A Survey about Acquisition System Design for Myoelectric Prosthesis

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 30 million people are in need of prosthetic and orthotic devices. Some people are born with this limb loss, while others lose limbs due to diseases such as Cancer, diabetes, and work accidents. Additionally, limb amputation is among the most severe and heavily reported injuries among veterans during war. The medical applications of integrated circuit technology have recently made significant advances, thus improving human quality of life. Moreover, the use of microelectronics integration dominates a lot of medical applications, especially portable and wearable battery-operated devices. Thus, the objective of this report is to provide the reader with the basic understanding of integrated solutions for controlling prosthetic limbs

Urban Nexus: An Approach for Regenerative Urban Environments (Public Spaces Located in the Urban Fringe)

The built environment is the main habitat for human beings, this makes it act as a driver for climate and biodiversity changes, with multiple potential opportunities for alteration and transition. Therefore, it may be essential for the built environment to go beyond ordinary actions not only to limit the negative impacts, but instead aim for benificial outcomes. Analysing and desigining the urban built environment from the perspective of ecosystems functions and services could help in creating cities where positive restoration of and integration with local ecosystems could be recognised. Urban regeneration could be useful in this regard as it is defined as a comprehensive integration of vision and action aimed at resolving the multi-faceted problems of urban areas in order to improve their quality of life. However, the rapid urbanisation - especially with the exploding urbanism of some cities - controlled sustainable development and carefully considered urban regeneration have not always been achieved. It is also argued that one of the strategies for successful urban regeneration is “High-Quality Architectural Design and Public Space as a Catalyst for a Better City”. At a more local perspective, new urban expansions in Egypt lack one of the relavant quality-of-life pillars. Public spaces are currently losing their role in the new communities located in the urban fringe of Cairo. In such context, new urban nucleii are expanding disregarding the necessity of collective public spaces (a continuum of public realm) due to the privatization, disconnection, and introversion. Thus, the aim of this research is to introduce the Urban Nexus, a new approach merging the contemporary trends and emerging theories to design sustainable urban development solutions. The nexus approach seeks to understand risks, engage decision-makers, and enable action with the aim of attaining knowledge integration, efficiency, synergy and ‘win-win’ solutions. This could be achieved through bridging/ integratng Ecosystem services preserved through Nature Based Solutions (NBS), Human Centred Design (HCD) and the Star Approach, in order to reform public spaces acting as a catalyst for the urban regeneration. Ultimately the study would contribute in improving the built environment and in providing a better quality of life in new urban expansions

Signaling mechanisms of a water soluble curcumin derivative in experimental type 1 diabetes with cardiomyopathy

BACKGROUND: Curcumin exhibits anti-diabetic activities, induces heme-oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and is an inhibitor of transcriptional co-activator p300. A novel water soluble curcumin derivative (NCD) has been developed to overcome low invivo bioavailability of curcumin. We evaluated the effect of the NCD on signaling mechanisms involved in cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and studied whether its action is mediated via inducible HO-1. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Rats were divided into controls, controls receiving NCD, diabetic, diabetic receiving NCD, diabetic receiving pure curcumin, diabetic receiving HO inhibitor, zinc protoporphyrin IX (ZnPP IX) and diabetic receiving NCD and ZnPP IX. NCD and curcumin were given orally. After 45 days, cardiac physiologic parameters, plasma glucose, insulin, glycated hemoglobin (GHb), HO-1 gene expression and HO activity in pancreas and cardiac tissues were assessed. Gene expression of p300, atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2A and MEF2C) were studied. RESULTS: NCD and curcumin decreased plasma glucose, GHb and increased insulin levels significantly in diabetic rats. This action may be partially mediated by induction of HO-1 gene. HO-1 gene expression and HO activity were significantly increased in diabetic heart and pancreas. Diabetes upregulated the expression of ANP, MEF2A, MEF2C and p300. NCD and curcumin prevented diabetes-induced upregulation of these parameters and improved left ventricular function. The effect of the NCD was better than the same dose of curcumin

Mutations du gène TP53 chez les patients atteints de leucemie lymphoïde chronique

CAEN-BU Médecine pharmacie (141182102) / SudocSudocFranceF

Optimizing the Performance of Public Open Spaces by Enhancing the Human Thermal Comfort

