Epidemiologic pattern of falls among inpatients in Ain Shams University Hospitals in Cairo, Egypt

Background. Patient falls and injuries during hospitalization is a good quality indicator of safety of inpatients. Data on inpatients falls are deficient in Egyptian hospitals. Ain Shams university hospitals do not have any recording system for falls. Aim. This study aimed at estimating the incidence density of falls and describing pattern and risk factors contributing to falls in Ain shams university hospitals. Subjects and methods. A prospective follow up study was conducted on inpatients admitted to Ain Shams university hospitals. Patients were followed up for a maximum of two weeks for the occurrence of fall. An interview questionnaire addressed to in-patients was designed to investigate the incident of fall. Type of fall, provisional cause, consequences, night or day timing of fall, walking condition in hospital and past history of fall were among the factors investigated in the incident of fall. Questionnaire assessing the basic and instrumental daily activities for the elderly (? 60 years) was completed. Results. 1779 patients were included in the study in eight different wards with a mean age of 41.8 years. The incidence density of falls was 9 per 1000 patient days. Logistic regression analysis identified male gender, walking difficulties in-hospital and history of falls before hospitalization as independent risk factors for falls among below 60 years patients. Conclusion. Incidence of falls is relatively high among the studied university hospitals. Identified risk factors differed among adults compared to elderly. Recommendations. Measuring, monitoring and assessing fall rates are strongly recommended using a valid and reliable tool to improve quality of health services

Progress in development of graded bandgap thin film solar cells with electroplated materials

Photovoltaic devices are developed mainly based on p-n or p-i-n type device structures, and these devices can utilise only a fraction of the solar spectrum. In order to further improve device parameters and move towards low-cost and high-efficiency next generation solar cells, device architectures capable of harvesting all photons available should be designed and developed. One such architecture is the fully graded bandgap device structure as proposed recently based on both n-type and p-type window layers. These designs have been experimentally tested using well researched GaAs/AlGaAs system producing impressive device parameters of open circuit voltage (Voc) ~1175 mV and fill factor (FF) ~0.85. The devices have also been experimentally tested for the evidence of impurity photovoltaic (PV) effect and impact ionisation taking place within the same device. Since these structures have been experimentally proved with a well-established semiconductor, the effort has been focussed on developing these devices using low-cost and scalable electroplated semiconductors, in order to minimise manufacturing cost. This paper reviews and summarises the work carried out during the past decade on this subject. Graded bandgap devices produced using only two or three electroplated semiconductor layers have been explored and their conversion efficiencies have gradually increased from 10.0%, through 12.8% to 15.3% for different structures. While the work is progressing along this line, the paper summarises the achievements to date

Analysis of electrodeposited CdTe thin films grown using cadmium chloride precursor for applications in solar cells

Deposition of cadmium telluride (CdTe) from cadmium chloride (CdCl2) and tellurium oxide has been achieved by electroplating technique using two-electrode configuration. Cyclic voltammetry shows that near-stoichiometric CdTe is achievable between 1330 and 1400 mV deposition voltage range. The layers grown were characterised using X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–Visible spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell and DC conductivity measurements. The XRD shows that the electrodeposited CdTe layer is polycrystalline in nature. The UV–Visible spectrophotometry shows that the bandgap of both as-deposited and heat-treated CdTe films are in the range of (1.44–1.46) eV. The SEM shows grain growth after CdCl2 treatment, while, the EDX shows the effect of growth voltage on the atomic composition of CdTe layers. The PEC results show that both p- and n-type CdTe can be electrodeposited and the DC conductivity reveals that the high resistivity is at the inversion growth voltage (Vi) for the as-deposited and CdCl2 treated layers

Improvement of composition of CdTe thin films during heat treatment in the presence of CdCl2

