLPs or SVMs, which could explain their relatively lower performance in some cases. This study emphasizes the importance of selecting appropriate embedding techniques based on the model architecture to maximize fake news detection performance. Future research should consider integrating contextual embeddings and exploring hybrid model architectures to further enhance detection capabilities. These findings contribute to the ongoing development of advanced computational tools for combating misinformation.

This study focuses on examining the entropy generation in a corrugated channel, considering convective boundary conditions and slip flow, with a micropolar fluid. The governing equations for the micropolar fluid flow, including linear and angular momentum equations, as well as the energy equation, are solved using the perturbation technique. The effects of corrugations, slipping flow, and convective boundary conditions on the entropy generation and the flow behavior are analyzed. The results show that the entropy generation enhanced with the corrugation amplitude, while it reduced for the slip flow. Moreover, entropy generation is affected by the convective boundary conditions, and it is an increasing function with the convective heat transfer coefficient. Additionally, the study demonstrates that micropolar fluid exhibits distinct flow characteristics in comparison to classical Newtonian fluids. These findings have practical implications for the design and optimization of microfluidic devices, as well as for gaining insights into the behavior of micropolar fluids in various engineering applications.

This study aims to develop an integrated agricultural drought index (IADI) that incorporates multiple remote sensing-based agricultural drought indices, considering variations in climate and land use at a local scale in ten different agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Pakistan from 2000 to 2020. The IADI focuses on soil moisture stress to vegetation, utilizing the soil moisture condition index (SMCI) derived from various soil moisture datasets. The correlation between SMCI and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) is assessed at different time scales (1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month) using Pearson correlation coefficient (r). Results indicate that SMCIERA5-Land is superior to others and is selected to develop the IADI. To account for local variations in climate and land use, agricultural drought indices (ADIs) are calculated on a 0.25°×0.25° grids. These ADIs are then averaged over a 3×3 window and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) to understand the causal relationship between SMCIERA5-Land and ADIs. Temperature condition index (TCI) and vegetation health index (VHI) demonstrate a significant causal relationship with SMCIERA5-Land in most AEZs, while the relationship between temperature-vegetation dryness index (TVDI) and vegetation condition index (VCI) with SMCIERA5-Land is insignificant across the AEZs except in northern Pakistan. The dominance of land surface temperature (LST)-derived indices in most AEZs highlights the role of temperature in drought onset and propagation. To develop the IADI, Bayesian principal component analysis (BPCA) is employed to calculate dynamic weights between the selected ADIs and SMCIERA5-Land. The distribution of BPCA weights exhibits extreme variability across different AEZs, with some windows being sensitive to LST-derived ADIs and others to NDVI-derived ADIs. The average BPCA weights for VCI, TCI, VHI, and TVDI range from 9.42%–23.05%, 23.20–49.83%, 13.00–31.08%, and 16.38–25.50%, respectively. The IADI demonstrates the best fit with TCI and VHI, while showing good agreement with SPEI, VCI, and TVDI. The correlation between IADI and TCI/VHI ranges from 0.62/0.72–0.94/0.97. Furthermore, ordinary least square regression (OLSR) is used to assess the accuracy of IADI, ADIs, and SPEI in analyzing the impact of drought on wheat/maize yield at the district level in Punjab province, Pakistan. OLSR analysis reveals the dominance of IADI, followed by VHI, in analyzing the role of drought on crop yield. For example, in Rajanpur district, one unit increase in drought severity results in an 11.94 t/ha decrease in maize yield, with IADI explaining 59% of the variations in maize yield. Similarly, one unit increase in drought severity leads to a 7.22 t/ha decrease in wheat yield, with IADI explaining 49% of the variations in wheat yield. Overall, results indicate that the developed IADI effectively captures agricultural drought with high spatial and temporal resolutions across different agro-ecological zones, providing valuable insights for monitoring agricultural drought in data-scarce regions.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent type of dementia, disproportionately affecting females, who make up nearly 60% of diagnosed cases. In AD patients, the accumulation of beta-amyloid (Aβ) in the brain triggers a neuroinflammatory response driven by neuroglia, worsening the condition. We have previously demonstrated that VU0486846, an orally available positive allosteric modulator (PAM) targeting M1 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, enhances cognitive function and reduces Aβ pathology in female APPswe/PSEN1ΔE9 (APP/PS1) mice. However, it remained unclear whether these improvements were linked to a decrease in neuroglial activation. To investigate, we treated nine-month-old APP/PS1 and wildtype mice with VU0486846 for 8 weeks and analyzed brain slices for markers of microglial activation (ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1, Iba1) and astrocyte activation (Glial fibrillary acidic protein, GFAP). We find that VU0486846 reduces the presence of Iba1-positive microglia and GFAP-positive astrocytes in the hippocampus of female APP/PS1 mice and limits the recruitment of these cells to remaining Aβ plaques. This study sheds light on an additional mechanism through which novel M1 mAChR PAMs exhibit disease-modifying effects by reducing neuroglial activation and underscore the potential of these ligands for the treatment of AD, especially in females.

الملخص: أهداف البحث: تم إجراء هذه الورقة لإجراء مراجعة نطاق شاملة تركز على التدريب المنشور الخاص بالتخدير بناءً على المحاكاة لتقييم الاستخدامات الحديثة للتعليم القائم على المحاكاة في التدريب على التخدير. هدفنا هو إنشاء موثوقية لبناء مناهج موحدة ومعتمدة للتعليم القائم على المحاكاة في تخصص التخدير في المستقبل القريب. طريقة البحث: تم البحث في المقالات في ” ببميد “ و ”سيناهل“ و ”إمبيز“ في 10 مايو 2021م. لقد اتبعنا منهجية مراجعة النطاق المكونة من خمس مراحل: تحديد سؤال البحث، وتحديد الدراسات ذات الصلة، واختيار الدراسة، ورسم البيانات وتوليف النتائج. النتائج: حدد بحثنا الإلكتروني الأولي 5609 مقالة محتملة. بعد فحص الملخصات وإزالة التكرارات، تم تقييم 636 مقالة في النص الكامل لإدراجها أو استبعادها. وبناء على ذلك، تم تضمين 283 مقالة في هذه المراجعة. قمنا برسم خريطة الممارسة الحالية للمحاكاة في التدريب ومنح الشهادات عبر تخصصات فرعية مختلفة من التخدير. الاستنتاجات: لقد تم بذل جهد كبير في استخدام المحاكاة للتدريب ومنح الشهادات وإعادة التأهيل في مجال التخدير. الجهود المستقبلية لتطوير تدريب قائم على المحاكاة يمكن تعميمه على المتدربين في هذا التخصص، على غرار المجالات الأخرى مثل علوم الطيران والفضاء لتعزيز توحيد التدريب وبالتالي سلامة المرضى. Abstract: Objectives: To conduct a comprehensive scoping review focusing on published anesthesiology-specific training based on simulation to assess up-to-date uses of simulation-based education in anesthesiology training. Our goal was to establish a solid ground for building standardized and accredited curricula for simulation-based education in the specialty of anesthesia in the near future. Methods: We searched the PubMed, CINAHL and EMBASE databases on May 10, 2021 for relevant articles. We followed the five-stage scoping review methodology: identifying a research question, identifying relevant studies, study selection, charting the data, and synthesis of results. Results: Our initial electronic search identified 5609 potential articles. After abstract screening and removing duplicates, 636 articles were evaluated in full text for inclusion or exclusion. Based on this strategy, 283 articles were included in this review. We mapped the current practice of simulation in training and certification across different anesthesiology subspecialties. Conclusions: Significant effort has been placed into the use of simulation for training, certification, and recertification in anesthesiology. Future effort to develop simulation-based training that can be generalized to trainees in this specialty, similar to other fields such as aviation and space sciences, will enhance the standardization of training and hence patient safety.

