Proučavanje optičkih vlakana sa skokovitim indeksima loma interferometrijskom metodom s dva snopa

The Pluta polarizing interference microscope is used to measure the refractive index profile and material dispersion of step index optical fibers. The refractive index profile of the fiber has been determined experimentally at different wavelengths using two-beam interference technique. Measuring these values at different wavelengths gives useful information about the structural behavior of highly oriented fibers. Also, the theoretical consideration for determining the refractive index is given. Some optical parameters which characterize the optical fiber such as the numerical aperture NA, normalized frequency ν, the acceptance angle θa and the number of modes MN propagating in the fiber with wavelength have been calculated. Also, the constants of the Cauchy’s dispersion formula were determined.Primijenili smo Plutinov polarizacijski interferometrijski mikroskop u mjerenjima profila indeksa loma i disperzije materijala optičkih vlakana sa skokovitim indeksima loma. Mjerili smo profil indeksa vlakna za više valnih duljina primjenom interferentne metode s dva snopa. Ta mjerenja na više valnih duljina dala su važne podatke o strukturnim svojstvima jako usmjerenih vlakana. Opisuju se također osnove teorije za određivanje indeksa loma u vlaknima. Izračunali smo niz optičkih parametara koji su značajke optičkih vlakana: brojnog otvora, normalizirane frekvencije, ν, kuta prihvaćanja, θa, i broja modova, MN , kojima se na nekoj frekvenciji šire valovi. Također smo odredili konstante Cauchyjeve disperzijske formule

Proučavanje optičkih vlakana sa skokovitim indeksima loma interferometrijskom metodom s dva snopa

The Pluta polarizing interference microscope is used to measure the refractive index profile and material dispersion of step index optical fibers. The refractive index profile of the fiber has been determined experimentally at different wavelengths using two-beam interference technique. Measuring these values at different wavelengths gives useful information about the structural behavior of highly oriented fibers. Also, the theoretical consideration for determining the refractive index is given. Some optical parameters which characterize the optical fiber such as the numerical aperture NA, normalized frequency ν, the acceptance angle θa and the number of modes MN propagating in the fiber with wavelength have been calculated. Also, the constants of the Cauchy’s dispersion formula were determined.Primijenili smo Plutinov polarizacijski interferometrijski mikroskop u mjerenjima profila indeksa loma i disperzije materijala optičkih vlakana sa skokovitim indeksima loma. Mjerili smo profil indeksa vlakna za više valnih duljina primjenom interferentne metode s dva snopa. Ta mjerenja na više valnih duljina dala su važne podatke o strukturnim svojstvima jako usmjerenih vlakana. Opisuju se također osnove teorije za određivanje indeksa loma u vlaknima. Izračunali smo niz optičkih parametara koji su značajke optičkih vlakana: brojnog otvora, normalizirane frekvencije, ν, kuta prihvaćanja, θa, i broja modova, MN , kojima se na nekoj frekvenciji šire valovi. Također smo odredili konstante Cauchyjeve disperzijske formule

Oral manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn\u2019s disease and ulcerative colitis, have important extraintestinal manifestations, notably in the oral cavity. These oral manifestations can constitute important clinical clues in the diagnosis and management of IBD, and include changes at the immune and bacterial levels. Aphthous ulcers, pyostomatitis vegetans, cobblestoning and gingivitis are important oral findings frequently observed in IBD patients. Their presentations vary considerably and might be well diagnosed and distinguished from other oral lesions. Infections, drug side effects, deficiencies in some nutrients and many other diseases involved with oral manifestations should also be taken into account. This article discusses the most recent findings on the oral manifestations of IBD with a focus on bacterial modulations and immune changes. It also includes an overview on options for management of the oral lesions of IBD

An investigation into the implementation of Building Information Modeling in the Middle East

Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. There have been many changes in the past few years in the use of BIM and how to implement BIM in the AEC Industry. The purpose of this research is to examine the current status of BIM in the Middle East by exploring the extent of adoption of BIM among stakeholders in the AEC industry in this region. To this end surveys were sent out to 297 and empirical statistics have been applied. The respondents acknowledged they were aware of the benefits of BIM in terms of it being a more effective method for designing and managing construction projects by supporting collaboration, improving the quality of the design by providing the ability to closely visualize designs in 3D and rendered forms and providing a platform which would facilitate the sharing of information relevant for design, construction and maintenance of buildings over their entire lifecycle. However, only 20% of AEC organizations in the Middle East are using BIM or are in the process of adopting BIM, with more professionals beginning to adopt BIM although most professionals within this region still look at BIM just as an advanced AutoCAD tool. Raising awareness related to the benefits of BIM and increasing training opportunities in the Middle East are necessary in order to allow all stakeholders to benefit substantially from BIM

SERUM ZINC LEVELS IN SUDANESE PATIENTS WITH ACUTE LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA

Background: Zinc acts as growth protector for neoplastic cells and its deficiency was contributed to carcinogenesis. However, the determinations of serum zinc in acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) prediction and prognosis requires more investigations. Objective: To evaluate and compare serum zinc in ALL patients and healthy controls and to correlate the serum zinc levels with hematological prognostic markers. Materials and methods: The study was conducted in Khartoum state-Sudan during the period from December 2013 to September 2014, it involved a case group of ALL patients (N=100) matched for age and gender with a control group (N=100). Serum copper and zinc levels and full blood count were investigated. Results: The ALL patients showed lower levels of Zn 0.73 ± 0.18 mg/dl compared to controls 1.01 ± 0.25 mg/dl [P = 0.003]. The serum Zn levels were inversely correlated with total white cell (-0.804, P < 0.0001) and blast counts (-0.935, P < 0.0001). Conclusion: These findings ALL associated with lower serum zinc levels and higher serum copper levels. The determination of serum zinc and copper could be used as ALL prognostic markers. KEYWORDS: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia; Zinc; Carcinogenesis

Occurrence of unusual non-fermentative gram negative bacilli in intensive care units of a university hospital, Egypt

Non-fermentative Gram-negative bacilli (NFGNB) other than Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter species have emerged as nosocomial pathogens. No much data is currently available concerning the occurrence of these types of bacteria in Zagazig University Hospitals (ZUHs). In this study, the occurrence as well as the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of unusual NFGNB obtained from clinical samples collected from intensive care units (ICUs) of ZUHs was assessed. Additionally, the genetic relatedness among the most prevalent unusual NFGNB species was studied.Results: Out of 516 non-repeated clinical sample, 97 NFGNB (18.7%) were isolated. Among them, 17 unusual NFGNB were identified by API 20NE, accounting for 17.5% of NFGNB and 3.3% of all tested samples. Within the unusual NFGNB, Burkholderiacepaciacomplex (Bcc) was the most prevalent species accounting for 94.1% of NFGNB and 3.1% of total samples. This was followed by Burkholderia pseudomallei (B. pseudomallei) which accounted for 5.9% of NFGNB and 0.2% of all obtained specimens. Tigecycline antibiotic was the most effective antibiotic against Bcc isolates (68.8% susceptibility) in disc diffusion method. After random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) testing, the obtained Bcc isolates were found to be genetically diverse. This highlights Bcc as an emerging nosocomial pathogen in ICUs of ZUHs. Continuous monitoring of the occurrence of Bcc in ICU as well as in other hospital wards is warranted.Keywords: ʺUnusualʺ, ʺNon-fermentativeʺ, ʺgram-negative bacilliʺ, ʺintensive care unit

SERUM ZINC LEVELS IN SUDANESE PATIENTS WITH ACUTE LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA

Background: Zinc acts as growth protector for neoplastic cells and its deficiency was contributed to carcinogenesis. However, the determinations of serum zinc in acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) prediction and prognosis requires more investigations. Objective: To evaluate and compare serum zinc in ALL patients and healthy controls and to correlate the serum zinc levels with hematological prognostic markers. Materials and methods: The study was conducted in Khartoum state-Sudan during the period from December 2013 to September 2014, it involved a case group of ALL patients (N=100) matched for age and gender with a control group (N=100). Serum copper and zinc levels and full blood count were investigated. Results: The ALL patients showed lower levels of Zn 0.73 ± 0.18 mg/dl compared to controls 1.01 ± 0.25 mg/dl [P = 0.003]. The serum Zn levels were inversely correlated with total white cell (-0.804, P < 0.0001) and blast counts (-0.935, P < 0.0001). Conclusion: These findings ALL associated with lower serum zinc levels and higher serum copper levels. The determination of serum zinc and copper could be used as ALL prognostic markers. KEYWORDS: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia; Zinc; Carcinogenesis

