amal hamdy - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by amal hamdy
2022 International Interdisciplinary Humanitarian Conference for Sustainability (IIHC)
International Journal of Advanced Studies in World Archaeology
Tour exhibitions are a window to the world on a large scale. Whether the exhibition is permanent ... more Tour exhibitions are a window to the world on a large scale. Whether the exhibition is permanent or temporary, your main theme should be to visually convey ideas, reality or concepts, and not just present artefacts in a pleasant arrangement. It's a very difficult task to change exposures several times a year, especially when you have to "reinvent" the concept from scratch. It's linked to museums, scientific centers, universities and galleries around the world in relevant and fundamental projects. Dark stories are interesting to study because it has this "mysterious veil" with a lot of unanswered questions and controversies about it, why do people search about this dark places' stories that cause discomfort in themselves or conversely, places that pulsating the suffering of others?
Journal of Molecular Structure
Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2021
Systematic Reviews in Pharmacy, 2021
European Heart Journal, 2017
E/e' mitral ratio (as an evidence of diastolic disfunction) could be detected prior to the reduct... more E/e' mitral ratio (as an evidence of diastolic disfunction) could be detected prior to the reduction of LVEF and could be better than longitudinal systolic strain alone. Purpose: To evaluate and to compare sensitivity/specificity of an index of systodiastolic function (ISDF) (100 * bidimensional longitudinal systolic strain (BLSS)/(E mitral/e' tisular) in the detection of early systolic ventricular dysfunction (≤6 months) in patients treated with cardiotoxic chemotherapy. Method: Thirty six patients were prospectively included in the analysis (mean age, 47±16 years). All patient underwent conventional echocardiography, tissue Doppler and speckle-tracking echocardiography. The end point (EP) as a parameter of cardiotoxicity at 6 months was defined as a drop of 5 points in the ejection fraction (EF) with a value <55% in symptomatic patients or a decline of 10 points with a value of EF <55% in asymptomatic patients. Results:. Seven patients (19.4%) reached the EP. Predictors related to EP were: 3rd month ISDF (positive EP (G1) 208±143% vs negative EP (G2) 312±74%, p<0,01), 3rd month bidimensional longitudinal systolic strain (BLSS) (positive EP (G1)-16.3±2.4% vs negative EP (G2)-19.6%±2.02%; p<0.01), 4th month bidimensional radial systolic strain (BRSS) (G1 46.4±2.4% vs G2 52±3.4%; p<0.001), 4th month N-terminal prohormone brain natriuretic peptide (NT Pro-BNP) (G1 152±42pg/ml vs. G2 61±38pg/ml; p<0.001). For the detection of systolic dysfunction at the 6th month, an ISDF of 240 at the 3rd month had an 71% sensitivity and 86% specificity, a BLSS reduction cutoff point ≥15% at the 3rd month had an 86% sensitivity and 86% specificity, a BRSS reduction cutoff point ≥10% at the 4th month had an 86% sensitivity and a 69% specificity. During the follow-up, all patients who had myocardial toxicity at 6 months were treated with enalapril. Significant increment in LVEF and radial strain were observed in G1. The ISDF and BLSS showed no significant changes during the follow-up period, Despite an improvement in EF after enalapril during the follow-up (51±3.5%), EF remained decreased in relation to the baseline value prior to chemotherapy. Conclusions: The BLSS and ISDF were the earliest markers of mild ventricular systolic dysfunction in patients treated with chemotherapy. Longitudinal myocardial deformation is more sensitive in detecting cardiotoxicity but both persist in time despite the improvement in LVEF.
Microbiome projects are currently booming around the globe, enabled by advances in culture-indepe... more Microbiome projects are currently booming around the globe, enabled by advances in culture-independent microbial community analysis and high-throughput sequencing. One emerging application of microbiome science involves exploring microbial diversity in built environments, and one unexplored built environment is the pharmaceutical factory, notably factories producing antibiotics, as they could be enriched in antibiotic-resistant microbes. To examine the drug factory microbiome, we launched this interdisciplinary, hypothesis-generating study to benchmark culture-independent microbiome analysis in drug-manufacturing units producing antibiotics and non-antibiotic drugs, against traditional microbial identification and quantification techniques. Over a course of four months, we prospectively collected 234 samples from antibiotic (kanamycin and amoxicillin) and non-antibiotic (acetaminophen) production areas within a pharmaceutical factory in Egypt. All samples were analyzed by traditional culturebased methods, and microbial communities of representative samples were profiled by16S rRNA gene sequencing. Additionally, antibiotic resistance profiles of some samples were determined, and representative resistance genes were screened. The 16S rRNA analysis revealed a typical predominance of Proteobacteria (36%), Firmicutes (31%), and Bacteroidetes (17%). The microbial composition of the samples was highly affected by the use of water, environmental conditions during the production process, the presence of personnel, and the type of the product. The effect of these factors was confirmed by total aerobic microbial counts and identification of biomarker microbes. In conclusion, these observations can aid in the future for optimal design and management of pharmaceutical manufacturing units and speak to a greater need for implementing microbiome research in the quality assurance of built environments.
