Atypical pneumonia in an immunocompromised host

Pneumonia is a common complication of patient with lung cancer. Various Pathogens have been reported to cause pneumonia in such patients, commonly involved organisms include bacteria (e.g. S. pneumoniae, Klebsiella spp., P. aeruginosa, S. aureus), virus (e.g. CMV, varicella zoster virus, respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza and influenza viruses), fungi (e.g.  histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis, pneumocystosis, Aspergillosis), opportunistic infections (e.g.  Aspergillus, Pneumocystis jiroveci) and this list is progressively growing. Here authors are going to discuss a rare case of 61-year-old male patient of lung cancer suffering from pneumonia caused by Chryseobacterium gleum, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Actinomyces naeslundii and its management. Since these organisms are rarely known to cause pneumonia, so whenever we encounter such patients while authors consider common pathogens, authors should also keep in mind rare organisms especially when the pt fail to respond standard treatment

Exploring stem cell dynamics, clonal expansion and pseudopolyps in inflammatory bowel disease.

PhDInflammatory bowel disease (IBD) confers a high risk of development of colitis-associated colorectal cancer in patients with extensive colitis. Crypt fission is a mechanism of clonal expansion in the intestinal epithelium. Although fission is rare in the normal colon, many crypts in IBD patients are in the process of fission. Protumourigenic mutations can spread through the entire inflamed colon relatively quickly indicating that stem cell dynamics are altered in IBD. Some patients with IBD develop pseudopolyps as a result of mucosal ulceration and epithelial regeneration. The aim of this PhD was to investigate the effect of inflammation on niche succession, the crypt cycle and the expansion of clones in the IBD intestine. Pseudopolyps were examined as potential sites for clonal expansion by determining the frequency of mutated pseudopolyps and proliferative potential, and examining their microRNA (miRNA) profile relative to inactive, active and dysplastic mucosa, and adenoma and cancerous tissue. This thesis will show that crypt fission cycles in inflammatory bowel diseased colon are protracted and that each stage of crypt fission appears to be slow. Overall, clonally related adjacent IBD crypts seem to share a more recent common ancestor than non-related IBD crypts, supporting increased crypt fission rates in IBD. The proliferative drive induced by continuous inflammation and mucosal repair in ulcerative colitis (UC) appears to promote the expansion of CCO-deficient patches. Furthermore, niche succession appears to be faster in active IBD. Pseudopolyps are a source of regeneration within the epithelium and, as shown here, have a faster proliferative drive than background mucosa in IBD patients. Pseudopolyps are not genetically inert and are a potential source of protumourigenic mutations in UC. Hence, pseudopolyps are a potential reservoir within the inflamed epithelium where mutations are harboured and where there is no competition from neighbouring epithelium, as it has been denuded following previous inflammation. MiRNA expression in pseudopolyps differs from that of UC-dysplasia and mucosa. In particular, the MiR-29 family was downregulated in pseudopolyps, a miRNA family that has been implicated in intestinal fibrosis formation in stricturing Crohn’s disease. Pseudopolyps have been traditionally thought of as benign, genetically inert and incidental findings characteristic of chronic inflammation. My research runs counter to this view indicating an exciting paradigm shift in the way we consider pseudopolyps, which may eventually alter the endoscopic management of these lesions in the future.Bart’s and The London Charity; Medical Research Counci