Abstract Huntington’s Disease (HD) is an inherited autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder that leads to progressive motor and cognitive impairment due to the expansion of a polyglutamine (CAG) repeat in the N-terminal region of the huntingtin (Htt) protein. The creation of HD mouse models represents a critical step in the research for HD treatment. Among the currently available HD mouse models, the zQ175 knock-in mouse line is the first to display robust disease phenotype on a heterozygous background. The newer FDNQ175 mouse model is derived from the zQ175 mouse line and presents a more aggressive phenotype. Moreover, increasing evidence has implicated sex as a contributing factor in the progression of HD symptoms. Here, we compared the progression of HD phenotypes in male and female heterozygous FDNQ175 mice. We found that both male and female heterozygous mice showed deficits in forelimb grip strength and cognition as early as 6 months of age. However, female FDNQ175 mice were less vulnerable to HD-associated decline in limb coordination and movement. Neither male nor female FDNQ175 mice exhibited reduced locomotor activity in the open field or exhibit consistent differences in anxiety at 6–12 months of age. Both male and female FDNQ175 mice exhibited increased numbers of huntingtin aggregates with age and 8-month-old female FDNQ175 mice had significantly more aggregates than their male counterparts. Taken together, our results provide further evidence that sex can influence the progression of HD phenotype in preclinical animal models and must be taken into consideration for future HD research.

Abstract Introduction Intrahepatic vascular shunts “IHVS” are abnormal communications between intra-hepatic vasculature involving the arterial, portal, or hepatic venous system. Arterio-portal fistula “APF” is an intrahepatic communication between the hepatic arterial system and the portal venous system without any communication with the systemic venous circulation. APF is considered a rare cause of portal hypertension and gastrointestinal bleeding in infancy. Case presentation A 3-month-old Mediterranean female with known cardiac congenital anomalies presented to us with abdominal distension and diarrhea. Ultrasonography revealed massive ascites and computerized tomography (CT) abdomen with intravenous (IV) contrast revealed a left hepatic lesion. On further evaluation, an intrahepatic arterio-portal vascular malformation was detected. Attempted trans arterial embolization failed and radiology team successfully carried out direct trans hepatic ultrasound guided coiling of the aneurysmal venous sac followed by successful resection of segment 4 of the liver with the vascular malformation avoiding life threatening intra operative bleeding. Conclusion Any child with recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding, failure to thrive, vomiting, diarrhea, steatorrhea, splenomegaly, or ascites should be investigated for intrahepatic arterio-portal fistula “IAPF”. Our novel technique of direct trans hepatic ultrasound guided coiling is an alternative method if trans arterial embolization “TAE” failed.

Breast cancer detection at an early stage is crucial for improving patient survival rates. This work introduces an innovative thermal imaging prototype that incorporates compression techniques inspired by mammography equipment. The prototype offers a radiation-free and precise cancer diagnosis. By integrating compression and illumination methods, thermal picture quality has increased, and the accuracy of classification has improved. Essential components of the suggested thermography device include an equipment body, plates, motors, pressure sensors, light sources, and a thermal camera. We created a 3D model of the gadget using the SolidWorks software 2020 package. Furthermore, the classification research employed both cancer and normal images from the experimental results to validate the efficacy of the suggested system. We employed preprocessing and segmentation methods on the obtained dataset. We successfully categorized the thermal pictures using various classifiers and examined their performance. The logistic regression model showed excellent performance, achieving an accuracy of 0.976, F1 score of 0.977, precision of 1.000, and recall of 0.995. This indicates a high level of accuracy in correctly classifying thermal abnormalities associated with breast cancer. The proposed prototype serves as a highly effective tool for conducting initial investigations into breast cancer detection, offering potential advancements in early-stage diagnosis, and improving patient survival rates.

Apigenin is a powerful flavone compound found in numerous fruits and vegetables, and it offers numerous health-promoting benefits. Many studies have evidenced that this compound has a potential role as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compound, making it a promising candidate for reducing the risk of pathogenesis. It has also been found to positively affect various systems in the body, such as the respiratory, digestive, immune, and reproductive systems. Apigenin is effective in treating liver, lung, heart, kidney, neurological diseases, diabetes, and maintaining good oral and skin health. Multiple studies have reported that this compound is capable of suppressing various types of cancer through the induction of apoptosis and cell-cycle arrest, suppressing cell migration and invasion, reduction of inflammation, and inhibiting angiogenesis. When used in combination with other drugs, apigenin increases their efficacy, reduces the risk of side effects, and improves the response to chemotherapy. This review broadly analyzes apigenin’s potential in disease management by modulating various biological activities. In addition, this review also described apigenin’s interaction with other compounds or drugs and the potential role of nanoformulation in different pathogeneses. Further extensive research is needed to explore the mechanism of action, safety, and efficacy of this compound in disease prevention and treatment.

Abstract We describe a rapid imaging approach for the interpretation of self-potential data collected along profile by some geometrically simple model of cylinders and spheres. The approach calculates the correlation coefficient between the analytic signal (AS) of the observed self-potential measurements and the AS of the self-potential signature of the idealized model. The depth, electric dipole moment, polarization angle, and center are the inverse parameters we aim to extract from the imaging approach for the interpretative model, and they pertain to the highest value of the correlation coefficient. The approach is demonstrated on noise-free numerical experiments, and reproduced the true model parameters. The accuracy and stability of the proposed approach are examined on numerical experiments contaminated with realistic noise levels and regional fields prior to the interpretation of real data. Following that, five real field examples from geothermal systems and mineral exploration have been successfully analyzed. The results agree well with the published research.

