Toxigenic fungi and contamination by AFB1 in Algerian traditional foods markets

This work focused on the realization of a mycological and mycotoxicological study of certain foods manufactured in a traditional way (couscous and spice of Capsicum annuum known locally under the name of sweet hror) and marketed in the city of Bechar. The physico-chemical analyzes revealed that all the samples were poorly hydrated where the average values ​​of relative humidity ranged between 7.23% and 13.58%. For the pH, the values ​​varied between 5.22 and 6.95. The enumeration of the fungal flora indicated that the couscous samples (coarse and fine) represented a contamination rate of 2.92*102 and 1.71*102 CFU/g respectively. While, the sweet hror samples represented a higher contamination rate (4.68*102 CFU/g), with a clear dominance of the genera of Aspergillus (46.42%) and Penicillium (26.28%). Otherwise, the mycotoxicological analysis showed us that 78.55% of the Aspergillus isolates of the group (flavus-parasiticus) tested were producers of aflatoxins (B1 and G1) and that 86.66% of the isolates of A. ochraceus and 40% of Penicillium species, were ochratoxin A producers. In addition, the detection of mycotoxins at the sample level revealed that 63.63% of couscous samples were contaminated with mycotoxins. While sweet hror was the most contaminated (78.57%). Furthermore, the quantification of AFB1 by HPLC-FLD for 4 samples of sweet hror revealed only one contaminated sample (21.75 µg/kg). Generally, it can be admitted that the rate of contamination by AFB1 was too high, which can be considered a real risk to human health. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.786025

The Mediterranean and Atlantic connection: Seismic Clues from the Alboran Sea

Ercilla, Gemma ... et. al.-- Regional Committee on Mediterranean Neogene Stratigraphy (RCMNS) Interim Colloquium 2015 - Mediterranean-Atlantic Gateways (Neogene to present), 5-8 May 2015, Rabat, Marocco.-- 1 pageThe spatial and temporal evolution of contouritic features as well as changes in their morphology and type suggest: i) their formation roughly agrees with the present-day Mediterranean water masses distribution, i.e., the Low Dense Mediterranean Water-LMW (Winter Intermediate Water + Levantine Intermediate Water) in the Spanish margin, and the High Dense Mediterranean Water ¿DMW( Deep Mediterranean Water) in the subbsains and Moroccan margin; ii) the important role played by the changing landscape during the Pliocene and Quaternary, with important consequences for the water masses circulation, especially for the DMW. Point and linear barriers, and troughs and elongated subbasins, condition a complex current distribution, especially for the Quaternary; iii) a higher energetic recirculation of the DMW in the Western Alboran Basin; iv) a more an enhanced density contrast between the LMW and DMW during the Quaternary; and v) larger vertical and horizontal displacements of the water mass interfaces during the Quaternary related to 4th-order glacioeustatic change. These frist paleoceanographic reconstructions have implication for the ventilation of Mediterranean waters trough the Strait of Gibraltar, Mediterranean Outflow Water formation, Altantic-Mediterranean interchange and then for the AMOC and climatic changes in the past.Peer Reviewe

New insights on the Alboran Sea basin extension and continental collision from magnetic anomalies related to magmatism (western Mediterranean)

