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Lung ultrasound (LUS) has become one of the most exciting applications in neonatal point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), yet still lacks routine clinical use. This study assesses the utility of LUS for neonatal respiratory disorders (NRDs) diagnosis and follow-up compared to chest X-ray (CXR). A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 neonates having NRDs with a gestational age ≥28 weeks, excluding those having multiple congenital anomalies, chromosomal aberrations, hydrops fetalis and/or heart failure. CXR and LUS were done on admission for diagnosis and were repeated after 7 days, or if needed earlier within the 7 days. The diagnosis of NRDs by CXR and LUS on admission and after 7 days was comparable (p > 0.05). LUS diagnosis sensitivity and specificity for respiratory distress syndrome, pneumonia, meconium aspiration syndrome, pneumothorax and pulmonary atelectasis were 94.7/100%, 97.5/95%, 92.3/100%, 90.9/98.9% and 100/97.8%, respectively. The total agreement between LUS and CXR was 98.5% with 95% CI (0.88 to 0.92). LUS and CXR had considerable agreement in the diagnosis of NRDs. Being a reliable bedside modality of diagnosis and safer than CXR, LUS may be considered an alternative method for the diagnosis of neonates with NRDs.

Because of simplicity, eco-friendly and attracting of scientific community, pure and non-metal-doped TiO 2 nanoparticles (NPs) photocatalysts: TiO 2 (T), C-TiO 2 (CT), N-TiO 2 (NT), S-TiO 2 (ST) and C, N, S-TiO 2 (CNST) were prepared by aqueous mangrove extract via sol–gel method. The materials were characterized by XRD, FTIR, UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy, BET, SEM, TEM, EDX, XPS, EIS and PEC. The results indicated that the planned photocatalysts exhibit an anatase crystal phase with a particle size in the range of 20–37 nm. The non-metal doping induces a redshift of optical absorption edge, and exhibits a strong visible light absorption. The photoluminescence intensity emission follows the order: T > CT > ST > NT > CNST, whereas the photocatalytic activity (PCA) increases in the reverse order. The PCA was assessed by photodegradation of two organic dyes, reactive blue 19 (B19) and red 76 (R76) under visible light illumination. The enhancement in visible PCA followed the order CNST > NT > ST > CT > T. The photocatalytic degradation efficiency of the dyes using the CNST sample reached 100% after 60 min of irradiation. The most active species in the photocatalytic processes are the positive holes. The solid photocatalysts were recycled five times without losing its activity. The chemical oxygen demand test confirmed that the CNST is the best photocatalyst of the investigated samples. Overall, the greenly synthesized NPs demonstrated the outstanding potential of green product for treating contaminated water by both B19 and R76 dyes under visible light illumination.

Computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD-CAM) materials are gaining popularity in the field of restorative dentistry. Among recently developed materials are polymerinfiltrated ceramic network (PICN) materials, a sub-class of CAD-CAM composites, comprised of 75 vol% sintered glass-ceramic network that is secondarily infiltrated with monomers and polymerized under high-temperature and pressure; whereas the other sub-class of CAD-CAM composites, dispersed fillers (DF), consist of inorganic fillers classically incorporated by mixing in an organic matrix that is secondarily polymerized under high-temperature.The first objective of this work was to use fracture mechanics, particularly the notchless triangular prism (NTP) specimen fracture toughness test to: 1) evaluate the interfacial fracture toughness (IFT) of a resin composite luting agent (RCLA) with PICNs, represented by an experimental and a commercial PICN (Vita Enamic), versus DF materials. Lithium disilicate glass-ceramic (IPS e.max CAD, EMX) was also tested as a gold standard for comparison. Samples were pretreated with hydrofluoric acid (HF) or gritblasting (GR), and the results were correlated with the developed interfacial area ratio (Sdr) of representative samples subjected to the same pretreatment procedures. 2) Evaluate the influence of silane on the IFT of RCLA with PICN and DF after HF and GR, and correlate the results with the Sdr and surface wettability of representative samples. The results showed that the IFT of PICNs was significantly superior to DF, and IFT of etched experimental PICN was significantly higher than EMX. In addition, there was a strong correlation between the IFT and the Sdr of the representative samples, PICNs demonstrating significantly higher surface roughness than DF when pretreated. These results highlighted the importance of material microstructure and then class (DF vs PICN) on the bonding interface performance. Etching of PICN led to the selective dissolution of the glass-ceramic at the surface, creating an original polymer-based honeycomb structure that promoted the micromechanical retention of RCLA. This micromechanical retention is enhanced by the application of silane, which allows RCLA penetration in surface roughness. On the other hand, IFT of DF was not influenced by silane, regardless of the surface pretreatment, which was less effective in creating surface roughness.The second objective was to introduce of a functionally-graded (FG) PICN block as a biomimetic material for CAD-CAM prostheses. FG-PICN is characterized by a gradient of mechanical and optical properties, in which the surface properties resemble the hardness and modulus of enamel, while the deeper layers resemble those of dentin. The flexural strength values at the dentin-like layer was similar to glass-ceramic EMX and flexural load energy was significantly higher than EMX and monolithic zirconia. These properties couldpromote occlusal stress absorbance in treatment of patients with bruxism, such as worn dentition cases, and on implant restorations.Finally, the third objective was to participate in two clinical studies performed following new treatment protocols developed with commercial PICN; a minimally invasive approach of worn dentition treatment with Vita Enamic bonded restorations; the “One-step No-prep” protocol and a novel approach for restoring a missing posterior tooth with immediate loading of an implant and a final crown made of PICN in a single visit; the “One-tooth One-time, 1T1T” protocol. The restorations success rate after 2 years was high (93.75% for the former and 90% for the latter), highlighting some edge chipping in the first study, and debonding from the ti-base in the second.

Reducing the precision of deep neural networks can yield large efficiency gains with little or no accuracy degradation compared to single-precision floating-point representation. A wide range of precisions fall on the pareto-optimal curve of hardware efficiency vs. accuracy with no single precision dominating, making the variable precision capabilities of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) very valuable. This thesis proposes six FPGA logic block architectures that improve the area efficiency of multiplications and additions implemented in the soft fabric. Increasing the look-up table fracturability and adding two adders to the adaptive logic module leads to a 1.5x area reduction for machine learning (ML) kernels and increases their speed, while simultaneously reducing the area of general applications by 6%. On the other hand, adding a 9-bit shadow multiplier to logic blocks reduces ML kernels' area by 2.4x and critical path delay by 1.4x, but increases the area of general applications by 15%.

To evaluate factors behind the delay in diagnosis and treatment among Egyptian patients who present with complicated diabetic retinopathy. Observational cross-sectional study of diabetic patients with advanced diabetic retinopathy. Patients were asked to answer a questionnaire to assess the impact of several sociodemographic factors. A total of 397 patients agreed to take the questionnaire. Diabetic vitreous hemorrhage was the most common ocular complication and was found in 359 patients (90.4%). A total of 158 (39.8%) patients knew that diabetes mellitus can be sight threatening, while 240 (60.2%) were not aware until they developed sight threatening complication. A total of 179 patients (45.1%) had early retirement because of visual loss related to diabetes mellitus. Multivariate logistic regression has shown that education, internist, contact with other patients, and media were respectively significant in predicting the awareness of patients about the sight-threatening effect of diabetic retinopathy. Patient education regarding diabetes and diabetic eye disease is essential for early detection and compliance with treatment. Illiteracy has a significant impact on development of sight-threatening diabetic complications. The internist is the first line of prophylaxis. Media has to participate more in patient education.