A mass-extended 't Hooft-Nobbenhuis complex transformations and their consequences

We have extended the 't Hooft-Nobbenhuis complex transformations to include mass. Under these new transformations, Schrodinger, Dirac, Klein-Gordon and Einstein general relativity equations are invariant. The non invariance of the cosmological constant in Einstein field equations dictates it to vanish thus solving the longstanding cosmological constant problem.Comment: 6 LateX pages, no figure

Autoimmune liver disease - are there spectra that we do not know?

Autoimmune liver diseases (AILDs) are common leading causes for liver cirrhosis and terminal stage of liver disease. They have variable prevalence among patients with liver disease and have two major clinical and biochemical presentations. Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is the typical example of hepatocellular AILD, but it can also be presented under a cholestatic pattern. AIH has a scoring diagnostic system and respond in most cases to the treatment with prednisolone and azathioprine. Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is the second most common AILD, with a cholestatic presentation and characterized by positive antimitochondrial antibody (AMA). It has an excellent response and long term outcome with the administration of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). Another AILD that is thought to be a variant of PBC is the autoimmune cholangitis, being a disease that has biochemical and histological features similar to PBC; but the AMA is negative. Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a rare entity of AILD that has a cholestatic presentation and respond poorly to the treatment, with the ultimate progression to advance liver cirrhosis in most patients. Other forms of AILD include the overlap syndromes (OS), which are diseases with mixed immunological and histological patterns of two AILD; the most commonly recognized one is AIH-PBC overlap (AIH-PSC overlap is less common). The treatment of OS involves the trial of UDCA and different immunosuppressants. Here we present three case reports of unusual forms of chronic liver diseases that most likely represent AILD. The first two patients had a cholestatic picture, whereas the third one had a hepatocellular picture at presentation. We discussed their biochemical, immunological and histological features as well as their response to treatment and their outcomes. Then, we compared them with other forms of AILD

Study of potential activity of clove oil 10 % emulsifiable concentrate formulation on Two-spotted spider Mite Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae)

Clove oil is reported to have a great range of biological activities against many species of pests; termites, cockroaches, aphids, weevils and moths, and many different usages such as perfume and food flavoring agent. This study aimed to determine the acaricidal activity of clove oil emulsifiable concentrate new formulation against two-spotted spider mites Tetranychus urticae. Clove oil was formulated as 10 % emulsifiable concentrate (EC). The new formula passed successfully all physical and chemical tests reported for emulsifiable concentrates. It was then tested biologically on the individuals of two-spotted spider mite T. urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) on two host plants beans and squash under laboratory conditions. In both cases, there were a direct relationship between the increase in the concentration of the formulation and the percentage of inhibition on the individuals of the two-spotted spider mite, after 72 hours of treatment, at concentrations of 20, 40, and 80 mg/ml the new formulation showed 10.30, 44.8, and 75 percent inhibition, respectively in case of beans, while squash at the same concentrations and for the same period of treatment showed 33.3, 40.7, and 51.9 percent inhibition, but the effect in case of beans was greater than that in case of squash as its EC50 value was lower than that in case of squash. In the case of the former, it was 39.81 mg/ml, whereas in the case of the latter, it was 79.43 mg/ml. Therefore, the new clove oil formulation can be used to combat the two-spotted spider mite

Predicting surgical outcome of pediatric percutaneous nephrolithotomy

Purpose: The aim was to evaluate the outcome of pediatric percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) guided by Guy’s stone score grading system.Patients and methods: This was a prospective study of children with renal calculi more than 2 cm. They were younger than 18 years and were a candidate for PCNL at our University Hospitals from January 2013 until July 2016. All of them had a low-dose noncontrast enhanced computed tomography. The procedure was performed under general anesthesia with the patients in the prone position guided by fluoroscopy. The stone-free rate and the presence and type of complications were estimated. The demographic and clinical data, stone characteristics, radiologic anatomy as well the PCNL approach and methods of lithotripsy used were evaluated. Comparison was performed through using univariate and multivariate analyses, and factors predicting the PCNL outcome were determined.Results: A total of 110 children with kidney stones were accepted for PCNL. Overall, 95 (86.3%) of 110 children were stone free after one-stage PCNL. Grade 1 Guy’s stone score was 97.5% (40/41) (P<0.05). Mean hospital stay was 4.01 ± 2.0 days. Operative complications include bleeding in 12 (10.9%), extravasation in seven (6.4%), injury to the colon in one (0.9%), and renal pelvis perforation three (2.7%). In our study, larger Amplatz sheath, stone burden, and longer operative time are related to complications.Conclusion: Guy’s stone score correlated with both success and complications and can be used for decision making preoperatively in pediatric PCNL.Keywords: Guy’s stone score, minimally invasive, percutaneous nephrolithotomy, pediatric, urolithiasi

