The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of mediastinal lymphadenopathy in hospitalized Covid-19 patients in a tertiary care hospital in the metropolitan city of Lahore, Pakistan from ...September 2020 till July 2021.
We retrospectively collected data of Covid-19 patients hospitalized from September 2020 till July 2021. Only those patients who tested PCR positive through a nasopharyngeal swab, were enrolled in the study. Patients' whose data were missing were excluded from this study. Our exclusion criteria included patients who tested negative on Covid-19 PCR, patients with comorbidities that may cause enlarged mediastinal lymphadenopathies such as haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, neoplasia, tuberculosis, sarcoidosis or a systemic disease. The extent of lung involvement in Covid-19 patients was quantified by using a 25-point visual quantitative assessment called the Chest Computed Tomography Score. This score was then correlated with the presence of mediastinal lymphadenopathy.
Of the 210 hospitalized patients included in the study, 131 (62.4%) had mediastinal lymphadenopathy. The mean and median Severity Score of Covid-19 patients with mediastinal lymphadenopathy (mean: 17.1, SD:5.7; median: 17, IQR: 13-23) were higher as compared to those without mediastinal lymphadenopathy (mean: 12.3, SD:5.4; median: 12, IQR:9-16).
Our study documents a high prevalence of mediastinal lymphadenopathy in hospitalized patients with Covid-19 with the severity score being higher in its presence representing a more severe course of disease.
A singular failure of the Arab world is the absence of a private sector that is independent, competitive, and integrated with global markets. This paper argues that private sector development is both ...a political and regional challenge. In so far as the private sector generates incomes that are independent of the rent streams controlled by the state, it can pose a direct political challenge. It is also a regional challenge, since fragmented markets deny scale economies to firms and entrench the power of insiders. We argue that overcoming regional economic barriers constitutes the single most important collective action problem facing the region since the fall of Ottoman Empire.
Anticancer peptides (ACPs) are promising therapeutic agents for targeting and killing cancer cells. The accurate prediction of ACPs from given peptide sequences remains as an open problem in the ...field of immunoinformatics. Recently, machine learning algorithms have emerged as a promising tool for helping experimental scientists predict ACPs. However, the performance of existing methods still needs to be improved. In this study, we present a novel approach for the accurate prediction of ACPs, which involves the following two steps: (i) We applied a two-step feature selection protocol on seven feature encodings that cover various aspects of sequence information (composition-based, physicochemical properties and profiles) and obtained their corresponding optimal feature-based models. The resultant predicted probabilities of ACPs were further utilized as feature vectors. (ii) The predicted probability feature vectors were in turn used as an input to support vector machine to develop the final prediction model called mACPpred. Cross-validation analysis showed that the proposed predictor performs significantly better than individual feature encodings. Furthermore, mACPpred significantly outperformed the existing methods compared in this study when objectively evaluated on an independent dataset.
Owing to its benefit of changing stiffness, Magnetorheological Elastomers (MRE) can be effectively used as base isolator in buildings and bridges to resist unpredictable loading conditions e.g. ...seismic activities. This research aims to study the effects of using Iron nanoparticles in silicon rubber matrix on dynamic properties of MRE's and to make MRE more adaptable to seismic forces, specifically at high strains. Micro-sized iron particles were reduced to nanoparticles using a planetary ball milling machine. Samples, using a mixture of nano & microparticles were prepared for different percentage concentrations. The experimental test rig was set up for dynamic shear testing under known amplitude, frequency, and magnetic flux density summing up to total 180 tests. The experimental results revealed that the use of nanoparticles had a significant increase in the effective stiffness by 13% at higher strains and low flux values. Further attaining MR effect at a higher frequency is difficult using only larger sized fillers however for hybrid MREs, the magnetrheological effect was higher for higher frequency. The maximum MR effect was observed for samples with 40% iron content.
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•The effect of combination of nano & micro particles on dynamic properties of MR elastomer is investigated.•Using novel hybrid MR elastomer, the MR effect increases with increased content of iron powder.•Normally MR effect decreases with increase in frequency but using hybrid MRE’s it was high at high frequencies.•With the use of nano particles, the effective stiffness of hybrid elastomers was increased by 13% at higher strains.•Hysteresis width increases for hybrids with maximum percentage content of fillers
In this research, the synergistic behavior of magnetorheological elastomers containing nickel and cobalt along with iron particles as magnetically polarizable fillers is examined experimentally under ...dynamic shear loading. Two different types of magnetorheological elastomer were fabricated having equal proportions of iron and nickel in one kind, and iron and cobalt in the other. The concentrations of magnetic particles in each type are varied from 10% to 40% and investigated for several frequencies, displacement amplitude, and magnetic field values. A test assembly with moveable permanent magnets was used to vary magnetic field density. Force displacement hysteresis loops were studied for dynamic response of magnetorheological elastomers (MREs). It was observed that MREs showed a linear behavior at low strains while nonlinearity increased with increasing strain. The percentage filler content and frequency increased the MRE stiffness whereas it decreased with displacement amplitude. The computed maximum magnetorheological (MR) effect was 55.56 percent. While MRE with iron and cobalt gave the highest effective stiffness, MRE with iron and nickel gave the highest MR effect.
