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Background Osteoarthritis is the most common degenerative joint disease. Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is the most common disability due to pain and dysfunction; it typically affects the medial tibiofemoral joint compartment. Objectives The use of orthosis as lateral wedge insoles (LWIs) helps in the reduction of symptoms and improvement of function and can reduce many of the biomechanical risk factors for disease development in osteoarthritis patients. Aim The study aimed to determine the possible mechanical and clinical effects of the different LWIs to assess their role in the management of the medial compartment KOA. Method The study included 48 knees divided into three groups, group A received only conventional physiotherapy, group B received LWI and group C received subtalar strapped (STS) LWI for 4 months. Results The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities osteoarthritis index score showed high significance, P value less than 0.001, for most subscales, femorotibial angle and plantar pressure peaks at the five metatarsal areas (M1, M2, M3, M4, M5), midfoot, medial heel and lateral heel areas, and center of pressure showed high significance, P value less than 0.001 for both insoles. Conclusion The positive outcomes suggested that LWI and STSLWI insert are viable alternatives in the conservative management of patients with medial KOA. The use of LWI and STSLWI helps to prevent the progression of medial KOA if used. In early grades of medial KOA as grades 2 and 3. The results not only suggested clinically symptomatic improvement with an inexpensive conservative therapy, but also a less complicated comfortable orthosis of alignment benefit to KOA.

Introduction: Lepidium sativum, commonly known as garden cress is a herb that is native to Egypt and West Asia. Its seeds are rich source of proteins, dietary fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, iron, other essential nutrients and phytochemicals. Garden cress is widely used in folk medicine for the treatment of many diseases. Periodontitis is defined as an inflammatory bacterial-induced disease that damages the soft tissue and gradually destroys the periodontal ligaments and supporting alveolar bone. Periodontitis can cause teeth to loosen or lead to tooth loss. Different methods, such asbiomechanical measurements, surgical approaches are used to treat periodontitis. Objective: to evaluate histologically and ultra-structurally the possible effect of garden cress therapy on alveolar bone healing in rats with ligature induced periodontitis. Materials and Methods: Fortyfive adult male Sprague–Dawley rats of 6 months old (200-250 grams in weight) was used in this study. They were divided into 3 equal groups: group A; (control group), group B; (ligature induced periodontitis) and group C :( ligature induced periodontitis with garden cress administration). Ligature was removed after 11 days. Garden cress was applied after ligature removal systemically by using oral gavage. Rats were sacrificed after six weeks from the ligature removal. Mandibles were dissected out and were prepared for histological and scanning electron microscopic evaluation. Results: After 6 weeks the specimens of group B (periodontitis group) showed alveolar bone loss, while in group C (garden cress group) showed relative restoration of alveolar bone. Results of scanning electron microscope revealed an irregular & porous bone surface of group B, while Group C showed relative smooth and regular alveolar bone. Conclusion: Garden Cress systemic administration accelerates alveolar bone healing and enhances bone formation in periodontal diseases.

INTRODUCTION: Treatment of molar furcation defects remains a considerable challenge in clinical practice. Furcation defects treatment can vary according to the type and location of the defects. Regenerative procedures are one of the treatment modalities in furcation involvement. In this study Amnion Chorion membrane(ACM) was used with an alloplast to manage grade II furcation defects. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to evaluate clinically and radiographically the effect of ACM augmented with alloplast bone graft in management of grade II furcation involvement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted clinically on fourteen patients with fourteen grade II furcation defects. Patients were divided into two groups: test group: included seven furcation defects that were treated by alloplast bone graft covered by ACM, and control group: including seven furcation defects treated with alloplast bone graft covered by a resorbable collagen membrane. Probing depth (P D), clinical attachment loss(CAL)were measured at baseline,3, and 6 months. Cone beam computed tomography(CBCT)was performed at baseline,6, and9months to evaluate bonefill in the furcation defect. RESULTS: ACM has shown reduction in probing depth and clinical attachment loss, and enhanced bone formation when compared to control group treated with resorbable collagen membrane. CONCLUSIONS: ACM is an effective, easy to handle, safe, and time saving membrane that can be used in periodontal regeneration.

