TECHNOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF CARBOXYMETHYL SESBANIA GALACTOMANNAN GUM DERIVATIVES AS THICKENERS IN REACTIVE PRINTING

Galactomannan gum isolated from the seeds of sesbania was subjected to chemical modification via carboxymethylation in non-aqueous medium using monochloroacetic acid under the catalytic action of sodium hydroxide. The obtained derivatives were subjected to measuring the degrees of substitution (D.S.), rheological properties of their pastes, and evaluated as thickeners in printing cotton fabrics with reactive dyes. Highly substituted derivatives could be used successfully as thickening agents in printing cotton fabrics either alone or in admixture with sodium alginate. Prints acquire soft handle, colour strength (K/S), and fastness properties nearly identical to corresponding samples that were printed using sodium alginate

EFFECT OF NITROGEN AND POTASSIUM FERTILIZATION ON YIELD AND FRUIT QUALITY OF MANGO KEITT CV. TREES GROWN UNDER OPEN FIELD AND SHADING CONDITIONS

This study was carried out during three successive seasons of 2010/2011, 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 in a private orchard at 76 km Cairo, Alex. Desert road  to investigate the effect of nitrogen and potassium fertilization treatments and shading with white net on yield, and fruit quality of three-years-old mango (Mangifica indica L.) cv. Keitt grafted on sucary seedling rootstocks planted at 2.5×2.5 meters apart grown in sandy soil under drip irrigation system with wells water .This experiment included nine treatments of fertilization: T1= N 80+ K2O 80 Kg/Fed., T2= N 80+ K2O 100 Kg/Fed., T3= N 100+ K2O 80 Kg/Fed., T4= N 100+ K2O 100 Kg/Fed., T5= N 120+ K2O 80 Kg/Fed., T6= N 120+ K2O 100 Kg/Fed.,T7= N 150+ K2O 80 Kg/Fed., T8= N 150+ K2O 100 Kg/Fed. and control (T9) = N 133+ K2O 90 Kg/Fed.. The results cleared that mango Keitt cv. trees grown under white net shading condition significantly increased yield (kg)/ tree, number of fruit set/ panicle, fruit weight, TSS and ascorbic acid content. Trees supplied with 150 Kg/Fed. nitrogen + 100 Kg/Fed. potassium exhibited the highest yield (kg)/tree, number of fruit set/panicle and  fruit weight under shade . Moreover, the best fruit peel color was achieved with trees received 100 kg/feddan of nitrogen +100 kg/feddan of potassium and grown under screenhouse conditions during the three studied seasons. The higher significant value of acidity and TSS were recorded in trees supplied by 120 units of nitrogen + 100 units of potassium during first and third season. Whereas, the control treatment attained a maximum ascorbic acid content

Experimental Shear Behavior of Fiber Reinforced Composite Corrugated Plate Girders at Intermediate Supports

Bridges with corrugated steel webs have been extensivelyconstructed in different countries. A trapezoidally corrugatedsteel plate is composed of a series of longitudinal andinclined subpanels. For a steel corrugated web girder, it isassumed that the web carries merely shear forces due to theaccordion effect [1,2]. The web in such a girder was found tocarry insignificant longitudinal stresses from the primaryflexure. Consequently, the bending moment is nearly carriedby its flanges. Thus, it is worth pointing out that the shearstrength can be determined without consideration ofmoment-shear interaction. But it was found that problem inan area where intermediate supports that shear forces arecompletely carried by web, and found that the value of theshear resistance, which is a concrete slab by almost beneglected. In recent years has been the study of differenttypes of materials to increase the efficiency of concrete andincrease the shear forces at the intermediate supports. Thusin this research, the effect of adding fiber to the concrete incomposite corrugated plate girders at intermediate supportswas investigated

Reverse Transcription Recombinase Polymerase Amplification Assay for Rapid Detection of Avian Influenza Virus H9N2 HA Gene

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

Insulin Resistance in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Infection