An Amyand hernia is defined as when the appendix is trapped within the sac of an inguinal hernia through a patent vaginal process. It was first described by Claudius Amyand, in 1735 during an appendectomy of a perforated appendix inside a hernial sac of an 11-year old child. Amyand hernia rare, constituting less than 1% of inguinal hernias. Amyand hernia is 3 times more likely to be diagnosed in children compared to adults due to the patency of vaginal process. Appendicitis or its perforation in Amyand hernia, complicate 0.1% of cases. Other variants include the presence of ileum, caecum or both in addition to the appendix. Isolated acute appendicitis in neonates is extremely rare, with a high mortality rate, and higher among those within Amyand hernia up to 30%. Perforated appendix in Amyand hernia is difficult to diagnose, as its clinical picture is not specific. We report a neonate 26 days old with perforated appendix in an Amyand inguinal hernia who presented by a picture of obstructed oblique inguinal hernia. He underwent emergency open inguinal exploration, herniotomy and appendicectomy. Despite the high mortality rate of Amyand hernia due to be peritoneal spread of sepsis, the boy survived complication free. Perforated appendix in Amyand hernia is exceptionally rare, and can present in the early neonatal period, its diagnosis and outcome rely on high index of suspicion and prompt surgical intervention.

Epidermoid cysts are encapsulated sebaceous cysts that contain keratin. They present at any age, yet they are commoner in adults. They mainly affect face, neck, trunk and to a lesser extent groin, but can potentially arise as a subepidermal nodule anywhere on the body. They develop from the follicular infundibulum, and are different from dermoid cysts as epidermoid cysts do not contain other adnexal structures of embryonic origin. Epidermoid cysts are mostly silent but can rupture, get inflamed, become infected or develop daughter cysts. Very rarely epidermoid cysts develop in proximity to testicles. They can be mistaken for a testicular tumor. The pre- operative diagnosis is essential to avoid unindicated testicular surgery. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is vital for diagnosis. We report a 6-year-old child with a long standing painless scrotal swelling thought by the parents to be polyorchidism. They were alarmed by its recent rapid growth. By examination it was a median raphe cyst. Pre-operative imaging and operative surgical removal proved it to be an inflamed epidermoid cyst. The surgery was uncomplicated and the child had an uneventful recovery. Testicular epidermoid cysts in children are exceptionally rare, yet they can present as median raphe cysts. Inflammation within the epidermoid cyst presents clinically as rapid painless growth. Clinical examination, high index of suspicion and pre-operative MRI avoid unnecessary testicular surgery.

Refrigeration systems are becoming more efficient as a result of nanofluids. Cooling and heating process improvements can lead to enhanced industrial efficiency, reduced processing times, energy conservation, and improved heating and cooling processes. A study is being conducted on the effects of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) in nanofluids by adding double slip and thermal radiation to the governing model. It is numerically simulated using bvp4c code in MATLAB. Analyzing temperature, concentration, and velocity requires the evaluation of multiple parameters. A more uniform distribution of temperatures can be achieved by increasing the Biot number, thermal radiation, and thermophoretic motion parameters. The use of suction is an effective method of controlling the rate of temperature reduction in various manufacturing processes. A product's mechanical properties and overall quality can be enhanced if one is able to control how quickly it cools during the process of melting and condensing raw materials. As a consequence of the emergence of quadratic and linear slip factors, the flow velocity decreases. A distinguishing feature of this research is the use of boundary conditions that are tailored to the geometry that is being investigated.

Burkholderia anthina is a pathogenic bacterial species belonging to the Burkholderiaceae family and it is mainly considered the etiological agent of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases associated with cystic fibrosis, due to being intrinsic antibiotic resistant making it difficult to treat pulmonary infections. Hence increased rate of antibiotic-resistant bacterial species vaccine development is the priority to tackle this problem. In research work, we designed a multi-epitope-based vaccine construct against B. anthina using reverse vaccinology immunoinformatics and biophysical approaches. Based on the subtractive proteomic screening of core proteins we identified 3 probable antigenic proteins and good vaccine targets namely, type VI secretion system tube protein hcp Burkholderia, fimbria/pilus periplasmic chaperone and fimbrial biogenesis outer membrane usher protein. The selected 3 proteins were used for B and B cells B-derived T-cell epitopes prediction. In epitopes prediction, different epitopes were predicted with various lengths and percentile scores and subjected to further immunoinformatics analysis. In immunoinformatics screening a total number of 06, IDDGNANAL, KTVKPDPRY, SEVESGSAP, YGGDLTVEV, SVSHDTNGR, and GSKADGYQR epitopes were considered good vaccine target candidates and shortlisted for vaccine construct designing. The vaccine construct was designed by joining selected epitopes with the help of a GPGPG linker and additionally linked with cholera toxin b subunit adjuvant to increase the efficacy of the vaccine construct the sequence of the said adjuvant were retrieved from protein data bank through its (PDB ID: 5ELD). The designed vaccine construct was evaluated for its physiochemical properties analysis in which we reported that the vaccine construct comprises 216 amino acids with a molecular weight of 22.37499 kilo Dalton, 15.55 instability index (II) is computed, and this classifies that the vaccine construct is properly stable. VaxiJen v2.0 web server predicted that the vaccine construct is probable antigenic in nature with 0.6320 predicted value. Furthermore AllerTOP v. 2.0 tool predicted that the designed vaccine construct is non allergic in nature. Molecular docking analysis was done for analysis of the binding affinity of the vaccine construct with TLR-2 (PDB ID: 6NIG), the docking results predicted 799.2 kcal/mol binding energy score that represents the vaccine construct has a good binding ability with TLR-2. Moreover, molecular dynamic simulation analysis results revealed that the vaccine construct and immune cell receptor has proper binding stability over various environmental condition, i.e. change in pressure range, temperature, and motion. After each analysis, we observed that the vaccine construct is safe stable, and probably antigenic and could generate an immune response against the target pathogen but in the future, experimental analysis is still needed to verify in silico base results.

Glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter, is essential for neuronal function, and it acts on ionotropic or metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs). A disturbance in glutamatergic signaling is a hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases. Developing disease-modifying treatments for neurodegenerative diseases targeting glutamate receptors is a promising avenue. The understudied group III mGluR 4, 6–8 are commonly found in the presynaptic membrane, and their activation inhibits glutamate release. Thus, targeted mGluRs therapies could aid in treating neurodegenerative diseases. This review describes group III mGluRs and their pharmacological ligands in the context of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington's diseases. Attempts to evaluate the efficacy of these drugs in clinical trials are also discussed. Despite a growing list of group III mGluR-specific pharmacological ligands, research on the use of these drugs in neurodegenerative diseases is limited, except for Parkinson’s disease. Future efforts should focus on delineating the contribution of group III mGluR to neurodegeneration and developing novel ligands with superior efficacy and a favorable side effect profile for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

This work aims to compare between the forensic insect species, their succession patterns and decomposition stages of rabbit corpses killed with different methods in Qena city, Egypt. Four experiments were carried out during this study for four successive seasons. Four rabbits were placed in each experiment, the first two rabbits received a double LD50 of tramadol hydrochloride and cypermethrin via ear vein injection. The third rabbit was slaughtered while the fourth rabbit was euthanized with air injection (control). The LD50 of tramadol and cypermethrin in male rabbit was calculated from logarithmic scale and found to be 132 mg/kg and 126 µǀ/kg body weight, respectively.Currently, a total of 14271 insect individuals were collected from the screened bodies belonging to three orders, thirteen families and seventeen species. Moreover, corpses were colonized by different insect life stages (11689, 352 and 2230 individuals) included dipteran flies, Coleopteran and Hymenopteran insects, respectively The total number of species collected in summer was lower than in other seasons. Tramadol-treated rabbits decayed with similar rate to the control corpses during all seasons except in winter. As well as, decomposition process was significantly prolonged in cypermethrin killed rabbits during all seasons. However, slaughtered carrions decayed faster than control in winter and spring. Maggots deposited on cypermethrin-intoxicated carrions were very few and have been dead after few days from oviposition. Density of maggots collected from control corpse was loweras compared to the slaughtered one and higher than that on tramadol treated corpse. Therefore, these results are recommended to be taken in criminal investigations.

There is an increasing demand for developing new cutting tools with exceptional thermomechanical and tribological properties to meet the growing demands of the machining industry. By introducing a novel concept of functionally graded (FG) materials, the work aims to develop a new class of SiAlON-based ceramic composites for cutting tool applications. The effective properties of hybrid (TiCN/Co/hBN) functionally graded SiAlON-based composites are predicted using effective medium approximation and mean-field computational homogenization technique. Thermal conductivity, thermal expansion coefficient, elastic modulus, and fracture toughness are among the predicted properties. To get the optimal composite properties, attributes such as reinforcing volume fractions, particle sizes, layer numbers, layer material compositions, interfacial resistance, and porosity are considered. As a validation, FG SiAlON composite insert samples with tailored properties are developed using spark plasma sintering. The sintered samples are characterized to relate the microstructure with obtained properties.

In this research, a novel design of a lightweight aerial manipulator system is proposed for solar panel cleaning with active (CoG) compensation mechanism. Recently, separate solar panel arrays or units are commonly installed on residential, commercial rooftops or roads, making it inconvenient for land robots to perform the cleaning tasks. The proposed light weight solar panel cleaning aerial manipulator with the gravity compensation mechanism is intended to be attached beneath a drone to increase its stability during operation. The manipulator workspace given the proposed system is analyzed under CoG shift constraints. The kinematics and dynamics of the aerial manipulator coupled with the compensation mechanism are presented, and a path-planning scheme for solar panel cleaning is detailed. A dynamic control law based on pitch and counterweight position reduced-order dynamics is derived, and its equivalence to the static compensation law is shown. An experimental test bench is used to simulate the aerial manipulation during operations to validate the performance of the proposed manipulator and its stability. Its tilting pitch angle is collected and examined during operation. The results show that the system is less susceptible to unwanted tilting. A tilt angle reduction of 2 degrees was observed between an uncompensated and compensated system, with a difference in shift of CoG location of 1.72% of the total system length. The CoG location shift is also simulated without the presence of a slider mechanism and shows a difference of 24.5% with the compensated system. The compensation mechanism significantly reduces the tilt angle, avoiding potential instability, and consequently decreases the power required by the carrying drone.

Machine learning in Education is receiving more attention from researchers as the number of students at all levels globally is increasing. To ensure students’ success in K-12 educational institutions and higher education institutions work needs to be done to assist students, teachers/professors, parents, and all stakeholders to provide the support that students need. The need and motivation for such systems are very well-established and thus the aim of this work is to develop a system based on modified machine learning models to automatically predict students’ performance and subsequently identify students at risk. The DEEDs dataset is used in this study. Novel features were extracted and applied to well-known classifiers some of which are ensemble classifiers. These classifiers were also combined with base learners such as bagging and boosting. The problem was divided into three scenarios; binary classification of the pass and fail, three class scenarios, and four class scenarios. It was shown that ensemble methods combined with base learners of boosting and bagging significantly increase the accuracy for binary classification, slightly increase accuracy for three class problems, and have no significance in increasing the accuracy when the problem is 4 classes. The ensemble algorithm of bagging and boosting FDT achieved an accuracy of 98.25% for binary classification and 89.47% for three classes. The standard ensemble FDT achieved an accuracy of 77.19% for four classes. The results obtained for binary classification were compared with results reported in the extant literature using the same dataset proving that the proposed modified algorithms achieved better results than similarly proposed methods. The three-class and four-class results could not be compared because according to the author’s knowledge, there are no research papers published for the same dataset for multi-class classification.

Abstract Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats‐associated protein (CRISPR/Cas9), an adaptive microbial immune system, has been exploited as a robust, accurate, efficient and programmable method for genome targeting and editing. This innovative and revolutionary technique can play a significant role in animal modeling, in vivo genome therapy, engineered cell therapy, cancer diagnosis and treatment. The CRISPR/Cas9 endonuclease system targets a specific genomic locus by single guide RNA (sgRNA), forming a heteroduplex with target DNA. The Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9/sgRNA:DNA complex reveals a bilobed architecture with target recognition and nuclease lobes. CRISPR/Cas9 assembly can be hijacked, and its nanoformulation can be engineered as a delivery system for different clinical utilizations. However, the efficient and safe delivery of the CRISPR/Cas9 system to target tissues and cancer cells is very challenging, limiting its clinical utilization. Viral delivery strategies of this system may have many advantages, but disadvantages such as immune system stimulation, tumor promotion risk and small insertion size outweigh these advantages. Thus, there is a desperate need to develop an efficient non‐viral physical delivery system based on simple nanoformulations. The delivery strategies of CRISPR/Cas9 by a nanoparticle‐based system have shown tremendous potential, such as easy and large‐scale production, combination therapy, large insertion size and efficient in vivo applications. This review aims to provide in‐depth updates on Streptococcus pyogenic CRISPR/Cas9 structure and its mechanistic understanding. In addition, the advances in its nanoformulation‐based delivery systems, including lipid‐based, polymeric structures and rigid NPs coupled to special ligands such as aptamers, TAT peptides and cell‐penetrating peptides, are discussed. Furthermore, the clinical applications in different cancers, clinical trials and future prospects of CRISPR/Cas9 delivery and genome targeting are also discussed.

