Efficacy of leeching (Ta‘līq al-‘Alaq) in patients with vitiligo (baras): a comprehensive case study

Vitiligo is a hypomelanotic skin disorder in white patches appear on the skin surface and also involve the hair. The disease is idiopathic, acquired and effects 1-4 percent of the world population. It is belived that there is immunologic influence in the pathogenesis of vitiligo and there is evidence of early cell death in vitiligo melanocytes related to their increased sensitivity to oxidative stress. In Ayurveda the vitiation of three doshas results deraignment of rasa, rakta, mamsa and medadhuta which results in vitiligo patches on skin. In Unani System of Medicine (USM) the deraignment of body humours result in the Fasad-e-Ikhlat which results in the Baras (vitiligo). Since both in Ayurveda and USM leech has been used for various dermatalogicalailments including vitiligo. In this study leeching (hirudotherapy) were done in vitiligo patients of both sexes with single and multiple patches and successful results were observed

Effects of Wet Separated and High Speed Milling Fly Ash Added in High Volume to Cementitious Materials

In this research high speed milling was carried out on particles of brown coal raw fly ash, on second layer, and on third layer particles obtained from wet separation of brown coal raw fly ash. Due to milling process, median particle size d50 of raw fly ash, second layer, and third layer reduced by 46 %, 23 %, and 77 %, densities reduced by 11 %, 17 %, and 8 % respectively. Due to milling process, formation of agglomerations was observed, the standard deviation of the chemical composition of each element from the mean value reduced. After milling, high volume cementitious paste mixes were prepared with 60 % cement replacement. Due to the milling process the increase in compressive strength at 28 and 90 days was observed for raw fly ash is 59 % and 16 %, for second layer is 12 % and 15 %, for third layer and milled third layer is 78 % and 75 %. Flexural strength testing showed that due to the milling process the deflections at maximum loads have reduced considerably leading to brittle behavior of milled cementitious specimens. The testing for Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry showed that the cementitious specimens of third layer have maximum concentration of large capillary pores between 0.05 and 10 µm, whereas, all others have maximum concentration of medium capillary pores between 0.01 and 0.05 µm. Autogenous shrinkage of cementitious specimens was measured for first sixteen hours after mixing which showed that the second layer particles have the least shrinkage as compared to all other specimens

Fungi, feather damage, and risk of predation

International audiencePredation is a powerful selective force with important effects on behavior, morphology , life history, and evolution of prey. Parasites may change body condition, health status, and ability to escape from or defend prey against predators. Once a prey individual has been detected, it can rely on a diversity of means of escape from the pursuit by the predator. Here we tested whether prey of a common raptor differed in terms of fungi from nonprey recorded at the same sites using the goshawk Accipiter gentilis and its avian prey as a model system. We found a positive association between the probability of falling prey to the raptor and the presence and the abundance of fungi. Birds with a specific composition of the community of fungi had higher probability of falling prey to a goshawk than individual hosts with fewer fungi. These findings imply that fungi may play a significant role in predator-prey interactions. The probability of having damaged feathers increased with the number of fungal colonies, and in particular the abundance of Myceliophthora verrucos and Schizophyllum sp. was positively related to the probability of having damaged feathers. In addition, we found a significant correlation between the rate of feather growth of goshawk prey with birds with more fungi being more likely to be depredated. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that survival and feather quality of birds are related to abundance and diversity of fungi

Gold-Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohol: Effect of Gold Particle Size on Activity and Selectivity in Different Solvents

The effect of the size of gold particles deposited on CeO2 and TiO2 supports on their catalytic behavior in the aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol in different solvents (mesitylene, toluene, and supercritical carbon dioxide) has been investigated. The size of supported gold particles deposited via a colloidal route was in the range 1.3-11.3nm, as determined by means of EXAFS and HAADF-STEM measurements. The catalytic performance of the supported gold catalysts in the different solvents revealed a significant effect of the gold particle size. Optimal activity was observed for catalysts with medium particle size (ca. 6.9nm) whereas smaller and bigger particles showed inferior activity. Identical trends for the activity-particle size relationship were found using Au/CeO2 and Au/TiO2 for the reaction at atmospheric pressure in conventional solvents (mesitylene, toluene) as well as under supercritical conditions (scCO2). Selectivity to benzaldehyde was only weakly affected by the gold particle size and mainly depended on reaction conditions. In supercritical CO2 (scCO2) selectivity was higher than in the conventional solvents under atmospheric pressure. All catalysts tested with particle sizes ranging from 1.3 to 11.3nm showed excellent selectivity of 99% or higher under supercritical condition

