A submandibular gossypiboma mimicking a salivary fistula: a case report

Retained gauze swabs in the neck have seldom been reported. We present the case of a 27-years-old man who suffered a persistent discharging sinus for 8 years following excision of a right submandibular gland. Computed tomography fistulography was done showing a Blind track ending into a cavity just beneath the floor of mouth. Neck exploration eventually revealed 2 gauze swabs that were tightly packed in the area of submandibular duct. This article further emphasizes the importance of sound operative room practice to avoid this serious problem

Proposed force majeure clause for construction contracts under prevailing laws

Force majeure is one of the most critical risks that affects the obligations of the contract parties in the construction industry. The concept of force majeure, basically, is a civil law concept that is found in the civil codes of most civil law jurisdictions, while common law does not recognize such concept with the same wide definition and application. Occurrence of a Force majeure event can dramatically affect the execution of the contract as it hinders a party of the contract, or both parties, from fulfilling its/their obligations for a reason beyond its/their control and expectation. Thus it is vital to have a well drafted force majeure clause in construction contracts to give an excuse to the affected party from further performance of its obligations under the contract until the expiration of the event or, sometimes, to give a right to terminate the contract. The aim of this research is to propose a force majeure clause applicable to all kinds of construction contracts either governed by a civil law or a common law jurisdiction. To achieve that aim, a questionnaire survey is conducted to explore the opinions and past experience of a selected professional group consisting of twenty five professionals working in the construction field with contract administration background. Based on the finding of literature review, the survey findings, and on a number of contracts the researcher dealt with during his professional life a model clause is developed. The model clause is then verified by obtaining the opinions of three experts in contracts administration. It is also compared with four mega project contracts in several countries. The results of the comparison indicates that the model clause is comprehensive and can be applied to construction contracts to achieve its intended purpose

Wireless body area sensor networks signal processing and communication framework: Survey on sensing, communication technologies, delivery and feedback

Problem statement: The Wireless Body Area Sensor Networks (WBASNs) is a wireless network used for communication among sensor nodes operating on or inside the human body in order to monitor vital body parameters and movements.This study surveys the state-of-the-art on Wireless Body Area Networks, discussing the major components of research in this area including physiological sensing and preprocessing, WBASNs communication techniques and data fusion for gathering data from sensors.In addition, data analysis and feedback will be presented including feature extraction, detection and classification of human related phenomena.Approach: Comparative studies of the technologies and techniques used in such systems will be provided in this study, using qualitative comparisons and use case analysis to give insight on potential uses for different techniques.Results and Conclusion: Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) technologies are considered as one of the key of the research areas in computer science and healthcare application industries.Sensor supply chain and communication technologies used within the system and power consumption therein, depend largely on the use case and the characteristics of the application.Authors conclude that Life-saving applications and thorough studies and tests should be conducted before WBANs can be widely applied to humans, particularly to address the challenges related to robust techniques for detection and classification to increase the accuracy and hence the confidence of applying such techniques without physician intervention

Survey on wireless body area sensor networks for healthcare applications: Signal processing, data analysis and feedback

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) technologies are considered as one of the key of the research areas in computer science and healthcare application industries.The wireless body area sensor networks (WBASNs) is a wireless network used for communication among sensor nodes operating on or inside the human body in order to monitor vital body parameters and movements.The paper surveys the state-of-the-art on WBASNs discussing the major components of research in this area including physiological sensing, data preprocessing, detection and classification of human related phenomena. We provide comparative studies of the technologies and techniques used in such systems

Influence of low grade exercise on skeletal scintigraphy using Tc-99m methylene diphosphonate

BACKGROUND: Tc-99m methylene diphosphonate [MDP] bone scan is the basis of the skeletal imaging in nuclear medicine being a highly sensitive tool for detecting bone diseases. Mechanical stimulation induced by low grade exercise or whole-body vibration appears to be advantageous regarding the maintenance and/or improvement of skeletal mass in humans. We aimed to assess the physiological influence of low grade exercise on the quality of skeletal scintigraphy using Tc-99m MDP. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Tc-99m MDP bone scan was done for 92 volunteers [Group 1; G1]. Five days later, the same subjects were re-scanned [Group 2; G2] after an exercise on treadmill for 5 minutes. Image quality was assessed using quantitative measures whereby equal regions of interest (ROI) were drawn over the femoral diaphysis, and the contralateral adductor area. The total number of counts from the bone [B] ROI and soft tissue [ST] ROI was expressed as a ratio [B:ST ratio] and a mean value for each was established. RESULTS: Statistically significant difference was found between the B:ST ratio means [p = 0.001] in G1 and G2. CONCLUSION: This study raised a physiological influence of low grade exercise on the image quality of tc-99m MDP skeletal scintigraphy by increasing MDP osseous uptake

