Alcohol-Selective Oxidation in Water under Mild Conditions via a Novel Approach to Hybrid Composite Photocatalysts

The oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds in a clean fashion (i.e., with water as a solvent or under solvent-free conditions, and using O2 or H2O2 as the primary oxidant) is the subject of considerable research efforts. A new approach for the selective oxidation of soluble aromatic alcohols in water under mild conditions via a novel composite photocatalyst has been developed. The catalyst is synthesized by grafting 4-(4-(4-hydroxyphenylimino)cyclohexa-2,5dienylideneamino)phenol and silver nanoparticles onto the surface of moderately crystalline titanium dioxide. The titanium dioxide-based composite was first extensively characterized and then employed in the catalytic oxidation of 4-methoxybenzyl alcohol to 4-methoxybenzaldehyde under UV irradiation in water at room temperature. The corresponding aldehyde was obtained with unprecedented high selectivity (up to 86 %). The method is general and opens the route to fabrication of photocatalytic composites based on titanium dioxide functionalized with shuttle organic molecules and metal nanoparticles for a variety of oxidative conversions

Effect of Soft Tissue Mobilization on Cervical Pain in Nursing Women

Introduction: cervical pain in nursing women is aserious health problem because it certainly limits function and capacity in both work and personal life. Purpose: This study was performed to determine the effectiveness of soft tissue mobilization on the treatment of cervical pain in nursing women. Subjects: sixty breastfeeding women were selected from Fakous Hospital at El Sharqia, diagnosed with neck pain and active myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) in the upper fibres of trapezius muscle. Patients were divided randomly into two groups equal in number: group (A) received convential physical therapy (stretching exercise), group (B) received instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM) and convential physical therapy. Methods: The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Neck disability index scale (NDI) were assessed before the study and after four weeks. Results: The mean difference in VAS between groups post treatment was 1.6. There was a significant decrease in VAS of group B compared with that of group A post treatment. The mean difference in NDI between groups post treatment was 5.4%. There was a significant decrease in the NDI of group B compared with that of group A post treatment. Conclusion: soft tissue mobilization can be used on the treatment of cervical pain in nursing women. It has significant effect on Visual Analogue Scale and Neck disability index scale rather than convential physical therapy only

Maternal satisfaction with delivery services at tertiary university hospital in upper Egypt, is it actually satisfying?

Background: Maternal health has therefore become an important aspect of policy and planning for healthcare, as reflected by its inclusion as the fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG). The objective of the present investigation was to determine the maternal satisfaction towards delivery services at Women's Health Hospital, Assiut University, Upper EgyptMethods: A cross sectional study was performed. The study was conducted during February- April 2016 on a sample of 400 delivering mothers; the data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS version21. Statistical tests were used, and significance level was taken at p-value <0.05.Results: A total of 400 delivering mothers were interviewed, of which 67.0 % of the respondents were between the age group of 20-30, 76.75 % were from rural areas, 48.0%were illiterate, 86.75% were house wives and 46.0% belonged to the income group of less than 500 EGP. The findings of the study showed that the overall maternal satisfaction level with the delivery services rendered at the hospital was 78.5%, while 21.5% were dissatisfied. Furthermore, satisfaction with the delivery service was found to have a significant association with the age of the respondents and educational level of the respondents. Moreover, results suggest that women are satisfied with the communication factors, interpersonal behavior, good management, and general satisfaction. Women were least satisfied with privacy sensation during hospital stay and obligatory blood donation.Conclusions: Although most participants were satisfied by the delivery service provided to them during delivery, Dissatisfaction by a minority group resulted in a limited ability of communication with mothers, lack of privacy sensation during hospital stay and obligatory blood donation. Thus, mechanisms should be developed to increase maternal satisfaction in our hospital

Interspecies Interaction between Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli in vitro

Microbial interactions are frequently categorized according to how they affect each population in a binary system. We aimed to determine the interaction between P . aeruginosa, S . aureus, and E . coli in-vitro. In this experimental hospitalized patients’ sputum, urine, and blood samples were used to collect a total of 90 clinical isolates for the study in Damanhour Medical National Institute, Behira, Egypt, followed by accurate identification and testing for antibiotic sensitivity. To examine the effect of the supernatant of P. aeruginosa on S. aureus and E. coli determined MIC using broth microdilution method. We also measured the activity of lasA protease by assessing the S. aureus cell lysis potential of P. aeruginosa culture supernatants. Extraction of pyocyanin was made to determine the change in the cell nature of S. aureus upon exposure to pyocyanin by using a scanning electron microscope and the shape of colonies on the culture media was determined. Finally, we detect lasA, operon phz, phzM, phzS and rhlAB genes for P. aeruginosa. P. aeruginosa showed a great impact on S. aureus isolates resistant to different antibiotics as it facilitates their killing and may drive the normal colonies of S. aureus into SCVs. The ability to form biofilm by S. aureus and E. coli decreased in the presence of Pseudomonas supernatant

Theoretical and experimental insights into the C-steel aqueous corrosion inhibition at elevated temperatures in 1.0M HCl via multi-carbonyl Gemini cationic surfactants

Despite corrosion being an inevitable process, researchers strive to control corrosion. In this study, our goal was to prepare two amido Gemini cationic surfactants, LAPG and MAPG, each with different alkyl chains and multiple carbonyl groups as rich electronic rich centers. We aimed to evaluate these surfactants as potential corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel (CS) in 1M HCl at temperatures of 25-55 ± 0.1°C. In theoretical investigations, DFT parameters and Mont Carlo simulation were run to predict the adsorption affinity and reactive sites of the LAPG and MAPG molecules. Their efficacy was investigated experimentally considering weight loss and electrochemical techniques. The Tafel polarization revealed that at 0.1mM of LAPG and MAPG, the corrosion current density (i corr) of CS was reduced to the lowest extent (75.56 and 53.82μAcm-2) compared to 529.3μAcm-2 in the absence of the inhibitors. EIS data suggests the enhancement of the thickness of the adsorbed layers of the studied compounds from the decrease of the double-layer capacitance C dl values. The Langmuir isotherm explained the adoption phenomena of these compounds at 25-55 ± 0.1°C. Activation and adsorption thermodynamic parameters predicted the chemisorption behavior of these molecules onto the steel surface. AFM and XPS tools confirm the CS surface protection due to these inhibitors' adsorbed layer. A parallel study showed the superiority of these corrosion inhibitors in HCl compared with those reported earlier, making these compounds highly promising corrosion inhibitors, especially in high-temperature acidic environments

Mixed Climatology, Non-synoptic Phenomena and Downburst Wind Loading of Structures

Modern wind engineering was born in 1961, when Davenport published a paper in which meteorology, micrometeorology, climatology, bluff-body aerodynamics and structural dynamics were embedded within a homogeneous framework of the wind loading of structures called today \u201cDavenport chain\u201d. Idealizing the wind with a synoptic extra-tropical cyclone, this model was so simple and elegant as to become a sort of axiom. Between 1976 and 1977 Gomes and Vickery separated thunderstorm from non-thunderstorm winds, determined their disjoint extreme distributions and derived a mixed model later extended to other Aeolian phenomena; this study, which represents a milestone in mixed climatology, proved the impossibility of labelling a heterogeneous range of events by the generic term \u201cwind\u201d. This paper provides an overview of this matter, with particular regard to the studies conducted at the University of Genova on thunderstorm downbursts