Experience of CT Guided Procedures in the Diagnosis of 55 patients with Intrathoracic Lesions from May 2009 to Feb 2011 at Ribat University Hospital(Sudan)

Objective: To present the experience of our center in the use of computed tomography (CT)guided Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) and core tissue biopsy procedures as an effective way for obtaining adequate material from intra-thoracic lesions, with the aim of assessing their diagnostic yield and complications.Methods: the study included 55 patients who underwent CT-guided procedures between May 2009 and February 2011. All fine needle aspirations were performed with 20-gauge needles while coretissue biopsies were performed with 14 –gauge needles under CT guidance. The diagnostic yield of these procedures, complications, and patient’s feedback were studied.Results: Diagnosis was malignant lesions in 18(32.1%), benign in 35(62.5%), and in 2(0.036%) patients the sample was inadequate. So the diagnostic yield of CT guided procedures was 96.36%. 16 (89%) of the malignant sample were non-small cell lung cancer and 2(11%) were small cell lung cancer. The results of both procedures (fine needle aspirations and core tissue biopsies) done on the same lesion were similar in (93.7%) of the results. Patients who underwent other procedures before this (e.g. bronchoscopy) had similar results in 25% of the samples. Complications reported were hemoptysis in 5 (9.1%), pneumothorax in 2 (3.6%) and surgical emphysema in 1 (1.8%) patient. 5 (9.2%) of the patients described the pain of the procedure as intolerable.Conclusions: CT guided procedure has high diagnostic yield and is recommended for obtaining tissues for histological assessment. Tissue biopsy offers no substantial advantage over FNA in the evaluation of malignant lung lesions

An Overview and Tutorials on Modeling and Simulation

The modeling and simulation are the most important challenges to the researcher to present the system reality and study the different metrics of it. This article provides the short overview to assist the new researchers toward their goals. With aid of differ scenarios related to an engineering domain the designers have an ability to answer critical questions about modeling and simulation

Resistance in snap beans, Phaseolus vulgaris L., to adult western spotted cucumber beetle, Diabrotica u. indecimpunctata Mann

Studies to evaluate resistance in snap beans, Phaseolus vulgaris L. to adult western spotted cucumber beetles, Diabrotica u. undecimpunctata Mann. were conducted in greenhouse cages, field cages, field plots, and in temperature controlled cabinet in the laboratory. Results showed that there were differences in susceptibility to adult feeding injury between 12 selected snap bean cultivars. Spartan Arrow, Green Isle, Resistant Cherokee Wax, Itasca, and Oregon 1604 showed a higher level of resistance, whereas Blue Crop, Blue Max, Green Ruler, Bush Blue Lake, and Bush Hort. #4 were most susceptible. Beetle injury affected bean grades and damage by beetles exceeded the one percent level accepted by processors for grade A beans in all cultivars tested. Adult beetles preferred young succulent leaves of the cotyledonous stage. In all cultivars studied more than 5O% of the seedlings were damaged, however damage during the cotyledonous stage had the least effect on yield except when complete defoliation and death of seedling occurred

Knowledge and Attitude of Community Pharmacists Toward Cow Milk Protein Allergy Complications and Treatment in Children: A Cross-Sectional Study in Sudan

Zahraa Elrasheed Ali,1 Abdelrahim Elameen,2 Fatima A Fadul,2 Rawan R Babikir,2 Ahmed H Arbab3 1Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan; 2Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan; 3Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, SudanCorrespondence: Ahmed H Arbab, Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Khartoum, Al-Qasr Ave, 11111, Khartoum, Sudan, Tel +249 991893200, Email [email protected]: Cow’s milk protein allergy is the most frequent type of food allergy in newborns and young children. It affects numerous body systems. A community pharmacist possessing adequate knowledge and appropriate practices is crucial for the management of the disease.Objectives: : This study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude of community pharmacists toward the complications and treatment of cow milk protein allergy.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 332 randomly selected community pharmacists in the Capital of Sudan (Khartoum state). Data were collected using a validated and internally consistent (Cronbach Alpha = 0.712) self-administered questionnaire Descriptive statistics and Chi-square analysis were conducted using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 25.Results: The response rate was 95.8%, and about 47.8% of the population had 1– 5 years of experience as community pharmacists, and 37.4% of them had a post-graduate degree. Only 30.8% of respondents had good knowledge, while 40.6% had poor knowledge, and 28.6% had scored as having fair knowledge of complications of Cow’s milk protein allergy. Regarding knowledge toward treatment, 65.1% of respondents had a poor knowledge, 24.5% had fair knowledge, and only 10.4% had good knowledge. Overall, 39.62% of participants had a positive attitude, and 60.38% had a negative attitude toward this disease. Data analysis showed no significant association between the sociodemographic characteristics of respondents and their knowledge and attitude.Conclusion: Community pharmacists in Khartoum State had inadequate knowledge and attitude about the complications and treatment of cow milk protein allergy. As a result, we recommend the implementation of strategies to raise pharmacists’ knowledge and attitude.Keywords: community pharmacist, cow milk protein allergy, knowledge, attitude, Suda

