Study of nasofrontal beak identification as a useful landmark in endoscopic frontal sinus surgery

Background: The nasal process of the frontal bone creates a bony thickening in the midline known as the nasofrontal beak (NFB). Surgery on the frontal sinuses can be safer when the NFB is used as a marker. Objective: To assess if identification of the nasofrontal beak during endoscopic frontal sinus surgery will add benefit to the identification of fontal sinus drainage pathway. Patients and Methods: From July 2020 to July 2021, At Zagazig University Hospitals, Otorhinolaryngology Department; trial included twelve patients with chronic frontal sinusitis who had been refractory to medical treatment for at least twelve weeks. All patients were scheduled for functional endoscopic sinus surgery. Results: The mean of distance from superior border of nasal beak to skull base in the right (Rt) side was 4.8 ± 2.9 and in the left (Lt) side was 5.4 ± 3.1. In terms of difficulty and distance, there was a significant negative association between the two variables; meaning that increasing distance would make the surgery easier. No recurrence of symptoms in Rt. side while in Lt. side recurrence occurs in only one case. Restenosis of frontal ostium didn’t occur in any case in Rt side or Lt side. No nasal adhesions in Rt side, but occurred in Lt side in only one case Conclusion: The frontonasal beak is one of these fixed anatomical bony landmarks as frontal sinus ostium is located at the anterior edge of the anterior recess. Preoperative imaging can anticipate the difficulties of frontal recess surgery by identifying it

Capacity Building of Females Governmental Secondary School Teachers in Abha City For Crises Management & First Aid

Background: A crisis is a temporary emotional condition wherein one’s usual coping mechanisms have failed in the face of a perceived challenge or threat. First aid is the assessments and interventions that can be performed by a bystander immediately with minimal or no medical equipments. High school students and teachers lack knowledge regarding the appropriate first aid action to be taken for injuries and common illnesses. Various incorrect practices and myths associated with illnesses and injuries have been reported among students and their teachers. Capacity building is one of the WHO Strategies for improving disaster preparedness for school students and teachers. The aim of this study is to develop the capacity building of female governmental secondary school teachers on how to deal with crises management and first aid. Design: A Quasi experimental Design was used; one group pretest–Post Test Design. Setting: A stratified random sample was used to select secondary schools in Abha. Subjects: A random sample of 100 secondary school teachers was chosen from the selected setting in Abha. Instrumentation: Two structured formats were used to collect data pertinent to the study. The first was a pre/post interviewing questionnaire, and the second was a pre/post observational checklist. Results: 1. the studied sample had higher mean score at post test in relation to knowledge of first aid items. (2. The studied sample had higher satisfactory level of clinical mean score at post test in relation to clinical first aid items and also in relation to mean total clinical score. The studied sample had satisfactory and higher mean score at post test in relation to crisis management items and also in relation to mean total knowledge score. Conclusion: The health education and training program were succeeded to improve the knowledge and skills of school teachers in first aid and dealing with wounds, , burns, shock, bleeding, CPR and fractures and dealing with crisis management.  This improvement was proved statistically. Recommendations: Nurses should highlight the need for disaster safety education; it is evident that disaster has significant impact on school students. The implementation of the health education and training program designed by researchers in similar settings to improve the knowledge and skills of school teachers in first aid and dealing with wounds, burns, shock, bleeding, CPR and fractures and dealing with crisis management. Keywords: Capacity Building, Crises Management, First Ai

Evaluation of stool and urine parameters correlation to CRP and D-dimer in COVID-19 infected adults and their contact children

Aim: Aim is to depict suggestive urine and stool parameters in asymptomatic suspected contact children living with COVID-19 infected adults. These parameters will facilitate identifying  children who deserve the confirmatory diagnosis of COVID-19 by PCR test.  Methods: Study was conducted in the National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research institute (NHTMRI) Cairo, Egypt. It included 66 mild COVID-19 adult patients (group1) and their 82 asymptomatic contact children (group 2). Results:  In group 1, both C reactive protein (CRP) and D-dimer levels were significantly high. C reactive protein was significantly positively correlated with urinary microalbumin> 30, albumin/ creatinine ratio and urine pus >10 cells / HPF and significantly negatively correlated with vitamin C. D-dimer was significantly negatively correlated with vitamin C. In group 2, CRP and D-dimer were significantly negatively correlated with urine specific gravity (SG), urinary vitamin C. CRP was significantly negatively correlated with stool pus > 10 cells/ HPF, while D-dimer was significantly positively correlated with stool occult blood.   Receiver Operating Curve (ROC) analysis revealed that urine SG showed the highest area under the curve (AUC); 0.859, 0.96, sensitivity of 100%, 100% and specificity of 71.8%, 77.8% with reference to D-dimer and CRP; respectively. Conclusions: In contact children of adult COVID-19 proved infection, urine SG, stool occult blood and stool pus > 10 cells/ HPF can be feasible tool for suspected COVID-19 infection, based on its results COVID-19 PCR request can be an imperative option to confirm the diagnosis; particularly in developing countries where detection of COVID -19 by PCR is not readily feasible.COVID19; urine; stool; childre

