The use of nanomaterial's applications in buildings and their contribution to supporting green technology

Nanotechnology is one of the most active research areas in both field's novel science and useful applications which have gradually established great success in the past two decades. Recent researches on nanomaterial and nanotechnologies foxed on the potential use of these materials in various fields such as medicine, construction, automobile industry, energy, telecommunications and informatics. This is due to the special characteristics of materials at the nano scale. It has been demonstrated that nanotechnology generated products have many unique characteristics, and can significantly fix many field problems.Nanotechnology added changes to building material properties that can improve the current construction materials to be lighter, stronger structural composites, low maintenance coatings, better cementations materials, and thermal insulation. Because size of the particles is a critical factor, the material properties significantly differ at the Nano scale from the larger scales.Recently Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies play a major role in architectural design; building materials combined with nanotechnology became smaller, lighter, and work better than what is possible with conventional materials. Many distinguish applications have been established in architecture and construction industry , for example improving the performance of traditional building materials, both structural materials such as ( concrete, steel and wood ) and nonstructural materials such as (glass , coating, and Air purification ).This paper Presents number of study cases for Nonstructural Nanomaterial applications specially coating materials and air purifying applications (Lotus effect, Photo-catalysis self-cleaning, Easy to clean surfaces, and Air purifying applications). Demonstrating also the importance of Nanotechnology applications becoming green to enhance the Ecological performance of buildings, and to decrease energy consumption rates supporting continuity and Green Architecture.Key words:Nanotechnology, nanomaterial's, nan architecture, green technology, sustainability

PREVALENCE OF HEPATITIS C AMONG EGYPTIAN CHILDREN WITH SICKLE CELL DISEASE AND THE ROLE OF IL28B GENE POLYMORPHISMS IN SPONTANEOUS VIRAL CLEARANCE

Background and objectives: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major health problem in Egypt with its prevalence estimated to be 14.7% among general population in 2008. Patients receiving frequent blood transfusions like sickle cell disease (SCD) are more exposed to the risk of acquiring HCV. IL28B gene polymorphisms have been associated with spontaneous HCV clearance. This study aims to determine the prevalence of HCV infection among children with SCD and to study the relation between IL28B gene polymorphisms and spontaneous HCV clearance. Methods: Seventy SCD patients were screened for HCV antibody. HCV positive patients were tested for the level of HCV RNA using quantitative real time PCR. IL28B polymorphisms (rs 12979860 SNP and rs 12980275 SNP) were detected using Taqman QRT-PCR and sequence specific primers PCR respectively. Results: Sixteen patients (23%) were HCV antibody positive, 9 of them (56.3%) had undetectable HCV RNA in serum and 7 (43.7%) had persistent viremia. Genotypes CC/CT/TT of rs12979860 were found in 30 (42.9%), 29 (41.4%) and 11 (15.7%) and rs12980275 AA/AG/GG were found in 8 (11.4%), 59 (84.3%) and 3 (4.3%).  There was no significant difference in the frequency of IL28B (rs 12979860 and rs12980275) genotypes among HCV patients who cleared the virus and those with persistent viremia (p=0.308 and 0.724 respectively).  Conclusion: Egyptian SCD patients have high prevalence of HCV. Muti-transfused patients still exposed to a risk of transmission of HCV. IL28B gene polymorphisms are not associated with spontaneous clearance of HCV in this cohort of Egyptian children with SCD