Study of the Optical Properties of Zno Nano-structure at Different Ti Content

Zinc oxide (ZnO) and TZO samples having different Ti content were synthesized from doping to composite by Citrate sol-gel method (dissolving and react with citric acid) characterized according to their optical properties. The UV - vis characterization exhibiting good optical properties. The results show there are one absorption edge at pure and low Ti doping but at higher Ti% another edge appeared and slightly shifted around 400 nm. The maximum absorption nearly at 350 nm, and the band gap energy of Ti-doped ZnO increase from 3.16 to 3.20 eV achieving a blue-shift. A red shift from 3.07 to 3.19 eV in the visible range which has a very important application, this improves the optical properties of ZnO and gives an indication how to tune its band gap (increase or decrease by doping or composition)

Radiological evaluation of postoperative complications after non-sleeve gastrectomy bariatric procedures

Background: Obesity is a medical condition, which may lead to serious related diseases, ultimately, resulting in many morbidities and early mortality. Its management involves many approaches of which bariatric surgery is considered nowadays as one of the most effective treatment for it. However, follow up of postoperative complications of this surgery by effective radiological method as computed tomography (CT) is important for assessment of its success.Objective: The aim of this study was to illuminate the radiological signs and features of postoperative complications after non sleeve bariatric procedures and stressing the importance of using multi-slice CT (MSCT), and fluoroscopic study for detection of these complications. Patients and methods: An observational cohort study for 275 patients with suspected complications after non sleeve gastrectomy bariatric procedures, including 195 patients after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), 76 patients after laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) and 4 patients after intragastric balloon placement was done. These patients were subjected to either multi-slice CT and or fluoroscopy. Results: We detected complications in 21 patients out of the 195 patients who underwent RYGB: leakage, abscess, intestinal obstruction, internal hernia, port site ventral hernia, intussusception, fistula between the gastric pouch and the excluded stomach and hiatus hernia. On the other hand, 8 out of 76 patients operated by LAGB developed complications: band slippage, band erosion, pouch dilatation and tubal disconnection. Lastly two out of the 4 patients who placed intra-gastric balloon encountered other complications: gastric outlet obstruction, spontaneous balloon deflation and distal migration with intestinal obstruction.Conclusion: It could be concluded that bariatric procedures may be followed by many complications and accurate diagnosis of these problems by proper radiological procedures as MSCT is imperative

Evaluation of IR Spectral Analysis and Dyeing Parameters for Plasma and /or Nano-Silver Treatments of Polyester and Nylon Fabrics

In our work of this paper, we study the effect of surface modification of polyester and nylon fabrics induced by DC plasma discharge and/ or nano-siliver treatments .DC plasma discharge was employed at first, as a function of plasma device parameters including different time, different current and different hydrostatic pressure using chemically inert working gas: argon or nitrogen. Optimization of the performance of the applied DC plasma discharge with various applied conditions were performed using Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) Spectroscopy spectral analysis, by following up the changes in the peak intensity values of the characteristic functional groups that characterize polyester fabric. Then the dyeing properties of different pretreated fabrics with plasma by the best conditions are subjected to nano-silver treatment by concentration 50 ppm under the effect of different dye concentrations, different dyeing temperature and different dyeing time. Finally, the fastness properties to light and washing for the treated samples were studied. The results obtained showed that both of the dyeing parameters and fastness properties were highly improved by the treatment of fabrics by either individual plasma treatment or combined DC cold plasma and nano-silver treatments

Modelling and Digital Mapping of the Infiltration Characteristics of Major Agricultural Soils

A study was attempted to assess the infiltration characteristics of major soils of Sohag governorate, Egypt. Twelve soil profiles were exposed and morphologically examined to represent the soils of the study area. Horizon-wise soil samples were taken and analyzed for physical and chemical properties. The infiltration field measurements were made for five hours using a double-ring infiltrometer, and the empirical Kostiakov’s infiltration model was applied. The results indicated that the soils were classified as Aridisols, Entisols, and Vertisols. Initial infiltration rates ranged between 0.80 and 6.67 m/day. The highest values (6.47 and 6.67 m/day) were observed in locations No. 11 and 12, where the coarse texture prevailed. The fine texture soils recorded the lowest values (0.80, 0.81, and 0.82 m/day) in locations No. 8, 4, and 7, respectively. Infiltration rate is classified as very rapid, rapid, moderately rapid, and moderate. A correlation was found between steady infiltration rates and sand, hydraulic conductivity, CaCO3 content, and organic carbon in order r=0.95, 0.93, 0.74, and 0.79. However, were found to be negatively correlated with the infiltration rates (r= -0.80, -0.91, -0.95, -0.97, -0.64, -0.91, respectively. Whereas bulk density showed an insignificant relationship (p=0.05) with infiltration rates in the order of r=0.13. GIS environment was used to generate different maps of soil parameters, and finally, the infiltration map was produced for the study area

ZAP-70 Expression in B-Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in Sudanese Patients

Background: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is the most common form of leukemia in adults. The prognostic impact of ZAP-70 in CLL has been reported in several studies. The aim of conducting this study was to investigate the prevalence of ZAP-70 in Sudanese patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia attending Khartoum Oncology Hospital.Materials and Methods: A total of 93 newly diagnosed patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia were enrolled in this study. Lymphadenopathy and organomegaly were assessed in all participants using clinical examination, chest radiography, and abdominal ultrasound. Full blood count was carried out by an automated hematology analyzer. ZAP-70 was evaluated using flowcytometry on peripheral blood samples. ZAP-70 was defined as positive expression at a cutoff level of 20%. Results: There were 63 (67.7%) males and 30 (32.3%) females and the median age of the group was 63 years; 68 patients (73.1%) were presented with anemia and 66(70.9%) had lymphadenopath;y. Majority of our patients 35 (37.6%) were in Rai stage IV. ZAP-70 positivity was detected in 21 patients (22.6%). There was no statistically significant association of ZAP-70 with age, sex, lymphadenopathy, organomegaly, hemoglobin concentration, total white blood cell count, platelet count and Rai staging system (p-value > 0.05). Conclusion: Only 21 patients (22.6%) were ZAP-70 positive. There was no association between ZAP-70 and the study variables. Further studies to evaluate prognostic role of ZAP-70 in Sudanese patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia are recommended

Mycobacterial CYP121 as a target for anti-TB drug discovery

Despite the introduction of the first line treatment regimen forty years ago and the continuous trials since that time to introduce new regimens, tuberculosis (TB) is considered to be the cause of considerable mortality worldwide. Recent research highlighted the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)CYP450s as potential drug targets. This article reviews mycobacterial CYP121 as a target for anti-TB drug discovery

Nano Sized Moringa oleifera an Effective Strategy for Pb(II) ions Removal from Aqueous Solution

Nano-sized  Moringa oleifera is considered an effective   biosorbent  with  high surface area from agricultural waste, low coast and environment-friendly which can be used for removal of  Pb2+ from waste water. Thus our study stem to investigate the ability of natural nano-sized biosorbents for removing  very toxic Pb2+ ions from aqueous solution. The investigated biosorbent (Moringa oleifera) was characterized by FTIR, SEM, TEM, XRD and EDX techniques. Moreover, the influence of pH, temperature, adsorbent dosage, contact time and initial metal ion concentration on adsorption process were investigated. The maximum biosorption capacities (qm) of Pb2+ ions by Moringa oleifera was 37.9 mg/g. The lowest biosorption was observed (61.4%) for Pb2+ ions at pH 2.0 while the highest one (94.36%) at pH 5. The optimum contact time for the adsorption process was found to be at 60 minutes. The amount of Pb2+ ions adsorbed increases with increasing in initial metal ion concentration. Moreover, biosorption capacity (qe) and removal efficiency of Pb2+ ions solutions increase as temperature increases. FT-IR data indicated that the adsorption of metal ions occurs on the surface of Moringa oleifera powder as the main functional groups that are responsible for metal ions binding are involved in the process. Furthermore, Thermodynamic studies confirmed that the biosorption process was endothermic and the positive value of ΔG° is quite common when an ion-exchan­­ge mechanism applies in the biosorption. The Positive value of ΔS◦ suggested an increase in randomness during the biosorption. The kinetics study of sorption indicates that the pseudo second-order model provides better correlation of the sorption data (R2=0.99) than the pseudo first-order model (R2 = 0.91), confirming the chemisorption of metal ions solutions on Moringa oleifera. The Freundlich isotherm has agood fit with the experimental data (R2 close to 1) compared to Langmuir isotherm (R2=0.99). This study shows that Moringa oleifera are available, low cost, effective and environment friendlly biosorbent for the removal of Pb2+ ions from aqueous environment. Keywords: Lead, biosorption, Thermodynamics, kinetics, removal efficiency, Moringa oleifera, isother

