A Review of Some Agricultural Wastes in Nigeria for Sustainability in the Production of Structural Concrete

A review of agricultural wastes available in Nigeria that is suitable for use in concrete industry, in order to attain sustainability in structural concrete production and practice, is presented in this paper. The wastes reviewed are: Cassava Peel Ash (CPA), Empty Palm Oil Fruit Brunch Ash (EPO-FBA), Rice Husk Ash (RHA), and Saw Dust Ash (SDA). Others were Palm Kernel Shell Ash (PKSA), Groundnut Husk Ash (GHA), Corncob Ash (CA), and Egg Shell Powder (ESP). The study revealed that some agricultural wastes that have potential for use as supplementary cementing material (SCM) for cement in the production of structural concrete abounds in Nigeria. It was also revealed that the necessity of standardization of procedures for testing of such wastes so that structural performance index can be compared. In addition, there is also the need for the development of classification methods similar to that of fly ash, so that their use can be enhanced. Using these waste materials in concrete will lead to sustainability in concrete production, reduction in the use of natural non-renewable resources, innovativeness in the use of wastes, and the development of small-scale industries

Effect of Methanol extract of Musca domestica larva on some Enzymes and Haematological parameters in Trypanosoma brucei brucei - infected rats

This study investigated the effect of methanol extract of Musca domestica (400mg/kg body weight) on some biomarker enzymes and haematological parameters in Trypanosoma brucei  brucei - infected rats. Twenty albino rats were intraperitoneally infected with Trypanosoma brucei brucei and were grouped into five (5) groups of four (4) rats each. Group1 was set up as infected not treated (0.2ml normal saline/kg body weight), group 2 was treated with diaminazene aceturate (standard drug), group 3 as prophylactic treated (treatment for 72 hours before inoculation of parasite), group 4 as early treatment with the extract (treatment commenced after the sight of parasite) and group 5 as the control (uninfected untreated) group. Results shows significant (p<0.05) decrease in liver AST and ALT activities with concomitant increase in serum activities of the infected untreated rats when compared with the early treated, prophylactic treated, standard treated and normal control. Serum ALP activity of the infected not treated group was significantly (p<0.05) higher when compared to the control group and other experimental groups. No significant (p>0.05) difference in the liver ALP activities of the extract treated infected groups with standard drug treated group However, serum and liver GGT activities of the uninfected untreated (control) was significantly lower (p<0.05) than all the other experimental groups. Haematological studies shows significant decrease (p<0.05) in packed cell volume (PCV) , haemoglobin concentration (Hb) and red blood cell count (RBC) of infected not treated when compared to infected prophylactic treated and infected early treated. There was likewise significant increase in white blood cell count (WBC) of infected not treated compared to infected prophylactic treated and infected early treated. Findings from this study showed that methanol extract of Musca domestica larva has trypanocidal properties thereby ameliorating the T. brucei induced biochemical changes in rats.Key words: Musca domestica larva, Haematology, Trypanosomiasis, Enzymes, Methanol, Extract

THE MOST ECONOMICAL CONFIGURATION OF PUSHED BARGE CONVOY SYSTEM THROUGH CAIRO-ASWAN WATERWAY

In the recent years, as a result of the economical situation in Egypt, fuel price is rapidly increased. Consequently, the cost of cargo transport is also increased. Therefore, the aim of the present paper is to check the feasibility of a pushed barge convoy system working through Cairo-Aswan waterway as an alternative mean of cargo transport in order to encourage the transport companies to transport their cargoes through river Nile which is considered the cheapest transport mode in Egypt. In this paper, the current situation of the river transport and the characteristics of the Egyptian inland waterways network are reviewed and investigated to identify the navigation problems and constraints which affect the navigation through Cairo-Aswan waterway. The basic concept of ship controllability is reviewed to clarify the maneuver characteristics of a pushed barge convoy system in shallow waterways. Also, different configurations for pushed barge convoy system are proposed and the required power of each configuration is calculated using a specially developed computer program. A technical and operational measure called transport efficiency is used as a criterion to get the most economical configuration of the desired pushed barge convoy system. Finally, a comparison between the pushed barge convoy system and the existing river transport means in Egypt is made to clarify the feasibility of using pushed barge convoy system through Cairo-Aswan waterway

A prospective, randomised comparison of continuous paravertebral block and continuous intercostal nerve block for post-thoracotomy pain

