Early Eocene Nummulitids from Gebel Umm Russeies, El Galala El Bahariya, Eastern Desert, Egypt

Seven larger foraminiferal species: Nummulites aff. nemkovi SCHAUB, 1966, Nummulites partschi DE LA HARPE, 1880, Nummulites bassiounii BOUKHARY & BLONDEAU, 1991, Nummulites cf. campesinus SCHAUB, 1966, Assilina aff. major HEIM, 1908, Decrouezina aegyptiaca Boukhary, 1994 and Operculina sp. are described from the Early Eocene Gebel Umm Russeies, Northern Galala, Eastern Desert, Egypt. These taxa are biostratigraphically evaluated and according to the standard shallow benthic zones, the identified biozones span SBZ 10 to SBZ 12 in the shallow benthic zones (SBZ) of SERRA-KIEL et al. (1998) which are assigned to the Late Ypresian

Program of Educational Cells for Education of Syrian Refuges

  الملخص: هدفت الورقة الحالية لعرض ملامح برنامج لتعليم النازحين السوريين بمسمى (برنامج الخلايا التعليمية)، واستعرضت رؤية البرنامج وفلسفته، ومكوناته، وتشكيل اللجان المقترحة لإدارته ومهامها، وأهدافها، ومرتكزات التعليم ومميزاتها، وأسس التعليم في ضوئها، ونواتج التعلم المستهدفة، وأنماط التعليم والتعلم الملائمة لها، ودور المجتمع المحلي في دعم البرنامج، وكيفية تحفيز النازحين للمشاركة، وبعض المعوقات المحتملة. The paper aims to present the features of an Educational program for the Syrian Refuges, which named "the educational cell program". The paper reviewed vision, philosophy and components of the program, the formation of the proposed committees for its administration and functions, its objectives, the foundations and characteristics of education, the educational outcomes, and the role of the community in supporting the program, how to motivate IDPs to participate, and some potential constraints

A syntactic and semantic study of modification in the noun phrase in Classical Arabic.

This is a study of modification in CA nominal phrases at the levels of syntax and semantics. It examines the semantic and syntactic basis on which modification is made, its types and features, and the function of focus by word order change. Modification is considered here as an operation performed on the NPs, based on a structural relationship of two linguistic concepts (Head and Modifier). The study makes use of the ideas and concepts put forward by other linguists dealing with modification as a linguistic concept. Apart from the Introduction, the thesis consists of seven chapters. Chapter I deals with Deictics as represented by demonstratives, the definite article and possessive pronouns. Their function as a modifier, their cataphoric, anaphoric and exophoric references are outlined, marking the identity between two units involved in the context. Other functions like generic, specific and aggregate are discussed. Chapter II discusses modification in the NP within relational sentences where it plays an important role in producing this type of sentence. Attention is drawn to the main divisions of relational sentences such as ascriptive, equative, possessive and circumstantial which are the virtual representation of the relationship between attribuand and attributive elements or rather subject and predicate. Again the sentences are analyzed along the axes in which they are predominantly marked by modification as to whether it is obligatory or optional. Chapter III consists of a discussion of the relationships holding between the relative clauses as a subordinate clause and the preceding noun as a subordinating element so that they have different syntactic status. Various semantic and syntactic criteria are given to distinguish their modificatory function. To this end restrictive and non-restrietive types are discussed, and also semantic sub-types where the relative clauses have different contextual functions. Also characteristics distinguishing restrictive and non-restrictive representations are pointed out on the basis of grammatical status and semantic choices. Other features are portrayed; specific and non-specific, attributive and non-attributive and causative relations. Syntactic features are dealt with regarding the forms and the choices which are related to semantic options. In Chapter IV, quantifiers are discussed on three fundamental axes: word class, semantic function and syntactic function. This discussion is devoted to establishing the grounds on which the term quantifier is distinguished from the counterpart numeral. The distinctive features set up in this chapter delineate the structural function of the quantifiers as a class of quantifying modifiers in nominal phrases. This involves four main features; premodifier, postmodifier, variable and invariable. Word order change is a mechanism operated for focus considerations on the transposed element. These structural characteristics are associable with semantic types as in this chapter. Chapter V treats various word classes which function within one syntactic area, the semantic implications are examined so as to show sub-semantic functions of these classes which include centre adjectives, common nouns, relative adjectives and participial adjectives which denote aspectually stative, dynamic, physical, habitual, inceptive etc. The discussion in Chapter VI is centred around the appositive structure where the modificatory relationship is between two equal elements in such a way that the omission of one of them does not affect the grammaticality of the structure. The effect lies only in the structural and semantic representations which will be affected by reducing the members of the structure by one element which represents a structural function and a piece of information. In this chapter, we deal with three types of structures appositives, genitives and fractions since they are structurally and functionally similar. That is to say, they function as determinative with two elements. In Chapter VII, a full treatment is given of the system of cardinals and ordinals. The cardinals can function structurally as premodifiers or as postmodifiers. Structurally, the ordinals are prefixed by the article al and function as postmodifier, except that when the ordinals from (3-10) occur without al- preceding the head noun, they function as premodifiers. For this purpose, tables and structural analysis as well as structural types of relationships are illustrated

