Quantitative assessment of desertification in an arid oasis using remote sensing data and spectral index techniques

© 2018 by the authors. Desertification is an environmental problem worldwide. Remote sensing data and technique offer substantial information for mapping and assessment of desertification. Desertification is one of the most serious forms of environmental threat in Morocco, especially in the oases in the south-eastern part of the country. This study aims to map the degree of desertification in middle Draa Valley in 2017 using a Sentinel-2 MSI (multispectral instrument) image. Firstly, three indices, namely, tasselled cap brightness (TCB), greenness (TCG) and wetness (TCW) were extracted using the tasselled cap transformation method. Secondly, other indices, such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and albedo, were retrieved. Thirdly, a linear regression analysis was performed on NDVI-albedo, TCG-TCB and TCW-TCB combinations. Results showed a higher correlation between TCW and TCB (r = -0.812) than with that of the NDVI-albedo (r = -0.50). On the basis of this analysis, a desertification degree index was developed using the TCW-TCB feature space classification. A map of desertification grades was elaborated and divided into five classes, namely, nondesertification, low, moderate, severe and extreme levels. Results indicated that only 6.20% of the study area falls under the nondesertification grade, whereas 26.92% and 32.85% fall under the severe and extreme grades, respectively. The employed method was useful for the quantitative assessment of desertification with an overall accuracy of 93.07%. This method is simple, robust, powerful, and easy to use for the management and protection of the fragile arid and semiarid lands

Long-Term Monitoring of Transformation from Pastoral to Agricultural Land Use Using Time-Series Landsat Data in the Feija Basin (Southeast Morocco)

© 2019, King Abdulaziz University and Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The expansion of agricultural land at the cost of pastoral land is the common cause of land degradation in the arid areas of developing countries, especially in Morocco. This study aims to assess and monitor the transformation of pastoral land to agricultural land in the arid environment of the Feija Basin (Southeast of Morocco) and to find the key drivers and the issues resulting from this transformation. Spectral mixture analysis was applied to multi-temporal (1975–2017) and multi-sensor (i.e. Multi-spectral Scanner, Thematic Mapper, and Operational Land Imager) Landsat satellite images, from which land use classifications were derived. The remote sensing data in combination with ground reference data (household level), groundwater and climate statistics were used to validate and explain the derived land use change maps. The results of the spatiotemporal changes in agricultural lands show two patterns of changes, a middle expansion from 1975 to 2007, and a rapid expansion from 2008 to 2017. In addition, the overall accuracy demonstrated a high accuracy of 94.4%. In 1975 and 1984, the agricultural lands in Feija covered 0.17 km2 and 1.32 km2, respectively, compared with 20.10 km2 in 2017. Since the adoption of the Green Morocco Plan in 2008, the number of watermelon farms and wells has increased rapidly in the study area, which induced a piezometric level drawdown. The results show that spectral mixture analysis yields high accuracies for agricultural lands extraction in arid dry lands and accounts for mixed pixels issues. Results of this study can be used by local administrators to prepare an effective environmental management plan of these fragile drylands. The proposed method can be replicated in other regions to analyse land transformation in similar arid conditions

Desertification sensitivity analysis using medalus model and gis: A case study of the oases of middle draa valley, morocco

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Oases can play a significant role in the sustainable economic development of arid and Saharan regions. The aim of this study was to map the desertification-sensitive areas in the Middle Draa Valley (MDV), which is in the southeast of Morocco. A total of 13 indices that affect desertification processes were identified and analyzed using a geographic information system. The Mediterranean desertification and land use approach; which has been widely used in the Mediterranean regions due to its simplicity; flexibility and rapid implementation strategy; was applied. All the indices were grouped into four main quality indices; i.e., soil quality; climate quality; vegetation quality and management quality indices. Each quality index was constructed by the combination of several sub-indicators. In turn; the geometric mean of the four quality index maps was used to construct a map of desertification-sensitive areas; which were classified into four classes (i.e., low; moderate; high and very high sensitivity). Results indicated that only 16.63% of the sites in the study were classified as least sensitive to desertification; and 50.34% were classified as highly and very highly sensitive areas. Findings also showed that climate and human pressure factors are the most important indicators affecting desertification sensitivity in the MDV. The framework used in this research provides suitable results and can be easily implemented in similar oasis arid areas

Laser and radiofrequency-induced hyperthermia treatment via gold-coated magnetic nanocomposites

