Clinical evaluation of inter-implant distance influence on the wear characteristics of low-profile stud attachments used in mandibular implant?retained overdentures

This study was aimed to evaluate the influence of inter-implant distance on the wear characteristics of low-profile stud attachments used in mandibular implant retained overdentures. Forty Completely edentulous participants aged between 50 ? 70 years were enrolled in this study. Each patient received 2-implants by 2-stage submerged surgical protocol. Participants categorized into 4-groups. Group I: 19 mm inter-implant distance with Locator retained overdentures; Group II: 19 mm inter-implant distance with OT Equator retained overdentures; Group III: 25 mm inter-implant distance with Locator retained overdentures; Group IV: 25 mm inter-implant distance with OT Equator retained overdentures. The female housings of each attachment were picked up to the mandibular overdenture. 12 month later the male inserts were replaced by new one. The used retentive male inserts were examined by Stereomicroscopic. Stereomicroscopic examination revealed wear were detected on both inner surface and, the core of male inserts. Comparison between the unused and the used Locator and OT equator retentive male inserts at various inter-implant distance revealed highly significant wear changes between them at either 19 mm, or 25 mm inter-implant distance P1= .000, P2=.000 respectively. After one year of implant overdenture clinical use; both locator and OT equator retentive male inserts revealed significant surface deformities and wear. Wear were more notable on both locator and OT equator retentive male inserts with 25 mm interimplant distance than with 19 mm interimplant distance

Meta Clustering

Clustering is ill-defined. Unlike supervised learning where labels lead to crisp performance criteria such as accuracy and squared error, clustering quality depends on how the clusters will be used. Devising clustering criteria that capture what users need is difficult. Most clustering algorithms search for one optimal clustering based on a pre-specified clustering criterion. Once that clustering has been determined, no further clusterings are examined. Our approach differs in that we search for many alternate reasonable clusterings of the data, and then allow users to select the clustering(s) that best fit their needs. Any reasonable partitioning of the data is potentially useful for some purpose, regardless of whether or not it is optimal according to a specific clustering criterion. Our approach first finds a variety of reasonable clusterings. It then clusters this diverse set of clusterings so that users must only examine a small number of qualitatively different clusterings. In this paper, we present methods for automatically generating a diverse set of alternate clusterings, as well as methods for grouping clusterings into meta clusters. We evaluate meta clustering on four test problems, and then apply meta clustering to two case studies. Surprisingly, clusterings that would be of most interest to users often are not very compact clusterings

DNA Fingerprinting, Chemical Composition, Antitumor and Antimicrobial Activities of the Essential Oils and Extractives of four Annona Species from Egypt

The leaf essential oils of four members of the Annonaceae grown in Egypt (namely; Annona cherimola, A. squamosa, A. muricata and A. glabra) have been obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-MS in order to compare and contrast the volatile chemical compositions of these species.  The essential oils were screened for in-vitro cytotoxic activity against breast cancer (MCF-7), colon cancer (CACO) and liver cancer (HEPG2) cell lines and antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeuroginosa, Aspergillus flavus and Candida albicans. beta-elemene (25.02%), beta-caryophyllene (37.11%), bicycloelemene (23.58%) and and beta-gurjunene (42.49%), were the major constituents of Annona cherimola, A. squamosa, A. muricata and A. glabra, respectively. Ethanol extracts showed highly significant cytotoxic activities (low IC50) much more than results displayed by essential oils on breast (MCF-7), colon (CACO) and liver (HEPG2) carcinoma cell lines. Relative to breast carcinoma cell line (MCF-7), The IC50 values of ethanol extracts were 3.43, 3.89 and 4.34 ?g/ml for A. cherimola, A. squamosa and A. muricata ethanol extractives respectively. While colon carcinoma cell line (CACO) displayed IC50 values 2.82, 2.97, 3.58 and 3.89 ?g/ml for A. muricata, A. cherimola, A. glabra and A. squamosa, respectively. Liver carcinoma cell line (HEPG2) exhibited IC50 valus of 3.12, 3.43 and 3.73 for A. squamosa, A. muricata and A. cherimola, respectively. Three of the four leaf essential oils showed notable invitro cytotoxic activity. Essential oils of A. glabra, A. muricata and A. squamosa showed moderate cytotoxic activities with IC50 values ranging from 12.35 to 24.21?g/ml. While the essential oils of A. cherimola showed IC50 values ranging from 7.67 to 9.22?g/ml. Leaf oils and ethanol extractives showed appreciable antibmicobial activity with variable MIC ranging from 30 to 315µg/ml. These findings suggest that A. cherimola essential oil and ethanol extract have great potential as a natural medicine for cancers and microbial infections. Keywords:Annona cherimola; A. squamosa;, A. muricata ; A. glabra;   Annonaceae;   DNA, essential   oil   composition; cytotoxicity; antimicobia

DNA Fingerprinting, Chemical Composition, Antitumor and Antimicrobial Activities of the Essential Oils and Extractives of four Annona Species from Egypt

