Morphology and clinical implication of the extra-head of biceps brachii muscle

The biceps brachii muscle is present in the anterior aspect of the arm. Its morphological variations have great clinical significance for surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, anaesthetists, neurologists and anatomists. This study aimed to describe the incidence and morphology of the extra-heads of the biceps brachii muscle. Hundred upper limbs of 50 adult human cadavers (30 men and 20 women) were used in this study after the approval of the medical ethical committee. These cadavers were obtained from the Anatomy Department, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdul-Aziz University. The incidence of anatomical variations of biceps muscle was equal in both male and female cadavers (10%) with predominance of the left side (7%). The 3-headed biceps brachii muscle was noticed in 7% (4% male and 3% female), while the 4-headed biceps was seen in 2 (2%) left limbs, 1 male and 1 female. The third head of the biceps muscle arose from the anteromedial aspect of humerus, between the coracobrachialis insertion and the brachialis origin, in 6% and from middle of the medial border of humerus in 3%. While the fourth head originated from the articular capsule of shoulder joint in 1 (1%) limb and from the coracoid process of scapula in the other limb. The biceps common tendon of insertion received the supernumerary heads in 7% of the limbs. However, the extra-head fused with the long head in 2 (2%) limbs and united with the short head in 1 (1%) limb. The mean of the third head length was 118.8 ± 10.9 in all limbs, where it was 121.8 ± 12.3 in male and 113.5 ± 8.1 in female cadavers. The third head length/arm length ratio was 38.4 ± 2.6 in all, 38.3 ± 3.4 in male and 38.8 ± 1.8 in female cadavers. The length of the extra-head was extremely significant with those of the corresponding limb in all, male and female cadavers (p < 0.0001). Knowledge of the morphological variations of biceps muscle provides better pre-operative evaluation, safe surgical intervention within the arm and better postoperative outcomes

Multilevel Thresholding for Image Segmentation Using an Improved Electromagnetism Optimization Algorithm

Image segmentation is considered one of the most important tasks in image processing, which has several applications in different areas such as; industry agriculture, medicine, etc. In this paper, we develop the electromagnetic optimization (EMO) algorithm based on levy function, EMO-levy, to enhance the EMO performance for determining the optimal multi-level thresholding of image segmentation. In general, EMO simulates the mechanism of attraction and repulsion between charges to develop the individuals of a population. EMO takes random samples from search space within the histogram of image, where, each sample represents each particle in EMO. The quality of each particle is assessed based on Otsu’s or Kapur objective function value. The solutions are updated using EMO operators until determine the optimal objective functions. Finally, this approach produces segmented images with optimal values for the threshold and a few number of iterations. The proposed technique is validated using different standard test images. Experimental results prove the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed algorithm for image segmentation compared with well-known optimization methods

The Effect of Thickness And Accelerated Aging on Opalescence of Different Ceramic Materials

Purpose: The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of ceramic material type and thickness on opalescence before and after accelerated aging. Materials and methods: 180 all-ceramic slices were divided into three groups (n=60) according to the ceramic material (InCoris TZI, Empress CAD HT, and Empress CAD LT). Each group was further subdivided into four subgroups (n = 15) according to their thickness (0.5 mm, 0.8 mm, 1 mm and 1.2 mm).). CIE Lab coordinates were measured for each slice against black and white backgrounds using intraoral spectrophotometer and OP was calculated. All specimens were subjected to accelerated aging using autoclave (134 ºC, 0.2 MPa for 5 h) and OP was calculated after accelerated aging. Repeated ANOVA combined with a Tukey-post hoc test were used to analyze the data obtained (P ≤ 0.05). Results: The results showed that ceramic material type and thickness have significant effect on opalescence with OP values (from 4.4±1.2 to 7.1±1.7) for InCoris TZI, (from 4.1±0.28 to 5.7±0.36) for CAD HT, and (from 5.9±0.7 to 8.7±4.6) for CAD LT, while the effect of accelerated aging was not statistically significant. Conclusion: The dental ceramic type affected the opalescence with Empress CAD HT showing the highest OP values. Increasing the thickness caused an increase in the opalescence of leucite reinforced glass ceramic, while it decreased the opalescence of zirconia. Therefore, manufactures should develop all-ceramic materials that can simulate the opalescence of natural teeth especially in esthetic ceramic restoration with lower thickness

Mercado de Reservas: Simulador Multiagente SIMREEL e Caso de Estudo Envolvendo o Mercado Ibérico

A liberalização do sistema energético nacional introduziu mudanças estruturais e organizacionais que permitiram aumentar a competitividade nos mercados de energia elé-trica. As questões relacionadas com a sustentabilidade ambiental aliadas ao aumento de competitividade induziram a uma forte penetração de fontes de energia renovável no mer-cado, o que exige uma gestão mais eficiente do sistema devido aos riscos que estes podem apresentar. Atualmente, a energia eólica em Portugal possui uma fatia considerável na produ-ção de energia elétrica, o que aumenta a possibilidade de perturbações na rede, pois esta fonte de energia é caracterizada pela sua elevada imprevisibilidade e variabilidade. Para o funcionamento em segurança da rede, os serviços de sistema garantem o equilíbrio entre a produção e o consumo em tempo real. No âmbito do presente trabalho é feita uma análise profunda do que são os serviços de sistema, a regulamentação que as fundamenta e o seu funcionamento no sistema ener-gético nacional. No sentido de apoiar a análise e compreensão do funcionamento dos mercados de serviços de sistema, desenvolveu-se um simulador que permite recriar o mercado de reserva de regulação secundária e terciária. Foi desenvolvido um caso de estudo envolvendo o mercado Ibérico e foram analisados cenários de remuneração eólica. Na simulação da transição do regime feed-in para o regime de mercado, foi verificada uma redução de 53,7% na remuneração dos produtores eólicos

