Publications by authors named "Arif A"

Background: To study, estimate and discuss the variations of the aerosol optical depth (AOD), black carbon, sulfate and organic matter, in the atmosphere in Blida City of Algeria, which was greatly affected by COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We analyzed the effects of changes in the total AOD, black carbon, sulfate, and organic matter in the atmosphere (λ = 550 nm) in the same period of 2019 and 2020, following the COVID-19 epidemic in Blida City, which was the most-affected city in Algeria.

Results: The quarantine that was enacted to limit the spread of COVID-19 resulted in side effects that were identifiable in the total AOD and in some of its atmospheric components.

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Purpose: To identify the county-level effects of social determinants of health (SDoH) on COVID-19 (corona virus disease 2019) mortality rates by rural-urban residence and estimate county-level exceedance probabilities for detecting clusters.

Methods: The county-level data on COVID-19 death counts as of October 23, 2020, were obtained from the Johns Hopkins University. SDoH data were collected from the County Health Ranking and Roadmaps, the US Department of Agriculture, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a recognized complication of hospital stay in young patients in many developed countries, but such an information is largely unavailable from a low middle-income country (LMIC). This study aimed at identifying the frequency, risk factors, treatment options and outcome of deep venous thrombosis/pulmonary embolism (DVT/PE) in pediatric population in a tertiary care center from a LMIC. International classification of disease, ninth revision (ICD-9) was used to identify VTE in patients aged 0-18 years during January 2011 to September 2019.

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Dentistry is a profession that requires coordinated motor skills in addition to acquired knowledge for ideal execution of any treatment plan for patients. Learning experiences have been modified over a period of time for students as well as for the healthcare providers. Conventional pre-clinical training employed the use of cadavers, but financial, ethical and supervisory constraints have become a major shortcoming.

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Cardiovascular effects of hypothyroidism include bradycardia, diastolic hypertension, atrial fibrillation, prolonged QT interval leading to torsades de pointes, varying degrees of AV block, accelerated coronary artery disease, and pericardial effusion. Cardiac tamponade is rare in patients with hypothyroidism because of pericardial distensibility and slow accumulation of fluid. The amount and rate of accumulation of pericardial effusion are related to the severity of hypothyroidism.

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Introduction And Importance: Hajdu Cheney Syndrome (HCS) is a rare skeletal disease characterized by severe, progressive focal bone loss with osteoporosis, variable craniofacial, vertebral anomalies and distinctive facial features. It is inherited as an autosomal dominant disease although sporadic cases have been described in literature. Identifying these cases in clinical practice is important for proper diagnosis and management.

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Introduction: Aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs) put the dental health care professionals (DHCPs) at a greater risk for acquiring severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. In late June 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised elective dental procedures provision to asymptomatic patients while mandating strict infection control protocol and suggested the use of preprocedural testing as an adjunct. A cost-effective method for mass preprocedural testing is pool testing, which has specificity and sensitivity similar to polymerase chain reaction.

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BACKGROUND Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a multi-tumor syndrome in which affected patients develop malignancies that are rare in the overall population, such as tumors of neural or endocrine origin. CASE REPORT A 67-year-old woman with a clinical diagnosis of NF1 presented with abdominal pain and pneumoperitoneum. She underwent small-bowel resections for a perforated jejunal lesion and a second lesion in the ileum; pathology showed a neurofibroma at the site of the perforation and a 1-cm low-grade GIST, respectively.

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This study compares outcomes of patients admitted for atrial fibrillation (AF) with and without coexisting systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The primary outcome was inpatient mortality. Hospital length of stay (LOS), total hospital charges, odds of undergoing ablation, pharmacologic cardioversion and electrical cardioversion were secondary outcomes of interest.

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Root-knot nematodes (Kofoid and White) Chitwood and (Taub.) Butler, fungus, are very dangerous root damaging pathogens. Present study was planned to establish a chemical control of these root deteriorating pathogens under lab conditions as well as in field.

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Phagocytic clearance of apoptotic cells by the macrophages (efferocytosis) is impaired in sepsis, but its mechanism is poorly understood. Extracellular cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (eCIRP) is a novel damage-associated molecular pattern that fuels inflammation. We identify that eCIRP-induced neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) impair efferocytosis through a novel mechanism.

