Redundancy Effect of Vehicular Cloud’s Environment using Location Estimate (ReViSE)

The rapid growth of modern wireless technology increases the invention of new applications using the concept of Internet of Things (IoT). Vehicular Cloud, which is a concept introduced recently to use the vehicles sitting idle for hours as a processing devices, has been a hot topic. This subject became more popular after the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) announcement of mandatory wireless capabilities of each vehicle since 2015. We investigate the idea of benefiting from the unused processing power of vehicles sitting in parking lots for a long period of time (e.g. an airport, or train station). Moreover, researchers propose the concept of running the same job on several vehicles, to prevent the loss of jobs when a vehicle departures suddenly (quitting the assigned job). In this research, we study to reduce the redundancy effect by estimating how long a vehicle will stay in a specific parking lot, using information provided from the driver’s smartphone (e.g. flight ticket schedule, or train schedule). This allows the vehicle to save the assigned job and prepare for job switching. A smartphone app would be installed on the driver’s phone, without breaching the driver’s privacy, to inform the system of the estimated amount of time each car can be used. This information would be encrypted to prevent security attacks. Our results shows an enhancement in the performance compared to redundancy mechanism

Investigating Security Attacks on Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) via an IoT Environmental Monitoring System

To demonstrate our work, we have implemented a secure temperature monitoring system that makes use of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, AES-128 hardware encryption and TelosB sensor nodes. In our design, we consider one of the nodes to be a coordinator node, which plays the role of a central node that establishes network association requests, listens for incoming packets, decrypts the incoming packets and forwards any received packets to the monitoring device. Three other nodes act as end-devices, which play the role of collecting temperature measurements, encrypting the collected data and sending the encrypted packets to the coordinator node. A last one acts as packet sniffer, which plays the role of listening to packets sent over the network and forwarding the capture packets to Wireshark. We study the security used in WSNs and perform hacking scenarios on our environmental monitoring system

The impact of metabolic syndrome on the clinical profile and tumor characteristics of endometrial carcinoma

Background: The objective is to study the influence of different components of metabolic syndrome on clinical behavior and tumor characteristics of endometrial cancer cases and to evaluate if metformin usage affects the stage and grade of endometrial cancer.Methods: 60 women attending the gynecological oncology clinic at El Shatby Maternity University Hospital, after being diagnosed as endometrial carcinoma, were recruited in the study. Serum samples were collected to detect insulin level and lipid profile, and then allocated into two groups according to metabolic syndrome existence. After the recommended surgery, and the routine histopathological diagnosis followed by histopathological chemilumeniscence technique to detect staining intensity, percentage of estrogen receptors ER, and score out of 8 according to Allred score.Results: Endometrial cancer EC patients with metabolic syndrome had a significantly higher age, higher FIGO stages, and higher grade compared to EC without metabolic syndrome (p˂0.05). There was no statically significant difference between both groups in estrogen receptors scoring. HDL was an important factor affecting grade of EC patients, as when HDL decreased by one mg/dl, the grade increased by 0.033% (P=0.030, OR=0.899, OR adjusted=0.826), Insulin level was found to be an important factor affecting stage as when insulin level increased by one Uiu/ml, the stage increased by1.091% (p=<0.001, OR=1.064, OR adjusted=1.091).Conclusions: Hyperinsulinemia was the most important factor affecting aggressiveness of the tumor as regards stage and risk group classification. Metformin failed to show a protective effect against endometrial cancer progression

Presenting as a Mastoid Abscess

Introduction. Congenital cholesteatoma is a pearly white mass that rarely originates from the mastoid process. Case Report. A 21-year-old male patient presented to our department with severe right mastoid pain and postauricular fluctuant swelling for 23 days. There was no preceding history of ear complaints and examination showed a normal right ear drum. Emergency exploration of the mastoid process was done on the same day and revealed localized cholesteatoma limited only to the mastoid cavity. Conclusion. Despite a rarity, the mastoid process should be always put in mind as a site of origin for congenital cholesteatoma

Morphological and Quantitative traits of phylogenetic relationships of some barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) accessions in Egypt

phylogenetic relationships of eleven accessions of (Hordeum vulgare L.) collected from different region of Egypt were assessed. Fifteen quantitative morphological traits were used, the measured data were evaluated statistically using ANOVA, phylogenetic tree were constructed using UPGMA. Also Inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) molecular marker technique were used for DNA fingerprinting and assessing genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships in barley germplasm. The results showed that ISSR primers produced 140 bands their size ranged between 110-1600 bp with 39.8% polymorphism percentage. Polymorphic information content PIC was 0.74 for ISSR. UPGMA dendrogram was divided into two clusters by morphological traits and ISSR analysis. Genetic similarity matrix was examined with Jacard’s coefficient, maximum similarity was found between B8 and B7 (98%) with morphological analysis both from (North Sinai) and between B9 and B10 (96%) with ISSR analysis. Determination of genetic diversity between barley is of major importance for characterization of barley germplasm, breeding programs and conservation purposes. Morphological traits and ISSR analysis are effective tools for detecting genetic variations. The results showed that H. vulgare have high ratio of variation. This study may be considered as reference study for further studies on H. vulgare and may contribute to species concept and breeding programs

Myrtucommulone from Myrtus communis: metabolism, permeability, and systemic exposure in rats