The Scientific Journal of Al-Azhar Medical Faculty, Girls, 2019
Introduction Right heart function is an important predictor of morbidity and mortality in patient... more Introduction Right heart function is an important predictor of morbidity and mortality in patients with cardiovascular diseases having left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction. Aim Assessment of right ventricular (RV) and right atrial (RA) functions in heart failure patients using strain imaging and three-dimensional echocardiography. Patients and methods This study included 60 patients (group I) having LV systolic dysfunction with LV ejection fraction less than or equal to 40% in addition to 20 healthy participants (group II) as a control group. LV measures included 2D and 3D-LV ejection fraction, LV-Tei index, and 2D and 3D-LV global longitudinal strain. RV measures included RV dimensions, RV fractional area change, RV-Tei index, 2D-RV global longitudinal strain, 3D-RV ejection fraction, 3D-average longitudinal strain for both interventricular septum, and RV free wall (3D-RVLS-sept and 3D-RVLS-FW, respectively). RA measures included RA dimensions, RA passive, active and total emptying volumes and fractions, peak RA longitudinal, and contractile strain. Parameters of LV, RV, and RA functions were compared between groups I and II. Results RV and RA dimensions and volumes, and LV-Tei and RV-Tei indexes were significantly higher in group I compared with group II. All other parameters of LV, RV, and RA function except RA-active emptying volumes were significantly lower in group I compared with group II. Cutoff values for parameters of RV and RA function showed good sensitivity and specificity to discriminate group I from group II. Cutoff points were 19.9% for 2D-RV global longitudinal strain, 46.4% for 3D-RV ejection fraction, 11.7% for 3D-RVLS-sept, 18.6% for 3D-RVLS-FW, 29.2% for peak RA longitudinal, and 17.1% for peak RA contractile strain. Sensitivity ranged from 78.3 to 96.7% and specificity ranged from 85 to 100% with a P value of less than 0.001. Conclusion RV and RA functions are impaired in heart failure patients with LV systolic dysfunction. Both 3D and strain imaging are good echo modalities in the evaluation of right heart function.
Egyptian Journal of Petroleum, 2018
The corrosion inhibitive effects of new polyvinylpyrrolidone stabilized crystalline super-paramag... more The corrosion inhibitive effects of new polyvinylpyrrolidone stabilized crystalline super-paramagnetic nanoparticles (5-20 nm) were investigated. Several characterization techniques confirmed the high stability of the prepared stabilized nanoparticles in solution. The polarization and EIS measurements showed that the inhibition efficiency increased with increasing concentration of the magnetite nanoparticles. The results obtained from EIS and electrochemical polarization curves are in reasonably good agreement. The obtained results suggest that the prepared stabilized system is an excellent inhibitor for carbon steel corrosion in 1 M HCl solution.
Progress in Organic Coatings, 2017
Titanium dioxide nano particles (TIO 2) were prepared by sol-gel technique. The synthesised nanop... more Titanium dioxide nano particles (TIO 2) were prepared by sol-gel technique. The synthesised nanoparticles were characterised for their structure using XRD, SEM and FTIR. Debye scherrer powder technique was used for calculating the average size of the sample. Surface morphology was estimated using SEM. Band gap = 3.2 eV.
OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology, 2017
Microbiome projects are currently booming around the globe, enabled by advances in culture-indepe... more Microbiome projects are currently booming around the globe, enabled by advances in culture-independent microbial community analysis and high-throughput sequencing. One emerging application of microbiome science involves exploring microbial diversity in built environments, and one unexplored built environment is the pharmaceutical factory, notably factories producing antibiotics, as they could be enriched in antibiotic-resistant microbes. To examine the drug factory microbiome, we launched this interdisciplinary hypothesis-generating study to benchmark culture-independent microbiome analysis in drug manufacturing units producing antibiotics and nonantibiotic drugs, against traditional microbial identification and quantification techniques. Over a course of 4 months, we prospectively collected 234 samples from antibiotic (kanamycin and amoxicillin) and nonantibiotic (acetaminophen) production clean rooms within a pharmaceutical factory in Egypt. All samples were analyzed by traditional culture-based methods, and microbial communities of representative samples were profiled by16S rRNA gene sequencing. In addition, antibiotic resistance profiles of some samples were determined, and representative resistance genes were screened. The 16S rRNA analysis revealed a typical predominance of Proteobacteria (36%), Firmicutes (31%), and Bacteroidetes (16%). The microbial composition of the samples was highly affected by the use of water, environmental conditions during the production process, the presence of personnel, and the type of the product. The effect of these factors was confirmed by total aerobic microbial counts and identification of biomarker microbes. In conclusion, these observations can aid in the future for optimal design and management of pharmaceutical manufacturing units, and speak to a greater need for implementing microbiome research in the quality assurance of built environments.
Chemistry and Materials Research, 2014
Single crystal TiO 2 nanotubes (TNTs) were prepared using modified hydrothermal method by treatme... more Single crystal TiO 2 nanotubes (TNTs) were prepared using modified hydrothermal method by treatment of prepared TiO 2 with NaOH aqueous solution and characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, BET surface area analysis, Raman spectroscopy, FTIR and UV-vis/DR spectroscopy. Detailed study for the effect of calcinations temperature on the morphology, textural properties, adsorption amount and photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 nanotubes was performed. The results showed that the calcinations temperature remarkably altered the phase composition. HRTEM showed that the high-purity nanotubes can be produced through the hydrothermal treatment of TiO 2 , calcinated at 250 ᵒC. It was found that the obtained high-purity TNTs have outer diameter of the tubular structures around 15 nm and the length is around 70 nm, the wall of nanotube is 2 layers in one side whereas it is 3 layers in another side and the interlayer spacing is about 1-1.5 nm. The prepared TiO 2 nanotubes show enhanced catalytic activity in photocatalytic phenol degradation compared with TiO2 nanoparticles which show lower catalytic activities.
Echocardiography, 2007
Cardiac dysfunction is a major cause of death in patients with beta thalassemia. Right ventricula... more Cardiac dysfunction is a major cause of death in patients with beta thalassemia. Right ventricular (RV) contribution to cardiac morbidity and mortality in these patients has been suggested. We aimed to assess RV function in beta thalassemia (β-Th) patients and to detect the relation of serum ferritin level to RV dysfunction. Thirty young patients with β-Th and 15 age-matched normal subjects (NL) were included. We measured RV end diastolic and end systolic diameters (RVEDD and RVESD), RV % fractional shortening (RVFS), RV pressure (RVP), lateral and septal tricuspid annular systolic and diastolic tissue Doppler velocities (Sa, Ea, Aa & Ea/Aa), and RV myocardial systolic and diastolic velocities at the basal RV segment (RVSm, RVEm, RVAm & RVEm/Am). Serum ferritin level was measured in β-Th patients who were divided accordingly into two groups; G1 with serum ferritin ≥2,000 ug/L and G2 with serum ferritin <2,000 ug/L. Compared to NL subjects, β-Th patients had significantly higher RVEDD, RVESD & RVP, lower RVFS, higher Aa, and lower Ea/Aa at lateral and septal tricuspid annular sites, higher RVAm and lower RVEm/Am. Patients with higher serum ferritin level (G1) had higher RVP, higher RVEDD and RVESD, lower Sa at the lateral annular site and lower RVSm than patients in G2. High serum ferritin level was significantly associated with pulmonary hypertension. We concluded that patients with β-Th have RV diastolic dysfunction, pulmonary hypertension is common, and the presence of RV systolic dysfunction in these patients is related to the higher level of serum ferritin.
The ease of digital media modification and dissemination necessitates content protection beyond e... more The ease of digital media modification and dissemination necessitates content protection beyond encryption. Information hidden as digital watermarks in multimedia enables protection mechanism in decrypted contents. The aims of this research are threefold: (i) to investigate the strength and limitations of current watermarking schemes, (ii) to design and develop new schemes to overcome the limitations, and (iii) to evaluate the new schemes using application scenarios of copyright protection, tamper detection and authentication. We focus on geometrically robust watermarking and semifragile watermarking for digital images. Additionally, hybrid schemes that combine the strength of both robust and semi-fragile watermarks are studied. Robust watermarks are well suited for copyright protection because they stay intact with the image under various manipulations. We investigated two major approaches of robust watermarking. In the synchronization approach, we employed motion estimation for watermark resynchronization. We also developed a novel watermark resynchronization method that has low computational cost using scale normalization and flowline curvature. In another approach, we firstly analyzed and improved a blind watermark detection method. The new method reduces significantly the computational cost of its watermark embedding. Secondly, we created a geometric invariant domain using a combination of transforms, and adapted the blind watermark detection method that we improved. It totally eliminates the need of resynchronization in watermark detection, which is a very desirable achievement that can hardly be found in existing schemes. On the other hand, semi-fragile watermarks are good at content authentication because they can differentiate minor image enhancements from major manipulations. New capabilities of semi-fragile watermarks are identified. Then, we developed a semi-fragile watermarking method in wavelet domain that offers content authentication and tamper localization. Unlike others, our scheme overcomes a major challenge called cropping attack and provides approximate content recovery without resorting to an original image. Hybrid schemes combine robust and semi-fragile watermarks to offer deductive information in digital media forensics. We firstly carried out a pilot study by combining robust and fragile watermarks. Then, we performed a comparative analysis on two implementation methods of a hybrid watermarking scheme. The first method has the robust watermark and the fragile watermark overlapped while the second method uses non-overlapping robust and fragile watermarks. Based on the results of the comparative analysis, we merge our geometric invariant domain with our semi-fragile watermark to produce a hybrid scheme. This hybrid scheme fulfilled the copyright protection, tamper detection, and content authentication objectives when evaluated in an investigation scenario.
New Astronomy Reviews, 2006
The Advanced Compton Telescope (ACT) has been selected by NASA for a one-year "Vision Mission" st... more The Advanced Compton Telescope (ACT) has been selected by NASA for a one-year "Vision Mission" study. The main goal of this study is to determine feasible instrument configurations to achieve ACT's sensitivity requirements, and to give recommendations for technology development. Space-based instruments operating in the energy range of nuclear lines are subject to complex backgrounds generated by cosmic-ray interactions and diffuse gamma rays; typically measurements are significantly background-dominated. Therefore accurate, detailed simulations of the background induced in different ACT configurations, and exploration of event selection and reconstruction techniques for reducing these backgrounds, are crucial to determining both the capabilities of a given instrument configuration and the technology enhancements that would result in the most significant performance improvements. The ACT Simulation team has assembled a complete suite of tools that allows the generation of particle backgrounds for a given orbit (based on CREME96), their propagation through any instrument and spacecraft geometry (using MGGPOD)-including delayed photon emission from instrument activation-as well as the event selection and reconstruction of Comptonscatter events in the given detectors (MEGAlib). The package can deal with polarized photon beams as well as e.g. anticoincidence shields. We report here on the suite of tools used in the ACT Simulation effort. We thank NASA for support of this research.
Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology, Sep 17, 2013
During mapping and ablation procedures, the movement of large ferromagnetic items (i.e., fluorosc... more During mapping and ablation procedures, the movement of large ferromagnetic items (i.e., fluoroscopic equipment) introduce heterogeneities in the electromagnetic field, which may affect the accuracy of electromagnet-based navigation. We aimed to assess the impact of common periprocedural fluoroscopic equipment movement on the accuracy of an electromagnet-based navigation system. The impact of fluoroscopic equipment movement on the accuracy of the Carto® 3 System (Biosense Webster, Inc., Diamond Bar, CA, USA) was assessed both in vitro (n = 20 patients, phantom model) and in vivo (n = 18 patients). Location recordings were obtained with unchanged catheter position for fluoroscopic equipment rotational movements (RMs) and maximal to closest distance (MD to CD) to phantom/patient. The effects of both single- and biplane fluoroscopy were assessed. In vitro, the movement of fluoroscopic equipment resulted in an average catheter location estimation error of 0.8 mm (interquartile range 0.3-1.3). The maximal location estimation errors with MD to CD movement and RM were 2.3 mm and 1.3 mm, respectively. Changing from single-plane to biplane setup resulted in an average location estimation change of 1.5 mm (maximum 2.1). Larger location changes were observed in vivo (2.9 mm vs 0.8 mm, P &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.0001) with 28.7% of these exceeded 4 mm versus none of the in vitro measurements (P &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.0001). Although fluoroscopy manipulation affected the accuracy of the Carto® 3 System, the in vitro data suggest that these inaccuracies are likely of limited clinical consequences. The larger in vivo inaccuracies are most likely due to nonferromagnetic interferences, such as respiratory or cardiac movements.
