Comparative experimental study on two designed intravenous anaesthetic combinations in dogs

The goal of the present study is to design a good anaesthetic program for dogs which can lead to optimal anaesthesia with no or minimal post-operative adverse effects. For this purpose, we designed two naesthetic combinations and compared their effects in Mongrel dogs: combination ‘A’ consisting of atropine, xylazine, ketamine plus propofol, and combination ‘B’ consisting of atropine, diazepam, ketamine plus propofol. The onset and duration of anaesthesia induction, the duration of maintenance as well as the period of recovery were recorded and compared for both combinations. Furthermore, heart rate, respiratory rate, body temperature as well as blood picture were analyzed before and after administration of the proposed anaesthetic regimens. Administration of combination ‘A’ lead to rapid onset, within seconds, and induction of anaesthesia. The anaesthetic effect was maintained for approximately 29 minutes after injection of propofol. This was followed by very smooth recovery within approximately 68 minutes after induction of anaesthesia. In contrast, a less efficient induction and maintenance of anaesthesia as well as individual variability was observed after administration of combination ‘B’. Approximately 14 minutes were needed for anaesthesia induction, which was maintained for 23 minutes after injection of propofol. Furthermore, administration of combination ‘B’ was associated with alterations in heart rate, body temperature and hematological picture. In conclusion, our results revealed that combined administration of atropine, xylazine, ketamine plus propofol (combination ‘A’) is considered satisfactory for anaesthesia in dogs with minimal postoperative side effects

Micropower system optimization for the telecommunication towers based on various renewable energy sources

This study investigates the technical and cost-effective performance of options renewable energy sources to develop a green off-grid telecommunication tower to replace diesel generators in Malaysia. For this purpose, the solar, wind, pico-hydro energy, along with diesel generators, were examined to compare. In addition, the modeling of hybrid powering systems was conducted using hybrid optimization model for energy (HOMER) simulation based on techno-economic analysis to determine the optimal economically feasible system. The optimization findings showed that the hybrid high-efficiency fixed photovoltaic (PV) system with battery followed by 2 kW pico-hydropower and battery are the optimal configurations for powering off-grid telecommunication towers in Malaysia with the lowest net present cost (NPC) and cost of energy (COE). These costs of NPC and COE are more down than diesel generator costs with battery by 17.45%, 16.45%, 15.9%, and 15.5%, respectively. Furthermore, the economic evaluation of the high-efficiency solar fixed PV panels system annual cash flow compared to the diesel generator with the battery system indicated a ten-year payback period

Prevalence rate and risk factors for preeclampsia and eclampsia among pregnant women attending Qena University Hospital During COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Preeclampsia and eclampsia are vital causes of maternal morbidity and mortality around the world. In Egypt, it complicates about 6%-8% of all pregnancies and can reach up to 15% in referral centers like university hospitals. Objectives: To identify the prevalence of preeclampsia and eclampsia among pregnant women attending Qena University Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, to identify possible risk factors associated with preeclampsia. Patients and methods: The prevalence and risk factors for preeclampsia and eclampsia were estimated in this cross-sectional study of 300 pregnant women after 20 weeks of gestation. There were two groups: preeclamptic women and non-preeclamptic women. A structured questionnaire was used. Results: The study revealed that the percentage of preeclampsia and eclampsia was 19% and 1%, respectively. The significant risk factors predisposing to preeclampsia were obesity, improper antenatal care, previous COVID-19 exposure, prior preeclampsia, cats' handling, pregestational diabetes mellitus, multifetal pregnancy, family history of hypertension, and advanced maternal age. By logistic regression analysis, BMI was the most contributing factor associated with preeclampsia (p- value <0.0001). Conclusion: Preeclampsia became increasingly common during the COVID-19 pandemic, with preeclampsia and eclampsia prevalence rates of 19% and 1%, respectively. The most contributing factors to preeclampsia were obesity, which is a preventable risk factor, infrequent antenatal visits, and COVID-19 exposure.Proper antenatal care is an important part of prevention and early detection of preeclampsia, especially for women with previous COVID-19 exposure

Prevalence of Helicobacter Pylori Infection in Pregnant Women with Hyperemesis Gravidarum