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Background And Aim: Indonesia has two National Artificial Insemination centers and 17 Regional Artificial Insemination Centers. The frozen semen production techniques differed between the centers, including the type of diluent and semen dilution technique. The aim of the research was to compare the quality of frozen Limousin bull semen diluted using different techniques.

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The plant kingdom is a rich source of bioactive compounds, many of which have been used since pre-history for their therapeutic properties to treat a range of illnesses. These metabolites have recently attracted attention to their antineoplastic activities to treat various cancers relying on different mechanisms. Some of these molecules are glycosides, which have proven useful as anti-cancer agents, namely podophyllotoxin (PPT) anaryltetralin lignan or alkaloids.

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Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) play a critical role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Chronic inflammation induces transcriptomic and epigenetic modifications that imparts a persistent catabolic phenotype to the FLS, despite their dissociation from the inflammatory environment. We analyzed high throughput gene expression and chromatin accessibility data from human and mouse FLS from our and other studies available on public repositories, with the goal of identifying the persistently reprogrammed signaling pathways driven by chronic inflammation.

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Introduction: Acute gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding can be a life-threatening condition. This is usually diagnosed and managed by an upper GI tract endoscopy. When treating actively bleeding duodenal ulcers, surgical intervention, or arterial embolization by Interventional Radiology (IR) is warranted in the event of failed initial management.

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BRASH syndrome is characterized by bradycardia, renal failure, use of an atrioventricular nodal blocker (AVNB), shock, and hyperkalemia. These symptoms represent an ongoing vicious cycle in a patient with a low glomerular filtration rate taking an AVNB. Decreased clearance of the medication and hyperkalemia associated with renal failure synergize to cause bradycardia and hypoperfusion.

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Objectives: To examine data from Delaware nursing homes to determine prevalence of age-related eye diseases (AREDs), vision impairment, and blindness and to compare the findings with the results of 11 US investigations of vision and eye health in nursing homes.

Design: This is a cross-sectional, retrospective study of nursing home patients.

Setting And Participants: Twenty nursing homes in Delaware participated in the study, yielding comprehensive eye examination records for 2019 study participants.

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Background: The prognostic implications of ST-segment and T-wave (ST/T) abnormalities in patients undergoing stress SPECT-myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) are not well defined.

Methods And Results: This was a single-center, retrospective cohort study of consecutive patients who underwent regadenoson stress SPECT-MPI. Patients with baseline electrocardiogram (ECG) abnormalities that impede ST/T analysis or those with known coronary artery disease were excluded.

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Background: Acute traumatic spinal cord injuries (SCIs) often result in impairments in respiration that may lead to a sequelae of pulmonary dysfunction, increased risk of infection, and death. The optimal timing for tracheostomy in patients with acute SCI is currently unknown. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to assess the optimal timing of tracheostomy in SCI patients and evaluate the potential benefits of early versus late tracheostomy.

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Chickpea is considered among the most important leguminous crops in the world. However, in recent years drought conditions and/or limited availability of water have significantly reduced the production of chickpea. The current study was aimed to understand the legume stress response at the metabolic level for the determination of chickpea genotypes which can resist yield losses and could be cultivated with limited water availability.

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Dyggve-Melchior-Clausen syndrome (DMC) is a skeletal dysplasia with associated defects of brain development and intelligence. The truncating pathogenic variants in are the most frequent cause of DMC. Smith-McCort (SMC), another skeletal dysplasia, is also caused by non-synonymous variants.

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The Indian Ocean hosts a wide range of living resources including fish stocks. Marine resources contribute significantly to economies and livelihoods, and seafood is a major source of protein in Indian Ocean nations. Fisheries resources in the Indian Ocean have started showing symptoms of depletion.

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Carmine (CRM) is a colouring agent, extensively used in a variety of foods, beverages, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. A battery of toxicity tests and chemical interaction studies of CRM with calf thymus DNA (ctDNA) have been conducted. Hemolysis assay clearly revealed the cytotoxic potential of CRM while and seed germination tests for phytotoxicity of CRM were also positive.

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Background: Working in the mining industry increases the risk of chronic diseases and mortality. We investigated overall and cause-specific mortality rates among workers employed in the mining sector in the United States.

Methods: We pooled 29 years of National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) public-use data from 1986 to 2014, with mortality follow-up until 31 December 2015.

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