A Challenging Case of Adrenal Insufficiency Presenting with Hypertensive Crisis

Adrenal insufficiency is the deficient production or action of glucocorticoids, with or without deficiency in mineralocorticoids or adrenal androgens. It usually presents with anorexia, abdominal pain, weakness, weight loss, fatigue, and hypotension. We report a case of 67 year old male, who is known to have hypertension, presented to emergency room with severe headache and was found to have high blood pressure 241/135mmHg and hypoosmolar hyponatremia. He was started on intravenous nicardipine and his blood pressure dropped suddenly, became orthostatic, and required fluid resuscitation but his headache resolved. On next day, the cosyntropin test was suggestive of primary adrenal insufficiency. The patient was started on oral hydrocortisone with improvement in his blood pressure and hyponatremia

The contribution of Hassan al-Rammah to gunpowder and rocket technology

The objective of this chapter is to study the early development of gunpowder and rocket technologies in the golden age of the Islamic civilization contributed by aI-Hassan AIRammah and understand his methodology in developing the military sciences and technologies. The methodology adopted in this chapter is a library based research and data is collected from reliable sources and internet sources. The research investigates the role of Hassan al Rammah in developing the rocket technology in the 13th century. The main focus of the research is to highlight the stages of the development of such a technology and how it was utilized by the Muslims in their war against the Mongols and the crusades during the 13th . The research explores the technique was used by Al -Rammah for developing rocket fuel and suitable Gunpowder recipes for cannons, rocket and fireworks. The significance of this research comes from revealing al Hassan al -Rammah effort in developing weaponry and military's techniques that helped the Muslim to excel in the military technology during the golden age of the Islamic civilization. AI-Hassan AIRammah (the lancer), a Muslim scholar lived in Syria in the thirteenth century, and died in between 1294-1295A.D AI- Rammah excelled in the military field, he wrote 107 recipes of gunpowder that had been used for rocket, canons and fireworks [Hassan, 2003,p.23]. He wrote treaties entitled: AI-Furusiyya wa AI-Manasib AI-Harbiyya (Book of Military Horsemanship and Ingenious War Devices) [Zaky, 1967, pA8]. This chapter explores al Hassan al-Rammah's endeavour in developing the rocket technolog

Removal of copper ions from aqueous solution using low temperature biochar derived from the pyrolysis of municipal solid waste

Includes graphical abstract.Sustainable methods to produce filter materials are needed to remove a variety of pollutants found in water including organic compounds, heavy metals, and other harmful inorganic and biological contaminants. This study focuses on the removal of Cu(II) from copper aqueous solutions using non-activated char derived from the pyrolysis of mixed municipal discarded materials (MMDM) using a new heat pipe-based pyrolysis reactor. Adsorption experiments were conducted by adding the char to copper solutions of varying concentration (50–250 mg/L) at a constant temperature of 30 °C. The effect of pH on copper adsorption onto the char was also investigated in the range of pH 3 to 6. Copper removal using the char was found to be heavily dependent on pH, adsorption was observed to decrease below a pH of 4.5. However, the initial copper concentration had a little effect on the sorption of copper at high concentration solutions (above 100 mg/L). Overall, the biochar showed an effective copper adsorption capacity (4–5 mg/g) when using copper solutions with a concentration below100 mg/L and pH >4.5. Copper removal using the char tended to follow the pseudo second order kinetic model. Langmuir isothermal model was shown to be the closest fitting isotherm using the linearized Langmuir equation. However, the variety of feedstock used to produce the char led to a variation in results compared to other studies of more specific feedstocks.The reported work was funded by EPSRC under Grant 1956470

Chemoenzymatic Late-Stage Modifications Enable Downstream Click-Mediated Fluorescent Tagging of Peptides

Aromatic prenyltransferases from cyanobactin biosynthetic pathways catalyse the chemoselective and regioselective intramolecular transfer of prenyl/geranyl groups from isoprene donors to an electron-rich position in these macrocyclic and linear peptides. These enzymes often demonstrate relaxed substrate specificity and are considered useful biocatalysts for structural diversification of peptides. Herein, we assess the isoprene donor specificity of the N1-tryptophan prenyltransferase AcyF from the anacyclamide A8P pathway using a library of 22 synthetic alkyl pyrophosphate analogues, of which many display reactive groups that are amenable to additional functionalization. We further used AcyF to introduce a reactive moiety into a tryptophan-containing cyclic peptide and subsequently used click chemistry to fluorescently label the enzymatically modified peptide. This chemoenzymatic strategy allows late-stage modification of peptides and is useful for many applications

Potential impact of global warming on river runoff coming to Jor reservoir, Malaysia by integration of LARS-WG with artificial neural networks

Background: Changes in temperature and precipitation pattern seriously affect the amount of river runoff coming into Dam Lake. These changes could influence the operating conditions of reservoir systems such as Jor hydropower reservoir system (Malaysia) with the total capacity of 150 MW. So, it is necessary to analyze the effect of changes in weather parameters on the river runoff and consequently, the hydropower production. Methods: In this research, LARS-WG was used to downscale the weather parameters such as daily minimum temperature, maximum temperature, and precipitation based on one of the general circulation sub-model (HADCM3) under three emission scenarios, namely, A1B, A2, and B1 for the next 50 years. Then, the artificial neural network (ANN) was constructed, while rainfall and evapotranspiration were used as input data and river runoff as output data to discover the relationship between climate parameters and runoff at the present and in the future time. Results: It was revealed that the monthly mean temperature will increase approximately between 0.3- 0.7°C, while the mean monthly precipitation will vary from -22% to +22% in the next 50 years. These changes could shift the dry and wet seasons and consequently, change the river runoff volume. In most months, the results of models integration showed reductions in river runoff. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the output of hydropower reservoir system is highly dependent on the river runoff. So, the impacts of climate changes should be considered by the reservoir operators/ managers to reduce these impacts and secure water supplies. Keywords: Climate change, Neural Networks, Malaysia, Weather, Temperatur

