GIS and RS Integrated Framework for Supporting Planners and Decision Makers

The power of integrations planning supports decision makers to take the right decision in the right time. In order to have good plan, we should gather different kind of information with different perspectives and sources. The integration between all kinds of information supports decision makers to set the right plans and logic strategies in order to achieve their expected goals.Decision makers may suffer from information leakage, un-integrated information from different sources; information which does not represent the current status of reality and ability to represent information geographically. Decision makers should use modern technologies and tools in order to overcome the obstacles which they may face.Remote sensing and Geographic information system can provide realistic source of data and logic solutions which can support the decision makers to take the right decision in the right time. Decision makers should use remote sensing technology  in order to set their future planning and select their right strategies because remote sensing is the science to obtain the date remotely either phenomena like temperature, humidity or even satellite images which provides a realistic representation for the land which may enable the decision maker to track changes which may happened on specific feature  or even extract a specific feature and get the different statistics  or measurements which  definitely important to set the right plans Geographic information system support decision makers by realistic solutions and excellent geographic  data representation  and even the ability to join and migrate different sources of data to be liked geographically with the related features. Keywords: Planning, Decision Making, Remote Sensing, Geographical Information Syste

Applying Association Rules and Co-location Techniques on Geospatial Web Services

Most contemporary GIS have only very basic spatial analysis and data mining functionality and many are confined to analysis that involves comparing maps and descriptive statistical displays like histograms or pie charts. Emerging Web standards promise a network of heterogeneous yet interoperable Web Services. Web Services would greatly simplify the development of many kinds of data integration and knowledge management applications. Geospatial data mining describes the combination of two key market intelligence software tools: Geographical Information Systems and Data Mining Systems. This research aims to develop a Spatial Data Mining web service it uses rule association techniques and correlation methods to explore results of huge amounts of data generated from crises management integrated applications developed. It integrates between traffic systems, medical services systems, civil defense and state of the art Geographic Information Systems and Data Mining Systems functionality in an open, highly extensible, internet-enabled plug-in architecture. The Interoperability of geospatial data previously focus just on data formats and standards. The recent popularity and adoption of the Internet and Web Services has provided a new means of interoperability for geospatial information not just for exchanging data but for analyzing these data during exchange. An integrated, user friendly Spatial Data Mining System available on the internet via a web service offers exciting new possibilities for spatial decision making and geographical research to a wide range of potential users.   Keywords: Spatial Data Mining, Rule Association, Co-location, Web Services, Geospatial Dat

Exploring Safety Aspects in Dental School Clinics Including Droplet Infection Prevention

BACKGROUND: Health-care safety focuses on improving patient’s and worker’s safety in a safe working clinics’ environment and prevent infection transmission including droplet infections as seasonal influenza and novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Dental health-care personnel (DHCP) are the target of safety measures and are themselves responsible for elimination of preventable harm. Dental schools are expected to demonstrate the model for quality safe care. AIM: This study aims to achieve high-quality safe dental care at dental clinics, Faculty of Dentistry, Cairo University. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey study was conducted at two Dental Outpatient Clinics, Cairo University. Disk review of policies, observation checklists for practices and awareness questionnaires of DHCP were used. RESULTS: DHCP showed good awareness for most of infection control (IC) and X-ray safety items. However, there are no policies or procedures to control droplet infections in the clinics. The clinics were closed in the current COVID-19 pandemic. There were poor patient safety practices, hand hygiene compliance, and personal protective equipment (PPE) use except for protecting clothes and disposable gloves. Students showed better compliance for patient safety guidelines. Other safety policies were poorly communicated. CONCLUSION: There should be preparedness plan to deal with any droplet infection outbreak, epidemic or pandemic as COVID-19 in all dental settings. There is a need to initiate dental safety unit in dental schools to implement, communicate, train, and supervise all dental safety practices including infection control

Diagnostic value of matrix metalloproteinases-1, −3 and −13 in patients with primary knee osteoarthritis: Relation to radiological severity

Background: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is an important cause of disability in elderly. Aim of the work: to study the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-1, MMP-3 and MMP-13) in serum of patients with KOA and relation to radiological findings. Patients and methods: One hundred patients with KOA and 80 matching control were studied. The Kellegren Lawrence (KL) scale was assessed. The mRNA and protein expressions of MMP-1, MMP-3 and MMP-13 were assessed by “quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR)” and western blotting, respectively. Results: There was a significant increase in the mRNA expression of MMP-1, MMP-3 and MMP-13 in patients (18.5 ± 3.4, 3 ± 0.5 and 2 ± 0.2, respectively) compared to controls (2.6 ± 0.4, 0.7 ± 0.3 and 0.3 ± 0.06, respectively)(all p < 0.001) and in the protein expression of MMP-1, MMP-3 and MMP-13 in patients (2.89 ± 0.01, 2.37 ± 0.07, 2.56 ± 0.02, respectively) relative to controls (1.15 ± 0.04, 0.79 ± 0.01, 1.02 ± 0.08 respectively (all p < 0.001). A significant correlation was found between the age of patients and mRNA expression of MMP-1 (r = 0.19, p = 0.01) and MMP-3 (r = 0.17, p = 0.019) and between the BMI and mRNA expression of MMP-1 (r = 0.16, p = 0.028). No significant correlation was found between mRNA expression of MMP-1, MMP-3 and MMP-13 and grade of KOA. At cut off values 5.5, 1.7 and 0.8, MMP-1, MMP-3 and MMP-13 could diagnose KOA at a sensitivity of 98 %, 100 % and 100 % respectively with 100 % specificity for all. Conclusion: The expression of MMP-1, MMP-3 and MMP-13 could be a valuable non-invasive marker for early diagnosis of primary KOA with no relation to radiological finding