Background: This study aimed to compare paravertebral block and continuous intercostal nerve block after thoracotomy.Methods: Forty-six adult patients undergoing elective posterolateral thoracotomy were randomised to receive either a continuous intercostal nerve blockade or a paravertebral block. Opioid consumption and postoperative pain were assessed for 48 hours .Pulmonary function was assessed by forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) recorded at 4 hours intervals.Results: With respect to the objective visual assessment (VAS), both techniques were effective for post thoracotomy pain. The average VAS score at rest was 29±10mm for paravertebral block and 31.5±11mm for continuous intercostal nerve block. The average VAS score on coughing was 36±14mm for the first one and 4 ±14mm for the second group. Pain at rest was similar in both groups. Pain scores on coughing were lower in paravertebral block group at 42 and 48 hours. Post-thoracotomy function was better preserved with paravertebral block. No difference was found among the two groups for side effects related to technique, major morbidity or duration of hospitalisation.Conclusion: We found that continuous intercostal nerve block and paravertebral block were effective and safe methods for post-thoracotomy pain.

New cryptosporidium genotypes in HIV-infected persons.

Using DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis, we identified four distinct Cryptosporidium genotypes in HIV-infected patients: genotype 1 (human), genotype 2 (bovine) Cryptosporidium parvum, a genotype identical to C. felis, and one identical to a Cryptosporidium sp. isolate from a dog. This is the first identification of human infection with the latter two genotypes

The Mu3e Data Acquisition

The Mu3e experiment aims to find or exclude the lepton flavor violating decay μ+→e+e−e+ with a sensitivity of one in 10 16 muon decays. The first phase of the experiment is currently under construction at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI, Switzerland), where beams with up to 10 8 muons per second are available. The detector will consist of an ultra-thin pixel tracker made from High-Voltage Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (HV-MAPS) , complemented by scintillating tiles and fibers for precise timing measurements. The experiment produces about 100Gbit/s of zero-suppressed data, which are transported to a filter farm using a network of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and fast optical links. On the filter farm, tracks and three-particle vertices are reconstructed using highly parallel algorithms running on graphics processing units, leading to a reduction of the data to 100 Mbyte/s for mass storage and offline analysis. This article introduces the system design and hardware implementation of the Mu3e data acquisition and filter farm

Expression of CD82 in Human Trophoblast and Its Role in Trophoblast Invasion

BACKGROUND: Well-controlled trophoblast invasion at maternal-fetal interface is a critical event for the normal development of placenta. CD82 is a member of transmembrane 4 superfamily, which showed important role in inhibiting tumor cell invasion and migration. We surmised that CD82 are participates in trophoblast differentiation during placenta development. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: CD82 was found to be strongly expressed in human first trimester placental villous and extravillous trophoblast cells as well as in trophoblast cell lines. To investigate whether CD82 plays a role in trophoblast invasion and migration, we further utilized human villous explants culture model on matrigel and invasion/migration assay of trophoblast cell line HTR8/SVneo. CD82 siRNA significantly promoted outgrowth of villous explants in vitro (P<0.01), as well as invasion and migration of HTR8/SVneo cells (P<0.05), whereas the trophoblast proliferation was not affected. The enhanced effect of CD82 siRNA on invasion and migration of trophoblast cells was found associated with increased gelatinolytic activities of matrix metalloproteinase MMP9 while over-expression of CD82 markedly decreased trphoblast cell invasion and migration as well as MMP9 activities. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings suggest that CD82 is an important negative regulator at maternal-fetal interface during early pregnancy, inhibiting human trophoblast invasion and migration

Awareness of cognitive decline trajectories in asymptomatic individuals at risk for AD

Background: Lack of awareness of cognitive decline (ACD) is common in late-stage Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recent studies showed that ACD can also be reduced in the early stages. Methods: We described different trends of evolution of ACD over 3 years in a cohort of memory-complainers and their association to amyloid burden and brain metabolism. We studied the impact of ACD at baseline on cognitive scores’ evolution and the association between longitudinal changes in ACD and in cognitive score. Results: 76.8% of subjects constantly had an accurate ACD (reference class). 18.95% showed a steadily heightened ACD and were comparable to those with accurate ACD in terms of demographic characteristics and AD biomarkers. 4.25% constantly showed low ACD, had significantly higher amyloid burden than the reference class, and were mostly men. We found no overall effect of baseline ACD on cognitive scores’ evolution and no association between longitudinal changes in ACD and in cognitive scores. Conclusions: ACD begins to decrease during the preclinical phase in a group of individuals, who are of great interest and need to be further characterized. Trial registration: The present study was conducted as part of the INSIGHT-PreAD study. The identification number of INSIGHT-PreAD study (ID-RCB) is 2012-A01731-42