On the generalized continuity equation

A generalized continuity equation extending the ordinary continuity equation has been found using quanternions. It is shown to be compatible with Dirac, Schrodinger, Klein-Gordon and diffusion equations. This generalized equation is Lorentz invariant. The transport properties of electrons are found to be governed by Schrodinger-like equation and not by the diffusion equation.Comment: 9 Latex pages, no figure

Duality symmetry and the form fields of M-theory

In previous work we derived the topological terms in the M-theory action in terms of certain characters that we defined. In this paper, we propose the extention of these characters to include the dual fields. The unified treatment of the M-theory four-form field strength and its dual leads to several observations. In particular we elaborate on the possibility of a twisted cohomology theory with a twist given by degrees greater than three.Comment: 12 pages, modified material on the differentia

The preparation, delivery and outcome of COVID-19 pandemic training program among the Emergency Healthcare Frontliners (EHFs): the Malaysian teaching hospital experience

One of the strategies in strengthening the healthcare providers in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 pandemic is through training. Safety and disease unfamiliarity with COVID-19 was the main reason for developing this dedicated specialized training modules in order to address the issue. The training modules were developed based on three strategies that are learning from experience, design suitable dedicated module and identify weakness and vulnerability. The training modules created were donning-doffing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), airway management and cardiopulmonary resuscitation of suspected COVID-19 patients which were delivered through immersive life simulation technique. A total of 178 Emergency Healthcare Frontliners (EHFs) were trained. Each module was guided with a checklist that the participants found to be very useful. None of the participants reported developing symptoms of infection after undergoing the face-to-face simulation training even after two weeks of post-training periods. Seven important steps were found to be crucial that contributed to these findings which included room space, participants number per group, COVID-19 screening, taking of temperature, hand sanitization, PPE, and equipment sanitization before and after training. Hands-on training with guided-checklist was found to be very useful to the EHFs in managing an unfamiliar situation of COVID-19. In time-constraint-resource-limited conditions, training modules should be focused on addressing the pressing problem at hand. In conducting a face-to-face training, precautionary safety measures should be strictly adhered to prevent the spread of the disease

Madrasah Education System and Terrorism: Reality and Misconception

Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the Islamic schools known as madrasah havebeen of increasing interest to analysts and to officials involved in formulating U.S. foreign policytoward the Middle East, Central, and Southeast Asia. Madrasah drew added attention when itbecame known that several Taliban leaders and Al-Qaeda members had developed radicalpolitical views at madrasah in Pakistan, some of which allegedly were built and partially financedthrough Saudi Arabian sources. These revelations have led to accusations that madrasah promoteIslamic extremism and militancy, and are a recruiting ground for terrorism. Others maintain thatmost of these religious schools have been blamed unfairly for fostering anti-U.S. sentiments andargue that madrasah play an important role in countries where millions of Muslims live in povertyand the educational infrastructure is in decay. This paper aims to study a misconception of therole and functions of Islamic traditional religious schools which have been linked with theactivities of terrorism. The study will be specifically focus on practice of the traditional Islamicschool, which is locally called as ‘madrasah system\u27

Is Gaza sandy shoreline region contaminated with human gastrointestinal parasites?

The study was implemented to test if the sandy shoreline of Gaza city is contaminated with human gastrointestinal parasites or not and to determine the types of intestinal parasites and the extent of contamination. A total of 104 sand samples (52 dry sand and 52 wet sand) were analyzed during the summer season period. Samples were collected from the study area of about 12km along the seashore region of Gaza City. Dry samples and wet sand samples were analyzed using water-sedimentation technique and a light microscope. The results showed that the percentage of the parasitic contamination was 40.4% of the wet sand samples and 34.6% of the dry sand samples along the shoreline region of the Gaza City. The human gastrointestinal parasites detected were the following: Ascaris lumbricoides, S. stercoralis, E. vermicularis, E. histolytica/dispar, G. lamblia, E. coli and Taenia. spp. The findings showed that

The Prediction of Tear Strength of plain weave fabric Using Linear Regression Models

The aim of the study is to predict the tear strength of plain weave fabric by knowing the yarn count, yarn tensile strength and the fabric linear density. A total of nine fabric samples (produced of three different yarn counts which were 36.88, 29.50 and 9.83 tex) were produced in deferent densities at weft direction which were 4.33, 7.08 and 8.26 threads per cm, while the density was fixed at the warp direction in 9.84 ends per cm . Tensile strength was tested for these fabrics at warp and weft direction. The results were analyzed and incorporated in the Min-Tab program and the development of regression coefficients and correlation between variables to obtain equations to predict the tear strength at warp and weft direction