Background: Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is a severe form of vomiting that occurs in 0.3-2% of all pregnant women. There is geographic difference in the prevalence of Helicobacter Pylori (H. Pylori). The exact prevalence in Egypt is not well-studied. Objectives: To detect prevalence and risk factors for H. Pylori in pregnant women with HG. Patients and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. The study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, South Valley University hospitals. Results: The study included 100 pregnant women with HG.In this study, the H. Pylori stool antigen testing was positive in 44 cases out of 100 cases, making a prevalence of 44%. Risk factors of H. Pylori was rural residence (adjusted OR: 3.45; CI:1.12-10.94; and P value: 0.03), recurrence of vomiting in the current pregnancy (adjusted OR was 3.85; CI:1.15-12.91; and P value: 0.03), and anemia (adjusted OR: 0.74; CI: 0.55-0.98; and P value: 0.04) Conclusion: H. Pylori affects 44% of women with HG. There was significant association between H. pylori and the rural residence, the recurrence of vomiting in the same pregnancy, and the presence of anemia

The role of climatic-design-operational parameters on combined PV/T collector performance: a critical review

PV/T technology attracted numerous researchers and professionals during the last decades. There are many review papers in the literature evaluated the R&D aspects of PV/T collectors. In fact, there are abundant of case studies discussed the parameters of climate, design and operational conditions affected the PV/T collector performance. But, a comprehensive compilation of the information of those case studies is still a missing link in the literature. Hence, this paper intended to review thoroughly the information regarding the parameters affecting the PV/T collector performance mainly and PV module performance partially. The parameters are supported with the most available R&D to measure the accurate influence of each parameter on the performance. The outcomes from the study are highlighted in lessons learned section

Ozonated saline intradermal injection: promising therapy for accelerated cutaneous wound healing in diabetic rats

IntroductionThe use of ozonized water is gaining importance in medicine due to its effects on hyperglycemia and wound healing mechanisms.MethodsThis experiment was conducted to assess the impacts of intradermal administration of ozonated water on acute skin wound healing in a diabetic rat model. Sixty-four adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups: an ozonated water group (O3W) and a control group (CG). Experimental diabetes was chemically induced in the rats by the intraperitoneal administration of 60 mg/kg streptozotocin. One week later, full-thickness skin surgical wounds (1 cm2) were created between the two shoulders of the rats under general anesthesia. The wounds were then daily irrigated with normal saline (CG) or intradermally injected with 1 mL of ozonated water at 10 mg/L O3W. Wound healing was evaluated through macroscopic analysis, measuring wound size, diameter, and percentage of contraction rate before wounding and at 3, 7, 9, 12, 14, 18, 21, 24, and 28 days post-wounding. On days 7, 14, 21, and 28 after induction of the wounds, the body weights and blood glucose levels of rats (8 per group) were measured before the rats were euthanized. Moreover, the morphological structure of the tissue, vascular endothelial and transforming growth factor (VEGF and TGF) affinity and gene expression were examined.ResultsThe O3W group had significantly lower blood glucose levels and wound size and gained body weight. Additionally, epithelial vascularization, stromal edema, TGF, and VEGF gene expression significantly improved in the O3W group.DiscussionTherefore, ozonated water has the potential to enhance and promote cutaneous wound healing in diabetic rats

Prevalence and global trends of polypharmacy among people living with HIV: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: There has been a rising prevalence of polypharmacy among people living with HIV (PLWH). Uncertainty however remains regarding the exact estimates of polypharmacy among these cohorts of patients. Methods: We conducted a systematic search of PubMed; EMBASE, CROI, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; Science Citation Index and Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects for studies between 1 January 2000 and 30 June 2021 that reported on the prevalence of polypharmacy (ingestion of > 5 non-ART medications) among PLWH on antiretroviral therapy regimen (ART). Prevalence of polypharmacy among HIV-positive patients on ART with Clopper–Pearson 95% confidence intervals were presented. The heterogeneity between studies was evaluated using (Formula presented.) and (Formula presented.) statistics. Results: One hundred ninety-seven studies were initially identified, 23 met the inclusion criteria enrolling 55,988 PLWH, of which 76.7% [95% confidence interval (CI): 76.4–77.1] were male. The overall pooled prevalence of polypharmacy among PLWH was 33% (95% CI: 25–42%) (I2 = 100%, τ2 = 0.9170, p < 0.0001). Prevalence of polypharmacy is higher in the Americas (44%, 95% CI: 27–63%) (I2 = 100%, τ2 = 1.0886, p < 0.01) than Europe (29%, 95% CI: 20–40%) (I2 = 100%, τ2 = 0.7944, p < 0.01). Conclusion: The pooled prevalence estimates from this synthesis established that polypharmacy is a significant and rising problem among PLWH. The exact interventions that are likely to significantly mitigate its effect remain uncertain and will need exploration by future prospective and systematic studies. Registration: PROSPERO: CRD42020170071 Plain Language Summary: Background: In people living with HIV (PLWH), what is the prevalence of polypharmacy and is this influenced by sociodemographic factors? Methods and Results: In this systematic review and meta-analysis of 23 studies comprising 55,988 participants, we have for the first time found an estimated polypharmacy pooled prevalence of 33% among PLWH. There was a relatively higher pooled prevalence of polypharmacy among the America’s compared with European cohorts of PLWH. Conclusion: Polypharmacy among PLWH is a rising morbidity that needs urgent intervention both at policy and patient levels of care.This research was supported by the Qatar National Library