In many electronic applications, the dielectric and structural properties of reinforced composites are vital. In this research work, the influence of fiber proportion on the properties of a silica ...fiber/epoxy (SFE) composite was investigated. The structure, morphology, dielectric constant and loss factor, mechanical properties, and thermal stability were determined. The increase of wt.% of silica fiber (SiO
) x = 30 to 90, reduced the dielectric constant (εr) and dielectric loss (δ) of the SFE composite from their original values to 18.9% and 48.5%, lowering local charge displacement towards the applied electric field. The SFE composite showed higher mechanical properties with the increase in SiO
, x = 30 to 80, the tensile strength (UTS) was raised from 91.6 MPa to 155.7 MPa, the compression strength (UCS) was increased from 261.1 MPa to 409.6 MPa and the flexural strength was enhanced from 192.3 MPa to 311.9 MPa. Upon further addition of SiO
to the composite, i.e., x = 90, the mechanical properties were reduced a little, but the dielectric properties were not changed. Increasing SiO
improved the thermal stability as weight loss was found to be 69% (x = 30) and 24% (x = 90), and average moisture absorption was found to be 1.1 to 1.8%. A silica fiber/epoxy composite, for microelectronics, can be made from a low-cost fiber, and its dielectric properties as well as its mechanical and thermal stability can be tuned or improved by varying fiber fractions.
For curing of fiber-reinforced epoxy composites, an alternative to thermal heating is the use of microwave energy, which cures quickly and consumes less energy. Employing thermal curing (TC) and ...microwave (MC) curing methods, we present a comparative study on the functional characteristics of fiber-reinforced composite for microelectronics. The composite prepregs, prepared from commercial silica fiber fabric/epoxy resin, were separately cured via thermal and microwave energy under curing conditions (temperature/time). The dielectric, structural, morphological, thermal, and mechanical properties of composite materials were investigated. Microwave cured composite showed a 1% lower dielectric constant, 21.5% lower dielectric loss factor, and 2.6% lower weight loss, than thermally cured one. Furthermore, the dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) revealed a 20% increase in the storage and loss modulus along with a 15.5% increase in the glass transition temperature (Tg) of microwave-cured compared to thermally cured composite. The fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showed similar spectra of both the composites; however, the microwave-cured composite exhibited higher tensile (15.4%), and compression strength (4.3%) than the thermally cured composite. These results illustrate that microwave-cured silica-fiber-reinforced composite exhibit superior electrical performance, thermal stability, and mechanical properties compared to thermally cured silica fiber/epoxy composite in a shorter time and the expense of less energy.
The demand for biodegradable materials is on the rise because humanity is now more concerned about a sustainable lifestyle than ever before. In this regard, we present solution casting synthesized ...novel biopolymer blended films of poly(butylene succinate)/cyclic olefin copolymer (PBS/COC) for packaging applications. These films were characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared microscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), universal tensile testing (ASTM D882 standard), and antibacterial Disc diffusion tests using gram‐negative Escherichia coli (E.coli) and gram‐positive Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) bacteria. The XRD and FTIR revealed the type of bonding to be physical in‐between the constituent polymers; ensuring the biodegradable nature of their blends, while the thickness of films was found to be <100 μm. The SEM, tensile, and antibacterial testing concluded that 30%PBS with 70%COC by weight blending is the best composition; showing a compact/pin‐holes free morphology, the highest strength of 91 MPa, and contact inhibition with E.coli and S.aureus bacteria.
Daphnia galeata is a suitable model organism for investigating predator-induced defense. Genes and pathways exhibiting differential expression between fish kairomone-treated and untreated groups in ...D. galeata have been identified. However, understanding of the significance of alternative splicing, a crucial process of the regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes, to this mechanism remains limited. This study measured life-history traits and conducted short-read RNA sequencing and long-read isoform sequencing of two Korean D. galeata genotypes (KB1 and KE2) to uncover the genetic mechanism underlying their phenotypic plasticity under predation stress. KB1 exhibited strategies to enhance fertility and decrease body length when exposed to fish kairomones, while KE2 deployed an adaptive strategy to increase body length. Full-length transcriptomes from KB1 and KE2 yielded 65,736 and 57,437 transcripts, respectively, of which 32 differentially expressed transcripts (DETs) were shared under predation stress across both genotypes. Prominent DETs common to both genotypes were related to energy metabolism and the immune system. Additionally, differential alternative splicing (DAS) events were detected in both genotypes in response to fish kairomones. DAS genes shared between both genotypes may indicate their significant role in the post-transcriptional stress response to fish predation. Calpain-3, involved in digestion and nutrient absorption, was identified as a DAS gene in both genotypes when exposed to fish kairomones. In addition, the gene encoding thymosin beta, which is related to growth, was found to be a statistically significant DAS only in KB1, while that encoding ultraspiracle protein, also associated with growth, was only identified in KE2. Moreover, transcripts encoding proteins such as EGF-like domain-containing protein, vitellogenin fused with superoxide dismutase, and others were identified overlapping between DAS events and DETs and potentially elucidating their association with the observed phenotypic variation in each genotype. Our findings highlight the crucial role of alternative splicing in modulating transcriptome landscape under predation stress in D. galeata, emphasizing the requirement for integrating gene expression and splicing analyses in evolutionary adaptation studies.
Although borderland regions of the Middle East and North Africa represent active sights of economic and social exchange, they remain peripheral to the analysis of the region's political economy. ...Conventional accounts of cross-border informal trade tend to emphasize its illegality based on existing economic regulations, overlooking the deep political foundations of such trade. This article posits new arguments on the political economy significance of cross-border informal trade in the Middle East, highlighting its relevance for studying processes of state formation, durability of authoritarian regimes, conflict, informal institutions and the inter-dependence between domestic and external political economy domains. Our analysis underscores the need for a more holistic understanding of border economies that moves the field away from a security-centered view that treats such trade as mainly a law and order issue.
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