The interpretation of Islamic art and architecture of Cairo in European paintings in the 19th century

After the French expedition to Egypt in 1798, travelers tempted to discover this newly revealed land. European orientalist painters, when in Cairo, encountered an exotic culture. They documented Islamic architecture, as well as religious and social traditions and rituals. Their paintings became as tableaux vivants such as the oriental settings in universal fairs in the 19th century. These painters could be classified into two different groups. On the one hand, a group of painters focused on the documentation of Islamic monuments with their decorative and architectural features. Most of these European painters resided in Egypt for many years, and sometimes worked for the state. They compiled their paintings in volumes such as the collection of Egypt and Nubia by David Roberts, L’art arabe by Prisse d’Avennes, Architecture arabe, ou, monuments du Caire by Pascal Coste and The Illustrations of Cairo by Robert Hay. On the other hand, another group of painters represented religious and social traditions of the Muslims they encountered in Cairo. Local inhabitants became the focal point in the paintings of this group. They are embedded into an Islamic setting. This latter was used to convince the Western audience with their perception of the Oriental lifestyle, or sometimes was modified to fit the represented portraits. Some of the painters of this group had commonly a short stay in Egypt. Usually, their paintings were not compiled in volumes. They aimed to display their paintings for sale in le Salon de Paris and the Royal Academy; thus, they were exhibited separately. Among them are Jean-Léon Gérôme, John Frederick Lewis, Henri-Léopold Lévy and Le Comte du Nouy

Altered expression of different GalNAc‑transferases is associated with disease progression and poor prognosis in women with high-grade serous ovarian cancer

Deposited from Open Access Butto

Edutaining Our Children

An audio documentary on edutainment, education and entertainment combined, featuring three different perspectives from Yasmeen Nasser, a brand manager at Kidzania Cairo; Jaime Mendoza, a psychology professor at AUC; and Leila Waleed, a 10 year-old participant of edutainment. This audio documentary provides a different outlook on the new notion of edutainment. It features different opinions from experts, both for and against, as well as children. Tune in for more information on the Mexican entity, Kidzania, that is giving children the opportunity to learn what the real world is like, while also having fun

IMRT and Rotational IMRT (mARC) Using Flat and Unflat Photon Beams

For more than 50 years attening filters have been inserted into the beam path oflinacs to produce a uniform energy fluence distribution of the photon beam and make it suitable for clinical use. Recently, linacs without flattening fifilter (Flattening FilterFree - FFF) are increasingly used in radiotherapy because of its benefifits, e.g. high dose rate (2000 MU/min), reduced scattered and leakage radiation. Hypofractionated radiotherapy is interested in the high dose rate of FFF beams to shorten the treatment delivery time (TDT) especially the FFF beams have acceptable flatness at small fifieldsizes. Radiotherapy techniques that deliver intensity-modulated beams (IMBs), e.g.Tomotherapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), deal with the non-uniformity of the FFF beam profifile and produce homogeneous dose to the target as FF beams do. Siemens modified the Artiste linac in order to enable photon beam delivery with and without a flattening fifilter. The VMAT version developed by Siemens for Artiste linacs as a novel radiation technique is a modulated arc therapy (mARC). mARC technique is available with single, double and multiple complete or partial arcs. The aims of the current study were the determination of the main characteristics of 7 MV and 11 MV FFF photon beams in comparison with their corresponding 6 MV and 10 MV FF photon beams from Artiste digital linacs. Furthermore, IMRT planning comparisons using FF and FFF photon beams were performed using an Oncentra planning system. The performance of various mARC techniques were estimated and compared with Step and Shoot (S&S) IMRT by using a RayStation planning system. The mARC plans created by FF and FFF beams were evaluated to know which technique is the best. All the treatment plans were created for simple and complex shaped target volumes. The treatment plans are compared using two parameters - plan quality and treatment effi ciency. In addition to the planning study, the plan quality assurance of IMRT and mARC plans were performed using two difffferent volumetric quality assurance devices, Delta4 and Octavius 4D. Removal of the flattening fifilter causes changes in the dosimetric features of photon beams. IMRT plans with and without flattening fifilter were clinically acceptable where both plans have similar quality. In comparison with IMRT-FF, IMRT-FFF plansrequire more MUs and for some clinical cases require longer TDT. mARC technique can deliver dose distributions that are comparable to S&S-IMRT and could be an alternative with a potential to improve the effi ciency of the IMRT treatment delivery.:Abstract Abbreviation list 1 Introduction 2 Theory 2.1 Linac head configuration 2.2 Flattening fifilter disadvantages 2.3 Flattening fifilter free beams 2.4 Intensity modulated radiation therapy 2.5 Multi leaf collimator 2.6 Step and shoot IMRT 2.7 Dynamic delivery 2.8 Intensity modulated arc therapy 2.9 Modulated arc therapy 2.10 Verification of IMRT and mARC treatment plans 3 Materials and Methods 3.1 Materials 3.1.1 Linear accelerator 3.1.2 Dosimetric tools 3.1.3 Dosimetric verification systems 3.1.4 Treatment planning systems 3.2 Methods 3.2.1 Dosimetric parameters of FF and FFF beams 3.2.2 Comparison of IMRT-FF and IMRT-FFF 3.2.3 mARC planning study 3.2.4 Planning comparison parameters 3.2.5 Dosimetric verification 4 Results 4.1 Dosimetric characteristics of FF and FFF beams 4.1.1 Dose rate 4.1.2 Dose profile 4.1.3 Depth dose curve 4.1.4 Dose in buildup region 4.2 Comparison of IMRT-FF and IMRT-FFF 4.2.1 Plan quality 4.2.2Treatment e ciency 4.3 mARC 4.3.1 Final gantry spacing (F.G.S) 4.3.2 mARC and IMRT 4.3.3 Comparison of mARC 10 MV FF and 11 MV FFF plans 4.3.4 Plan verifications 5 Discussion 5.1 Dosimetric parameters of FF and FFF beams 5.2 IMRT-FF and IMRT-FFF 5.3 mARC Summary Bibliography Selbst\u7fandigkeitserkl\u7farung Curriculum Vitae Acknowledgemen

Phytoremediation and rhizosphere manipulation using different amendments

In two pot experiments using two different crop ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and two flax (Linum usitatissimum) varieties Viola and Elise, ryegrass decreased in the pool of heavy metals compared with bare soil using EDTA as extractant. NH4+ decreased the soil pH, increased EDTA-extractable Zn and increased the Zn uptake. Lime addition increased the pH and depressed Zn uptake. The pool of extractable EDTA was not changed by growing both of the flax varieties. Lime increased EDTA-extractable Cu and Pb significantly, but decreased the Zn, and pH increased in this order NH4+NH4++lime>NH4+>NO3-. Ammonium decreased the pH more than other treatments. In agar using Bromocresol purple indicator NH4+ increased the pH in the rhizosphere of different plants. With two different initial pH treatments (7 and 3.2) the NH4_ decreased the pH in the rhizosphere at high initial pH 7 and maintained the low pH at initial pH 3.2 to 4 against the buffer capacity. At different initial pH 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 the ammonium decreased the high pH and maintained the low pH, but NO3- had no effect on the pH. Ammonium increased the toxicity of Zn due to pH decreases. There was no effect of both nitrogen sources NH4+ or NO3- on rhizosphere pH when applied as a foliar application. These indicated that the NH4+ can decrease the pH in the rhizosphere of plants and could play an important role in manipulation of the rhizosphere bioavailability of heavy metals. Toxicity of the three metals is Cu>Pb>Zn in this order and the crops tolerance is following this order pea>flax>barley. An agar-Hoagland nutrient solution contaminated with two soils, sewage treated soil (SBS) and galena soil (G), was used with flax as a test crop. The ammonium treatment lowered the pH in both soils, but with galena treated greater than SBS soil, this is attributed to the buffering capacity of the SBS soil. Averaged over all the concentrations the NF4+ treatments resulted in higher Zn shoot content that NO3- treatment, while in Cu shoot content nitrate was more than ammonium. The transfer factor of lead with ammonium treatment was greater than nitrate treatments at the 0.1 and 0.25% galena and the transfer factor of the Zn and Pb more than Cu in all treatments. At high initial pH 8 and high concentration of Zn and Cu barley grew well and this is attributed to immobilisation of Zn and Cu compared with low pH 5 and 6.5 where the barley plant did not survive. Ammonium lowered the high pH 8 and caused lower biomass production of barley than nitrate

Role of aberrant glycosylation in ovarian cancer dissemination

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy, and understanding the molecular changes associated with EOC etiology could lead to the identification of novel targets for more effective therapeutic interventions. Glycosylation represents a post-translational modification (PTM) of proteins playing a major role in various cellular functions. Moreover, glycosylation participates in major pathobiological events during tumor progression, as aberrant expression of glycan structures has been shown to contribute in alterations of specific cellular onco-phenotypes, including tumor cell proliferation, migration and invasion. This review aims to describe what is currently known about aberrant glycosylation in EOC, and more specifically, the contribution of aberrant O-linked glycosylation in EOC progression. We also discuss our findings about the altered GALNT3 overexpression in EOC and its involvement in disease dissemination through aberrant mucin O-glycosylation, as well as the potential to exploit the role of GALNT3 in understanding the general mechanisms of abnormal glycosylation implicated in EOC spreading. Further analyses in cancer glycobiology could significantly enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cancer progression, including EOC dissemination, and could lead to the identification of novel biomarkers/therapeutic targets for better management of this deadly disease.Biomedical Reviews 2014; 25: 83-92