RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UNDERCARBOXYLATED OSTEOCALCIN AND OSTEOPROTEGERIN IN KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the possible association between the serum levels of undercarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC) and osteoprotegerin (OPG) in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods: Twenty patients (10 men and 10 women) diagnosed to have knee OA, and twenty healthy subjects of matching age, sex, and BMI as a control group, were enrolled in this study. Serum levels of ucOC and OPG, were assayed using the corresponding human ELISA kits. Results: Patients with knee OA, showed a statistically significant elevation in serum levels of ucOC (P<0.001), and a statistically significant reduction in that of OPG (P<0.0001), as compared to the control group. Also, there is significant negative correlation (r=-0.554, p= 0.0113) between the serum levels of ucOC and OPG in knee OA patients. Conclusion: there is possible association between the serum levels of ucOC and OPG in patients with knee OA

Fatty acids in fish and beef and their nutritional values: a review.

This review aims to summarize the latest developments and recent knowledge regarding the fatty acids in fish and beef, their profiles and nutritional values. The paper covered the types of different fatty acids such as unsaturated fatty acids (UFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), especially the omega-3 in different fish species. The study also summarized the nutritional values of the fatty acids as compared to those in other animal species. However, the strategies influencing the fatty acid composition of beef were also reflected. The study revealed that many fatty fishes were found as excellent sources of UFA and PUFA, especially the omega-3. On the other hand, beef was proposed major source of saturated fat in a diet. The quality attributes of beef meat such as tenderness, juiciness, and flavor intensity have been shown to be affected by the chemical properties and lipid content. Moreover, increasing dietary omega-3 fatty acid intakes for potential health benefits for protecting against cardiovascular diseases was recommended. This work may assist the researchers and scientists to have a clear picture about what have been achieved earlier and what critical work should be conducted in future

The relationship between water activity and fish spoilage during cold storage : a review

This review paper presents clearer picture about the relationship between spoilage of cold stored fish and water activity. The paper was an attempt of presenting the recent existing information and the latest development in this regard. It covered the relationship between water activity and moisture content, water activity control, spoilage of fish and its different phases and the relationship between the spoilage and water activity. The paper revealed that during the initial period of storage some of the characteristics of the fish product reduce in intensity or are lost and in the later stage bacterial degradation of tissues became evident. The water activity (aw) played an important factor in fish spoilage and the growth of different microorganisms depends on its rate. If the aw reduced to 0.6, the growth of bacteria and moulds can be prevented. The detection of spoilage can be determined by controlling water activity and in the same time can be retarded by reducing the aw of the fish by either drying or freezing to keep the fish in good stage with high nutritional and organoleptic quality. The information presented in this study is very important and can assist in preventing spoilage of fishes and their products particularly when production and processing operations are applied

Tree Water Uptake and Suction Distribution on Tropical Residual Soil Slope

This paper present an exploration of soil matric suction effected by water uptake via tree root at toe of slope on various condition between wet condition (high rainfall) and dry condition (prolonged no rainfall). Matric suction generated by active root tree has substantial influence soil moisture content on residual soil slope. A field monitoring was carried out to collect matric suction data at slope in two conditions; with a tree located at toe of slope and absent of a tree. The installations of instruments particularly at slope with tree at toe were placed within vicinity of the tree with certain depths and distances. The matric suction data from field monitoring was influence by the rainfall events that lead to the instability of soils slope. Analysis of soil matric suction distribution pattern indicates that the highest matric suction value was at shallower depth and proximity of tree. The matric suction profiles obtained from field monitoring are applied as an input data to develop soil matric suction contour. The effect of transpiration driven by active root zone generated matric suction on soil at vicinity of tree may create dry soil to increase soil shear strength

The Study of Polyurethane Modified with (Peel the Garlic , Cooked Tea Leaves and Ash Firewood) as Antibacterial Polymer

In this present paper, experimental results on anti-bacterial efficacy of poly urethane foam  added to various contents of Peel the garlic , Cooked tea leaves and Ash firewood) as anti-bacterial agents, were reported. All the results were obtained after 24 hours of microbial growing  .The ratio of doping with Peel the garlic , Cooked tea leaves and Ash firewood) was  1 to 17 W%. The size of egg shell foils used in this study was (< 400) μm. We compared the initial adhesion and growth of positive and negative gram bacteria . Bacteria brought from microbiology laboratory in Qurna general hospital   after insuring them by tests like Gram stain test ,Catalas test ,Manitol test, Urease test, H2S and Citrate tests  Coagulase test, Indol test,  Mthyl red  and Oxidase tests. The obtained results showed that the gram positive bacteria had a limited inhibition zone. Furthermore the obtained results were explained according to the bacterial cell wall  and it’s liquid contents

Damage index: Assessment of mould growth on building materials using digital image processing technique

