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Traditional methods for detecting harmful gases in air are often limited in their widespread deployment, accuracy, and real-time monitoring capabilities due to their complexity and cost. To address this challenge, optimization algorithms such as the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm have shown promise. The PSO algorithm, is applied to calculate the concentrations of harmful gases in air, maximizing detection accuracy. Detecting indoor gas pollution is a crucial concern due to the abundance of odors and vapors, particularly those emanating from activities such as cooking. The presence of these substances in the air poses a challenge in identifying traces of other harmful gases. This research endeavors to pioneer a novel approach characterized by heightened sensitivity, even in the presence of unidentified elements in the air. In this work, PSO algorithm is used in conjunction with Chirped Spectral Modulation (CSM) technique to increase system sensitivity to detect small traces of harmful gases inside buildings and protect the environment through early detection of pollution. The use of PSO and CSM altogether allowed for detecting carbon dioxide CO2, carbon monoxide CO, and nitrogen dioxide NO2 down to 10−6 % in volume, and sulfur dioxide SO2 down to 5×10−4 % in volume, while keeping the error below 0.1%

In industrial processes, Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) is a vital non-invasive imaging technique for monitoring multiphase flows. As the speed of flow increases, as for high-speed chemical reactors, it becomes crucial to enhance the acquisition speed to ensure the scan period for one frame is significantly shorter than the time it takes for the fluid to traverse the sensor length. Traditional ECT systems employ a uniform charge integration time across all electrode pairs. To address this challenge without compromising image accuracy and sensitivity, we propose an adaptive integration technique for inter-electrode capacitance measurement. This approach adjusts the charge integration time based on the distance between electrodes, with longer integration times for farther electrode pairs. By doing so, we aim to enhance measurement accuracy while maintaining efficient data acquisition speed. The proposed method is expected to significantly improve the fidelity of ECT images and the overall performance of ECT systems in real-time industrial applications, contributing to better monitoring and control of multiphase flows. Simulations and experimental validation in a high-speed fluid flow demonstrate that our method improves image visibility while maintaining suitable acquisition speeds. The adaptive technique is computationally efficient and scalable to various ECT configurations, promising broader applications in industrial process control and efficiency optimization.

This research provides a detailed quantitative analysis of the challenges encountered in deploying 6G Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Base Stations UAV-BS in arid environments, specifically focusing on Saudi Arabia. The study meticulously quantifies the impact of dust and sand storms on these advanced communication systems, highlighting the substantial increase in signal attenuation and path loss under such conditions. Key findings include a marked dependency of transmitted power requirements on visibility at millimeter range high frequencies, (at 100 GHz). The results demonstrate that at this frequency, a decrease in ground visibility from 15 to 5 meters necessitates a significant increase in transmitted power by approximately 10 dB. Moreover, a striking 50 dB increase in path loss is observed when transitioning from a 3 GHz carrier frequency to 100 GHz under a ground visibility of 5 meters. This increase is attributed to a 30 dB rise in free space loss FSL due to the change in carrier frequency and an additional 20 dB attributed to increased dust attenuation at 100 GHz compared to 3 GHz. Our approach integrates PSO for dynamic UAV-BS positioning, effectively mitigating the adverse effects of dust and sand on signal quality. The research underscores the importance of considering UAV altitude, signal frequency, and ground visibility for optimal signal propagation. Additionally, it highlights the necessity of dynamic power management strategies within the network architecture to adapt to the unique challenges of arid environments. This study not only illuminates the practical implications for the deployment of UAV-BS in future 6G networks but also emphasizes the need for continuous adaptation of UAV-BS positioning in response to changes in visibility and that due to continuous change in the pattern of active users (asking for network services). The insights gained are crucial for ensuring reliable communication during environmental challenges, paving the way for more resilient and efficient wireless communication systems in demanding conditions.