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most dominant type of dementia that has not been treated completely yet. Few Alzheimer‘s patients are correctly diagnosed on time. Therefore, diagnostic tools are needed for better and more efficient diagnoses. Objective: This study aimed to develop an efficient automated method to differentiate Alzheimer’s patients from normal elderly and present the essential features with accurate Alzheimer’s diagnosis.Material and Methods: In this analytical study, 154 Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans were obtained from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database, preprocessed, and normalized by the head size for extracting features (volume, cortical thickness, Sulci depth, and Gyrification Index Features (GIF). Relief-F algorithm, t-test, and one way-ANOVA were used for feature ranking to obtain the most effective features representing the AD for the classification process. Finally, in the classification step, four classifiers were used with 10 folds cross-validation as follows: Gaussian Support Vector Machine (GSVM), Linear Support Vector Machine (LSVM), Weighted K-Nearest Neighbors (W-KNN), and Decision Tree algorithm. Results: The LSVM classifier and W-KNN produce a testing accuracy of 100% with only seven features. Additionally, GSVM and decision tree produce a testing accuracy of 97.83% and 93.48%, respectively. Conclusion: The proposed system represents an automatic and highly accurate AD detection with a few reliable and effective features and minimum time.

الملخص: أهداف البحث: التهاب الجيوب الأنفية مرض شائع، وانحراف الحاجز الأنفي يعتبر من المتغيرات التشريحية السائدة في الجيوب الأنفية. هناك جدل حول تأثير انحراف الحاجز الأنفي على احتمالية حدوث التهاب الجيوب الأنفية. لذلك، هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى تحديد معدل التهاب الجيوب الأنفية وارتباطه بانحراف الحاجز الأنفي وعوامل أخرى بين المرضى الذين أتوا إلى مستشفى جامعة الملك عبد العزيز . طرق البحث: تم إجراء دراسة استعادية في مستشفى جامعة الملك عبد العزيز، حيث تم جمع البيانات من الأرشيف الإلكتروني للمستشفى. تضمنت الدراسة جميع المرضى الذين تبلغ أعمارهم 18 عامًا فما فوق والذين تمتإحالتهم إلى قسم الأشعة التشخيصية لإجراء أشعة تصوير مقطعية للجيوب الأنفية خلال يناير 2018 إلى ديسمبر 2020. تم حساب الإحصاء الوصفي والاستنتاجي. النتائج: تضمنت هذه الدراسة 676 مريضًا، وكان متوسط اعمارهم 38.9بانحراف معياري قدره 13 عامًا. التهاب الجيوب الأنفية كان موجودًا في 47.5٪ من العينة، و بلغت نسبة الذكور 54.8٪ من المرضى المصابين بالتهاب الجيوب الأنفية. أولئك الذين تتراوح أعمارهم بين 31-40 سنة عانوا من التهاب الجيوب الأنفية أكثر من الفئات العمرية الأخرى. من إجمالي العينة، تم تشخيص حوالي ثلاثة أرباع (75.1٪) بانحراف الحاجز الأنفي، حوالي نصفهم (51.3%) كانوا أيضًا مصابين بالتهاب الجيوب الأنفية. أولئك الذين ليس لديهم انحراف الحاجز الأنفي ولكن لديهم التهاب الجيوب الأنفية كانوا 27.8٪. كان هناك ارتباط كبير بين التهاب الجيوب الأنفية وكلاً من الجنس (P

Abstract Background This is a retrospective comparative study that aimed to compare the short-term and intermediate-term outcomes of the one-stage and three-stage repair in the treatment of female neonates with a recto-vestibular fistula. Female patients who were presented with recto-vestibular fistula between 2017 and 2020 have been included in the study, and they were divided into two groups. Group A is the group of patients that underwent one-stage repair, and Group B is the group of patients that underwent three-stage repair. Short- and intermediate-term outcomes were recorded in both groups and the results were compared. Results Thirty-six female infants with recto-vestibular fistula were included in our study divided into two groups. Group A included 20 cases for whom we performed one-stage posterior sagittal anorectoplasty, and Group B also included 16 cases for whom the three-stage repair was done. The results showed that the three-stage repair had lower hospital stay (8 days) than the one-stage repair (15 days), and the three-stage repair has lower rates of wound infection, wound dehiscence, and recurrence than the one-stage repair. Conclusion The three-stage repair of anorectal malformations in females with recto-vestibular fistula is a safer technique, has lower rates of complications, and achieves comparable functional results to the one-stage repair.

(1) Background: SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 is the most common variation found in most countries and is responsible for 99% of cases in the United States. To overcome this challenge, there is an urgent need to discover effective inhibitors to prevent the emerging BA.1 variant. Natural products, particularly flavonoids, have had widespread success in reducing COVID-19 prevalence. (2) Methods: In the ongoing study, fifteen compounds were annotated from Echium angustifolium and peach (Prunus persica), which were computationally analyzed using various in silico techniques. Molecular docking calculations were performed for the identified phytochemicals to investigate their efficacy. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations over 200 ns followed by molecular mechanics Poisson–Boltzmann surface area calculations (MM/PBSA) were performed to estimate the binding energy. Bioactivity was also calculated for the best components in terms of drug likeness and drug score. (3) Results: The data obtained from the molecular docking study demonstrated that five compounds exhibited remarkable potency, with docking scores greater than −9.0 kcal/mol. Among them, compounds 1, 2 and 4 showed higher stability within the active site of Omicron BA.1, with ΔGbinding values of −49.02, −48.07, and −67.47 KJ/mol, respectively. These findings imply that the discovered phytoconstituents are promising in the search for anti-Omicron BA.1 drugs and should be investigated in future in vitro and in vivo research.

مع وجود العديد من البحوث والدراسات التي أکدت على أن جودة العمران والبيئة المبنية هي من أهم المؤشرات والعوامل التي تؤثر في جودة الحياة. وفي ظل ما يعانيه العمران المصري من العديد من المشکلات التي نشأ عنها انخفاض وتدني جودة العمران في واحد أو أکثر من جوانبه المختلفة وانعکاساته على حياة وسلوکيات المتعايشين مع هذا العمران بمختلف مستوياته مما ادي الي انخفاض جودة حياة مستخدمي ذلک العمران، وفي ظل عدم توافر نظم أو أطر لتقييم أو لضمان جودة العمران من منظور شامل، تسعي هذه الورقة البحثية بشکل رئيسي إلى تقديم إطار شامل لتقييم جودة العمران بشکل عام. ولتحقيق هدف البحث، تعتمد الدراسة على المنهج الاستنباطي بشکل رئيسي من خلال دراسة تحليلية مکتبية لاتجاهات تقييم العمران والبيئات المبنية بشکل عام، ثم دراسة وتحليل مفهوم جودة الحياة بشکل عام وجودة العمران بشکل خاص بدءاً بمفهوم الجودة وجوانبها وأساليب قياسها، وانتهاءاً بوصف وتحليل أساليب تقييم جودة العمران الحالية للوقوف على شمولية تلک الأساليب، يلي ذلک استنباط الرکائز الأساسية للإطار المفاهيمي المقترح کمرجعية لتقييم جودة العمران، ومن ثم استنباط الإطار المفاهيمي المقترح. وقد استطاعت الورقة تقديم إطاراً مفاهيميا لعملية تقييم جودة العمران ورکائزه الاساسية، وآلياته التطبيقية ليکون مرجعاً لممارسات جودة العمران وأساساً لبناء أداة لتقييم ولضمان جودة العمران کما توصي الورقة. With the existence of studies that confirmed that the quality of Built Environment (BEQ) is the most important factors that affect the quality of life, and In light of the absence of quality in the Egyptian built environment in one or more of its aspects and its repercussions on the behaviors of people living in it, which led to a decrease in the quality of life in general, this research paper seeks to present a model for a comprehensive framework for assessing the BEQ in general. To achieve this goal, a deductive approach is adopted by analysing built environments rating systems, identifying the concept of quality generally and BEQ, starting with the concept of quality, its aspects, and methods of measurement, and to analyse the current methods of assessing BEQ to check its comprehensiveness, followed by the proposed conceptual framework for assessing BEQ and its basic pillars. As a result, a conceptual framework for assessing the BEQ including its pillars and the mechanism of work was proposed. It could be a base for establishing a system for assuring and assessing the quality of the built environment in Egypt as the paper recommend.