INTRODUCTION: The use of platelet concentrates remains controversial. Several techniques for platelet concentrates are available and eachmethod leads to a different product with different biology and potential uses. Platelet rich fibrin (PRF) is an autologous biomaterial composedof a fibrin clot matrix entrapping leukocytes, cytokines, living progenitor cells, and platelets capable of releasing various growth factors. Oneof the recent platelet concentrates is the mineralized plasmatic matrix (MPM) which has a different way of preparation. It creates a stablehomogeneous single-moldable compound.OBJECTIVES: The aim of this experimental study was to compare the effect of PRF to MPM when combined with biphasic calciumphosphate alloplast in treating horizontal critical sized ridge defects in a canine model.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A split mouth design was carried out using the third and fourth mandibular premolars of two healthymongrel dogs. A total of eight horizontal critical sized ridge defects were surgically created. The defects on the left side (group I); weremanaged with MPM composite, MPM compact layer, then collagen membrane. On the right side (group II); defects were managed with PRFmixed with biphasic calcium phosphate alloplast followed by the application of PRF compact strips, then collagen membrane. The dogs weresacrificed after 4 weeks. Samples were dissected and prepared for histological evaluation.RESULTS: Histological results showed that quality of bone formed in MPM group was superior to PRF. This was evident with the formationof well-organized compact bone in MPM specimens versus immature woven trabecular bone in PRF ones.CONCLUSIONS: The fibrin network that is produced in the MPM composite allows for its homogeneity. This offers a very good stability forthe graft which was found to be more effective in enhancing wound healing during guided bone regeneration of horizontal ridge defects.KEYWORDS: Platelet Rich Fibrin, Mineralized Plasmatic Matrix, Guided bone regeneration, Horizontal ridge defects, Biphasic calcium

In video communication over lossy packet networks (e.g., the Internet), packet loss errors can severely damage the transmitted video. The damaged video can largely be repaired with spatial error concealment, where neighboring information was used to estimate missing information. They mask the effect of missing blocks by using the spatial or/and temporal correlation to create image or video of subjectively acceptable quality.

Compressed video bitstream is sensitive to channel errors that may severely degrade the reconstructed pictures. Error concealment techniques implemented at decoders are effective approaches to reduce the impact of errors. They mask the effect of missing blocks by using the spatial or/and temporal correlation to create image or video of subjectively acceptable quality. This paper proposes an improved spatial error concealment technique based on the fast and efficient method (FEM) proposed in [1] with a new matching criterion for macroblock (MB) recovery. This criterion considers the spatial smoothness property to search for best match between neighboring MBs in spatial domain for MB recovery instead of classical matching criterion. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm is obviously subjectively and objectively superior to that proposed in [1] for isolated errored macroblocks.

Compressed video bitstream is sensitive to channel errors that may severely degrade the reconstructed pictures. Error concealment techniques implemented at decoders are effective approaches to reduce the impact of errors. They mask the effect of missing blocks by using the spatial or/and temporal correlation to create image or video of subjectively acceptable quality.

Compressed video bitstream is sensitive to channel errors that may severely degrade the reconstructed pictures. Error concealment techniques implemented at decoders are effective approaches to reduce the impact of errors. They mask the effect of missing blocks by using the spatial or/and temporal correlation to create image or video of subjectively acceptable quality. This paper presents three different modifications on the fast and efficient spatial error concealment algorithm proposed in [1] by using bilinear and directional interpolations in order to achieve better subjective and objective quality. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithms are obviously subjectively and objectively superior to the original fast and efficient spatial error concealment algorithm proposed in [1].

In this paper we consider multi-user detection in CDMA systems. A modified recursive least squares (RLS) blind adaptive algorithm for multiuser detection in multipath channels is proposed. The proposed algorithm is shown to have a lower computational complexity than the conventional RLS algorithm while maintaining the same performance as the conventional RLS algorithm. Also, we propose a blind adaptive RLS algorithm that is used for multiuser detection of the high rate users in dual rate DS/CDMA systems in multipath (MP) fading channels. The new algorithm gives the same performance as the previously studied cyclic RLS algorithms. However, it has a significantly lower computational complexity.

In this paper we propose a new synchronous stream cipher; the FBG stream cipher. This cipher is based on FBG (fuzzy bit generator) PN bit generator. The FBG cipher has been designed to produce keystream with guaranteed randomness properties; i.e. passing all the 16 tests of the NIST statistical test suite. Also, it gave very good results when tested using the ENT randomness test program. In addition, it has good correlation properties. The FBG stream cipher is on the form of a non-linear feedback shift register.

In this paper we compare hardware efficiency and compression performance of various filter-bank structures available for the realization of Daubechies 9/7 biorthogonal filter bank used in wavelet image coding and specified in JPEG 2000 image coding standard. The comparison includes convolution-based structures, as the direct-form, cascade, and polyphase structures, and the lifting-based structure. While the lifting-based structure requires half the number of operations for realizing a biorthogonal filter bank, direct-form and polyphase structures have a better finite-word-length performance. Moreover, operations in a polyphase filter bank require processing at half the rate required by lifting-based structures.

