Effect of progressive prone plank exercise program on diastasis of rectus abdominis muscle in postpartum women: A randomized controlled trial

Diastasis of Rectus Abdominis (DRA) muscle is a concerning health issue that commonly affects female within pregnancy and postpartum time, persistent lower back pain and pelvic instability are common consequences to DRA. Thus, this study was conducted to examine the effect of progressive prone plank exercises on narrowing the inter-Rectus distance (IRD) in postpartum women diagnosed with (DRA). A prospective, randomized, single-blind, controlled trial was conducted at the Faculty of Physical Therapy Clinic of Beni-Suef University. Fifty postpartum women presented with (DRA) of at least 2 finger widths assigned into 2 equal groups (A&B). A Toshiba Xario100, 8–12 MHz ultrasonography was used to accurately measure IRD before and after 8 weeks of the exercise program. Group (A), received progressive prone plank exercise program and advice relevant to DRA as well as wore abdominal binder, while group (B) continued their ordinary lifestyle after receiving advice and wearing abdominal binder as group (A).The study results revealed a statistical significant decrease within each group and between groups in IRD (p < .05) above and below the umbilicus both at rest and during Rectus Abdominis (RA) contraction, with a significantly narrower IRD in favoured of participants of group (A) (p < .05). To sum it up, progressive prone plank exercise program is very effective in decreasing IRD in postpartum women presented with DRA

Coupled Fixed Point Theorems for Weak Contractions on Partial Metric Space

In this paper, we give anew weak contraction mapping and by using this contraction mapping we establish Coupled fixed point theorems in partial metric space. Our result extends some known results due to Hassen Aydi, Erdal Karapinar and Wasfi Shatanawi.Keywords: coupled fixed point, partial metric space, mixed monotone mapping

An Arabic CCG approach for determining constituent types from Arabic Treebank

AbstractConverting a treebank into a CCGbank opens the respective language to the sophisticated tools developed for Combinatory Categorial Grammar (CCG) and enriches cross-linguistic development. The conversion is primarily a three-step process: determining constituents’ types, binarization, and category conversion. Usually, this process involves a preprocessing step to the Treebank of choice for correcting brackets and normalizing tags for any changes that were introduced during the manual annotation, as well as extracting morpho-syntactic information that is necessary for determining constituents’ types. In this article, we describe the required preprocessing step on the Arabic Treebank, as well as how to determine Arabic constituents’ types. We conducted an experiment on parts 1 and 2 of the Penn Arabic Treebank (PATB) aimed at converting the PATB into an Arabic CCGbank. The performance of our algorithm when applied to ATB1v2.0 & ATB2v2.0 was 99% identification of head nodes and 100% coverage over the Treebank data

Risperidone oral disintegrating mini-tablets: A robust-product for pediatrics

This study was aimed at developing risperidone oral disintegrating mini-tablets (OD-mini-tablets) as age-appropriate formulations and to assess their suitability for infants and pediatric use. An experimental Box-Behnken design was applied to assure high quality of the OD-mini-tablets and reduce product variability. The design was employed to understand the influence of the critical excipient combinations on the production of OD-mini-tablets and thus guarantee the feasibility of obtaining products with dosage form uniformity. The variables selected were mannitol percent in Avicel (X1), swelling pressure of the superdisintegrant (X2), and the surface area of Aerosil as a glidant (X3). Risperidone-excipient compatibilities were investigated using FTIR and the spectra did not display any interaction. Fifteen formulations were prepared and evaluated for pre- and post-compression characteristics. The prepared OD-mini-tablet batches were also assessed for disintegration in simulated salivary fluid (SSF, pH 6.2) and in reconstituted skimmed milk. The optimized formula fulfilled the requirements for crushing strength of 5 kN with minimal friability, disintegration times of 8.4 and 53.7 s in SSF and skimmed milk, respectively. This study therefore proposes risperidone OD-mini-tablet formula having robust mechanical properties, uniform and precise dosing of medication with short disintegration time suitable for pediatric use

Seatbelt syndrome associated with an isolated rectal injury: case report

Seatbelt syndrome is defined as a seatbelt sign associated with a lumbar spine fracture and a bowel perforation. An isolated rectal perforation due to seatbelt syndrome is extremely rare. There is only one case reported in the Danish literature and non in the English literature. A 48-year old front seat restrained passenger was involved in a head-on collision. He had lower abdominal pain and back pain. Seatbelt mark was seen across the lower abdomen. Initial trauma CT scan was normal except for a burst fracture of L5 vertebra which was operated on by internal fixation on the same day. The patient continued to have abdominal pain. A repeated abdominal CT scan on the third day has shown free intraperitoneal air. Laparotomy has revealed a perforation of the proximal part of the rectum below the recto sigmoid junction. Hartmann's procedure was performed. The abdomen was left open. Gradual closure of the abdominal fascia over a period of two weeks was performed. Postoperatively, the patient had temporary urinary retention due to quada equina injury which resolved 10 months after surgery. The presence of a seatbelt sign and a lumbar fracture should raise the possibility of a bowel injury

Sex Hormones Changes in Blood and Their Effect on Fecundity of African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus Burchell, 1822) after Being Injected with Different Doses of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) Hormone

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of different dosesinjection of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) hormone on fecundityand serum sex hormones (FSH, LH, estrogen (E2), progesterone (P4),testosterone (T)) of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). African catfishspawners were intermuscularly injected with different doses of HCG(500, 1500, 3000, 6000 IU/kg female), and group is not injected as acontrol; males were injected at half the female dose. The results showedthat, fish group injected by 6000 IU HCG/ kg female had the highestgonadsomatic index, absolute fecundity and relative fecundity, while,the lowest value of absolute fecundity and relative fecundity wererecorded with 500 IU HCG/ kg female. The group injected with thehighest amount of HCG (6000 IU/ kg female) recorded the lowest valuefrom egg diameter, while the highest egg diameter was observed in 500IU HCG/ kg female. In females, the group injected with 6000 IU HCG/kg female reflected the lowest level of FSH and the highest level of LHand the highest level of P4 compared to other treatments. Level of Trecorded the highest level with 1500 IU HCG/ kg female. The controlgroup reflected the highest level of FSH and E2, while the control groupreflected the lowest level of T and P4 level. In males, serum FSH, LH,P4 and E2 in male groups injected with HCG were relatively higher thanthose recorded in the control group. The highest level of T was recordedin treatment injected with the highest dose of HCG and decreased inother treatments until recorded the lowest level of T in the controlgroup. It was observed, HCG hormone has successfully and accelerateinduced spawning in African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and increasedin reproductive performance with the increase in HCG dosage and ascompared to group not injected

Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis in the Medical Intensive Care Unit of a University Hospital in Egypt: Frequency, Bacteriological Profile, Risk Factors and Outcomes

Objectives: This work was carried out to assess the frequency of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) and its variants in the medical intensive care unit (ICU) of the Internal Medicine department, zagazig Faculty of Medicine, Egypt and to identify the causative organisms and their susceptibility to commonly used antimicrobials. Other objectives were to determine risk factors and clinical outcomes. Subjects and methods: One-hundred and eighty- nine patients having ascites due to liver cirrhosis were studied. Each patient was subjected to: history collection, physical examination, diagnostic paracentesis, radiological and laboratory investigations and assessment of disease severity. Organisms isolated were identified and their antibiotic susceptibility profiles were tested. MELD score was used for diseases assessment. Risk factors and clinical outcomes were concluded using statistical methods. Results: Frequency of SBP was 56.1%. Classic SBP accounted for 47.2% of cases, while the remaining 52.8% were culture negative neutrocytic ascites (CNNA). E-coli were the most frequently isolated bacteria. Piperacillin- tazobactam was the most effective antibiotic.&nbsp; SBP cases were significantly associated with hepatocellular carcinoma and with use of beta blockers. Patients with SBP were more likely to present with fever and abdominal pain, whereas those with non- SBP were more likely to present with hypotension. Non- significant relationship was found between SBP and non-SBP cases regarding ICU stay. Meanwhile mortality was higher among SBP cases; age and MELD score were the independent risk factor

Memristor Multiport Readout: A Closed-Form Solution for Sneak Paths

In this paper, we introduce for the first time, a closed-form solution for the memristor-based memory sneak paths without using any gating elements. The introduced technique fully eliminates the effect of sneak paths by reading the stored data using multiple access points and evaluating a simple addition/subtraction on the different readings. The new method requires fewer reading steps compared to previously reported techniques, and has a very small impact on the memory density. To verify the underlying theory, the proposed system is simulated using Synopsys HSPICE showing the ability to achieve a 100% sneak-path error-free memory. In addition, the effect of quantization bits on the system performance is studied. © 2014 IEEE

¹H-NMR metabolic profiling, antioxidant activity, and docking study of common medicinal plant-derived honey

The purpose of this investigation was to determine &sup1;H-NMR profiling and antioxidant activity of the most common types of honey, namely, citrus honey (HC1) (Morcott tangerine L. and Jaffa orange L.), marjoram honey (HM1) (Origanum majorana L.), and clover honey (HT1) (Trifolium alexandrinum L.), compared to their secondary metabolites (HC2, HM2, HT2, respectively). By using a &sup1;H-NMR-based metabolomic technique, PCA, and PLS-DA multivariate analysis, we found that HC2, HM2, HC1, and HM1 were clustered together. However, HT1 and HT2 were quite far from these and each other. This indicated that HC1, HM1, HC2, and HM2 have similar chemical compositions, while HT1 and HT2 were unique in their chemical profiles. Antioxidation potentials were determined colorimetrically for scavenging activities against DPPH, ABTS, ORAC, 5-LOX, and metal chelating activity in all honey extract samples and their secondary metabolites. Our results revealed that HC2 and HM2 possessed more antioxidant activities than HT2 in vitro. HC2 demonstrated the highest antioxidant effect in all assays, followed by HM2 (DPPH assay: IC50 2.91, 10.7 &mu;g/mL; ABTS assay: 431.2, 210.24 at 50 ug/mL Trolox equivalent; ORAC assay: 259.5, 234.8 at 50 ug/mL Trolox equivalent; 5-LOX screening assay/IC50: 2.293, 6.136 ug/mL; and metal chelating activity at 50 ug/mL: 73.34526%, 63.75881% inhibition). We suggest that the presence of some secondary metabolites in HC and HM, such as hesperetin, linalool, and caffeic acid, increased the antioxidant activity in citrus and marjoram compared to clover honey