Transvenous Lead Extraction of Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices Indications, Complications and Outcome: An Egyptian Two Years' Experience

BACKGROUND: The growing needs to extract cardiovascular implantable electronic devices warrants the need to improve the outcome and prevent complications. AIM: This study aims to analyse the findings and identify factors associated with complications of Percutaneous Transvenous Lead Extraction in the Critical Care Department, Cairo University. METHODS: We studied 52 candidates for Percutaneous Transvenous Lead extraction of a Permanent Pace Maker (PPM) regarding extraction indications, comorbidities, device type, complications and outcome. Extraction was first attempted by simple manual traction using regular non-locking stylet and if failed, locking stylet, and evolution dilator sheath were used. RESULTS: We extracted 110 leads with a mean lead age of 4.67 ± 3.6 years. The most common extraction indication was an infection (71.15%). Indications correlated significantly with comorbidities (p = 0.024), the most common being Diabetes Mellitus (40.38%). Simple traction was successful in 31 % of the leads, while 69% were extracted using locking stylet and evolution dilator sheath. The method of lead extraction correlated significantly with lead age (P ≤ 0.001). Complications were significantly higher with extraction by evolution dilator sheaths than by simple traction (P = 0.003) and in older patients (P = 0.008). Complications also correlated significantly with extractions indications (p = 0.012), type of PPM (P = 0.037), number of extracted leads (P = 0.041), and lead age (p= 0.011). CONCLUSION: Among the studied variables, extraction indications particularly infection, was the only preventable factor significantly associated with complications. While focusing on preventable factors, improving, implantation and extraction techniques should also be addressed

Superabsorbent composites based on rice husk for agricultural applications: Swelling behavior, biodegradability in soil and drought alleviation

Abstract Low-cost composites with high water absorption capacity were prepared by free radical copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA), acrylamide (AM) and gelatin in aqueous media using N,N' methylene bis-acrylamide (MBA) as crosslinker, potassium persulfate (KPS) as initiator and rice husk (RH) as a filler. The composites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effects of different parameters such as the alkaline treatment on the rice husk, the media pH and salinity and the composition of the composites on their water absorption capacity were investigated. The water retention and biodegradation tests in soil were also carried out. The optimized composite containing treated RH showed a maximum water uptake value of 825 g∙g−1 in distilled water and good resistance in saline solutions and in the pH range of 6–10. Positive effects on the soil water retention were obtained after 30 days samples of soil containing 1 wt% of superabsorbent composites still contained about 7% of the initial absorbed water. Growth attributes, photosynthetic pigments and nodulation traits of droughted peanut were improved by 60 kg∙ha−1 dosage of SAC. On the basis of the good results of water retention and controlled biodegradability in the soil, the developed composites have the potential to be used in agriculture for better water management, with relevant environmental benefits

Toxicity Assessment of Buprofezin, Lufenuron, and Triflumuron to the Earthworm Aporrectodea caliginosa

Earthworms are particularly important soil macroinvertebrates and are often used in assessing the general impact of pesticide pollution in soil. The present study was conducted in order to investigate the toxicity of three insect growth regulators (IGRs) buprofezin, lufenuron, and triflumuron, at different application rates and exposure times toward mature earthworms Aporrectodea caliginosa. The effects of these pesticides on the growth rate in relation to the activities of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) as biochemical indicators were evaluated to elucidate the mechanisms of action. Toxicity studies indicated that lufenuron was the most harmful pesticide to mature earthworms, followed in descending order by buprofezin and triflumuron. A reduction in growth rate in all pesticide-treated worms was dose-dependent over the 28-day exposure period, which was accompanied by a decrease in AChE and GST activities. Relationships between growth rate, AChE, and GST provided strong evidence for the involvement of pesticidal contamination in the biochemical changes in earthworms, which can be used as a bioindicator of soil contamination by pesticides

