Investigation of a COVID-19 outbreak in a University Cardio-Thoracic Hospital in Cairo: exploration of the risk to healthcare workers and patients

Background: Corona virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has posed a challenge to health sectors all over the world. The pandemic arrived in Egypt a few weeks after Europe and Asia, with rapidly rising numbers.  Health care workers (HCWs) are front liners sustaining a major risk of acquiring the infection. Aim: In this work, we analyse an outbreak of COVID-19 in a University hospital in Cairo involving HCWs of different categories, patients and patients’ accompanying relatives. Methods: Following the reporting of the first COVID-19 confirmed case; a 55-year-old nurse at the hospital, a total of 645 healthcare workers, patients and patients' accompanying relatives were tested for SARS-CoV-2 by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) assay. Results: Twenty four out of 589 HCWs, 3 out of 42 patient and 4 out of 14 patients' accompanying relatives tested positive for COVID-19. No physicians, pharmacists or technicians were infected. Nursing staff and housekeeping staff were the most at risk of contracting the infection with a risk ratio of 4.99 (95%CI: 1.4-17.6) and 5.08 (95%CI: 1.4-18.4) respectively. Clustering of infected HCWs was observed in paediatrics’ ICU and in the 6th floor of the hospital. Conclusions: Nursing and housekeeping staff sustain a significantly higher risk of COVID-19 infection compared to other staff categories. The nature of their duties and the frequent unprotected contact between members of these categories may play a role in increasing their risk. &nbsp

Profiling peripheral nerve macrophages reveals two macrophage subsets with distinct localization, transcriptome and response to injury

The authors identify two subsets of peripheral nerve macrophages residing in the endoneurium and the epineurium and displaying a distinct transcriptome and response to injury. These cells lack the main microglia identity and have a distinct origin. While CNS microglia have been extensively studied, relatively little is known about macrophages populating the peripheral nervous system. Here we performed ontogenic, transcriptomic and spatial characterization of sciatic nerve macrophages (snMacs). Using multiple fate-mapping systems, we show that snMacs do not derive from the early embryonic precursors colonizing the CNS, but originate primarily from late embryonic precursors and become replaced by bone-marrow-derived macrophages over time. Using single-cell transcriptomics, we identified a tissue-specific core signature of snMacs and two spatially separated snMacs: Relm alpha(+)Mgl1(+) snMacs in the epineurium and Relm alpha(-)Mgl1(-) snMacs in the endoneurium. Globally, snMacs lack most of the core signature genes of microglia, with only the endoneurial subset expressing a restricted number of these genes. In response to nerve injury, the two resident snMac populations respond differently. Moreover, and unlike in the CNS, monocyte-derived macrophages that develop during injury can engraft efficiently in the pool of resident peripheral nervous system macrophages

Modulations Recognition using Deep Neural Network in Wireless Communications

Automatic modulations recognition is one of the most important aspects in cognitive radios (CRs). Unlicensed users or secondary users (SUs) tend to classify the incoming signals to recognize the type of users in the system. Once the available users are detected and classified accurately, the CR can modify his transmission parameters to avoid any interference with the licensed users or primary users (PUs). In this paper, we propose a deep learning technique to detect the modulations schemes used in a number of sampled transmissions. This approach uses a deep neural network that consists of a large number of convolutional filters to extract the distinct features that separate the various modulation classes. The training is performed to improve the overall classification accuracy with a major focus on the misclassified classes. The results demonstrate that our approach outperforms the recently proposed Convolutional, Long Short Term Memory (LSTM), Deep Neural Network (CLDNN) in terms of overall classification accuracy. Moreover, the classification accuracy obtained by the proposed approach is greater than the CLDNN algorithm at the highest signal-to-noise ratio used

Research and Educational Federation Testbed: A New Architecture Design for the Collaborative Research Cloud

We present a new architecture design with implementation to handle the unified testbed federation System, created initially for all the faculties and research centers in Egypt. It is based on self-management testbed with synchronize data and shared interfaces. The architecture includes the functions required to enable, manage and control testbeds over multiple sites for research and educational purposes. The main target of this research is to propose an architecture for the federation of Internet experimentation facilities, which extends across a diverse research community. This paper comes out of Collaborative Research Cloud (CRC) project funded by the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority to create a unified testbed federation system to allow for remote access for existing research equipment in some faculties and research centers in Egypt as a bootstrapping to apply it later to all other research centers in Egypt. The main target of CRC project is to build a system that allocate resources to the authenticated users, keep track of system resources, and be accessed only by the authorized user. This paper presents the new architecture design for the federated testbed which includes the structure design, and implementation techniques of the main modules. The federation architecture is also designed with flexibility for further development and/or modification. The main federation system is divided into manageable processes that are grouped to sub-modules and modules that are built with abstraction