Surface water filtration using granular media and membranes: A review

Significant growth of the human population is expected in the future. Hence, the pressure on the already scarce natural water resources is continuously increasing. This work is an overview of membrane and filtration methods for the removal of pollutants such as bacteria, viruses and heavy metals from surface water. Microfiltration/Ultrafiltration (MF/UF) can be highly effective in eliminating bacteria and/or act as pre-treatment before Nanofiltration/Reverse Osmosis (NF/RO) to reduce the possibility of fouling. However, MF/UF membranes are produced through relatively intensive procedures. Moreover, they can be modified with chemical additives to improve their performance. Therefore, MF/UF applicability in less developed countries can be limited. NF shows high removal capability of certain contaminants (e.g. pharmaceutically active compounds and ionic compounds). RO is necessary for desalination purposes in areas where sea water is used for drinking/sanitation. Nevertheless, NF/RO systems require pre-treatment of the influent, increased electrical supply and high level of technical expertise. Thus, they are often a highly costly addition for countries under development. Slow Sand Filtration (SSF) is a simple and easy-to-operate process for the retention of solids, microorganisms and heavy metals; land use is a limiting factor, though. Rapid Sand Filtration (RSF) is an alternative responding to the need for optimized land use. However, it requires prior and post treatment stages to prevent fouling. Especially after coating with metal-based additives, sand filtration can constitute an efficient and sustainable treatment option for developing countries. Granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorbs organic compounds that were not filtered in previous treatment stages. It can be used in conjunction with other methods (e.g. MF and SSF) to face pollution that results from potentially outdated water network (especially in less developed areas) and, hence, produce water of acceptable drinking quality. Future research can focus on the potential of GAC production from alternative sources (e.g. municipal waste). Given the high production/operation/maintenance cost of the NF/RO systems, more cost-effective but equally effective alternatives can be implemented: e.g. (electro)coagulation/flocculation followed by MF/UF, SSF before/after MF/UF, MF/UF before GAC

Venomous gland transcriptome and venom proteomic analysis of the scorpion Androctonus amoreuxi reveal new peptides with anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity

The recent COVID-19 pandemic shows the critical need for novel broad spectrum antiviral agents. Scorpion venoms are known to contain highly bioactive peptides, several of which have demonstrated strong antiviral activity against a range of viruses. We have generated the first annotated reference transcriptome for the Androctonus amoreuxi venom gland and used high performance liquid chromatography, transcriptome mining, circular dichroism and mass spectrometric analysis to purify and characterize twelve previously undescribed venom peptides. Selected peptides were tested for binding to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and inhibition of the spike RBD – human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) interaction using surface plasmon resonance-based assays. Seven peptides showed dose-dependent inhibitory effects, albeit with IC50 in the high micromolar range (117–1202 µM). The most active peptide was synthesized using solid phase peptide synthesis and tested for its antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 (Lineage B.1.1.7). On exposure to the synthetic peptide of a human lung cell line infected with replication-competent SARS-CoV-2, we observed an IC50 of 200 nM, which was nearly 600-fold lower than that observed in the RBD – hACE2 binding inhibition assay. Our results show that scorpion venom peptides can inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 replication although unlikely through inhibition of spike RBD – hACE2 interaction as the primary mode of action. Scorpion venom peptides represent excellent scaffolds for design of novel anti-SARS-CoV-2 constrained peptides. Future studies should fully explore their antiviral mode of action as well as the structural dynamics of inhibition of target virus-host interactions

Country activities of Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases (GARD): focus presentations at the 11th GARD General Meeting, Brussels

© Journal of Thoracic Disease. All rights reserved.The Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases (GARD) is a voluntary network of national and international organizations, institutions and agencies led by the World Health Organization (WHO), working towards the vision of a world where all people breathe freely (1). GARD is supporting WHO in successfully implementing the WHO’s Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) 2013–2020. The GARD report on GARD activities is published on a regular basis. Collaboration among GARD countries is critical for sharing experiences and providing technical assistance to developing countries based on each country’s needs (2). The annual GARD meeting is a unique opportunity for assembling all of the GARD participants from developed and developing countries: European countries, North and South American Countries, China, Vietnam as well as Eastern Mediterranean, and African countries. Coordinator for Management of NCDs in the WHO Department for Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention (Cherian Varghese) is present at this meeting. The annual meeting of GARD is a forum for exchanging opinions in order to improve care for chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) and to achieve the GARD goal—a world where all people breathe freely. Experts—in collaboration with WHO—are helping developing countries to achieve their projects regarding teaching, research and programming for CRD. Each year, there is a poster presentation session on country activities. Each participant is able to present his/her country activities that have been achieved since the last meeting. This is followed by discussion. In this paper, we summarize the posters presented during the 11th GARD general meeting. We hope that this will give readers of the GARD section an opportunity to learn for their countries. We can find all posters on the link: https://gard-breathefreely.org/resources-poster/.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio