Pleiotropic Action of Selenium in the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer, and Related Diseases

This book will cover topics related to the preparation and use of heterogeneous catalytic systems for the transformation of renewable sources, as well as of materials deriving from agro-industrial wastes and by-products. At the same time, the ever-increasing importance of bioproducts, due to the acceptance and request of consumers, makes the upgrade of biomass into chemicals and materials not only an environmental issue, but also an economical advantage

Structural Characteristics of Aligned Fibre-Matrix Space Structures.

An investigation was undertaken into the structural behaviour of skeletal systems, manufactured from pultruded fibre reinforced polyester (f. r. p. ), also into the structural characteristics of pultruded f. r. p. and into the reliability of the material and structural systems. The study applied theoretical and experimental methods to single member elements and to the main classes of skeletal space structures. The testing of single members was undertaken to determine the properties of the material and to assess its degree of variability. A computer program was developed for the non-linear analysis of skeletal structures manufactured from pultruded f. r. p. members. The program was used for the analysis of full scale models, and in addition, was used to undertake a theoretical parameter investigation to study the methods of improving the performance of these skeletal systems. The experimental testing of the various models was carried out to study the structural performance up to failure, in both the pre and post-buckling states, to assess the validity of the non-linear analysis program developed for this research, and also to compare the linear and non-linear methods of analysis of the various systems. The need for the non-linear method of analysis for the f. r. p. skeletal structures, especially for the flexible type is shown when the experimental behaviour of a skeletal dome is compared with the theoretical computer linear and non-linear analyses. The cases in which the linear method of analysis can be utilized and its limitation for the skeletal f. r. p. structures are clearly pointed out. Various aspects of the behaviour of the f. r. p. members and structural assemblies such as the deformability, recovery and mode of failure are obtained. The importance of the combination of more than one type of f. r. p. members on the structural efficiency is shown

Sustainability ranking of desalination plants using Mamdani Fuzzy Logic Inference Systems

As water desalination continues to expand globally, desalination plants are continually under pressure to meet the requirements of sustainable development. However, the majority of desalination sustainability research has focused on new desalination projects, with limited research on sustainability performance of existing desalination plants. This is particularly important while considering countries with limited resources for freshwater such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as it is heavily reliant on existing desalination infrastructure. In this regard, the current research deals with the sustainability analysis of desalination processes using a generic sustainability ranking framework based on Mamdani Fuzzy Logic Inference Systems. The fuzzy-based models were validated using data from two typical desalination plants in the UAE. The promising results obtained from the fuzzy ranking framework suggest this more in-depth sustainability analysis should be beneficial due to its flexibility and adaptability in meeting the requirements of desalination sustainability

Detection and recognition of moving video objects: Kalman filtering with deep learning

© 2021. All rights reserved. Research in object recognition has lately found that Deep Convolutional Neuronal Networks (CNN) provide a breakthrough in detection scores, especially in video applications. This paper presents an approach for object recognition in videos by combining Kalman filter with CNN. Kalman filter is first applied for detection, removing the background and then cropping object. Kalman filtering achieves three important functions: predicting the future location of the object, reducing noise and interference from incorrect detections, and associating multi-objects to tracks. After detection and cropping the moving object, a CNN model will predict the category of object. The CNN model is built based on more than 1000 image of humans, animals and others, with architecture that consists of ten layers. The first layer, which is the input image, is of 100 * 100 size. The convolutional layer contains 20 masks with a size of 5 * 5, with a ruling layer to normalize data, then max-pooling. The proposed hybrid algorithm has been applied to 8 different videos with total duration of is 15.4 minutes, containing 23100 frames. In this experiment, recognition accuracy reached 100%, where the proposed system outperforms six existing algorithms

The Role of Ultrasound in the Lebanese Outreach Setting

A cross-sectional study was carried out on 669 patients to assess the role of introducing ultrasound into obstetrical outreach in Lebanon. Data were collected, and descriptive statistics were performed. Sonographic findings were compared using Chi-square tests between underserved Lebanese and Syrian refugee mothers. Ultrasound plays a significant role in properly dating pregnancies in addition to identifying at-risk fetuses and detecting placental abnormalities. Medical providers need to make sonographic evaluation in the Lebanese outreach obstetrical setting more available and more systematic in order to secure a safe outcome for underserved Lebanese and Syrian refugee mothers and offspring

The Role of Ultrasound in the Lebanese Outreach Setting

A cross-sectional study was carried out on 669 patients to assess the role of introducing ultrasound into obstetrical outreach in Lebanon. Data were collected, and descriptive statistics were performed. Sonographic findings were compared using Chi-square tests between underserved Lebanese and Syrian refugee mothers. Ultrasound plays a significant role in properly dating pregnancies in addition to identifying at-risk fetuses and detecting placental abnormalities. Medical providers need to make sonographic evaluation in the Lebanese outreach obstetrical setting more available and more systematic in order to secure a safe outcome for underserved Lebanese and Syrian refugee mothers and offspring

Architectural Heterogeneity in Tumors Caused by Differentiation Alters Intratumoral Drug Distribution and Affects Therapeutic Synergy of Antiangiogenic Organoselenium Compound

Tumor differentiation enhances morphologic and microvascular heterogeneity fostering hypoxia that retards intratumoral drug delivery, distribution, and compromise therapeutic efficacy. In this study, the influence of tumor biologic heterogeneity on the interaction between cytotoxic chemotherapy and selenium was examined using a panel of human tumor xenografts representing cancers of the head and neck and lung along with tissue microarray analysis of human surgical samples. Tumor differentiation status, microvessel density, interstitial fluid pressure, vascular phenotype, and drug delivery were correlated with the degree of enhancement of chemotherapeutic efficacy by selenium. Marked potentiation of antitumor activity was observed in H69 tumors that exhibited a well-vascularized, poorly differentiated phenotype. In comparison, modulation of chemotherapeutic efficacy by antiangiogenic selenium was generally lower or absent in well-differentiated tumors with multiple avascular hypoxic, differentiated regions. Tumor histomorphologic heterogeneity was found prevalent in the clinical samples studied and represents a primary and critical physiological barrier to chemotherapy

Electronic patient-reported outcomes from home in patients recovering from major gynecologic cancer surgery: A prospective study measuring symptoms and health-related quality of life

We previously reported on the feasibility of a Web-based system to capture patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in the immediate postoperative period. The purpose of this study was to update the experience of these patients and assess patient and provider satisfaction and feedback regarding the system