Hepatoprotective Effect of Royal Jelly Against Cisplatin-Induced Biochemical, Oxidative Stress, Anti-Oxidants And Histopathological Abnormalities

The study aimed to evaluate the changes of liver functions, oxidative stress, anti-oxidants and histopathological investigations in Cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity and the royal jelly ameliorative effects. The forty male mice were divided into 4 groups. The first group was control, Group II: animals were received royal jelly (150 mg/kg), Group III: animals were received cisplatin (3.5 mg/kg body weight of Cisplatin once every 2 days), group IV: animals were received the royal jelly + Cisplatin, for 10 days. At the end of experiment Blood was collected and analyzed for blood alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), Albumin. The Liver samples were stored for the measurement of malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant and catalase (CAT) activities and another hepatic tissues were processed for histopathology. Cisplatin given to mice induced a marked hepatic injuries, characterized with a significant increase in serum ALT, AST and MDA and lower albumin, total antioxidant, and CAT activities. In the groups that were administered royal jelly in association with cisplatin, improvement was observed in oxidative stress parameter (MDA), other hepatic biochemical parameters, and histopathological examinations with royal jelly being more effective. The results obtained suggested that royal jelly significantly attenuated the cisplatin-hepatotoxicity, because it act as free radical scavenger and lipid peroxidation inhibitor. Keywords: Cisplatin; Royal jelly; Antioxidants; Hepatotoxicit

Comprehensive process simulation of a biomass-based hydrogen production system through gasification within the BECCS concept in a commercial two-stage fixed bed gasifier

Hydrogen production through biomass gasification coupled with carbon capture has the potential to be a net negative emission process. Among the different designs of biomass gasifiers, the two-stage fixed bed gasifier has proved its ability to produce high quality syngas with minimum tar content at an industrial scale. However, it has not been investigated for hydrogen production. Hence, the current study is the first attempt to assess, through process modelling, the technical feasibility of hydrogen production in a 10 MWth two-stage gasification system using wood chips as feedstock. Mass and energy balances have been established in the Aspen Plus and MATLAB software. In contrast to most models in the literature, which were based on the equilibrium approach, the proposed system utilizes reliable kinetic models for the gasifier operation and the main downstream processes. An extensive validation of the gasifier kinetic model has been carried out and then a sensitivity analysis, which has revealed that the optimum steam-to-biomass ration (SBR) is 0.8 and 1.2 for the air-steam and the oxy-steam gasification systems, respectively. Further, the optimum steam-to-CO ratio (S/CO) for the water gas shift reactors (WGSRs) is 4, under which an overall 82.9% conversion of CO has been achieved. The results show that the 10 MWth two-stage gasifier can attain a specific hydrogen yield of 81.47 gH2/kg dry biomass. Based on the carbon footprint assessment, the process is net negative with an emission factor of −1.38 kgCO2-eq/kg biomass. Further, heat integration has also been conducted and it was found that the energy conversion efficiency of the whole system is 49.6%. This study is important since it provides a reliable data source for biomass-based hydrogen production through gasification in a commercial two-stage gasifier that can dictate operational strategies of pilot and demo plants

Preparation and Characterizations of Chitosan/Citral Nanoemulsions and their Antimicrobial Activity

Background and Objective: The antimicrobial activity of essential oils has been long recognized, however, they easily evaporate and/or decompose during preparation, owing to direct exposure to heat, pressure and light. The current study deals with the formulation and characterization of bio-based oil in water nanoemulsions and their antimicrobial activity against plant pathogens.Material and Methods: Citral oil and low molecular weight chitosan were used for preparation of nanoemulsions in the presence of sodium tripolyphosphate. Nanoemulsions were prepared by adding dropwise citral at different ratios into an aqueous solution containing chitosan, sodium tripolyphosphate and surfactant with continuous stirring and then ultrasonication. The success of formulation was confirmed by dynamic light scattering and scanning electron microscopy techniques. Physical stability and viscosity were investigated in details. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated against Erwinia carotovora, Aspergillus niger and Rhizopus stolonifer. Results and Conclusion: The nanoemulsions had a polydispersity index ranged from 0.508 to 0.614 and particle size from 27 to 1283 nm. The highest antimicrobial activity was observed with F1 formulation (EC50 = 23, 278 and 221 mg L-1, against Erwinia carotovora, Aspergillus niger and Rhizopus stolonifer, respectively). Based on the antimicrobial activity, the prepared chitosan/citral nanoemulsions can be a cost-effective way to protect crops from microbial pathogens. Because such formulations contain bioactive products, the development of resistant pathogens can be delayed.Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

