The Applicability of International-Environmental Rating Systems on Eco-lodges

Thousands of years ago, Eco-lodges established in rural areas, away of the main cities, for multiple reasons; low populated area, healthier environment (psychological and physical health) and Economic development. Some of them were established randomly by local people and others were developed by architects or developers. Recently, it is essential to develop such projects in to deserts, forests or cold mountains in order to reduce the high population density in capital cities. Unfortunately, Environmental and International rating systems were not developed to be measuring tools to any type of Eco-lodge. Thus, the researcher had developed a new rating system adaptive to the Environmental parameters in Siwa oasis, it is called the Siwan Ecological Rating System (SERS) in Egypt. For that, the researches tried to find answers of whether international weighting systems would be applicable on Eco-lodges or not. In order to do that, the researchers made comparative studies between the four well known and Environmental rating systems through their items weightings and priorities. Then each of these system’s item weightings will be compared with those of SERS system through scattered plots to find the correlation between these rating systems. Finally the researchers would recommend the most applicable rating system(s) that can be developed to be applied on rural distinct Eco-lodges

Comparative Wind Simulation Studies of Different Urban Patterns in Hot Arid Region: Touristic Resort at Qarun Lake, Fayoum Region, Egypt

Nowadays, it is considered that urban areas consume the bulk of vital natural and energy resources that raise concerns of environmental deterioration on different scales. Now, worldwide energy assessments indicate that improving the energy efficiency and sustainability of buildings, and urban communities could free-up enormous amounts of current energy expenses. Those energy fluxes and change of airflow that resulted from urban morphology can lead to phenomenon such as the urban heat island and convective rainfall initiation.In this research it initiates – Urban Fluid Mechanics (UFM) by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools that delve into fundamental fluid flow problems of immediate utility for the development of resorts at Qarun lake in Egypt through a comparative study between different urban patterns through three main processes. Firstly, it starts by using of results from a mesoscale model to indicate the best place for building a wind turbine farm and to generate data for the microscale model of the urban canopy. Secondly, using qualitative modeling method for urban analysis that can evaluate the airflow conditions of the urban canopy in different seasons. Thirdly, making a comparative study between different urban patterns by changing a certain parameter. As a result from these three processes that qualitative simulation process will be of use for building and urban scale performance predictions as well as for the future simulation of pedestrian comfort. In this paper, it describes in detail one such approach, along with some sample results demonstrating the capabilities of this tool in Planning and urban design decisions, and raises questions as How Architects, Planners, Urban designers get advantages through using CFD method and its tools?, How can that method indicate the best places for renewable energy resources? and How can such ways of comparative studies can but a certain criteria for urban design in a certain zone

Protective Effect of L-Carnitine and Coenzyme Q10 on CCl4-Induced Liver Injury in Rats

This study provides an information about the mechanisms of liver injury induced by CCl4, and determines the influence of administration of L-carnitine or/and CoQ10 as prophylactic agents against CCl4 deteriorative effect. The study was carried out on 80 adult male albino rats divided into eight groups, 10 animals each, as follows: four normal groups (control, treated with L-carnitine, treated with CoQ10, and treated with a combination of Lcarnitine and CoQ10) and four liver injury groups treated with CCl4 (control, treated with L-carnitine, treated with CoQ10, and treated with a combination of L-carnitine and CoQ10). Liver injury was induced by s.c. injection of a single dose of CCl4 (1 ml/kg). L-carnitine (50 mg/kg/day) was given i.p. for four successive days 24 hours before CCl4 injection, and CoQ10 (200 mg/kg) was given as a single i.p. dose 24 hours before CCl4 injection. Animals were sacrificed 24 hours after CCl4 injection, blood samples were withdrawn and liver tissue samples were homogenized. The levels of the following parameters were determined: hepatic reduced glutathione, serum ALT and AST, hepatic lipid peroxides, hepatic vitamin C, hepatic and serum total protein, serum albumin, serum sialic acid, serum nitrite, and serum and hepatic total LDH activities and LDH isoenzymes. The obtained data revealed that CCl4 injection produced a significant decrease in reduced glutathione content, vitamin C, total protein and albumin levels. However, there was a significant increase in serum ALT and AST activities, lipid peroxides, sialic acid, nitric oxide, serum and hepatic total LDH activities. On the other hand, groups treated with L-carnitine or/and CoQ10 prior to CCl4 injection showed an improvement in most parameters when compared with cirrhotic control group. It has been concluded that L-carnitine and coenzyme Q10 have a pronounced prophylactic effect against liver damage induced by halogenated alkanes such as carbon tetrachloride