RHLB: Improved Routing Load Balancing Algorithm Based on Hybrid Policy

يتم تعريف الشبكة على أنها مجموعة من العقد المرتبطة بطريقة للتعامل مع البيانات والرسائل ونقلها من المصدر إلى الوجهة. يحدث الازدحام في الشبكة عند حدوث الكثير من الزيارات، ويؤدي إلى التأخير، وفقدان الحزمة، وتدهور عرض النطاق الترددي، وارتفاع حمل الشبكة. تم تصميم خوارزميات موازنة التحميل لتقليل الازدحام في الشبكة. موازنة التحميل هي إعادة توزيع عبء العمل بين عقدتين أو أكثر ليتم تنفيذها في نفس الوقت. اثنين من السياسات من خوارزميات موازنة التحميل: موازنة تحميل ثابتة وديناميكية. تقترح هذه الورقة خوارزمية موازنة التحميل على أساس الهجين (سياسة ثابتة وديناميكية) باستخدام شبكة المحاكاة (الاصدار الثاني). يتم استخدام السياسة المختلطة لتحسين أداء الشبكة من خلال إعادة توزيع الحمل بين العقد الزائدة إلى العقد الأخرى التي يتم تحميلها عند حدوث الازدحام. وتبين نتائج المحاكاة أن الخوارزمية المقترحة تستخدم أداء الشبكة فيما يتعلق بالانتقال، ونسبة توصيل الرزم، وفقدان الرزم، والتأخر من طرف إلى آخر.A network is defined as a set of nodes that are associated with a way to handle and transfer data and messages from source to destination. The congestion in the network occurs when a lot of traffic occurs, leads to delay, packet loss, bandwidth degradation, and high network overhead. Load balancing algorithms have been designed to reduce congestion in the network. Load Balancing is the redistribution of workload between two or more nodes to be executed at the same time. Two policies of load balancing algorithms: static and dynamic load balancing. This paper proposes a load balancing algorithm based on the hybrid (static and dynamic) policy using Network Simulator (version 2). The hybrid policy is used to improve network performance by redistributing the load between overloaded nodes to other nodes that are under loaded when congestion occurs. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm used performance of the network with regard to throughput, packet delivery ratio, packet loss and the end-to-end delay

Nutritional Status of Newly Diagnosed Tuberculous Patients at the National Tuberculosis Institute in Baghdad

ABSTRACT Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that mainly affects people in developing countries. It is affected by nutritional status. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of malnutrition and the effect of associated sociodemographic and clinical variables on the nutritional status among adult TB patients. Methodology: A convenient sample of 100 newly diagnosed adult Tuberculous patients whether pulmonary or extrapulmonary who attended the General Tuberculosis Institute in Baghdad governorate from October 2022 to January 2023 was taken. Their nutritional status was measured by BMI. Result: Out of the total patients included in the study, (53%) were males and (47%) were females. More than half of patients had a normal BMI (55%), while 19% had undernutrition which is mainly seen in the pulmonary type, and 26% were overweight and obese which is seen in the extrapulmonary type. High educational level, high socioeconomic status, eating frequent meals (>3/day), not having anemia, and not having significant weight loss appear to be protective against malnutrition in tuberculous patients. Conclusion: Tuberculosis and malnutrition with dual effects so every TB patient needs a baseline nutritional assessment prior to the start of treatment. Also important to improve nutritional knowledge by counseling on a balanced diet and increasing awareness about the risk factors of undernutrition and its consequences for tuberculous patients and their family members

Thermal Diffusivity And Dielectric Properties Of Strontium- Doped Barium Titanate And Calsium Titanate Systems.

In this thesis, the structure, thermal diffusivity and dielectric constant of Ba1-xSrxTiO3 and Ca1-xSrxTiO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) ceramics were investigated. The samples were prepared using solid-state reaction technique with a sintering temperature at 1200 °C. From XRD analysis, the BaTiO3 structure obtained was tetragonal and then transformed to cubic; whilst, CaTiO3 structure changed from orthorhombic to cubic with an intermediate tetragonal phase as the amount of Sr ions increased. Surface morphology studies showed that the grain size decreased with increasing Sr ions in both Ba1-xSrxTiO3 and Ca1-xSrxTiO3 systems. Photoflash technique was used to determine the thermal diffusivity of BaTiO3, CaTiO3 and SrTiO3 at room temperature. The effect of substitution Sr ions on the thermal diffusivity of Ba1-xSrxTiO3 and Ca1-xSrxTiO3 was also investigated. It was found that increasing Sr ions in Ba1-xSrxTiO3 samples reduced the thermal diffusivity value from 11.302 × 10-3 cm2/s to 6.467 × 10-3 cm2/s and accompanying by a decrease in density. Similarly, the thermal diffusivity values of Ca1-xSrxTiO3 system decreased from 13.11 × 10-3 cm2/s to 6.467 × 10-3 cm2/s as its density increased. For thermal diffusivity measurement at higher temperature, laser flash technique was used. It was noticed that the thermal diffusivity of Ba1-xSrxTiO3 and Ca1-xSrxTiO3 decreased with increasing temperature from room temperature to 150 °C. The dielectric properties of BaTiO3, CaTiO3 and SrTiO3 were investigated at various temperatures from 25 to 150 °C using AC impedance analyzer. Increasing Sr ions in BaTiO3 reduced the dielectric constant from 709 to 246 at frequency 106 Hz at room temperature. On the other hand, increasing Sr ions in CaTiO3 raised the dielectric constant from 106 to 246, and the highest value was found at x = 0.2. The dielectric constant of Ba1-xSrxTiO3 decreased with increasing temperature. The highest dielectric constant value was recorded for Ba1-xSrxTiO3 system where x = 0 and 0.1 at phase change temperatures, 125 °C and 100 °C respectively