2022 International Interdisciplinary Humanitarian Conference for Sustainability (IIHC)
International Journal of Advanced Studies in World Archaeology
Tour exhibitions are a window to the world on a large scale. Whether the exhibition is permanent ... more Tour exhibitions are a window to the world on a large scale. Whether the exhibition is permanent or temporary, your main theme should be to visually convey ideas, reality or concepts, and not just present artefacts in a pleasant arrangement. It's a very difficult task to change exposures several times a year, especially when you have to "reinvent" the concept from scratch. It's linked to museums, scientific centers, universities and galleries around the world in relevant and fundamental projects. Dark stories are interesting to study because it has this "mysterious veil" with a lot of unanswered questions and controversies about it, why do people search about this dark places' stories that cause discomfort in themselves or conversely, places that pulsating the suffering of others?
Journal of Molecular Structure
Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2021
Systematic Reviews in Pharmacy, 2021
European Heart Journal, 2017
E/e' mitral ratio (as an evidence of diastolic disfunction) could be detected prior to the reduct... more E/e' mitral ratio (as an evidence of diastolic disfunction) could be detected prior to the reduction of LVEF and could be better than longitudinal systolic strain alone. Purpose: To evaluate and to compare sensitivity/specificity of an index of systodiastolic function (ISDF) (100 * bidimensional longitudinal systolic strain (BLSS)/(E mitral/e' tisular) in the detection of early systolic ventricular dysfunction (≤6 months) in patients treated with cardiotoxic chemotherapy. Method: Thirty six patients were prospectively included in the analysis (mean age, 47±16 years). All patient underwent conventional echocardiography, tissue Doppler and speckle-tracking echocardiography. The end point (EP) as a parameter of cardiotoxicity at 6 months was defined as a drop of 5 points in the ejection fraction (EF) with a value <55% in symptomatic patients or a decline of 10 points with a value of EF <55% in asymptomatic patients. Results:. Seven patients (19.4%) reached the EP. Predictors related to EP were: 3rd month ISDF (positive EP (G1) 208±143% vs negative EP (G2) 312±74%, p<0,01), 3rd month bidimensional longitudinal systolic strain (BLSS) (positive EP (G1)-16.3±2.4% vs negative EP (G2)-19.6%±2.02%; p<0.01), 4th month bidimensional radial systolic strain (BRSS) (G1 46.4±2.4% vs G2 52±3.4%; p<0.001), 4th month N-terminal prohormone brain natriuretic peptide (NT Pro-BNP) (G1 152±42pg/ml vs. G2 61±38pg/ml; p<0.001). For the detection of systolic dysfunction at the 6th month, an ISDF of 240 at the 3rd month had an 71% sensitivity and 86% specificity, a BLSS reduction cutoff point ≥15% at the 3rd month had an 86% sensitivity and 86% specificity, a BRSS reduction cutoff point ≥10% at the 4th month had an 86% sensitivity and a 69% specificity. During the follow-up, all patients who had myocardial toxicity at 6 months were treated with enalapril. Significant increment in LVEF and radial strain were observed in G1. The ISDF and BLSS showed no significant changes during the follow-up period, Despite an improvement in EF after enalapril during the follow-up (51±3.5%), EF remained decreased in relation to the baseline value prior to chemotherapy. Conclusions: The BLSS and ISDF were the earliest markers of mild ventricular systolic dysfunction in patients treated with chemotherapy. Longitudinal myocardial deformation is more sensitive in detecting cardiotoxicity but both persist in time despite the improvement in LVEF.
Microbiome projects are currently booming around the globe, enabled by advances in culture-indepe... more Microbiome projects are currently booming around the globe, enabled by advances in culture-independent microbial community analysis and high-throughput sequencing. One emerging application of microbiome science involves exploring microbial diversity in built environments, and one unexplored built environment is the pharmaceutical factory, notably factories producing antibiotics, as they could be enriched in antibiotic-resistant microbes. To examine the drug factory microbiome, we launched this interdisciplinary, hypothesis-generating study to benchmark culture-independent microbiome analysis in drug-manufacturing units producing antibiotics and non-antibiotic drugs, against traditional microbial identification and quantification techniques. Over a course of four months, we prospectively collected 234 samples from antibiotic (kanamycin and amoxicillin) and non-antibiotic (acetaminophen) production areas within a pharmaceutical factory in Egypt. All samples were analyzed by traditional culturebased methods, and microbial communities of representative samples were profiled by16S rRNA gene sequencing. Additionally, antibiotic resistance profiles of some samples were determined, and representative resistance genes were screened. The 16S rRNA analysis revealed a typical predominance of Proteobacteria (36%), Firmicutes (31%), and Bacteroidetes (17%). The microbial composition of the samples was highly affected by the use of water, environmental conditions during the production process, the presence of personnel, and the type of the product. The effect of these factors was confirmed by total aerobic microbial counts and identification of biomarker microbes. In conclusion, these observations can aid in the future for optimal design and management of pharmaceutical manufacturing units and speak to a greater need for implementing microbiome research in the quality assurance of built environments.