Lime-induced phytophotodermatitis

Phytophotodermatitis, also commonly known as phototoxic dermatitis, is a common skin condition that occurs after contact with certain plants and subsequent exposure to sunlight. It is often confused with skin burns due to the blistering nature of its lesions. We herein report a case of phytophotodermatitis that developed in a 26-year-old male following contact with lime and subsequent exposure to sunlight

Survey of Personalized Learning Software Systems: A Taxonomy of Environments, Learning Content, and User Models

This paper presents a comprehensive systematic review of personalized learning software systems. All the systems under review are designed to aid educational stakeholders by personalizing one or more facets of the learning process. This is achieved by exploring and analyzing the common architectural attributes among personalized learning software systems. A literature-driven taxonomy is recognized and built to categorize and analyze the reviewed literature. Relevant papers are filtered to produce a final set of full systems to be reviewed and analyzed. In this meta-review, a set of 72 selected personalized learning software systems have been reviewed and categorized based on the proposed personalized learning taxonomy. The proposed taxonomy outlines the three main architectural components of any personalized learning software system: learning environment, learner model, and content. It further defines the different realizations and attributions of each component. Surveyed systems have been analyzed under the proposed taxonomy according to their architectural components, usage, strengths, and weaknesses. Then, the role of these systems in the development of the field of personalized learning systems is discussed. This review sheds light on the field’s current challenges that need to be resolved in the upcoming years

Triggers And Tweets: Implicit Aspect-Based Sentiment And Emotion Analysis Of Community Chatter Relevant To Education Post-Covid-19

This research proposes a well-being analytical framework using social media chatter data. The proposed framework infers analytics and provides insights into the public\u27s well-being relevant to education throughout and post the COVID-19 pandemic through a comprehensive Emotion and Aspect-based Sentiment Analysis (ABSA). Moreover, this research aims to examine the variability in emotions of students, parents, and faculty toward the e-learning process over time and across different locations. The proposed framework curates Twitter chatter data relevant to the education sector, identifies tweets with the sentiment, and then identifies the exact emotion and emotional triggers associated with those feelings through implicit ABSA. The produced analytics are then factored by location and time to provide more comprehensive insights that aim to assist the decision-makers and personnel in the educational sector enhance and adapt the educational process during and following the pandemic and looking toward the future. The experimental results for emotion classification show that the Linear Support Vector Classifier (SVC) outperformed other classifiers in terms of overall accuracy, precision, recall, and F-measure of 91%. Moreover, the Logistic Regression classifier outperformed all other classifiers in terms of overall accuracy, recall, an F-measure of 81%, and precision of 83% for aspect classification. In online experiments using UAE COVID-19 education-related data, the analytics show high relevance with the public concerns around the education process that were reported during the experiment\u27s timeframe

Changes of serum omentin-1 levels and relationship between omentin-1 and insulin resistance in chronic hepatitis C patients

Omentin-1 is a novel adipokine that has a pivotal role in modulating the insulin sensitivity, immunity and inflammation. The current study was conducted to evaluate the serum omentin-1 level in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients, with or without type 2 diabetes, and to investigate its correlation with liver function parameters and insulin resistance. Methods: Eighty subjects were enrolled in this study divided into four groups: chronic HCV infected patients (n=20), chronic hepatitis C patients with concomitant type 2 diabetes (n=18), type 2 diabetic patients (n=22) and 20 healthy controls. Serum omentin-1 levels were assessed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Fasting blood glucose, insulin levels, and liver parameters including aminotrans ferases (ALT and AST) were determined. Results: Serum omentin-1 levels were significantly elevated in HCV infected patients compared to all other groups. Omentin-1 levels were positively correlated with AST and ALT levels (r =0.43, p< 0.001; r =0.423, p<0.001, respectively). Additionally, a significant negative correlation was found between omentin-1 and both fasting insulin levels and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (r = -0.238, p< 0.05; r = -0.277, p<0.05, respectively). Furthermore, fasting blood glucose, HbA1c and HOMA-β were negatively correlated to serum omentin-1 levels however these correlations were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Serum omentin-1 level is elevated in HCV infected patients and is positively associated with liver enzymes AST and ALT. This suggested that omentin-1 may be implicated in the pathogenesis of hepatitis C and its metabolic complications. However its role needs to be elucidated by further studies

Strengthening of Continuous SCC Hollow Beams under Shear Stresses Using Warped CFRP Strips

The present paper is deal with shear strength evaluation of continuous self-compacting concrete hollow beams containing internal concrete ribs and externally strengthening by carbon fiber strips (CFRP). Six full-scale beam specimens and series of control specimens were tested. The adopted variables in this study are the number of internal concrete ribs and external U-shape CFRP strips at (45º). Experimental results show that the shear failure was the dominant failure for all tested beams. The cracking and ultimate load are reduced by about (19.6-30.6%) for the hollow beams specimens contains five and three ribs respectively compared with the reference beam. The ultimate load was increased for about (50.7%) for five internal ribs hollow beams strengthened by CFRP strips in compared with the same beams but without strengthening.  While, the ultimate load was increased for about (33.46%), for beam specimen who has three internal ribs and strengthened by CFRP, in comparison with the same beams but without strengthening. Keywords: CFRP Strips, Shear, Continuous Beam, Self-Compacting Concrete, Hollow, Rib