Design of a Circular Concentric Microstrip Patch Antenna Array for WI-FI Band Energy Harvesting

Wireless networks have gone through unprecedented changes in the last decade owing to the rise in the number of users. Radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting (EH) (termed as RF-EH) can be a potential solution to exploit this traffic in communication systems, one of the key issues is designing a compact antenna array while providing reliable capturing characteristics over the operating band. In energy harvesting systems, printed slot antennas have received much attention owing to their matching characteristics. In addition, they present really appealing physical features, such as simple structure, small size, and low cost. In this paper, a small circular concentric antenna array utilizing rectangular radiating patch elements and defected ground structure for RF-EH is proposed. The antenna is designed using the CST Microwave Studio software package and realized on a Roger 5880 substrate with ���� = 2.2 and ℎ = 3.18 ����. The simulations demonstrated the effective performance of the proposed circular antenna array structure in terms of high gain of about 15.8 dBi, high efficiency, and the possibility to collect RF power from all direction

Annexin A6 improves anti-migratory and anti-invasive properties of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in EGFR overexpressing human squamous epithelial cells

Annexin A6 (AnxA6), a member of the calcium (Ca2+ ) and membrane binding annexins, is known to stabilize and establish the formation of multifactorial signaling complexes. At the plasma membrane, AnxA6 is a scaffold for protein kinase Cα (PKCα) and GTPase-activating protein p120GAP to promote downregulation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and Ras/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling. In human squamous A431 epithelial carcinoma cells, which overexpress EGFR, but lack endogenous AnxA6, restoration of AnxA6 expression (A431-A6) promotes PKCα-mediated threonine 654 (T654)-EGFR phosphorylation, which inhibits EGFR tyrosine kinase activity. This is associated with reduced A431-A6 cell growth, but also decreased migration and invasion in wound healing, matrigel, and organotypic matrices. Here, we show that A431-A6 cells display reduced EGFR activity in vivo, with xenograft analysis identifying increased pT654-EGFR levels, but reduced tyrosine EGFR phosphorylation compared to controls. In contrast, PKCα depletion in A431-A6 tumors is associated with strongly reduced pT654 EGFR levels, yet increased EGFR tyrosine phosphorylation and MAPK activity. Moreover, tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs; gefitinib, erlotinib) more effectively inhibit cell viability, clonogenic growth, and wound healing of A431-A6 cells compared to controls. Likewise, the ability of AnxA6 to inhibit A431 motility and invasiveness strongly improves TKI efficacy in matrigel invasion assays. This correlates with a greatly reduced invasion of the surrounding matrix of TKI-treated A431-A6 when cultured in 3D spheroids. Altogether, these findings implicate that elevated AnxA6 scaffold levels contribute to improve TKI-mediated inhibition of growth and migration, but also invasive properties in EGFR overexpressing human squamous epithelial carcinoma

Annexin A6 and late endosomal cholesterol modulate integrin recycling and cell migration.

Annexins are a family of proteins that bind to phospholipids in a calcium-dependent manner. Earlier studies implicated annexin A6 (AnxA6) to inhibit secretion and participate in the organization of the extracellular matrix. We recently showed that elevated AnxA6 levels significantly reduced secretion of the extracellular matrix protein fibronectin (FN). Because FN is directly linked to the ability of cells to migrate, this prompted us to investigate the role of AnxA6 in cell migration. Up-regulation of AnxA6 in several cell models was associated with reduced cell migration in wound healing, individual cell tracking and three-dimensional migration/invasion assays. The reduced ability of AnxA6-expressing cells to migrate was associated with decreased cell surface expression of αVβ3 and α5β1 integrins, both FN receptors. Mechanistically, we found that elevated AnxA6 levels interfered with syntaxin-6 (Stx6)-dependent recycling of integrins to the cell surface. AnxA6 overexpression caused mislocalization and accumulation of Stx6 and integrins in recycling endosomes, whereas siRNA-mediated AnxA6 knockdown did not modify the trafficking of integrins. Given our recent findings that inhibition of cholesterol export from late endosomes (LEs) inhibits Stx6-dependent integrin recycling and that elevated AnxA6 levels cause LE cholesterol accumulation, we propose that AnxA6 and blockage of LE cholesterol transport are critical for endosomal function required for Stx6-mediated recycling of integrins in cell migration

Carpal tunnel syndrome: evaluation of its provocative clinical tests

Abstract Background The diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is established mainly on a clinical basis, and diagnosis is done after careful history taking and examination including known provocative tests with varying efficacy and reliability. Methods A prospective clinical study of 123 patients with 171 hands presenting with classical symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome were included in this study, from October 2013 to October 2015, and they underwent open surgical release of flexor retinaculum at the Neurosurgery Department of Benha University Hospital. Results ART is positive in 88.3%. This is compared to 75, 81.3, 79.7, and 83.6% of positive results in Tinel’s test, compression test, Phalen’s test, and combined Phalen’s and compression test. ART is the most sensitive and specific test and has the highest positive predictive value of 98.3%, negative predictive value of 81.9%, and accuracy of 91.4%. Conclusion ART is a simple, reliable, and easily performed test for evaluating carpal tunnel syndrome; it is superior to other tests and could be used also to assess improvement after surgery

Occupational Hazards and Self-Reported Health Problems among Photocopy and Printing Workers at Assiut University, Egypt

Background: Photocopy and printing workers have a great chance of exposure to polluting materials and various hazardous substances that are harmful to human health. Objective: This study aims to assess occupational hazards and self-reported health problems among photocopy and printing workers. Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 163 workers at central printing press, including printing and photocopies offices of faculties, Assiut University. Methods: A structured questionnaire was administered through face-to-face interviews by the researcher. All respondents were interviewed during the period from first of February to the first of July 2022. It comprised four main parts Part One: Demographic and occupational data. Part Two: Self-Reported health problems of study participants. Part Three: Workplace environment at photocopy and printing offices. Part four: Studied workers' knowledge about occupational hazards and their knowledge about health risks associated with each hazard. Results: The study revealed that 89.0% of studied workers were male, 39.9% of them were aged from 40-50 years. Alongside, 89.6% of studied workers had poor knowledge about occupational hazards and health risks of each hazards. The most frequent muscle-skeletal problem among studied workers was back pain 36.2%. Approximately 9.8% complained from vomiting. Regarding respiratory problems, shortness of breathing was reported by 25.8% of the participants. About 10.4% of studied workers suffered from visual impairment. Also, 22.7% of participants complained from skin irritation. Conclusion: The study concluded that poor knowledge about occupational hazards, so they at higher risk for different work-related health problems.  &nbsp

Design of a Circular Concentric Microstrip Patch Antenna Array for WI-FI Band Energy Harvesting

Wireless networks have gone through unprecedented changes in the last decade owing to the rise in the number of users. Radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting (EH) (termed as RF-EH) can be a potential solution to exploit this traffic in communication systems, one of the key issues is designing a compact antenna array while providing reliable capturing characteristics over the operating band. In energy harvesting systems, printed slot antennas have received much attention owing to their matching characteristics. In addition, they present really appealing physical features, such as simple structure, small size, and low cost. In this paper, a small circular concentric antenna array utilizing rectangular radiating patch elements and defected ground structure for RF-EH is proposed. The antenna is designed using the CST Microwave Studio software package and realized on a Roger 5880 substrate with ���� = 2.2 and ℎ = 3.18 ����. The simulations demonstrated the effective performance of the proposed circular antenna array structure in terms of high gain of about 15.8 dBi, high efficiency, and the possibility to collect RF power from all direction

Therapeutic Potential of Bone Marrow Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Modulating Astroglyosis of Surgical Induced Experimental Spinal Cord Injury

Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) unsuccessful regeneration was due to glial scar development. It was a major obstacle to axonal restoration. Safe therapeutic intervention by the use of bone marrow derived stem cells (BMMSCs) transplantation applied in the present study could reduce spinal disability. Material and methods: Forty male albino rats were divided into four groups: GI: negative control (n = 10 rats); GII: positive control after SCI (n = 10 rats); GIII: SCI + BM − MSCs intravenous injected and GIV: SCI + BM − MSCs intra lesion injected (n = 10 rats in each group). The samples were taken from spinal cord tissues around the region of injury and were subjected to histological, immunohistochemical assessment. RNA extraction and real time PCR for detection of nerve regeneration and astrocyte response to the injury were also performed. Results: Clinical improvement occurred by the enhancement in the Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) score after SCI. Histological examinations showed positive regenerative responses in GIV compared to GIII. Conclusion: BM-MSCs transplantation has a promising role in enhancing the microenvironment for nerve regeneration through stumbling the glial scaring formation and inflammatory response af- ter chronic spinal cord injury especially by using intra-lesion route injection