We present in this paper an all-fiber Optical Coherence Tomography OCT system in the time domain by employing a Sagnac fiber loop. The optical fiber version of TD-OCT uses directional couplers to construct a Michelson interferometer instead of a beam splitter which is used in the bulk optics version. Instead of implementing the optical delay by an external movable mirror, we present a new configuration that employs a Sagnac interferometer. Avoiding the use of an external movable mirror, eliminates the problems of alignment to couple back the optical signal into the fiber after being delayed by the external mirror. Moreover, this all-fiber system has the advantage of being compact and having large values of optical path difference.

Abstract Coronavirus (COVID-19) was a pandemic disease that was affecting our medical and surgical daily practice badly. The surgical management of acute appendicitis was the gold standard, but new studies suggest the safety of antibiotic treatment alone. Non-operative treatment for simple acute appendicitis (NOTA) avoids surgery, the risks of general anesthesia, and long hospital stays. It also decreases the risk of exposure to coronavirus. We aimed to study the cost-effectiveness and outcome of NOTA during the COVID-19 pandemic and compared it to single-incision pediatric endo-surgery appendectomy (SIPESA). A prospective cohort study for NOTA of patients from 6 to 12 years old in the COVID-19 pandemic period from April 1st, 2020, to April 30th, 2021, patients were divided into two groups: Group S was managed by SIPESA, and Group N was managed by NOTA. Family education and assurance with detailed explanation were done for early detection of any complications, and we continue monitoring the patients until their complete recovery. Group S had 24 cases (40%), mean age 9.3 years. Group N had 36 cases (60%), mean age 9.1 years. Six cases (17%) in group N were converted to surgical management in the first 6 months of the study. The mean cost dropped from $2736/day to $400/day. The mean psychological stress for the children improved from 4.4 in April to 2 in September. The mean follow-up was 3.5 months. NOTA is a feasible, cost-effective approach, and we recommend it, as we have learned this lesson during the COVID-19 pandemic days.

Background: Inguinal lymphadenectomy has always been associated with a high complication rate, mostly related to wound healing. Objectives: We aimed at evaluating the skin excision vertical incision in lowering wound complication rate following inguinal lymphadenectomy. Patients and Methods: Patients underwent inguinal lymphadenectomy for malignant nodal metastasis at the National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Egypt in the period from January 2017 to December 2020. According to the incision type, we divided them into three groups: Group 1: vertical with vertical skin ellipse (~4cm) excision. Group 2: vertical S-shaped without skin excision.Group 3: transverse incision. We compared the short-term outcome among these groups. Results: Seventy-eight patients included, 27 (34.6%) G1, 27 (34.6% G2), and 24 (30.8%) G3. Complications occurred in a total of 20 cases (25.6% ). Its rate was highest in G3 (37.5% of cases) and least in G1 (14.8%). Flap necrosis was a common serious complication. It least occurred in the G1 Group and most in the G3 Group. No statistical difference was noticed regarding the median operation time, postoperative hospital stay, and median duration before drain removal. Capsular rupture did not occur in G1 patients, occurred only in one case of G2 (3.7%) and 2 cases of G3 ( 8.3%). Despite being statistically insignificant it is very significant oncologically. Conclusions: Vertical elliptical skin wedge excision in inguinal lymphadenectomy provides better surgical field exposure. It avoids direct handling of the tumor; thus is more safe oncologically. It has the least flap necrosis rate among other incision types.

Abstract Background Driver molecular aberrations, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangement, play an important role in the oncogenesis and progression of non-squamous non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC). Therefore, this study aimed to detect the incidence of driver mutations among non-squamous NSCLC. Patients and methods This was a retrospective-prospective cohort study on 131 patients with non-squamous NSCLC. Data on age, smoking status, chest symptoms, method of lung cancer diagnosis, molecular testing, including EGFR mutations in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor tissue and serum circulating tumor DNA using next-generation sequencing and ALK gene rearrangement by FFPE tumor tissue, and follow-up data regarding treatment modalities and outcomes were collected. Results The median age of the patients was 57 years (range: 32–79 years). Out of 131 patients, 97 were males (74%), and 90 (68.7%) were smokers. Among 128 patients tested, 16 (12.5%) had EGFR mutations detected with either technique by formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor tissue or/and serum circulating tumor DNA using next-generation sequencing, and 6 (4.7%) had ALK rearrangement by FFPE tumor tissue. The majority (62.6%) presented with metastatic disease. Among the 102 patients who received first-line systemic therapy, the objective response rate was 50.0% in mutated NSCLC versus 14.6% in non-mutated (p