COVID-19 and the Risk of Diabetes: A Systematic Review Article

Background: COVID-19 pandemic associates with many acute and long-term effects. Hyperglycemia and diabetes are among the common comorbidities that negatively affect the outcome of COVID-19 patients. Many studies report an increase in the incidence of new-onset diabetes and diabetic ketoacidosis during the pandemic of COVID-19. Aim of the Study: This review article aimed to study the bidirectional relationship between diabetes and COVID-19 and understand the possible underlying mechanisms predisposed to diabetes in patients with COVID-19. Methods: The present work performs an online literature search on databases from PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, ResearchGate, and Web of Science. The search includes publications on SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19, hyperglycemia, diabetes, and diabetic ketoacidosis.  Results: There is a slight increase in the incidence of hyperglycemia and new-onset diabetes during or post COVID-19 infections. Among the proposed mechanisms of that increase are the direct and indirect effects of SARS-CoV-2 on Beta cells of the pancreas. These effects arise from viral-mediated inflammatory and immunological effects on Beta cells. Stress hyperglycemia, corticosteroid administration, obesity, and preexisting diabetes are important aggravating factors for developing diabetes in COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: The long-term follow-up is mandatory to determine the outcome of patients, who develop new-onset diabetes after COVID-19 infection

Synthesis, Characterization, and Preliminary Evaluation of Antimicrobial activity of Imines derived from Vanillic Acid Conjugated to Heterocyclic

The purpose of this research is to prepare new vanillic acid derivatives with 1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol heterocyclic ring and evaluate their antimicrobial activity in a preliminary assessment. A multistep synthesis was established for the preparation of new vanillic acid-triazole conjugates. The intermediate of 4-(4-amino-5-mercapto-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)-2-methoxyphenol (4) reacts with different heterocyclic aldehydes (thiophene-2-carboxaldehyde, pyrrole-2-carboxaldehyde, thiophene-3-carboxaldehyde, and furfural ) in ethanol containing few drops of acetic acid yielded the corresponding 4-(4-(substituted amino)-5-mercapto-4H-1,2,4-1triazol-3-yl)-2-methoxy phenol derivatives (5-8). These compounds were characterized spectroscopically by FT-1IR and 1H-1NMR. These imine derivatives (5-8) were tested for their antimicrobial activity and compared with three different standard references (amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, and fluconazole). Overall, compounds 6 and 8 exhibited varying degrees of inhibitory effects on the growth of the examined bacterial species and fungus. The most active one is compound 6 having pyrrole ring imine derivative showed potent activity against C. 1albicans and moderate activity against all tested bacteria compared to other derivatives but no activity toward P. 1aeruginosa and P. 1mirabilis

Simulation of Longitudinal Stability Of Helicopter In Forward Flight

The present work describes the development of code for trim and longitudinal stability analysis of a helicopter in forward flight. In general, particular use of these codes can be made for parametric investigation of the effects of the external and internal systems integrated to UH-60 helicopters. A forward flight longitudinal dynamic stability code is also developed in the work to solve the longitudinal part of the whole coupled matrix of equations of motion of a helicopter in forward flight. The coupling is eliminated by linearization. The trim analysis results are used as inputs to the dynamic stability code. The forward flight stability code is applied to UH-60 helicopter

Biliary Cystadenoma Causing Obstructive Jaundice: Case Report and Literature Review

Biliary cystadenomas are rare, potentially malignant neoplasms of biliary origin. Presentation is usually with vague and non-specific symptoms. Here, we describe an unusual case of biliary cystadenoma in a woman presenting with acute onset obstructive jaundice and review the relevant literature of 26 such cases reported over the last two decades