There is a growing concern over the adverse health effects of exposure to high concentration of mould spores in the indoor environments. Copious epidemiological studies have shown a direct relationship between the exposure to indoor mould and several adverse health effects. The phenomenon of Sick building syndrome (SBS) and Building Related Illness (BRI) have also been attributed to moulds exposure in the indoor environment. In spite of this growing concern, little have been reported on the development of an objective mould assessment particularly criteria for visual inspection of mould growth on building materials. The main premise of this study is that visual inspection related with mould damaged material can lead to objective ranking of the severity of damaged material, and reduce the subjective nature of mould dam-aged estimation by the use digital image processing (DIP) techniques. A four stage technique procedure, involving image preprocessing, Image segmentation and mould analysis and classification stage for the detection of mould growth is examined in this paper. Results obtained when this proposed algorithm was applied to acquired digital images collected from different infested building materials indicates the appropriateness of this method in enhancing the visual assessment and grading associated with mould growth on building material

Severity of asthma: the role of CD25+,CD30+, NF-κB, and apoptotic markers

Objectives: We studied the role of the regulatory T cells CD4+CD25+ (Treg) and activated CD4+CD30+ cells in the pathogenesis of asthma and their association with apoptosis and NF-κB in patients with mild intermittent asthma (MA), severe persistent asthma (SA), and healthy volunteers (HV). Methods: Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) were extracted from asthmatic patients during exacerbations, and CD4+ cells were separated using Dynal beads. Immunostaining of whole PBL for NF-κB, Bax, and Bcl-2, and immunostaining of CD4+ cells for CD25+ and CD30+ cells were performed using immunocytochemistry. Results: Treg cells were expressed at higher levels in MA than in HV and SA (P.05). Levels of NF-κB, Bcl-2, and Bcl-2/Bax increased, whereas those of Bax decreased, progressively, from MA to SA (P<.05). NF-κB levels correlated directly with the Bcl-2/Bax ratio and with CD4+CD30+ cells in SA and MA, whereas CD4+CD30+ cells correlated inversely with the Bcl-2/Bax ratio. Conclusions: Unregulated Treg cells probably return inflammatory responses to normal values during exacerbations in MA; however, expression of Treg cells was extensively diminished in SA, leading to probable loss of suppressive control over underlying immune reactions. CD4+CD30+ cells were associated with the pathogenesis of asthma but not with severity. NF-κB seems to be the central inflammatory factor in SA, with a remarkable loss of PBL apoptosis, diminished Treg levels, and high CD30+ cell levels that probably induce NF-κB, which in turn blocks the proapoptotic potential of CD30 induction itself

Numerical analysis of heat transfer in cooling of fish packages

The present work aims at finding the optimal finite difference scheme for the solution of problems involving pure heat transfer from the surface of solids suddenly exposed to a cooling environment. Fish samples in the form of infinite slab were considered, and a generalized mathematical model was constructed in dimensionless form. A more representative and accurate set of experimental data is chosen from the experimental work for comparison with the numerical results and evaluation of numerical schemes. In the analysis, a fully explicit finite difference scheme, an implicit finite difference scheme and different combination schemes with varying values of weighting factor are thoroughly studied. The characteristic dimension (half thickness of the slab) is divided into a number of divisions; n = 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 100, respectively. All the possible options of the Fourier number increments are taken one by one to give the best convergence and minimal truncation error. The simplest explicit finite difference scheme with n = 10 and Fourier number increments one sixth of the square of the space division size appears to be highly reliable and accurate for such applications

A review on some factors affecting colour of fresh beef cuts.

This research paper aims to cover the latest information about the colour of fresh beef cuts which is one of the quality attributes, and the factors significantly affecting it. The effects of some treatment techniques used to maintain it, such as dietary antioxidants and packaging under high oxygen concentration as well as modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), also reported. The outcome of this review paper revealed that colour of beef cuts is a critical and important visual quality attribute, highly affecting consumer decisions to purchase the cuts. Selection of correct animal diets and presences of some enzymes in the muscles may positively affect the colour. Increasing both lipid and protein oxidation negatively influence the storage life of the colour. To maintain good beef colour, techniques of using natural antioxidants such as dietary vitamin E, ascorbic acid, carnosine and tea catechins (TC) as well as MAP with different methods were found significantly keeping this quality attribute

MAXIMUM POWER COEFFICIENT CONTROL OF A MICRO GRID-CONNECTED WIND ENERGY SYSTEM

This paper proposed the integration of the wind energy system (WES) with the grid consists of a wind turbine, a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG), a switch-mode rectifier (SMR) and a three-phase voltage source inverter (VSI). Optimal torque control (OTC) method is applied to the converter on the generator side for maximizing the power coefficient under the change in wind speeds. To synchronize the WES with the grid, another controller is applied to keep dc-bus voltage at constant value and to regulate active and reactive power transmitted into a grid. A system of WES connected into a grid is created and tested in the MATLAB/SIMULINK platform version 2019b. Comprehensive simulation results are used to analyze and verify the excellent performance of the suggested two- control strategy on the machine and grid side