Adaptability of bipedicled scalp advancement flap for coverage of huge scalp defects after tumor resection

Background:Several reconstructive techniques have been used to reconstruct scalp defects.Numerous researchers have studied the utilization of bipedicled scalp advancement flaps for scalp defect coverage.In this study,we will assess the adaptability of a bipedicled scalp advancement flap for coverage of huge scalp defects after tumor resection.Methods:This study was performed at the Plastic Surgery Department,Fayoum University Hospital,on 20 patients with huge scalp tumors treated by adequate excision and reconstructed using a bipedicled scalp advancement flap from December 2021 to July 2023.Results:The study was conducted on 20 patients:16(80%)were men and 4(20%)were women presenting with large scalp tumors.The mean age was 57.4 years(33-68 years).The sites of the tumors were 10(50%)occipital,6(30%)parietal,and 4(20%)parieto-occipital.No major complications occurred postoperatively,and the bipedicled flaps survived well in all cases,with no necrosis.Conclusion:Huge scalp defects after tumor resection can be safely reconstructed with a large versatile bipedicled advancement scalp flap,either transversely or longitudinally oriented,with favorable functional results and accepted aesthetic results,apart from the alopecic area over the grafted donor site,which can be treated by tissue expansion if desired later.

Evaluation of the versatility of perforators-enhanced rhomboid flap technique for ischial sores reconstruction

Background: Prolonged pressure on the skin known as pressure sores, can cause frequent injuries to the skin and underlying tissues. However, several prevention approaches, including non-surgical and surgical management,are available. In flap surgery for pressure sores, a variety of flap types may be used;each offers certain benefits and some incidences of complications and recurrence. This study evaluated the versatility of the perforatorenhanced rhomboid flap technique for ischial sore construction.Methods: This prospective study was conducted in the Plastic Surgery Department of Fayoum University Hospital.The perforator-enhanced rhomboid flap technique was employed in 20 patients with ischial pressure sores who failed to respond to conservative treatment. A proper history was obtained and a preoperative arterial duplex was performed to determine the site of the prominent perforators for their preservation at the base of the flap.Postoperative follow-ups and evaluations were performed.Results: The mean age of the study group was 43.7 ± 13.1, ranging from 19 to 65 years. Moreover, 80% of the participants were males while 20% were female. The main etiology of the sores was paraplegia in 45% of cases.The mean surface area of sores was 24.8 ± 6.3 cm2. In 75% of cases, the color match of the flap was rated as excellent. Similarly, 70% of the patients rated flap thickness as excellent. In 55% of the cases, the scar appearance was deemed excellent. Overall satisfaction was reported as excellent by 40% of the patients, while only 5% reported poor satisfaction. Approximately, 10% of the cases were identified with seroma, and 30% had wound dehiscence of a mean size of 1.33 ± 0.98 cm and required around 6.8 ± 1.9 weeks to heal.Conclusion: The perforator-enhanced rhomboid flap technique is a versatile method for reconstructing ischial pressure sores owing to its technical ease, short operative time, reliable vascularity, aesthetic outcome, matching skin color, and short recovery time. The main limitations include large defects with large surface areas, lack of a nearby donor site for a rhomboid flap, and scarring from prior procedures around the sore.

Endoscopic Assisted Eyebrow Craniotomy for Anterior Cranial Fossa Lesions: Clinical and Cosmetic Outcomes

