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Dissolved benzene was detected in the shallow unconfined Liwa aquifer, UAE, which represents the main freshwater source for the nearby residence Bu Hasa camp area. The main source of this contamination is believed to be the rejected water released from Bu Hasa liquid recovery plant. In this paper, a finite element model (METABIOTRANS) is used to simulate the fate and transport of the dissolved benzene plume in Liwa aquifer. Different remediation scenarios were simulated in which the slow-release oxygen source (SOS) technique is utilized to minimize benzene concentrations at the nearest camp supply wells downstream of the contamination zone. Results of the remediation scenarios show that the highest biodegradation rates occur when the oxygen source is placed near the plume center; where higher benzene concentrations exist. The nearest oxygen release source to the contamination zone caused higher stimulation to bacterial growth than further down-gradient oxygen sources. It also exhibited longer resident time of oxygen in the aquifer; and therefore, yielded higher reductions in benzene concentrations. However, using one central SOS proved to be insufficient as contaminant escaped laterally. Additional four transverse oxygen sources were necessary to capture benzene that laterally spread away from the contamination zone. These lateral SOSs were essential to reduce benzene concentrations at the supply wells that are located at the plume fringes. Finally, it was found that increasing oxygen release from one source did not always improve remediation; and that using several SOSs with lower release rates could be a more practical approach to enhance benzene biodegradation in the aquifer.

Background Debonding of ball attachments is one of the complications that annoy teeth supported overdenture wearers. The polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) polymers are widely applied in the dental field. The purpose of the current study was to compare the tensile bond strength of ball attachments made of such materials and the commonly used titanium ones after 5 years of overdenture insertion and removal (5000 cycles) in addition to chewing simulation (1,200,000 cycle). Methods Extracted mandibular canines (N = 60) were randomly allocated into three groups and received ball attachments; titanium (group TI; N = 20), PEEK (group PE; N = 20), PEKK (group PK; N = 20). In each group, the samples were divided into two subgroups whereas tensile bond strength was measured pre aging (T0; n = 10) and post aging (T1; n = 10). Tensile bond strength was measured by the Pull out test using the Universal testing machine. Failure mode analysis was determined by examination of the samples’ surfaces under 65X stereomicroscope. The resulting data followed normal distribution and the significance level was set at (α = 0.05). Results One Way Anova showed statistically significant difference between the three groups (P < .00001). PostHoc Tukey test showed statistically significant difference between the groups TI and PE, TI and PK and no statistically significant difference between the groups PE and PK. Paired t test showed statistically significant difference in the tensile bond strength pre and post aging in each group. Conclusions PEEK and PEKK ball attachments could be concluded to have a higher tensile bond strength compared to the titanium ones when bonded to root dentin. Tensile bond strength of such attachments may decrease with aging as well. Clinically, the higher tensile bond strength may have a lesser rate of debonding and thus reduced patient apprehension.

Lung cancer tumorigenesis is mainly due to accumulation of genetic and epigenetic events in the respiratory epithelium. Epigenetic alteration is more frequent than somatic mutation in lung cancer. CpG island methylation of homeobox-associated genes is commonly seen in most early stage tumors. This study aimed at examining the potential usefulness of DNA methylation biomarker SHOX2, in broncho-alveolar lavage, in the diagnosis of lung cancer. Broncho-alveolar lavage was obtained from 80 patients; 60 cases with lung masses (proved malignant by histopathology) and 20 age and gender matched patients with benign lung lesions (benign controls). SHOX2 methylation status was evaluated using methylation analysis by restriction endonuclease digestion and real-time PCR. SHOX2 methylation level ranged 3.90-77.16% in cases, and 3.52-7.86% in controls, (p [less than or equal to] 0.001). SHOX2 methylation levels in comparison to tissue biopsy pathology (the gold standard test) had 76.92% sensitivity, 70% specificity, 87% positive predictive value, and 53.8% negative predictive value in diagnosing lung cancer. Different methylation levels were noted in different lung pathologies, (p = 0.003), with the highest methylation levels in squamous cell carcinoma followed by adenocarcinoma and anaplastic carcinoma then lastly carcinoma in situ. SHOX2 methylation levels could differentiate different varieties of lung cancer from benign lung lesions.