Alsayed AM Elsherbini1, Mahmoud Saber2, Mohamed Aggag2, Ahmed El-Shahawy2, Hesham AA Shokier11National Institute of Laser Enhanced Science, 2Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, EgyptIntroduction: The current radiofrequency ablation technique requires invasive needle placement. On the other hand, most of the common photothermal therapeutic methods are limited by lack of accuracy of targeting. Gold and magnetic nanoparticles offer the potential to heat tumor tissue selectively at the cellular level by noninvasive interaction with laser and radiofrequency.Methods: Gold nanospheres and gold-coated magnetic nanocomposites were used for inducing hyperthermia to treat subcutaneous Ehrlich carcinoma implanted in female mice.Results: In mice treated with gold nanospheres, tumors continued to grow but at a slow rate. In contrast, more than 50% of the tumors treated with gold-coated magnetic nanocomposites completely disappeared.Conclusion: This simple and noninvasive method shows great promise as a technique for selective magnetic photothermal treatment.Keywords: laser, hyperthermia, gold magnetic nanocomposites, Ehrlich carcinom

Chemical Quality and Hydrogeological Settings of the El-Farafra Oasis (Western Desert of Egypt) Groundwater Resources in Relation to Human Uses

In the Egyptian deserts, new land reclamation projects have been recently established to meet the increasing-population growth rate and food demand. These projects mainly depend on the different groundwater aquifers. El-Farafra Oasis is one of the "1.5-million-feddan reclamation project" areas recently established in the Western Desert of Egypt where the only available water source is the world's largest fossil freshwater reservoir "the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS)". Groundwater-dependent springs, and their artificial counterpart "drilled wells", are reliable water systems throughout the world. In the present study, hydrochemical parameters were collected in 2015 from 16 different springs and wells of the El-Farafra Oasis, and analyzed using the different water quality indices. The calculated water quality index (WQI), its correlations with the water quality parameters Gibbs, Piper, US Salinity-Lab Staff and Wilcox diagrams, and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used to evaluate the groundwater suitability for human drinking and irrigation purposes. WQI values revealed good-to-excellent groundwater quality for human drinking. In addition, the spring and well water samples investigated showed good indices for irrigation activities. Gibbs and Piper's diagrams were presented, with most samples falling into the rock-dominance category, and belonging to hydrogeochemical facies determining the following water types: Mg(HCO3)(2) type water (37.5% of the samples), no dominant ions (mixed water-type category; Ca/MgCl2) (50% of the samples), and, finally, NaCl water type (the remaining 12.5%). The groundwater chemistry in the study area is mainly controlled by rock-water interactions, particularly the dissolution of carbonate rocks and silicate weathering. The elevated nutrient concentrations, in particular nitrates, are most likely due to agricultural activities, indicating substantial anthropogenic activities in the area studied

Managing women in pregnancy after bariatric surgery: The midwife as the co-ordinator of care

Bariatric surgery is a recommended, cost-effective, evidenced-based intervention to reduce weight and associated comorbidities in severely obese people. People with a BMI of 40 kg/m2 or more, or a BMI between 35–40 kg/m2 with other medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and obstructive sleep apnoea meet the criteria to be considered for bariatric surgery. Over the past 10 years, bariatric surgery in the UK has been more widely accessible and consequently midwives may be required to care for pregnant women who have undergone bariatric surgery such as a gastric band, sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass. Midwives are required to work co-operatively, recognising and working within the limits of their competence and providing leadership. The aim of this article is to consider the midwife's role as co-ordinator of care for pregnant women who have undergone bariatric surgery. It outlines the most common bariatric procedures and specific considerations, including nutritional supplementation required when providing care to women in the antenatal and postnatal period

The Effect of 20 Hz versus 1 Hz Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Motor Dysfunction in Parkinson’s Disease: Which Is More Beneficial?

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that both high and low frequency rTMS may have therapeutic effects on motor performance of Parkinson's disease. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to conduct the first direct comparison of the two approaches. METHODS: 52 PD patients were randomly classified into two groups. The first group received 20 Hz and the 2nd group received 1 Hz rTMS with a total of 2000 pulses over M1of each hemisphere for ten days. Effects were assessed with the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part III (UPDRS), Instrumental Activity of Daily Living (IADL), and a self-assessment score (SA) before, after the last session, and one month later. Cortical excitability was measured before and after the end of sessions. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement on all rating scales after either 1 Hz or 20 Hz rTMS, but the effect persisted for longer after 20 Hz (treatment X time interaction for UPDRS and IADL (P = 0.075 and 0.04, respectively). Neither treatment affected motor thresholds, but 20 Hz rTMS increased MEP amplitude and the duration of transcallosal inhibition. In an exploratory analysis, each group was subdivided into akinetic-rigid and tremor dominant subgroups and the effects of 1 Hz and 20 Hz treatment recalculated. There was weak evidence that patients with an akinetic-rigid presentation may respond better than those with predominant tremor. CONCLUSION: Both 20 Hz and 1 Hz rTMS improve motor function in PD, but 20 Hz rTMS is more effective

