Use of GeneXpert Mycobacterium tuberculosis/rifampicin for rapid detection of rifampicin resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains of clinically suspected multi-drug resistance tuberculosis cases.

Background: Multi-drug resistance (MDR) TB is defined as tuberculosis (TB) disease caused by a strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) that was resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin (RIF). Emerging Multidrug-Resistant TB is one of the major concerns of health policy and rapid detection of M. tuberculosis and detection of RIF resistance in infected patients are essential for disease management.

A new balancing three level three dimensional space vector modulation strategy for three level neutral point clamped four leg inverter based shunt active power filter controlling by nonlinear back stepping controllers.

In this paper is proposed a new balancing three-level three dimensional space vector modulation (B3L-3DSVM) strategy which uses a redundant voltage vectors to realize precise control and high-performance for a three phase three-level four-leg neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter based Shunt Active Power Filter (SAPF) for eliminate the source currents harmonics, reduce the magnitude of neutral wire current (eliminate the zero-sequence current produced by single-phase nonlinear loads), and to compensate the reactive power in the three-phase four-wire electrical networks. This strategy is proposed in order to gate switching pulses generation, dc bus voltage capacitors balancing (conserve equal voltage of the two dc bus capacitors), and to switching frequency reduced and fixed of inverter switches in same times. A Nonlinear Back Stepping Controllers (NBSC) are used for regulated the dc bus voltage capacitors and the SAPF injected currents to robustness, stabilizing the system and to improve the response and to eliminate the overshoot and undershoot of traditional PI (Proportional-Integral).

Immunohistochemical examination of cholecystokinin and gastrin receptors (CCK-2/gastrin-R) expression in normal and exocrine cancerous human pancreatic tissues.

Objective: Evaluating tissue samples of normal and exocrine cancerous human pancreas on the expression of CCK2/gastrin receptor. We performed an immunohistochemical protocol that allows efficient detection of this receptor in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded human tissues.

Methods: Twenty (20) paraffin blocks of pancreatic tissue sections were collected from the Departments of pathology, Central University Hospital of Sidi-bel-Abbes City (Western Algeria) for the period 2004-2013; ten (10) of them were normal pancreatic samples; and ten (10) cancerous pancreatic sections.

Prenatal BoBsTM in the cytogenetic analysis of products of spontaneous miscarriage.

Background: Fifty percent of spontaneous miscarriages (SMs) are attributed to chromosomal abnormalities. Cytogenetic analysis is an important tool for patient counselling and assessment of the risk of recurrence in future pregnancies. Conventional karyotyping has been the gold standard for chromosomal investigation of products of conception (POC), but it has limitations due to sample maceration, culture failure and maternal cell contamination.

Assessment of the electrochemical effects of pulsed electric fields in a biological cell suspension.

Electroporation of cells is successfully used in biology, biotechnology and medicine. Practical problems still arise in the electroporation of cells in suspension. For example, the determination of cell electroporation is still a demanding and time-consuming task.

Numerical analysis of the crack growth path in the cement mantle of the reconstructed acetabulum.

In this study, we use the finite element method to analyze the propagation's path of the crack in the orthopedic cement of the total hip replacement. In fact, a small python statement was incorporated with the Abaqus software to do in loop the following operations: extracting the crack propagation direction from the previous study using the maximal circumferential stresses criterion, drawing the new path, meshing and calculating again (stresses and fracture parameters). The loop is broken when the user's desired crack length is reached (number of propagations) or the value of the mode I stress intensity factor is negative.

Determination of layer thickness and optical constants of thin films by using a modified pattern search method.

We propose the use of a pattern search optimization technique in combination with a seed preprocessing procedure to determine the optical constants and thickness of thin films using only the transmittance spectra. The approach is quite flexible, straightforward to implement, and efficient in reaching the best fitting. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the method in extracting optical constants, even when the films are not displaying interference fringes.