New insights on the role of vitamin D in type 2 diabetes mellitus: Review Article.

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and vitamin D deficiency are both disorders of high prevalence in the world. Evidence supports an association between low vitamin D levels and risk for T2DM, and its complications. There remains insufficient evidence to suggest whether treatment of low vitamin D can prevent or improve T2DM. Aim: this review will focus on the current understanding of the role of vitamin D in the pathogenesis of T2DM, and questioning if vitamin D supplementation can improve the pancreatic function, thus providing a better glycemic control or slow down its complications. Conclusion and recommendation: deficient vitamin D levels increases the risk of developing T2DM. This finding highlights the need for conducting large-scale health screening to identify those at risk of DM using vitamin D blood level assessment. However, more studies are required to ascertain the effect of vitamin D supplementation in T2DM patients

Alltag in einem ägyptischen Dorf

Die Bewohner in Šabrāwīš sind einfache Menschen, deren Hauptinteresse in ihren Familien liegt. Sie kämpfen täglich um ihren Lebensunterhalt, eine gute Ausbildung für ihre Kinder, gegen Arbeitslosigkeit und darum, dass ihre Kinder sich geglückt verheiraten…usw. Die BewohnerInnen haben enge Beziehung zueinander, welche aus der Verwandtschaft, der Nachbarschaft oder Freundschaft entstanden ist. Ich habe die enge Beziehung der Menschen im Dorf ausführlich in der Arbeit verdeutlicht. Man spürt nie, dass man alleine lebt. An Festtagen und Heiratsritualen finden immer wieder gegenseitige Besuche statt. Selbst wenn es Streitigkeiten oder abgekühlte Beziehungen zwischen Familienmitgliedern oder Bekannten gibt, nehmen viele am Todesgebet und am Begräbnis teil, um die Angehörigen des Verstorbenen in ihrem Haus trost zu spenden und den Verstorbenen zu ehren. Obwohl so eine Beziehung viele Vorteile hat, verbirgt sie auch gewisse Nachteile. Denn man erlaubt gewissermaßen, dass allerlei andere in ihr privates Leben einmischen können. Ob der Vater oder die Mutter im Leben ihrer verheirateten Kindern, oder die älteren Menschen in das Leben der Jüngeren. Wenn junge Leute sich wiedersetzen oder wiederreden, dann gelten sie als unhöflich und unerzogen, da Ältere mit mehr Verstand und Erfahrung den Vorzug haben. Die Tradition spielt eine große Rolle in ihrem sozialen Leben, manchmal sogar mehr als die Religion, besonders in Bezug auf die Frau. Welche oftmals fälschlich im Namen der Religion unterdrückt wird. Wie z. B. das Beschneiden der Frau. Dies wird getan, um ihre sexuelle Lust zu verringern oder die Ehre der Familie zu bewahren. In manchen Situationen werden die jungen Frauen zur Heirat gezwungen, da sie selbst noch unerfahren ist und bestimmen kann wer richtig für sie ist, sollte sie sich an ihm gewöhnen. Man erkennt den Wandel der Jugend und die große Diskrepanz zur alten Generation. Manche halten sich noch an Religion und Tradition fest und üben sie in ihrem Alltag aus, andere wiederum haben einen anderen Lebensstil angenommen. Ein Argument hierfür ist, dass eine Vielzahl an Jugendlichen noch kaum betet, weder am Freitagsgebet noch im Ramadan - geschweige denn fastet. Bei den Mädchen ist es auch an der engen Kleidung bemerkbar. Denn im Islam ist es eine Vorschrift, dass die muslimische Frau ihre Kleidung nicht eng anliegend, sondern weit trägt. Mit der Zeit transformieren sich die Dorfgewohnheiten und Sitten und es entfernt sich durch und durch von der Religion hin zu einer neuen Form. Durch technischen Fortschritt und erweiterbare Kommunikationssysteme erfahren jugendliche mehr über andere Lebensweisen, welche sie mit Begeisterung nachahmen

Comparing Occupants' Satisfaction in LEED Certified Office Buildings and Non-LEED Certified Office Buildings: A Case Study of Office Buildings in Egypt and Turkey

