Distributions, composition patterns, sources and potential toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) pollution in surface sediments from the Kim Kim River and Segget River, Peninsula Malaysia

This study investigated distributions, composition patterns, sources and potential toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) pollution in surface sediments from the Kim Kim River and Segget River, Peninsular Malaysia. The samples were extracted using Soxhlet extraction, purified using two-step silica gel column chromatography and then analysed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The total PAH concentrations ranged from 95.17 to 361.24 ng g-1 dry weight (dw) and 330.09 to 552.76 ng g-1 dw in surface sediments from the Kim Kim and Segget Rivers, respectively. Source type identification using PAH molecular indices and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) indicated that PAHs were mostly of pyrogenic origin, while in some stations petrogenic sources had a significant portion. A PAH toxicity assessment using sediment quality guidelines (SQGs), mean effect range-median quotient (M-ERM-Q), benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) equivalent concentration and BaP toxicity equivalent quotient (TEQcarc) indicated low probability of toxicity for both the Kim Kim and Segget Rivers. Moreover, the human health risk assessment applying Cancer Riskingestion and Cancer Riskdermal indicated that probabilistic health risk to humans via ingestion and dermal pathways from sediments of the Kim Kim and Segget Rivers can be categorised as low-to-moderate risk

Reliability of hypertrophy of the contralateral testis in prediction of the status of impalpable testis

Background: The hypertrophied testis can predict the status of the impalpable contralateral one. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of contralateral testicular hypertrophy for predicting the presence or absence of impalpable undescended testis (UDT) in Egyptian boys.Patients and methods: This study was carried out on 204 patients with unilateral impalpable UDT who presented to the Pediatric Surgery Department, Al-Azhar University Hospitals, from July 2014 to April 2016. Only 40 patients with unilateral impalpable UDT and hypertrophy of the contralateral testes were included in this study. They were subjected to routine laboratory investigations, ultrasonography measurement of the volume of the hypertrophied testis, and diagnostic laparoscopy for the impalpable intra-abdominal testis (IAT). Both ultrasonography and laparoscopic findings were reported.Results: Out of 204 patients with unilateral impalpable UDT, only 40 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Their ages ranged from 1 to 5 years, with a mean of 2.3±1.18 years. Testicular volume ranged from 0.94 to 6.33 cm3, with amean of 3.12±1.41 cm3. Diagnostic laparoscopy indicated 30 patients with vanishing testis, four patients with low IAT, and three patients with high IAT and three patients with testicular vessels and vas passing internal inguinal ring, where inguinal exploration indicated atrophic testes.Conclusion: Hypertrophied testis can predict the absence of other contralateral impalpable testis when its volume is 1.85 cm3.Keywords: hypertrophy, impalpable undescended testis, laparoscopy, reliabilit

Psychometric Properties of A Draw A Man Test To measure intelligence A Descriptive Study on A Sample of Tartous and Lattakia Children

 This research aims to identify the psychometrics characteristics of the "draw a man test", and placing special standards for its usage in the Syrian environment as well as discovering the differences between the tested sample individuals. According to their sex and age category. To achieve this, the descriptive approach has been followed . where this "draw a man test was applied upon a sample of 1026 child at kindergartens in the cities of tartous and lattakia . the COGAT test was used in order to verify the Criterion – Related validity, and hereafter are the most important results: The "draw a man test " can be used as a valid scale for measuring the intelligence levels in Syria, The test enjoys high levels of reliability which reached 0.96 using the reliability half method and 0,954 using Re-test reliability, The test enjoy high levels of validity ,Special standards were placed for the usage of the "draw a man test" at the kindergartens stage in Syria, There are difference found in the performances between the males and females In favor of females, There are difference found while taking "draw a man test" according to the variable of the different age stages Where the degree increases with the age