The Scientific Journal of Al-Azhar Medical Faculty, Girls, 2019
Introduction Right heart function is an important predictor of morbidity and mortality in patient... more Introduction Right heart function is an important predictor of morbidity and mortality in patients with cardiovascular diseases having left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction. Aim Assessment of right ventricular (RV) and right atrial (RA) functions in heart failure patients using strain imaging and three-dimensional echocardiography. Patients and methods This study included 60 patients (group I) having LV systolic dysfunction with LV ejection fraction less than or equal to 40% in addition to 20 healthy participants (group II) as a control group. LV measures included 2D and 3D-LV ejection fraction, LV-Tei index, and 2D and 3D-LV global longitudinal strain. RV measures included RV dimensions, RV fractional area change, RV-Tei index, 2D-RV global longitudinal strain, 3D-RV ejection fraction, 3D-average longitudinal strain for both interventricular septum, and RV free wall (3D-RVLS-sept and 3D-RVLS-FW, respectively). RA measures included RA dimensions, RA passive, active and total emptying volumes and fractions, peak RA longitudinal, and contractile strain. Parameters of LV, RV, and RA functions were compared between groups I and II. Results RV and RA dimensions and volumes, and LV-Tei and RV-Tei indexes were significantly higher in group I compared with group II. All other parameters of LV, RV, and RA function except RA-active emptying volumes were significantly lower in group I compared with group II. Cutoff values for parameters of RV and RA function showed good sensitivity and specificity to discriminate group I from group II. Cutoff points were 19.9% for 2D-RV global longitudinal strain, 46.4% for 3D-RV ejection fraction, 11.7% for 3D-RVLS-sept, 18.6% for 3D-RVLS-FW, 29.2% for peak RA longitudinal, and 17.1% for peak RA contractile strain. Sensitivity ranged from 78.3 to 96.7% and specificity ranged from 85 to 100% with a P value of less than 0.001. Conclusion RV and RA functions are impaired in heart failure patients with LV systolic dysfunction. Both 3D and strain imaging are good echo modalities in the evaluation of right heart function.
Egyptian Journal of Petroleum, 2018
The corrosion inhibitive effects of new polyvinylpyrrolidone stabilized crystalline super-paramag... more The corrosion inhibitive effects of new polyvinylpyrrolidone stabilized crystalline super-paramagnetic nanoparticles (5-20 nm) were investigated. Several characterization techniques confirmed the high stability of the prepared stabilized nanoparticles in solution. The polarization and EIS measurements showed that the inhibition efficiency increased with increasing concentration of the magnetite nanoparticles. The results obtained from EIS and electrochemical polarization curves are in reasonably good agreement. The obtained results suggest that the prepared stabilized system is an excellent inhibitor for carbon steel corrosion in 1 M HCl solution.
Progress in Organic Coatings, 2017
Titanium dioxide nano particles (TIO 2) were prepared by sol-gel technique. The synthesised nanop... more Titanium dioxide nano particles (TIO 2) were prepared by sol-gel technique. The synthesised nanoparticles were characterised for their structure using XRD, SEM and FTIR. Debye scherrer powder technique was used for calculating the average size of the sample. Surface morphology was estimated using SEM. Band gap = 3.2 eV.
OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology, 2017
Microbiome projects are currently booming around the globe, enabled by advances in culture-indepe... more Microbiome projects are currently booming around the globe, enabled by advances in culture-independent microbial community analysis and high-throughput sequencing. One emerging application of microbiome science involves exploring microbial diversity in built environments, and one unexplored built environment is the pharmaceutical factory, notably factories producing antibiotics, as they could be enriched in antibiotic-resistant microbes. To examine the drug factory microbiome, we launched this interdisciplinary hypothesis-generating study to benchmark culture-independent microbiome analysis in drug manufacturing units producing antibiotics and nonantibiotic drugs, against traditional microbial identification and quantification techniques. Over a course of 4 months, we prospectively collected 234 samples from antibiotic (kanamycin and amoxicillin) and nonantibiotic (acetaminophen) production clean rooms within a pharmaceutical factory in Egypt. All samples were analyzed by traditional culture-based methods, and microbial communities of representative samples were profiled by16S rRNA gene sequencing. In addition, antibiotic resistance profiles of some samples were determined, and representative resistance genes were screened. The 16S rRNA analysis revealed a typical predominance of Proteobacteria (36%), Firmicutes (31%), and Bacteroidetes (16%). The microbial composition of the samples was highly affected by the use of water, environmental conditions during the production process, the presence of personnel, and the type of the product. The effect of these factors was confirmed by total aerobic microbial counts and identification of biomarker microbes. In conclusion, these observations can aid in the future for optimal design and management of pharmaceutical manufacturing units, and speak to a greater need for implementing microbiome research in the quality assurance of built environments.
Chemistry and Materials Research, 2014
Single crystal TiO 2 nanotubes (TNTs) were prepared using modified hydrothermal method by treatme... more Single crystal TiO 2 nanotubes (TNTs) were prepared using modified hydrothermal method by treatment of prepared TiO 2 with NaOH aqueous solution and characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, BET surface area analysis, Raman spectroscopy, FTIR and UV-vis/DR spectroscopy. Detailed study for the effect of calcinations temperature on the morphology, textural properties, adsorption amount and photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 nanotubes was performed. The results showed that the calcinations temperature remarkably altered the phase composition. HRTEM showed that the high-purity nanotubes can be produced through the hydrothermal treatment of TiO 2 , calcinated at 250 ᵒC. It was found that the obtained high-purity TNTs have outer diameter of the tubular structures around 15 nm and the length is around 70 nm, the wall of nanotube is 2 layers in one side whereas it is 3 layers in another side and the interlayer spacing is about 1-1.5 nm. The prepared TiO 2 nanotubes show enhanced catalytic activity in photocatalytic phenol degradation compared with TiO2 nanoparticles which show lower catalytic activities.
Echocardiography, 2007
Cardiac dysfunction is a major cause of death in patients with beta thalassemia. Right ventricula... more Cardiac dysfunction is a major cause of death in patients with beta thalassemia. Right ventricular (RV) contribution to cardiac morbidity and mortality in these patients has been suggested. We aimed to assess RV function in beta thalassemia (β-Th) patients and to detect the relation of serum ferritin level to RV dysfunction. Thirty young patients with β-Th and 15 age-matched normal subjects (NL) were included. We measured RV end diastolic and end systolic diameters (RVEDD and RVESD), RV % fractional shortening (RVFS), RV pressure (RVP), lateral and septal tricuspid annular systolic and diastolic tissue Doppler velocities (Sa, Ea, Aa & Ea/Aa), and RV myocardial systolic and diastolic velocities at the basal RV segment (RVSm, RVEm, RVAm & RVEm/Am). Serum ferritin level was measured in β-Th patients who were divided accordingly into two groups; G1 with serum ferritin ≥2,000 ug/L and G2 with serum ferritin <2,000 ug/L. Compared to NL subjects, β-Th patients had significantly higher RVEDD, RVESD & RVP, lower RVFS, higher Aa, and lower Ea/Aa at lateral and septal tricuspid annular sites, higher RVAm and lower RVEm/Am. Patients with higher serum ferritin level (G1) had higher RVP, higher RVEDD and RVESD, lower Sa at the lateral annular site and lower RVSm than patients in G2. High serum ferritin level was significantly associated with pulmonary hypertension. We concluded that patients with β-Th have RV diastolic dysfunction, pulmonary hypertension is common, and the presence of RV systolic dysfunction in these patients is related to the higher level of serum ferritin.
