The Ameliorative Effect of Dexamethasone on the Development of Autoimmune Lung Injury and Mediastinal Fat-Associated Lymphoid Clusters in an Autoimmune Disease Mouse Model

In our previous study, we revealed the ameliorative therapeutic effect of dexamethasone (Dex) for Lupus nephritis lesions in the MRL/MpJ-Fas ^lpr/lpr (Lpr) mouse model. The female Lpr mice developed a greater number of mediastinal fat-associated lymphoid clusters (MFALCs) and inflammatory lung lesions compared to the male mice. However, the effect of Dex, an immunosuppressive drug, on both lung lesions and the development of MFALCs in Lpr mice has not been identified yet. Therefore, in this study, we compared the development of lung lesions and MFALCs in female Lpr mice that received either saline (saline group “SG”) or dexamethasone (dexamethasone group “DG”) in drinking water as a daily dose along with weekly intraperitoneal injections for 10 weeks. Compared to the SG group, the DG group showed a significant reduction in the levels of serum anti-dsDNA antibodies, the size of MFALCs, the degree of lung injury, the area of high endothelial venules (HEVs), and the number of proliferating and immune cells in both MFALCs and the lungs. A significant positive correlation was observed between the size of MFALCs and the cellular aggregation in the lungs of Lpr mice. Therefore, this study confirmed the ameliorative effect of Dex on the development of lung injury and MFALCs via their regressive effect on both immune cells’ proliferative activity and the development of HEVs. Furthermore, the reprogramming of MFALCs by targeting immune cells and HEVs may provide a therapeutic strategy for autoimmune-disease-associated lung injury.     

The influence of oxidation‐reduction potential on the water environment of Aswan high dam reservoir

This study was undertaken to clarify in detail the dynamics of oxidation‐reduction potential in the seasonally oxic and anoxic conditions of Lake Nasser. The profile of dissolved oxygen and redox potential was determined. The dynamic mechanisms of deposition and dissolution of some chemical elements through the water‐sediment interface were studied.     

A new lifetime characterization technique using drain current transients in SOI material

A new technique based on the transient operation of the pseudo-MOS transistor is proposed for direct evaluation of generation lifetime and surface velocity in SOI wafers. The main advantages of the proposed technique are: (i) in situ operation (no prior processing of a transistor), (ii) set-up simplicity, (iii) fast comparison of different SOI technologies and (iv) simple identification of Si-film conductivity type. The influence of the electrical and non-electrical parameters of this technique is systematically investigated. Various SOI wafers (SIMOX and UNIBOND) are compared.     

Lung‐Endothelium‐Targeted Nanoparticles Based on a pH‐Sensitive Lipid and the GALA Peptide Enable Robust Gene Silencing and the Regression of Metastatic Lung Cancer

The development of efficient gene delivery systems targeting the lung endothelium remains a serious challenge. This study reports on the design and optimization of a multifunctional envelope‐type nanodevice (MEND) for an efficient siRNA delivery to the lung endothelium based on GALA‐peptide targeting ability. The incorporation of a pH‐sensitive lipid (YSK05) results in a dramatic improvement in silencing efficiency by enhancing endosomal escape, but this also causes a reduction in the lung selectivity. Contrary to the assumption that active targeting is largely dependent on the presence of a targeting ligand, the findings of the present study indicate that nanocarrier composition is critical for achieving the organ selectivity. Interestingly, helper lipids substantially mask the liver delivery resulting in optimum lung targeting. The optimized YSK05‐MEND is 40‐fold more efficient than a previously developed MEND, with a robust lung endothelium gene knockdown at small doses. The YSK05‐MEND strongly inhibits a metastatic lung cancer model and exerts superior control over lung metastasis compared to chemotherapy or the previously developed MEND. The YSK05‐MEND is well‐tolerated in mice after acute or chronic administration. As far as it is known, YSK05‐MEND achieves the most efficient lung endothelium gene silencing reported thus far with a median effective dose of 0.01 mg siRNA kg^?1 while minimally affecting the endothelium of other organs.     

