This study is aimed at investigating those parameters related to timber flooring that can affect the acceptability of vibration behaviour of a timber floor in a residential building in view of the ...criteria stated in Eurocode EC5. The timber floor investigated is made of OSB/3 floorboards and timber joists. The parameters that are investigated in this study are thickness of flooring, floor joist span, joist spacing and connection of floorboards to the joists. In this context, two cases are considered. First: the flooring is nailed or screwed to the joists and no composite action or interaction is obtained between joists and floorboards. Second: the flooring is glued sufficiently to the joists and full interaction is obtained. The result suggests that glued floorboards perform much better with respect to natural frequency, static deflection and peak floor velocity than nailed or screwed floorboards. In almost all cases of glued floorboards, the result complies fully with the Eurocode 5 design vibration requirements. However, as floor lengths increase, the static deflection will increase beyond the allowable limit, especially for relatively thin floor panels and relatively widely spread joists. For both cases, increasing floorboards thickness and decreasing the joist span by adding more beams can yield even better results to satisfy the requirement of vibration comfort.
Based on the recent reports of World Health Organization, increased antibiotic resistance prevalence among bacteria represents the greatest challenge to human health. In addition, the poor ...solubility, stability, and side effects that lead to inefficiency of the current antibacterial therapy prompted the researchers to explore new innovative strategies to overcome such resilient microbes. Hence, novel antibiotic delivery systems are in high demand. Nanotechnology has attracted considerable interest due to their favored physicochemical properties, drug targeting efficiency, enhanced uptake, and biodistribution. The present review focuses on the recent applications of organic (liposomes, lipid-based nanoparticles, polymeric micelles, and polymeric nanoparticles), and inorganic (silver, silica, magnetic, zinc oxide (ZnO), cobalt, selenium, and cadmium) nanosystems in the domain of antibacterial delivery. We provide a concise description of the characteristics of each system that render it suitable as an antibacterial delivery agent. We also highlight the recent promising innovations used to overcome antibacterial resistance, including the use of lipid polymer nanoparticles, nonlamellar liquid crystalline nanoparticles, anti-microbial oligonucleotides, smart responsive materials, cationic peptides, and natural compounds. We further discuss the applications of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy, combination drug therapy, nano antibiotic strategy, and phage therapy, and their impact on evading antibacterial resistance. Finally, we report on the formulations that made their way towards clinical application.
Survey on serverless computing Hassan, Hassan B.; Barakat, Saman A.; Sarhan, Qusay I.
Journal of cloud computing,
07/2021, Volume:
10, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Serverless computing has gained importance over the last decade as an exciting new field, owing to its large influence in reducing costs, decreasing latency, improving scalability, and eliminating ...server-side management, to name a few. However, to date there is a lack of in-depth survey that would help developers and researchers better understand the significance of serverless computing in different contexts. Thus, it is essential to present research evidence that has been published in this area. In this systematic survey, 275 research papers that examined serverless computing from well-known literature databases were extensively reviewed to extract useful data. Then, the obtained data were analyzed to answer several research questions regarding state-of-the-art contributions of serverless computing, its concepts, its platforms, its usage, etc. We moreover discuss the challenges that serverless computing faces nowadays and how future research could enable its implementation and usage.
Relapsed and refractory B‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B‐ALL) is an aggressive B‐cell neoplasm associated with poor outcomes. Conventional multiagent chemotherapy and bispecific antibody ...therapy may induce remission; however, relapse rates remain high and overall survival is poor. Chimeric antigen receptor T‐cell (CAR‐T) therapy provides durable, deep complete remission, and long‐term cures in relapsed and refractory B‐ALL. However, with this new treatment modality, 10%–30% of patients do not achieve remission, and over 50% experience relapse after therapy. Currently, there are two approved CD19‐specific CAR‐T cell constructs in B‐ALL, Tisagenlecleucel and Brexucabtagene Autoleucel by the United States Food and Drug Administration, and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). In this review, we discuss patients, disease, and CAR‐T predictors of outcomes in B‐ALL. We describe the two approved CD19‐directed CAR‐T cell products, review the current literature, and discuss factors associated with high risks of therapy failure and future direction in CAR‐T cell therapy for B‐ALL.
