Albumin to creatinine ratio as a predictor to the severity of coronary artery disease

Introduction: Microalbuminuria (MA) is a well-known risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). It is associated with higher cardiovascular mortality, especially in diabetics. However, there are few data linking angiographic severity of CAD to MA.Aim: The aim of the present study was to assess the albumin to creatinine ratio as a new predictor for CAD and to correlate with its severity apart from other traditional CAD risk factors.Methods: Our study included 100 patients with documented CAD by coronary angiography in Alexandria main university hospital. The severity of CAD was scored on the basis of the number and the extent of lesions within the coronary arteries by using Syntax score. Urine albumin excretion was measured for all patients in morning spot urine samples by immune precipitation technique. We correlate between MA and severity of CAD.Results: In a total of 100 patients (74 males and 26 females), (mean age 55.71± 8.99 y) MA was present in 34 patients only. Patients were divided into two groups; group I included those without MA and group II with MA. CAD occurred more frequently in males than in females and in smokers than in non-smokers. There were no significant differences in the prevalence of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia between the two groups. A direct relationship between MA and extension of atherosclerotic coronary lesions was noticed (P = 0.009).Conclusion: Patients with MA having more severe angiographic CAD were compared to those without MA. This relation is independent of other risk factors. MA could be utilized as an independent risk factor for CAD.Keywords: Coronary artery disease (CAD); Microalbuminuria (MA); Albumin–creatinine rati

Survey on medicinal plants and spices used in Beni-Sueif, Upper Egypt

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study was conducted to identify medicinal plants and spices used for medicine by the community of Beni-Sueif, Upper Egypt.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Ethnobotanical data from local people was collected using direct interviews and a semi-structured questionnaire.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Forty-eight plant species belonging to twenty-seven families and forty-seven genera were encountered during the study. Their botanical and vernacular names, plant parts used and medicinal uses are given. Results of the study were analyzed using two quantitative tools. The factor informant consensus indicated the agreement in the use of plants and the fidelity level indicated the ratio between the number of informants who independently suggested the use of a species for the same major purpose and the total number of informants who mentioned the plant for any use. The results of the factor informant consensus showed that the cardiovascular category has the greatest agreement, followed by the immunological, gastrointestinal and respiratory categories. The most important species according to their fidelity are: <it>Hibiscus sabdariffa </it>L. for the cardiovascular category; <it>Trigonella foenum-graecum </it>L. for the immunological category; <it>Mentha piperita </it>L. for the gastrointestinal category and <it>Pimpinella anisum </it>L. for the respiratory category.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Medicinal plants are still used for treatment in Beni-Sueif community despite the availability of prescribed medications. Documentation of this ethnomedicinal knowledge is important. Evaluation of pharmacological activity for the promising medicinal plants is suggested.</p

Efficient H.264 intra Frame CODEC with Best prediction matrix mode algorithm

The continuous growth of smart communities and everincreasingdemand of sending or storing videos, have led toconsumption of huge amount of data. The video compressiontechniques are solving this emerging challenge. However, H.264standard can be considered most notable, and it has proven to meetproblematic requirements. The authors present (BPMM) as a novelefficient Intra prediction scheme. We can say that the creation of ourproposed technique was in a phased manner; it\u27s emerged as aproposal and achieved impressive results in the performanceparameters as compression ratios, bit rates, and PSNR. Then in thesecond stage, we solved the challenges of overcoming the obstacle ofencoding bits overhead. In this research, we try to address the finalphase of the (BPMM) codec and to introduce our approach in a globalmanner through realization of decoding mechanism. For evaluation ofour scheme, we utilized VHDL as a platform. Final results haveproven our success to pass bottleneck of this phase, since the decodedvideos have the same PSNR that our encoder tells us, whilepreserving steady compression ratio treating the overhead. We aspireour BPMM algorithm will be adopted as reference design of H.264 inthe ITU

Efficient H.264 intra Frame CODEC with Best prediction matrix mode algorithm

The continuous growth of smart communities and everincreasingdemand of sending or storing videos, have led toconsumption of huge amount of data. The video compressiontechniques are solving this emerging challenge. However, H.264standard can be considered most notable, and it has proven to meetproblematic requirements. The authors present (BPMM) as a novelefficient Intra prediction scheme. We can say that the creation of ourproposed technique was in a phased manner; it's emerged as aproposal and achieved impressive results in the performanceparameters as compression ratios, bit rates, and PSNR. Then in thesecond stage, we solved the challenges of overcoming the obstacle ofencoding bits overhead. In this research, we try to address the finalphase of the (BPMM) codec and to introduce our approach in a globalmanner through realization of decoding mechanism. For evaluation ofour scheme, we utilized VHDL as a platform. Final results haveproven our success to pass bottleneck of this phase, since the decodedvideos have the same PSNR that our encoder tells us, whilepreserving steady compression ratio treating the overhead. We aspireour BPMM algorithm will be adopted as reference design of H.264 inthe ITU

Carry-Over Effect in Forage Rotations on Newly Reclaimed Sandy Soil in Egypt

This study was carried out to investigate the carry-over effect of a preceding crop on the productivity of the following crop in various rotations in newly reclaimed lands in Egypt. The productivity of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.), soyabean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.), maize (Zea mays L.) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) in summer season were much higher following berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) or lentil (Lens culinaris Medic) than after wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) or barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) in both years of the study. Soyabean was the best summer season pre-crop for lentil and berseem, whereas peanut was best for barley. Maize was a suprisingly good pre-crop in this study. The carry-over effect from pearl millet was inferior to that of maize. Of the winter season crops berseem had the most positive effect on the four summer crops studied. Winter season crops had a decreasing positive effect in the order: berseem, lentil, barley and wheat. The data suggest that, cropping systems on newly reclaimed sandy soils should include legume crops (soyabean or peanut in summer, and berseem or lentil in winter) to maximise production of the following crop