Different effects of constitutive and induced microbiota modulation on microglia in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

It was recently revealed that gut microbiota promote amyloid-beta (Aβ) burden in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the underlying mechanisms when using either germ-free (GF) housing conditions or treatments with antibiotics (ABX) remained unknown. In this study, we show that GF and ABX-treated 5x familial AD (5xFAD) mice developed attenuated hippocampal Aβ pathology and associated neuronal loss, and thereby delayed disease-related memory deficits. While Aβ production remained unaffected in both GF and ABX-treated 5xFAD mice, we noticed in GF 5xFAD mice enhanced microglial Aβ uptake at early stages of the disease compared to ABX-treated 5xFAD mice. Furthermore, RNA-sequencing of hippocampal microglia from SPF, GF and ABX-treated 5xFAD mice revealed distinct microbiota-dependent gene expression profiles associated with phagocytosis and altered microglial activation states. Taken together, we observed that constitutive or induced microbiota modulation in 5xFAD mice differentially controls microglial Aβ clearance mechanisms preventing neurodegeneration and cognitive deficits

Assessment of narrow alveolar ridge expansion by ossiodensification vs. ridge splitting technique for dental implant placement: Clinical and radiographic study

Objectives: Comparing osseodensification vs. ridge splitting techniques in dental implant placement regarding implant stability, insertion torque, bone width and density. Patients and Method: Twenty individuals with a narrow ridge width of 3-6 mm at crestal bone level were included in this study. They were divided into two groups: Group I Osseodensification technique, Group II Ridge splitting technique with bone expanders and sticky bone augmentation. Implant stability, insertion torque, surgical procedure duration, bone width, and density were all evaluated by CBCT. Results: Group (I) had showed higher statistically significant Insertion torque than group (II). While group (II) had showed statistically significant increase in mean ISQ reading after 6 months (p<0.001). Group (II) showed statistically significant higher surgical time than group (I). Group (II) showed a higher increase in bone gain than group (I). Group (I) had showed statistically significant increase in mean bone density postoperatively, after 3 and 6 months (p<0.001*). While group (II) had showed statistically significant increase in mean bone density postoperatively, after 3 and 6 months (p<0.001). Conclusion: Osseodensification technique had been shown to increase ridge width while maintaining primary implant stability and bone density around dental implants without sacrificing bone

Yang’s keyhole plate versus conventional plate for treatment of mandibular sub-condylar fractures: Clinical and radiographic evaluation

Objectives: The use of a keyhole plate vs two miniplates in the treatment of mandibular subcondylar fractures. Materials and methods:Twenty patients were randomized into two equal groups. Ten patients with subcondylar fractures were treated with two Yang's keyhole plates in Group I. Ten patients with subcondylar fractures were treated with two conventional miniplates in Group II. Maximum mouth opening (MMO), Protrusive excursive movement, Lateral excursive movement, and Time for reduction and fixation were all used to evaluate patients clinically vertical height of ramus, and antero-posterior condylar angulation are all measured radiographically. Results: There was a statistically non-significant difference between the study and control groups at all intervals regarding MMO, Protrusive excursive movement, Lateral excursive movement, vertical height of the ramus, antero-posterior condylar angulation, but was significant at time for reduction and fixation. Conclusion: reducing a mandibular condylar fracture using a YK-plate, the results were similar and the operating time was quicker than when utilizing a traditional mini plate fixation

Microbiota-derived acetate enables the metabolic fitness of the brain innate immune system during health and disease.

As tissue macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS), microglia constitute the pivotal immune cells of this organ. Microglial features are strongly dependent on environmental cues such as commensal microbiota. Gut bacteria are known to continuously modulate microglia maturation and function by the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). However, the precise mechanism of this crosstalk is unknown. Here we determined that the immature phenotype of microglia from germ-free (GF) mice is epigenetically imprinted by H3K4me3 and H3K9ac on metabolic genes associated with substantial functional alterations including increased mitochondrial mass and specific respiratory chain dysfunctions. We identified acetate as the essential microbiome-derived SCFA driving microglia maturation and regulating the homeostatic metabolic state, and further showed that it is able to modulate microglial phagocytosis and disease progression during neurodegeneration. These findings indicate that acetate is an essential bacteria-derived molecule driving metabolic pathways and functions of microglia during health and perturbation