Background and aim: The aim of the current study is to assess the relation between carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) measurements, renal Doppler resistive index (RI) and serum levels of interleukin-13 (IL-13) and annexin-V (An-V) in children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS).Materials and methods: The present case-control study was conducted on 60 children with INS and 60 age- and sex-matched healthy children. All participants were subjected to evaluation of serum levels of IL-13 and An-V and ultrasound Doppler measurement of CIMT and renal RI.Results: Patients expressed significantly higher An-V (5.9 ± 2.6 vs. 2.1 ± 0.8 ng/mL, p<0.001) and IL-13 (19.2 ± 7.6 vs. 3.4 ± 1.4 ng/L) levels when compared with healthy counterparts. Moreover, it was shown that patients had significantly higher CIMT (0.49 ± 0.06 vs. 0.35 ± 0.03, p<0.001) as compared to controls. No significant differences were noted between the studied groups regarding right or left RIs. Correlation analysis identified significant direct correlation between serum An-V levels and albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR) (r = 0.55), cholesterol (r = 0.48), triglycerides (r = 0.36), IL-13 (r = 0.92) and CIMT (r = 0.53). Similar correlations could be found between serum IL-13 levels and CIMT measurements and the corresponding parameters.Conclusions: The present study suggests an association between higher early atherosclerosis expressed as elevated CIMT measurements in children with INS and elevated serum levels of An-V and IL-13.

This paper presents a fuzzy logic-based tool for assessing the pollution concentration of effluents generated by various industrial and commercial activities. The study proposes a fuzzy overall pollution compliance index (FOPCI) (range 0–100) to classify the wastewater discharged from various types of properties present in Ajman, United Arab Emirates. The work mainly focused on three types of pollution that can occur at the inlets of the wastewater treatment plant of Ajman, due to discharge of industrial and commercial effluents, namely pH pollution, salt pollution, and organic pollution. The proposed FOPCI integrates six characteristics, namely pH, Cl − , SO 4 2− , conductivity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and fats, oils, and greases (FOG) values into a readily understandable scale. The FOPCI is developed by using the Fuzzy Inference System Toolbox available in MATLAB in two steps, in which during the first step, three sub-indices, namely fuzzy pH compliance index, fuzzy salt compliance index, and fuzzy organic compliance index are developed. It is then processed in the second stage to develop the FOPCI. Fuzzy rules are used to classify effluents quality into six categories based on the concentration of pollutant in the effluent, namely “Excellent Quality”, “Good Quality”, “Acceptable Quality”, “Moderately Polluting”, “Highly Polluting”, and “Extremely Polluting”. This linguistic classification using fuzzy logic will be helpful as a decision support system to provide an outline for the prioritization of plans for wastewater management based on the values of the indices developed.

Neuroendocrine tumors are aggressive and rare tumors which can occur almost everywhere in the body. The annual incidence of neuroendocrine tumors is 2.5-5 per 100000. We report seven cases of gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors which were diagnosed and treated at our hospital from the time period of 2016-2018 knowing that the total number of our hospital tumor board cases registry during the same period was 444 cases.

Hypervirulent ribotypes (HVRTs) of Clostridioides difficile such as ribotype (RT) 027 are epidemiologically important. This study evaluated whether MALDI-TOF can distinguish between strains of HVRTs and non-HVRTs commonly found in Europe. Obtained spectra of clinical C. difficile isolates (training set, 157 isolates) covering epidemiologically relevant HVRTs and non-HVRTs found in Europe were used as an input for different machine learning (ML) models. Another 83 isolates were used as a validation set. Direct comparison of MALDI-TOF spectra obtained from HVRTs and non-HVRTs did not allow to discriminate between these two groups, while using these spectra with certain ML models could differentiate HVRTs from non-HVRTs with an accuracy >95% and allowed for a sub-clustering of three HVRT subgroups (RT027/RT176, RT023, RT045/078/126/127). MALDI-TOF combined with ML represents a reliable tool for rapid identification of major European HVRTs.

