Immune-based strategies for treatment and prevention of hepatitis C virus infection

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection affects about 3% of the world’s population. Currently, the gold standard therapy does not work in a high percentage of patients and with all genotypes. In addition, it is costly, is associated with many side-effects. So, more convenient therapeutic strategies have been sought. These include, direct acting antivirals (DAAs), and immune-based therapy. Four DAA molecules have recently been approved by FDA.  Immune-based therapy aims at augmenting host immunity, thus prevention of infection or clearance of the virus with subsequent recovery can occur. Boosting T cell responses and activating humoral immune reactions have been targeted in the development of novel combating tools. The most intensively studied immune-therapeutic strategies are: 1) vaccines; either therapeutic or prophylactic, 2) dendritic cell immunotherapy, 3) antagonists of T cell inhibitory factors, 4) anti-HCV neutralizing antibodies, 4) cytokines and chemokines, 5) agonists for TLRs, and 6) caspase inhibitors

A trust evaluation scheme of service providers in mobile edge computing

Mobile edge computing (MEC) is a new computing paradigm that brings cloud services to the network edge. Despite its great need in terms of computational services in daily life, service users may have several concerns while selecting a suitable service provider to fulfil their computational requirements. Such concerns are: with whom they are dealing with, where will their private data migrate to, service provider processing performance quality. Therefore, this paper presents a trust evaluation scheme that evaluates the processing performance of a service provider in the MEC environment. Processing performance of service providers is evaluated in terms of average processing success rate and processing throughput, thus allocating a service provider in a relevant trust status. Service provider processing incompliance and user termination ratio are also computed during provider’s interactions with users. This is in an attempt to help future service users to be acknowledged of service provider’s past interactions prior dealing with it. Thus, eliminating the probability of existing compromised service providers and raising the security and success of future interactions between service providers and users. Simulations results show service providers processing performance degree, processing incompliance and user termination ratio. A service provider is allocated to a trust status according to the evaluated processing performance trust degree

ACETYLCHOLINESTERASE INHIBITION AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF SOME MEDICINAL PLANTS FOR TREATING NEURO DEGENARATIVE DISEASE

Background: Numerous plants in traditional practices of medicine have been used to treat cognitive disorders, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other memory related disorders. Materials and Methods: We present here the evaluation of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory and antioxidant activities of the aqueous methanol extracts of five traditional medicinal plants. Citrullus colocynthis, Emex spinosa, Rhazya stricta, Scrophularia hypericifolia and Caylusea hexagyna extracts were tested for their acetylcholinesterase inhibitory effect ant their antioxidant effect at different concentrations. Results: Citrullus colocynthis and Emex spinosa inhibited acetylthiocholinesterase at 400 µg/ ml by 83.54 and 81.92%. Emex spinosa and Scrophularia hypericifolia produced the maximum effect as DPPH radical scavenger (IC50= 10.89 and 11.88µg/ ml, respectively). Scrophularia hypericifolia showed the highest effect as superoxide radical scavenger (IC50= 20.83 µg/ ml)also it produced the highest ability to scavenge hydrogenperoxide radicals (IC50= 8.66 µg/ ml) while Emex spinosa and Caylusea hexagyna showed least IC50 for ferrous ion chelation (IC50≈15 µg/ ml) with powerful reduction capability. Conclusion:The determined antioxidant properties magnified the total antioxidant effect determined by ABTS assay that completely inhibited lipidperoxidation at 200 µg/ ml

Disparities in prevalence and barriers to hypertension control: a systematic review

Controlling hypertension (HTN) remains a challenge, as it is affected by various factors in different settings. This study aimed to describe the disparities in the prevalence and barriers to hypertension control across countries of various income categories. Three scholarly databases—ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Google Scholar—were systematically examined using predefined search terms to identify potentially relevant studies. Original research articles published in English between 2011 and 2022 that reported the prevalence and barriers to HTN control were included. A total of 33 studies were included in this systematic review. Twenty-three studies were conducted in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), and ten studies were from high-income countries (HIC). The prevalence of hypertension control in the LMIC and HIC studies ranged from (3.8% to 50.4%) to (36.3% to 69.6%), respectively. Concerning barriers to hypertension control, patient-related barriers were the most frequently reported (n = 20), followed by medication adherence barriers (n = 10), lifestyle-related barriers (n = 8), barriers related to the affordability and accessibility of care (n = 8), awareness-related barriers (n = 7), and, finally, barriers related to prescribed pharmacotherapy (n = 6). A combination of more than one category of barriers was frequently encountered, with 59 barriers reported overall across the 33 studies. This work reported disparities in hypertension control and barriers across studies conducted in LMIC and HIC. Recognizing the multifactorial nature of the barriers to hypertension control, particularly in LMIC, is crucial in designing and implementing customized interventions

Evaluation of knowledge, experiences, and fear toward prescribing and dispensing corticosteroids among Egyptian healthcare professionals: A cross-sectional study

