Assessment of riverbank filtration performance for climatic change and a growing population

Data availability statement The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material; further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.Copyright © 2023 Abd-Elaty, Kuriqi, Ganayem, Ahmed, Saleh and Garrote. Riverbank filtration (RBF) consists of green drinking water production in many regions and is used as a pre-treatment phase. This study investigates the performance of the RBF in the Nile delta, Egypt, for climate change and population growth scenarios of 2030, 2040, and 2050. This study presents a new method for predicting the sharing of riverbanks considering three cases: i) the river stage controlling the water levels in the river, ii) increasing RBF pumping, and iii) changing the groundwater levels. This last scenario is achieved by changing the general head in the MODFLOW model. The results showed that RBF sharing (RBFS) is a proportion of the river leakage inflow, in which the decrease of the river stage due to the influence of climate change reduced the river leakage inflow and RBFS. In addition, increasing RBF pumping, decreasing RBF pumping, and lowering the groundwater levels due to the increase in the future drinking water pumping for the population growth increased the river leakage inflow and RBFS. Finally, combining the three cases decreased RBFS in the coming years of 2030, 2040, and 2050, respectively, due to more groundwater sharing than the river inflow. The results show that the water budget is a good tool to investigate RBFS compared with MT3D results. This technique can reduce the cost of water quality collection and analysis; moreover, it will help with the estimation of RBF and save time compared with solute transport modeling.AK is grateful for the Foundation for Science and Technology’s support through funding UIDB/04625/2020 from the research unit CERIS

Alternative technique using dual source CT imaging for assessment of myocardial perfusion

AbstractPurposeTo elucidate the diagnostic role of multidetector DSCT for the assessment of myocardial perfusion in correlation with coronary luminal integrity in a single CT scan while both tubes were operated in single energy mode.Methods and materialThirty-five patients were subjected to single acquisition contrast-enhanced, ECG-gated DSCT of the heart at rest. Postprocessing was performed generating two image sets: coronary CT angiographic images (cCTA) and myocardial perfusion images (CTP) for respective correlative assessment of coronary luminal integrity and myocardial perfusion. Perfusion defect was detected subjectively using gray scale images and the color coded first pass and color overlaid late enhancement (color attenuation) images were used for semi-objective evaluation and final objective and quantitative confirmation by density measurement.ResultsSignificant correlation and good agreement between the findings of DSCT myocardial perfusion and the findings of stenosis and its degree on cCTA on a segmental basis is noted with Cohen’s Kappa=0.67 and prevalence and bias adjusted Kappa=0.71 emphasizing the high diagnostic value of DSCT myocardial perfusion as compared to cCTA as the gold reference standard.ConclusionWe propose that comprehensive evaluation of coronary artery morphology and myocardial perfusion in patients with CAD could be achieved by single reproducible non-invasive contrast enhanced CT acquisition using DSCT scanners while operated in single energy mode with high sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy, it also has the potential to be the first, independent and stand out imaging choice in such field

Sex Hormones Changes in Blood and Their Effect on Fecundity of African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus Burchell, 1822) after Being Injected with Different Doses of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) Hormone

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of different dosesinjection of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) hormone on fecundityand serum sex hormones (FSH, LH, estrogen (E2), progesterone (P4),testosterone (T)) of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). African catfishspawners were intermuscularly injected with different doses of HCG(500, 1500, 3000, 6000 IU/kg female), and group is not injected as acontrol; males were injected at half the female dose. The results showedthat, fish group injected by 6000 IU HCG/ kg female had the highestgonadsomatic index, absolute fecundity and relative fecundity, while,the lowest value of absolute fecundity and relative fecundity wererecorded with 500 IU HCG/ kg female. The group injected with thehighest amount of HCG (6000 IU/ kg female) recorded the lowest valuefrom egg diameter, while the highest egg diameter was observed in 500IU HCG/ kg female. In females, the group injected with 6000 IU HCG/kg female reflected the lowest level of FSH and the highest level of LHand the highest level of P4 compared to other treatments. Level of Trecorded the highest level with 1500 IU HCG/ kg female. The controlgroup reflected the highest level of FSH and E2, while the control groupreflected the lowest level of T and P4 level. In males, serum FSH, LH,P4 and E2 in male groups injected with HCG were relatively higher thanthose recorded in the control group. The highest level of T was recordedin treatment injected with the highest dose of HCG and decreased inother treatments until recorded the lowest level of T in the controlgroup. It was observed, HCG hormone has successfully and accelerateinduced spawning in African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and increasedin reproductive performance with the increase in HCG dosage and ascompared to group not injected

