QCD analysis of neutrino charged current structure function F2 in deep inelastic scattering

An analytic expression for the neutrino charged current structure function F sub 2 (x, Q sup 2) in deep inelastic scattering, consistent with quantum chromodynamics, is proposed. The calculated results are in good agreement with experiment

Unusual Presentation of Dengue Fever : A child with acute myocarditis

Dengue fever (DF) is an acute febrile illness that follows a self-limiting course. However, some patients suffer from complications, including myocarditis, due to the involvement of other organs. A child presented at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, in June 2013 with a high-grade fever, malaise and epigastric pain radiating to the chest. Positive DF antigen and immunoglobulin M assays confirmed the diagnosis of DF. Persistent bradycardia with low blood pressure led to further cardiac investigations which showed a decreased ejection fraction and raised serum cardiac enzymes, indicating myocardial damage. With supportive care and use of inotropes, the spontaneous normalisation of cardiac enzyme levels and ejection fraction was observed. The child was discharged five days after admission. This case highlights the importance of identifying myocarditis in DF patients suffering from cardiac symptoms that are not explained by other potential aetiologies. Awareness, early suspicion and supportive care are essential to ensure favourable outcomes

Context Mining of Sedentary Behavior for Promoting Self-Awareness Using Smartphone

Sedentary behaviour is increasing due to societal changes and is related to prolonged periods of sitting. There is sufficient evidence proving that sedentary behaviour has a negative impact on people’s health and wellness. This paper presents our research findings on how to mine the temporal contexts of sedentary behaviour by utilizing the on-board sensors of a smartphone. We use the accelerometer sensor of the smartphone to recognize user situations (i.e., still or active). If our model confirms that the user context is still, then there is a high probability of being sedentary. Then, we process the environmental sound to recognize the micro-context, such as working on a computer or watching television during leisure time. Our goal is to reduce sedentary behaviour by suggesting preventive interventions to take short breaks during prolonged sitting to be more active. We achieve this goal by providing the visualization to the user, who wants to monitor his/her sedentary behaviour to reduce unhealthy routines for self-management purposes. The main contribution of this paper is two-fold: (i) an initial implementation of the proposed framework supporting real-time context identification; (ii) testing and evaluation of the framework, which suggest that our application is capable of substantially reducing sedentary behaviour and assisting users to be active

Targeting species specific amino acid residues: Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of 6-substituted pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidines as dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors and potential anti-opportunistic infection agents

To combine the potency of trimetrexate (TMQ) or piritrexim (PTX) with the species selectivity of trimethoprim (TMP), target based design was carried out with the X-ray crystal structure of human dihydrofolate reductase (hDHFR) and the homology model of Pneumocystis jirovecii DHFR (pjDHFR). Using variation of amino acids such as Met33/Phe31 (in pjDHFR/hDHFR) that affect the binding of inhibitors due to their distinct positive or negative steric effect at the active binding site of the inhibitor, we designed a series of substituted-pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidines. The best analogs displayed better potency (IC50) than PTX and high selectivity for pjDHFR versus hDHFR, with 4 exhibiting a selectivity for pjDHFR of 24-fold

Harmonic assessment based adjusted current total harmonic distortion

Power systems suffer from harmonic distortion and extra ohmic losses associated with them. Moreover, all harmonic frequencies are mostly assumed to have the same effect on the system losses. However, the frequency-dependency of the resistances should be taken into account, so that the apparent power and the power factor have to considerably reflect power losses under nonsinusoidal conditions. In this paper, the difference between unweighted and weighted non-sinusoidal losses, is addressed. A new harmonic-adjusted total harmonic distortion definition is proposed for both voltage and current. Besides, a new formula that relates the proposed harmonic-adjusted total harmonic distortion and a generalised harmonic derating factor definition of the frequency dependent losses of the power transmission and distribution equipment, is derived. An optimal C-type passive filter design for harmonic mitigation and power factor correction based on the minimisation of the proposed harmonic-adjusted total harmonic distortion for a balanced nonsinusoidal system is introduced. A comparative study of the proposed filter design based on the new harmonic-adjusted definition, and a conventional filter design based on standard total harmonic distortion definition, is presented

Assessment of energy credits for the enhancement of the Egyptian Green Pyramid Rating System