An improved kinetic modelling of woody biomass gasification in a downdraft reactor based on the pyrolysis gas evolution

Biomass gasification technology is evolving and more research through modelling alongside the experimental work needs to be performed. In the past, all the attention has been concentrated on the combustion and reduction stages to be the controlling reactions while the pyrolysis is modelled as an instantaneous process. In this study, a new enhanced model for the gasification process in the downdraft reactor is proposed with a more realistic representation of the pyrolysis stage as a temperature-dependent sequential release of gases. The evolution of the pyrolysis gas, followed by the combustion and reduction reactions, are kinetically controlled in the proposed model which is developed within the Aspen Plus software package. The simulation of the reactor temperature profile and the evolution of the pyrolysis gas is carried out in an integrated MATLAB and Aspen Plus model. The proposed model has been validated against experimental data obtained from the gasification of different woody biomass types and considering a range of scale reactor and power loads. The predicted results are in very good agreement with the experimental data, and therefore the model can be used with confidence to perform a sensitivity analysis to predict the performance of a gasifier at different load levels corresponding to the air flow rate range of 3–10 L/s. As the supplied air flow rate increases, the LHV decreases but the gas yield behaves conversely, and in turn the cold gas efficiency is maintained at a good level of energy conversion at ≥ 70%. Furthermore, the variation in the biomass moisture content, which is commonly in the range of 5–25 % has a significant effect on the gasification efficiency. Such that biomass that has a high moisture content substantially reduces the CO content and consequently the LHV of the produced gas. Hence, it is important to maintain the moisture content at the lowest level

Assessment of the Relation between Serum Carcinoembryonic Antigen and Tumor Node Metastasis Staging of Colorectal Cancer

Background: Although awareness via cancer screenings and the knowledge of therapy modalities has increased, the burden of colorectal cancer (CRC) is much more pronounced in developing countries. Objective: This study was aimed to estimate serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels in preoperative CRC patients and to determine the associations between serum CEA levels and tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage.Patients and methods: This cross-sectional study included 36 patients with CRC (stages IV) attending at Department of General Surgery, Zagazig University Hospitals. Patients scheduled preoperatively for sigmoidoscopy were prepared by an enema and examined by using standard video endoscopes. The CEA levels were estimated preoperatively for all patients. Results: CEA level among the studied cases ranged from 0 to 23 ng/dl with mean 6.39 ng/dl and median 4.5ng/ml. Also 58.3% had CEA level ≤ 5 ng/ml. There were no statistical significance relations between the CEA and age or sex distribution. But there was a statistical significance increase in frequency of smoking among cases had CEA level >5 ng/ml. There was no statistical significance relation between site and diameter of lesions and CEA level among the studied cases.Conclusions: It could be concluded that there is a meaningful link between TNM stage and CEA level. However, normal levels of CEA will not rule out CRC diagnosis, and these patients should be investigated in detail

A Comprehensive Technoeconomic and Environmental Evaluation of a Hybrid Renewable Energy System for a Smart Farm in South Korea

The farming sector like any other industry needs to be decarbonized. Hence, it is essential to meet the energy demands of the farms by adopting energy systems with a low-carbon footprint. Depending on the weather conditions, heating or cooling is needed. Within this context, this study presents a new hybrid renewable decentralized energy system that is designed to satisfy the requirements for heating, cooling, and electricity of a smart farm in South Korea. The under-investigation energy system comprises solar PV arrays, heat pumps, thermal energy storage tanks, and a wood pellet boiler. This study is the first to conduct an inclusive techno-enviroeconomic assessment of such a hybrid energy system by utilizing actual meteorological data on an hourly basis. This enables the model to be dynamic and facilitate accurate and reliable assessments. The modelling efforts have been performed in Aspen Plus and MATLAB to investigate the thermodynamic behaviour of the system. The investigation shows that the proposed system has achieved a daily average temperature of around 23.9°C inside the farm throughout the year with a standard deviation of 2.16°C. For the economic assessment, the levelized cost of energy has been selected as the main economic indicator, and this has been estimated at $0.218/kWh. It is found that the PV panels and the biomass boiler dominate the capital expenditures, and the biomass feedstock is the major contributor to the operating expenditures. Further, the proposed energy system reduces CO2 emissions, by up to 88.94%, when compared to conventional fossil-based energy systems. The outcomes of this study represent a holistic evaluation for such a low-carbon hybrid energy system when applied to greenhouses in Korea and in similar locations