16 research outputs found
Infrared thermal imaging as an innovative approach for early detection infestation of stored product insects in certain stored grains
Grains of field crops, such
as wheat, maize, faba bean and white
bean, are considered strategic food for
humanity worldwide and Egypt.
Unfortunately, percent losses of grains
quantity may reach to 15-30%, as a result
of stored product insect damage, and the
losses increased dramatically in the last
years, as an outcome of quickly
productions of these pests. Experiments
were conducted on infrared thermal
imaging that demonstrate early detection
of infestation by stored product insects in
wheat, maize, broad bean, white bean and
bean grains. The imaging is dependent on
subtle significant differences in
temperature between infested and healthy
grains. Because the thermal imaging data
are digital, computer programs can be
used to analysis differences in
temperature and mining figures explained
for that. Results revealed that the use of
thermal imaging offers an alternative
method to detect an insect infestation.
Data concluded that thermal imaging has
the potential to identify whether the grains
of crops that tested are infested or not, but
is less effective in identifying which
developmental stage is present. Moreover,
it could apply this technique easily on a
large scale in silos, storage, mills and
granaries without negative impact on
quality of stored grains
A systematic multicellular spheroids screening approach lead to the identification of antineoplastic activity in three different plant extracts from the Egyptian flora
Developing natural products as potential antineoplastic drugs is a meticulous process involving both compound isolation and biological testing. Many studies are based on primary screening using tumor cell viability as the readout followed by compound isolation. We here present an approach which utilizes both 2-D and 3-D cultured of tumor cells for screening and immortalized human non-transformed cells for counter screening. This procedure increases the precision of identifying tumor-specific cytotoxic compounds with interesting pharmacological properties. Using this straight-forward approach, we screened 500 plant extracts from the Egyptian flora for anticancer activity. The primary screen on 2-D cultured cells yielded 41 hits, 12 of which showed significant cytotoxicity on 3-D cultured cells. Of these, 4 extracts showed limited cytoxicity to normal cells. We conclude that only ~10% of the cytotoxic extracts showed desired properties with regard to tumor parenchyme penetration and tumor-specific activity. Extracts from Euphorbia dendroides L. herb, Ononis vaginalis Vahl. herb and Quercus robur L. branches were found to induce tumor apoptosis and were considered the most promising. These three extracts showed significant inhibition in the Ehrlich ascites carcinoma in vivo model and did not show severe toxicity on healthy animals
Quantitative assessment of MRI lesion load in multiple sclerosis. A comparison of conventional spin-echo with fast fluid-attenuated inversion recovery
In this study, we compared a fast fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (fast-FLAIR) sequence to conventional spin-echo (CSE) in the evaluation of brain MRI lesion loads of seven patients with clinically definite multiple sclerosis. Interleaved CSE (3000/20, 5 mm contiguous axial slices) and fast-FLAIR (9000/150/2200, 5 mm contiguous axial slices) sequences were performed on a 1.0 T machine. Lesions were counted consensually by two observers and then segmented independently by two other observers using a local thresholding technique, with subsequent manual editing in the case of poorly defined lesions. Four hundred and two lesions were detected in at least one of the two sequences: 128 were seen only on fast-FLAIR, 17 only on CSE. Forty-one lesions were larger on fast-FLAIR, while no lesion was considered larger on CSE. The numbers of periventricular (P = 0.05), cortical/subcortical (P = 0.02) and discrete (P = 0.05) lesions detected using fast-FLAIR were higher than those detected using CSE. The median lesion load was 7185 mm3 on CSE and 8418 mm3 on the fast-FLAIR, the average being 18% (range = 11.6-29%) higher on the fast-FLAIR images. Lesion contrast ratio was higher for lesions on the fast-FLAIR than on the CSE sequence (P < 0.0001). The percentages of poorly defined lesions which needed manual editing after the local thresholding technique was applied and the total time needed for the measurements were lower (P < 0.001) when fast-FLAIR images were used compared with CSE. This resulted in a reduced inter-rater coefficient of variation in measuring lesion volumes. Our data indicate that fast-FLAIR sequences are more sensitive than CSE in detecting multiple sclerosis lesion burden and that fast-FLAIR is a promising technique for natural history studies and clinical trials in multiple sclerosis
MRI features of benign multiple sclerosis Toward a new definition of this disease phenotype
Evidence-Based Guidelines Magnims Consensus Guidelines on the Use of Mri in Multiple Sclerosis-Establishing Disease Prognosis and Monitoring Patients
MAGNIMS consensus guidelines on the use of MRI in multiple sclerosis-clinical implementation in the diagnostic process
Hippocampal and Deep Gray Matter Nuclei Atrophy Is Relevant for Explaining Cognitive Impairment in MS: A Multicenter Study
Thoracoscopic internal mammary lymph nodes dissection: a staging tool for internal mammary lymph nodes in breast cancer
Short-term adaptation to a simple motor task: A physiological process preserved in multiple sclerosis
Short-term adaptation indicates the attenuation of the functional MRI (fMRI) response during repeated task execution. It is considered to be a physiological process, but it is unknown whether short-term adaptation changes significantly in patients with brain disorders, such as multiple sclerosis (MS). In order to investigate short-term adaptation during a repeated right-hand tapping task in both controls and in patients with MS, we analyzed the fMRI data collected in a large cohort of controls and MS patients who were recruited into a multi-centre European fMRI study. Four fMRI runs were acquired for each of the 55 controls and 56 MS patients at baseline and 33 controls and 26 MS patients at 1-year follow-up. The externally cued (1 Hz) right hand tapping movement was limited to 3 cm amplitude by using at all sites (7 at baseline and 6 at follow-up) identically manufactured wooden frames. No significant differences in cerebral activation were found between sites. Furthermore, our results showed linear response adaptation (i.e. reduced activation) from run 1 to run 4 (over a 25 minute period) in the primary motor area (contralateral more than ipsilateral), in the supplementary motor area and in the primary sensory cortex, sensory-motor cortex and cerebellum, bilaterally. This linear activation decay was the same in both control and patient groups, did not change between baseline and 1-year follow-up and was not influenced by the modest disease progression observed over 1 year. These findings confirm that the short-term adaptation to a simple motor task is a physiological process which is preserved in MS