Evaluation of Internal Criticality of the Plutonium Dispostion MOX SNF Waste Form

The purpose of this calculation is to perform a parametric study to determine the effects of fission product leaching, assembly collapse, and iron oxide loss ({Delta}Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}) on the reactivity of a waste package (WP) containing mixed oxide (MOX) spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Previous calculations (CRWMS M&amp;O 1998a) have shown that the criticality control features of the WP are adequate to prevent criticality of a flooded WP for all the enrichment/burnup pairs expected for the MOX SNF. Therefore, the objective of this calculation is to determine the increase in reactivity that might result from possible degradation of the WP criticality control features. Specifically, this calculation tests the sensitivity of effective neutron multiplication factor (k{sub eff}) to loss (from the WP) of the following: (1) fission product neutron absorbers, or (2) moderator displacement material (principally, the iron oxide that results from the corrosion of carbon steel)

Forage Production from Perennial vs. Annual Crop R~ on in Sandy Soils in Egypt

Forage production was studied on newly reclaimed sandy soil in Egypt trom perennial lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) and two annual crop rotations. The cropping systems were: A) lucerne, B) berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) in the winter followed by pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum R. Br. Emend. Stantz.) in the summer and C) triticale (XX Triticosecale Wittm.) (forage cut + grain harvest) in the winter followed by maize (Zea mays L.) (grain + stover) in the summer. Mean annual dry matter yields (t ha-1 ) were 20.65, 26.59 and 27.48 from A, B and C, respectively. However, lucerne provided the most even seasonal forage production

Elucidation of the effects of a high fat diet on trace elements in rabbit tissues using atomic absorption spectroscopy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The mechanism of atherogenesis is not yet fully understood despite intense study in this area. The effects of high fat diet (HFD) on the changes of trace elements [iron (Fe), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn)] in several tissues of rabbits have not been documented before. Thus, the aim of this study was to elucidate the changes in trace elements in several tissues of rabbits fed on HFD for a period of feeding of 10 weeks.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The HFD group was fed a NOR rabbit chow supplemented with 1.0% cholesterol plus 1.0% olive oil. Fe, Cu and Zn concentrations were measured in four types of tissue from control and HFD rabbits using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Comparing HFD rabbits to control rabbits, we found that the highest percentage change of increase of Fe was 95% in lung tissue, while the lowest percentage change of increase of Fe was 7% in kidney tissue; the highest percentage change of decrease of Cu was 16% in aortic tissue, while the lowest percentage change of decrease of Cu was 6% in kidney tissue; and the highest percentage change of decrease of Zn was 71% in kidney tissue, while the lowest percentage change of decrease of Zn was 8% in lung tissue.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results suggest that Fe plays a major role in atherogenesis; it may accelerate the process of atherosclerosis probably through the production of free radicals, deposition and absorption of intracellular and extracellular lipids in the intima, connective tissue formation, smooth muscle proliferation, lower matrix degradation capacity and increased plaque stability. Furthermore, inducing anemia in HFD rabbits may delay or inhibit the progression of atherosclerosis. Cu plays a minor role in atherogenesis and Cu supplements may inhibit the progression of atherogenesis, perhaps by reducing the migration of smooth muscle cells from the media to the intima. Zn plays a major role in atherogenesis and that it may act as an endogenous protective factor against atherosclerosis perhaps by reducing lesion Fe content, intracellular and extracellular lipids in the intima, connective tissue formation, and smooth muscle proliferation. These results suggest that it may be possible to use the measurement of changes in trace elements in different tissues of rabbits as an important risk factor during the progression of atherosclerosis.</p

Medicinal plants used for women's healthcare in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah, Saudi Arabia

There is persistent use of traditional medicine for women's health care in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah, they generally depend on traditional medicinal plants as the source for the treatment of their reproductive health issues. This study aims to document and collect information on herbal remedies used by traditional healers for women's healthcare in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah. Data about traditional uses of medicinal plants for female healthcare were collected through qualitative tools (questionnaire, interviews, and group discussions). A total of 31 medicinal plant species from 15 different families have been documented as being used for female healthcare. Different methods of preparation of the medicinal remedy wereprescribed usually as maceration or decoction of one plant or as a mixture of two or more plant species with an average dose of two glasses per day. Literatures confirm the use of most of these plants in the treatment of women's gynecological problems. This study indicates that a wide range of remedies are used by women for the treatment of several complications and problems associated with women's health issues

Analysis of Twitter Hashtags' Geographic Propagation

The goal of this work is to study the geographic propagation patterns of Twitters' hashtags. In order to analyze the hashtags' diffusion patterns, we look at the globe as a graph consists of a large grid of locations and use two different approaches to study the hashtags' behaviour. The first approach is to consider the locations on the global grid as variables (or features) and the individual hashtags as the examples. This viewpoint of our dataset allows us to perform dimensionality reduction techniques to reduce the size of the dataset without much loss of information and to identify the more influential locations. The second methodology is to transform the global grid into an undirected weighted graph and compute the influence curves associated with the hashtags propagation and their properties. We show that the influence curves of different classes of hashtags have similar patterns. In addition, we show that the influence curve can be approximated adequately using only six Chebychev polynomials