POTENTIAL ROLE OF MILK THISTLE SEED AND ITS OIL EXTRACTS AGAINST HEART AND BRAIN INJURIES INDUCED BY γ-RADIATION EXPOSURE

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of Silybum marianum (S. marianum) seeds extract its oil fraction against damage effect of γ-radiation in female albino rats.Methods: Ultrasonic-assisted extraction was used for the extraction of S. marianum seeds. Lipid patterns of S. marianum seeds oil were elucidated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). S. marianum seeds extract was analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH) and metallothionein (MT) were estimated in heart and brain tissues of the examined rats. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase-MB (CKMB) were measured in the serum of the examined rats, and the brain biomarkers; dopamine and serotonin were also measured.Results: The oil was found to be rich in linoleic acid (58.20%) and arachidic acid (23.38%). S. marianum seeds extract revealed the presence of taxifolin and six main active constituents of silymarin, including silydianin, silychristin, silybin A, silybin B, isosilybin A and isosilybin B. Treatment of γ-radiation damage effect using S. marianum seeds extract and its oil fraction led to a significant reduction of MDA levels in heart (139.6 and 165.5 nmol/g, respectively) and brain (158.5 and 135.2 nmol/g, respectively) tissues, however, significant increase of GSH levels in heart (316.4 and 293 mg/g, respectively) and brain (210.4 and 227 mg/g, respectively) tissues was observed, also a significant increase of dopamine levels (85.27 and 65.74 ng/g, respectively) and MT levels of heart tissues (108.5 and 70.52 mg/g, respectively) was observed.Conclusion: S. marianum seeds extract and its oil fraction showed a protective effect against γ-radiation-induced damage in heart and brain.Â

Analog circuit reuse based on design extraction

Bibliography: p. 96-10

Radical cystectomy with orthotopic neobladder for invasive bladder cancer: a critical analysis of long term oncological, functional and quality of life results

PURPOSE: Analyze current knowledge and practice regarding tumor-related cystectomy with subsequent orthotopic neobladder both in male and female patients. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Evaluate literature predominantly from the last decade dealing with long-term experience in large numbers of patients with an orthotopic neobladder following cystectomy. Oncological outcome specific to an orthotopic neobladder, functional aspects such as urinary continence, renal function, sexual activity and other quality of life issues are elucidated. RESULTS: Local pelvic recurrences after urothelial bladder cancer occur in 7-12%. Urethral second primary tumors in male and female patients in contemporary series with bladder substitution are 4-6% and 1.4 o 4%, respectively. Upper tract recurrences vary between 2.4-17%. Complications regarding the upper urinary tract have dramatically diminished due to simplified forms of upper tract protection as well as a more refined technique of ureterointestinal anastomosis. Depending on the technique ureteroileal stenosis was lately reported to lie between 2.7 to 3.8%. Renal function remained stable in 96% after a mean follow-up of up to 5 years. Radical cystectomy in carefully selected patients has stood the test of time by providing adequate long-term survival and low local recurrence rates. Orthotopic bladder substitution does not compromise oncological outcome, yields excellent functional results, is cost effective compared to other types of urinary diversion, may improve quality of life and should therefore be the diversion of choice both in men and women. Chronological age is generally not a contraindication for cystectomy, but for orthotopic urinary diversion, tumor extent, functional pelvic floor deficits and general life expectancy are limiting factors

Accuracy-Based Hybrid Parasitic Capacitance Extraction Using Rule-Based, Neural-Networks, and Field-Solver Methods

As process technologies scale down, the accuracy requirements of parasitic capacitance extractions for integrated circuits significantly increase. This work introduces a novel accuracy-based hybrid parasitic capacitance extraction flow, where the chip is subdivided into windows, and each window’s capacitances are calculated using one of three extraction methods: field-solver, rule-based, and novel deep-neural-networks-based methods. This hybrid methodology uses a density-map feature representation as an input to neural-networks classifiers to determine an extraction method for each window. As an intermediate method between rule-based and field-solver methods, a novel deep-neural-networks-based extraction method is introduced. This intermediate level of accuracy and speed is needed since using only rule-based and field-solver methods results in using the field-solver most of the time for any required high accuracy extraction. This method uses a novel hybrid density-voltage representation as an input to improve its accuracy and speed. The proposed hybrid flow identifies the accuracy limits of the three extraction methods and directs each window to the fastest method that meets the user predetermined accuracy level. The proposed flow is tested on different real designs and showed outstanding accuracy and runtime as compared to commercial field-solver and rule-based tools. The results show that the proposed deep-neural-networks extraction method extracts capacitances of complicated structures with high accuracy (\u3c 3% average error) and 100× faster than field-solvers. However, few outliers have an error exceeding 5% in extracted capacitances. Furthermore, the proposed hybrid flow managed to meet the required accuracy (\u3c 5% error) with 99% accuracy and 70× faster than field-solvers