Ultrasonography role for evaluation of hand tendon injuries

Background: Most tendons injuries are open injuries to the flexor or extensor tendons, but less frequent injuries. Ultrasound (US) and MRI used as a diagnostic tool for tendon injuries.Objective: This study aimed to investigate the overall accuracy of the bedside tendon ultrasonography, which can be used to the diagnosis and discharge planning in patients with suspected hand tendon injuries.Patients and methods: A cross sectional study included 24 patients diagnosed with a hand tendon injuries either preoperative or postoperative and carried out in the Department of Radiodiagnosis at Zagazig University Hospitals. Preoperative ultrasound was performed to the affected tendon to perform multisectional scans without flexion or extension of the wrists in all cases. The unaffected hand and fingers were also examined in the same fashion as the affected fingers for comparison.Results: There was significant increase in number of patients presented with injury preoperatively who didn’t present with nerve injury. There was significant change in number of patients presented with either single or multiple tendon injuries. There was significant increase in frequency in patient without foreign body. There were two patients with ultrasonographic features of tendon injury had no tendon injury proven by surgery with sensitivity of 91.7 %. There was significant increase in number of patients presented with tendon injury. US can detect tendon injury with 100% sensitivity, 91.7% positive predictive value and 91.7% accuracy.Conclusion: Ultrasound is a useful diagnostic tool for modality of predicting and diagnosis of a tendon rupture in hand injuries

Conceptual design and numerical analysis of a novel floating desalination plant powered by marine renewable energy for Egypt

The supply of freshwater has become a worldwide interest, due to serious water shortages in many countries. Due to rapid increases in the population, poor water management, and limitations of freshwater resources, Egypt is currently below the water scarcity limit. Since Egypt has approximately 3000 km of coastlines on both the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, seawater desalination powered by marine renewable energy could be a sustainable alternative solution, especially for remote coastal cities which are located far from the national water grid. The objective of this research work is to evaluate the feasibility of a floating desalination plant (FDP) concept powered by marine renewable energy for Egypt. A novel design of the FDP concept is developed as an innovative solution to overcome the freshwater shortage of remote coastal cities in Egypt. A mobile floating platform supported by reverse osmosis (RO) membrane powered by marine renewable power technology is proposed. Based on the abundant solar irradiation and sufficient wind density, Ras Ghareb was selected to be the base site location for the proposed FDP concept. According to the collected data from the selected location, a hybrid solar–wind system was designed to power the FDP concept under a maximum power load condition. A numerical tool, the DNV-GL Sesam software package, was used for static stability, hydrodynamic performance, and dynamic response evaluation. Moreover, WAVE software was used to design and simulate the operation of the RO desalination system and calculate the power consumption for the proposed FDP concept. The results show that the proposed mobile FDP concept is highly suitable for being implemented in remote coastal areas in Egypt, without the need for infrastructure or connection to the national grid for both water and power

Mistranslation drives alterations in protein levels and the effects of a synonymous variant at the fibroblast growth factor 21 locus

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a liver-derived hormone with pleiotropic beneficial effects on metabolism. Paradoxically, FGF21 levels are elevated in metabolic diseases. Interventions that restore metabolic homeostasis reduce FGF21. Whether abnormalities in FGF21 secretion or resistance in peripheral tissues is the initiating factor in altering FGF21 levels and function in humans is unknown. A genetic approach is used to help resolve this paradox. The authors demonstrate that the primary event in dysmetabolic phenotypes is the elevation of FGF21 secretion. The latter is regulated by translational reprogramming in a genotype- and context-dependent manner. To relate the findings to tissues outcomes, the minor (A) allele of rs838133 is shown to be associated with increased hepatic inflammation in patients with metabolic associated fatty liver disease. The results here highlight a dominant role for translation of the FGF21 protein to explain variations in blood levels that is at least partially inherited. These results provide a framework for translational reprogramming of FGF21 to treat metabolic diseases

