A Government-Binding Analysis of VP Sentential Complements in Egyptian Arabic

This paper examines VP sentential complements in Egyptian Arabic- within a Government and Binding framework. Various types of finite and non-finite sentential complements are identified according to the distribution of the complementizer ?inn 'that' and the elements that fill the complement subject position. It is proposed that Case and Binding parameters are set differently in Egyptian Arabic than in English. In Egyptian Arabic, certain subject NPs are potentially Case-marked by two categories. In these instances the lexical Case-marker prevails, thereby establishing the governing category for the NP, and determining the NP's range of interpretation by the Binding principles

Electro-absorption of silicene and bilayer graphene quantum dots

We study numerically the optical properties of low-buckled silicene and AB-stacked bilayer graphene quantum dots subjected to an external electric field, which is normal to their surface. Within the tight-binding model, the optical absorption is calculated for quantum dots, of triangular and hexagonal shapes, with zigzag and armchair edge terminations. We show that in triangular silicene clusters with zigzag edges a rich and widely tunable infrared absorption peak structure originates from transitions involving zero energy states. The edge of absorption in silicene quantum dots undergoes red shift in the external electric field for triangular clusters, whereas blue shift takes place for hexagonal ones. In small clusters of bilayer graphene with zigzag edges the edge of absorption undergoes blue/red shift for triangular/hexagonal geometry. In armchair clusters of silicene blue shift of the absorption edge takes place for both cluster shapes, while red shift is inherent for both shapes of the bilayer graphene quantum dots.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Information Security for Audio Steganography Using a Phase Coding Method

The art and science of steganography are dedicated to concealing the presence of a secret message from a third party, such that only the sender and recipient are aware of its content. Various types of media can be used to conceal these communications. When information is hidden in an audio signal, this is referred to as audio steganography. In this paper, two distinct steganography techniques are combined with a multi-level steganography approach: the initial message is embedded in an audio cover at the initial stage, employing, a modified LSB technique, additionally, the second message is embedded in the output from the first level, using a phase coding approach at the second level. A stego audio file is the second level's output containing two audio covers with secret messages. The message is split in multiple ways, with varying proportions between the two levels, in order to investigate how the message's size affects the two procedures used here as well as the levels. The PSNR, MSE, and histogram metrics are used to compare the original and stego audio, in order to assess the effectiveness of the suggested approach. The optimum outcome is achieved when the message is divided in the ratio (1:1). The worst outcome is achieved when the message is divided in the ratio (3:1)&nbsp

Labeling of Tannic Acid with Technetium-99m for Diagnosis of Stomach Ulcer

Tannic acid is a polyphenolic compound that could be labeled with technetium-99m. To produce about 90% yield of  99mTc-tannic acid in acidic media (pH), the conditions required were 150 μg tin chloride, 30 min reaction time, and 200 μg of the substrate. 99mTc-tannic was stable for 6 h. Oral biodistribution of 99mTc-tannic showed that it concentrated in the stomach ulcer to reach about 50% of the total injected dose at 1 h after orall administration. This concentration of 99mTc-tannic in stomach ulcer may be sufficient to radio-image the presence of ulcer in the stomach

Genome-Wide Sequence Variation among Mycobacterium avium Subspecies paratuberculosis Isolates: A Better Understanding of Johne’s Disease Transmission Dynamics

