Hypertrophic nonunion of the ulna in a child: treatment with an elastic stable intramedullary nail without bone graft

Nonunion following diaphyseal forearm fracture is an uncommon complication in children. Compression plate fixation with bone grafting has been the standard method to treat this complication. We report a case of hypertrophic nonunion of the ulna in a child who was treated surgically using an elastic stable intramedullary nail (ESIN) without bone grafting. The nonunion healed 4 months after surgery

The need for UN climate change policy reformation

This paper endeavours to understand the climate change phenomenon and identify measures taken to contain it. It discusses global warming causes and consequences and assesses effectiveness of the United Nations (UN) polices following failure of the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In pursuing this course of action, this paper utilizes data collected from East Africa region. Key issues discussed in the paper include findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the role of urbanization in global warming as cities emit most of greenhouse gases. Special reference is made to developing cities which are growing extremely fast and will consume more energy in future. They are becoming economic engines and adopting industrialization as an economic model while developed cities are experiencing de-industrialization. Developing cities have neither the ability to adopt green technology nor the capacity to establish large capacity public transport systems to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. It is evident that UN efforts to combat climate change are not effective because past experience shows that CO2 generation cuts weren’t near enough. The recent Paris Agreement may restore a faith in UN process if implemented but doesn’t reduce temperatures as needed unless all drivers of climate variability are considered, particularly the abortive role of developing cities. The UN Programme appears to be focusing on attaining urban resilience rather than targeting grassroots causes. Urbane-bias global policies drive the rural population to leave their land and flood cities while over-usage of natural resources by the rich is left unchecked. A new UN strategy making the countryside a more appealing place to live in and work whilst normalising urban growth is needed as well as mobilizing local leaders who enjoy more autonomy to enact regulations. It should also alleviate poverty, deter excessive practices and put science and technology under community control

Simulation Methods for Generation Planning of Electric Utility Systems with Intermittent Power Sources

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Revitalization of Greater Khartoum Urban Transportation System

Khartoum metropolis depends on a single-modal transport – vehicular road system. Mass transport modes are completely absent making Khartoum unable to meet citizens’ mobility demand. Thus passengers facing long time delays in transport stations. Slow traffic speeds and severe traffic jams result in long trip periods, high traffic accidents rates and high suspended particulate concentrations accumulating in the air. This situation is attributed to: Use of small-sized vehicles running on limited paved road network. • Adoption of extensive grid iron planning patterns lacking multi-grade intersections. • Eroded public transport fleet and extremely overcrowded urban centres. Negligence of public transport systems integration into landuse plans and urban structure restructuring difficulty crippled public transport revitalisation for no space is left for mass transport infrastructure construction. Moreover, transport systems’ operation mismanagement and focus on economic development increased pressure on transport systems. This paper endeavours to point out the deficiencies in public transport services and proposes the areas of reformation. To revitalize urban transport, Khartoum main transport infrastructures must be efficiently operated by establishment of a talented transport authority supported by strong legislations and popular authorization and able to adopt sustainable mobility solutions to meet current and future traffic demands by: Rehabilitating and expanding the existing infrastructures. • Deploying large-capacity multimodal transport systems including river transport, bus rapid transit systems, tramways and metropolitan railways to connect Khartoum polycentric and its sprawling outward growth. • Mitigating environmental pollution and enforcing stringent road safety measures. • Reviewing traffic laws to tighten traffic regulations and control traffic flows. Investment priority should be given to river transport. It is economically feasible, has large carrying capacity and safe and almost accident free. Furthermore, Nile Rivers dominate the metropolis, dictate urban configuration, direct urban growth, impose urban expansions patterns and influence spatial organization

Changes in Physico-Chemical Quality and Volatile Compounds of Orange-Carrot Juice Blends During storage

The present study aimed to determine the changes in physico-chemical parameters (pH, total soluble solids “TSS”, total acidity, vitamin C, total carotene, total phenolic and antioxidant activity) as well as sensory evaluation and volatile constituents of the orange juice samples mixed with carrot juice at ratios (1:3, 3:1 and 1:1). While, the polyphenol content was determined using Folin–Ciocalteu, antioxidant activity was measured using two in vitro assays 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH0) and metal chelating assays. While, the acidity increased, total carotene and pH of the juice decreased during the storage period. There were no significant changes in total phenolics throughout the storage period at the three blending ratios. A slight increase in antioxidant capacity during the storage period had been observed. The headspace volatiles of fresh orange and carrot juices as well as fresh and stored blend juice with ratio (1:3) for 14 days at refrigerator were collected and subjected to Gas chromatography (GC) and Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometery (GC-MS) analysis. A total of 26 volatile compounds were identified in samples of fresh orange and carrot juices as well as fresh and stored blend including 7 alcohols, 4 aldehydes, 9 monoterpene hydrocarbon and 6 esters. Limonene was the one most abundant monoterpene, representing in orange, carrot, fresh and stored blend 47.38, 42.37, 39.24 and 37.25%, respectively. Keywords: Orange- carrot juice, Blend, Antioxidant, Volatile compound

Comparative study of the effect of topical minoxidil 5% versus combined fractional CO2 laser and topical minoxidil 5% in treatment of male androgenetic alopecia