Background: Corticosteroids (CS) are essential drugs in the treatment of several medical conditions. Assuming different roles, physicians and pharmacists play a primary role in prescribing and dispensing these medications to optimize patients' clinical management. The data on assessing knowledge and experience of healthcare professionals toward CS is scarce. Therefore, this study aimed to assess and compare knowledge, experience, and fears towards CS among Egyptian physicians and pharmacists. Methods: A cross-sectional, self-administrated, validated online questionnaire was used to collect the data from Egyptian healthcare professionals. The questionnaire consisted of four sections with multiple choice questions: sociodemographic (7 questions), knowledge about CS (13 questions), experience with CS prescription/dispensing (5 questions), and fears and preferences toward CS prescription/dispensing (13 questions). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: A total of 600 responses were analyzed in this study. The study sample was almost two-half of healthcare providers: 303 (50.5%) pharmacists and 297 (49.5%) physicians. Pharmacists had marginally higher knowledge scores as compared to those recorded for physicians (11.29 versus 10.16, respectively; P = 0.047). Physicians had more experience choosing corticosteroids in treatment plans based on their experience (51.8% vs 38.5%) and guideline recommendations (72.8% vs 50.9%) than pharmacists. However, pharmacists had more experience dealing with corticosteroid use based on patients' preferences (19.5% vs 4.9%) and showed a broader scope of experiencing side effects of corticosteroids with their patients. The two professions demonstrated high levels of fear, with pharmacists acknowledging significantly lower concerns about CS than physicians (3.72 versus 4.0, respectively; P = 0.003). Conclusion: Discrepancies exist among healthcare professionals in knowledge and experience, favoring better scientific knowledge of pharmacists related to corticosteroids. Based on these findings, the interprofessional collaborative efforts would provide comprehensive, patient-centered care that maximizes the benefits of CS while minimizing their risks

The intraperitoneal ondansetron for postoperative pain management following laparoscopic cholecystectomy: A proof-of-concept, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background Pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy remains a major challenge. Ondansetron blocks sodium channels and may have local anesthetic properties. Aims To investigate the effect of intraperitoneal administration of ondansetron for postoperative pain management as an adjuvant to intravenous acetaminophen in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Methods Patients scheduled for elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomized into two groups (n = 25 each) to receive either intraperitoneal ondansetron or saline injected in the gall bladder bed at the end of the procedure. The primary outcome was the difference in pain from baseline to 24-h post-operative assessed by comparing the area under the curve of visual analog score between the two groups. Results The derived area under response curve of visual analog scores in the ondansetron group (735.8 ± 418.3) was 33.97% lower than (p = 0.005) that calculated for the control group (1114.4 ± 423.9). The need for rescue analgesia was significantly lower in the ondansetron (16%) versus in the control group (54.17%) (p = 0.005), indicating better pain control. The correlation between the time for unassisted mobilization and the area under response curve of visual analog scores signified the positive analgesic influence of ondansetron (rs = 0.315, p = 0.028). The frequency of nausea and vomiting was significantly lower in patients who received ondansetron than that reported in the control group (p = 0.023 (8 h), and 0.016 (24 h) respectively). Conclusions The added positive impact of ondansetron on postoperative pain control alongside its anti-emetic effect made it a unique novel option for patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy

A new hybrid multilevel thyristor-based DC-DC converter

The rapid growth in HVDC grids is becoming inevitable for long-distance power transmission. Therefore, the idea of interconnection between the point-to-point links becomes essential. However, these point-to-point connections face several challenges such as the requirement of DC fault blocking capability, interfacing of different grounding schemes, offering multi-vendor interoperability, and difficulty to achieve high DC voltage stepping. DC-DC converters are considered the optimum solution to tackle these challenges in DC grids interconnection. In this paper, a new hybrid modular DC-DC converter is proposed that achieves a low number of semiconductors, low losses, and cost in comparison to other DC-DC converters due to the utilization of thyristors. The new DC-DC converter consists of two hybrid MMC bridges connected through an isolating transformer. Each MMC bridge is comprised of half bridge submodules and bidirectional thyristors. Detailed mathematical analysis, design, and control are illustrated. A comparison is carried out between different topologies in terms of semiconductor count, power loss, and cost. Also, both simulation model and experimental test rig are built to validate the proposed hybrid modular DC-DC converter under different scenarios. Finally, another variant of the hybrid-thyristor based converter (version two) is proposed for multiport DC-Hub application to achieve DC fault blocking without turning off all connected bridges

New analysis of VSC-based modular multilevel DC-DC converter with low interfacing inductor for hybrid LCC/VSC HVDC network interconnections

The integration of multiterminal hybrid HVDC grids connecting LCC- and VSC-based networks faces several technical challenges such as DC fault isolation, ensuring multi-vendor interoperability, managing high DC voltage levels, and facilitating high-speed power reversal without interruptions. The two-stage DC-DC converter emerges as a key solution to address these challenges. By implementing the modular multilevel converter (MMC) structure, the converter's basic topology includes half-bridge sub-modules on the VSC side and full-bridge sub-modules on the LCC side. However, while this topology has been discussed in the literature, its connection to an LCC-based network with controlled current magnitude lacks detailed analysis regarding operational challenges, control strategies under various scenarios, and design considerations. This paper fills this gap by providing comprehensive mathematical analysis, design insights, and control strategies for the modular DC-DC converter to regulate DC voltage on the LCC-HVDC side. Additionally, the proposed control scheme minimizes the interfacing inductor between the two bridges, ensuring uninterrupted power flow during reversal and effective handling of DC faults. Validation through Control-Hardware-in-the-Loop testing across diverse operational and fault scenarios, along with a comparative analysis of different converters, further strengthens the findings