CdCl2 treatment is a crucial step in development of CdS/CdTe solar cells. Although this rocessing step has been used over a period of three decades, full understanding is not yet achieved. This paper reports the experimental evidence for improvement of composition of CdTe layers during CdCl2 treatment. This investigation makes use of four selected analytical techniques; Photo-electro-chemical (PEC) cell, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). CdTe layers used were electroplated using three Cd precursors; CdSO4, Cd(NO3)2 and CdCl2. Results show the improvement of stoichiometry of CdTe layers during CdCl2 treatment through chemical reaction between Cd from CdCl2 and elemental Te that usually precipitate during CdTe growth, due to its natural behaviour. XRD and SEM results show that the low-temperature (~85ºC) electroplated CdTe layers consist of ~(20-60) nm size crystallites, but after CdCl2 treatment, the layers show drastic recrystallisation with grains becoming a few microns in size. These CdCl2 treated layers are then comparable to high temperature grown CdTe layers by the size of grains

Personalization of prostate cancer prevention and therapy: are clinically qualified biomarkers in the horizon?

Prostate cancer remains the most common malignancy among men and the second leading cause of male cancer-related mortality. Death from this disease is invariably due to resistance to androgen deprivation therapy. Our improved understanding of the biology of prostate cancer has heralded a new era in molecular anticancer drug development, with multiple novel anticancer drugs for castration resistant prostate cancer now entering the clinic. These include the taxane cabazitaxel, the vaccine sipuleucel-T, the CYP17 inhibitor abiraterone, the novel androgen receptor antagonist MDV-3100 and the radionuclide alpharadin. The management and therapeutic landscape of prostate cancer has now been transformed with this growing armamentarium of effective antitumor agents. This review discusses strategies for the prevention and personalization of prostate cancer therapy, with a focus on the development of predictive and intermediate endpoint biomarkers, as well as novel clinical trial designs that will be crucial for the optimal development of such anticancer therapeutics

Optimisation of pH of cadmium chloride post-growth-treatment in processing CDS/CDTE based thin film solar cells

The role of Chlorine-based activation in the production of high quality CdS/CdTe photovoltaic have been well discussed and explored with an overlook of the effect of Cadmium chloride (CdCl2) post-growth treatment acidity on the property of the fabricated devices. This work focuses on the optimisation of CdCl2 post-growth treatment pH as it affects both the material and fabricated device properties of all-electrodeposited multilayer glass/FTO/n-CdS/n-CdTe/p-CdTe configuration. CdCl2 treatments with acidity ranging from pH1 to pH4 were explored. The properties of the ensued CdTe layer were explored using optical, morphological, compositional structural and electrical property analysis, while, the effect on fabricated multilayer glass/FTO/n-CdS/n-CdTe/p-CdTe configuration were also explored using both I-V and C-V measurements. Highest improvements in the optical, morphological, compositional and structural were observed at pH2 CdCl2 post-growth treatment with an improvement in absorption edge, grain size, crystallinity and crystallite size. Conductivity type conversions from n-CdTe to p-CdTe, increase in pin-hole density and collapse of the absorption edge were observed after pH1 CdCl2 treatment. The highest fabricated solar cell efficiency of 13% was achieved using pH2 CdCl2 treatment as compared to other pH values explored

Effect of iodine incorporation on characteristic properties of cadmium telluride deposited in aqueous solution

The electrodeposition of polycrystalline I-doped CdTe was successfully performed from aqueous solutions containing cadmium nitrate (Cd(NO3)2 and tellurium oxide (TeO2). The effects of different I-doping concentrations in the electrolytic bath on the deposited CdTe layers deposited were evaluated structurally, optically, morphologically and electronically using X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy, photoelectrochemical cell measurement and direct-current (DC) conductivity test respectively. The XRD show reduction in the (111) cubic CdTe peak intensity and the calculated crystallite size of the CdTe:I layers above 5 ppm I-doping. At I-doping of 1000 ppm of the CdTe-bath and above, the deposition of only crystalline Te due to the formation of Cd-I complexes debarring the deposition of Cd and co-deposition of CdTe in aqueous solution was observed. Morphologically, reductions in grain size were observed above 5 ppm I-doping with high pinhole density and the formation of cracks within the CdTe:I layers. For the as-deposited CdTe:I layers, conduction type remained n-type across all the explored I-doping concentration of 200 ppm. For the CdCl2 and Ga2(SO4)2+CdCl2 treated CdTe:I layers, the transition from n- to p-type conductivity was observed for the CdTe:I baths doped with 20 ppm and above due to the reduced cadmium deposition on the substrate. The highest conductivity was observed at 5 ppm I-doping of the CdTe-bath. Observations made on the CdTe:I in aqueous solution differs from the non-aqueous solvent documented in the literature. These results are reported systematically in this communication

