Sea Level Variation Along the Western Coast of the Arabian Gulf

Observed hourly tidal heights from six stations during the period 1980-1987 were used in the analyses. Daily readings of the pressure at mean sea level from three meteorological stations were also used. The variations of the observed daily mean sea level were studied at the six stations, giving low values in the winter season, and high ones in summer and spring seasons. The monthly mean sea level showed higher values during July and August and lower ones in the winter season. As the Arabian Gulf is generally considered a shallow sea, the meteorological conditions are the main cause of the sea level variation. This was shown by the variation of the daily mean sea level residual at the six stations. From the analyses of the coherence of several parameters, the pressure difference over the Gulf area did not give a noticeable effect with either the daily observed sea level or the daily sea level residual. Generally speaking, the important factor affecting the sea level variation in the Arabian Gulf is the pressure system covering the area either during the summer or the winter seasons

Influence of rice straw and calcium cyanamide on microbiological activity in two portuguese alluvial soils

Usaram-se dois aluviossolos portugueses (um arenoso outro franco) em experiências destinadas a estudar a influência da cianamida cálcica na actividade microbiológica, sob condições controladas. Ensaiaram-se modalidades com palha de arroz, palha de trigo e sem palha. Em algumas experiências utilizou-se para comparação um solo de loess colhido na Alemanha. A aplicação de palha conduziu a um aumento nítido da activi- dade da dehidrogenase nos dois solos, tendo-se verificado a superioridade da palha de trigo no solo arenoso. A influência da cianamida foi pequenainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Study of nonstandard auto-antibodies as prognostic markers in auto immune hepatitis in children

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Antibodies to chromatin and soluble liver antigen have been associated with severe form of autoimmune hepatitis and/or poor treatment response and may provide guidance in defining subsets of patients with different disease behaviors. The major clinical limitation of these antibodies is their lower individual occurrence in patients with autoimmune hepatitis.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>To estimate the value of detection of these non-standard antibodies in autoimmune hepatitis as prognostic markers.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Both antibodies were tested by enzyme immunoassay in 20 patients with autoimmune hepatitis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Antibodies to soluble liver antigen were not detected in any of our patients. On the other hand anti chromatin antibodies were present in 50% (10/20). Antibodies to chromatin occurred more commonly in females than males (8/14 versus 2/6). Of the 14 patients who relapsed 8(57%) had antichromatin antibodies while they were present in only 2 out of 6(33.3%) non relapsers. Antichromatin antibodies were found more in patients with antinuclear (3/4) and anti smooth muscle antibodies (9/13) more than in those with liver kidney microsomal antibodies (1/4) and those seronegative (1/4) i.e. they were +ve in patients with type I (8/12(66.6%)) more than those with type II (1/4(25%)) and those seronegative (1/4(25%)). Antibodies to chromatin are associated with high levels of γ globulin but yet with no statistical difference between seropositive and seronegative counterparts (p = 0.65).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Antibodies to chromatin may be superior than those to soluble liver antigen in predicting relapse and may be useful as prognostic marker. Further studies with larger number of patients and combined testing of more than one antibody will improve the performance parameters of these antibodies and define optimal testing conditions for them before they can be incorporated into management algorithms that project prognosis.</p

Clinical and microbiologic determinants of serious bloodstream infections in Egyptian pediatric cancer patients: a one-year study

SummaryObjectives:Bloodstream infections (BSI) remain a major cause of morbidity and death in patients undergoing treatment for cancer. However, all recent epidemiological and therapeutic studies underline the absolute need for knowledge of the factors governing the infections in each center. The aim of this study is to identify the factors affecting BSI in the pediatric service of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at Cairo University. More tailored policies for the treatment of patients with febrile neutropenia following chemotherapy can then be created.Patients and methods:Over a 12-month period, all children with cancer and fever, with or without neutropenia, who were admitted to the NCI for empirical therapy of febrile episodes and who had a microbiologically confirmed bloodstream infection were studied retrospectively.Results:A total of 328 BSI occurred in 1135 febrile episodes in pediatric cancer patients at the NCI in one year. Gram-positive bacteria were isolated in 168 episodes (51.2%) and 61.9% of the total isolates (either single or mixed), Gram-negative in 97 (29.6%), and mixed infections in 45 (13.7%). The common causative agents of bloodstream infections in this study were coagulase-negative staphylococci (16.2%), Staphylococcus aureus (13.4%), Streptococcus spp. (12.1%) followed by Acinetobacter spp. (6.7%) and Pseudomonas spp. (5.5%). Fungemia was encountered in 18 episodes, being mixed in nine of them. A more serious BSI in terms of a prolonged episode was encountered in 30.2% of the episodes and was significantly associated with patients being hospitalized, having intensified chemotherapy, polymicrobial and fungal infection, lower respiratory tract infections and persistent neutropenia at day seven.Conclusions:In a large population of children, common clinical and laboratory risk factors were identified that can help predict more serious BSI. These results encourage the possibility of a more selective management strategy for these children