A New High Yielding and Long Staple Egyptian Cotton (Gossypium barbadense L.) Variety "Super Giza 94"

The Egyptian long staple cotton variety "Super Giza 94" was developed by Cotton Research Institute CRI, Giza, Egypt, which belongs to Gossypium barbadense L. Super Giza 94 is a novel plant structure improved seed cotton yield, lint percentage and fiber quality traits. Super Giza 94 was developed through one-way hybridization of elite parental cotton genotypes accompanied by pedigree selection method to incorporate the excellent combinations of higher yield potential, early maturity and fiber quality traits with resistance to Fusarium wilt. The superior plant combinations were selected in F2-F6 generations entirely based on phenotypic plant traits and progeny yield potential in the field conditions. The selected strains were evaluated in multilocations yield trials over three years and six locations in a randomized complete block design with six replications. The results of these trials exhibited that the new variety surpassed the three commercial varieties of these locations in most yield traits. Super Giza 94 is characterized by early maturity with high yield potential, fluffy opening and easy to pick, strong resistance to Fusarium wilt disease, high lint percentage (40.2%) with improved fiber traits including fiber length (34.1mm), fiber strength (43.4 g/tex), micronaire reading (4.2), uniformity ratio (86.9%), yellowness +b (8.3), brightness Rd (79.8%) and white lint color. Super Giza 94 can solve maximum challenges of better cotton production in the area and fulfill industrial requisitions. For that, recommended for general cultivation in the Delta region in the 2016 growing season

Radar Distributed Sensors for Indoor Imaging

Millimeter-wave (mmWave) radar sensors have emerged as critical monitoring devices in various indoor applications, owing to their resilience to environmental conditions, non-intrusiveness, and cost-effectiveness. This thesis presents advancements in radar signal processing techniques tailored for indoor scenarios, with a focus on enhancing two radar output representations of a scene observed by distributed sensors: spatial reflectivity images and detection point clouds. The thesis is divided into two parts, in the first part, it addresses challenges associated with generating high-quality reflectivity images from the reflected signals measured by widely distributed radar sensors. Leveraging compressed sensing methods, novel algorithms based on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) optimization framework are proposed to reconstruct global reflectivity images. Additionally, a heuristic method to accelerate the convergence of the proposed algorithms and reduce their computational complexity is introduced. Moreover, an efficient implementation of sparsity-based image reconstruction algorithms is proposed, achieved through automatic tuning of the regularization parameters while also considering synchronization errors. The second part is devoted to the design of statistical detectors for mmWave radar sensors, focusing on detecting aspect-dependent targets and leveraging occlusion modeling in hypothesis testing formulations. Novel formulations are proposed, leading to 1) a detector with optimum weights on the processed signals of distributed sensors to jointly and efficiently detect aspect-dependent targets and 2) a detector based on occlusion modeling which enhances detection performance at each sensor node by leveraging the sparse structure of range profiles due to occlusions. Through scenario-based simulations and model-based evaluations, the proposed detectors demonstrate improved accuracy in detecting aspect-dependent and non-occluded targets, thereby providing accurate high-resolution point clouds. The algorithms presented in this thesis provide an enhancement of the quality of radar images aiming to facilitate the subsequent analysis using classical image processing or advanced deep-learning techniques in various indoor applications.9. Industry, innovation and infrastructur