Plasma spraying is commonly used to deposit thick metallic coatings. The high deposition temperature and complex interaction of the process parameters result in tensile residual stresses in thick metallic layers. Tensile residual stresses are widely known to affect the integrity of metallic coatings. The present study uses a combination of hole drilling and micro-indentation techniques to evaluate the residual stress developed in Ni-based metallic coatings deposited on stainless steel substrate using a direct current plasma spray torch. The metallic coating samples are first characterized by microscopy, surface roughness measurement, micro-indentation, and scratch tests before through-thickness residual strain measurement via the incremental hole-drilling method. The residual stress in the metallic coating layers is evaluated from the incremental strain measurements and micro-indentation curves. The studies show that the residual stress can be reliably predicted using the combination of hole drilling and micro-indentation measurements. It is found that tensile residual stresses are developed across the depth of both NiCrAl and Ni–20Al coatings. The variation of the tensile residual stresses across the depth is nonlinear and almost equibiaxial. The residual stress strongly influences the adhesion strength of the thick metallic coating layers.

Diabetic retinopathy (DRET) triggers vision loss in adults, however, little therapeutic options are existing. Memantine is an anti-Alzheimer drug that antagonizes the activity of glutamate at N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. Glutamate and thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) are known to be overexpressed in diabetic retinas and can produce activation of NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) with subsequent secretion of interlukin-1β. This study repurposed memantine for its neuroprotective effect in experimental DRET and tested its impact on ROS/TXNIP/NLRP3. In addition, KEGG pathway database and STRING database identified the protein-protein interaction between glutamate receptors and TXNIP/NLRP3. Male Swiss albino mice received alloxan (180 mg/kg) to induce DRET. After 9 weeks, we divided the mice into groups: (a) saline, (ii) DRET, (iii and iv) DRET + oral memantine (5 or 10 mg per kg) for 28 days. Then, mice were euthanized, and eyeballs were removed. Retinal samples were utilized for biochemical, histopathological, and electron microscopy studies. Retinal levels of glutamate, TXNIP, NLRP3 and interlukin-1β were estimated using ELISA technique as well as retinal malondialdehyde. Histopathological and ultrastructural examination demonstrated that oral memantine attenuated vacuolization and restored normal retinal cell layers. Moreover, memantine reduced TXNIP, NLRP3, interleukin-1β and MDA concentrations. These results provide evidence demonstrating memantine' efficacy in alleviating DRET via suppressing reactive oxygen species/TXNIP/NLRP3 signaling cascade. Therefore, memantine might serve as a potential therapy for retinopathy after adequate clinical research.

Satellite precipitation products (SPPs) are undeniably subject to uncertainty due to retrieval algorithms and sampling issues. Many research efforts have concentrated on merging SPPs to create high-quality merged precipitation datasets (MPDs) in order to reduce these uncertainties. This study investigates the efficacy of dynamically weighted MPDs in contrast to those using static weights. The analysis focuses on comparing MPDs generated using the “dynamic clustered Bayesian averaging (DCBA)” approach with those utilizing the “regional principal component analysis (RPCA)” under fixed-weight conditions. These MPDs were merged from SPPs and reanalysis precipitation data, including TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) 3B42V7, PERSIANN-CDR, CMORPH, and the ERA-Interim reanalysis precipitation data. The performance of these datasets was evaluated in Pakistan’s diverse climatic zones—glacial, humid, arid, and hyper-arid—employing data from 102 rain gauge stations. The effectiveness of the DCBA model was quantified using Theil’s U statistic, demonstrating its superiority over the RPCA model and other individual merging methods in the study area The comparative performances of DCBA and RPCA in these regions, as measured by Theil’s U, are 0.49 to 0.53, 0.38 to 0.45, 0.37 to 0.42, and 0.36 to 0.43 in glacial, humid, arid, and hyper-arid zones, respectively. The evaluation of DCBA and RPCA compared with SPPs at different elevations showed poorer performance at high altitudes (>4000 m). The comparison of MPDs with the best performance of SPP (i.e., TMPA) showed significant improvement of DCBA even at altitudes above 4000 m. The improvements are reported as 49.83% for mean absolute error (MAE), 42.31% for root-mean-square error (RMSE), 27.94% for correlation coefficient (CC), 40.15% for standard deviation (SD), and 13.21% for Theil’s U. Relatively smaller improvements are observed for RPCA at 13.04%, 1.56%, 10.91%, 1.67%, and 5.66% in the above indices, respectively. Overall, this study demonstrated the superiority of DCBA over RPCA with static weight. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to use dynamic variation of weights in the development of MPDs.

Cancer is a major public health concern worldwide in terms of mortality. The exact reason behind the development of cancer is not understood clearly, but it is evidenced that alcohol consumption, radiation, and exposure to chemicals are main players in this pathogenesis. The current mode of treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy are effective, but, still, cancer is a major problem leading to death and other side effects. However, safer and effective treatment modules are needed to overcome the adverse effects of current treatment modules. In this regard, natural compounds have been recognized to ameliorate diseases by exerting anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and anti-tumor potential through several mechanisms. Mangiferin, a xanthone C-glucoside, is found in several plant species including Mangifera indica (mango), and its role in disease prevention has been confirmed through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Furthermore, its anti-cancer-potential mechanism has been designated through modulation of cell signaling pathways such as inflammation, angiogenesis, PI3K/AKT, apoptosis, and cell cycle. This article extensively reviews the anticancer potential of mangiferin in different cancers through the modulation of cell signaling pathways. Moreover, the synergistic effects of this compound with some commonly used anti-cancer drugs against different cancer cells are discussed. More clinical trials should be performed to reconnoiter the anti-cancer potential of this compound in human cancer treatment. Further, understanding of mechanisms of action and the safety level of this compound can help to manage diseases, including cancer.

