Microbial-Physical Synthesis of Fe and Fe3O4 Magnetic Nanoparticles Using Aspergillus niger YESM1 and Supercritical Condition of Ethanol

Magnetic Fe and Fe3O4 (magnetite) nanoparticles are successfully synthesized using Aspergillus niger YESM 1 and supercritical condition of liquids. Aspergillus niger is used for decomposition of FeSO4 and FeCl3 to FeS and Fe2O3, respectively. The produced particles are exposed to supercritical condition of ethanol for 1 hour at 300∘ C and pressure of 850 psi. The phase structure and the morphology measurements yield pure iron and major Fe3O4 spherical nanoparticles with average size of 18 and 50 nm, respectively. The crystal size amounts to 9 nm for Fe and 8 nm for Fe3O4. The magnetic properties are measured to exhibit superparamagneticand ferromagnetic-like behaviors for Fe and Fe3O4 nanoparticles, respectively. The saturation magnetization amounts to 112 and 68 emu/g for Fe and Fe3O4, respectively. The obtained results open new route for using the biophysical method for large-scale production of highly magnetic nanoparticles to be used for biomedical applications

Laryngeal tuberculosis presenting as laryngeal carcinoma

Tuberculosis (TB) accounts for the highest number of mortalities among infectious diseases worldwide. Laryngeal TB is an extremely rare presentation of TB. It has many similarities to laryngeal carcinoma, one of the three most common cancers among males in the city, with an age standardized rate of 8.6. The associated risk factors of laryngeal carcinoma i.e. smoking, paan, betel nut usage and alcohol use also tend to be concentrated in the same demographic background as that of TB, creating a diagnostic dilemma. We present a case of granulomatous laryngeal TB, in a 40 year old male, with characteristic presenting features of laryngeal carcinoma i.e. persistent hoarseness and weight loss. He had no associated symptoms of fever, night sweats, cough or dysphagia, nor did he have any history of tobacco or irritant use. There was no history of tuberculosis (TB) contact. He was initially worked up for laryngeal carcinoma; however laryngoscopic biopsy revealed laryngeal TB. We present this case to emphasize the point that although primary laryngeal tuberculosis is a rarity, it must not be overlooked as a possibility when evaluating dysphonia and/or considering laryngeal carcinoma

Establishing Trust in ChatGPT BioMedical Generated Text: An Ontology-Based Knowledge Graph to Validate Disease-Symptom Links

Methods: Through an innovative approach, we construct ontology-based knowledge graphs from authentic medical literature and AI-generated content. Our goal is to distinguish factual information from unverified data. We compiled two datasets: one from biomedical literature using a "human disease and symptoms" query, and another generated by ChatGPT, simulating articles. With these datasets (PubMed and ChatGPT), we curated 10 sets of 250 abstracts each, selected randomly with a specific seed. Our method focuses on utilizing disease ontology (DOID) and symptom ontology (SYMP) to build knowledge graphs, robust mathematical models that facilitate unbiased comparisons. By employing our fact-checking algorithms and network centrality metrics, we conducted GPT disease-symptoms link analysis to quantify the accuracy of factual knowledge amid noise, hypotheses, and significant findings. Results: The findings obtained from the comparison of diverse ChatGPT knowledge graphs with their PubMed counterparts revealed some interesting observations. While PubMed knowledge graphs exhibit a wealth of disease-symptom terms, it is surprising to observe that some ChatGPT graphs surpass them in the number of connections. Furthermore, some GPT graphs are demonstrating supremacy of the centrality scores, especially for the overlapping nodes. This striking contrast indicates the untapped potential of knowledge that can be derived from AI-generated content, awaiting verification. Out of all the graphs, the factual link ratio between any two graphs reached its peak at 60%. Conclusions: An intriguing insight from our findings was the striking number of links among terms in the knowledge graph generated from ChatGPT datasets, surpassing some of those in its PubMed counterpart. This early discovery has prompted further investigation using universal network metrics to unveil the new knowledge the links may hold.Comment: 7 Pages, 3 algorithms, 4 tables, and 7 figure