The impact of homocysteine level on methotrexate induced neurotoxicity in children treated with St. Jude total XV acute lymphoblastic leukemia protocol

Purpose: Methotrexate (MTX) is an antimetabolite that is routinely used in the treatment of hematological malignancies and during its metabolism leads to hyperhomocysteinemia that is associated with neurotoxicity. The purpose of this prospective study is to determine whether the increase in plasma homocysteine (Hcy) concentration is related to MTX-induced neurotoxicity.Methods: We investigated these changes for both newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and lymphoblastic lymphoma (LL) pediatric patients treated at the National Cancer Institute, Egypt. They were treated according to St. Jude total XV protocol to receive 2.5 or 5 g/m2 MTX as a phase of consolidation and were selected between October 2009 and January 2010.Results: Twenty-nine patients were analyzed, M/F: 20/9, the mean age was 8 +/- 4.4 years. Hcy level above 15 µmol/L was considered positive. Hcy levels mean at diagnosis, pre 1st HD MTX, post 1st HDMTX, Pre 2nd HDMTX, Post 2nd HDMTX were 12.10 µmol/L ± 4.17, 6.90 µmol/L ± 3.02, 17.59 µmol/L ± 6.00, 7.21 µmol/L ± 2.73 and 13.74 µmol/L ± 4.75 respectively. Seventeen patients (58%) had features suggestive of neurotoxicity. Positive Hcy levels were associated with neurotoxicity p = 0.05, higher HDMTX 5 g/m2 P= 0.023. A highly significant relation was found between initial Hcy level at diagnosis and final Hcy level p = 0.001; the same as between Hcy level Post 1st HDMTX and that Post 2nd HDMTX with p = 0.006.Conclusion: plasma Hcy concentration was significantly elevated after HDMTX administration and this elevation is associated with the observed neurotoxicity. Whether the elevation in Hcy concentration can prove an informative biomarker for neurotoxicity requires additional testing with other MTX regimens

Nanospider Technology for the Production of Nylon-6 Nanofibers for Biomedical Applications

Nylon-6 nanofiber mat incorporated with 5,5-dimethyl hydantoin (DMH) as an antimicrobial drug was electrospun from formic acid. The morphology of the nanofiber mat using scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed that the obtained fiber had an average diameter of around 15–328 nm. The nanofiber was characterized by FTIR spectra, TGA, and DSC. The nanofiber containing drug showed initial fast release. It released about 55% of its drug content within the first two hours. Moreover, the antimicrobial activity of the electrospun nylon-6 nanofiber containing drug was examined against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Aspergillus niger, and Aspergillus flavus. The nylon-6 nanofiber exhibited high inhibitory effects against the microbes. The results clearly indicate that the antimicrobial activity of the electrospun nylon-6 nanofiber containing drug varies with the species of the organisms used. Thus, the study ascertains the value of the use of electrospun nanofiber, which could be of considerable interest to the development of new antimicrobial materials. The microbes, examined by SEM, were totally deformed and exhibited severe destruction. Abnormal cell division was observed at high frequencies among cells that tried to divide in the presence of the nanofiber. Many cells were enlarged, elongated, empty ghosts, or fragmented, consistent with the extremely low viability

Value Chain Analysis of the Egyptian Aquaculture Sector

Paper and presentation.Egypt’s aquaculture production (921,585 tonnes in 2010) is by far the largest of any African country and places it 11th in terms of global production. Despite the fact that the aquaculture sector in Egypt is now a mature one having developed over a period of more than 30 years, the economic performance of the sector is not well understood or documented. To help improve this understanding WorldFish Centre conducted a value-chain study for the sector in September 2011. The study completed individual interviews and focus group discussions with fish farmers, traders/wholesalers, and retailers in four of the most important governorates in terms of aquaculture production: Kafr el Sheikh, Behera, Sharkia, and Fayoum. The study mapped the value-chain, and generated a wide range of quantitative data for each link in the value-chain on operational and financial performance (e.g. gross output values, variable and fixed costs, operational and net profit margins, value-added generation), and on employment creation (by gender, age and full-time/part-time). Qualitative information on the critical factors impacting on the performance of each sub-sector of the value-chain was also collected, and this enabled recommendations to be made about necessary actions both by those within the value-chain and by those outside of it (i.e. government), to improve value-chain performance. The study showed how value-chain analysis can be a useful tool to describe sector performance and to make evidence-based recommendations for improvements