Euphosantianane A–D: Antiproliferative Premyrsinane Diterpenoids from the Endemic Egyptian Plant Euphorbia Sanctae-Catharinae

Euphorbia species are rich in diterpenes. A solvent extraction of Euphorbia sanctae-catharinae, a species indigenous to the Southern Sinai of Egypt, afforded several premyrsinane diterpenoids (1&ndash;4) as well as previously reported metabolites (5&ndash;13) that included three flavonoids. Isolated compounds were chemically characterized by spectroscopic analysis. Identified compounds were bioassayed for anti-proliferative activity in vitro against colon (Caco-2) and lung (A549) tumor cell lines. Compound 9 exhibited robust anti-proliferative activity against A549 cells (IC50 = 3.3 &micro;M). Absolute configurations for 8 versus 9 were determined by experimental and TDDFT-calculated electronic circular dichorism (ECD) spectra

Molecular Architecture and Biomedical Leads of Terpenes from Red Sea Marine Invertebrates

Marine invertebrates including sponges, soft coral, tunicates, mollusks and bryozoan have proved to be a prolific source of bioactive natural products. Among marine-derived metabolites, terpenoids have provided a vast array of molecular architectures. These isoprenoid-derived metabolites also exhibit highly specialized biological activities ranging from nerve regeneration to blood-sugar regulation. As a result, intense research activity has been devoted to characterizing invertebrate terpenes from both a chemical and biological standpoint. This review focuses on the chemistry and biology of terpene metabolites isolated from the Red Sea ecosystem, a unique marine biome with one of the highest levels of biodiversity and specifically rich in invertebrate species

Paralemnolins X and Y, New Antimicrobial Sesquiterpenoids from the Soft Coral Paralemnalia thyrsoide

The organic extracts of the Red Sea soft coral Paralemnalia thyrsoides has led to the identification of two neolemnane-type sesquiterpenoids: paralemnolins X and Y (1, 2). In addition to these newly characterized compounds, ten known metabolites (3–12) were isolated. Previously reported compounds were elucidated by literature comparison of spectroscopic data (1D and 2D NMR as well as MS data). In vitro antimicrobial activity was investigated for compounds (1–12) against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger. Compound 5 showed antimicrobial activity against all assayed microorganisms

Selection of newly identified growth-promoting Archaea Haloferax species with a potential action on cobalt resistance in maize plants

Soil contamination with cobalt (Co) negatively impacts plant growth and production. To combat Co toxicity, plant growth-promoting microorganisms for improving plant growth are effectively applied. To this end, unclassified haloarchaeal species strain NRS_31 (OL912833), belonging to Haloferax genus, was isolated, identified for the first time, and applied to mitigate the Co phytotoxic effects on maize plants. This study found that high Co levels in soil lead to Co accumulation in maize leaves. Co accumulation in the leaves inhibited maize growth and photosynthetic efficiency, inducing oxidative damage in the tissue. Interestingly, pre-inoculation with haloarchaeal species significantly reduced Co uptake and mitigated the Co toxicity. Induced photosynthesis improved sugar metabolism, allocating more carbon to defend against Co stress. Concomitantly, the biosynthetic key enzymes involved in sucrose (sucrose-P-synthase and invertases) and proline (pyrroline-5- carboxylate synthetase (P5CS), pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase (P5CR)) biosynthesis significantly increased to maintain plant osmotic potential. In addition to their osmoregulation potential, soluble sugars and proline can contribute to maintaining ROS hemostasis. Maize leaves managed their oxidative homeostasis by increasing the production of antioxidant metabolites (such as phenolics and tocopherols) and increasing the activity of ROS-scavenging enzymes (such as POX, CAT, SOD, and enzymes involved in the AsA/GSH cycle). Inside the plant tissue, to overcome heavy Co toxicity, maize plants increased the synthesis of heavy metal-binding ligands (metallothionein, phytochelatins) and the metal detoxifying enzymes (glutathione S transferase). Overall, the improved ROS homeostasis, osmoregulation, and Co detoxification systems were the basis underlying Co oxidative stress, mitigating haloarchaeal treatment's impact

Microbial biotransformation as a tool for drug development based on natural products from mevalonic acid pathway: A review

Natural products are structurally and biologically interesting metabolites, but they have been isolated in minute amounts. The syntheses of such natural products help in obtaining them in bulk amounts. The recognition of microbial biotransformation as important manufacturing tool has increased in chemical and pharmaceutical industries. In recent years, microbial transformation is increasing significantly from limited interest into highly active area in green chemistry including preparation of pharmaceutical products. This is the first review published on the usage of microbial biocatalysts for some natural product classes and natural product drugs