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug intake is associated with a high prevalence of gastrointestinal side effects, and severe cardiovascular adverse reactions challenged the initial enthusiasm in cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors. Recently, it was shown that myrtucommulone, the active ingredient of the Mediterranean shrub Myrtus communis, dually and potently inhibits microsomal prostaglandin E₂ synthase-1 and 5-lipoxygenase, suggesting a substantial anti-inflammatory potential. However, one of the most important prerequisites for the anti-inflammatory effects in vivo is sufficient bioavailability of myrtucommulone. Therefore, the present study was aimed to determine the permeability and metabolic stability in vitro as well as the systemic exposure of myrtucommulone in rats. Permeation studies in the Caco-2 model revealed apparent permeability coefficient values of 35.9 · 10⁻⁶ cm/s at 37 °C in the apical to basolateral direction, indicating a high absorption of myrtucommulone. In a pilot rat study, average plasma levels of 258.67 ng/mL were reached 1 h after oral administration of 4 mg/kg myrtucommulone. We found that myrtucommulone undergoes extensive phase I metabolism in human and rat liver microsomes, yielding hydroxylated and bihydroxylated as well as demethylated metabolites. Physiologically-based pharmacokinetic modeling of myrtucommulone in the rat revealed rapid and extensive distribution of myrtucommulone in target tissues including plasma, skin, muscle, and brain. As the development of selective microsomal prostaglandin E₂ synthase-1 inhibitors represents an interesting alternative strategy to traditional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors for the treatment of chronic inflammation, the present study encourages further detailed pharmacokinetic investigations on myrtucommulone

Reporting guidelines for medicinal plant extracts used in pharmacological and toxicological research: ConPhyMP

Every year, the number of studies that evaluate the pharmacological effects, (clinical) efficacy or the toxicity of medicinal plant extracts is constantly increasing, but the reporting quality remains unsatisfactory. One of the main reasons is that there is a lack of detailed reporting standards for guidance. In response to this long-standing challenge, a core group of nine experts with proficiency in phytochemical analysis, including editors-in-chief of leading specialist journals, and based in different research settings globally, developed the Consensus based reporting guidelines for Phytochemical Characterisation of Medicinal Plant extracts (ConPhyMP) through a multi-staged development process. This incorporated a) a global survey among medicinal plant researchers, b) a core group, who reviewed and developed the guidelines through a Delphi process, and c) an advisory group of 20 experts, including editors of leading journals and scientific societies in medicinal plants research, who provided feedback and sanctioned the final guidelines. The ConPhyMP guidelines comprise two tables with accompanying explanatory figures. The first table provides recommendations for reporting the starting material and its initial processing, and the second table presents recommendations for conducting and reporting the analytical methods for defining the chemical profile based on the type of extracts used in the research. The group hopes that the ConPhyMP will support authors as well as peer reviewers and editors assessing these studies for publication and assist the production of evidence-based guidance of studies utilising medicinal plant extracts

Сравнение показателей соотношений тромбоциты / лимфоциты и нейтрофилы / лимфоциты в качестве предикторов исхода COVID-19

Clinical presentation is an undependable prognostic indicator of COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease 2019). So, a more objective predictor is needed to precisely evaluate and classify the prognosis. Immune dysregulation to lymphocytes, mainly T-lymphocytes, have been noticed between COVID-19 patients. The aim. This study was planned to determine the role of platelet-to-lymphocyte count ratio and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in assessment of COVID-19 prognosis. Methods. 70 hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 were included in this study. All included patients underwent a consistent clinical, radiological and blood examination. Laboratory analysis was made by means of a commercially accessible kit. Blood cells ratios were computed by dividing their absolute counts. Results. Non-significant association was found between laboratory data and COVID-19 clinical severity. A significant association between CT classification and platelet-to-lymphocyte count ratio (higher value in L type; p = 0.001) was detected. Platelet-to-lymphocyte count ratio was significantly higher among intubated cases. However, Non-significant association was found between neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and need of endotracheal intubation. Conclusion. Routine blood values are abnormal in patients with COVID-19. Platelet-to-lymphocyte count ratio ratios could be used as more meaningful biomarker than other values in predicting the prognosis of COVID-19. LMR helpful in COVID-19 severity.Клиническая картина является ненадежным показателем прогноза исхода новой коронавирусной инфекции (НКИ), поэтому для точной оценки и классификации прогноза необходим более объективный прогнозирующий фактор. У пациентов, перенесших НКИ, отмечается нарушение регуляции иммунного ответа со стороны лимфоцитов, в основном Т-лимфоцитов. Целью исследования явилось определение роли показателей соотношений тромбоциты / лимфоциты и нейтрофилы / лимфоциты при оценке прогноза COVID-19. Материалы и методы. В исследование были включены госпитализированные пациенты (n = 70) с подтвержденным COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease 2019). У всех пациентов проводились последовательное клиническое и рентгенологическое обследование и анализ крови. Лабораторные анализы выполнялись с помощью коммерческого набора. Соотношения показателей клеток крови рассчитывались путем деления их абсолютного количества. Результаты. Обнаружена незначимая связь между лабораторными показателями и степенью тяжести COVID-19. Выявлена значимая связь между степенью поражения легких по данным компьютерной томографии и показателем соотношения тромбоциты / лимфоциты (более высокое значение для L-типа; p = 0,001). У интубированных пациентов соотношение показателя тромбоциты / лимфоциты было значимо выше. Однако обнаружена незначимая связь между показателем соотношения нейтрофилы / лимфоциты и необходимостью интубации трахеи. Заключение. У пациентов с COVID-19 наблюдаются отклонения показателей рутинных анализов крови. Показатель соотношения тромбоциты / лимфоциты может служить биомаркером при прогнозировании течения COVID-19, а показатель соотношения лимфоциты / моноциты полезен при прогнозировании степени тяжести COVID-19