Extensive Geotechnical Instrumentation Program to Control Dike Raising Constructed on Soft Clay

In its quest of increasing potash production, Arab Potash Company (APC) decided to increase the size of their salt evaporation pans. The Dike 18 which is spanning a length of 13km and enclosing a pan area of 16.5km2 was built between January 1996 and December 1997 as part of APC's expansion scheme. The foundation soils were predominantly varies from soft to very soft silty clay. From laboratory and field test results the undrained shear strength of the clay was between 28 to 40 kPa. An extensive instrumentation program was designed and implemented in order to control the dike raising during construction as well as to monitor the performance of the dike foundation during and after the construction. Instrumentations being installed included settlement spider magnets, level stations, standpipe and pneumatic piezometers. The major constraints of the instrumentation program were the large vertical settlements (2-3m) of the very soft clays, artesian conditions where sand and salt layers were present, high salinity of the groundwater and the development of sinkholes. Special installation and protection measures were developed to overcome these constraints. The performance aspects of the instruments were discussed and typical plots were presented.

Exploring the link between sustainable development practices, institutional pressures, and green innovation

Academics, business leaders, and policymakers are paying more and more attention to sustainable development. The influence of external forces on sustainable development practices, which could predict green innovation, is, however, still unexplored. This paper seeks to explore the role of external pressures on sustainable development practices in the driving of green innovation in Saudi Arabia. We took a quantitative approach through an online survey to collect the required data from manufacturing companies in Saudi Arabia. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. The results revealed that institutional pressures (i.e., governance pressure, customer pressures, and competitive pressure) are key drivers of sustainable development practices and green innovation. They also indicated that sustainable development practices (i.e., environmental sustainability, social sustainability, and economic environmental sustainability) have a significant influence on green innovation. Our findings lead us to propose that green innovation is influenced by external pressures and sustainable development practices

Comparative study between serum level of hepatocyte growth factor and CA-125 in patients with suspicious malignant adnexal masses

Background: Hepatocyte growth factor has been described to be increased in different cancers. The aim of the present study is to evaluate as a screening marker the‏ serum level of Hepatocyte growth factor among suspicious adnexal masses as compared to serum levels of CA125.Methods: The present study included 80 female patients who are admitted to the Gynecology unit in Elshatby Maternity University Hospital divided into two groups. Forty patients with benign gynecological conditions (control group) and 40 patients with suspicious malignant adnexal masses (cases group). Preoperative blood samples were withdrawn from all patients of both cases and control group to assess the level of serum hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and serum cancer antigen 125 (CA 125). Both were quantified using ELISA technique.Results: Out of the 40 cases with suspicious malignant adnexal masses, 35 had ovarian cancer while five only were borderline. Patients with ovarian carcinomas had significantly higher preoperative HGF and CA 125 serum levels than patients with borderline pathology. Patients with borderline tumors had a significantly higher serum HGF and CA 125 levels than patients with benign gynecological conditions in control group.Conclusions: HGF in serum was elevated in 71% of patients with suspicious malignant adnexal masses proved to be ovarian cancer by histopathology using a quantitative ELISA. HGF can be used as a screening tool for ovarian cancer

Maintenance haemodialysis with low dialysate flow rates in Senegal

Introduction: The objective of the study reported here was to demonstrate that maintenance haemodialysis using a reduced dialysate flow rate of 300 mL/min (RQD) is not inferior to haemodialysis using the standard flow rate of 500 mL/min (SQD) in respect of the delivered dose of dialysis. Methods: A prospective, single-centre, sequential study was performed at the haemodialysis  centre of Pikine Hospital in Dakar. Twenty patients were included. During the first week, three haemodialysis sessions were performed with SQD and during the second week three haemodialysis  sessions were conducted with RQD for each patient. Results: For SQD, the mean eKt/V was 1.38 ± 0.58. There were 38 (63%) sessions with eKt/V greater than 1.2 and 16 patients (80%) had adequate dialysis, based on the average eKt/V. For RQD, the mean eKt/V was 1.2 ± 0.43 with 25 sessions (42%) having an eKt/V greater than 1.2. There were 11 patients (55%) with adequate dialysis. The dialysis dose was higher with the SQD prescription (P < 0.001). Ten patients with dry weight ≤60 kg had adequate dialysis with RQD. Cases of hypokalaemia were significantly higher with the SQD (P = 0.001). Conclusions: RQD appears to be inferior in terms of dialysis dose. However, for patients with dry weight ≤60 kg, adequate dialysis could be delivered with RQD, consequently allowing substantial saving of water in haemodialysis

Factors affecting age-appropriate timeliness of vaccination coverage among children in Lebanon [version 1; referees: 2 approved]

