Short Term Outcome of Plasma Pleurodesis in Post Pulmonary Resections Persistent Air Leak

Background: Air leak is the most common morbidity after pulmonary resection surgery. It may result in prolonged duration with chest tubes with their annoying chest pain, prolonged hospital stay time with increased financial costs, pneumonia, empyema, and patient dissatisfaction. Our objective was to evaluate the efficacy of plasma pleurodesis for stoppage of air leak after lung resection, in comparison to conservative measures. Methods: This prospective single-blinded randomized study included 60 patients randomly divided into two groups: Group A: included 30 patients who received intrapleural fresh frozen plasma.  One bag of FFP, contains 250 ml of plasma, matched for the ABO group was installed through the apical chest tube into the pleural cavity. Group B: a control group of 30 patients who did not receive any sclerosing agent. They were managed with under-water seal and observation. Results: This study showed that the stoppage of air leak in group A was faster “which stopped in 9-10 days” in comparison to control group B “24-25 days”, (P-value <0.001). There was a significant difference between groups A and B regarding the hospital stay, which was in 9-10 days in group A in comparison to group B “26-28 days (P-value <0.001). Conclusion: Intrapleural fresh frozen plasma appears to be a valuable option to stop persistent air leaks post pulmonary resections. It’s a cheap, available, and safe agent. It reduced hospital stay, costs and morbidities

Bacterial blight disease caused by Pseudomonas cichorii on chrysanthemum in Egypt

Chrysanthemum (Dendranthema grandiflorum) is one of the important cut flowers and pot plants which belong to family Asteraceae. The aim of this study is to isolate and identify causal pathogens of Chrysanthemum bacterial blight disease, samples showing typical symptoms of bacterial blight disease on leaves, buds, stems or flowers obtained from different geographical areas of Egypt were used. The most conspicuous symptoms in infected leaves appear as water-soaked spots then become brown and dry. Ten bacterial isolates were isolated from different parts of Chrysanthemum which collected from different localities. In this respect, the bacterial isolates designated as Wl-1 and Wb-2 which were isolated from leaves and buds respectively of chrysanthemum white variety in Qualubia (Moshtohor). Meanwhile, the isolates coded as Ps-3 and Pf-4 were isolated from stems and flowers of chrysanthemum purple variety respectively in the same governorate (El-kanater El-khairia), the bacterial isolates coded as Ws-5 and Wf-6 were isolated from stems and flowers of chrysanthemum white variety planted in Menoufia governorate (Shebeen El-kom). While, the isolates coded as Yl-7 and Yb-8 were isolated from leaves and buds of chrysanthemum yellow variety respectively in Giza governorate (Kirdasah). The isolate Rs- 9 and Rf-10 were isolated from stems and flowers of chrysanthemum red variety from the same governorate (Elmariotia). Identification of isolated bacteria using the traditional techniques according to their inspected morphological, cultural characteristics, biochemical and physiological characteristics, these traditional tests revealed that these isolates may be belong to three genera i.e., Wl-1, Pf-4 and Rs-9 could be identified as Pseudomonas cichorii, while, the isolate Yb-8 could be identified as Pseudomonas fluorescens while the isolate Wf-6 was identified as Bacillus subtilis. The present study examined the level of genetic diversity and its molecular variation of the bacterial blight disease caused by Pseudomonas cichorii, three isolates from five geographic regions in Egypt. In addition, the isolates were pathogenic to eight plants from different plant families by artificial inoculations. This bacterium has a wide host range and this work is important for cataloging plant pathogenic bacteria that occur throughout special conditions may become epidemic in Egypt

Dapagliflozin cost-effectiveness analysis in heart failure patients in Egypt

In Egypt, cardiovascular (CV) diseases are not only the cause of 33% of disability-adjusted life years but are also a leading cause of death. This study aimed to evaluate dapagliflozin\u27s cost-effectiveness as an add-on to the standard of care (SOC) for the treatment of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HF-rEF) from the Egyptian healthcare system perspective

Optimization of Extraction of Natural Antimicrobial Pigments Using Supercritical Fluids: A Review

It has become increasingly popular to replace chemically synthesized compounds with natural counterparts mostly found in natural sources, such as natural pigments. The conventional extraction processes for these compounds are limited by the toxicity and flammability of the solvents. To obtain pure extracts, it is always a longer process that requires several steps. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) is a cutting-edge green technology that is continuously increasing and expanding its fields of application, with benefits such as no waste produced, shorter extraction time, automation, and lower solvent consumption. The SFE of natural pigments has high potential in food, textiles, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals; there are a number of other applications that can benefit from the SFE technique of natural pigments. The pigments that are extracted via SFE have a high potential for application and sustainability because of their biological and antimicrobial properties as well as low environmental risk. This review provides an update on the SFE technique, specifically as it pertains to the optimization of health-promoting pigments. This review focuses on antimicrobial pigments and the high efficiency of SFE in extracting pure antimicrobial pigments. In addition, the optimal conditions, biological activities, and possible applications of each category are explained