On the computation of zeros of Bessel functions

The zeros of some chosen Bessel functions of different orders is revised using the well-known bisection method , McMahon formula is also reviewed and the calculation of some zeros are carried out implementing a recent version of MATLAB software. The obtained results are analyzed and discussed on the lights of previous calculations

Studies of SmBa2Cu3O7-δ / ZnFe2O4 Superconducting Composites

SmBa2Cu3O7-δ /(ZnFe2O4)x superconducting composites with 0.00 ≤ x ≤ 0.20 wt% were prepared by the usual solid-state reaction method. The prepared samples were investigated using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) at room temperature and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements in the temperature range (100-295 K). It is found that EPR spectra are dominated by an anisotropic Cu2+ EPR pattern. Moreover, the EPR spectral intensity increases as the temperature decrease from room temperature down to 100 K. The number of spins (N) participating in EPR resonance, the activation energy (Ea), the paramagnetic susceptibility (c) and the effective magnetic moment (µeff) are calculated as a function of both nanosized ZnFe2O4 addition and temperature. The results are interpreted in terms of localized Cu2+ ions from non-superconducting impurity phases and confirmed by magnetization-field (M-H) hysteresis measurements

Acceptability and Satiety Evaluation of a Developed Nutritionally Balanced School Meal

Five nutritionally designed school meals were developed in a form of pastes based on leguminous seeds (lentil, chick pea, and soya) mixed with dairy ingredients. All formulas contain groundnut, and few contained crushed nuts providing inclusions inside the prototypes to test acceptance. The products were fortified with essential minerals and vitamins following the DRI guideline for children. Developed meals were served as a breakfast meal to ~200 students (6-9 years juniors; 10-14 years seniors) of one of the Sudanese basic schools (Omdurman City) for 21 days to substitute a traditional breakfast meal boiled Pigeon pea colloquially called “Balila” served routinely to the students. This paper covers acceptability of favorable products behavioral responses of senior and junior students to four meal/subject interactions coverings temptation to finishing the whole meal, reason(s) for not finishing the whole meal, time needed to finish the meal, and degree of satiety the students feel during teaching hours.Almost 95% of the senior students interacted positively with pastes based on lentil or chick pea finish the product as evidenced by the short time (90% of them confirmed satisfactory degree of satiety compared to all products offered

Future regenerative medicine developments and their therapeutic applications

: Although the currently available pharmacological assays can cure most pathological disorders, they have limited therapeutic value in relieving certain disorders like myocardial infarct, peripheral vascular disease, amputated limbs, or organ failure (e.g. renal failure). Pilot studies to overcome such problems using regenerative medicine (RM) delivered promising data. Comprehensive investigations of RM in zebrafish or reptilians are necessary for better understanding. However, the precise mechanisms remain poorly understood despite the tremendous amount of data obtained using the zebrafish model investigating the exact mechanisms behind their regenerative capability. Indeed, understanding such mechanisms and their application to humans can save millions of lives from dying due to potentially life-threatening events. Recent studies have launched a revolution in replacing damaged human organs via different approaches in the last few decades. The newly established branch of medicine (known as Regenerative Medicine aims to enhance natural repair mechanisms. This can be done through the application of several advanced broad-spectrum technologies such as organ transplantation, tissue engineering, and application of Scaffolds technology (support vascularization using an extracellular matrix), stem cell therapy, miRNA treatment, development of 3D mini-organs (organoids), and the construction of artificial tissues using nanomedicine and 3D bio-printers. Moreover, in the next few decades, revolutionary approaches in regenerative medicine will be applied based on artificial intelligence and wireless data exchange, soft intelligence biomaterials, nanorobotics, and even living robotics capable of self-repair. The present work presents a comprehensive overview that summarizes the new and future advances in the field of RM

