Hydraulic Behavior and Copper Ions Treatment for Flow Over Modified Gabion Stepped Weir

In this research; attempt to modify the traditional gabion stepped weir (TGSW) was investigated. Gravel was replaced by new available locally and inexpensive media which is Porcelnite and lime stone. The efficiency of dissipating flow energy, classify the flow types and its efficiency in removal copper (Cu) from simulated wastewater. Six of different discharges values were carried out for investigate hydraulics behavior, water surface profile, the energy dissipation for modified gabion stepped weir (MGSW) and TGSW. Three flow rates (2.5, 5 and 15) L/m is chosen for testing the weir efficiency in removal of Cu with initial concentration of 3 mg/L. The results showed the maximum energy dissipation occurred with lime stone (MGSW), for small (nappe) and high (transition) flow rates, whereas the increase of relative energy dissipation (R.E.D) at high flow rate (Q=18 L/m)  equal 26.35 % compared with flat sloped weirs, 16.35 % compared with stepped weir without any addition and 10% more than (TGSW), While the R.E.D of porcelnite rock was low and equal to 10 % at high flow rates (transition flow). For environmental result show porcelnite rocks (MGSW) has a good ability for removing of copper metal (Cu), whereas the removal efficiency was 90% at initial of system operating and 58% after 6 hours from operating, while the gravel media (TGSW) was inefficiency for removal of (Cu) even for low flow rates whereas (RE% = 23.59, 15.56 and 10.13 %) at three flow rates respectively. Keywords: energy dissipation, modified gabion, stepped weir, Porcelenite, lime stone removal efficiency, copper ions

ENVIRONMENTAL AND HYDRAULIC MONITORING USING CATIONIC DYES TO INVESTIGATE THE BARRIERS EFFECT ON KAOLIN DEPOSITION

Dyes are used in hydraulic fields such as hydraulic tracking to show the flow path, monitor flow lines within a ground dam, or track the spread of contaminated water within horizontal pipes and environmental fields as environmental indicators in titrations, such as titration of precipitate composition. Some environmental experiments dispense with the dye's use because it interferes with other compounds, such as interfering with the turbidity readings even if non-reactive dyes, but the present study transformed this problem into a positive phenomenon to benefits from the dye in both fields. The research methodology includes a laboratory analysis using different parameters such as discharge of suspension, the volume of dye, and the percentage of initial water depth at maximum water depth also theoretical analysis of the previous research methodology. The experimental results show that cationic dyes' absorption (methylene blue dye, MB and crystal violet, CV) is directly proportional to the percentage of kaolin deposition in the sedimentation tank areas. Finally, MB and CV dyes are used in both fields in one trial (such as tracking flow movement, monitoring the vortices formed using baffles, and inter between the amount of kaolin precipitated in each zone the sedimentation). However, MB is the best compare to CV

General synovitis score and immunologic synovitis score reflect clinical disease activity in patients with advanced stage rheumatoid arthritis

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between clinical disease activity in patients with advanced stage rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on treatment with Disease Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs (DMARDs) and histopathological scores of synovial inflammation. To this end, synovial biopsies of 62 RA patients who underwent surgery for either synovectomy or total joint arthroplasty were assessed by a general synovitis score (GSS) and an immunologic synovitis score (IMSYC). The clinical disease activity index (CDAI) was significantly correlated with both the GSS and the IMSYC (r = 0.65, p = <0.001, r = 0.68, p = <0.001). Compared to patients with moderate and high disease activity, there was a significantly lower expression of T cell (CD3), B cell (CD20) and neutrophil (CD15) markers in synovial tissue of patients with low activity, but similar expression of the macrophage marker CD68. Subgroup analyses revealed no differences between small and large joints, seropositive and seronegative RA and patients with or without prednisolone treatment. However, we found a significantly stronger correlation of CDAI with IMSYC in patients undergoing arthroplasty (r = 0.82) than in patients undergoing synovectomy (r = 0.55). In addition, there was a stronger correlation of CDAI with GSS in patients treated with methotrexate (r = 0.86) than in patients with TNFα blockade (r = 0.55). In summary, the present study demonstrates that the histopathological scores GSS and IMSYC in general reflect clinical disease activity in patients with advanced stage rheumatoid arthritis, but that there is some heterogeneity between subgroups of patients within the cohort. In the future, molecular characterization of synovial inflammatory cell populations, including plasma cell infiltrates, will help to further defined clinically important subtypes of RA and treatment response

In vivo functional and morphological characterization of bone and striated muscle microcirculation in NSG mice.