The Effect of Fluorine Doping on the Characteristic Behaviour of CdTe

Fluorine which is an n-type dopant of cadmium telluride thin films was included during growth from a cadmium nitrate [Cd(NO3)2Æ4H2O] bath using an electrodeposition technique. The fluorine concentration in the Cd(NO3)2Æ4H2O baths were varied between 0.5 ppm and 50 ppm in order to determine its effect on the optical, structural, morphological and electrical properties of the as-deposited and the post-growth-treated layers. These characterisations were carried out using x-ray diffraction, ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-rays spectroscopy, photoelectrochemical cell measurement, direct current conductivity measurement and fully fabricated device characterisation. The results are systematically reported in this paper

The transition of reported pain in different body regions – a one-year follow-up study

BACKGROUND: The course of pain at a specific region such as the lower back has previously been shown as well as for generalized pain. However we have not found any report on the course of pain from various different specific regions. The aim of this investigation was to study the one-year transition of reported pain in different body locations. METHODS: From a general population 14555 men and women, 46–68 years, responded to an extensive health questionnaire including the standardized Nordic questionnaire. The population represented 27% of the total population within the age group in Malmö, Sweden. At the one year follow-up 12607 responded to the questionnaire, yielding a response rate of 87%. The one year prevalence of long-lasting pain and the pattern of pain reporting from different regions were studied for men and women. RESULTS: The one-year prevalence of long-lasting neck pain was 14% (95% CI 13–15) among men and 25% (95% CI 24–26) among women at baseline and 15% (95% CI 14–16) for the men and 23% (95% CI 22–24) for the women at follow-up. Of those reporting neck pain "all the time" at baseline, 48% of the men and 54% of the women also reported neck pain "all the time" at the one-year follow-up. At the follow-up neck pain was reported as present "often" by 43% of the men and 47% of the women who reported neck pain "often" at baseline. Similar transition pattern were found for neck, shoulders, elbow/wrist/hand and lower back symptoms, as well as consistent prevalence rates. CONCLUSION: The one-year transition pattern of reported pain was similar in different body regions and among men and women. Furthermore the prevalence rates of long-lasting pain in the population were consistent at baseline and the follow-up. The findings of similar transition patterns support the interpretation of long-lasting pain as a generalized phenomenon rather than attributed to specific exposure. This may have implications for future pain research

miR-132/212 knockout mice reveal roles for these miRNAs in regulating cortical synaptic transmission and plasticity

miR-132 and miR-212 are two closely related miRNAs encoded in the same intron of a small non-coding gene, which have been suggested to play roles in both immune and neuronal function. We describe here the generation and initial characterisation of a miR-132/212 double knockout mouse. These mice were viable and fertile with no overt adverse phenotype. Analysis of innate immune responses, including TLR-induced cytokine production and IFNβ induction in response to viral infection of primary fibroblasts did not reveal any phenotype in the knockouts. In contrast, the loss of miR-132 and miR-212, while not overtly affecting neuronal morphology, did affect synaptic function. In both hippocampal and neocortical slices miR-132/212 knockout reduced basal synaptic transmission, without affecting paired-pulse facilitation. Hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) induced by tetanic stimulation was not affected by miR-132/212 deletion, whilst theta burst LTP was enhanced. In contrast, neocortical theta burst-induced LTP was inhibited by loss of miR-132/212. Together these results indicate that miR-132 and/or miR-212 play a significant role in synaptic function, possibly by regulating the number of postsynaptic AMPA receptors under basal conditions and during activity-dependent synaptic plasticity