Outdoor human comfort is a key parameter in the evaluation of city's liveability. In addition, it helps in promoting people’s health and well-being, leading to the improvement of quality of life. Egyptian cities are impacted by urban heat island due to the dense urban fabric causing an obvious deterioration in the quality of their public spaces. Open public spaces provide various benefits to citizens; as they may intensify the economic, social and environmental aspects of the urban environment. Unfortunately, some cities' open public spaces are unattractive to human activity due to the challenges they face. The enhancement of microclimatic conditions in urban spaces can enable people to spend more time outdoors, with the potential to influence the social cohesion of a space and increase in the economic activity. Therefore, the wider aim of this research is to develop a better understanding of the complex relationship between the microclimate and human behaviour. The study focuses on the open public spaces in Alexandria city's hot arid climate, It is intended to study the effects of socio-economic and cultural diversity on thermal comfort, behaviour and use of space. Field surveys are carried out during the summer of 2019 (19th of August). All of the surveys include, observations of human activities and clothing, along with microclimatic monitoring. The analysis consists of; microclimatic influence on thermal sensation, people attendance; and investigation of socio-economic and sociocultural characteristics for each space. The process is carried out in order to propose a set of recommendations and mitigation strategies, suitable to deal with public spaces. This set is driven by studying the prospects of successfully designed public spaces and mapping the variations in the environmental conditions using ENVI-met and RayMan software in two selected public spaces in Alexandria as a case study

Variant form of hairy cell leukemia

International audienceMature lymphoid B-cell proliferations with hairy cells represent heterogeneous entities where specific diagnosis is difficult but important since it impacts therapeutic management. The clinical cases of variant hairy cell leukemia reported herein illustrate the persistence of a clear interest in the use of splenectomy as a therapeutic alternative. Furthermore, ibrutinib appears to be a promising treatment in patients with relapsed/refractory disease

Does eventually NPM1 mutation in blast phase chronic myeloid leukemia (BP‐CML) exist? That is the question.

International audienc

New Generation Sequencing of Targeted Genes in Hairy Cell Leukemia Highlighted Mutations Associated to BRAFV600E anda New Recurrent Altered Gene, KDM6A, in Hairy Cell Leukemia Variant Patients

International audienc

Fibroblast growth factor-23 is a strong predictor of insulin resistance among chronic kidney disease patients

Insulin resistance (IR) is very common among chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. Disturbance in mineral and bone metabolism (MBD) seems to play a role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance. Fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23) is evolving as the most important link between MBD and many pathologic sequences of CKD. The aim was to evaluate IR in pre-dialysis CKD patients looking for a possible association to mineral metabolism among CKD patients. A total of 100 stage 3–5 CKD patients were selected beside 20 normal control subjects. Homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was used to assess IR in selected cases. Both groups were compared for fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting blood insulin (FBI), HOMA-IR, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), serum calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), 25 hydroxy vitamin D (25 OH vit D), parathormone (PTH), and uric acid (UA). Correlation study between HOMA_IR and different studied parameters was performed. HOMA-IR is significantly higher in CKD (8.87 ± 3.48 vs. 3.97 ± 0.34 in CKD vs. control, respectively, p < .001). In addition CKD patients have significantly higher FGF23 (235 ± 22.96 vs. 139 ± 12.3 pg/mL, p < .001), PTH (76.9 ± 15.27 vs. 47.9 ± 2.52 pg/mL, p < .001), P (4.3 ± 0.67 vs. 3.6 ± 0.23 mg/dL, p < .001), and UA (5 ± 1.22 vs. 4.85 ± 0.48 mg/dL, p < .001) and significantly lower Ca (8.2 ± 0.3 vs. 8.9 ± 0.33 mg/dL, p < .001), and 25 (OH) vit D (17 ± 5.63 vs. 37 ± 3.43 ng/mL, p < .001). Stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that BMI, GFR, Ca, P, and FGF23 were the only significant predictors of HOMA IR. Increased IR in CKD is a consequence of the uremic status and is intimately associated with disturbed phosphate metabolism and FGF23. Further studies are needed to look for an underlying mechanism