Impact of Textiled-Poly Bags as Economic and Environmentally Friendly Recycled Fibers on Mechanical Features of Soil

Newly, the utilization of polypropene for packaging consumer products was populated significantly, which might make ecological problems. So, it is substantial to detect environmentally friendly techniques to recycle these waste substances without causing any environmental risks. One such technique could be the utilize poly wastes as stabilizer agents for soils. In the current investigation, textiled-poly bags (TPB) have been recycled and fabricated to be economy and environmentally-friendly fibers. The impact of utilizing different proportions and lengths of these fibers on the mechanical features of clayey soil has been evaluated. The investigation depended on four different fiber-proportions (1, 2, 3, &4)% of soil weight in two different lengths (1&2) cm. Geotechnical experimental test consequences demonstrated that the recycled fiber pieces minimize the optimum dry density (ODD) and the corresponding optimum water content (OWC) of the treated soil samples. Additionally, there was a notable increment in the uniaxial compression test results of the treated soil samples. Moreover, the consequences of California Bearing Ratio tests showed that the utilization of recycled TPB fibers in clayey soil samples enhances the resistance and deformation performance of the soils specially when utilizing 4% of recycled TPB fibers for both lengths (1 & 2) cm

Thoracoscopic excision of asymptomatic posterior mediastinal ganglioneuroma. A case series study

Background Posterior mediastinal ganglioneuroma is the most frequent type of neurogenic tumors, and usually it is asymptomatic. The surgical approach to excise it may differ from center to center based on the surgeon's experience as well as the size of tumor. We aim to present our center's experience and short-term outcomes in surgical excision of posterior mediastinal ganglioneuroma. Methods This retrospective case series study, from June 2019 till December 2022, included 9 asymptomatic patients with mean age of 31± 5 years who expressed lesion in the posterior mediastinum. The mean size of the tumor was   5.3±3.6 cm in maximal dimensions.  Results There were 7 males and 2 females with mean age was 31± 5 years,  the excision by video-assisted thoracoscopy (VATS)  was  employed in 8 patients and conventional thoracotomy was carried out in 1 case.  The mean operative time was 57±14 minutes with mean operative blood loss 50±10 ml. The mean postoperative chest tube drainage was 120±80 ml and no complications related to the procedures were observed. The average time of hospital stay after VATS treatment was 2 days, while after thoracotomy it was 5 days and patient suffered from ptosis that eventually recovered after 1 month with supportive treatment. Histopathological examination confirmed benign nature of ganglioneuroma in all cases. Conclusions Thoracoscopic excision of asymptomatic posterior mediastinal neurogenic tumor is safe, feasible and reduces postoperative pain, however, open technique might be considered for large-sized tumor to minimize the possible complications

Oscillation of Second-Order Nonlinear Delay Dynamic Equations with Damping on Time Scales

We use the generalized Riccati transformation and the inequality technique to establish some new oscillation criteria for the second-order nonlinear delay dynamic equation with damping on a time scale T(r(t)g(x(t), xΔ(t)))Δ+p(t)g(x(t), xΔ(t))  + q(t)f(x(τ(t)))=0, where r(t), p(t), and q(t) are positive right dense continuous (rd-continuous) functions on T. Our results improve and extend some results established by Zhang et al., 2011. Also, our results unify the oscillation of the second-order nonlinear delay differential equation with damping and the second-order nonlinear delay difference equation with damping. Finally, we give some examples to illustrate our main results

Dynamic Behavior Analysis of a Rotating Shaft with an Elliptical Breathing Surface Crack

Open access via the Springer Compact Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions that helped in improving the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Passive smoking in the etiology of non-syndromic orofacial clefts:a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Studies have found a consistent positive association between maternal smoking and nonsyndromic orofacial clefts (NSOFC). However, no comprehensive assessment of the association between NSOFC and passive smoking has been undertaken. This systematic review and meta-analysis explores the relationship between maternal passive smoking and NSOFC, and compares the associations between passive and active smoking. Methods and Findings Search strategy, inclusion / exclusion criteria, and data extraction from studies reporting maternal passive smoking and NSOFC was implemented without language restrictions. Risks of bias in the identified studies were assessed and this information was used in sensitivity analyses to explain heterogeneity. Meta-analysis and meta-regression of the extracted data were performed. Egger's test was used to test for small study effects. Fourteen eligible articles were identified. Maternal passive smoking exposure was associated with a twofold increase in risk of NSOFC (odds ratio: 2.11, 95% confidence interval: 1.54-2.89); this was apparent for both cleft lip with and without palate (OR: 2.05, 95% CI: 1.27-3.3) and cleft palate (OR: 2.11, 95% CI: 1.23-3.62). There was substantial heterogeneity between studies. In the studies that provided data enabling crude and adjusted odd ratios to be compared, adjustment for potential confounders attenuated the magnitude of association to about a 1.5-fold increase in risk. Conclusion Overall, maternal passive smoking exposure results in a 1.5 fold increase in risk of NSOFC, similar to the magnitude of risk reported for active smoking, but there is marked heterogeneity between studies. This heterogeneity is not explained by differences in the distribution of cleft types, adjustment for covariates, broad geographic region, or study bias/quality. This thorough meta-analysis provides further evidence to minimize exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in policy making fora and in health promotion initiatives.</p

