First Principles Calculation of Field Emission from Nanostructures using Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory: a Simplified Approach

We introduce a new simplified method for computing the electron field emission current in short carbon nanotubes using ab-initio computation in periodic simulation cells. We computed the evolution of the wave functions using Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory, where we have utilized the Crank-Nicholson propagator. We found that in pristine carbon nanotubes, the emitted charge tends to emerge mostly from electrons that are concentrated at the nanotube tip region. The charge beam concentrates into specific channel structures, showing the utility of carbon nanotubes in precision emission applications.Comment: Submitted to Physica

Diagnostic performance of two chromogenic media for Streptococcus agalactiae screening in pregnant women.

Background: Group β Streptococcus (GBS) colonization among pregnant females is common and is regarded as a substantial cause of neonatal diseases if not treated properly. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of two chromogenic media (Granada agar and ChromID StreptoB agar) for screening of GBS in pregnant women between 35-37 weeks of gestation. In addition, we determined their susceptibility profile for guiding the antimicrobial prophylaxis for cases of GBS colonized pregnant women. Method: This study included 112 vagino-rectal swabs collected in duplicates from 112 pregnant women between 34-37 weeks of gestation. All swabs were incubated in enrichment broth for 18 hours followed by subculture on blood agar, ChromID strepto B, and Granada agar. Growth of confirmed GBS isolate was subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) to penicillin, vancomycin, clindamycin, erythromycin, and cefotaxime by disc diffusion method. Results: The frequency rate of GBS among Egyptian pregnant females was (25.89%). Granada agar was the most accurate among the tested media (98.21%) versus ChromID (96.4%). We observed a high resistant rate for all the tested antibiotics. Conclusion: The examined chromogenic media showed promising results and proved to have the potential to be implemented as a screening method for GBS in pregnant women. Regarding the antibiotics’ resistance pattern, our results can be an indicator that it is no longer suitable to use the antibiotics empirically without testing. As antibiotic treatment failure is likely, it became inevitable to perform AST before starting any antibiotic to identify the most appropriate treatment for colonized pregnant women

Middle Eastern Women between Oppression and Resistance: Case Studies of Iraqi, Palestinian and Kurdish Women of Turkey

Wars and conflicts have had a profound impact on women and gender in the Middle East. In this article, we aim to highlight the various ways in which the ongoing oppression and conflict in the Middle East shape the responses of the Iraqi, Palestinian and Kurdish women of Turkey and the object of their struggles. We go beyond the ‘Orientalist’ discourse, which depicts Middle Eastern women in armed conflicts as solely vulnerable and helpless victims, to discuss the resisting roles played by the Iraqi, Palestinian and Kurdish women of Turkey. Middle Eastern women have played and continue to play major roles in responding to society, gender and state oppression. While the Iraqi women in this study voice their resistance through conventional actions and wide civil-society activism that transcends the local level, the Palestinian women engage in unconventional unarmed or peaceful resistance through Sumud and cultural resistance as well as armed/non-peaceful acts of resistance. Finally, in the face of Turkish state oppression, the Kurdish women of Turkey also deploy non-peaceful resistance through becoming active fighters and engaging leadership positions in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party

Evaluation of peripheral lymphocyte subsets' alteration and IL6 serum level correlated with Severity and outcome in Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapid spread worldwide and its pathogenesis is still not well understood. It's critical to identify the key immune inflammatory markers that may be correlated with COVID-19 severity. This study aimed to study the association of the peripheral lymphocyte subsets alteration and IL-6 serum level with disease severity and outcome in COVID-19. Methods: Samples from 30 COVID-19 patients were collected; one is EDTA anticoagulated for flowcytometric analysis of different lymphocyte subsets and the other for Interleukin-6 (IL6) serum level assessed by ELISA technique. Results: Absolute lymphocytic count (0.9 (0.5 - 1.4)× 103/µL) , CD4+ T cells (217 (135.6 - 445.5) cells/µL) , CD8+ T cells (160 (112 - 338) cells/µL) and natural killer (NK) cells (33.3 (18.2 - 99.5) cells/µL)  were significantly reduced in severe COVID-19 patients with significantly elevated IL-6 serum levels 90 (70-120) (pg/mL) in severe patients. Lower T lymphocytes and NK subset counts with higher IL-6 levels were significantly associated with higher mortality. However, B cell count was not associated with severity or mortality. Il-6 levels, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells counts were considered best predictors of disease severity and mortality according to ROC curve analysis (with AUC 0.842, 0.884 and 0.773 respectively). Conclusion:Peripheral lymphocyte subsets as CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells and NK cells were significantly reduced in severe COVID-19 patients. CD4+ T cell count was the most significant biomarker for disease severity .Serum IL-6 levels were higher in severe illness. So, IL-6 can serve as a significant predictor of COVID-19 severity. As regard mortality and relation with lymphocytic count and lymphocytic subsets, total lymphocytic count and all T lymphocyte subsets CD4+, CD8+ and CD56+ cells count can be used as a significant predictor of death in COVID-19 patients. However, CD19+ cells counts had no relation with death