RC Parasitic-Aware Layout Analysis and Routing Optimization Methodology

A parasitic-aware routing optimization and analysis methodology for integrated circuits is developed based on an incremental parasitic extraction and a fast optimization methodology. Existing routing optimization methodologies rely on many circuit simulations, detailed sensitivity analysis, and inefficient simple parasitic models to optimize routes. Moreover, they do not provide a mechanism to help layout designers in identifying problematic layout geometries that have a bad impact on a route’s performance. The proposed methodology works on overcoming such problems by providing three features. First, it provides novel sensitivity circuit models to analyze the integrity of signals in layout routes. Such circuit models are based on an accurate matrix circuit representation, a cost function, and an accurate parasitic sensitivity extraction. The circuit models identify critical parasitic elements along with the corresponding layout geometries in a certain route, where they measure the sensitivity of a route’s performance to corresponding layout geometries very fast. Therefore, they can correlate the problems of a route’s performance to specific layout geometries. Second, the proposed methodology uses a nonlinear programming technique to optimize problematic routes with pre-determined degrees of freedom using the proposed circuit models. Third, the proposed methodology uses a novel incremental parasitic extraction method to extract parasitic elements of modified geometries efficiently. The incremental extraction is used as a part of the routing optimization process to improve the optimization runtime and increase the optimization accuracy. The proposed methodology is tested over different designs of 7nm and 65nm process nodes. The results show that the proposed methodology managed to identify and optimize the problematic geometries in critical routes efficiently with up to 10% performance improvements and a speedup of 3 to 9X as compared to traditional template-based methods

Impact of transobturator vaginal tape on female stress urinary incontinence and sexual function

Objective: To evaluate the effect of vaginal transobturator tape (TOT) on female stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and sexual function. Patients and methods: In all, 145 patients with SUI underwent TOT repair using the âoutsideâinâ technique. All patients had been sexually active in the previous 6 months. Patients were evaluated by history, routine laboratory investigations, cough stress test, abdominopelvic ultrasonography, and full urodynamic studies. The preoperative data assessed included: age, parity, body mass index, menopausal status, and Stamey grade of SUI. The intraoperative data assessed included: operative time, blood loss, and hospital stay; intra- and postoperative complications were also assessed. At 2 weeks after discharge, patients were followed-up with a routine examination and cough stress test. After 6 monthsâ patients were assessed by urodynamic studies, maximum urinary flow rate, post-void residual urine volume. The following questionnaires were completed before and at 6 months after TOT insertion: International Consultation of Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF), Urogenital Distress Inventory-Short Form (UDI-6), and Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). Results: All sociodemographic data of the 145 patients were collected. According to ICIQ-SF scores, 122 patients were cured, 19 had improved, and four failed. There were significant improvements in the UDI-6 and FSFI scores, indicating that the women had significant improvement in their sexual life. There were six cases of urinary tract infection, five cases had a fever, and eight patients complained of groin or thigh pain postoperatively. Conclusions: Correction of SUI using TOT appears to have a positive effect on female sexual function. Keywords: TOT, Stress urinary incontinence, Female sexual function, FSFI, Menopaus

Efficacy of botulinum toxin type A 100 units versus 200 units for treatment of refractory idiopathic overactive bladder

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a single intra detrusor injection of BoNTA comparing two different doses (100 U or 200 U) in patients with idiopathic overactive bladder. Materials and Methods: A randomized prospective study evaluated the efficacy of BoNTA in management of refractory idiopathic overactive bladder and included 80 patients. All patients were assessed initially by taking a history, a physical examination, overactive bladder symptom score, urine analysis, routine laboratory investigations, KUB and pelviabdominal. OABSS was adjusted on all patients postoperative at 1,3,6,9 months also Urodynamic was done for all patients preoperative and postoperative at 3, 6, 9 months. Results: The mean age was 30.22±8.37 and 31.35±7.61 in group I and II respectively. There was no statistically difference between both groups in all parameters all over the study except at 9 months after treatment. Hematuria was observed 6 and 9 patients in group I and II respectively. Dysuria was observed in 6 and 15 patients in group I and II respectively. UTI was detected in 3 and 7 patients in group I and II respectively. Conclusion: A single-injection procedure of 100 U or 200 U BoNTA is an effective and safe treatment for patients with IOAB who failed anticholinergic regimens. OABSS and QoL were improved for 6 months; 100 U injections seemed to have comparable results with 200 U. There was a significant difference at month 9 towards 200 U with more incidences of adverse events