In a trial to throw light on the implication of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and N(G)-hydroxy-L-arginine (L-NHA) in the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis or Scleroderma, (SSc), their serum levels were estimated in twenty SSc patients using ELISA and high performance liquid chromatography respectively. In situ "local" expression of ICAM-1 in lesional skin of these patients was also assessed using biotinstreptavidin amplified detection system. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the cutaneous extension of sclerosis (Grades I; IIIII). A significant (P0.001) difference was found between patients (n = 20) and controls (n = 10) regarding soluble ICAM-1 (s ICAM-1) and L-NHA levels. Among patients, a significant difference (P0.001, 0.05 respectively) in sICAM-1L-NHA serum levels was found between patients who had musculoskeletal manifestations and those who had not. A significant (P0.001) difference in L-NHA level was found between patients with grade I, II, III. Among patients, there was a negative correlation (r = -0.413) between serum sICAM-1 and the duration of the disease, and a positive correlation (r = +0.514) between sICAM-1 and L-NHA serum levels. 4 patients (23.6%) showed mild immunostaining, 8 patients (47%) showed moderate staining, and 5 patients (29.4%) showed intense staining, while control specimens showed negative immunostaining. In conclusion, ICAM-1 and serum L-NHA are probably implicated in the pathogenesis of SSc. Elevated sICAM-1 and L-NHA serum could be used as a quantitative marker of tissue sclerosis, allowing better follow up of patients.

This paper investigates two methods to improve the visual quality of an MPEG video movie transmitted over a fast fading channel using GMSK modulation, namely an error control coding technique and a new proposed post processing error concealment technique. Results are presented to show the visual quality.

The blind multi-user detection of direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) communication signals is considered in this paper. We utilize a mean of statistical technique called independent component analysis (ICA), which uses the higher order spectrum (HOS) analysis to extract independent source signals from a mixture of signals. This is known as blind source separation (BSS). A slowly-fading CDMA signal model, where the data is expressed as a linear combination of the convoluted independent symbol sequences is considered in this paper. The symbols estimation and the multiple-access interference suppression are affected by transforming the blind multi-user detection problem to an equivalent BSS problem. The used ICA algorithm is the fast fixed-point independent component analysis (FPICA) algorithm. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the ICA approach in the blind detection of DS-CDMA signals.

A modified fuzzy Sobel method for edge detection and enhancement is proposed. This method is a modification of the fuzzy Sobel method proposed by Kuo, Lee and Liu see (IEEE Conference on Fuzzy Systems, p.1069-74, 1997). The proposed method overcomes the drawbacks of the conventional gradient methods for edge detection such as Prewitt and Sobel methods. It automatically obtains four threshold values, and apply fuzzy reasoning for edge enhancement. The edges extracted by this method are very clear and provides better representation for image edges and object contours.

Lagermetallahnliche Legierungen des Bleis mit Kupfer, Antimon, oder beiden gemeinsam, Konnen aus einem komplexen, Ammoniumacetat enthaltenden Bleiacetatbad galvanisch niedergeschlagen werden. Die Zusammensetzung der Legierungen kann durch Anderung der Konzentration der Zusatze von Kupfersulfat, und/order Kaliumantimonyltartrat geandert werden. Die gunstigsten Arbeitsbedingungen liegen bei Temperaturen von 20 bis 30° C, Stromdichten von 1,0 bis 1,5 Aldm2 und bei pH- Werten zwischen 6 und 8. Die Stromausbeute betragt rund 100% sowohl an der Anode als auch an der Kathode. Die Uberzundigkeit des Bleis wird durch Zusatz von Antimon deutlich verbessert. The electrolytic deposition of lead-copper and lead-antimony alloys from a complex lead sulphate / lead acetate bath Alloys, similar to bearing metal, of lead with copper, antimony or both can be galvanically deposited from a complex lead acetate bath containing ammonium acetate. The composition of the alloys can be modified by varying the concentration of the copper sulphate and/or potassium antimonyl tartrate additions. The most favourable working condition are encountered with temperatures ranging from 20 to 30° c, current densities ranging from 1.0 to 1.5 Amps pr.sq. decimetre, and ph values between 6 and 8. the current yield amounts to nearly 100 PC at the anode as well as at the anode as well as at the cathode. The coatings are fine-grained, even and, with thicknesses from about 8 microns onwards, free from pores. The service life of the lead is clearly improved by adding antimony.