Energy is one of the most important categories in the Green Building Rating Systems all over the world. Green Building is a building that meets the energy requirements of the present with low energy consumption and investment costs without infringing on the rights of forthcoming generations to find their own needs. Despite having more than a qualified rating system, it is clear that each system has different priorities and needs on the other. Accordingly, this paper proposes a methodology using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for assessment of the energy credits through studying and comparing four of the common global rating systems, the British Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), the American Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the Australian Green Stars (GS), and the PEARL assessment system of the United Arab Emirates, in order to contribute to the enhancement of the Egyptian Green Pyramid Rating System (GPRS). The results show the mandatory and optional energy credits that should be considered with their proposed weights according to the present and future needs of green Egypt. The results are compared to data gathered through desk studies and results extracted from recent questionnaires

Novel Sequence Variants in the NPC1 Gene in Egyptian Patients with Niemann-Pick Type C

BACKGROUND: Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC) is a rare, autosomal recessive, progressive neuro-visceraldisease caused by biallelic mutations in either NPC1gene (95% of cases) or NPC2 gene. AIM: This caseseries study aimed at the molecular analysis of certain hot spots of NPC1 genein NPC Egyptian patients. METHODS: The study included 15 unrelated NPC patients and selected parents,as well as20 healthy controls of matched sex and age. Clinical investigations were performed according to well established clinical criteria. Assessment of the chitotriosidase level, as an initial screening tool for NPC, was done in all cases. Polymerase chain reaction amplification of NPC1 exons (17–25) encountering the hotspot residues (855–1098 and1038–1253) was carried out followed by direct sequencingfor mutational analysis. RESULTS: All includedpatients with mainly neurovisceral involvement were characterized. The onset of the disease varied from early-infantile (58.3%) to late-infantile (26.7%) and juvenile-onset (6.7%). Ahigh chitotriosidase level wasobservedin all patients. Molecular analysis of NPC1 (exons 17–25) confirmed 15 mutant alleles out of 30 studied ones. They included two novel homozygous missense variants (p.Ser1169Arg and p.Ser1197Phe) and previously reportedfour mutations (p.Arg958*, p.Gly910Ser, p.Ala927Glyfs*38, and andp.Cys1011*). CONCLUSION: The two studied amino acid residues (855–1098 and 1038–1253) could beconsidered aspotential hotspot regions in NPC1 Egyptian patients

Nuclear insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor phosphorylates proliferating cell nuclear antigen and rescues stalled replication forks after DNA damage

We have previously shown that the insulin like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) translocates to the cell nucleus, where it binds to enhancer like regions and increases gene transcription. Further studies have demonstrated that nuclear IGF1R (nIGF1R) physically and functionally interacts with some nuclear proteins, i.e. the lymphoid enhancer binding factor 1 (Lef1), histone H3, and Brahma related gene 1 proteins. In the present study, we identified the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) as a nIGF1R binding partner. PCNA is a pivotal component of the replication fork machinery and a main regulator of the DNA damage tolerance (DDT) pathway. We found that IGF1R interacts with and phosphorylates PCNA in human embryonic stem cells and other cell lines. In vitro MS analysis of PCNA coincubated with the IGF1R kinase indicated tyrosine residues 60, 133, and 250 in PCNA as IGF1R targets, and PCNA phosphorylation was followed by mono and poly ubiquitination. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments suggested that these ubiquitination events may be mediated by DDT dependent E2/E3 ligases (e.g. RAD18 and SHPRH/HLTF). Absence of IGF1R or mutation of Tyr60, Tyr133, or Tyr250 in PCNA abrogated its ubiquitination. Unlike in cells expressing IGF1R, externally induced DNA damage in IGF1R negative cells caused G1 cell cycle arrest and S phase fork stalling. Taken together, our results suggest a role of IGF1R in DDT

Efficient power management strategy of electric vehicles based hybrid renewable energy

This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Perspectives of Safety and Reliability Assessment for Electric-Powered Vehicles.Copyright © 2021 by the authors. This paper presents a straightforward power management algorithm that supervises the contribution of more than one energy source for charging a vehicle, even if the car is in motion. The system is composed of a wireless charging system, photovoltaic (PV) generator, fuel cell (FC), and a battery system. It also contains a group of power converters associated with each energy resource to make the necessary adaptation between the input and output electrical signals. The boost converter relates to the PV/FC, and the boost–buck converter is connected with the battery pack. In this work, the wireless charging, FC, and PV systems are connected in parallel via a DC/DC converter for feeding the battery bank when the given energy is in excess. Therefore, for each of these elements, the mathematical model is formulated, then the corresponding power management loop is built, which presents the significant contribution of this paper. The efficient power management methodology proposed in this work was verified on Matlab/Simulink platforms. The battery state of charge and the hydrogen consumption obtained results were compared to show the effectiveness of this multi-source system