The comments of two anonymous reviewers have improved the quality of this manuscript. This study was supported by projects CGL2016-80687-R AEI/FEDER , P18-RT-3275 , B-RNM-301-UGR18 and RNM148 ( Junta de Andalucía/FEDER ). Y.M.M was supported by NASA under award number 80GSFC17M0002 . V.T.S. was supported by the FPU PhD grant ( 16/04038 ). ICM-CSIC author acknowledges the Severo Ochoa funding from the Spanish government through the “ Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence ” accreditation ( CEX2019-000928-S ). University of Granada supported this study by funding the APC for publishing as an Open Access articile through an agreement with Elsevier.In the Alboran Sea there are a few well exposed Neogene and Quaternary volcanic zones, often geographic highs, that are generally associated with magnetic anomalies. In this paper, we present a characterization of these magnetic anomalies based on a recent and accurate magnetic data compilation for the Abloran Sea area. The anomalies reveal the distribution of magmatism and shed light into the discussion about the origin and evolution of the westernmost Mediterranean. One of the most relevant magnetic anomalies is the Nador dipole, which extends from the Gourougou volcano to the Chafarinas Islands, and is related to an E-W crustal scale intrusion. However, the main NE-SW elongated continuous dipoles of the central Alboran Sea are not related to any surface structure, but they are parallel to the Alboran Ridge, which is the main volcanic high in the Alboran Sea, and are located to the north of it. These anomalies extend discontinuously eastward along the NW-SE dipoles located along the Yusuf fault zone. The results of our 2D magnetic forward modeling suggest that the causative bodies of these main magnetic dipoles are deep igneous bodies. According to the tectonic evolution of the region, and the high magnetic susceptibility values obtained, these igneous bodies probably are made of a basic igneous rocks. Their emplacement may represent the westward tip of the rift axis of the AlKaPeCa Domain, which is related to the Oligocene-Miocene NW-SE extension, and associated with the southern slab retreat stage and oceanic spreading of the Algerian basin. Afterwards, these bodies were displaced toward the west, together with the Alboran Domain, and affected by the STEP fault located at its southern limit. Since the Late Miocene, the north Alboran Ridge elongated intrusions acted as a backstop that conditioned the folding and uplift of the Alboran Ridge in a tectonic indentation setting. In this setting, the STEP fault is deformed and the eastern part of the bodies were segmented along the Yusuf transtensional fault system. Simultaneously, the E-W crustal body related to the Nador magnetic dipole was emplaced, possibly evidencing a slab tearing process. The deep seated basic igneous bodies constitute main crustal heterogeneities that reveal and drive the Alboran Sea tectonic inversion.FPU 16/04038Spanish government CEX2019-000928-SNational Aeronautics and Space Administration 80GSFC17M0002Universidad de GranadaJunta de Andalucí

Water mass footprints in uneven turbidite system development in the Alboran Sea

Multidisciplinary work between oceanography, geomorphology and sedimentology has uncovered evidence explaining the uneven development of the turbidite systems (TSs) in the Alboran Sea. Nine TSs have been mapped in the Spanish margin, ranging from sandy to mixed sand-mud fans, and which become sandier towards the Strait of Gibraltar; in contrast TSs do not develop in the Moroccan margin, where three canyons incise the continental slope but there is no TS formation. We interpret that the uneven development of TSs in the two margins and their variable architectures are conditioned by the interaction of alongslope with downslope processes. Two different interaction scenarios with varying intensities are proposed.Versión del edito

Analyse sismique des corps sedimentaires quaternaires de la marge meridionale de la mer d'Alboran

CNRS T Bordereau / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueSIGLEFRFranc

Comparison of Visian toric collamer lens and toric acrylic intraocular lens implantation for the treatment of myopia with astigmatism

Hatem Ammar, Mohamed Anbar, Marwa M Abdellah Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt Purpose: To compare the efficacy and outcome of phakic toric implantable collamer lens (TICL) and refractive clear lens extraction with AcrySof Toric intraocular lens (TIOL) implantation for the treatment of myopic astigmatism.Patients and methods: This study assessed eyes with myopic astigmatism >–1 D and ≤–4 D with a spherical equivalent >10 D or <10 D if the patients were unsuitable for corneal refractive surgery. These eyes were divided into group A, in which Visian Toric ICL™ Phakic TICL was implanted, and group B, which involved clear lens extraction with implantation of an AcrySof IQ toric SN60T3-9™ IOL. The outcome and complications were evaluated.Results: This study enrolled 63 eyes of 38 patients with a follow-up period of at least 6 months. The mean postoperative spherical equivalent was –0.19±0.31 D in group A and –0.21±0.28 D in group B (P=0.69). The mean postoperative cylinder value was –0.46±0.53 D in group A and –0.32±0.41 D in group B (P=0.35). Postoperative cylinder was <1 D in 76.47% and 79.31% of eyes in groups A and B, respectively. The mean endothelial cell count was reduced by 4.32% in group A and by 5.32% in group B (P=0.003). The mean postoperative intraocular pressure increased insignificantly in group A (P=0.22) and reduced significantly in group B (P=0.004). The complication rate was 11.76% in group A and 6.90% in group B.Conclusion: Both procedures showed predictable results and good visual results. However, the loss of accommodation and risk of retinal complications in the TIOL group suggest that the use of TICL for myopic astigmatism is a better choice in younger patients. Keywords: myopic astigmatism, intraocular lens implantation, Visian toric, AcrySof tori

Femtosecond Laser Implantation of a 355-Degree Intrastromal Corneal Ring Segment in Keratoconus: A Three-Year Follow-Up