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (M. ap), the causative agent of Johne’s disease, infects many farmed ruminants, wild-life animals, and recently isolated from humans. To better understand the molecular pathogenesis of these infections, we analyzed the whole-genome sequences of several M. ap and M. avium subspecies avium (M. avium) isolates to gain insights into genomic diversity associated with variable hosts and environments. Using Next-generation sequencing technology, all six M. ap isolates showed a high percentage of similarity (98%) to the reference genome sequence of M. ap K-10 isolated from cattle. However, two M. avium isolates (DT 78 and Env 77) showed significant sequence diversity (only 87 and 40% similarity, respectively) compared to the reference strain M. avium 104, a reflection of the wide environmental niches of this group of mycobacteria. Within the M. ap isolates, genomic rearrangements (insertions/deletions) were not detected, and only unique single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were observed among M. ap isolates. While more of the SNPs (~100) in M. ap genomes were non-synonymous, a total of ~6,000 SNPs were detected among M. avium genomes, most of them were synonymous suggesting a differential selective pressure between M. ap and M. avium isolates. In addition, SNPs-based phylo-genomics had a enough discriminatory power to differentiate between isolates from different hosts but yet suggesting a bovine source of infection to other animals examined in this study. Interestingly, the human isolate (M. ap 4B) was closely related to a M. ap isolate from a dairy facility, suggesting a common source of infection. Overall, the identified phylo-genomes further supported the idea of a common ancestor to both M. ap and M. avium isolates. Genome-wide analysis described here could provide a strong foundation for a population genetic structure that could be useful for the analysis of mycobacterial evolution and for the tracking of Johne’s disease transmission among animals

Role of Cinnamon Supplementation on Glycemic Markers, Lipid Profile and Weight Status in Patients with Type II Diabetes

Type II diabetes has been on the rise for the past few decades and the current management plan of diabetes is challenging to individuals in keeping their blood glucose levels within normal limits. There is a constant search of new ways to tackle these challenges. Cinnamon is suggested to have antihyperglycemic and lipid lowering effect and has been proposed to be utilized in type II diabetes. The aim behind this review is to explore the role of cinnamon in improving the glycemic status, lipid profile, and weight status of patients with type II diabetes. PubMed and ScienceDirect databases have been searched for eligible studies conducted until February 2022, the outcomes measured were glycemic markers as primary outcome and lipid profile and weight status as secondary outcomes. A total of ten trials involving 861 patients were included in the study. Five studies have demonstrated reductions in glycemic markers (ranging between −0.56 and −1.9 mmol/L for fasting blood sugar and between −0.21% and −0.93% for glycated hemoglobin) whereas the remaining four did not show any significant reduction. The most improvements in glycemic markers are seen in patients with poorly controlled diabetes and patients with higher body mass index (BMI) values. The majority of the studies did not record improvement in lipid profile. Changes in weight status are only observed in overweight patient category (BMI between 25 and 30). Overall, there is no coherent evidence to decide about antihyperglycemic, lipid lowering, and weight reducing effects of cinnamon in type II diabetes.

Protective RNA nanovaccines against Mycobacterium avium subspecies hominissuis

The induction of an effective immune response is critical for the success of mRNA-based therapeutics. Here, we developed a nanoadjuvant system compromised of Quil-A and DOTAP (dioleoyl 3 trimethylammonium propane), hence named QTAP, for the efficient delivery of mRNA vaccine constructs into cells. Electron microscopy indicated that the complexation of mRNA with QTAP forms nanoparticles with an average size of 75 nm and which have ~90% encapsulation efficiency. The incorporation of pseudouridine-modified mRNA resulted in higher transfection efficiency and protein translation with low cytotoxicity than unmodified mRNA. When QTAP-mRNA or QTAP alone transfected macrophages, pro-inflammatory pathways (e.g., NLRP3, NF-kb, and MyD88) were upregulated, an indication of macrophage activation. In C57Bl/6 mice, QTAP nanovaccines encoding Ag85B and Hsp70 transcripts (QTAP-85B+H70) were able to elicit robust IgG antibody and IFN- ɣ, TNF-α, IL-2, and IL-17 cytokines responses. Following aerosol challenge with a clinical isolate of M. avium ss. hominissuis (M.ah), a significant reduction of mycobacterial counts was observed in lungs and spleens of only immunized animals at both 4- and 8-weeks post-challenge. As expected, reduced levels of M. ah were associated with diminished histological lesions and robust cell-mediated immunity. Interestingly, polyfunctional T-cells expressing IFN- ɣ, IL-2, and TNF- α were detected at 8 but not 4 weeks post-challenge. Overall, our analysis indicated that QTAP is a highly efficient transfection agent and could improve the immunogenicity of mRNA vaccines against pulmonary M. ah, an infection of significant public health importance, especially to the elderly and to those who are immune compromised