Soil erosion and sediment transport modelling using hydrological models and remote sensing techniques in Wadi Billi, Egypt

Modelling soil erosion and sediment transport are vital to assess the impact of the flash floods. However, limited research works have studied sediment transport, especially in Egypt. This paper employs the HEC-HMS lumped hydrological model to predict the sediment load due to the flood event of 9th March 2014 in Wadi Billi, Egypt. The Modified USLE model has been used to calculate the total upland erosion, while Laursen-Copeland has been used to simulate load streams’ sediment transport potential. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) has been applied over Landsat 8 image captured on 20th February 2014 using ArcMap 10.5 to determine the vegetation cover based on its spectral footprint. The resulted sedigraph showed accumulation of more than five thousand tons of sediments at the Wadi’s outlet. The results are crucial to design a suitable stormwater management system to protect the downstream urban area and to use flood water for groundwater recharge.TU Berlin, Open-Access-Mittel – 202

Altered respiratory microbiota composition and functionality associated with asthma early in life

BACKGROUND: The microbiota of the respiratory tract has an important role in maintaining respiratory health. However, little is known on the respiratory microbiota in asthmatic patients among Middle Eastern populations. This study investigated the respiratory microbiota composition and functionality associated with asthma in Emirati subjects. METHODS: We performed 16S rRNA and ITS2-gene based microbial profiling of 40 expectorated sputum samples from adult and pediatric Emirati individuals averaging 52 and 7 years of age, respectively with or without asthma. RESULTS: We report bacterial difference belonging to Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Fusobacteria and Proteobacteria phyla between asthmatic and non-asthmatic controls. Similarly, fungal difference belonging to Ascomycota, Basidiomycota phyla and other unclassified fungi. Differential abundance testing among asthmatic individuals with relation to Asthma Control Test show a significant depletion of Penicillium aethiopicum and Alternaria spp., among poorly controlled asthmatics. Moreover, data suggest a significant expansion of Malassezia spp. and other unclassified fungi in the airways of those receiving steroids and leukotriene receptor antagonists’ combination therapy, in contrast to those receiving steroids alone. Functional profiling from 16S data showed marked differences between pediatric asthmatic and non-asthmatic controls, with pediatric asthmatic patients showing an increase in amino acid (p-value < 5.03 × 10− 7), carbohydrate (p-value < 4.76 × 10− 7), and fatty acid degradation (p-value < 6.65 × 10− 7) pathways, whereas non-asthmatic controls are associated with increase in amino acid (p-value < 8.34 × 10− 7), carbohydrate (p-value < 3.65 × 10− 7), and fatty acid (p-value < 2.18 × 10− 6) biosynthesis pathways in concordance with enterotype composition. CONCLUSIONS: These differences provide an insight into respiratory microbiota composition in Emirati population and its possible role in the development of asthma early in life. This study provides important information that may eventually lead to the development of screening biomarkers to predict early asthma development and novel therapeutic approaches

Soil erosion and sediment transport modelling using hydrological models and remote sensing techniques in Wadi Billi, Egypt

Modelling soil erosion and sediment transport are vital to assess the impact of the flash floods. However, limited research works have studied sediment transport, especially in Egypt. This paper employs the HEC-HMS lumped hydrological model to predict the sediment load due to the flood event of 9th March 2014 in Wadi Billi, Egypt. The Modified USLE model has been used to calculate the total upland erosion, while Laursen-Copeland has been used to simulate load streams’ sediment transport potential. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) has been applied over Landsat 8 image captured on 20th February 2014 using ArcMap 10.5 to determine the vegetation cover based on its spectral footprint. The resulted sedigraph showed accumulation of more than five thousand tons of sediments at the Wadi’s outlet. The results are crucial to design a suitable stormwater management system to protect the downstream urban area and to use flood water for groundwater recharge.Technische Universität Berlin (3136)https://www.hec.usace.army.mil/software/hec-hms

Soil erosion and sediment transport modelling using hydrological models and remote sensing techniques in Wadi Billi, Egypt

Modelling soil erosion and sediment transport are vital to assess the impact of the flash floods. However, limited research works have studied sediment transport, especially in Egypt. This paper employs the HEC-HMS lumped hydrological model to predict the sediment load due to the flood event of 9th March 2014 in Wadi Billi, Egypt. The Modified USLE model has been used to calculate the total upland erosion, while Laursen-Copeland has been used to simulate load streams' sediment transport potential. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) has been applied over Landsat 8 image captured on 20th February 2014 using ArcMap 10.5 to determine the vegetation cover based on its spectral footprint. The resulted sedigraph showed accumulation of more than five thousand tons of sediments at the Wadi's outlet. The results are crucial to design a suitable stormwater management system to protect the downstream urban area and to use flood water for groundwater recharge

Overexpression of AQP3 Modifies the Cell Cycle and the Proliferation Rate of Mammalian Cells in Culture

Abnormal AQP3 overexpression in tumor cells of different origins has been reported and a role for this enhanced AQP3 expression in cell proliferation and tumor processess has been indicated. To further understand the role AQP3 plays in cell proliferation we explore the effect that stable over expression of AQP3 produces over the proliferation rate and cell cycle of mammalian cells. The cell cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry with propidium iodide (PI) and the cell proliferation rate measured through cell counting and BrdU staining. Cells with overexpression of AQP3 (AQP3-o) showed higher proliferation rate and larger percentage of cells in phases S and G2/M, than wild type cells (wt). Evaluation of the cell response against arresting the cell cycle with Nocodazole showed that AQP3-o exhibited a less modified cell cycle pattern and lower Annexin V specific staining than wt, consistently with a higher resistance to apoptosis of AQP3-overexpressing cells. The cell volume and complexity were also larger in AQP3-o compared to wt cells. After transcriptomic analysis, RT-qPCR was performed to highlight key molecules implicated in cell proliferation which expression may be altered by overexpression of AQP3 and the comparative analysis between both type of cells showed significant changes in the expression of Zeb2, Jun, JunB, NF-kβ, Cxcl9, Cxcl10, TNF, and TNF receptors. We conclude that the role of AQP3 in cell proliferation seems to be connected to increments in the cell cycle turnover and changes in the expression levels of relevant genes for this process. Larger expression of AQP3 may confer to the cell a more tumor like phenotype and contributes to explain the presence of this protein in many different tumors