The leaf essential oils of four members of the Annonaceae grown in Egypt (namely; Annona cherimola, A. squamosa, A. muricata and A. glabra) have been obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-MS in order to compare and contrast the volatile chemical compositions of these species.  The essential oils were screened for in-vitro cytotoxic activity against breast cancer (MCF-7), colon cancer (CACO) and liver cancer (HEPG2) cell lines and antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeuroginosa, Aspergillus flavus and Candida albicans. beta-elemene (25.02%), beta-caryophyllene (37.11%), bicycloelemene (23.58%) and and beta-gurjunene (42.49%), were the major constituents of Annona cherimola, A. squamosa, A. muricata and A. glabra, respectively. Ethanol extracts showed highly significant cytotoxic activities (low IC50) much more than results displayed by essential oils on breast (MCF-7), colon (CACO) and liver (HEPG2) carcinoma cell lines. Relative to breast carcinoma cell line (MCF-7), The IC50 values of ethanol extracts were 3.43, 3.89 and 4.34 ?g/ml for A. cherimola, A. squamosa and A. muricata ethanol extractives respectively. While colon carcinoma cell line (CACO) displayed IC50 values 2.82, 2.97, 3.58 and 3.89 ?g/ml for A. muricata, A. cherimola, A. glabra and A. squamosa, respectively. Liver carcinoma cell line (HEPG2) exhibited IC50 valus of 3.12, 3.43 and 3.73 for A. squamosa, A. muricata and A. cherimola, respectively. Three of the four leaf essential oils showed notable invitro cytotoxic activity. Essential oils of A. glabra, A. muricata and A. squamosa showed moderate cytotoxic activities with IC50 values ranging from 12.35 to 24.21?g/ml. While the essential oils of A. cherimola showed IC50 values ranging from 7.67 to 9.22?g/ml. Leaf oils and ethanol extractives showed appreciable antibmicobial activity with variable MIC ranging from 30 to 315µg/ml. These findings suggest that A. cherimola essential oil and ethanol extract have great potential as a natural medicine for cancers and microbial infections. Keywords:Annona cherimola; A. squamosa;, A. muricata ; A. glabra;   Annonaceae;   DNA, essential   oil   composition; cytotoxicity; antimicobia

Possible Ionospheric Influence on Substorm Onset Location

Auroral substorm onset locations are highly unpredictable. Previous studies have shown that the By component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) explains ∼5% of the variation in onset magnetic local time (MLT), while solar wind conditions and the other IMF components have even less explanatory power. In this study, we show that the level of geomagnetic activity before substorm onset, as indicated by the AL index, explains an additional ∼5% of the variation in onset MLT. We discuss our results with regard to recent modeling studies, which show that gradients in the ionospheric Hall conductance can lead to a duskward shift of the magnetotail dynamics. Our findings suggest that this magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling effect may also influence the location of substorm onsets.publishedVersio

Substorm Impact on Dayside Ionospheric Currents

Ionospheric dayside dynamics is strongly controlled by the interaction between the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) and the Earth's magnetic field near the dayside magnetopause, while nightside ionospheric dynamics depends mainly on magnetotail activity. However, we know little about the influence of magnetotail activity on the dayside ionospheric dynamics. We investigate this by performing superposed epoch analyses of ground magnetic field data for substorms occurring during northward IMF. In such substorms, dayside reconnection is minimized, allowing us to separate the effects of the magnetotail activity on the dayside current system. We find that as nightside activity elevates, the dayside ionospheric current elevates. Our analyses indicate that the lobe cells are less distinct before onset than during non-substorm northward IMF conditions. They become more pronounced after onset, possibly due to magnetospheric reconfiguration or a remote effect of the nightside current. We discuss possible mechanisms that may explain our observations.publishedVersio

Association of HCV with diabetes mellitus: an Egyptian case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The highest Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) prevalence in the world occurs in Egypt. Several studies from different parts of the world have found that 13% to 33% of patients with chronic HCV have associated diabetes, mostly type II Diabetes Mellitus (DM). In Egypt the prevalence of DM is 25.4% among HCV patients. Therefore, it is important to identify the magnitude of the problem of diabetes in order to optimize the treatment of chronic hepatitis C.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The objective of this case-control study was to evaluate the prevalence of DM and other extrahepatic (EH) manifestations among patients with different HCV morbidity stages including asymptomatic, chronic hepatic and cirrhotic patients. In this study, 289 HCV patients older than 18 were selected as cases. Also, 289 healthy controls were included. Laboratory investigations including Liver Function tests (LFT) and blood glucose level were done. Also serological assays including cryoglobulin profile, rheumatoid factor, antinuclear antibody, HCV-PCR were performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Out of 289 HCV cases, 40 (13.84%) were diabetic. Out of 289 healthy controls, 12 (4.15%) were diabetic. It was found that the diabetic HCV group mean age was [48.1 (± 9.2)]. Males and urbanians represented 72.5% and 85% respectively. Lower level of education was manifested in 52.5% and 87.5% were married. In the nondiabetic HCV group mean age was [40.7 (± 10.4)]. Males and urbanians represented 71.5% and 655% respectively. secondary and higher level of education was attained in 55.4% and 76.7% were married. Comparing between the diabetic HCV group and the non diabetic HCV group, age, residence and alcohol drinking were the only significant factors affecting the incidence of diabetes between the two groups. There was no significant difference regarding sonar findings although cirrhosis was more prevalent among diabetic HCV cases and the fibrosis score was higher in diabetic HCV patients than among the non diabetic HCV cases.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The diabetic patients in the HCV group were older, more likely to have a history of alcohol drinking than the non diabetic HCV cases. Age and alcohol drinking are factors that could potentially contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes. Logistic regression analyses showed that age and residence in urban regions were the predictive variables that could be associated with the presence of diabetes. Alcohol consumption was not a significant predictive factor.</p