Palm Ash as a Pozzolanic Material for Portland Cement Pastes

The effect of the substitution of palm ash (PA) on the physico-chemical and mechanical properties of Portland cement pastes (OPC) was clearly evaluated. Results showed that as the PA content increased, the fineness as well as the heat of hydration of the whole mix increased too.  The water of consistency (WC) and set times (ST) decreased with the increase of PA content due to the presence of the water reducing admixture. The bound water content (BWn), bulk density (BD) and compressive strength (CS) improved and enhanced up to 20 % PA content, and then decreased onward at all hydration periods, while the total porosity decreased and then increased. Above 20 % PA content, all properties were adversely affected. The free lime content (FLn) of the OPC increased continuously up to 90 days, but decreased with PA content. The FTIR spectra illustrated that there is a large amount of free lime content with P0 (OPC), but it gradually decreased with PA content. The SEM microscopy demonstrated the formation of ettringite phase and aggregates of CSH in addition to free lime. In the case of PA blended cement pastes the ettringite was disappeared completely and well-defined crystals were detecte

Polymorphism of growth hormone gene and its association with wool traits in Egyptian sheep breeds

Growth hormone (GH) gene has been described as a candidate gene for marker-assisted selection in different farm animals. The present study was designed to identify the polymorphism in GH gene and its association with variation of wool traits in Egyptian sheep breeds. Wool and blood samples were collected from 42 animals including two breeds (Barki and Rahmani) and one crossbred (Rahmani x Awase). Measurements of wool traits were analyzed and involved staple strength (Str), staple length (STL), fiber diameter (FD) and clean fleece yield (CFW). DNA was extracted from blood samples and a 365-bp fragment from exon V was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Single strand conformation polymorphisim (SSCP) analysis showed two conformational patterns. The pattern I was recorded to be more frequent (83.3, 92.86 and 90%) than pattern II (16.7, 7.14 and 10%) in Barki, Rahmani and crossbred, respectively. The sequence analysis showed one single nucleotide polymorphism (C/T). The pattern I (allele T) has been found to affect CFW and FD than pattern II (allele C). Whereas, C allele was more pronounced for Str and STL. These traits are the most important parameters determining commercial values of wool that are preferred for clothing or carpets industry. The nucleotide sequences of C and T alleles were submitted to GenBank and have the accession numbers: KT250511 and KT250512, respectively. In conclusion, the present results provide evidence that there is a single nucleotide polymorphism within GH gene in Egyptian sheep breeds. This mutation was found to have some effects on wool traits. Therefore our data show interesting prospects in future selection programs for improving wool industry.Key words: Sheep, wool, growth hormone (GH) gene, polymorphism, single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP)

Epidemiological Characteristics and Survival Studies of Rhabdomyosarcoma in East Egypt: A Five-Year Multicenter Study

Background. Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children, it represents 5–8% of childhood malignancies. Aim of the Work. To evaluate the epidemiological characteristics and treatment outcome in two pediatric oncology centers. Patients and Method. A retrospective analysis was performed on 41 medical records of children with RMS during 6 years period. Results. The median age of patients was 6 years with 80.4% below 10 years. Head and neck was the most common primary site. Embryonal RMS was the most frequent histopathologic subtype. Stage IV was the most frequent stage. According to IRS postsurgical grouping classification, group 4 was the most frequent group. There was a significant relationship between histopathologic subtypes of tumor and metastasis, primary site of tumor and histopathologic subtype, age, metastasis, IRS presurgical stage and IRS postsurgical group and outcome. The overall survival rate was 56.9% ± 8.4 and the failure free survival rate was 68.3% ± 7.6. Conclusion. The epidemiological characteristics of our patients are quite near to the worldwide data, apart from the higher prevalence of stage IV and group 4 with most of the primary tumor site in the extremities. CWS2002 protocol of therapy had led to improvement in the curability of the disease

Biopiracy <i>versus </i>one-world medicine – from colonial relicts to global collaborative concepts

Background: Practices of biopiracy to use genetic resources and indigenous knowledge by Western companies without benefit-sharing of those, who generated the traditional knowledge, can be understood as form of neocolonialism.Hypothesis: : The One-World Medicine concept attempts to merge the best of traditional medicine from developing countries and conventional Western medicine for the sake of patients around the globe.Study design: Based on literature searches in several databases, a concept paper has been written. Legislative initiatives of the United Nations culminated in the Nagoya protocol aim to protect traditional knowledge and regulate benefit-sharing with indigenous communities. The European community adopted the Nagoya protocol, and the corresponding regulations will be implemented into national legislation among the member states. Despite pleasing progress, infrastructural problems of the health care systems in developing countries still remain. Current approaches to secure primary health care offer only fragmentary solutions at best. Conventional medicine from industrialized countries cannot be afforded by the impoverished population in the Third World. Confronted with exploding costs, even health systems in Western countries are endangered to burst. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is popular among the general public in industrialized countries, although the efficacy is not sufficiently proven according to the standards of evidence-based medicine. CAM is often available without prescription as over-the-counter products with non-calculated risks concerning erroneous self-medication and safety/toxicity issues. The concept of integrative medicine attempts to combine holistic CAM approaches with evidence-based principles of conventional medicine.Conclusion: To realize the concept of One-World Medicine, a number of standards have to be set to assure safety, efficacy and applicability of traditional medicine, e.g. sustainable production and quality control of herbal products, performance of placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized clinical trials, phytovigilance, as well as education of health professionals and patients

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum