Soil-raft foundation-structure interaction effects on seismic performance of multi-story MRF buildings

Recent studies show that the effects of Soil Structure Interaction (SSI) may be detrimental to the seismic response of structure and neglecting SSI in analysis may lead to un-conservative design. Despite this, the conventional design procedure usually involves assumption of fixity at the base of foundation neglecting the flexibility of the foundation, the compressibility of soil mass and consequently the effect of foundation settlement on further redistribution of bending moment and shear force demands. The effects of SSI are analyzed for typical multi-story building resting on raft foundation. Three methods of analysis are used for seismic demands evaluation of the target moment resistant frame buildings: equivalent static load (ESL); response spectrum (RS) methods and nonlinear time history (TH) analysis with suit of nine time history records. Three-dimensional Finite Element (FE) model is constructed to analyze the effects of different soil conditions and number of stories on the vibration characteristics and seismic response demands of building structures. Numerical results obtained using soil structure interaction model conditions are compared to those corresponding to fixed-base support conditions. The peak responses of story shear, story moment, story displacement, story drift, moments at beam ends, as well as force of inner columns are analyzed

Population-based study of acquired cerebellar ataxia in Al-Kharga district, New Valley, Egypt

Wafaa MA Farghaly1, Hamdy N El-Tallawy1, Ghaydaa A Shehata1, Tarek A Rageh1, Nabil Abdel Hakeem2, Noha M Abo-Elfetoh11Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt; 2Al Azhar University, Assiut Branch, EgyptBackground: The aim of this research was to determine the prevalence and etiology of acquired ataxia in Al-Kharga district, New Valley, Egypt.Methods: A population-based study of acquired ataxia was conducted in a defined geographical region with a total population of 62,583. A door-to-door survey was used to identify cases of acquired cerebellar ataxia. Patients with acquired cerebellar ataxia at any age and of both genders were included. Cases of known inherited cerebellar ataxia, acquired neurological disorders with ataxia as a minor feature, or pure acquired sensory ataxia, were excluded.Results: We identified 17 cases of acquired ataxia, of which eight were vascular, six were an ataxic cerebral palsy subtype, and three involved postencephalitic ataxia. The crude prevalence rate for acquired ataxia was 27.16/100,000 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 14.3–40.1). The mean age of the patients at interview was 31.8 (range 4–72) years, with a male to female ratio of 2.1:1. The most frequent presenting complaint was disturbance of gait (90.7%). The majority (92%) were ambulatory, but only 9.3% were independently self-caring.Conclusion: This population-based study provides an insight into acquired cerebellar ataxia within a defined region, and may inform decisions about the rational use of health care resources for patients with acquired cerebellar ataxia. The most common causes of acquired cerebellar ataxia in this region were cerebrovascular injury and cerebral palsy.Keywords: acquired cerebellar ataxia, prevalence, subtypes, Egyp

Foliar Nutrition and Post-Harvest of Onion Seed: effects of storage temperatures, storage period and foliar nutrition

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Effects of Foliar Nutrition on Onion Seed Storage under Modified Atmosphere Packages

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Effects of Foliar Nutrition on Onion Seed Storage under Controlled Atmosphere

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Genetic and Morphological Diversity Assessment of Five Kalanchoe Genotypes by SCoT, ISSR and RAPD-PCR Markers

Determining the appropriate parents for breeding programs is the most important decision that plant breeders must make to maximize the genetic variability and produce excellent recombinant genotypes. Several methods are used to identify genotypes with desirable phenotypic features for breeding experiments. In this study, five kalanchoe genotypes were morphologically characterized by assessing plant height, number of inflorescences, number of flowers, flower length, flower diameter and number of petals. The analysis showed the distinction of yellow kalanchoe in the plant height trait, while the orange kalanchoe was distinguished in the number of inflorescences, the number of flowers and flower length traits, whereas the violet kalanchoe possessed the largest flower diameter and the highest number of petals. The molecular profiling was performed by random amplified polymorphism DNA (RAPD), inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) and start codon targeted (SCoT)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tools. Genomic DNA was extracted from young leaves and the PCR reactions were performed using ten primers for each SCoT, ISSR and RAPD marker. Only four out of ten primers showed amplicon profiles in all PCR markers. A total of 70 bands were generated by SCoT, ISSR and RAPD-PCR with 35 polymorphic bands and 35 monomorphic bands. The total number of bands of RAPD, ISSR and SCoT was 15, 17 and 38, respectively. The polymorphism percentages achieved by RAPD, ISSR and SCoT were 60.25%, 15% and 57%, respectively. The cluster analysis based on morphological data revealed two clusters. Cluster I consisted of violet and orange kalanchoe, and cluster II comprised red, yellow and purple kalanchoe. Whereas the cluster analysis based on molecular data revealed three clusters. Cluster I included only yellow kalanchoe, cluster II comprised orange and violet kalanchoe while cluster III comprised red, and purple kalanchoe. The study concluded that orange, violet and yellow kalanchoe are distinguished parents for breeding economically valued traits in kalanchoe. Also, the study concluded that SCoT and RAPD markers reproduced reliable banding patterns to assess the genetic polymorphism among kalanchoe genotypes that consider the basis stone for genetic improvements in ornamental plants

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background: There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low-and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods: Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results: Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion: For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially

Laparoscopy in management of appendicitis in high-, middle-, and low-income countries: a multicenter, prospective, cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency worldwide. Differences between high- and low-income settings in the availability of laparoscopic appendectomy, alternative management choices, and outcomes are poorly described. The aim was to identify variation in surgical management and outcomes of appendicitis within low-, middle-, and high-Human Development Index (HDI) countries worldwide. METHODS: This is a multicenter, international prospective cohort study. Consecutive sampling of patients undergoing emergency appendectomy over 6 months was conducted. Follow-up lasted 30 days. RESULTS: 4546 patients from 52 countries underwent appendectomy (2499 high-, 1540 middle-, and 507 low-HDI groups). Surgical site infection (SSI) rates were higher in low-HDI (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.33-4.99, p = 0.005) but not middle-HDI countries (OR 1.38, 95% CI 0.76-2.52, p = 0.291), compared with high-HDI countries after adjustment. A laparoscopic approach was common in high-HDI countries (1693/2499, 67.7%), but infrequent in low-HDI (41/507, 8.1%) and middle-HDI (132/1540, 8.6%) groups. After accounting for case-mix, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.42-0.71, p < 0.001) and SSIs (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.14-0.33, p < 0.001). In propensity-score matched groups within low-/middle-HDI countries, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.23 95% CI 0.11-0.44) and SSI (OR 0.21 95% CI 0.09-0.45). CONCLUSION: A laparoscopic approach is associated with better outcomes and availability appears to differ by country HDI. Despite the profound clinical, operational, and financial barriers to its widespread introduction, laparoscopy could significantly improve outcomes for patients in low-resource environments. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02179112