An Investigation of Biodiesel Production from Wastes of Seafood Restaurants

This work illustrates a comparative study on the applicability of the basic heterogeneous calcium oxide catalyst prepared from waste mollusks and crabs shells (MS and CS, resp.) in the transesterification of waste cooking oil collected from seafood restaurants with methanol for production of biodiesel. Response surface methodology RSM based on D-optimal deign of experiments was employed to study the significance and interactive effect of methanol to oil M : O molar ratio, catalyst concentration, reaction time, and mixing rate on biodiesel yield. Second-order quadratic model equations were obtained describing the interrelationships between dependent and independent variables to maximize the response variable (biodiesel yield) and the validity of the predicted models were confirmed. The activity of the produced green catalysts was better than that of chemical CaO and immobilized enzyme Novozym 435. Fuel properties of the produced biodiesel were measured and compared with those of Egyptian petro-diesel and international biodiesel standards. The biodiesel produced using MS-CaO recorded higher quality than that produced using CS-CaO. The overall biodiesel characteristics were acceptable, encouraging application of CaO prepared from waste MS and CS for production of biodiesel as an efficient, environmentally friendly, sustainable, and low cost heterogeneous catalyst

The Use of Ceramic Waste Powder (CWP) in Making Eco-Friendly Concretes

The global production of ceramic waste powder (CWP), which is produced during the final polishing process of ceramic tiles, exceeds 22 billion tons. The disposal of CWP in landfills will cause significant environmental problems (i.e., soil, air, and groundwater pollution). CWP is characterized by its chemical composition that is mainly composed of silica (SiO2) and alumina (Al2O3). Both minerals represent more than 80% of the CWP composition. CWP has potentials to be used as an ingredient to partially or entirely replacing Portland cement to make eco-friendly concretes. This chapter summarizes the effect of using CWP in making eco-friendly concretes, with a particular focus on using CWP as a partial cement replacement in conventional-vibrated concrete (CVC) and self-compacting concrete (SCC), and the production of zero-cement alkali-activated concrete (AAC)

A new species of \u3cem\u3eScorpio\u3c/em\u3e from Jordan (Scorpiones: Scorpionidae)

A new species Scorpio granulomanus sp. n. is described and illustrated from Dibbeen Forest, Jerash Governorate, Jordan. The new species is compared with the previously recorded species of the genus Scorpio L., 1758 in the Middle East; it can be distinguished from all other congeners by its very large, pointed granules on the dorsoexternal surface of the chela manus, and an untypically elongated chela manus

TOTAL POLYPHENOLIC CONTENT AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF SILYBUM MARIANUM CULTURES GROWN ON DIFFERENT GROWTH REGULATORS

Objective: The present study was designed to study the effect of supplementing Silybum marianum cultures with different combinations and concentrations of growth regulators on the total phenolic content and the antioxidant activity of the produced cultures.Methods: The total polyphenolic content of 23 extracts of calli was calculated as µg of gallic acid/mg of dry weight extract (DWE) using Folin–Ciocalteu reagent. The antioxidant activity was calculated as trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity using 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) assay for extracts containing more than 10 µg gallic acid/mg DWE.Results: Most of the combinations showed an increase in the total polyphenolic concentration compared to the wild plant. However, cultures grown on media supplemented with combinations of benzyl aminopurine (BAP) and gebberellic acid (Gb), adenine (Ad) and kinetin (Kin), BAP and indole acetic acid (IAA) possessed the highest total polyphenolic contents 20.5, 13.09 and 12.15 µg gallic acid/mg DWE, respectively. However, only (BAP+Gb), (BAP+1-Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), IAA, kin and (BAP+Ad) showed a significant increase in the antioxidant activity calculated as trolox equivalent with 2.65, 1.56, 1.56, 1.35 and 1.22 folds increase over the wild plant, respectively.Conclusion: The results obtained clearly indicated that changing the growth regulator system of Silybum marianum cultures serves as an easy and reliable method for increasing the total phenolic content and the antioxidant activity of cultures