To Find the Best Site for Urban Development in Prachuap Khiri khan, Thailand

Coastal areas in the western provinces of Thailand, a popular destination in Northern Thailand, are facing rapid tourism-related sustainable development issues and. This study aims to find the coastal areas which need to be conserved for tourism and find the areas which are safer and suitable for urban development in Prachuap Khirikhan province. Multiple criteria evaluation (MCE) and several available tools in GIS such as ‘Reclassify’, ‘Overlay’, ‘Proximity’, ‘Spatial analyst tools’ etc. are used during analysis. ‌Based on the available data and multi-criteria analysis, the area in the Prachuap Khirikhan has been classified into five categories from “Highly Suitable” to “Not Suitable. The results show that there are large number of Tambon which are highly suitable for urban development such as Phung Prasan, Kamnoet Nopphakhun, Thong chai, Thap sake, Huai Yang, Huai sai, Khlong Wan, Ko Lak, Ao Noi, Bo Nok. The Tambons which are found “Not suitable” or “Low suitable” for urban development are Nong Phap, Nong Ta Taem, Sila Loi and Chang Raek

Incentives in Adopting Cloud Computing for Shaikh Zayed University, Khost Afghanistan

Teaching in these days is almost regarded impossible without the Information Technology resources which needs a great amount of investments in this sector, there are a huge number of educational institutions which cannot afford these IT investments. Many institutions are in search of a cheap and economic way of delivering and managing these resources mainly in the Asian countries. Among such solutions, it is debated that Cloud computing is the right choice to reduce the expenses of the institutions. This paper describes the common benefits of cloud computing for Shaikh Zayed University. To provide imported and updated information and to deliver daily lectures on time, a physical structure such as (hardware and software) is needed. To attain this objective, the researcher conducted qualitative data to collect the data. Data from different experts were collected using the questionnaires in this field. The results of these survey showed that cloud computing had great role in reducing the Costs, achieved a Collaborating environment and all time Availability

On the (IR) Relevance of Monetary Aggregate Targeting in Pakistan: An Eclectic View

This study investigates and searches for a stable money demand function for Pakistan’s economy, where monetary aggregate is considered as the nominal anchor. The stability of the money demand has been the focus of numerous debates due to evolving financial innovations and regulations. Earlier studies in Pakistan on the subject provide conflicting explanations due to inadequate specification and imprecise estimation of money demand. However, this study finds that money demand in Pakistan is stable, if specified properly. Therefore, for developing countries, like Pakistan, targeting of monetary aggregates or responding to deviations from the desirable path is important for effective implementation and communication of monetary policy stance and it should remain, if not primary, an auxiliary target in the monetary policy framework

Work overload and diagnostic errors in radiology

PURPOSE: To determine the association between workload and diagnostic errors on clinical CT scans.METHOD: This retrospective study was performed at a tertiary care center and covered the period from January 2020 to March 2023. All clinical CT scans that contained an addendum describing a perceptual error (i.e. failure to detect an important abnormality) in the original report that was issued on office days between 7.30 a.m. and 18.00 p.m., were included. The workload of the involved radiologist on the day of the diagnostic error was calculated in terms of relative value units, and normalized for the known average daily production of each individual radiologist (workload normalized). A workload normalized of less than 100% indicates relative work underload, while a workload normalized of &gt; 100% indicates relative work overload in terms of reported examinations on an individual radiologist's basis. RESULTS: A total of 49 diagnostic errors were included. Top-five locations of diagnostic errors were lung (n = 8), bone (n = 8), lymph nodes (n = 5), peritoneum (n = 5), and liver (n = 4). Workload normalized on the days the diagnostic errors were made was on average 121% (95% confidence interval: 106% to 136%), which was significantly higher than 100% (P = 0.008). There was no significant upward monotonic trend in diagnostic errors over the course of the day (Mann-Kendall tau of 0.005, P = 1.000), and there were no other notable temporal trends either. CONCLUSIONS: Radiologists appear to have a relative work overload when they make a diagnostic error on CT. Diagnostic errors occurred throughout the entire day, without any increase towards the end of the day.</p

Enhancing volleyball training:empowering athletes and coaches through advanced sensing and analysis

Modern sensing technologies and data analysis methods usher in a new era for sports training and practice. Hidden insights can be uncovered and interactive training environments can be created by means of data analysis. We present a system to support volleyball training which makes use of Inertial Measurement Units, a pressure sensitive display floor, and machine learning techniques to automatically detect relevant behaviours and provides the user with the appropriate information. While working with trainers and amateur athletes, we also explore potential applications that are driven by automatic action recognition, that contribute various requirements to the platform. The first application is an automatic video-tagging protocol that marks key events (captured on video) based on the automatic recognition of volleyball-specific actions with an unweighted average recall of 78.71% in the 10-fold cross-validation setting with convolution neural network and 73.84% in leave-one-subject-out cross-validation setting with active data representation method using wearable sensors, as an exemplification of how dashboard and retrieval systems would work with the platform. In the context of action recognition, we have evaluated statistical functions and their transformation using active data representation besides raw signal of IMUs sensor. The second application is the “bump-set-spike” trainer, which uses automatic action recognition to provide real-time feedback about performance to steer player behaviour in volleyball, as an example of rich learning environments enabled by live action detection. In addition to describing these applications, we detail the system components and architecture and discuss the implications that our system might have for sports in general and for volleyball in particular.</p