Objective This study aims to compare the efficacy of intraoperative norepinephrine infusion versus plasma in reducing renal insult during cytoreductive surgeries.Methods Sixty patients (ASA I–III) of both genders were included in the study. Plasma group: received early fresh frozen plasma and RBCs in ratio exceeded 1:1, and norepinephrine group: received continuous low-dose norepinephrine (0.05–0.1 mic/kg/min).Results Both groups were comparable for their clinical characteristics and distribution of demographic data. Plasma group had significant elevation of their intraoperative heart rate with significant reduction in their mean arterial blood pressure values compared to norepinephrine group (30.3 ± 4.1 versus 17.9 ± 4.5 bpm and −21.6 ± 2.2 versus −16.1 ± 2.3 mmHg, respectively, p

Abstract Background and Aim Colorectal cancer (CRC) accounts for over 8% of all deaths each year, with 1.2 million new cases diagnosed annually worldwide. It represents the seventh most common cancer in Egypt. Early detection of peritoneal metastasis is a major challenge in such cases. It helps with the decision of the immediate application of intraperitoneal chemotherapy after resection. Meta‐analysis studies reported contrast evidence for a possible prognostic role of intraperitoneal free cancer cells (IPCCs) in peritoneal recurrence and survival after curative resection. In this work, we aim to evaluate the prevalence and impact of detecting free malignant cells in peritoneal fluid on survival and local recurrence and to estimate the incidence of peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) during follow up. Methods Design: This was a prospective cohort study. Settings: From June 2016 to December 2018, samples were collected from 104 patients who underwent abdominal surgery for colorectal cancer in the Egyptian National Cancer Institute. A total of 96 Egyptian CRC patients who underwent curative resection were enrolled. Intraoperative peritoneal lavage was performed to detect IPCC by conventional cytology. Patients with no residual tumor after surgery and no evidence of PC were followed up for a median 14 months. The cumulative 12‐month overall survival rate for patients with IPCC was 100% versus 86% for patients with negative cytology. Results Our results demonstrated that the prevalence of IPCC in the peritoneal lavage was 11.5%. Peritoneal and local recurrence occurred at a higher rate in patients with cytology positive lavage (9.1% vs 6.3% and 9.1% vs 3.8%, respectively), although this was statistically insignificant. Distant metastasis occurred significantly in patients with positive cytology (45.5% vs 8.9%) with P‐value

Abstract Background Laparoscopic gastrectomy has been used as a superior alternative to open gastrectomy for the treatment of early gastric cancer. However, the application of laparoscopic D2 lymphadenectomy remains controversial. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and outcomes of laparoscopic gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy for gastric cancer. Results Between May 2016 and May 2018, twenty-five consecutive patients with gastric cancer underwent laparoscopic D2 gastrectomy: eighteen patients (72%) underwent distal gastrectomy, four patients (16%) underwent total gastrectomy, and three patients (12%) underwent proximal gastrectomy. The median number of lymph nodes retrieved was 18 (5–35). A positive proximal margin was detected in 2 patients (8%). The median operative time and amount of blood loss were 240 min (200–330) and 250 ml (200–450), respectively. Conversion to an open procedure was performed in seven patients (28%). The median hospital stay period was 8 days (6–30), and the median time to start oral fluids was 4 days (3–30). Postoperative complications were detected in 4 patients (16%). There were two cases of mortality (8%) in the postoperative period, and two patients required reoperation (8%). Conclusions Laparoscopic gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy can be carried out safely and in accordance with oncologic principles.