Organ-specific microcirculation plays a central role in tumor growth, tumor cell homing, tissue engineering, and wound healing. Mouse models are widely used to study these processes; however, these mouse strains often possess unique microhemodynamic parameters, making it difficult to directly compare experiments. The full functional characterization of bone and striated muscle microcirculatory parameters in non-obese diabetic-severe combined immunodeficiency/y-chain; NOD-Prkds IL2rg (NSG) mice has not yet been reported. Here, we established either a dorsal skinfold chamber or femur window in NSG mice (n = 23), allowing direct analysis of microcirculatory parameters in vivo by intravital fluorescence microscopy at 7, 14, 21, and 28 days after chamber preparation. Organ-specific differences were observed. Bone had a significantly lower vessel density but a higher vessel diameter than striated muscle. Bone also showed higher effective vascular permeability than striated muscle. The centerline velocity values were similar in the femur window and dorsal skinfold chamber, with a higher volumetric blood flow in bone. Interestingly, bone and striated muscle showed similar tissue perfusion rates. Knowledge of physiological microhemodynamic values of bone and striated muscle in NSG mice makes it possible to analyze pathophysiological processes at these anatomic sites, such as tumor growth, tumor metastasis, and tumor microcirculation, as well as the response to therapeutic agents

Identification of vitamin D and other bone metabolism parameters as risk factors for primary bone marrow oedema syndrome

Abstract Background The aetiology and pathogenesis of primary bone marrow oedema syndrome (BMES) remain unclear. This retrospective cross-sectional study in a large cohort of patients with BMES was performed to characterise the overall skeletal status and turnover in patients with BMES, with the aim of identifying risk factors for this disease. Methods Patients who were diagnosed with BMES on the basis of clinical and radiological (magnetic resonance imaging) findings in our outpatient clinic were identified retrospectively. Patient history, co-existing metabolic disorders, bone metabolism parameters (serum calcium, phosphate, 25-OH-D3, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase, parathyroid hormone, and osteocalcin, and urinary deoxypyridinoline) and bone mineral density (as measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) were extracted from the medical records. Patients with secondary causes for BMES were excluded from the study. Results Of the 171 patients, 65 were identified without secondary cause for BMES. Of the 65 patients, 61.5% were female. The mean age was 49.5 ± 16.7 years, and age-related BMES prevalence showed two peaks, one in adolescence (11–20 years) and one at an older age (51–70 years). BMES predominantly affected the weight-bearing joints, namely, the ankle/foot (55.1%), knee (22.4%) and proximal femur (16.3%). Thyroid disorders and secondary hyperparathyroidism were highly prevalent (21.5 and 21.4%, respectively). On average, the cohort had elevated deoxypyridinoline levels and low 25-OH-D3 levels (19.0 ± 7.5 μg/l in patients without vitamin D supplementation). Osteopenia and osteoporosis were diagnosed in 47.4 and 17.5% of patients, respectively. Conclusions BMES is associated with high bone turnover. Patients who are diagnosed with BMES should be screened carefully for bone metabolism disorders and their potential risk factors