Background: The eyebrow supraorbital keyhole approach could be considered a modified minimally invasive model for the classic pterional subfrontal approach in which an eyebrow incision and supraorbital mini craniotomy are performed for exposure of the anterior cranial fossa corridor. Methods: This study was retrospectively conducted on twenty four patients, age ranging from 20 to 65 years old, with anterior cranial fossa lesions who were meeting the eligibility criteria for eyebrow craniotomy in the period from August 2019 to January 2023. These patients were operated through eyebrow supraorbital approach in which microscopic endoscopic assisted technique were used. Extent of resection, clinical and cosmetic outcomes and complication incidence were assessed. Results: We included the twenty four patients who met inclusion criteria (17 females and 7 males) their ages ranged from 20 to 65 years. The most common pathology was meningioma in 19 patients. Two patients experienced supraorbital loss of sensation and only one patient experienced palsy of frontalis branch of facial nerve. Frontal sinus was breached in 3 patients with no patient experienced postoperative CSF leak. Total excision was accomplished for 23 patients. Four patients who had preoperative visual compromise, improvement of visual acuity and field defects was observed in 3 patients. No major intraoperative complications occurred. All patients filled cosmetic satisfaction questionnaire during their outpatient visits. For the eyebrow supraorbital approach, no incision related intolerable pain, no craniotomy defects or irregularities, no cosmetic complaints nor limitation of jaw opening were reported, and only minor symptoms in the form of limited eyebrow elevation, swelling and numbness in the forehead. Conclusions: The eyebrow craniotomy could be used safely as a more cosmetic and minimally invasive approach for a variety of anterior cranial fossa lesions. Endoscopic assistance has been found very useful for deeply seated lesions and hidden residuals with minimal brain retraction which couldn’t be accessed easily through microscopic field solely. Endoscopic assisted eyebrow supraorbital keyhole approach could be performed on a wider scale with great results but requires good selection of cases and more practice to expertise the needed skills.

Assessment of public awareness about body measurements among Fayoum population

The prevalence of obesity is increasing world-wide. There was general agreement that BMI surveillance was an epidemiologic tool for the assessment of obesity in different populations. The aim of this study is to screen community awareness about body measurement, and to examine actual body weight with self-perception of body image. Methods: This study was a community-based survey conducted in Fayoum Governorate. We used multistage stratified random sampling to select the study household with a number of participants (582). We developed a self-administrated structured questionnaire. Anthropometric assessment weight, height and waist circumference were measured, and BMI was calculated. Results: Our results showed that the prevalence of obesity was 88.7% more in female than male. More than half of the participants knew their weight and height. Overall, 40.6% of women and 38.8% of men misclassified their own weight status by BMI. There was a statistical significant difference between knowing weight and height, and their accurate results (P = 0.000). Conclusion: Our results showed that the majority of the Fayoum population was obese. Implementation of health promotion and health education in the community should use effective nutrition education in the mass-media to raise awareness of appropriate body weight and healthy lifestyle.

Genotoxic and Histopathological Effects of Water Pollution on <i>Clarias gariepinus</i>Fish at Fayoum Governorate, Egypt

Increasing land reclamation in El-Fayoum governorate has led to increase the amount of drainage water that discharged without prior treatments to two main drains, El-Wadi and El-Bats drainages loaded by salts and heavy metals. So, the present investigation aims to evaluate quality of water samples collected from a branch of the river Nile (El-Lahon canal) and the main drains (El-Bats and El-Wadi) at Fayoum governorate on some biomarkers of the Nile catfish;Clarias gariepinus inhabiting the studied degradable aquatic habitats. Water and nighty fish samples colleted from the different studied sites of collection by the help of fishermen for physicochemical analyes of water and fish biochemical analyses and histopathological alteration. Results revealed highly significant differences at P ≤ 0.01 with the highest water ammonia, nitrite, heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd) and lowest dissolved oxygen content accompanied by metals bioaccumulation in vital organs of fish collected from the main drains (El-Bats and El-Wadi) in comparision with that collected from the studied branch of the river Nile. Higher bioaccumulation of the studied heavy metals in gills, liver, kidney and muscles of Clarias gariepinus collected from the main drains significant increase in serum glucose, liver and kidney functions, disturbance in protein profile of fish collected from the studied main drains than that of fish collected from the river Nile branch, El-Lahon that showed more or less normal values. Moreover, histopathological alterations in gills, liver, kidneys and clear DNA strand breaks in fish liver cells increased statistically in Clarias gariepinus collected from El-Fayoum drainage canals. Generally, the results highlights on the importance of taking action through the responsible authorities towards quality of the drainage water that fed fish farms by law that could play a role as a main source of protein for human beings.