Classification of Pomegranate Fruit using Texture Analysis of MR Images

Images obtained by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of Iranian important export cultivar of pomegranate Malase-e-Torsh were analyzed by texture analysis to determine Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) and Pixel Run-Length Matrix (PRLM) parameters. The T2 slices measured at 1.5 T for 4 quality classes of pomegranate semi-ripe, ripe, over-ripe and internal defects classes were analyzed numerically using the software MaZda. To classify pomegranate into different classes, discriminant analysis was conducted using cross-validation method and texture features. Ten GLCM and 5 PRLM features were used in 2 different classifiers. Mean classification accuracy was 95.75 % and 91.28 % for GLCM and PRLM features respectively. By using GLCM and RPLM features, classification accuracy for semi-ripe, over-ripe and internal defects classes was higher when GLCM features were used. Ripe class had higher classification accuracy while PRLM features were used. To improve classification accuracy, combination of GLCM and PRLM features were used. For achieving best classification accuracy, optimum numbers of features were selected based on their contribution to the model. Combination of 7 GLCM and 4 PRLM features resulted in mean accuracy of 98.33 % and the lowest type I and II errors. Especially, type I error in ripe and over-ripe classes were significantly decreased. The classification accuracies were 100, 98.47, 100 and 95 % for semi-ripe, ripe, over-ripe and internal defects classes

Determination of Effect of Platelet Rich Plasma Injection on Improving Pain and Function in Young Healthy Athletes with Isolated Grade 2 or 3 Knee Medial Collateral Ligament Sprains

Background: Knee medial collateral ligament (MCL) sprain is common in athletes, which keeps them away from trainings. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection is used as an adjunct for treatment of musculoskeletal injuries. This study was supposed to define effect of PRP injection on high-grade MCL sprain healing, in comparison to rehabilitation alone.Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 46 healthy athletes with high-grade MCL sprains who came to sports medicine clinic of Taleghani Hospital, Tehran over a one-year period (2017-2018). In first visit injury grade, its location, baseline pain, Lysholm score and joint stability was determined. Participants randomly allocated to 2 groups (n=23), “group A” had 12-week functional rehabilitation and “group B” had the same rehabilitation plus a single PRP injection. At 4-week intervals valgus stress testing, pain and Lysholm scores was reassessed. The scores of 4th, 8th and 12th weeks was compared to the baseline scores.Results: Mean baseline pain score in control and intervention group was 5.09±0.949 and 5.26±0.810 respectively that in the fourth week of study reduced to 1.30±0.765 and 2.43±0.507 (p<0.001). In intervention group, fourth week pain was significantly reduced while stability and Lysholm scores of the groups had no significant difference.Conclusion: PRP injection had a short-term statistically significant pain reduction effect that may assist in faster rehabilitation progress, shorter return to play and less detraining which is crucial to professional athletes

Knowledge, Prevention, and Practice of Heat Strokes Among the Public in United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Background: Heat stroke is a predictable and preventable occurrence. Public awareness of the condition and preventative practices are essential in hot and humid regions. This study aims to assess the level of awareness (knowledge, prevention, and management) of heat stroke among United Arab Emirates (UAE) residents. Methods: This is a survey-based study of knowledge and practices of heat stroke in a random sample of adults (?18 years) in four different cities in the UAE. Each correct answer was equal to one point, and total and average scores were calculated, with the average score used as the cutoff point. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with below-average awareness. Results: A total of 402 people participated in the study, with an average age of 33±12 years, and 48.5% were female. Only 1 person achieved a perfect score, and 0.7%, 10%, and 17.7% achieved above-average scores in knowledge, practices, and management, respectively. Seven percent of participants had never heard of a heat stroke. A third of participants (32%) were unaware that severe heat strokes could lead to death. Males are at a higher risk of having a poor level of knowledge (Odds ratio [OR]=1.65; 95% confidence interval [95%CI]=1.10-2.47). The older the population, the poorer the knowledge of heat stroke was (OR=1.39, 95%CI=1.03–1.89). Conclusion: The results of this study show that a huge proportion of the population in the UAE does not have sufficient knowledge about heat stroke, its prevention, and management. Governmental institutes should increase awareness of heat stroke