Fate of the Universe, Age of the Universe, Dark Matter, and the Decaying Vacuum Energy

It is shown that in the cosmological models based on a vacuum energy decaying as a^{-2}, where a is the scale factor of the universe, the fate of the universe in regard to whether it will collapse in future or expand forever is determined not by the curvature constant k but by an effective curvature constant k_{eff}. It is argued that a closed universe with k=1 may expand forever, in other words simulate the expansion dynamics of a flat or an open universe because of the possibility that k_{eff}=0 or -1, respectively. Two such models, in one of which the vacuum does not interact with matter and in another of which it does, are studied. It is shown that the vacuum equation of state p_{vac}= -\rho_{vac} may be realized in a decaying vacuum cosmology provided the vacuum interacts wuth matter. The optical depths for gravitational lensing as a function of the matter density and other parameters in the models are calculated at a source redshift of 2. The age of the universe is discussed and shown to be compatible with the new Hipparcos lower limit of 11Gyr. The possibility that a time-varying vacuum energy may serve as dark matter is suggested.Comment: AAS LaTex, 29 pages, published in the Astrophysical Journal, 520, 45, 199

IMPACT OF PLANT GROWTH-PROMOTING RHIZOBACTERIA ON COWPEA GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND ROOT DISEASES CONTROLLING UNDER GREENHOUSE CONDITIONS

This study was executed during two successive seasons 2014 and 2015 for evaluating the effect of inoculation with Bradyrhizobium sp, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus circulans, Glomus macrocarpum and Pseudomonas fluorescens on infection percentage, enzymatic activity, growth characteristics, total phenol, peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activity in presence or absence of Fusarium oxysporum in sterilized or non- sterilized soil under greenhouse condition. The obtained results observed that the tested strains showed suppression for F. oxysporum in vitro. Similar results were obtained under greenhouse experiment where the inoculation of soil with biofertilizers strains in presence of P. fluorescens showed the lowest records of infection percentage as well as the higher values of enzymatic activity, growth characteristics, total phenol, peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activity compared to full dose of chemical fertilizers treatment. This study provides evidence for diminishing the adverse evolved from the continues application of chemical fertilizers in high doses and replacing it (at least partially) through biofertilizers and biocontrol application

ASSOCIATION OF OBESITY WITH RS1421085 AND RS9939609 POLYMORPHISMS OF FTO GENE WITH T2DM IN EGYPTIAN FEMALES

Objective: Obesity has been described as a worldwide increasing health problem and risk factor of various disorders including type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). So, our study aim to determine of common variants of fat mass and obesity associated gene polymorphisms rs1421085 and rs 9939609; confers risk of obesity and type 2 diabetic mellitus in Egyptian females.Methods: In this population rs1421085 and rs9939609 polymorphisms of fat mass and obesity (FTO) gene were genotyped in 105 obese patients and 100 healthy controls with ages 14-60 y were collected from Medicine Specialized Hospital, Mansoura University, Egypt during the period between Jul.-Oct. 2016, genotyping of SNPs was performed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assay, fasting blood glucose, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA IR), body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) lipid profile was determined.Results: There was the significantly higher frequency of the AA compared to controls p=0.0001) of genotypers9939609. Also, cases have shown a significantly higher frequency of the C allele, p<0.00001) of rs1421085 genotype polymorphisms increased the risks of obesity. On the other hand, there were no significant correlations between genotypes and obesity-related (anthropometric body composition) parameters. Only the fasting blood glucose was significantly higher in the TA p=0.004).Conclusion: The FTO rs9939609 and rs1421085 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was associated with increased risk of obesity in type 2 diabetic populations on Egyptian females