Purpose. To evaluate the outcomes of femtosecond laser-assisted implantation of a 355-degree intracorneal ring (ICR) (Keraring) in patients with keratoconus in the three-year follow-up. Setting. Future Femtolaser Center, Sohag, Egypt. Design. Prospective interventional case series. Patients and Methods. A prospective case series of 38 eyes of 26 patients with keratoconus had implantation of the 355-degree ICR keraring after tunnel creation with a femtosecond laser. The uncorrected visual acuities (UCVA) and best-corrected visual acuities (BCVA), sphere, cylinder, and manifest refraction spherical equivalent (SE), and mean keratometry (K), K max, and K min were evaluated preoperatively and 3, 6, 12, 24, and 36 months postoperatively, and all complications were reported. Results. 38 eyes of 26 patients with mean age 25.92 ± 5.44 years were enrolled in the study, 11 were males (42.3%). The mean UCVA improved from 0.93 ± 0.21 to 0.63 ± 0.21 logMAR (P≤0.001) and the mean BCVA from 0.67 ± 0.22 to 0.43 ± 0.26 logMAR (P<0.001). The mean sphere, cylinder, and spherical equivalent have been changed dramatically from preoperative to 3 month postoperative, which is statistically significant (P≤0.001), and the changes between 1 and 2 years and 2 and 3 years are also considerable and statistically significant; the K max and K min and K mean improved and the changes were statistically significant (P≤0.001), and the changes between one, two, and three years were also statistically significant. The safety and efficacy indices were changed through the three-year follow-up. The complications were corneal neovascularization (36.84%), corneal melting (26.3%), and ring extrusion (31.5%) at the end of the study. Conclusions. Implantation of a 355-degree intracorneal keraring using femtosecond laser improved the visual, refractive, and topographic parameters in keratoconus patients, with a high rate of ICR extrusion and instability. The study has been registered for the Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (http://www.pactr.org) database within No: PACTR201810796878908 on 29 October 2018

New numerical and theoretical model to characterize the upper crustal structure of the moroccan atlas from wide-angle seismic reflection data

© 2015 Shagun Mudgil, Harika Nambula and B. Bharathi. The upper crust beneath the Moroccan Atlas has been modeled using the travel time of wide-angle arrivals from the SIMA (Seismic Imaging of the Moroccan Atlas) dataset. The detailed knowledge of the internal structure of this orogen allows understanding its uncommon characteristics, featuring high topography, moderate tectonic shortening and moderate crustal thickening. The -700 km long SIMA wide-angle reflection seismic profile has provided a high resolution geophysical data set to obtain a shallow P-wave velocity model along the transect. The seismic data processing has enabled us to accurately pick the first arrivals of the seismic records. Subsequently, the development of a numerical code to mathematically model the hodochrones defined by the first arrivals, has provided us the P-wave velocity structure of the crust down to 10 km. The resulting model shows a detailed image of the Atlas upper crust and reveals several relevant features that help to understand the structure of the orogen and its composition.SIMA was funded by a grant from the Spanish Science Foundation (FECYT), involves several institutions like ICTJA-CSIC, Salamanca University and Autonomous University of Barcelona, the Scientific Institute of Rabat, University Cadi Ayyad in Marrakech, FST of Errachidia, University Sidi Mohammed ben Abdellah in Fes, and was supported as part of PICASSO by grant EAR 0808939 from the NSF Continental Dynamics ProgramPeer Reviewe

Performance Estimation in V2X Networks Using Deep Learning-Based M-Estimator Loss Functions in the Presence of Outliers

Recently, 5G networks have emerged as a new technology that can control the advancement of telecommunication networks and transportation systems. Furthermore, 5G networks provide better network performance while reducing network traffic and complexity compared to current networks. Machine-learning techniques (ML) will help symmetric IoT applications become a significant new data source in the future. Symmetry is a widely studied pattern in various research areas, especially in wireless network traffic. The study of symmetric and asymmetric faults and outliers (anomalies) in network traffic is an important topic. Nowadays, deep learning (DL) is an advanced approach in challenging wireless networks such as network management and optimization, anomaly detection, predictive analysis, lifetime value prediction, etc. However, its performance depends on the efficiency of training samples. DL is designed to work with large datasets and uses complex algorithms to train the model. The occurrence of outliers in the raw data reduces the reliability of the training models. In this paper, the performance of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) traffic was estimated using the DL algorithm. A set of robust statistical estimators, called M-estimators, have been proposed as robust loss functions as an alternative to the traditional MSE loss function, to improve the training process and robustize DL in the presence of outliers. We demonstrate their robustness in the presence of outliers on V2X traffic datasets