Serum level of interleukin-10 with its gene polymorphism can be predictors of response to treatment in Egyptian patients with chronic hepatitis C virus

Purpose: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the role of interleukin-10 (IL-10) gene polymorphism and its serum level in predicting response to treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus.Patients and methods: This study was carried out on 35 Egyptian patients with chronic HCV (Hepatitis C Virus) and 15 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects as control. They were divided as follows: Group I: 35 chronic HCV patients. They were subdivided according to their response to combination therapy of pegylated interferon alpha 2b and ribavirin into: Group I (a): 21 responder patients. Group I (b): 14 non responder patients. Group II: 15 healthy subjects as a control group. IL-10 serum level was assessed by ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay) before, during and after treatment. IL-10 gene polymorphism and genotype were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).Results: A significant higher level of serum IL-10 was detected in HCV patients compared to the control group. A significant reduction was detected during treatment and a persistent decrease was found in patients with SVR. Low serum level of IL-10 pretreatment was associated with high treatment response. High pretreatment of the serum level of IL-10 was associated with the severity of chronic necroinflammation and non  response to treatment. A positive correlation was found between IL-10 and serum ALT. The frequency of IL-10 592 genotype polymorphism was higher in HCV patients compared to control. A significant higher frequency of the IL-10 592 C/C polymorphism was found in the responder group compared to non responder. No correlation was observed between IL-10 polymorphism and liver histopathology.Conclusion: Serum IL-10 level pretreatment is useful for predicting treatment response in HCV patients. IL-10 may be a useful marker to assess necroinflammation and to monitor the evolution of liver damage. IL-10 gene polymorphism has no relation to liver histopathology. IL-10 592 C/C genotype was more frequent in responder patients

Thermomechanical treatment of austempered ductile iron

The production of lightweight ferrous castings with increased strength properties became unavoidable facing the serious challenge of lighter aluminum and magnesium castings. The relatively new ferrous casting alloy ADI offers promising strength prospects, and the thermo-mechanical treatment of ductile iron may suggest a new route for production of thin-wall products. This work aims at studying the influence of thermomechanical treatment, either by ausforming just after quenching and before the onset of austempering reaction or by cold rolling after austempering. In the first part of this work, ausforming of ADI up to 25% reduction in height during a rolling operation was found to add a mechanical processing component compared to the conventional ADI heat treatment, thus increasing the rate of ausferrite formation and leading to a much finer and more homogeneous ausferrite product. The kinetics of ausferrite formation was studied using both metallographic as well as XRD-techniques. The effect of ausforming on the strength was quite dramatic (up to 70% and 50% increase in the yield and ultimate strength respectively). A mechanism involving both a refined microstructural scale and an elevated dislocation density was suggested. Nickel is added to ADI to increase hardenability of thick section castings, while ausforming to higher degrees of deformation is necessary to alleviate the deleterious effect of alloy segregation on ductility. In the second part of this work, the influence of cold rolling (CR) on the mechanical properties and structural characteristics of ADI was investigated. The variation in properties was related to the amount of retained austenite (γr) and its mechanically induced ransformation. In the course of tensile deformation of ADI, transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) takes place, indicated by the increase of the instantaneous value of strain-hardening exponent with tensile strain. The amount of retained austenite was found to decrease due to partial transformation of γr to martensite under the CR strain. Such strain-induced transformation resulted in higher amounts of mechanically generated martensite. The strength and hardness properties were therefore increased, while ductility and impact toughness decreased with increasing CR reduction

DEVELOPMENT OF EFFICIENT CLOUD POINT EXTRACTION METHOD FOR PRECONCENRATION AND SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC DETERMINATION OF NICKEL IN WATER SAMPLES USING 2-(BENZOTHIAZOLYLZAO)ORCINOL

Objective: Efficient cloud point extraction (CPE) methodology was developed for pre concentration of trace nickel in water samples prior to their determination by spectrophotometry.Methods: The method is based on the reaction of nickel with 2-(benzothiazolyl azo) orcinol reagent (BTAO) at pH 7.0 and micelle-mediated extraction using the nonionic surfactant Triton X-114 medium.Results: The surfactant-rich phase was diluted with methanol and the nickel content was determined at 558 nm. The optimum conditions (e. g. pH, reagent and surfactant concentrations, and temperature and centrifugation times) were evaluated and optimized. The proposed CPE method showed linear calibration within the range 10–250 ng/ml of nickel and the limit of detection of the method was 2.0 ng/ml with a pre concentration factor of  50. The relative standard deviation (RSD) and relative error were found to be 1.10% (N = 6). The interference effect of some cations and anions was also studied.Conclusion: The method was applied to the determination of nickel in water samples with a recovery from the spiked samples in the range of 95.85–98.50%. Â