Female Sexual Dysfunction in Elfayoum Governorate

Introduction: female sexual dysfunction (FSD) is a complex and poorly understood condition that affects females of all ages. Female sexual dysfunction has been a cyclic rather than a linear process that emphasizes biologic, psychological, social, hormonal, and environmental factors. Female sexual dysfunction is a high prevalent disorder reaching up to 60% of females with reported higher levels in postmenopausal. Aim of the work: was to estimate prevalence of FSD and its related factors in Elfayoum city. Subject and Method: This study was a cross sectional descriptive study conducted in Elfayoum city included 508 married females (above 21 years old) during the period from September 2016 to March 2017. Results: The prevalence of FSD among studied group was 61.2% versus 38.8% had normal sexual function, desire dysfunction was 42.3%, arousal dysfunction was 39.2%, lubrication dysfunction was 25%, orgasm dysfunction was 58.5%, satisfaction dysfunction was 58.1% and pain was 43.3%. There was statistically significant negative correlation between Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) score and each of female and husband age, duration of marriage, and number of children. Low mean of FSFI score was found among females with irregular menstrual cycle, using contraceptive, not pregnant, mutilated and females who’s their husband had erectile or ejaculation disorders. Conclusion and recommendation: High prevalence of FSD among females in Elfayoum governorate. Many factors are found to affect FSD as FGM, each of female and husband age, duration of marriage, and number of children.

Machine Learning Techniques for Detecting Phishing URL Attacks

Cyber Attacks are critical and destructive to all industry sectors.They affect social engineering by allowing unapproved access to a Personal Computer(PC)that breaks the corrupted system and threatens humans.The defense of security requires understanding the nature of Cyber Attacks,so prevention becomes easy and accurate by acquiring sufficient knowledge about various features of Cyber Attacks.Cyber-Security proposes appropriate actions that can handle and block attacks.A phishing attack is one of the cybercrimes in which users follow a link to illegal websites that will persuade them to divulge their private information.One of the online security challenges is the enormous number of daily transactions done via phishing sites.As Cyber-Security have a priority for all organizations,Cyber-Security risks are considered part of an organization’s risk management process.This paper presents a survey of different modern machine-learning approaches that handle phishing problems and detect with high-quality accuracy different phishing attacks.A dataset consisting of more than 11000 websites from the Kaggle dataset was utilized and studying the effect of 30 website features and the resulting class label indicating whether or not it is a phishing website(1 or−1).Furthermore,we determined the confusion matrices of Machine Learning models:Neural Networks(NN),Na飗e Bayes,and Adaboost,and the results indicated that the accuracies achieved were 90.23%,92.97%,and 95.43%,respectively.

EJUSTCO:Monte Carlo radiation transport code hybrid with ANN model for gamma-ray shielding simulation

Gamma ray shielding is essential to ensure the safety of personnel and equipment in facilities and environments where radiation exists.The Monte Carlo technique is vital for analyzing the gamma-ray shielding capabilities of materials.In this study,a simple Monte Carlo code,EJUSTCO,is developed to cd simulate gamma radiation transport in shielding materials for academic purposes.The code considers the photoelectric effect,Compton(incoherent)scattering,pair production,and photon annihilation as the dominant interaction mechanisms in the gamma radiation shielding problem.Variance reduction techniques,such as the Russian roulette,survival weighting,and exponential transformation,are incorporated into the code to improve computational efficiency.Predicting the exponential transformation parameter typically requires trial and error as well as expertise.Herein,a deep learning neural network is proposed as a viable method for predicting this parameter for the first time.The model achieves an MSE of 0.00076752 and an R-value of 0.99998.The exposure buildup factors and radiation dose rates due to the passage of gamma radiation with different source energies and varying thicknesses of lead,water,iron,concrete,and aluminum in single-,double-,and triple-layer material systems are validated by comparing the results with those of MCNP,ESG,ANS-6.4.3,MCBLD,MONTEREY MARK(M),PENELOPE,and experiments.Average errors of 5.6%,2.75%,and 10%are achieved for the exposure buildup factor in single-,double-,and triple-layer materials,respectively.A significant parameter that is not considered in similar studies is the gamma ray albedo.In the EJUSTCO code,the total number and energy albedos have been computed.The results are compared with those of MCNP,FOTELP,and PENELOPE.In general,the EJUSTCO-developed code can be employed to assess the performance of radiation shielding materials because the validation results are consistent with theoretical,experimental,and literary results.

