Digital tools for documenting and conserving Bahrain's built heritage for posterity

Documenting the physical characteristics of historic structures is the first step for any preventive maintenance, monitoring, conservation, planning and promotion action. Metric documentation supports informative decision-making process for property owners, site managers, public officials, and conservators. This information serves also a broader purpose, over time, it becomes the primary means by which scholars, heritage professionals, and the general public understand a site that radically changed or disappeared. Further, documentation supports monitoring as well as the character-defining elements analysis, relevant to define the values of the building for the local and international community. The awareness of these concepts oriented the digital documentation and training activities, developed between 2016 and 2017, for the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA) in Bahrain. The developed activities had two main aims: A) support the local staff in using specific recording techniques to efficiently document and consequently preserve built heritage sites with appropriate accuracy and in a relatively short period; b) develop a pilot project in collaboration with BACA to validate the capacity of the team to accurately document and produce measured records for the conservation and management of Bahrain built heritage. The documentation project has been developed by a multidisciplinary team of experts from BACA, Carleton Immersive Media Studio (CIMS), Carleton University, Canada and a contracted researcher from the Gicarus Lab, Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) in Italy. In the training activities, the participants have been exposed to a wide range of recording techniques, illustrating them the selection criteria for the most suitable one, according to requirements, site specifications, categories of values identified for the various built elements, and budget. The pilot project has been tested on three historical structures, both with strong connotations in the Bahrain cultural identity: The Shaikh Isa bin Ali house, Aljazzaf house and the Siyadi Majlis. These two buildings, outstanding examples of Bahrain architecture as well as tangible memory of the country history, have been documented employing several digital techniques, including: Aerial and terrestrial photogrammetry, rectifying photography, total station and 3D laser scanning

Potentially toxic elements in saltmarsh sediments and common reed (Phragmites australis) of Burullus coastal lagoon at North Nile Delta, Egypt: A survey and risk assessment

Burullus lagoon is the second largest lake in Egypt. However, there has never been a comprehensive survey which studied nineteen potentially toxic elements in sediments and plants and evaluated the associated potential risk. Thus, we aimed to study the total and potentially available content of As, Al, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Sb, Se, Sn, Tl, V, and Zn in the sediments and common reed (Phragmites australis) at thirty two sites along the entire lagoon and connected drains. Contamination Factor (CF), Pollution Load Index (PLI), Geo-accumulation Index (Igeo), and Enrichment Factor (EF) were calculated to assess the grade of contamination. Element accumulation factor (AF) and bio-concentration ratio (BCR) were also calculated. Aluminum showed the highest median (mg kg−1) total content (41,200), followed by Fe (30,300), Mn (704.7), V (82.0), Zn (75.5), Cr (51.2), Cu (47.8), Ni (44.3), As (31.9), Tl (24.6), Co (21.4), Se (20.3), Sb (17.6), Sn (15.6), Mo (11.3), and Hg (16.6 μg kg−1). Values of the EF, CF, and Igeo showed that the sediments were heavily contaminated with As, Sb, Se, Tl, Mo, Sn, Co, Ni, and Cu. The drained sediment had significantly higher values of total and potentially available element content than the lagoon sediments. Sediments of the middle and western area showed significantly higher contents of total and available elements than the eastern section. The BCR and AF values indicate that the studied plant is efficient in taking up high amounts of Zn, Fe, As, Sn, Tl, Ni, Mo, Mn; then Co, Cu, and V. The results exhibit a dramatic contamination at certain sites of the lagoon, and the studied PTEs have a predominant role in contamination-related ecological risk. Further investigations concerning redox-induced mobilization of PTEs in sediments, the risk of fish contamination and the potential health hazards are highly recommended

Impaired Vascular Contractility and Aortic Wall Degeneration in Fibulin-4 Deficient Mice: Effect of Angiotensin II Type 1 (AT1) Receptor Blockade

Medial degeneration is a key feature of aneurysm disease and aortic dissection. In a murine aneurysm model we investigated the structural and functional characteristics of aortic wall degeneration in adult fibulin-4 deficient mice and the potential therapeutic role of the angiotensin (Ang) II type 1 (AT1) receptor antagonist losartan in preventing aortic media degeneration. Adult mice with 2-fold (heterozygous Fibulin-4+/R) and 4-fold (homozygous Fibulin-4R/R) reduced expression of fibulin-4 displayed the histological features of cystic media degeneration as found in patients with aneurysm or dissection, including elastin fiber fragmentation, loss of smooth muscle cells, and deposition of ground substance in the extracellular matrix of the aortic media. The aortic contractile capacity, determined by isometric force measurements, was diminished, and was associated with dysregulation of contractile genes as shown by aortic transcriptome analysis. These structural and functional alterations were accompanied by upregulation of TGF-β signaling in aortas from fibulin-4 deficient mice, as identified by genome-scaled network analysis as well as by immunohistochemical staining for phosphorylated Smad2, an intracellular mediator of TGF-β. Tissue levels of Ang II, a regulator of TGF-β signaling, were increased. Prenatal treatment with the AT1 receptor antagonist losartan, which blunts TGF-β signaling, prevented elastic fiber fragmentation in the aortic media of newborn Fibulin-4R/R mice. Postnatal losartan treatment reduced haemodynamic stress and improved lifespan of homozygous knockdown fibulin-4 animals, but did not affect aortic vessel wall structure. In conclusion, the AT1 receptor blocker losartan can prevent aortic media degeneration in a non-Marfan syndrome aneurysm mouse model. In established aortic aneurysms, losartan does not affect aortic architecture, but does improve survival. These findings may extend the potential therapeutic application of inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin system to the preventive treatment of aneurysm disease