Evolution of the accreditation program for healthcare organizations in KSA: From present to future

الملخص: ممارسة الطب المبني على الأدلة والبراهين العلمية المثبتة حجر أساس لتقديم رعاية طبية ذات جودة عالية وبالتالي الوصول إلى نتائج صحية مرضية، ولهذا تفرض العديد من الدول برامج إعتماد في القطاع الصحي. إحدى هذه البرامج هو سباهي في المملكة العربية السعودية، والعديد من الدراسات ربطت حصول المنشأة الصحية على اعتماد سباهي مع تحقيقها لنتائج إيجابية في الرعاية الطبية، وبالرغم من ذلك هناك تحديات في مجال اعتماد المنشآت الصحية داخل المملكة العربية السعودية ، منها التباين و التنوع في مواقع و جودة الرعاية الصحية المراد تقييمها وأيضا طبيعة و سرعة تطورقطاع الرعاية الصحية مما يؤدي إلى ظهورتحديات مختلفة. و محاولة سباهي في التغلب على هذه التحديات تظهر من خلال تطوير معايير التقييم، والحصول على الاعتماد الدولي، وتدريب المقيمين لتقييم المنشآت الصحية في جميع أنحاء المملكة العربية السعودية، نجاح هذه الجهود سيساعد في تعزيز مصداقية نظام الرعاية الطبية في السعودية على تقديم رعاية ذات جودة عالية وبالتالي تصبح مقصداً علاجياً عالمياً. Abstract: Delivering high-quality care is a cornerstone of achieving satisfying health outcomes, and evidence-based medicine is the basis for doing so. For that, some governments mandate accreditation programs for the healthcare sector. One of these programs is CBAHI in KSA (SA), and many studies have shown positive healthcare outcomes associated with CBAHI accreditation in SA. While these achievements indicate progress, challenges remain. Variability in the quality of healthcare services across different regions of SA is a concern. Furthermore, the fact that healthcare is a complex industry that is rapidly evolving poses many challenges. CBAHI tries to overcome these challenges by continuously developing standards, obtaining international accreditation, and training surveyors to assess healthcare facilities across SA. The success of these efforts will help enhance the SA healthcare system's credibility and attract international patients who are seeking high-quality care

Does vitamin C have the ability to augment the therapeutic effect of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells on spinal cord injury?

Methylprednisolone (MP) is currently the only drug confirmed to exhibit a neuroprotective effect on acute spinal cord injury (SCI). Vitamin C (VC) is a natural water-soluble antioxidant that exerts neuroprotective effects through eliminating free radical damage to nerve cells. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs), as multipotent stem cells, are promising candidates in SCI repair. To evaluate the therapeutic effects of MP, VC and BMMSCs on traumatic SCI, 80 adult male rats were randomly divided into seven groups: control, SCI (SCI induction by weight-drop method), MP (SCI induction, followed by administration of 30 mg/kg MP via the tail vein, once every other 6 hours, for five times), VC (SCI induction, followed by intraperitoneal administration of 100 mg/kg VC once a day, for 28 days), MP + VC (SCI induction, followed by administration of MP and VC as the former), BMMSCs (SCI induction, followed by injection of 3 × 106 BMMSCs at the injury site), and BMMSCs + VC (SCI induction, followed by BMMSCs injection and VC administration as the former). Locomotor recovery was assessed using the Basso Mouse Scale. Injured spinal cord tissue was evaluated using hematoxylin-eosin staining and immunohistochemical staining. Expression of transforming growth factor-beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and matrix metalloproteinase-2 genes was determined using real-time quantitative PCR. BMMSCs intervention better promoted recovery of nerve function of rats with SCI, mitigated nerve cell damage, and decreased expression of transforming growth factor-beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and matrix metalloproteinase-2 genes than MP and/or VC. More importantly, BMMSCs in combination with VC induced more obvious improvements. These results suggest that VC can enhance the neuroprotective effects of BMMSCs against SCI