Background: The effect of immunization does not only depend on its completeness, but also on its timely administration. Routine childhood vaccinations schedules recommend that children receive the vaccine doses at specific ages. This article attempts to assess timeliness of routine vaccination coverage among a sub-sample of children from a survey conducted in 2016. Methods: This analysis was based on data from a cross-sectional multistage cluster survey conducted between December 2015 and June 2016 among caregivers of children aged 12-59 months in all of Lebanon using a structured survey questionnaire. The analysis used Kaplan–Meier curves and logistic regression to identify the predictors of age-appropriate immunization. Results: Among the 493 randomly selected children, timely administration of the third dose of polio vaccine, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP)-containing vaccine and hepatitis B (HepB) vaccine occurred in about one-quarter of children. About two-thirds of children received the second dose of a measles-containing vaccine (MCV) within the age interval recommended by the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). Several factors including socio-demographic, knowledge, beliefs and practices were found to be associated with age-appropriate vaccination; however, this association differed between the types and doses of vaccine. Important factors associated with timely vaccination included being Lebanese as opposed to Syrian and being born in a hospital for hepatitis B birth dose; believing that vaccination status was up-to-date was related to untimely vaccination. Conclusions: The results suggest that there is reason for concern over the timeliness of vaccination in Lebanon. Special efforts need to be directed towards the inclusion of timeliness of vaccination as another indicator of the performance of the EPI in Lebanon

Combining acetabular and femoral morphology improves our understanding of the down syndrome hip.

Background: Hip instability is frequent in patients with Down syndrome. Recent studies have suggested that skeletal hip alterations are responsible for this instability; however, there are currently no studies simultaneously assessing femoral and acetabular anatomy in subjects with Down syndrome in the standing position. The aim was to analyze the three-dimensional anatomy of the Down syndrome hip in standing position. Methods: Down syndrome subjects were age and sex-matched to asymptomatic controls. All subjects underwent full body biplanar X-rays with three-dimensional reconstructions of their pelvises and lower limbs. Parameter means and distributions were compared between the two groups. Findings: Forty-one Down syndrome and 41 control subjects were recruited. Acetabular abduction (mean=52° [SD=9°] vs. mean=56° [SD=8°]) and anteversion (mean=14° [SD=8°] vs. mean=17.5° [SD=5°]) as well as posterior acetabular sector angle (mean=91° [SD=7°] vs. mean=94° [SD=7°]) were significantly lower in Down syndrome subjects compared to controls (P < 0.01). Anterior acetabular sector angle (mean=62° [SD=10°] vs. mean=59° [SD=7°]; P < 0.01) was significantly higher in Down syndrome compared to controls. The distributions of acetabular anteversion (P=0.002;V=0.325), femoral anteversion (P=0.004;V=0.309) and the instability index (P < 0.001;V=0.383) were significantly different between the two groups, with subjects with Down syndrome having both increased anteversion and retroversion for each of these parameters. Interpretation: Subjects with Down syndrome were found to have a significantly altered and more heterogeneous anatomy of their proximal hips compared to controls. This heterogeneity suggests that treatment strategies of hip instability in Down syndrome should be subject-specific and should rely on the understanding of the underlying three-dimensional anatomy of each patient.This research was funded by the University of Saint-Joseph (grant# FM183). The authors did not receive any external funding for this stud

An interactive platform to guide catheter ablation in human persistent atrial fibrillation using dominant frequency, organization and phase mapping

Background and Objective: Optimal targets for persistent atrial fibrillation (persAF) ablation are still debated. Atrial regions hosting high dominant frequency (HDF) are believed to participate in the initiation and maintenance of persAF and hence are potential targets for ablation, while rotor ablation has shown promising initial results. Currently, no commercially available system offers the capability to automatically identify both these phenomena. This paper describes an integrated 3D software platform combining the mapping of both frequency spectrum and phase from atrial electrograms (AEGs) to help guide persAF ablation in clinical cardiac electrophysiological studies. Methods: 30 s of 2048 non-contact AEGs (EnSite Array, St. Jude Medical) were collected and analyzed per patient. After QRST removal, the AEGs were divided into 4 s windows with a 50% overlap. Fast Fourier transform was used for DF identification. HDF areas were identified as the maximum DF to 0.25 Hz below that, and their centers of gravity (CGs) were used to track their spatiotemporal movement. Spectral organization measurements were estimated. Hilbert transform was used to calculate instantaneous phase. Results: The system was successfully used to guide catheter ablation for 10 persAF patients. The mean processing time was 10.4 ± 1.5 min, which is adequate comparing to the normal electrophysiological (EP) procedure time (120∼180 min). Conclusions: A customized software platform capable of measuring different forms of spatiotemporal AEG analysis was implemented and used in clinical environment to guide persAF ablation. The modular nature of the platform will help electrophysiological studies in understanding of the underlying AF mechanisms

A Survey of Bayesian Statistical Approaches for Big Data

The modern era is characterised as an era of information or Big Data. This has motivated a huge literature on new methods for extracting information and insights from these data. A natural question is how these approaches differ from those that were available prior to the advent of Big Data. We present a review of published studies that present Bayesian statistical approaches specifically for Big Data and discuss the reported and perceived benefits of these approaches. We conclude by addressing the question of whether focusing only on improving computational algorithms and infrastructure will be enough to face the challenges of Big Data