We performed next-generation sequencing in patients with familial steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS) and identified a homozygous segregating variant (p.H310Y) in the gene encoding clavesin-1 (CLVS1) in a consanguineous family with 3 affected individuals. Knockdown of the clavesin gene in zebrafish (clvs2) produced edema phenotypes due to disruption of podocyte structure and loss of glomerular filtration barrier integrity that could be rescued by WT CLVS1 but not the p.H310Y variant. Analysis of cultured human podocytes with CRISPR/Cas9-mediated CLVS1 knockout or homozygous H310Y knockin revealed deficits in clathrin-mediated endocytosis and increased susceptibility to apoptosis that could be rescued with corticosteroid treatment, mimicking the steroid responsiveness observed in patients with SSNS. The p.H310Y variant also disrupted binding of clavesin-1 to α-tocopherol transfer protein, resulting in increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation in CLVS1-deficient podocytes. Treatment of CLVS1-knockout or homozygous H310Y-knockin podocytes with pharmacological ROS inhibitors restored viability to control levels. Taken together, these data identify CLVS1 as a candidate gene for SSNS, provide insight into therapeutic effects of corticosteroids on podocyte cellular dynamics, and add to the growing evidence of the importance of endocytosis and oxidative stress regulation to podocyte function.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a clinical neurodegenerative disease having symptoms like tremor, rigidity, and postural disability. According to Harvard, about 60,000 of American citizens are diagnosed with PD yearly, with more than 10 million people infected worldwide. An estimate of 4% of the people have PD before they reach the age 50; however, the incident increases with age. Diagnosis of PD relies on the expertise of the physician and depends on several established clinical criteria. This makes the diagnosis subjective and inefficient. Hence, continuous efforts are being made to enhance the diagnosis of PD using deep learning approaches that rely on experienced neurologists. Siamese neural networks mainly work on two different input vectors and are used in comparison of output vectors. Moreover, clustering a dataset before applying classification enhances the distribution of similar samples among groups. In addition, applying the Siamese network can overcome the limitation of samples per class in the dataset by guiding the network to learn differences between samples rather than focusing on learning specific classes. In this paper, a Siamese neural network is applied to diagnose PD. Siamese networks predict the sample class by estimating how similar a sample is to other samples. The idea behind this work is clustering the dataset before training the network, as different pairs that belong to the same cluster are candidates to be mistaken by the network and assumed to be matched pairs. To overcome this problem, the dataset is first clustered, and then the architecture feeds the network to pairs of the same cluster. The proposed framework is concerned with comparing the performance when using clustered against unclustered data. The proposed framework outperforms the conventional framework without clustering. The accuracy achieved for classifying unclustered PD patients reached 76.75%, while it reached 84.02% for clustered data, outperforming the same technique on unclustered data. The significance of this study is in the enhanced performance achieved due to the clustering of data, which shows a promising framework to enhance the diagnostic capability of computer-aided disease diagnostic tools.

Postbiotics are functional bioactive substances manufactured during fermentation in a food matrix, which can be used to improve human health, but their influence on the adhesion potential and physicochemical cell surface of probiotics is still unclear. We examined the postbiotic influence produced by Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 in functional labneh on cell surface properties (auto-aggregation, hydrophobicity, and co-aggregation) and the adhesion capacities of three probiotic strains. The most commonly detected effects of probiotics, particularly Lsyn−7, were an increase in auto-aggregation, hydrophobicity, co-aggregation, and adhesion ability of the tested strains. Lactobacillus rhamnosus with Lsyn−7 (59%) presented the highest hydrophobicity, whereas the least adhesion to xylene was detected in L. rhamnosus with LHM. Lactobacillus casei with Lsyn−7 showed the highest auto-aggregation after 24 h (60.55%). Moreover, it also has a strong adhesion to Caco-2 cells and effectively prevents the binding of Salmonella Typhimurium to Caco-2 cells. Lactobacillus plantarum with Lsyn−7 presented the strongest co-aggregation with Staphylococcus aureus (85.1%), S. typhimurium (85. 02%) and Listeria monocytogenes (77.4%). The adherence potential of tested probiotic strains was highly correlated with auto-aggregation, hydrophobicity, co-aggregation, and competitive inhibition of L. monocytogenes and S. typhimurium. The findings suggest that Lsyn−7 can be a candidate to promote the adhesion potential of selected probiotic strains. For the reason that the application of probiotic strains has been more interested in their positive influences in the gastrointestinal tract, it is essential to use some functional compounds, such as postbiotics, to improve adhesion abilities and cell surface properties in terms of bacterial binding.