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of solar hydrogen generation literature from 2001 to 2014

Solar hydrogen generation is one of the new topics in the field of renewable energy. Recently, the rate of investigation about hydrogen generation is growing dramatically in many countries. Many studies have been done about hydrogen generation from natural resources such as wind, solar, coal etc. In this work we evaluated global scientific production of solar hydrogen generation papers from 2001 to 2014 in any journal of all the subject categories of the Science Citation Index compiled by Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), Philadelphia, USA. Solar hydrogen generation was used as keywords to search the parts of titles, abstracts, or keywords. The published output analysis showed that hydrogen generation from the sun research steadily increased over the past 14 years and the annual paper production in 2013 was about three times 2010-paper production. The number of papers considered in this research is 141 which have been published from 2001 to this date. There are clear distinctions among author keywords used in publications from the five most high-publishing countries such as USA, China, Australia, Germany and India in solar hydrogen studies. In order to evaluate this work quantitative and qualitative analysis methods were used to the development of global scientific production in a specific research field. The analytical results eventually provide several key findings and consider the overview hydrogen production according to the solar hydrogen generation

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of solar hydrogen generation literature from 2001 to 2014

Solar hydrogen generation is one of the new topics in the field of renewable energy. Recently, the rate of investigation about hydrogen generation is growing dramatically in many countries. Many studies have been done about hydrogen generation from natural resources such as wind, solar, coal etc. In this work we evaluated global scientific production of solar hydrogen generation papers from 2001 to 2014 in any journal of all the subject categories of the Science Citation Index compiled by Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), Philadelphia, USA. Solar hydrogen generation was used as keywords to search the parts of titles, abstracts, or keywords. The published output analysis showed that hydrogen generation from the sun research steadily increased over the past 14 years and the annual paper production in 2013 was about three times 2010-paper production. The number of papers considered in this research is 141 which have been published from 2001 to this date. There are clear distinctions among author keywords used in publications from the five most high-publishing countries such as USA, China, Australia, Germany and India in solar hydrogen studies. In order to evaluate this work quantitative and qualitative analysis methods were used to the development of global scientific production in a specific research field. The analytical results eventually provide several key findings and consider the overview hydrogen production according to the solar hydrogen generation

Effects of oral ginkgo biloba extract on pregnancy complicated by asymmetrically intrauterine growth restriction: a double-blinded randomized placebo-controlled trial

Objectives: to evaluate the effect of oral ginkgo biloba extract (GB)) on asymmetrical intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Study Design: A randomized trial conducted at Assiut Women Health on 226 pregnant women with asymmetrical IUGR. The patients randomly received GB extract or placebo for 6 weeks. The main outcome measures were improvement in fetal weight and feto-maternal blood flow. The data were analyzed by Student’s t- test and chi-squared tests. Result: There was a significant increase in the estimated fetal weight in the GB group (3047+ 127 gm) when compared to the placebo group (2734+ 127 gm) (p= Conclusions: GB extract improves placental functions, Doppler indices and fetal weight in pregnancies complicated with IUGR fetuses

Effects of oral ginkgo biloba extract on pregnancy complicated by asymmetrically intrauterine growth restriction: a double-blinded randomized placebo-controlled trial

Objectives: to evaluate the effect of oral ginkgo biloba extract (GB)) on asymmetrical intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Study Design: A randomized trial conducted at Assiut Women Health on 226 pregnant women with asymmetrical IUGR. The patients randomly received GB extract or placebo for 6 weeks. The main outcome measures were improvement in fetal weight and feto-maternal blood flow. The data were analyzed by Student’s t- test and chi-squared tests. Result: There was a significant increase in the estimated fetal weight in the GB group (3047+ 127 gm) when compared to the placebo group (2734+ 127 gm) (p= Conclusions: GB extract improves placental functions, Doppler indices and fetal weight in pregnancies complicated with IUGR fetuses