Surfaces with metal oxide nanostructures have gained considerable interest in applications such as sensors, detectors, energy harvesting cells, and batteries. However, conventional fabrication ...techniques suffer from challenges that hinder wide and effective applications of such surfaces. Most of the metal oxide nanostructure synthesis methods are costly, complicated, non-scalable, environmentally hazardous, or applicable to only certain few materials. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a simple metal oxide nanostructure fabrication method that can overcome all these limitations and pave the way to the industrial application of such surfaces. Here, we demonstrate that a wide variety of metals can form metal oxide nanostructures on their surfaces after simply interacting with hot water. This method, what we call hot water treatment, offers the ability to grow metal oxide nanostructures on most of the metals in the periodic table, their compounds, or alloys by a one-step, scalable, low-cost, and eco-friendly process. In addition, our findings reveal that a "plugging" mechanism along with surface diffusion is critical in the formation of such nanostructures. This work is believed to be of importance especially for researchers working on the growth of metal oxide nanostructures and their application in functional devices.
Fatigue is an exceedingly common often treatable problem in cancer patients that profoundly affects all aspects of quality of life. Prevalence estimates have ranged from 50% to 90% of cancer patients ...overall. After addressing reversible or treatable contributing factors, such as hypothyroidism, anemia, sleep disturbance, pain, emotional distress, climacterium, medication adverse events, metabolic disturbances, or organ dysfunction such as heart failure, myopathy, and pulmonary fibrosis, patients may be screened with a brief fatigue self-assessment tool. All cancer patients should be screened regularly for fatigue. Those with moderate or severe fatigue may benefit from both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions, while mild fatigue that does not interfere with quality of life can be treated with nonpharmacologic measures alone. Physicians often have insufficient knowledge about fatigue and its treatments or underestimate the impact of fatigue on quality of life, while patients may consider it an unavoidable and untreatable side-effect and fear that reporting it may incite a change toward less aggressive cancer treatment. A practical review may therefore be useful to health care professionals in order to avoid the common barriers to its treatment that exist on the sides of both physicians and patients.
Animal Models of Bone Metastasis Simmons, J. K.; Hildreth, B. E.; Supsavhad, W. ...
Veterinary pathology,
09/2015, Volume:
52, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Bone is one of the most common sites of cancer metastasis in humans and is a significant source of morbidity and mortality. Bone metastases are considered incurable and result in pain, pathologic ...fracture, and decreased quality of life. Animal models of skeletal metastases are essential to improve the understanding of the molecular pathways of cancer metastasis and growth in bone and to develop new therapies to inhibit and prevent bone metastases. The ideal animal model should be clinically relevant, reproducible, and representative of human disease. Currently, an ideal model does not exist; however, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the available models will lead to proper study design and successful cancer research. This review provides an overview of the current in vivo animal models used in the study of skeletal metastases or local tumor invasion into bone and focuses on mammary and prostate cancer, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and miscellaneous tumors that metastasize to bone.
Background
The repair of recurrent inguinal hernias after prosthetic mesh repair is challenging due to the technical complexity and complications associated with it. As well as the increased risk of ...recurrence due to weakened tissues and distorted anatomy. The Posterior Pre-Peritoneal Approach yields significantly better results than the anterior approach due to its distance from previously scarred tissue.
Objective
To compare the open pre-peritoneal approach and Laparoscopic trans-abdominal pre-peritoneal approach in the management of recurrent inguinal hernia which was previously managed through an open anterior approach regarding their intra-operative time, the postoperative outcomes in the form of hematoma, wound infection and finally the recurrence within 1-year follow-up.
Patients and methods
The current study is a prospective cohort study, a single-center trial conducted from June 2021 to June 2022 in the general surgery department in Ain Shams University Hospitals, which included 74 patients presented with recurrent inguinal hernia who had previous open anterior approach 68(91.8%) males and 6(8.1%) females including a 1-year follow-up postoperative.