Self-Tuning Parameters for Decision Tree Algorithm Based on Big Data Analytics

Big data is usually unstructured, and many applications require theanalysis in real-time. Decision tree (DT) algorithm is widely used to analyzebig data. Selecting the optimal depth of DT is time-consuming process as itrequires many iterations. In this paper, we have designed a modified versionof a (DT). The tree aims to achieve optimal depth by self-tuning runningparameters and improving the accuracy. The efficiency of the modified (DT)was verified using two datasets (airport and fire datasets). The airport datasethas 500000 instances and the fire dataset has 600000 instances. A comparisonhas been made between the modified (DT) and standard (DT) with resultsshowing that the modified performs better. This comparison was conductedon multi-node on Apache Spark tool using Amazon web services. Resultingin accuracy with an increase of 6.85% for the first dataset and 8.85% for theairport dataset. In conclusion, the modified DT showed better accuracy inhandling different-sized datasets compared to standard DT algorithm.

Energy Theft Detection in Smart Grids with Genetic Algorithm-Based Feature Selection

As big data,its technologies,and application continue to advance,the Smart Grid(SG)has become one of the most successful pervasive and fixed computing platforms that efficiently uses a data-driven approach and employs efficient information and communication technology(ICT)and cloud computing.As a result of the complicated architecture of cloud computing,the distinctive working of advanced metering infrastructures(AMI),and the use of sensitive data,it has become challenging tomake the SG secure.Faults of the SG are categorized into two main categories,Technical Losses(TLs)and Non-Technical Losses(NTLs).Hardware failure,communication issues,ohmic losses,and energy burnout during transmission and propagation of energy are TLs.NTL’s are human-induced errors for malicious purposes such as attacking sensitive data and electricity theft,along with tampering with AMI for bill reduction by fraudulent customers.This research proposes a data-driven methodology based on principles of computational intelligence as well as big data analysis to identify fraudulent customers based on their load profile.In our proposed methodology,a hybrid Genetic Algorithm and Support Vector Machine(GA-SVM)model has been used to extract the relevant subset of feature data from a large and unsupervised public smart grid project dataset in London,UK,for theft detection.A subset of 26 out of 71 features is obtained with a classification accuracy of 96.6%,compared to studies conducted on small and limited datasets.

Blockchain and IIoT Enabled Solution for Social Distancing and Isolation Management to Prevent Pandemics

Pandemics have always been a nightmare for humanity,especially in developing countries.Forced lockdowns are considered one of the effective ways to deal with spreading such pandemics.Still,developing countries cannot afford such solutions because these may severely damage the country’s econ-omy.Therefore,this study presents the proactive technological mechanisms for business organizations to run their standard business processes during pandemic-like situations smoothly.The novelty of this study is to provide a state-of-the-art solution to prevent pandemics using industrial internet of things(IIoT)and blockchain-enabled technologies.Compared to existing studies,the immutable and tamper-proof contact tracing and quarantine management solution is proposed.The use of advanced technologies and information security is a critical area for practitioners in the internet of things(IoT)and corresponding solutions.Therefore,this study also emphasizes information security,end-to-end solution,and experimental results.Firstly,a wearable wristband is proposed,incorporating 4G-enabled ultra-wideband(UWB)technology for smart contact tracing mechanisms in industries to comply with standard operating procedures outlined by the world health organization(WHO).Secondly,distributed ledger technology(DLT)omits the centralized dependency for transmitting contact tracing data.Thirdly,a privacy-preserving tracing mechanism is discussed using a public/private key cryptography-based authentication mechanism.Lastly,based on geofencing techniques,blockchain-enabled machine-to-machine(M2M)technology is proposed for quarantine management.The step-by-step methodology and test results are proposed to ensure contact tracing and quarantine management.Unlike existing research studies,the security aspect is also considered in the realm of blockchain.The practical implementation of the proposed solution also obtains the results.The results indicate the successful implementation of blockchain-enabled contact tracing and isolation management using IoT and geo-fencing techniques,which could help battle pandemic situations.Researchers can also consider the 5G-enabled narrowband internet of things(NB-IoT)technologies to implement contact tracing solutions.