A Laboratory Study Attempt of Flow and Energy Dissipation in Stepped Spillways

A new laboratory study conducted on stepped spillways in order to investigate their efficiency of dissipating flow energy. All previous study on stepped spillway indicated that the flow energy dissipation decreased as increasing in discharge. Increasing in the step numbers and the spillway slope led to energy dissipation decrease. In this study, an experimental attempt to increase energy dissipation at variable discharges was performed on stepped spillway and that leads to decreasing the cost of initiating the stilling basin or may be ignoring it. Five spillways were constructed from concrete and tested to investigate and compare among them. Three were roughed by gravel with different size for each one, one of them was stepped without any addition, and the last one was stepped with cavitation. The height of stepped spillways was 18 cm with unique numbers of steps (n = 3), and unique downstream slope of stepped face (θ =30⁰) were utilized. The percentage of relative energy dissipation (R.E.D) was increased using rough surface with coarse gravel. When the size of gravel increased, the R.E.D was increased and when using the ratio between heights of gravel to steps of 0.5, the R.E.D was increased to about triple compared with traditional spillways. The R.E.D was decreased when the cavitation on the stepped surface was utilized compared to the stepped spillway without any addition for large discharges and that was inverse for small discharges. Comparing to steps without any addition, the rouged steps with the larger size of gravel maximized the energy dissipation for both small and large discharges. The relative energy dissipation was 26.73 % compared with traditional spillway and 16.73 % compared with stepped spillway without any addition, since the stepped spillways more effective than traditional spillways by 10 %. In general, the R.E.D was decreased when increasing the discharge

The histopathological synovitis score is influenced by biopsy location in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Introduction!#!Osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) represent the most common forms of arthritis, which are mainly caused by mechanical and inflammatory components, respectively. Determination of synovial inflammation in synovial biopsies via the histopathological Krenn score may be crucial for correct diagnosis and treatment. Specifically, it remains unclear whether synovitis scores differ among multiple biopsy locations within a single joint.!##!Materials and methods!#!Eighty synovial samples were taken from four standardized regions of the knee in 20 patients (ten primary OA, ten secondary OA) undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) or total synovectomy. The Krenn synovitis score (grade 0-9) was determined in a blinded manner by two expert pathologists in all biopsies. Next to the inter-rater reliability, we evaluated the agreement of the determined scores among the four biopsy locations within each knee.!##!Results!#!The inter-rater reliability between the two pathologists was very high (Cohen's kappa = 0.712; r = 0.946; ICC = 0.972). The mean synovitis score was significantly higher in knees with secondary than in primary OA (p = 0.026). Importantly, we found clear differences between the scores of the four different biopsy locations within the individual knee joints, with an average deviation of 10.6%. These deviations were comparable in knees with primary and secondary OA (p = 0.64).!##!Conclusions!#!While we confirmed the synovitis score as a reliable and reproducible parameter to assess the histopathological synovitis grade in the knee, the considerable variability within the joint indicates that multiple synovial biopsies from different regions should be obtained to enable reliable results of the synovitis score

The bone microenvironment promotes tumor growth and tissue perfusion compared with striated muscle in a preclinical model of prostate cancer in vivo

Abstract Background Prostate cancer-related morbidity is associated with its preferential spread to the bone. Although the molecular interactions between the bone microenvironment and cancer cells have been researched extensively, the relevance of the microvascular properties of prostate cancer bone metastases remains largely unknown. Most preclinical studies focusing on microvascular analyses are based on heterotopic tumor implantation, whereas the impact of the microenvironment on site-specific growth behavior and angiogenesis is rarely addressed. Methods The microvascular changes associated with tumor growth in bone and soft tissue were characterized by implanting single cell suspensions of LnCap, Du145, and Pc3 cells into the femur (femur window) or striated muscle (dorsal skinfold chamber) of NSG mice. Tumor growth and the local microvasculature were analyzed for 21 days using intravital fluorescence microscopy. Results The results showed a higher engraftment of tumor cells in bone than in striated muscle associated with accelerated growth of LnCap cells and Pc3 cells. Permeability, blood flow, and tissue perfusion rates were greater in bone than in striated muscle. Du145 cells showed similar growth behavior in both tissues with similar vascular properties. The bone microenvironment facilitated tumor engraftment and growth. Increased microvascular density in striated muscle led to a higher tumor burden during early growth, whereas the increased perfusion promoted later prostate cancer growth in bone. Conclusions Monitoring prostate cancer microcirculation in bone and soft tissue may be useful to evaluate the organ-specific efficacy of new treatments