The ease of digital media modification and dissemination necessitates content protection beyond e... more The ease of digital media modification and dissemination necessitates content protection beyond encryption. Information hidden as digital watermarks in multimedia enables protection mechanism in decrypted contents. The aims of this research are threefold: (i) to investigate the strength and limitations of current watermarking schemes, (ii) to design and develop new schemes to overcome the limitations, and (iii) to evaluate the new schemes using application scenarios of copyright protection, tamper detection and authentication. We focus on geometrically robust watermarking and semifragile watermarking for digital images. Additionally, hybrid schemes that combine the strength of both robust and semi-fragile watermarks are studied. Robust watermarks are well suited for copyright protection because they stay intact with the image under various manipulations. We investigated two major approaches of robust watermarking. In the synchronization approach, we employed motion estimation for watermark resynchronization. We also developed a novel watermark resynchronization method that has low computational cost using scale normalization and flowline curvature. In another approach, we firstly analyzed and improved a blind watermark detection method. The new method reduces significantly the computational cost of its watermark embedding. Secondly, we created a geometric invariant domain using a combination of transforms, and adapted the blind watermark detection method that we improved. It totally eliminates the need of resynchronization in watermark detection, which is a very desirable achievement that can hardly be found in existing schemes. On the other hand, semi-fragile watermarks are good at content authentication because they can differentiate minor image enhancements from major manipulations. New capabilities of semi-fragile watermarks are identified. Then, we developed a semi-fragile watermarking method in wavelet domain that offers content authentication and tamper localization. Unlike others, our scheme overcomes a major challenge called cropping attack and provides approximate content recovery without resorting to an original image. Hybrid schemes combine robust and semi-fragile watermarks to offer deductive information in digital media forensics. We firstly carried out a pilot study by combining robust and fragile watermarks. Then, we performed a comparative analysis on two implementation methods of a hybrid watermarking scheme. The first method has the robust watermark and the fragile watermark overlapped while the second method uses non-overlapping robust and fragile watermarks. Based on the results of the comparative analysis, we merge our geometric invariant domain with our semi-fragile watermark to produce a hybrid scheme. This hybrid scheme fulfilled the copyright protection, tamper detection, and content authentication objectives when evaluated in an investigation scenario.
New Astronomy Reviews, 2006
The Advanced Compton Telescope (ACT) has been selected by NASA for a one-year "Vision Mission" st... more The Advanced Compton Telescope (ACT) has been selected by NASA for a one-year "Vision Mission" study. The main goal of this study is to determine feasible instrument configurations to achieve ACT's sensitivity requirements, and to give recommendations for technology development. Space-based instruments operating in the energy range of nuclear lines are subject to complex backgrounds generated by cosmic-ray interactions and diffuse gamma rays; typically measurements are significantly background-dominated. Therefore accurate, detailed simulations of the background induced in different ACT configurations, and exploration of event selection and reconstruction techniques for reducing these backgrounds, are crucial to determining both the capabilities of a given instrument configuration and the technology enhancements that would result in the most significant performance improvements. The ACT Simulation team has assembled a complete suite of tools that allows the generation of particle backgrounds for a given orbit (based on CREME96), their propagation through any instrument and spacecraft geometry (using MGGPOD)-including delayed photon emission from instrument activation-as well as the event selection and reconstruction of Comptonscatter events in the given detectors (MEGAlib). The package can deal with polarized photon beams as well as e.g. anticoincidence shields. We report here on the suite of tools used in the ACT Simulation effort. We thank NASA for support of this research.
Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology, Sep 17, 2013
During mapping and ablation procedures, the movement of large ferromagnetic items (i.e., fluorosc... more During mapping and ablation procedures, the movement of large ferromagnetic items (i.e., fluoroscopic equipment) introduce heterogeneities in the electromagnetic field, which may affect the accuracy of electromagnet-based navigation. We aimed to assess the impact of common periprocedural fluoroscopic equipment movement on the accuracy of an electromagnet-based navigation system. The impact of fluoroscopic equipment movement on the accuracy of the Carto® 3 System (Biosense Webster, Inc., Diamond Bar, CA, USA) was assessed both in vitro (n = 20 patients, phantom model) and in vivo (n = 18 patients). Location recordings were obtained with unchanged catheter position for fluoroscopic equipment rotational movements (RMs) and maximal to closest distance (MD to CD) to phantom/patient. The effects of both single- and biplane fluoroscopy were assessed. In vitro, the movement of fluoroscopic equipment resulted in an average catheter location estimation error of 0.8 mm (interquartile range 0.3-1.3). The maximal location estimation errors with MD to CD movement and RM were 2.3 mm and 1.3 mm, respectively. Changing from single-plane to biplane setup resulted in an average location estimation change of 1.5 mm (maximum 2.1). Larger location changes were observed in vivo (2.9 mm vs 0.8 mm, P &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.0001) with 28.7% of these exceeded 4 mm versus none of the in vitro measurements (P &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.0001). Although fluoroscopy manipulation affected the accuracy of the Carto® 3 System, the in vitro data suggest that these inaccuracies are likely of limited clinical consequences. The larger in vivo inaccuracies are most likely due to nonferromagnetic interferences, such as respiratory or cardiac movements.