Background: Male androgenetic alopecia (MAA) is the most common hair problem among men. Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is a non-scarring progressive miniaturization of the hair follicle with a usual characteristic pattern of distribution in genetically predisposed men and women. Objective: To compare between the efficacy of topical minoxidil 5% alone and combined topical minoxidil 5% and fractional laser in treatment of male androgenic alopecia and detection of any side effects occurring with each line of treatment. Patients and Methods: This prospective randomized comparative controlled study was conducted for one year on 40 patients with male androgenic alopecia attending to out Patient Clinic of Dermatology, Andrology and STDs Department, Mansoura University Hospitals. Patients were classified into two groups: Group A received minoxidil alone (minoxidil group) and group B where patients received minoxidil plus fractional CO2 laser.Results: In group A and B, there was a statistically significant improvement between the clinical assessment scale at baseline and after 1 month (p<0.001). Also, there was a statistically significant improvement between the clinical assessment scale after 1 month and after 3 months (p=0.002). In group A, there was a statistically significant improvement between the clinical assessment scale at baseline and after 1 month, however, there was no statistically significant improvement between the clinical assessment scale after 1 month and after 3 months. In group B, there was a statistically significant improvement between the clinical assessment scale at baseline and after 1 month, however, also, there was a statistically significant improvement between the clinical assessment scale after 1 month and after 3 months. Conclusion: Our study revealed the superiority of combination therapy, using a fractional laser and 5% minoxidil, over 5% minoxidil alone, for the treatment of male AGA, with no serious adverse effects of treatment identified

Massive Choice, Ample Tasks (MaChAmp): A Toolkit for Multi-task Learning in NLP

Transfer learning, particularly approaches that combine multi-task learning with pre-trained contextualized embeddings and fine-tuning, have advanced the field of Natural Language Processing tremendously in recent years. In this paper we present MaChAmp, a toolkit for easy fine-tuning of contextualized embeddings in multi-task settings. The benefits of MaChAmp are its flexible configuration options, and the support of a variety of natural language processing tasks in a uniform toolkit, from text classification and sequence labeling to dependency parsing, masked language modeling, and text generation.Comment: https://machamp-nlp.github.io

Attenuation of cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity in rats using zerumbone.

Zerumbone is a natural compound isolated from the fresh rhizomes of Zingiber zerumbet. This bioactive compound has shown a chemo-preventive, anti-inflammatory and free radical scavenging activities. This study examines, the effect of zerumbone on the extent of tissue damage in Cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. The rats received a single dose injection of 45 mg kg-1 Cisplatin. Other groups of rats received zerumbone (100 and 200 mg kg-1), corn oil or the vehicle (DMSO) intraperitoneally for 4 days prior to Cisplatin injections. All animals were decapitated 16 h after Cisplatin injection. Trunk blood was collected and analyzed for alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase and gama-glutamyl transferase. Liver tissue was kept for the quantification of malondialdehyde and glutathione levels. Histopathological investigations were carried out and severity of lesions was scored to obtain quantitative data. This study revealed that zerumbone reduced the extent of liver damage and preserved liver functions as proved by microscopic observations and lesion scoring. Increase in liver MDA levels with a simultaneous reduction in GSH in the Cisplatin 45 mg kg-1 group was attenuated by zerumbone treatment (p<0.05). Zerumbone is beneficial in Cisplatin-induced liver dysfunction and organ damage in rats via prevention of lipid peroxidation and preservation of antioxidant glutathione

In Vitro Ultramorphological Assessment of Apoptosis Induced by Zerumbone on (HeLa)

Zerumbone (ZER), a potential anticancer compound, isolated from the fresh rhizomes of Zingiber zerumbet. In this investigation, the cytotoxic properties of ZER were evaluated, on cancer cells of human cervix (HeLa), breast and ovary, and normal cells of Chinese Hamster ovary, using MTT assay. Apoptogenic effects of ZER on HeLa were studied using fluorescence microscopy (AO/PI double staining), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), and colorimetric assay of the apoptosis promoter enzyme, caspase-3. The results of MTT assay showed that ZER has less effect on normal cells compared to cancer cells. The lowest IC50 of ZER was observed on HeLa cells. Cytological observations showed nuclear and chromatin condensation, cell shrinkage, multinucleation, abnormalities of mitochondrial cristae, membrane blebbing, holes, cytoplasmic extrusions and formation of apoptotic bodies as confirmed collectively by double staining of AO/PI, SEM and TEM. Statistical analysis (two-tailed t-test) of differential counting of 200 cells under fluorescence microscope revealed significant difference in apoptotic cells populations between treated and untreated HeLa cells. In addition, ZER has increased the cellular level of caspase-3 on the treated HeLa cells. It could be concluded that ZER was able to produce distinctive morphological features of cell death that corresponds to apoptosis

Oncolysis of breast, liver and leukemia cancer cells using ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of goniothalamus umbrosus.

This current study, aims to investigate the ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of Goniothalamus umbrosus for their anticancer effects on several human cancer cells namely, the MCF-7 breast cancer, HT-29 colon cancer and CEM-ss leukemia cell lines using a 3 days MTT (3-(4 and 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2 and 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay. Morphological changes and probable mode of cancer cell death induced by bioactive G. umbrosus extract were examined. DNA laddering assay was performed to assess endo-nucleosomal fragmentation. The MTT assay results revealed that only the ethyl acetate extract has anticancer effects on human breast cancer cells (MCF-7). Half maximal Inhibitory Concentration (IC50) of the ethyl acetate extract was found to be 24.5±0.12 μg mL-1. Both inverted and fluorescence microscopic studies demonstrated that treated MCF-7 breast cancer cells using IC50 of the extract displayed a number of typical morphological changes. Appearance of membrane blebs, DNA condensation and fragmentation are significant signs of apoptosis, were observed. The above findings suggested that the ethyl acetate extract of Goniothalamus umbrosus has potential therapeutic effect towards human breast cancer cells that requires further investigations in future