A Double Adaptive Random Spare Reinforced Sine Cosine Algorithm

Many complex optimization problems in the real world can easily fall into local optimality and fail to find the optimal solution,so more new techniques and methods are needed to solve such challenges.Metaheuristic algorithms have received a lot of attention in recent years because of their efficient performance and simple structure.Sine Cosine Algorithm(SCA)is a recent Metaheuristic algorithm that is based on two trigonometric functions Sine&Cosine.However,like all other metaheuristic algorithms,SCA has a slow convergence and may fail in sub-optimal regions.In this study,an enhanced version of SCA named RDSCA is suggested that depends on two techniques:random spare/replacement and double adaptive weight.The first technique is employed in SCA to speed the convergence whereas the second method is used to enhance exploratory searching capabilities.To evaluate RDSCA,30 functions from CEC 2017 and 4 real-world engineering problems are used.Moreover,a nonparametric test called Wilcoxon signed-rank is carried out at 5%level to evaluate the significance of the obtained results between RDSCA and the other 5 variants of SCA.The results show that RDSCA has competitive results with other metaheuristics algorithms.

Bioinspired urchin-like murray carbon nanostructure with protection shell for advanced lithium-sulfur batteries

Commercial application of lithium-sulfur(Li-S) batteries is hindered by the insulating nature of sulfur and the dissolution of polysulfides. Here, a bioinspired 3D urchin-like N-doped Murray's carbon nanostructure(N-MCN) with interconnected micro-meso-macroporous structure and a polydopamine protection shell has been designed as an effective sulfur host for high-performance Li-S batteries. The advanced 3D hierarchically porous framework with the characteristics of the generalized Murray's law largely improves electrolyte diffusion, facilitates electrons/ions transfer and provides strong chemisorption for active species, leading to the synergistic structural and chemical confinement of polysulfides. As a result,the obtained P@S/N-MCN electrode with high areal sulfur loading demonstrates high capacity at high current densities after long cycles. This work reveals that following the generalized Murray's law is feasible to design high-performance sulfur cathode materials for potentially practical Li-S battery applications.

Impact of Water Deterioration on Growth Indices and Meat Quality of Tilapia zillii and Solea aegyptiaca Fish Inhabiting Lake Qaroun, Egypt

The present work studies water deterioration, fish survival and production as a result of effluents discharged directly without prior treatments into lake Qaroun at Fayoum governorate, Egypt. Lake Qaroun represents heavily polluted wild habitat for both studied fish species, Tilapia zillii and Solea aegyptiaca, the most abundant species. Results revealed deterioration in water quality (low dissolved oxygen but high ammonia, nitrite, copper, lead and cadmium) of Northeastern sector where El-Bats drain discharge its effluents without prior treatment followed by that of eastern sector at four km from the point of El-Bats discharge. Water salinity and dissolved oxygen values were in the following order: Western lake Qaroun sector > Eastern lake Qaroun sector > Northeastern lake Qaroun sector. However, Ammonia and nitrite readings were in the following order: Northeastern sector of Lake Qaroun is followed by the Eastern sector, then the Western sector. Moreover, results of the present field study revealed a decrease in fish production with the lowest condition factor and a deterioration in meat quality (an increase in muscle water content and ash but a decrease total protein and total lipids) in case of fish collected from the polluted sites along the lake (Northeastern and eastern sectors). However, fish collected from the unpolluted western sector of the lake showed condition factor and chemical muscle composition more or less similar to normal healthy fish.

Growth Rate and Chemical Muscle Composition of Oreochromis niloticus Fish Cultured in Drainage Water and Fed Antioxidant Supplemented Diet

Irrigation of fish farms with agricultural drainage water may affect cultured fish species. So, the present study utilizes antioxidants supplemented diet to overcome deterioration of drainage water and its negative effect on fish. The studied groups are fish cultured in dechlorinated tap water as control group or drainage water and fed commercial basal diet. While, the other studied groups represented by Oreochromis niloticus fish cultured in drainage water and fed either commercial diet supplemented with vitamin C (5 g/kg diet) or fennel (5 g/kg diet) for 12 weeks. Results of the water physico-chemical parameters of all studied treatments revealed deterioration of the drainage water with a decrease in dissolved oxygen and an increase in pH, total hardness, total alkalinity, salinity, ammonia, nitrite and heavy metals (Cu, Pb and Cd) with significant differences (P ≤ 0.01) in comparison to that of the control dechlorinated tap water group. Data clarified also that Oreochromis niloticus cultured in drainage water showed a decrease in growth rate accompanied by deterioration of fish meat quality. However, fish reared in the same drainage water for the same exposure period and fed vitamin C or fennel supplemented basal diet (5 g/kg diet) recorded values of the studied parameters more or less similar to that of control group fish. Data of the present study, empowered aquaculturist to supplement fish rations with fennel or vitamin C as antioxidants to improve fish growth rate, meat quality as well as protect fish against heavy metals toxicity that could threat Human Being.