Energy consumption and users' satisfaction were compared in three LEED certified office buildings in turkey and an office building in Egypt. The field studies were conducted in summer 2012. The measured environmental parameters in the four buildings were indoor air temperature, relative humidity, CO2 percentage and light intensity. The traditional building is located in Smart Village in Abu Rawash, Cairo, Egypt. The building was studied for 7 days resulting in 84 responds. The three rated buildings are in Istanbul; Turkey. A Platinum LEED certified office building is owned by BASF and gained a platinum certificate for new construction and major renovation. The building was studied for 3 days resulting in 13 responds. A Gold LEED certified office building is owned by BASF and gained a gold certificate for new construction and major renovation. The building was studied for 2 days resulting in 10 responds. A silver LEED certified office building is owned by Unilever and gained a silver certificate for commercial interiors. The building was studied for 7 days resulting in 84 responds. The results showed that all buildings had no significant difference regarding occupants' satisfaction with the amount of lighting, noise level, odor and access to the outdoor view. There was significant difference between occupants' satisfaction in LEED certified buildings and the traditional building regarding the thermal environment and the perception of the general environment (colors, carpet and decoration. The findings suggest that careful design could lead to a certified building that enhances the thermal environment and the perception of the indoor environment leading to energy consumption without scarifying occupants' satisfaction

Comparing Occupants' Satisfaction in LEED Certified Office Buildings and Non-LEED Certified Office Buildings: A Case Study of Office Buildings in Egypt and Turkey

Energy consumption and users' satisfaction were compared in three LEED certified office buildings in turkey and an office building in Egypt. The field studies were conducted in summer 2012. The measured environmental parameters in the four buildings were indoor air temperature, relative humidity, CO2 percentage and light intensity. The traditional building is located in Smart Village in Abu Rawash, Cairo, Egypt. The building was studied for 7 days resulting in 84 responds. The three rated buildings are in Istanbul; Turkey. A Platinum LEED certified office building is owned by BASF and gained a platinum certificate for new construction and major renovation. The building was studied for 3 days resulting in 13 responds. A Gold LEED certified office building is owned by BASF and gained a gold certificate for new construction and major renovation. The building was studied for 2 days resulting in 10 responds. A silver LEED certified office building is owned by Unilever and gained a silver certificate for commercial interiors. The building was studied for 7 days resulting in 84 responds. The results showed that all buildings had no significant difference regarding occupants' satisfaction with the amount of lighting, noise level, odor and access to the outdoor view. There was significant difference between occupants' satisfaction in LEED certified buildings and the traditional building regarding the thermal environment and the perception of the general environment (colors, carpet and decoration. The findings suggest that careful design could lead to a certified building that enhances the thermal environment and the perception of the indoor environment leading to energy consumption without scarifying occupants' satisfaction

Comparing Occupants' Satisfaction in LEED Certified Office Buildings and Non-LEED Certified Office Buildings: A Case Study of Office Buildings in Egypt and Turkey

Energy consumption and users' satisfaction were compared in three LEED certified office buildings in turkey and an office building in Egypt. The field studies were conducted in summer 2012. The measured environmental parameters in the four buildings were indoor air temperature, relative humidity, CO2 percentage and light intensity. The traditional building is located in Smart Village in Abu Rawash, Cairo, Egypt. The building was studied for 7 days resulting in 84 responds. The three rated buildings are in Istanbul; Turkey. A Platinum LEED certified office building is owned by BASF and gained a platinum certificate for new construction and major renovation. The building was studied for 3 days resulting in 13 responds. A Gold LEED certified office building is owned by BASF and gained a gold certificate for new construction and major renovation. The building was studied for 2 days resulting in 10 responds. A silver LEED certified office building is owned by Unilever and gained a silver certificate for commercial interiors. The building was studied for 7 days resulting in 84 responds. The results showed that all buildings had no significant difference regarding occupants' satisfaction with the amount of lighting, noise level, odor and access to the outdoor view. There was significant difference between occupants' satisfaction in LEED certified buildings and the traditional building regarding the thermal environment and the perception of the general environment (colors, carpet and decoration. The findings suggest that careful design could lead to a certified building that enhances the thermal environment and the perception of the indoor environment leading to energy consumption without scarifying occupants' satisfaction

Comparing Occupants' Satisfaction in LEED Certified Office Buildings and Non-LEED Certified Office Buildings: A Case Study of Office Buildings in Egypt and Turkey