An Improvement of Model Predictive for Aircraft Longitudinal Flight Control Based on Intelligent Technique

This paper introduces a new intelligent tuning for the model predictive control (MPC) based on an effective intelligent algorithm named the bat-inspired algorithm (BIA) for the aircraft longitudinal flight. The tuning of MPC horizon parameters represents the main challenge to adjust the system performance. So, the BIA algorithm is intended to overcome the tuning issue of MPC parameters due to conventional methods, such as trial and error or designer experience. The BIA is adopted to explore the best parameters of MPC based on the minimization of various time domain objective functions. The suggested aircraft model takes into account the aircraft dynamics and constraints. The nonlinear dynamics of aircraft, gust disturbance, parameters uncertainty and environment variations are considered the main issues against the control of aircraft to provide a good flight performance. The nonlinear autoregressive moving average (NARMA-L2) controller and proportional integral (PI) controller are suggested for aircraft control in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed MPC based on BIA. The proposed MPC based on BIA and suggested controllers are evaluated against various criteria and functions to prove the effectiveness of MPC based on BIA. The results confirm that the accomplishment of the suggested BIA-based MPC is outstanding to the NARMA-L2 and traditional PI controllers according to the cross-correlation criteria, integral time absolute error (ITAE), system overshoot, response settling time, and system robustness

An Improvement of Model Predictive for Aircraft Longitudinal Flight Control Based on Intelligent Technique

This paper introduces a new intelligent tuning for the model predictive control (MPC) based on an effective intelligent algorithm named the bat-inspired algorithm (BIA) for the aircraft longitudinal flight. The tuning of MPC horizon parameters represents the main challenge to adjust the system performance. So, the BIA algorithm is intended to overcome the tuning issue of MPC parameters due to conventional methods, such as trial and error or designer experience. The BIA is adopted to explore the best parameters of MPC based on the minimization of various time domain objective functions. The suggested aircraft model takes into account the aircraft dynamics and constraints. The nonlinear dynamics of aircraft, gust disturbance, parameters uncertainty and environment variations are considered the main issues against the control of aircraft to provide a good flight performance. The nonlinear autoregressive moving average (NARMA-L2) controller and proportional integral (PI) controller are suggested for aircraft control in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed MPC based on BIA. The proposed MPC based on BIA and suggested controllers are evaluated against various criteria and functions to prove the effectiveness of MPC based on BIA. The results confirm that the accomplishment of the suggested BIA-based MPC is outstanding to the NARMA-L2 and traditional PI controllers according to the cross-correlation criteria, integral time absolute error (ITAE), system overshoot, response settling time, and system robustness

Fabrication of New Multifunctional Cotton/Lycra Composites Protective Textiles through Deposition of Nano Silica Coating

This study aims to develop multifunctional pile cotton fabrics by implementing different compositions of lycra yarns with different densities of the cotton fabric under study. Highly dispersed silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) with small sizes—in the range of 10–40 nm—were successfully prepared and were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The particle size distribution of nano silica was determined via dynamic laser scattering (DLS) and measurements of its zeta potential. Cotton/lycra fabrics were treated using prepared SiO2 NPs in presence of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) as a crosslinking agent. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the nano-treated fabrics and assure homogeneous dispersion of SiO2 NPs on the cotton/lycra composites. Additionally, the nanoparticles were screened for their in vitro antibacterial activity against human pathogens such as Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains. The functional properties of the new composite pile cotton fabrics include excellent antibacterial, highly self-cleaning, and excellent UV protection factor (UPF) properties

Novel Antiviral and Antibacterial Durable Polyester Fabrics Printed with Selenium Nanoparticles (SeNPs)

The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown the importance of developing advanced protective equipment, and new antiviral fabrics for the protection and prevention of life-threatening viral diseases are needed. In this study, selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) were combined with polyester fabrics using printing technique to obtain multifunctional properties, including combined antiviral and antibacterial activities as well as coloring. The properties of the printed polyester fabrics with SeNPs were estimated, including tensile strength and color fastness. Characterization of the SeNPs was carried out using TEM and SEM. The results of the analysis showed good uniformity and stability of the particles with sizes range from 40–60 nm and 40–80 nm for SeNPs 25 mM and 50 mM, respectively, as well as uniform coating of the SeNPs on the fabric. In addition, the SeNPs—printed polyester fabric exhibited high disinfection activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with an inhibition percentage of 87.5%. Moreover, a toxicity test of the resulting printed fabric revealed low cytotoxicity against the HFB4 cell line. In contrast, the treated fabric under study showed excellent killing potentiality against Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus cereus) and Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, and Escherichia coli). This multifunctional fabric has high potential for use in protective clothing applications by providing passive and active protection pathways