Monitoring temporal changes in coastal mangroves to understand the impacts of climate change : Red Sea, Egypt

Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Dr Samira R Mansour for help in reviewing the paper. The present paper is not funded from any agency or organization, all work completed in the Suez Canal University, Ismailia Egypt. Open access funding provided by The Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF) in cooperation with The Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB). Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

GIS-based rockfall hazard zones modeling along the coastal Gulf of Aqaba Region, Egypt

Rockfall is a natural hazard in mountainous areas not to be underestimated. Mass activities differing in rock volume may cause considerable economic damage. Accomplishing qualitative appraisal of high-potential zones for rockfall is a first step towards implementing mitigation strategies. Nowadays, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are the state-of-the-art tool for a fast and economic approach of identifying potential hazard zones rather than using conventional mapping with in-situ field data. Primarily, current research focuses on designing and implementing user-friendly tools delineating potential rockfall hazard zonation (RHZ). The constructed model examines triggering factors like slope, aspect, elevation, lithology, structural lineament, rainfall intensity, and seismic activity focal depth of a mountainous coastal region (Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt). The extracted geomorphological parameters were based on a high-resolution TanDEM-X Digital Elevation Model. The enhanced Landsat ETM + 7 was used to generate the lithological and structural lineament parameters, while the rainfall data were collected from NASA project tool. The zonation model was implemented by means of ESRI’s ArcGIS Pro ModelBuilder. Google Earth Pro orthophotos compared with the generated rockfall hazard zonation map indicate the potential RHZ with high reliability. The achieved results show that 15 % of the study area qualifies as a high rockfall hazard zone. As the RHZs generated by the model depend on the input data and the selected rating scores and weights, obtaining ground truth is essential to get a trustworthy result. Finally, this study recommends employing the built RHZ model on similar terrains worldwide to support decision-makers involving any sustainable development projects

Geo-hazards assessment of the new-found industrial communities: an example from the 10th of Ramadan Industrial Region, Egypt

Abstract The impacts of Geo-hazard events are main obstacles to the use of land in numerous arid and semi-arid provinces of the World. Furthermore, the various activities of industrial communities, such as Egypt's 10th Ramadan Industrial Region (10th RIR), are the most dangerous examples of waste's impact on soil, surface water, and groundwater. The current study uses image processing and GIS tools to identify, delineate, monitor, and assess some of the environmental hazards caused by both human and natural activities in the 10th RIR. The findings revealed that there are rapid changes in land cover, which could be attributed to both anthropogenic and natural activities. Furthermore, the results revealed that waterlogging, salt-affected soils, water pollution, and flash floods were the most serious environmental threats to the 10th RIR. The obtained geo-hazard map showed that the 10th RIR has high flash flood hazards zones that are geospatially distributed in the southern parts of the Wadi Gafra basin and the western parts of 10th of Ramadan City. Furthermore, salinized soil zones are viewed as geospatially restricted zone in the eastern portion of 10th of Ramadan City and/or near the oxidation ponds. Additionally, vast areas of highly contaminated groundwater exist beneath industrial, urban, and oxidation pond zones. The current work provides decision-makers with numerous mitigation measures and recommendations required to minimize the impacts of geo-environmental hazards endangering the 10th RIR

Common surgical procedures in pilonidal sinus disease: A meta-analysis, merged data analysis, and comprehensive study on recurrence

Abstract We systematically searched available databases. We reviewed 6,143 studies published from 1833 to 2017. Reports in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish were considered, as were publications in other languages if definitive treatment and recurrence at specific follow-up times were described in an English abstract. We assessed data in the manner of a meta-analysis of RCTs; further we assessed non-RCTs in the manner of a merged data analysis. In the RCT analysis including 11,730 patients, Limberg & Dufourmentel operations were associated with low recurrence of 0.6% (95%CI 0.3–0.9%) 12 months and 1.8% (95%CI 1.1–2.4%) respectively 24 months postoperatively. Analysing 89,583 patients from RCTs and non-RCTs, the Karydakis & Bascom approaches were associated with recurrence of only 0.2% (95%CI 0.1–0.3%) 12 months and 0.6% (95%CI 0.5–0.8%) 24 months postoperatively. Primary midline closure exhibited long-term recurrence up to 67.9% (95%CI 53.3–82.4%) 240 months post-surgery. For most procedures, only a few RCTs without long term follow up data exist, but substitute data from numerous non-RCTs are available. Recurrence in PSD is highly dependent on surgical procedure and by follow-up time; both must be considered when drawing conclusions regarding the efficacy of a procedure

Worldwide Disparities in Recovery of Cardiac Testing 1 Year Into COVID-19

BACKGROUND The extent to which health care systems have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic to provide necessary cardiac diagnostic services is unknown.OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the pandemic on cardiac testing practices, volumes and types of diagnostic services, and perceived psychological stress to health care providers worldwide.METHODS The International Atomic Energy Agency conducted a worldwide survey assessing alterations from baseline in cardiovascular diagnostic care at the pandemic's onset and 1 year later. Multivariable regression was used to determine factors associated with procedure volume recovery.RESULTS Surveys were submitted from 669 centers in 107 countries. Worldwide reduction in cardiac procedure volumes of 64% from March 2019 to April 2020 recovered by April 2021 in high- and upper middle-income countries (recovery rates of 108% and 99%) but remained depressed in lower middle- and low-income countries (46% and 30% recovery). Although stress testing was used 12% less frequently in 2021 than in 2019, coronary computed tomographic angiography was used 14% more, a trend also seen for other advanced cardiac imaging modalities (positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance; 22%-25% increases). Pandemic-related psychological stress was estimated to have affected nearly 40% of staff, impacting patient care at 78% of sites. In multivariable regression, only lower-income status and physicians' psychological stress were significant in predicting recovery of cardiac testing.CONCLUSIONS Cardiac diagnostic testing has yet to recover to prepandemic levels in lower-income countries. Worldwide, the decrease in standard stress testing is offset by greater use of advanced cardiac imaging modalities. Pandemic-related psychological stress among providers is widespread and associated with poor recovery of cardiac testing. (C) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier on behalf of the American College of Cardiology Foundation