The effect of Egyptian honeybee propolis on the growth of Aspergillus versicolor and sterigmatocystin biosynthesis in Ras cheese

Propolis is a natural product collected by honeybee workers. The product was tested for its antifungal effect against Aspergillus versicolor ATCC 12996 as well as biosynthesis of sterigmatocystin during ripening of Egyptian Ras cheese. The use of different concentrations of aqueous propolis extract 250, 500 and 1000 part per million (ppm) on the cheese surface was investigated. Mould growth and toxin production were completely inhibited at the highest concentration 1000 ppm, while the lower concentrations exhibited definite fungistatic activity during 90 days of ripening. Control cheese demonstrated that the amount of sterigmatocystin produced was proportional to the growth of Asp. versicolor during three months of ripening. It could be concluded that propolis concentration of 1000 ppm could prevent mould growth and sterigmatocystin production in Ras cheese. The economic as well as the public health importance of propolis as a natural preservative in cheese manufacture is discussed.     

Detailed analysis of edge effects in SIMOX-MOS transistors

A comprehensive investigation of edge effects in LOCOS-isolated silicon-on-insulator devices is made by combining the measurements of the static characteristics, charge pumping, and noise. Even when a substrate bias is used to mask the conduction on the island edges, the high-frequency edge effects are still detectable. Appropriate models are proposed to separate the edge contribution from those of the front and back interfaces. It is found that the defect density on the edges is inhomogeneous, increasing vertically from the top to the bottom of the film and laterally from the middle to the end of the channel. Slow traps are identified at the back interface, close to the source/drain junctions     

Static and dynamic transconductance model for depletion-modetransistors: a new characterization method for silicon-on-insulatormaterials

The dynamic transconductance method is generalized for depletion-mode transistors (DMTs) and used to characterize the interface trapping properties and film doping on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structures. This method is based on an analytical model of the transconductance for static, dynamic, and high-frequency operation in the linear region     

Thymoquinone and Curcumin Defeat Aging-Associated Oxidative Alterations Induced by D-Galactose in Rats’ Brain and Heart

D-galactose (D-gal) administration causes oxidative disorder and is widely utilized in aging animal models. Therefore, we subcutaneously injected D-gal at 200 mg/kg BW dose to assess the potential preventive effect of thymoquinone (TQ) and curcumin (Cur) against the oxidative alterations induced by D-gal. Other than the control, vehicle, and D-gal groups, the TQ and Cur treated groups were orally supplemented at 20 mg/kg BW of each alone or combined. TQ and Cur effectively suppressed the oxidative alterations induced by D-gal in brain and heart tissues. The TQ and Cur combination significantly decreased the elevated necrosis in the brain and heart by D-gal. It significantly reduced brain caspase 3, calbindin, and calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (IBA1), heart caspase 3, and BCL2. Expression of mRNA of the brain and heart TP53, p21, Bax, and CASP-3 were significantly downregulated in the TQ and Cur combination group along with upregulation of BCL2 in comparison with the D-gal group. Data suggested that the TQ and Cur combination is a promising approach in aging prevention.     

Assessment of welding defects for gas pipeline radiographs using computer vision

In this paper, a novel automated vision system is introduced to detect and assess the welding defects of gas pipelines from the radiographic films. The proposed vision system was used to capture images for the radiographic films and apply various image processing and computer vision algorithms to detect the welding defects and to calculate necessary information such as length, width, area and perimeter of the defects. A developed software, named AutoWDA, has been fully written in lab using Microsoft Visual C++6 to perform the analysis process. The proposed system offers many advantages such as enhancing the captured images so that the defects appear much clear and eliminating the loss of image details, which occurs due to film deterioration by the time, by transferring the radiographic films into digitized images, which could be saved on magnetic mass storage media. The proposed system is considered quite cheap compared with commercial radiographic image enhancement systems.