Corrélation entre la perméation électrochimique et la fragilisation par l'hydrogène de l'acier inoxydable 17-4 PH : rôle de la microstructure

Des tests de perméation électrochimique ont permis d'évaluer le coefficient de diffusion de l'hydrogène dans l'acier inoxydable martensitique à durcissement structural 17-4 PH, en fonction de différents traitements de vieillissement. Ces traitements provoquent des variations de la microstructure qui induisent des variations du coefficient de diffusion de l'hydrogène, ainsi que des quantités d'hydrogène piégé et diffusible, qui peuvent affecter la résistance de l'acier à la fragilisation par l'hydrogène. On a pu établir une corrélation entre les résultats de perméation et ceux obtenus par la méthode de traction lente d'éprouvettes à l'air ou sous chargement en hydrogène. L'acier est le plus fragile, comme on pouvait s'y attendre, là où sa résistance mécanique est la plus élevée; cependant, il ne perd pas complètement sa ductilité. Ce résultat est attribué à l'effet bénéfique de la phase durcissante ε riche en cuivre, qui jouerait le rôle de repoussoir pour l'hydrogène, lorsqu'elle est cohérente avec la matrice

Molecular detection, phylogenetic analysis and genetic diversity of recently isolated foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype A African topotype, Genotype IV

Background Surveillance for circulating emerging diseases of economic importance has a major role in the rapid response to major pathogen outbreaks. Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is one of the significant endemic viruses in Egypt. FMDV is periodically investigated for monitoring evolution and emergence of new variants. The genetic characterization of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus serotype A responsible for recent outbreaks of FMD in Egypt was determined. Methods Samples were collected from different locations and virus isolation was performed using BHK-21 cells. Viral RNA was extracted and samples were screened for FMDV using real-time RT-PCR. DNA sequence analysis was performed and computational and bioinformatics analyses were used to determine the substitution rates and phylogenetic relationship. Results Sequence and phylogenetic analyses of full-length 1D region of FMDV samples collected from different governorates in 2020 showed close similarity to Egyptian FMDV strains from serotype A-African topotype-G-IV with genetic variation of 6.5%. Recently isolated FMDV strains showed high genetic variations from locally used vaccine strains in the major antigenic sites of VP1 region. Conclusions Although, efforts made by the veterinary authorities to implement an effective mass vaccination plan, the recently detected FMDV strains in this study could not be subtyped using the FMDV primers routinely used for molecular serotyping. These dissimilarities raise the alarm for reconsideration of the FMDV isolates used in vaccine manufacture. Clearly close monitoring of FMD in Egypt is urgently required to define the risks of future outbreaks and to ensure appropriate control measures against FMD major outbreaks

Triple-Negative Breast Cancer:Distinguishing between Basal and Nonbasal Subtypes

Purpose: Triple-negative (TN; estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and HER-2 negative) cancer and basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) are associated with poor outcome and lack the benefit of targeted therapy. It is widely perceived that BLBC and TN tumors are synonymous and BLBC can be defined using a TN definition without the need for the expression of basal markers. Experimental Design: We have used two well-defined cohorts of breast cancers with a large panel of biomarkers, BRCA1 mutation status, and follow-up data to compare the clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical features of TN tumors expressing one or more of the specific basal markers (CK5/6, CK17, CK14, and epidermal growth factor receptor; BLBC) with those TN tumors that express none of these markers (TN3BKE-). Results: Here, we show that although the morphologic features of BLBC are not significantly different from that of TN3BKE- tumors, BLBC showed distinct clinical and immunophenotypic differences. BLBC showed a statistically significant association with the expression of the hypoxia-associated factor (CA9), neuroendocrine markers, and other markers of poor prognosis such as p53. A difference in the expression of cell cycle-associated proteins and biomarkers involved in the immunologic portrait of tumors was seen. Compared with TN3BKE- tumors, BLBC was positively associated with BRCA1 mutation status and showed a unique pattern of distant metastasis, better response to chemotherapy, and shorter survival. Conclusion: TN breast cancers encompass a remarkably heterogeneous group of tumors. Expression of basal markers identifies a biologically and clinically distinct subgroup of TN tumors, justifying the use of basal markers (in TN tumors) to define BLBC