Adenosine A2A Receptor Blockade Prevents Rotenone-Induced Motor Impairment in a Rat Model of Parkinsonism

Pharmacological studies implicate the blockade of adenosine receptorsas an effective strategy for reducing Parkinson’s disease (PD) symptoms. The objective of this study is to elucidate the possible protective effects of ZM241385 and 8-cyclopentyl-1, 3-dipropylxanthine, two selective A2A and A1 receptor antagonists, on a rotenone rat model of PD. Rats were split into four groups: vehicle control (1 ml/kg/48 h), rotenone (1.5 mg/kg/48 h, s.c.), ZM241385 (3.3 mg/kg/day, i.p) and 8-cyclopentyl-1, 3-dipropylxanthine (5 mg/kg/day, i.p). After that, animals were subjected to behavioral (stride length and grid walking) and biochemical (measuring concentration of dopamine levels using high performance liquid chromatography, HPLC). In the rotenone group, rats displayed a reduced motor activity and disturbed movement coordination in the behavioral tests and a decreased dopamine concentration as foundby HPLC. The effect of rotenone was partially prevented in the ZM241385 group, but not with 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine administration. The administration of ZM241385 improved motor function and movement coordination (partial increase of stride length and partial decrease in the number of foot slips) and an increase in dopamine concentration in the rotenone-injected rats. However, the 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine and rotenone groups were not significantly different. These results indicate that selective A2A receptor blockade by ZM241385, but not A1 receptor blockadeby 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine, may treat PD motor symptoms. This reinforces the potential use of A2A receptor antagonists as a treatment strategy for PD patients

Recent Trends in Electrospinning of Polymer Nanofibers and their Applications as Templates for Metal Oxide Nanofibers Preparation

Scientists have been paying a special attention for the synthesis of one-dimensional (1D) morphologies to attain new phenomena and novel physicochemical characteristics of materials. Furthermore, 1D nanostructures exhibit long axial ratio, which has a great influence on the physical and chemical properties of materials. It is worth mentioning that electrospinning is one of the most common and efficient techniques used for the preparation of 1D polymer composite nanofibers. Using electrospinning, nanofibers were fabricated by electrostatic stretching of polymer viscous solution by applying a high voltage. This chapter discusses the synthesis of metal oxide nanofibers such as tin oxide (SnO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), titanium oxide (TiO2), and nickel oxide (NiO) using electrospinning process of polymer solution containing metal precursors and followed by annealing procedures to eliminate the polymer galleries, which were chosen as a sacrificial template for the preparation of metal oxide nanofibers. SEM, XRD, and XPS are equipped to characterize the electrospun metal oxide nanofibers and the results settle the formation of homogeneously distributed metal oxide nanofibers

Pilot Experimental Tests on Punching Shear Strength of Flat Plates Reinforced with Stirrups Punching Shear Reinforcement

Flat plates are favor structure systems usually used in parking garages and high-rise buildings due to its simplicity for construction. However, flat plates have some inherent structural problems, due to high shear stress surrounding the supporting columns which cause a catastrophic brittle type of failure called "Punching Shear Failure". Several solutions are used to avoid punching shear failure, including the use of drop panels or punching shear reinforcement. The latter is being a more sophisticated solution from the structural ductility, the architectural and the economical point of view. This study aims at investigating the effect of stirrups as shear reinforcement in enhancing the punching strength of interior slab-column connections. A total of four full-scale interior slab-column connections were tested up to failure. All slabs had a side length of 1700 mm and 160 mm thickness with 200 mm x 200 mm square column. The test parameters were the presence of shear reinforcement and stirrups concentration around the supporting column. The test results showed that the distribution of stirrups over the critical punching shear zone was an efficient solution to enhance not only the punching shear capacity but also the ductility of the connection. Furthermore, the concentrating of stirrups shear reinforcement in the vicinity of the column for the tested slabs increases the punching shear capacity by 13 % compared to the uniform distribution at same amount of shear reinforcement

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTRUSIVE COGNITIONS AND DEFENSE MECHANISMS IN HEALTHY AND CLINICAL POPULATIONS

Purpose: to examine the relationship between defense mechanisms and intrusive cognitions in normal healthy individuals and psychiatric patients. Methodology: The study sample consists of a healthy group (n=60; 30 males & 30 females), whereas the clinical group (n=66; 34 males, 32 females) includes patients with major depressive disorder (12 patients, 5 males, 7 females), schizophrenia (31 patients; 14 males, 17 females), obsessive-compulsive disorder (23 patients; 15 males, 8 females). We used several scales to measure the following variables: intrusive cognitions, intrusive memories, and defense mechanisms. Finding: The results show that there is a positive correlation between defense mechanisms and intrusive cognitions in healthy and clinical groups. Intrusive cognitions were more common in the patient than in a healthy group. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between males and females in measures of intrusive thoughts and memories in both groups. Implications: These findings have implications for behavioral treatment. Treatments used for managing posttraumatic stress disorder can also be used for the treatment of a major depressive disorder, OCD, and schizophrenia. Originality: This investigation the relationship between intrusive cognitions and defense mechanisms in healthy and clinical populations and its implication on the cue exposure therapy that can be the treatment of intrusive cognitions and thoughts in with major depressive disorder, OCD, and schizophrenia

Pilot Experimental Tests on Punching Shear Strength of Flat Plates Reinforced with Stirrups Punching Shear Reinforcement