Discovery of novel phthalimide analogs

In continuation of our endeavor towards the design and development of potent and effective antimicrobial agents, three series of phthalimide derivatives (4a–i, 5a–f, and 6a-c) were synthesized, fully characterized and evaluated for their potential antibacterial, antifungal and antimycobacterial activities. These efforts led to the discovery of nine compounds 4c, 4f, 4g, 4h, 4i, 5c, 5d, 5e, and 6c (MIC range from 0.49 to 31.5 μg/mL) with potent antibacterial, antifungal, and antimycobacterial activities. Ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, amphotericin B were used as references for antibacterial and antifungal screening respectively, while isoniazid was used as a reference for antimycobacterial testing. Furthermore, molecular modeling studies were done to explore the binding mode of the most active derivatives to M. tuberculosis enoyl reductase (InhA) and DNA gyrase B. Our study showed the importance of both hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions as a key interaction with the target enzymes

The role of hepatic progenitor cells in predicting response to therapy in Egyptian patients with chronic hepatitis C, genotype 4

Background: Interferon therapy is used as a line of treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) in several areas of the world including Egypt.Objective: Our aim was to investigate the value of hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) in predicting response of patients with chronic HCV, genotype 4 to pegylated interferon (PEGIFN) plus ribavirin (RBV) therapy.Methods: Pre-treatment liver biopsies obtained from 110 patients with chronic HCV, genotype 4 were examined immunohisto- chemically for HPCs using cytokeratin19. The mean number of HPCs as ductular reaction (DR) and as isolated progenitor cells (IPCs) was counted in each case. The patients were classified into: those with sustained virological response (SVR) and those who did not achieve SVR. The results were compared between the two groups. Also, the relationships between HPCs and other clinico-pathologic variables were estimated using multivariate analysis.Results: The mean number of HPCs was the only independent predictor of therapeutic response, being significantly higher in non-responders (P = 0 for DR and P = 0.03 for IPCs). On the other hand, fibrosis stage and steatosis were the only independent factors which showed a significant direct association with the mean number of HPCs in the form of DR and IPCs (P = 0 for each).Conclusion: The number of HPCs provides prognostic information in chronic HCV since it is significantly associated with stage of fibrosis. More importantly, it can be used as a marker to predict response of patients with chronic HCV to PEGIFN plus RBV therapy.Keywords: Chronic hepatitis C, genotype 4, response to therapy, hepatic progenitor cells

Formulation and in-vitro evaluation of fast dissolving tablets containing a poorly soluble antipsychotic drug

The aim of the present study was to formulate olanzapine fast dissolving tablets (FDT). Olanzapine is a poorly water soluble drug that undergoes first pass metabolism in liver resulted in low oral bioavailability. The water solubility is enhanced by formation of co-amorphous dispersion by solvent evaporation under vacuum method using a polycarboxylic acid (ascorbic acid) as a coformer in two different molar ratios (1:1 and 1:2). The prepared systems were evaluated using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), Fourier Transform Infra-Red analysis (FTIR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and saturated solubility. The co-amorphous dispersion system in a molar ratio 1:2 is higher in solubility than 1:1, so it was selected for incorporation into FDT formulation. Compatability study between olanzapine and different tablet excipients including DSC and FTIR showed that the drug is compatible with the selected tablet excipients. Direct compression method was used in FDT formulations using different types and concentrations of superdisintegrants. FDTs were evaluated for weight variation, hardness, friability, wetting time, drug content uniformity, invitro disintegration time and invitro dissolution study. All the prepared FDTs were complied with the compendia standards. F3 and F8 showed lower disintegration time and higher percent of drug dissolved, so they were selected for stability study. After storage for 3 months at 30ºC at 65% relative humidity, both formulations were physically stable regarding color and integrity and had only minor increases in disintegration time, drug content and friability after three months’ storage. The results indicate that olanzapine FDT tablets may serve as a successful strategy for enhancing the bioavailability of olanzapine

Scaffold hopping of α-rubromycin enables direct access to FDA-approved cromoglicic acid as a SARS-CoV-2 M^Pro inhibitor

The COVID-19 pandemic is still active around the globe despite the newly introduced vaccines. Hence, finding effective medications or repurposing available ones could offer great help during this serious situation. During our anti-COVID-19 investigation of microbial natural products (MNPs), we came across α-rubromycin, an antibiotic derived from Streptomyces collinus ATCC19743, which was able to suppress the catalytic activity (IC50 = 5.4 µM and Ki = 3.22 µM) of one of the viral key enzymes (i.e., MPro). However, it showed high cytotoxicity toward normal human fibroblasts (CC50 = 16.7 µM). To reduce the cytotoxicity of this microbial metabolite, we utilized a number of in silico tools (ensemble docking, molecular dynamics simulation, binding free energy calculation) to propose a novel scaffold having the main pharmacophoric features to inhibit MPro with better drug-like properties and reduced/minimal toxicity. Nevertheless, reaching this novel scaffold synthetically is a time-consuming process, particularly at this critical time. Instead, this scaffold was used as a template to explore similar molecules among the FDA-approved medications that share its main pharmacophoric features with the aid of pharmacophore-based virtual screening software. As a result, cromoglicic acid (aka cromolyn) was found to be the best hit, which, upon in vitro MPro testing, was 4.5 times more potent (IC50 = 1.1 µM and Ki = 0.68 µM) than α-rubromycin, with minimal cytotoxicity toward normal human fibroblasts (CC50 &gt; 100 µM). This report highlights the potential of MNPs in providing unprecedented scaffolds with a wide range of therapeutic efficacy. It also revealed the importance of cheminformatics tools in speeding up the drug discovery process, which is extremely important in such a critical situation