Introduction: Ondansetron is a drug that is routinely prescribed for the management of nausea and vomiting associated with cancer, radiation therapy, and surgical operations. It is mainly metabolized in the liver, and it might accumulate in patients with hepatic impairment and lead to unwanted adverse events. Methods: A physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model was developed to predict the exposure of ondansetron in healthy and liver cirrhosis populations. The population-based PBPK simulator PK-Sim was utilized for simulating ondansetron exposure in healthy and liver cirrhosis populations. Results: The developed model successfully described the pharmacokinetics of ondansetron in healthy and liver cirrhosis populations. The predicted area under the curve, maximum systemic concentration, and clearance were within the allowed twofold range. The exposure of ondansetron in the population of Child–Pugh class C has doubled in comparison to Child–Pugh class A. The dose has to be adjusted for liver cirrhosis patients to ensure comparable exposure to a healthy population. Conclusion: In this study, the developed PBPK model has described the pharmacokinetics of ondansetron successfully. The PBPK model has been successfully evaluated to be used as a tool for dose adjustments in liver cirrhosis patients.

Venom peptides are promising agents in the development of unconventional anticancer therapeutic agents. This study explored the potential of Pilosulin-3, a recombinant peptide from the venom of the Australian jack jumper ant “Myrmecia pilosula”, as a cytotoxic and radiosensitizing agent in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer (BC) cell lines. Pilosulin-3’s cytotoxicity was evaluated across a wide range of concentrations using a proliferation assay. Cell cycle progression and apoptosis were examined at the inhibitory concentration 25% (IC25) and IC50 of Pilosulin-3, both with and without a 4Gy X-ray irradiation dose. Radiosensitivity was assessed at IC25 using the clonogenic survival assay. The study revealed that Pilosulin-3 exerted a concentration-dependent cytotoxic effect, with IC25 and IC50 values of 0.01 and 0.5 µM, respectively. In silico screening indicated high selectivity of Pilosulin-3 peptide, which was predicted to be the most likely anticancer agent (PROB = 0.997) with low hemolytic activity (PROP = 0.176). Although Pilosulin-3 exhibited a significant (p < 0.05) G2/M cell cycle arrest in combination with radiation, there was no discernible effect on apoptosis induction or cell survival following irradiation. In conclusion, Pilosulin-3 proved to be cytotoxic to BC cells and induced a cytostatic effect (G2/M arrest) when combined with radiation. However, it did not enhance the efficacy of cell killing by irradiation. While it holds potential as a cytotoxic agent in breast cancer treatment, its application as a radiosensitizer does not find support in these results.

Abstract SARS-CoV-2’s population structure might have a substantial impact on public health management and diagnostics if it can be identified. It is critical to rapidly monitor and characterize their lineages circulating globally for a more accurate diagnosis, improved care, and faster treatment. For a clearer picture of the SARS-CoV-2 population structure, clustering the sequencing data is essential. Here, deep clustering techniques were used to automatically group 29,017 different strains of SARS-CoV-2 into clusters. We aim to identify the main clusters of SARS-CoV-2 population structure based on convolutional autoencoder (CAE) trained with numerical feature vectors mapped from coronavirus Spike peptide sequences. Our clustering findings revealed that there are six large SARS-CoV-2 population clusters (C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6). These clusters contained 43 unique lineages in which the 29,017 publicly accessible strains were dispersed. In all the resulting six clusters, the genetic distances within the same cluster (intra-cluster distances) are less than the distances between inter-clusters (P-value 0.0019, Wilcoxon rank-sum test). This indicates substantial evidence of a connection between the cluster’s lineages. Furthermore, comparisons of the K-means and hierarchical clustering methods have been examined against the proposed deep learning clustering method. The intra-cluster genetic distances of the proposed method were smaller than those of K-means alone and hierarchical clustering methods. We used T-distributed stochastic-neighbor embedding (t-SNE) to show the outcomes of the deep learning clustering. The strains were isolated correctly between clusters in the t-SNE plot. Our results showed that the (C5) cluster exclusively includes Gamma lineage (P.1) only, suggesting that strains of P.1 in C5 are more diversified than those in the other clusters. Our study indicates that the genetic similarity between strains in the same cluster enables a better understanding of the major features of the unknown population lineages when compared to some of the more prevalent viral isolates. This information helps researchers figure out how the virus changed over time and spread to people all over the world.

Zoonotic virus spillover in human hosts including outbreaks of Hantavirus and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) imposes a serious impact on the quality of life of patients. Recent studies provide a shred of evidence that patients with Hantavirus-caused hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) are at risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2. Both RNA viruses shared a higher degree of clinical features similarity including dry cough, high fever, shortness of breath, and certain reported cases with multiple organ failure. However, there is currently no validated treatment option to tackle this global concern. This study is attributed to the identification of common genes and perturbed pathways by combining differential expression analysis with bioinformatics and machine learning approaches. Initially, the transcriptomic data of hantavirus-infected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and SARS-CoV-2 infected PBMCs were analyzed through differential gene expression analysis for identification of common differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The functional annotation by enrichment analysis of common genes demonstrated immune and inflammatory response biological processes enriched by DEGs. The protein–protein interaction (PPI) network of DEGs was then constructed and six genes named RAD51, ALDH1A1, UBA52, CUL3, GADD45B, and CDKN1A were identified as the commonly dysregulated hub genes among HFRS and COVID-19. Later, the classification performance of these hub genes were evaluated using Random Forest (RF), Poisson Linear Discriminant Analysis (PLDA), Voom-based Nearest Shrunken Centroids (voomNSC), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers which demonstrated accuracy >70%, suggesting the biomarker potential of the hub genes. To our knowledge, this is the first study that unveiled biological processes and pathways commonly dysregulated in HFRS and COVID-19, which could be in the next future used for the design of personalized treatment to prevent the linked attacks of COVID-19 and HFRS.

Background: Egypt and nearby countries have been discovering new sources of natural gas (NG) leading to proven increased reserves. Egypt has two liquefaction stations for exporting Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), while nearby countries do not have such stations. Aim: Egypt adopted a policy to export LNG to major importing countries in Europe. Hence, this article aims to analyse the dynamics of the factors affecting the LNG export supply chain, and the main elements of adequate policies needed to optimise decisions related to LNG export in Egypt. Settings: The input data for this study were obtained from official national and international reports. Method: A system dynamics simulation model is used as a decision support system model to optimise decisions related to LNG exports in Egypt. Results: The model gives insight into the effect of investment in new discoveries, investment in renewable energy and changes in population, gross domestic product (GDP) and LNG export prices, as well as the quantity of LNG re-export on the dynamics of LNG export Present Value and quantity. Conclusion: The research provides a novel decision support system that can be used in adopting adequate policies along the LNG industry supply chain targets, optimising decisions related to exports of LNG. For Egypt, investments in new discoveries and making a long-term agreement to buy NG to be re-exported, are recommended strategic decisions to consider when targeting the optimisation of decisions related to the export of LNG. Investment in the generation of renewable energy and decreasing the home usage patterns come next in importance.