Identifying Immunological and Clinical Predictors of COVID-19 Severity and Sequelae by Mathematical Modeling

Since its emergence as a pandemic in March 2020, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outcome has been explored via several predictive models, using specific clinical or biochemical parameters. In the current study, we developed an integrative non-linear predictive model of COVID-19 outcome, using clinical, biochemical, immunological, and radiological data of patients with different disease severities. Initially, the immunological signature of the disease was investigated through transcriptomics analysis of nasopharyngeal swab samples of patients with different COVID-19 severity versus control subjects (exploratory cohort, n=61), identifying significant differential expression of several cytokines. Accordingly, 24 cytokines were validated using a multiplex assay in the serum of COVID-19 patients and control subjects (validation cohort, n=77). Predictors of severity were Interleukin (IL)-10, Programmed Death-Ligand-1 (PDL-1), Tumor necrosis factors-α, absolute neutrophil count, C-reactive protein, lactate dehydrogenase, blood urea nitrogen, and ferritin; with high predictive efficacy (AUC=0.93 and 0.98 using ROC analysis of the predictive capacity of cytokines and biochemical markers, respectively). Increased IL-6 and granzyme B were found to predict liver injury in COVID-19 patients, whereas interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), IL-1 receptor-a (IL-1Ra) and PD-L1 were predictors of remarkable radiological findings. The model revealed consistent elevation of IL-15 and IL-10 in severe cases. Combining basic biochemical and radiological investigations with a limited number of curated cytokines will likely attain accurate predictive value in COVID-19. The model-derived cytokines highlight critical pathways in the pathophysiology of the COVID-19 with insight towards potential therapeutic targets. Our modeling methodology can be implemented using new datasets to identify key players and predict outcomes in new variants of COVID-19

Epidemiology and natural history of central venous access device use and infusion pump function in the NO16966 trial

Background: Central venous access devices in fluoropyrimidine therapy are associated with complications; however, reliable data are lacking regarding their natural history, associated complications and infusion pump performance in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.<p></p> Methods: We assessed device placement, use during treatment, associated clinical outcomes and infusion pump perfomance in the NO16966 trial.<p></p> Results: Device replacement was more common with FOLFOX-4 (5-fluorouracil (5-FU)+oxaliplatin) than XELOX (capecitabine+oxaliplatin) (14.1% vs 5.1%). Baseline device-associated events and post-baseline removal-/placement-related events occurred more frequently with FOLFOX-4 than XELOX (11.5% vs 2.4% and 8.5% vs 2.1%). Pump malfunctions, primarily infusion accelerations in 16% of patients, occurred within 1.6–4.3% of cycles. Fluoropyrimidine-associated grade 3/4 toxicity was increased in FOLFOX-4-treated patients experiencing a malfunction compared with those who did not (97 out of 155 vs 452 out of 825 patients), predominantly with increased grade 3/4 neutropenia (53.5% vs 39.8%). Febrile neutropenia rates were comparable between patient cohorts±malfunction. Efficacy outcomes were similar in patient cohorts±malfunction.<p></p> Conclusions: Central venous access device removal or replacement was common and more frequent in patients receiving FOLFOX-4. Pump malfunctions were also common and were associated with increased rates of grade 3/4 haematological adverse events. Oral fluoropyrimidine-based regimens may be preferable to infusional 5-FU based on these findings

Transumbilical Totally Laparoscopic Single-Port Nissen Fundoplication: A New Method of Liver Retraction: The Istanbul Technique

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, had guarded many German scientists of a Jewish descent before the Second World War. Dr. Rudolf Nissen was one of the outstanding surgeons who had served in the Turkish university hospitals. He had created an antireflux procedure which is named after his own name while he was working in our clinic, the CerrahpaAYa Hospital. From a laparoscopic approach, the Nissen fundoplication was the gold standard intervention for the surgical treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Currently, video laparoscopic surgery is evolving quickly with the guidance of new technology. Single-port (SP) laparoscopic transumbilical surgery is one of the newest branches of advanced laparoscopy