Effect of aerobic exercise, slow deep breathing and mindfulness meditation on cortisol and glucose levels in women with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Aerobic exercise combined with breathing exercise can be an integral part of diabetes mellitus treatment. This single-center, randomized, parallel-group study investigated the effect of the combination of aerobic exercise with slow deep breathing and mindfulness meditation on the glucose and cortisol levels of women with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Materials and Methods: Fifty-eight middle-aged women with T2DM (mean age: 45.67 ± 2.92 years) were randomly assigned to either the aerobic training group (AT: n = 29; mean age [46.1 ± 2.7 years]) or the aerobic exercise combined with slow deep breathing and mindfulness meditation (AT + DMM: n = 29; mean age [45.24 ± 3.14 years]). Aerobic exercise was performed at 60%-75% of the maximum heart rate. The women in each group were asked to perform the training three times weekly over a 6-week period. The duration of each session was 40 min for the AT group and 60 min for the AT + DMM group. The two groups were asked to perform aerobic exercise at 60%-75% of the maximum heart rate. Their fasting blood glucose (FBG) and serum cortisol levels were measured at the baseline and after the 6 weeks. Results: Compared with the AT group, the group undertaking 6 weeks of aerobic training combined with slow, deep breathing exercises and mindfulness meditation showed significantly lower levels of FBG (p = 0.001) and cortisol levels (p = 0.01) than the AT group. Conclusion: The addition of slow deep breathing and mindfulness meditation to aerobic exercise can better control the glucose and cortisol levels of women with T2DM and thereby improve their outcomes and decrease their cardiometabolic risk

Genetic relatedness and host specificity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from cystic fibrosis and non-cystic fibrosis patients

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the primary pathogens isolated more frequently in cystic fibrosis (CF) and it exhibits innate resistance to a wide range of antibiotics. Purpose: We sought to determine whether the highly prevalent genotypes of P. aeruginosa are specifically linked to CF patients and have any related multidrug antibiotic resistance. Isolates from hospitalized non-CF patients and from environmental sources were also genotypically analyzed. Methods: Collections of P. aeruginosa from lower respiratory secretions (n=45) were genotyped using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Phenotypic screening for antibiotic susceptibility was performed for the common antimicrobial agents by E-test and automated Phoenix method. Results: P. aeruginosa isolates from CF (n=32), hospitalized non-CF patients (n=13), and environment sources (n=5) were analyzed. The population structure of P. aeruginosa is highly diverse and population-specific. All PFGE results of P. aeruginosa isolates fall among four major clusters. Cluster 1 contained 16 P. aeruginosa isolates from CF patients and two from environmental sources; cluster 2 contained 11 P. aeruginosa isolates from CF and one each from non-CF and environmental sources; cluster 3 contained 12 P. aeruginosa isolates from hospitalized non-CF patients and two P. aeruginosa isolates from one CF patient and one environmental source; and cluster 4 consisted of three isolates from CF patients and one from the environment. The majority of multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa isolates were in clusters 3 and 4. P. aeruginosa isolates from CF patients were resistant to ciprofloxacin (34.4%) followed by resistance to amikacin and gentamicin (each 28%), whereas the majority of isolates from non-CF patients were resistant to meropenem (69%) and were grouped in cluster 3. Conclusion: PFGE of P. aeruginosa isolates from CF patients shows a high degree of similarity, suggesting specific adaptation of these clones to CF-affected lungs. The hospitalized non-CF cluster has a different clonal origin, indicating specific clustering in a specific location, suggesting hospital-acquired P. aeruginosa infections.The Qatar National Research Fund (UREP 14-026-3-010)

Adaptive Fuzzy Supplementary Controller for SSR Damping in a Series-Compensated DFIG-Based Wind Farm

Although using a series compensation technique in a long transmission line effectively increases the transmittable power; it may cause a sub-synchronous resonance (SSR) phenomenon. Gate-controlled series capacitor (GCSC) is an effective method for SSR damping by controlling the turn-off angle. In the previous studies, a constant supplementary damping controller (SDC) was used for controlling the turn-off angle, which can mitigate the SSR phenomenon. However, these methods can not capture the maximum transmittable power at different operating points. In this paper, a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) is proposed to compute the gain of SDC based on the wind speed and the error between the measured and reference line currents for transferring as much power as possible and damping the SSR phenomenon simultaneously. Using the MATLAB/SIMULINK program, the proposed method is tested at different operating points to validate its effectiveness and robustness. Compared to the traditional method (constant SDC), the maximum transmittable power, as well as SSR damping, is achieved in all studied cases by the proposed method (variable SDC)