Abstract Quantum bandgap buffer layers can improve sunlight absorption in the short wavelength region, hence improving the performance of CIGS solar cells. In this study, we use numerical modelling to determine the impact of various buffer layers' electrical characteristics on the performance of CIGS thin film photovoltaic devices, particularly, carrier concentration and the quantum effect. As well Ag2S buffer layer has been experimentally examined to fulfilment its effect in term of bulk and quantum bandgap. Experimental results depicted that, Ag2S QDs has polycrystalline nature of films, with smooth surface roughness, and average diameter 4 nm. Meanwhile, a simulation revealed that the Fermi level of the (n-buffer layer) material shifts closer to the conduction band with an increase in carrier concentration. The findings indicate that, a buffer layer with a wider bandgap and carrier concentration is an essential demand for achieving a device with a higher conversion efficiency and a broader bandgap-CBO window. It was attributed to beneficial synergistic effects of high carrier concentration and narrower depletion region, which enable carriers to overcome high CBO barrier. Most importantly, modelling results indicate that the optic-electrical characteristics of the buffer layer are critical in determining the progress of a CIGS solar cell.

Three locations along the western Mediterranean coastal zone of Egypt (Abu Qir Bay, El Max Bay, and Marsa Matrouh), have been exposed to different anthropogenic sources that threatened the benthic ecosystem conditions. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages revealed the environmental changes and highlighted the main factors controlling foraminiferal distribution in the different environments. The assessment of benthic foraminiferal assemblages using quantitative univariate (diversity indices) and multivariate statistical analyses, allied with water quality and sediments geochemical data sets have been verified from a total of 26 surface sediment samples collected along the three locations. Benthic foraminiferal species were abundant in all samples where 51 species, pertaining to 28 genera, have been identified. Abu Qir area reflected a stressful environment with high organic matters and relatively low oxygen levels, followed by El Max Bay. These results revealed that benthic foraminifera favored environments with high organic matter, while benthic ecosystem oxygenation level seems to have a minor impact. The minimum anthropogenic influence over Marsa Matrouh area, compared with the other two sites, was evident from the dominance of sensitive species relative to water quality deviations and narrow pollution tolerance assemblage. Anthropogenic activities along the three selected sites demonstrated a wide range of severity ranging from severe to moderate to insignificant impact over the benthic ecosystem.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritional value of dried Kishk-like products using burghal of wheat, oat, and fenugreek with cow’s milk, camel’s milk, and goat’s milk. Kishk is an artisanal product that is popular in Egypt and the Middle East. This product is made primarily with wheat; however, to our knowledge, no research has used fenugreek seeds in making it. Changes in the physicochemical, microbial, and sensory properties of Kishk samples were followed over 90 days of storage at room temperature. The proximate analysis of fenugreek–Kishk samples (CF, AF, and GF) revealed the levels of moisture content (4.05–7.86%), protein (21.49–22.66%), fat (22.07–26.07%), fiber (13.59–14.19%), carbohydrate (22.16–28.37%), and ash (8.00–9.03%), and acidity ranged from 3.00% to 5.98%. Notably, the GF sample displayed the highest a*, b*, dC*, and ΔE values, along with the lowest L* value among all samples. Counts of coliform, yeasts and molds, Staphylococci, and spore-forming bacteria were not detected at detection limit < log CFU/g for any prepared Kishk-like samples. This was due to the combined levels of organic acids, high acidity, and low moisture content in Kishk samples that resulted in a safe food with a long shelf life. The Kishk-like samples thus could provide a complementary diet for infants up to six months, as well as a suitable option for children and elderly individuals requiring specialized care, offering an alternative to commercially available extracts.

Abstract Background In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) a global pandemic. We aimed to assess the ability of COVID-19 screening to detect preprocedural infection at the gastrointestinal units. One hundred and three patients indicated for gastrointestinal tract interventional procedures were included. All patients surveyed for COVID-19-related symptoms and COVID-19 rapid IgM/IgG antibodies. Symptomatic and COVID-19 antibody-positive patients further tested for COVID-19 reverse transcriptase by polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). All patients contacted, 14 days after the procedure and asked about the possible development of COVID-19. All health care workers (HCWs) (n=18) were screened weekly for COVID-19-related symptoms. Results The mean age was 46.11 ± 17.16 years of them 58.25% were males. 2.9% patients had COVID-19-related symptoms and 97.1% were asymptomatic. All symptomatic patients tested positive for COVID-19 IgM antibody and RT-PCR. Among asymptomatic patients 23% had positive COVID-19 antibodies, of them 56.5%patients had positive RT-PCR. One HCW developed COVID-19 during the study. None of the included patients developed new onset of COVID-19 infection, two weeks after the procedure. Conclusion COVID-19 antibody test may be a reasonable preprocedural screening method for low-income countries and COVID-19 RT-PCR screening for symptomatic patients and those with positive COVID-19 antibody test.

Introduction In late 2019, a new virus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2, which causes a new serious disease called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), spread quickly all over the world. Many complications of diabetes mellitus (DM) such as microvascular and macrovascular complications increase the risk for COVID-19-related severity and mortality. Objective To assess the effect of DM on outcome and severity of COVID-19. Patients and methods This work was a retrospective observation that included confirmed COVID-19-infected patients (PCR positive for COVID-19) who were admitted to Shebin El-Kom Teaching Hospital, Menoufia, Egypt, from March 2021 to March 2022. Laboratory investigations such as age, sex, and sings of severity of COVID-19 were studied. In this study, patients were divided into three main groups as follows: group 1 diabetic patients had known DM, group 2 (hyperglycemic group) patients were without past history of DM but were known to have hyperglycemia with COVID-19, and group 3 (control) had normal blood glucose. Results A total of 300 patients were divided into diabetic and hyperglycemic groups and were compared with the control group. It was found that diabetic and hyperglycemic groups were significantly associated with severe and critical disease, long hospital stay, increased number of admissions in critical care unit, increased number of patients under mechanical ventilation, and increased mortality rate from COVID-19 compared with the control group. Conclusions Patients with DM are more liable for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection, ICU admission, and increase in the rate of death. In addition, new hyperglycemia, even without history of DM, increased the severity of COVID-19 infection. Special care should be given for diabetic patients. Therefore, glucose monitoring and tight control of blood glucose are essential for all.