Energy consumption and users' satisfaction were compared in three LEED certified office buildings in turkey and an office building in Egypt. The field studies were conducted in summer 2012. The measured environmental parameters in the four buildings were indoor air temperature, relative humidity, CO2 percentage and light intensity. The traditional building is located in Smart Village in Abu Rawash, Cairo, Egypt. The building was studied for 7 days resulting in 84 responds. The three rated buildings are in Istanbul; Turkey. A Platinum LEED certified office building is owned by BASF and gained a platinum certificate for new construction and major renovation. The building was studied for 3 days resulting in 13 responds. A Gold LEED certified office building is owned by BASF and gained a gold certificate for new construction and major renovation. The building was studied for 2 days resulting in 10 responds. A silver LEED certified office building is owned by Unilever and gained a silver certificate for commercial interiors. The building was studied for 7 days resulting in 84 responds. The results showed that all buildings had no significant difference regarding occupants' satisfaction with the amount of lighting, noise level, odor and access to the outdoor view. There was significant difference between occupants' satisfaction in LEED certified buildings and the traditional building regarding the thermal environment and the perception of the general environment (colors, carpet and decoration. The findings suggest that careful design could lead to a certified building that enhances the thermal environment and the perception of the indoor environment leading to energy consumption without scarifying occupants' satisfaction

The Effectiveness of Producing a Blended Learning Environment Based on the Programming of an Educational Robot to Develop Problem-solving Skills in Science for Intermediate School Students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The goal of this research is to measure the effectiveness of producing a Blended learning environment based on the programming of an educational robot to develop problem-solving skills in science for intermediate school students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The research sample was randomly selected from sixty (60) students in the second year. The researcher used the experimental method with a quasi-experimental design (the design of the control group - experimental with a pre and post-test) Where the experimental group is taught through a blended learning environment based on the programming of the educational robot The control group is taught traditionally

The Effectiveness of Producing a Blended Learning Environment Based on the Programming of an Educational Robot to Develop Problem-solving Skills in Science for Intermediate School Students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

This study aimed to examine the effect of producing a Blended learning environment based on the programming of an educational robot to develop problem-solving skills in Science for intermediate school students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The sample of the study consists of   (60) intermediate school students. A total of Four research questions and hypotheses were used in the study. A pre-post-test design was used to achieve the study's objectives in which special treatment was given to the experimental group, whereas no treatment was given to the control group. SPSS was used as a statistical tool to examine the present research results. The study's results proved the effectiveness of a Blended learning environment based on the programming of an educational robot in developing problem-solving skills in Science for intermediate school students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as the experimental group showed a better performance in the post-test than the control group. Moreover, the correlation test results indicated a significant positive relationship between the Blended learning environment based on the programming of educational robot performance and students' developing problem-solving skills in Science.   &nbsp

The Effectiveness of Producing a Blended Learning Environment Based on the Programming of an Educational Robot to Develop Problem-solving Skills in Science for Intermediate School Students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The goal of this research is to measure the effectiveness of producing a Blended learning environment based on the programming of an educational robot to develop problem-solving skills in science for intermediate school students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The research sample was randomly selected from sixty (60) students in the second year. The researcher used the experimental method with a quasi-experimental design (the design of the control group - experimental with a pre and post-test) Where the experimental group is taught through a blended learning environment based on the programming of the educational robot The control group is taught traditionally

Platinum 1,10-phenanthroline: Photosensitizer for photocatalytic degradation of 4-chlorophenol

It is more economic to apply photodegradation of organic pollutants in presence of the visible light irradiation (sunlight) than applying more costfull ultraviolet lamps. Hence, platinum 1,10-phenanthroline complex has been prepared and tested as a photosensitizer for photodegrading 4-chlorophenol in water, which has been found almost completely achieved (98.5 %) after three hours of visible irradiation. Nevertheless, irradiation at 364 and 254 nm exhibits lower efficiencies. At visible irradiation, the platinum complex gives the highest activation of singlet state oxygen formation (1O2) compared to 364 and 254 nm irradiation as supported by electron para-magnetic resonance data. On the other hand, the behavior of formation and disappearance of photodegradation intermediates: hydroquinone, benzoquinone, hydroxybenzoquinone, using the platinum complex applying the three current irradiations are found to supports these findings. However, organic acids have accumulated as a function of irradiation time and hence considered to be rate-controlling