The H9N2 subtype of avian influenza A virus (aIAV) is circulating among birds worldwide, leading to severe economic losses. H9N2 cocirculation with other highly pathogenic aIAVs has the potential to contribute to the rise of new strains with pandemic potential. Therefore, rapid detection of H9 aIAVs infection is crucial to control virus spread. A qualitative reverse transcription recombinase polymerase amplification (RT-RPA) assay for the detection of aIAV subtype H9N2 was developed. All results were compared to the gold standard (real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)). The RT-RPA assay was designed to detect the hemagglutinin (HA) gene of H9N2 by testing three pairs of primers and a probe. A serial concentration between 106 and 100 EID50 (50% embryo infective dose)/mL was applied to calculate the analytical sensitivity. The H9 RT-RPA assay was highly sensitive as the lowest concentration point of a standard range at one EID50/mL was detected after 5 to 8 min. The H9N2 RT-RPA assay was highly specific as nucleic acid extracted from H9 negative samples and from other avian pathogens were not cross detected. The diagnostic sensitivity when testing clinical samples was 100% for RT-RPA and RT-PCR. In conclusion, H9N2 RT-RPA is a rapid sensitive and specific assay that easily operable in a portable device for field diagnosis of aIAV H9N2.

High-speed machining (HSM) is used in industry to improve the productivity and quality of the cutting operations. In this investigation, pure alumina ceramics with the addition of ZrO2, and mixed alumina (Al2O3 + TiC) tools were used in the dry hard turning of AISI 4340 (52 HRC) at different high cutting speeds of 150, 250, 700 and 1000 m/min. It was observed that at cutting speeds of 150 and 250 m/min, pure alumina ceramic tools had better wear resistance than mixed alumina ones. However, upon increasing the cutting speed from 700 to 1000 m/min, mixed alumina ceramic tools outperformed pure ceramic ones. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to investigate the worn cutting edges and analyze the obtained results. It was found that the tribo-films formed at the cutting zone during machining affected the wear resistances of the tools and influenced the coefficient of friction at the tool-chip interface. These observations were confirmed by the chip compression ratio results at different cutting conditions. Raising cutting speed to 1000 m/min corresponded to a remarkable decrease in cutting force components in the dry hard turning of AISI 4340 steel.

Abstract Expropriation of land is considered a crucial instrument of any development practice. The legitimacy of expropriation is essentially reinforced as it is employed for the public interest, often implied as infrastructure and public services. While in the private property on one side and the public interest on the other, urban development acts to be the art of getting the right balance. Despite urban development paradigms significantly affecting expropriation practices, most reviewed literature focused on legal aspects of expropriation. However, few were attentive to addressing the relation between expropriation and the urban universe. What are the current trends of the expropriation function and how extensively is it used for urban development? It can be elaborated as the study’s core question, while the research aims at mapping the development of the expropriation function and how extensively expropriation is used across time and space. Therefore, the study adopts a qualitative comparative approach to explore the global trends of expropriation for urban development and map convergence and deviations. The proposed criteria for comparison aim to discover how extensively expropriation is used, the legal changes and the institutional contexts. In addition, the applied part of the study uses a case study analysis method. A chronological timeline analysis of the Egyptian case was conducted to explore the nature of expropriation practices of Nasser’s time (1956–1970) to Mubarak’s time (1981–2011) in Egypt. Globally, expropriation practices have a heterogeneous nature. Certain features, however, are common enough to justify classifying practices for this study. The research comes up with a schematic mapping intending not to be comprehensive but flexible enough to be applied as a framework to analyse and compare other cases in different contexts. Finally, the research concludes by comparing and positioning the Egyptian case in the light of the global trends and provides principal lessons to planners, governmental parties, and policy-makers.

Objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by progressive airflow obstruction. As the disease progresses, it affects several organs and systems. So, the aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of the brain in defining deep white matter integrity in COPD patients, and correlate apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values to COPD stage, pulmonary function tests and arterial blood gases. Methods: A cross-sectional case-control study included 20 COPD male patients (smokers), aged 51–78 years and 18 healthy male volunteers, non-smokers with matched age (45–71 years), represented the control group. All the subjects were neurologically free (on examination) with no known history of cerebrovascular disease, renal impairment, chronic hepatic disease or any other disease which may have a cerebral effect. Spirometry, arterial blood gases and COPD staging were done for COPD patients. DWI was done for both groups. Results: Both groups were age matched (P 0.231). All apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were higher in COPD patients than the healthy (control) group. ADC values taken from the frontal, temporal and parietal deep white matter of COPD patients had statistically significant difference compared to those of the control group (P values = 0.016 & 0.013 and 0.002 respectively). No significant correlation between ADC values measured from all lobes and arterial blood gases, FEV1 or COPD staging. Conclusion: ADC values are increased significantly in COPD patients than in normal populations denoting affected integrity of white matter, however this increase is not related to COPD severity, arterial hypoxemia, hypercapnia or other disease markers like FEV1.

Introduction: Distinction between malignant and non-malignant pleural effusion is of great importance in the patient management. The aim: We examined the diagnostic value of C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A (SAA) in distinguishing different etiologies of pleural effusion and if they could discriminate between malignant and non-malignant pleural effusions. Subject and methods: CRP and SAA levels in both serum and pleural fluid were measured in 92 patients with pleural effusion. Of the 92 patients included in our study; 44 were diagnosed with malignant pleural effusions (group I) [with male to female ratio (M/F) 23/21 and mean age 57.7 ± 11.5 years in the form of mean ± 2SD] and 48 were diagnosed with non-malignant pleural effusion (group II) [with M/F ratio 33/15 and mean age 54.7 ± 10.4 years in the form of mean ± 2SD]. Results: CRP and SAA values were significantly higher in both serum and pleural effusion of malignant vs. non-malignant group (P

Objective: The Dutch Hypothesis has been used to suggest that Asthma and COPD may be considered as different expressions of one disease entity. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the levels of IgE in COPD patients and its relation with respiratory symptoms and lung functions this may be a suggestive of atopy as a mechanism for initiation of their exacerbations. Methods: A cross-sectional case-control study was conducted on 50 subjects recruited from the outpatient clinic (11 healthy volunteers, 39 diagnosed as COPD) COPD patients (31 males (79%) and 8 females (21%)) diagnosed as mild, moderate and severe. The studied groups were also divided according to total serum IgE levels and compared in demographic data, clinical data, spirometric data, and HRCT findings. Results: COPD patients with elevated IgE had a longer history of illness, high smoking index, higher number of exacerbation in the last year, and more lower FEV1. HRCT finding in both groups was hyperinflation was high in COPD patients with normal IgE levels, 10 cases (45%), while bronchiectasis was higher in COPD patients with elevated IgE, 7 cases (41%). Sputum culture was positive for aspergillosis in 5 cases (29%) in COPD patients with elevated IgE. Conclusions: There was a high prevalence of elevated serum T-IgE in patients with COPD but without obvious atopy. Serum T-IgE levels were found to be associated with symptoms such as dyspnea and impairment of lung function. Recurrent exacerbation of COPD is believed to accelerate disease progression and impairment of pulmonary function.