THE FINGERPRINT OF THE HUMAN GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT MICROBIOTA: A HYPOTHESIS OF MOLECULAR MAPPING

The precise etiology of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) remains unclear and several factors are believed to play a role in its development and progression, including the composition of microbial communities resident in the gastrointestinal tract. Human intestinal microbiota are extensive with at least 15.000-36.000 bacterial species. However, thanks to the new development in sequencing and molecular taxonomic methodologies, our understanding of the microbiota population composition, dynamics, and ecology has greatly increased. Intestinal microbiota play a critical role in the maintenance of the host intestinal barrier homeostasis, while dysbiosis, which involves reduction in the microbiome diversity, can lead to progression of the inflammatory disorders, such as IBD and colorectal cancer. It is hypothesized that fingerprinting characterization of the microbiota community composition is the first step in the study of this complex bacterial ecosystem and a crucial step in the targeted therapy. Molecular fingerprinting of human gastrointestinal tract microbiota could be performed by different techniques including the semi quantitation, 16srRNA, the DNA-microarray as well as other relatively new methods which were developed to study many complex bacterial ecosystem. These techniques provide individual data of the human intestinal microbiota and provide estimation of the relative presence of the microbial target groups within each individual. such personalized information serves as a remarkable and unprecedented opportunity to improve targeted medical treatment and probably develop strategies to prfevent disease

Determination of the Noise Attenuation of Hearing Protectors by Numerical Modeling of the Outer Ear

ABSTRACT: This paper addresses the important practical issues of hearing protectors used in industry to protect the workers from high noise levels. Comments on the difficulties in measuring hearing protectors noise attenuation is discussed. A new work is presented on the numerical modeling of the outer ear canal as a straight tub, considering eardrum acoustic impedance, using finite elements (FEM), for the quantification of noise attenuation is presented. This numerical model can serve as a quick and low cost tool for the optimization of the protector project and the investigation of the effect of different parameters such as protector insertion, effect of leakage, materials, and others on the protector noise attenuation

Estimating the Prevalence of Foodborne Pathogen Campylobacter jejuni in Chicken and Its Control via Sorghum Extracts

Campylobacter jejuni is a Gram-negative bacterium which is considered as the most reported cause of foodborne infection, especially for poultry species. The object of this work is to evaluate the occurrence of C. jejuni in chicken meat as well its control via three types of sorghum extracts (white sorghum (WS), yellow sorghum (YS), and red sorghum (RS)); antibacterial activity, antioxidant power, and cytotoxicity of sorghum extracts were also assessed. It was found that C. jejuni is very abundant in chicken meat, especially breast and thigh. WS extract showed more effectiveness than both yellow and red ones. Lyophilized WS extract offered high total phenolic compounds (TPCs) and total flavonoid compounds (TFCs) of 64.2 ± 0.8 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE/g) and 33.9 ± 0.4 mg catechol equivalent (CE)/g, respectively. Concerning the antibacterial and antioxidant activities, WS showed high and significant antibacterial activity (p < 0.001); hence, WS displayed a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 6.25%, and revealed an inhibition zone of 7.8 ± 0.3 mm; it also showed an IC50 at a concentration of 34.6 μg/mL. In our study, different samples of chicken fillet were collected and inoculated with pathogenic C. jejuni and stored at 4 °C. Inoculated samples were treated with lyophilized WS extract at (2%, 4%, and 6%), the 2% treatment showed a full reduction in C. jejuni on the 10th day, the 4% treatment showed a full reduction in C. jejuni on the 8th day, while the 6% treatment showed a full reduction in C. jejuni on the 6th day. Additionally, 2%, 4%, and 6% WS extracts were applied on un-inoculated grilled chicken fillet, which enhanced its sensory attributes. In sum, WS extract is a promising natural preservative for chicken meat with accepted sensory evaluation results thanks to its high antibacterial and antioxidant potentials