Minimally Invasive 360 Degrees Decompression for Ligamentous, Bony and Discogenic Lumbar Canal Stenosis

Background: For decades, traditional open surgical techniques were used to treat lumbar disc herniation and lumbar canal stenosis (LCS). However, seeking for better outcomes for patients and avoiding extensive bony loss with its sequences had raised minimally invasive technique for treating these disorders as an alternative surgery. Methods: This is a retrospective study in which 54 patients of LCS were operated upon via unilateral minimally invasive technique to decompress the canal in a 360 degrees fashion through laminotomy, deroofing of opposite laminar side, sublaminar ligamintectomy, bilateral foraminotomies and discectomy. We used VAS scores and ODI to assess clinical outcomes with a period of one year follow-up. Results: Our results demonstrated that minimally invasive techniques for treating these disorders are effective procedures. Minimally invasive 360 degrees decompression for treating LCS had better outcomes regarding postoperative back pain, smaller incisions, less bony loss and early ambulation. Conclusion: Minimally invasive techniques for treating lumbar canal stenosis of different causes could be considered a better option instead of traditional full laminectomy with better outcomes as regards respecting the anatomical layers such as posterior spinal integrity and musculature, postoperative pain, accompanied with less blood loss, shorter hospital stays, and shorter recovery periods.

Serpentinized Peridotites at the North Part of the Wadi Allaqi District(Egypt): Implications for the Tectono-Magmatic Evolution of Fore-arc Crust

The Neoproterozoic Allaqi-Heiani suture （800-700 Ma） in the south Eastern Desert of Egypt is the northernmost linear ophiolitic belt that defines an arc-arc suture in the Arabian- Nubian shield （ANS）. The Neoproterozoic serpentinized peridotites represent a distinct lithology of dismembered ophiolites along the Allaqi-Heiani suture zone. The alteration of peridotites varies, some contain relicts of primary minerals （Cr-spinel and olivine） and others are extremely altered, especially along thrusts and shear zones, with development of talc, talc-carbonate and quartz-carbonate. The fresh cores of the chromian spinels are rimmed by ferritchromite and Cr- magnetite. The fresh chromian spinels have high Cr# （0.62 to 0.79）, while Mg# shows wider variation （0.35-0.59）. High Cr# in the relict chromian spinels and Fo content in the primary olivines indicate that they are residual peridotites after extensive partial melting. The studied ophiolitic upper mantle peridotites are highly depleted and most probably underwent high degrees of partial melting at a supra-subduction zone setting. They can be produced by up to -20%-22% dynamic melting of a primitive mantle source. The mineralogical and geochemical features of the studied rocks reflect that the mantle peridotites of the north part of the Wadi Allaqi district are similar to the fore-arc peridotites of a supra-subduction zone.

Anterior lamellar recession for management of upper eyelid cicatricial entropion and associated eyelid abnormalities

AIM：To evaluate the functional and aesthetic outcomes of upper eyelid cicatricial entropion（UCE） correction using anterior lamellar recession（ALR） with addressing the associated conditions including dermatochalasis,brow ptosis,blepharoptosis,and lid retraction.METHODS：Chart review of patients with upper lid cicatricial entropion who had undergone ALR from 2013 to 2016 was reviewed.Success was defi ned as the lack of any lash in contact with the globe,no need for a second procedure,and acceptable cosmesis at the fi nal follow up.RESULTS：Sixty eight patients（97 eyelids） were operated by ALR with simultaneous correction of associated lid problems in each case when necessary.The mean followup time was 17.8 mo（range,6.0-24.0 mo）.Concomitantly,levator tucking was performed in 19 eyelids（19.6%）,upper lid retractor recession in 18 eyelids（18.6%）,and internal browpexy in 31 eyelids（32.0%）.In 95.8% of patients（95%CI：0.85-0.96）,satisfactory functional and cosmetic outcome was achieved with a single surgical procedure.CONCLUSION：Based on the principles of lamellar recession and concurrently addressing the associated lid problems,this approach is an effective and safe treatment of UCE.