Copy number variation and expression of exportin-4 associates with severity of fibrosis in metabolic associated fatty liver disease

Background Liver fibrosis risk is a heritable trait, the outcome of which is the net deposition of extracellular matrix by hepatic stellate cell-derived myofibroblasts. Whereas nucleotide sequence variations have been extensively studied in liver fibrosis, the role of copy number variations (CNV) in which genes exist in abnormal numbers of copies (mostly due to duplication or deletion) has had limited exploration. Methods The impact of the XPO4 CNV on histological liver damage was examined in a cohort comprised 646 Caucasian patients with biopsy-proven MAFLD and 170 healthy controls. XPO4 expression was modulated and function was examined in human and animal models. Findings Here we demonstrate in a cohort of 816 subjects, 646 with biopsy-proven metabolic associated liver disease (MAFLD) and 170 controls, that duplication in the exportin 4 (XPO4) CNV is associated with the severity of liver fibrosis. Functionally, this occurs via reduced expression of hepatic XPO4 that maintains sustained activation of SMAD3/SMAD4 and promotes TGF-β1-mediated HSC activation and fibrosis. This effect was mediated through termination of nuclear SMAD3 signalling. XPO4 demonstrated preferential binding to SMAD3 compared to other SMADs and led to reduced SMAD3-mediated responses as shown by attenuation of TGFβ1 induced SMAD transcriptional activity, reductions in the recruitment of SMAD3 to target gene promoters following TGF-β1, as well as attenuation of SMAD3 phosphorylation and disturbed SMAD3/SMAD4 complex formation. Interpretation We conclude that a CNV in XPO4 is a critical mediator of fibrosis severity and can be exploited as a therapeutic target for liver fibrosis

parazitCUB: An R package to streamline the process of investigating the adaptations of parasites' codon usage bias [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Examining the intricate association between parasites and their hosts, particularly at the codon level, assumes paramount importance in comprehending evolutionary processes and forecasting the characteristics of novel parasites. While diverse metrics and statistical analyses are available to explore codon usage bias (CUB), there presently exists no dedicated tool for examining the co-adaptation of codon usage between parasites and hosts. Therefore, we introduce the parazitCUB R package to address this challenge in a scalable and efficient manner, as it is capable of handling extensive datasets and simultaneously analyzing of multiple parasites with optimized performance. parazitCUB enables the elucidation of parasite-host interactions and the evolutionary patterns of parasites through the implementation of various indices, cluster analysis, multivariate analysis, and data visualization techniques. The tool can be accessed at the following location: https://github.com/AliYoussef96/parazitCU

Egyptian Needs and the Water Resources Under the Agreements Among the Nile River Basin Countries

Abstract: Water is Egypt issue today, and its danger is increasing in the future years. Egypt is considered one of the poorest 35 countries in the world,its ownership of freshwater resources, where Egyptian citizen share in 1947year was reached about 2604 m 3 / year, it decreased over the years following that reached 860 m 3 / year in 2003, possibly the individual share will decrease to 582 m 3 / year in 2025, due to the available water resources for agriculture is limited, the future demand increasing for the purposes of horizontal and vertical expansion in cultivated area, the low efficiency of availability use of it, in addition to the obstacles in the traditional sources use, and as a result of the increase in population with demand for water is increased,and the available renewable water resources are constant, which led to increase the water problem in Egypt, Therefore, the study aimed to Identify the current available of Egyptian needs, water resources, individual share average of water, and identify the periods of abundance,scarcity and water poverty through the presentation of the various water agreements among the Nile River Basin countries, The study proved that total water needs reached about 69