We present our initial experience of using the HDlive Flow silhouette mode to construct images of two cases of uterine enhanced myometrial vascularity/arteriovenous malformations (EMV/AVMs). In the first case, the HDlive Flow silhouette mode clearly depicted a fused vascular tumor with irregular contour in the posterior myometrium. In the second case, a large hypervascular mass occupying the entire fundal lesion of the uterus was clearly identified using the HDlive Flow silhouette mode. Moreover, spatial relationships among the hypervascular mass, intrauterine blood collection, and dilated, spiral-shaped right uterine artery enabled the clear localization of the mass. The HDlive Flow silhouette mode provides a novel, unique sonographic image of uterine EMV/AVMs, and might facilitate their diagnosis and localization in the myometrium.

Background Hematological malignancies (HMs) are one of the commonest malignancies with high incidence of thoracic manifestations. Aim The aim of this retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study was to describe the spectrum and frequency of thoracic MDCT findings in adult patients with hematological malignancies presenting with respiratory symptoms in a real-world clinical setting. No diagnostic performance metrics were calculated. Methods Eighty-two patients with HMs were included in the study who presented with respiratory symptoms and whom chest CT data was available to assess different forms of thoracic involvement. Results Eighty patients completed the study. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients were the commonest (42.5%). Dyspnea was the commonest complaint (27.5%). 68 patients had positive CT findings (group A) and 12 patients showed normal CT (group B). Positive thoracic and axillary pathological lymphadenopathies were the commonest CT findings (52.5% and 40% respectively) followed by parenchymal infiltration (30%). A statistical association was noted between osseous lesions and multiple myeloma (MM) ( P -value 0.001) also a statistical association was found between the thoracic lymphadenopathies and NHL ( P -value 0.032). A statistical observation was found between MM and single compartmental affection ( P -value 0.009). A statistical occurrence was found between the female sex and positive CT findings ( P -value 0.048). A statistical observation was found between the incidence of different CT findings and the patients with NHL ( P- value 0.049). A statistical occurrence was observed between chemotherapy history and the negative CT findings ( P -value 0.006). Conclusions This study provides a descriptive overview of thoracic MDCT findings in patients with hematological malignancies presenting with respiratory symptoms. The results highlight the diversity of imaging patterns encountered in routine clinical practice. Further prospective studies with standardized diagnostic confirmation are required to better define the clinical significance of these findings.

In wireless sensor networks (WSNs), power consumption is a recurring issue. Compared to other modern routing approaches that aim to reduce power consumption, cluster-based forwarding algorithms have been shown to be more energy efficient. Static clustering optimization is the main emphasis of this study on energy-efficient advanced zonal rectangular low energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (EE-AZR-LEACH) optimum routing, which takes a modern technique. To extend the lifespan of the cluster units and the system, we suggest using the multi-hopping approach. The proposed protocol significantly improves the network life time and energy efficiency of WSNs by optimizing static clustering and incorporating multi-hopping techniques. It can outperform existing protocols in power consumption, data transfer and stability, makes it a robust solution for large-scale and energy constrained environment. To help the Cluster Heads (CHs) with data transmission, EE-AZR-LEACH chose a Collaborator(CL) close to the central cluster. To increase the effectiveness of communication between the CHs located in the rectangular region and a central base station, these units took on the role of cluster leaders. The resilience, data transmission rate, power consumption, network endurance, and number of CHs of the system were clearly improved as a consequence. Our suggested routing system performs more effectively than AZR-LEACH, LEACH, MH-LEACH, and SEP in substantial areas. Furthermore, the proposed approach exhibits better convergence within 600 rounds when compared to AZR-LEACH, LEACH, MH-LEACH, and SEP. The findings indicate that after 1500 simulation cycles, the stability intervals for LEACH, MH-LEACH, SEP, and AZR-LEACH are 2.7%, 7.2%, 4.14%, and 5.34%, respectively. The simulation is run using MATLAB. The EE-AZR-LCH optimum routing, on the other hand, has a 6.8% survival rate. The MH-LEACH optimum routing has smaller total network tenure even if it provides a higher stability period than the EE-AZR-LEACH.