Abstract: Chronic HCV infection has emerged as a complex multifaceted disease with manifestations extending beyond the liver. Hepatic steatosis, insulin resistance (IR) and type II diabetes have been observed to occur more frequently in association with HCV infection than other chronic inflammatory liver disease. Insulin resistance is more often seen in hepatitis C than in other liver disease, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Insulin resistance (IR) promotes liver fibrosis as hyperinsulinemia per se stimulates the proliferation of stellate cells enhancing the secretion of extracellular matrix. Moreover, hyperinsulinemia stimulate the expression of connective tissue growth factor. On the other hand, HCV is directly associated with IR in a dose-dependent manner as viral eradication after antiviral treatment may lead to an improvement of insulin resistance. The aim of this work is to study the relation between patients with CHC infection and insulin resistance. The study was conducted on 50 non diabetic patients with CHC and 10 age, sex, BMI matched group as a control. Complete history taking and clinical examination specially to examination of blood pressure, jaundice vascular spiders, liver flaps BMI, acanthosis nigricans, clinically detectable organomegaly or ascites, laboratory investigations including fasting serum glucose, fasting insulin, AST, AIT, Tbil and PT. Results showed that the means of fasting serum insulin, fasting serum glucose, serum AIT and AST were statistically higher in patients with HCV compared to the control. HOMA IR was found to be higher in patients with HCV than control with value of 4.9+1.6 and 0.99+0.28 respectively. HOMA is founded to be statistically related to BMI and serum. glucose and nearly significant to HCV (correlation coefficient 0.23 p-value 0.09). HCV was found to be significantly related to serum glucose, and HOMA. Linear regression analysis revealed that BMI and HCV infection were significant predictors for high HOMA level P 0.001, R seg : 0.617 which means that the regression model is significant and could explain 61.7% of change in HOMA level. In conclusion insulin resistance is common in patients with HCV. Recommendation monitoring and follow-up of serum glucose is important in euglycemic CHC patients. Study of vascular risk in CHC patients with metabolic IR is important and needed to be clarified

Batch and continuous removal of heavy metals from industrial effluents using microbial consortia

Bio-removal of heavy metals, using microbial biomass, increasingly attracting scientific attention due to their significant role in purification of different types of wastewaters making it reusable. Heavy metals were reported to have a significant hazardous effect on human health, and while the conventional methods of removal were found to be insufficient; microbial biosorption was found to be the most suitable alternative. In this work, an immobilized microbial consortium was generated using Statistical Design of Experiment (DOE) as a robust method to screen the efficiency of the microbial isolates in heavy metal removal process. This is the first report of applying Statistical DOE to screen the efficacy of microbial isolates to remove heavy metals instead of screening normal variables. A mixture of bacterial biomass and fungal spores was used both in batch and continuous modes to remove Chromium and Iron ions from industrial effluents. Bakery yeast was applied as a positive control, and all the obtained biosorbent isolates showed more significant efficiency in heavy metal removal. In batch mode, the immobilized biomass was enclosed in a hanged tea bag-like cellulose membrane to facilitate the separation of the biosorbent from the treated solutions, which is one of the main challenges in applying microbial biosorption at large scale. The continuous flow removal was performed using fixed bed mini-bioreactor, and the process was optimized in terms of pH (6) and flow rates (1 ml/min) using Response Surface Methodology. The most potential biosorbent microbes were identified and characterized. The generated microbial consortia and process succeeded in the total removal of Chromium ions and more than half of Iron ions both from standard solutions and industrial effluents

Burden of obesity in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: findings from the Global Burden of Disease 2015 study