Results
There were 74 patients in our study with 37 patients in each group. Group (I) underwent an open pre-peritoneal approach and group (II) underwent a Laparoscopic trans-abdominal pre-peritoneal approach. The mean age of the group (I) is 39.51 with a standard deviation of ± 3.49. While in group (II) the mean age is 39.37 with standard deviation ± 3.44 (
p
= 0.881). From the included 74 patients 67(91.8%) were males and 6(8.1%) were females. As regards the co-morbidities, in group (I) 17(45.9%) patients have no co-morbidities, 11(29.7%) patients have diabetes mellitus, 6(16.2%) patients have hypertension, and 3(8.1%) patients have diabetes and hypertension. Andin group (II) 26(70.3%) patients have no co-morbidities, 6(16.2%) patients have diabetes mellitus, 3(8.1%) patients have hypertension, and 2(5.4%) patients have diabetes and hypertension (
p
= 0.207). Regarding intra-operative time, the mean time in minutes in the group (I) is 63.33 with a standard deviation of ± 11.95. While in group (II) the mean time in minutes is 81.21 with a standard deviation of ± 18.03 (
p
= 0.015). The postoperative outcomes were assessed for 1-year follow-up in the form of hematoma, wound infection, and recurrence within 1 year. Regarding the hematoma occurred in 4(10.8%) patients in group (I). While in 2(5.4%) patients in group (II) (
p
= 0.674). The wound infection was found in 5(13.5%) patients in group(I) and zero patients in group (II) (
p
= 0.021). Finally, we followed up with the patients for about 1 year to detect the recurrence. Which was found in 3(8.1%) patients in group (I) and 1(2.7%) patient in group (II) (
p
= 0.615).
Conclusion
The results of this study demonstrate that both the laparoscopic approach and the open posterior approach are effective for recurrent inguinal hernia following anterior approach mesh hernioplasty, with comparable results. Laparoscopy has been associated with a lower rate of recurrence and overall complications compared to open technique, however, it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions about the preferred option due to its lengthy learning curve and difficulty to perform. Furthermore, the results of this study confirm the previously reported positive results of the posterior pre-peritoneal for recurrent inguinal hernia, particularly when performed by experienced surgeons. Therefore, further prospective randomized population-based trials are necessary to better assess the decision-making for recurrent hernia management and the impact of specialization in abdominal wall surgery in terms of recurrence and complications.
How do I manage refractory invasive pulmonary aspergillosis Vergidis, Paschalis; Sendi, Parham; Alkhateeb, Hassan B. ...
Clinical microbiology and infection,
June 2024, 2024-Jun, 2024-06-00, 20240601, Volume:
30, Issue:
6
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Invasive aspergillosis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality in patients with haematologic malignancies and haematopoietic cell transplant recipients. The prognosis is worse among ...patients who have failed primary antifungal treatment.
We aim to provide guidance on the diagnosis and management of refractory invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.
Using PubMed, we performed a review of original articles, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews.
We discuss the diagnostic criteria for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis and the evidence on the treatment of primary infection. We outline our diagnostic approach to refractory disease. We propose a treatment algorithm for refractory disease and discuss the role of experimental antifungal agents.
For patients with worsening disease while on antifungal therapy, a thorough diagnostic evaluation is required to confirm the diagnosis of aspergillosis and exclude another concomitant infection. Treatment should be individualized. Current options include switching to another triazole, transitioning to a lipid formulation of amphotericin B, or using combination antifungal therapy.
Display omitted
•Novel synthetic method for preparation of 1,2,4-oxadiazole derivatives was developed.•A novel series of uracil analogues-1,2,4-oxadiazole hybrids were synthesized and evaluated for ...their anticancer activity against 5 cancer cells.•The compounds 22 and 23 exhibited better antiproliferative activities than reference drug DOX against MCF-7.•Compound 22 induced apoptosis through activation of caspase 3/7 and arrested S-phase in cell cycle.•Molecular docking suggested that compound 22 activate caspase-3.
A new series of uracil analogues-1,2,4-oxadiazole hybrid derivatives were synthesized by a new, simple, and efficient method using for the first time HAP-SO3H as an heterogenous acid catalyst for the condensation and cyclization between amidoxime and aldehyde. The new derivatives were characterized by HRMS, FT-IR, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR spectroscopy techniques. The synthesized 1,2,4-oxadiazole hybrids were evaluated for their cytotoxic activity in five human cancer cell lines: melanoma (A-375), fibrosarcoma (HT-1080), breast (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231), and lung carcinoma (A-549). Data showed that compounds 22 and 23 were potent cytotoxic agents against HT-1080 and MFC-7 cells with IC50 inferior to 1 µM. The possible mechanism of apoptosis induction by the derivatives was investigated using Annexin V staining, caspase-3/7 activity, mitochondrial membrane potential measurement, and analysis cell cycle progression. The compound 22 induced apoptosis through caspase-3/7 activation and S-phase arrest in HT-1080 and A549 cells. The molecular docking showed that compound 22 activated the caspase-3 by forming a stable protein-ligand complex.
PDF