Comparison Between (311–312 nm) Narrow Band Ultraviolet-B Phototherapy and (308 nm) Monochromatic Excimer Light Phototherapy in Treatment of Vitiligo: A Histopathological Study

Introduction: Recently, the monochromatic excimer light (MEL) of 308 nm wavelength has shown some advantages in comparison to narrow band ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) for the treatment of vitiligo. To histopathologically compare the early effects of NB-UVB and 308-nm MEL phototherapy on vitiliginous patches using H&E and HMB-45.Methods: Thirty subjects with non-segmental vitiligo lesions were treated twice a week for 6 weeks with 308-nm MEL, while NB-UVB was used to treat lesions contra laterally. Skin biopsies were taken from lesional areas before and after 6 weeks of treatment by either modality. It was prepared for light microscopy and immunohistochemical study (HMB-45). This study was performed as a clinical trial (Trial registration: http://www.pactr.org; Identifier: PACTR201705002279419)Results: All lesions before treatment had labeling index (number of pigmented cells/non-pigmented cells) of 0.0 (0%). After treatment the LI for MEL was 4.2 ± 2.6, while for NB-UVB LI it was 0.3 ± 0.7. MEL showed higher statistical significance regarding increase of basal pigmented cells, and significant decrease in vacuolated keratinocytes and basal membrane thickness than NB-UVB.Conclusion: Although NB-UVB is considered as treatment of choice for vitiligo, MEL is acknowledged as an effective treatment modality for vitiliginous lesions that induces more repigmentation than NB-UVB, and more rapidly, as confirmed by our study

Detection of rhinovirus-associated asthma exacerbations using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction in Egyptian children

Background: Acute exacerbations of asthma are the leading cause of emergency department visits in pediatric patients. The development of sensitive diagnostic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based techniques permitted demonstration of an already clinically suspected association between common viral respiratory infections and asthma exacerbations. Respiratory viruses have been identified in 80–85% of exacerbations in school-aged children, with human rhinoviruses (HRVs) being the most frequently detected. A recently identified HRV genotype, HRV-C, is circulating worldwide and is an important cause of febrile wheeze and asthmatic exacerbations in children requiring hospitalization.Objectives: This study aimed to detect HRV- induced asthma exacerbations (including the new HRV-C genotype) among a group of Egyptian children. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 31 asthmatic children in exacerbations in the period from September 2014 till October 2015. Patients were recruited from the emergency department and chest clinic, Children's hospital, Ain Shams University. Sputum (for children ≥7years) and nasopharyngeal aspirates (for infants and children<7years) were collected for one-step, real-time pan Rhinovirus reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. One step RT-PCR was done to detect Rhinovirus C among positive cases.Results: This study included 31 asthmatic children in exacerbations. They were 15 males (48.4%) and 16 females (51.6%). Their ages ranged from 7 months to 12 years with a mean and SD of (4.47 ± 3.15) years. Eight (25.8%) of the studied patients showed positive Rhinovirus RT-PCR test and 4 (50%) of the HRV positive patients were of the Rhinovirus C genotype (12.9% of the total population). HRV positive patients showed higher percentage of positive family history of bronchial asthma (p=0.002), higher mean values of respiratory rate (p=0.001) and temperature (p=0.001), but lower mean value of oxygen saturation (p =0.011). There were statistically significant differences regarding the exacerbation severity (p=0.024) and outcome (p=0.048) between HRV positive and negative patients.Conclusion: HRVs are important triggers of asthma exacerbations among Egyptian children. The newly described HRV-C genotype accounts for a significant proportion of HRV- associated asthma exacerbations. Further studies on a larger scale are needed for HRV-C and other possibly undiscovered HRV genotypes.Keywords: Rhinovirus, Rhinovirus C genotype, asthma exacerbation, real time RT-PC