Mokdad AH, El Bcheraoui C, Afshin A, et al. Burden of obesity in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: findings from the Global Burden of Disease 2015 study. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH. 2018;63(Suppl. 1):165-176.We used the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2015 study results to explore the burden of high body mass index (BMI) in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). We estimated the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children (2-19 years) and adults (20 years) in 1980 and 2015. The burden of disease related to high BMI was calculated using the GBD comparative risk assessment approach. The prevalence of obesity increased for adults from 15.1% (95% UI 13.4-16.9) in 1980 to 20.7% (95% UI 18.8-22.8) in 2015. It increased from 4.1% (95% UI 2.9-5.5) to 4.9% (95% UI 3.6-6.4) for the same period among children. In 2015, there were 417,115 deaths and 14,448,548 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) attributable to high BMI in EMR, which constitute about 10 and 6.3% of total deaths and DALYs, respectively, for all ages. This is the first study to estimate trends in obesity burden for the EMR from 1980 to 2015. We call for EMR countries to invest more resources in prevention and health promotion efforts to reduce this burden

Transport injuries and deaths in the Eastern Mediterranean Region : findings from the Global Burden of Disease 2015 Study

Transport injuries (TI) are ranked as one of the leading causes of death, disability, and property loss worldwide. This paper provides an overview of the burden of TI in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) by age and sex from 1990 to 2015. Transport injuries mortality in the EMR was estimated using the Global Burden of Disease mortality database, with corrections for ill-defined causes of death, using the cause of death ensemble modeling tool. Morbidity estimation was based on inpatient and outpatient datasets, 26 cause-of-injury and 47 nature-of-injury categories. In 2015, 152,855 (95% uncertainty interval: 137,900-168,100) people died from TI in the EMR countries. Between 1990 and 2015, the years of life lost (YLL) rate per 100,000 due to TI decreased by 15.5%, while the years lived with disability (YLD) rate decreased by 10%, and the age-standardized disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) rate decreased by 16%. Although the burden of TI mortality and morbidity decreased over the last two decades, there is still a considerable burden that needs to be addressed by increasing awareness, enforcing laws, and improving road conditions.Peer reviewe

Burden of cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, 2005-2015: findings from the Global Burden of Disease 2015 Study

Fitzmaurice C, Alsharif U, El Bcheraoui C, et al. Burden of cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, 2005-2015: findings from the Global Burden of Disease 2015 Study. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH. 2018;63(Suppl. 1):151-164.To estimate incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) caused by cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) between 2005 and 2015. Vital registration system and cancer registry data from the EMR region were analyzed for 29 cancer groups in 22 EMR countries using the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015 methodology. In 2015, cancer was responsible for 9.4% of all deaths and 5.1% of all DALYs. It accounted for 722,646 new cases, 379,093 deaths, and 11.7 million DALYs. Between 2005 and 2015, incident cases increased by 46%, deaths by 33%, and DALYs by 31%. The increase in cancer incidence was largely driven by population growth and population aging. Breast cancer, lung cancer, and leukemia were the most common cancers, while lung, breast, and stomach cancers caused most cancer deaths. Cancer is responsible for a substantial disease burden in the EMR, which is increasing. There is an urgent need to expand cancer prevention, screening, and awareness programs in EMR countries as well as to improve diagnosis, treatment, and palliative care services

Neonatal, infant, and under-5 mortality and morbidity burden in the Eastern Mediterranean region: findings from the Global Burden of Disease 2015 study

Objectives Although substantial reductions in under-5 mortality have been observed during the past 35 years, progress in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) has been uneven. This paper provides an overview of child mortality and morbidity in the EMR based on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. Methods We used GBD 2015 study results to explore under-5 mortality and morbidity in EMR countries. Results In 2015, 755,844 (95% uncertainty interval (UI) 712,064–801,565) children under 5 died in the EMR. In the early neonatal category, deaths in the EMR decreased by 22.4%, compared to 42.4% globally. The rate of years of life lost per 100,000 population under 5 decreased 54.38% from 177,537 (173,812–181,463) in 1990 to 80,985 (76,308–85,876) in 2015; the rate of years lived with disability decreased by 0.57% in the EMR compared to 9.97% globally. Conclusions Our findings call for accelerated action to decrease child morbidity and mortality in the EMR. Governments and organizations should coordinate efforts to address this burden. Political commitment is needed to ensure that child health receives the resources needed to end preventable deaths