A Brief Review of Molecular Techniques to Assess Plant Diversity

Massive loss of valuable plant species in the past centuries and its adverse impact on environmental and socioeconomic values has triggered the conservation of plant resources. Appropriate identification and characterization of plant materials is essential for the successful conservation of plant resources and to ensure their sustainable use. Molecular tools developed in the past few years provide easy, less laborious means for assigning known and unknown plant taxa. These techniques answer many new evolutionary and taxonomic questions, which were not previously possible with only phenotypic methods. Molecular techniques such as DNA barcoding, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) have recently been used for plant diversity studies. Each technique has its own advantages and limitations. These techniques differ in their resolving power to detect genetic differences, type of data they generate and their applicability to particular taxonomic levels. This review presents a basic description of different molecular techniques that can be utilized for DNA fingerprinting and molecular diversity analysis of plant species

Role of Ultrasound Guided Biopsy of Thoracic Lesions

Objective: This prospective study is to evaluate and enhance the role of ultrasound in biopsy guidance of thoracic lesions.Methods: 55 patients were subjected for fine needle aspiration (FNA) and/or core needle biopsy (CNB) from peripheral chest lesions in Ribat University Hospital during the period from April 2011 and October 2012. Samples were analyzed and results were processed by the pathologist.Results: 81 biopsies were successfully taken from 51 (92.7%) patients, while failed in 4 (7.3%). 41 (50.6%) of the biopsies were taken using FNA and 26 (32.1%) by CNB, while 14 (17.3%) of the samples were aspirations from loculated pleural effusions. The diagnostic yield was 96.2% for CNB, 92.7% for FNA and 95.7% when both of them were taken. The mean duration of the procedures was 20.6 minutes. Immediate complications occurred in three patients, mild hemoptysis in two and chest pain in one.Conclusion: The results showed that US guided biopsies of intrathoracic lesions is safe, quick and the least expensive imaging guided biopsy. The procedure accuracy in obtaining sample is very high. Training chest physician on US will enable them to takeactive part in patient management and hence cut short waiting time for the procedure and the result, which will free the radiologist for more complex interventional procedures.Key words: fine needle aspiration, core needle biopsies, Ribat University Hospital, Sudan

Single asperity nanoscratch behaviour of HIPed and cast Stellite 6 alloys

The aim of this study was to investigate the nanoscale sliding wear behaviour of re-HIPed (Hot Isostatically Pressed) and cast cobalt-based Stellite 6 alloys. A nanoindentation system equipped with a wear testing module was used to simulate single asperity deformation behaviour using a sphero-conical indenter. The test load was either increased linearly over the sliding distance or ramped upto full load at the initial stage of the test. Post-test evaluations included X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. An elastic-plastic finite element model (FEM) was used to compare the displaced volume with the experimental data. Results are discussed in terms of the structure-property relationships and indicated that the nanoscale wear was dominated by the composition and nanomechanical properties of the metal matrix, and also the shape and size of carbides. Wear predominantly occurred due to plastic deformation of the metal matrix phase. Relatively higher scratch resistance and hardness of the metal matrix phase, coupled with the microstructural homogeneity of re-HIPed alloy led to its lower wear volume loss, in comparison to the cast counterpart. The FEM predictions were in agreement with the experimental results, and the error between the two ranged from 0% to 25% under the loading conditions considered in this investigation