Geochemistry of an Alaskan-type mafic-ultramafic complex in Eastern Desert, Egypt:New insights and constraints on the Neoproterozoic island arc magmatism

Mikbi intrusion(MI) is a part of the Neoproterozoic Nubian Shield located along the NE-SW trending major fracture zones prevailing southern Eastern Desert of Egypt. In this study, we present for the first time detailed mineralogical and bulk-rock geochemical data to infer some constraints on the parental magma genesis and to understand the tectonic processes contributed to MI formation. Lithologically, it is composed of fresh peridotite, clinopyroxenite, hornblendite, anorthosite, gabbronorite, pyroxene amphibole gabbro, amphibole gabbro and diorite. All rocks have low Th/La ratios(mostly <0.2) and lack positive Zr and Th anomalies excluding significant crustal contamination. They show very low concentrations of Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf together with sub-chondritic ratios of Nb/Ta(2-15) and Zr/Hf(19-35),suggesting that their mantle source was depleted by earlier melting extraction event. The oxygen fugacity(logfO_2) estimated from diorite biotite is around the nickel-nickel oxide buffer(NNO) indicating crystallization from a relatively oxidized magma. Amphiboles in the studied mafic-ultramafic rocks indicate relative oxygen fugacity(i.e. ΔNNO; nickel-nickel oxide) of 0.28-3 and were in equilibrium mostly with 3.77-8.24 wt.% H_2 O_(melt)(i.e. water content in the melt), consistent with the typical values of subduction-related magmas. Moreover, pressure estimates(0.53-6.79 kbar) indicate polybaric crystallization and suggest that the magma chamber(s) was located at relatively shallow crustal levels. The enrichment in LILE(e.g., Cs, Ba, K and Sr) and the depletion in HFSE(e.g., Th and Nb) relative to primitive mantle are consistent with island arc signature. The olivine, pyroxene and amphibole compositions also reflect arc affinity. These inferences suggest that their primary magma was derived from partial melting of a mantle source that formerly metasomatized in a subduction zone setting. Clinopyroxene and bulkrock data are consistent with orogenic tholeiitic affinity. Consequently, the mineral and bulk-rock chemistry strongly indicate crystallization from hydrous tholeiitic magma. Moreover, their trace element patterns are subparallel indicating that the various rock types possibly result from differentiation of the same primary magma. These petrological, mineralogical and geochemical characteristics show that the MI is a typical Alaskan-type complex.

Wheat Germ: An Overview on Nutritional Value, Antioxidant Potential and Antibacterial Characteristics

Wheat germ is a by-product derived from the wheat milling industry. Defatted wheat germ is the main by-product of the wheat germ in the oil extraction process. This study aims at development of efficient and low cost processing methods to transform these residues in added value co-product. In this study, wheat germ was analysed for its proximate composition, fatty acid composition, physical and chemical characteristics of wheat germ oil. The basic chemical composition analyses revealed high values of dry matter (87.37 g/100g FW), significant amounts of total protein and fat (27.69 and 8.99 g/100g FW, respectively) content and low ash content (3.08 g/100g FW). The quality of the extracted oils was assessed in terms of acid value, iodine value, saponification value, peroxide value, refractive index, and unsaponifiable matter. The fatty acid profile was found to be made up of linoleic followed by palmitic and oleic as the major fatty acids. Antioxidant properties and in vitro antibacterial activity of defatted wheat germ (DWG) extract were also determined. DWG, as a source of natural antioxidants and antibacterial, could be used to formulate nutraceuticals with potential applications to reduce the level of oxidative stress. The antioxidant potency of the DWG extracts could be the basis for its health promoting potential. The results showed that these by-products could be used as a source of bioactive compounds beneficial for health.