Flat plates are favor structure systems usually used in parking garages and high-rise buildings due to its simplicity for construction. However, flat plates have some inherent structural problems, due to high shear stress surrounding the supporting columns which cause a catastrophic brittle type of failure called "Punching Shear Failure". Several solutions are used to avoid punching shear failure, including the use of drop panels or punching shear reinforcement. The latter is being a more sophisticated solution from the structural ductility, the architectural and the economical point of view. This study aims at investigating the effect of stirrups as shear reinforcement in enhancing the punching strength of interior slab-column connections. A total of four full-scale interior slab-column connections were tested up to failure. All slabs had a side length of 1700 mm and 160 mm thickness with 200 mm x 200 mm square column. The test parameters were the presence of shear reinforcement and stirrups concentration around the supporting column. The test results showed that the distribution of stirrups over the critical punching shear zone was an efficient solution to enhance not only the punching shear capacity but also the ductility of the connection. Furthermore, the concentrating of stirrups shear reinforcement in the vicinity of the column for the tested slabs increases the punching shear capacity by 13 % compared to the uniform distribution at same amount of shear reinforcement

Estimating the Population Standard Deviation with Confidence Interval: A Simulation Study under Skewed and Symmetric Conditions

This paper investigates the performance of ten methods for constructing a confidence interval estimator for the population standard deviation by a simulation study. Since a theoretical comparison among the interval estimators is not possible, a simulation study has been conducted to compare the performance of the selected interval estimators. Data were randomly generated from several distributions with a range of sample sizes. Various evaluation criterions are considered for performance comparison. Two health related data have been analyzed to illustrate the application of the proposed confidence intervals. Based on simulation results, some intervals with the best performance have been recommended for practitioners

Prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria among low risk pregnant women attending antenatal care clinic in tertiary hospital: a cross sectional study

Background: The current study aims to identify the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria among low-risk pregnant women attending the antenatal care clinic of tertiary University Hospital and to detect the most common causative organisms.Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study conducted at a tertiary University Hospital in the period between 1st November 2017 and 31st June 2018. All eligible women attending the outpatient clinic for antenatal care were approached to participate in the study. The recruited women were assessed through detailed history and clinical examination. Urine samples were taken for culture and sensitivity within two hours, in order to avoid bacterial multiplication. Urine culture and antibiotic sensitivity test were done.Results: The study included 250 women. The mean age of included women was 25.89±5.49 (18-42 years). The urine analysis results showed that 32% of cases had pus cells >5 per high power field and 10.4% of cases have protein (+). Casts were present in 0.8% of cases. RBCs >5 per high power field were present in 4.8% of cases. ASB is defined as urine culture with more than 100,000 colony forming unit; this was present in 30 cases. This indicates that the prevalence of ASB among studied cases was 12%. Enterococcus was the most prevalent organism as it was present in 36.7% among positive cases. Antibiotic sensitivity test was performed to the growing organisms indicated that teicoplanin, imipenem, cefoxitin, cefotaxime + clavulanic acid, Entrapenem, and trimethoprim + sulfamethoxazole are the most effective antibiotics against the most common organisms causing asymptomatic bacteriuria.Conclusions: The prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria among low-risk pregnant women is about 12%. Urine culture for asymptomatic bacteriuria should be the standard of care for evaluation of pregnant patient during antenatal care as regard presence or absence of UTI

A Comparison of Some Robust Bicariate Control Charts for Individual Observations

This paper proposed and considered some bivariate control charts to monitor individual observations from a statistical process control. Usual control charts which use mean and variance-covariance estimators are sensitive to outliers. We consider the following robust alternatives to the classical Hoteling’s T2: T2MedMAD, T2MCD, T2MVE A simulation study has been conducted to compare the performance of these control charts. Two real life data are analyzed to illustrate the application of these robust alternatives

A perspective on magnetic core–shell carriers for responsive and targeted drug delivery systems

Magnetic core–shell nanocarriers have been attracting growing interest owing to their physicochemical and structural properties. The main principles of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are localized treatment and stability under the effect of external magnetic fields. Furthermore, these MNPs can be coated or functionalized to gain a responsive property to a specific trigger, such as pH, heat, or even enzymes. Current investigations have been focused on the employment of this concept in cancer therapies. The evaluation of magnetic core–shell materials includes their magnetization properties, toxicity, and efficacy in drug uptake and release. This review discusses some categories of magnetic core–shell drug carriers based on Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 as the core, and different shells such as poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), poly(vinylpyrrolidone), chitosan, silica, calcium silicate, metal, and lipids. In addition, the review addresses their recent potential applications for cancer treatment.The authors would like to acknowledge Qatar University for funding the project: GCC Co-Fund Program Grant #GCC-2017-001 and student grant QUST-1-CAS-2019-36. The publication of this article was funded by the Qatar National Library.Scopu

STR-990: SUSTAINABLE GROUTED HELICAL PILES: MATERIALS AND PERFORMANCE

Cementitious materials are widely used as a construction material all over the world. However, cement industry has high environmental impact such as the release of CO2 and the consumption of natural resources for its manufacturing energy. Therefore, reducing cement consumption is vital to achieve sustainable green construction practices. In this study, the effects of using treated oil sand waste (TOSW) as a partial replacement of cement in grouted helical pile applications were investigated. Fresh and hardened properties of the green grout incorporating different percentages of TOSW were evaluated. In addition, a model scale grouted helical pile with the green grout was tested to characterize its performance. The experimental results show that the properties of TOSW grout mixes were comparable to conventional grout and satisfy the strength and construction requirements of grouted piles. Moreover, tested grouted helical pile using the developed mixture exhibited similar geotechnical performance as those installed using conventional grout mix. Hence, TOSW can be implemented in grouted helical pile applications, which would assist in achieving sustainable construction