DGGE-RAPD analysis as a useful tool for cultivar identification

Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis-random amplified polymorphic DNA (DGGE-RAPD) was used to overcome the main drawbacks of RAPD (i.e., the low levels of reproducibility and polymorphism). As a model, six barley cultivars of known origin were tested for RAPD markers using DGGE methodology with 29 arbitrary primers. Among a total of 418 bands observed, as high as 99 were polymorphic. Comparison between agarose-RAPD and DGGE-RAPD revealed that the latter was highly reproducible and gave higher level of polymorphism and consequently more markers. The relationships among barley cultivars derived from this study based on DGGE-RAPD are consistent with the known lineage of these cultivars. In conclusion, we recommend the use of DGGE-RAPD as an alternative tool to the more costly DNA-based analysis in cultivar identification in laboratories with limited funds.Key words: Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis-random amplified polymorphic DNA, artificial heteroduplex, dendogram, lineage

Design and optimization of microstrip filtering antenna with modified shaped slots and SIR filter to improve the impedance bandwidth

This paper presents a new compact microstrip filtering antenna with modified shaped slots to improve the impedance bandwidth. The proposed microstrip filtering antenna consists of three parts; the monopole radiating patch antenna, the SIR filter, and the feeding microstrip line. The design structure is achieved on one sided glass epoxy FR-4 substrate with dielectric constant ε_r = 4.4 and thickness of h = 1.6 mm. The design procedures of the proposed filtering antenna starts from the second order Chebyshev low pass filter prototype. The simulation results throughout this article are done by a computer simulation technology (CST) software. The simulated results have been achieved show good performance of S11-parameter and broad side antenna gain on +z-direction. This design has two transmission zeros at 5.4 GHz and 7.7 GHz, and bandwidth (B.W) of about 1.66 GHz so; it is suitable for high speed data communication. This design has good skirt selectivity

Risk Factors Associated with Mild Cognitive Impairment аmong Apparently Healthy People and the Role of MicroRNAs

BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a stage between the expected cognitive decline of normal ageing and the serious decline of dementia. AIM: To identify risk factors and role of miRNAs associated with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among employees. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 186 employees aged between 40 and 65 years. Cognitive function was evaluated using ACEIII, MoCA, and Quick cognitive tests. Medical history and lifestyle were assessed. Family 132 & 134 miRNA expressions were assessed by real-time PCR. RESULTS: MCI was detected among 14 / 186 (7.5%). miRNA 132 expression was the only significant miRNAs to detect MCI with low sensitivity and specificity (70%). The logistic analysis revealed that higher miRNA132 expressions, low monthly intake of; vegetables, unroasted nuts, low education and higher ALT levels were predicting factors for MCI with AOR 1.1 (1.01-3.3), 1.2 (1.04-1.43), 0.8 (0.8-0.98), 2.7 (1.9-7.4) and 1.6 (1.1-2.3) respectively. CONCLUSION: MiRNAs expression showed low sensitivity and specificity in detecting MCI; only miRNA 132 might be used. Several modifiable factors seem to reduce the risk of MCI

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) D Allele as a Risk Factor for Increase Serum Interleukin-6 and Interleukin-8 in Psoriasis Patients

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a chronic, recurrent inflammatory skin disease. It is characterised by autoimmune, environmental factors and complex genetic disorder.AIM: To explore the role of IL-6, IL-8, and ACE I/D polymorphism in the pathogenesis of Psoriasis and investigation of the relationship between ACE polymorphism and occurrence of psoriasis.PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, we took 73 psoriasis patients and 47 healthy patients as a control. These two groups subjected to analysis for ACE gene I/D polymorphism by PCR and biochemical methods.RESULTS: The serum levels of ACE, IL-8 and IL-6 were statistically significantly higher in psoriasis patients compared to healthy subjects (P < 0.001). ID and DD polymorphism were more common in psoriasis patients than healthy subjects. Also, D allele was significantly over-represented in patients compared to controls (52.7% Vs 35.1%).CONCLUSION: ACE gene polymorphism might grant susceptibility to develop psoriasis