Clinical characteristics and precipitating factor(s) associated with diabetic ketoacidosis presentation in children with newly diagnosed diabetes

Background. To compare the demographic and clinical characteristics of children with newly clinically diagnosed type 1 diabetes (T1DM) who presented with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) versus non DKA presentation and to identify the precipitating factor(s) related to progression to DKA. Methods. Over a 3 month period, 99 patients newly diagnosed with T1DM were recruited from Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolism Pediatric Unit (DEMPU), Cairo University, with 53 patients presented with DKA and 46 were non DKA. Results. Polyuria, polydipsia, weight loss, polyphagia and nocturia were the most common symptoms preceding the diagnosis among the whole study group (93.8%, 92% and 80.8%, 76.8%, 46.5 % respectively) with no difference between DKA and non DKA groups. Delayed diagnosis occurred in 98.1% and 58.7% of DKA and non DKA groups respectively. In the DKA group the diagnosis of diabetes was missed in 69.8% and in 28.3% the initiation of insulin therapy was delayed despite diagnosis. Multivariate analysis performed to identify the most significant precipitating factor(s) associated with the development of DKA at diabetes diagnosis showed that delayed start of insulin therapy was the most significant factor (OR = 1.267, P value = 0.023). Conclusion. The prevalence of DKA is high among Egyptianchildren at diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. It is not only caused by misdiagnosis and mismanagement of diabetes, but also delayed initiation of insulin therapy in those diagnosed. This highlights the importance of increasing awareness concerning clinical features of diabetes in children and the urgency of insulin therapy among primary health care professionals and the community

Thyroid Hormone Indices in Computer Workers with Emphasis on the Role of Zinc Supplementation

AIM: This study aimed to investigate the effects of computer monitor-emitted radiation on thyroid hormones and the possible protective role of zinc supplementation.MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included three groups. The first group (group B) consisted of 42 computer workers. This group was given Zinc supplementation in the form of one tablet daily for eight weeks. The second group (group A) comprised the same 42 computer workers after zinc supplementation. A group of 63 subjects whose job does not entail computer use was recruited as a control Group (Group C). All participants filled a questionnaire including detailed medical and occupational histories. They were subjected to full clinical examination. Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4) and zinc levels were measured in all participants. RESULTS: TSH, FT3, FT4 and zinc concentrations were decreased significantly in group B relative to group C. In group A, all tested parameters were improved when compared with group B. The obtained results revealed that radiation emitted from computers led to changes in TSH and thyroid hormones (FT3 and FT4) in the workers. CONCLUSION: Improvement after supplementation suggests that zinc can ameliorate hazards of such radiation on thyroid hormone indices

Serum Amyloid A Level in Egyptian Children with Familial Mediterranean Fever

Background and Objectives. SAA is an acute-phase reactant detected during an FMF attack or other inflammatory conditions. High SAA levels may increase the risk of amyloidosis. The aim of the study is to measure the serum amyloid A (SAA) level in a group of Egyptian children with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) and study its various correlates, if any. Methods. The study enrolled seventy-one children with FMF. Results. SAA level was high in 78.9% of the studied patients with a mean of 81.62±31.6 mg/L, and CRP was positive in 31% of patients. There was no significant releation between SAA level and any demographic or clinical manifestation. High SAA was more frequent in V726A allele (16.9%) followed by M694V allele (12.3%). Elevated SAA levels were more frequent in patients on low colchicine doses. Forty-five percent (45%) of patients have low adherence to colchicine therapy. Interpretation and Conclusion. High SAA levels were detected two weeks after last FMF attack in a large percentage of Egyptian FMF children. This indicates that subclinical inflammation continues during attack-free periods, and SAA could be used as a marker of it