7,383 research outputs found
Supplemental Material - Crosstalk between miR-146a and pro-inflammatory cytokines in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus
No full textSupplemental Material for Crosstalk between miR-146a and pro-inflammatory cytokines in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus by Basima A El-Akhras, Roba M Talaat, Samir A El-Masry, Iman H Bassyouni, Ibrahim H El-Sayed and Yasser BM Ali in International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology</p
Structural adjustment in Egypt : the case of agriculture
No full textThis thesis assesses the appropriateness and effectiveness of the economic reform and structural adjustment programme adopted by Egypt in 1991. It also examines the main political and economic constraints of such policies. It argues that it is unlikely to provide sustainable or equitable growth. It also argues that privatisation
programmes in Egypt have a limited effect on improving levels of investment and growth. It stresses the need to encourage new investment to increase the productive
capacity of the Egyptian economy in order to generate sustainable growth. The thesis examines in particular, economic reforms in the agricultural sector. It focuses
on assessing price reforms so as to enquire how evenly distributed the benefits have been among farmers with different sizes of land holding. Those with big farms are
likely to gain more while very small farmers and the landless are likely to lose. Within agriculture the thesis assesses the impact of structural adjustment on Egypt's
agribusiness community. This sector is economically fragmented, has limited effectiveness and is politically weak regarding its participation and its influence on
economic policy. The thesis argues that the success Df this sector is based on the availability of a strong and effective state to provide the legal and regulatory.
infrastructure needed for an effective market economy, to abolish administrative obstacles and to enhance investors' credibility. In short, the thesis maintains that sustaining the economic reform is based on reviving productive investments and enhancing state capacity and democratisation
Conservation in an Islamic context a case study of Makkah
No full textThe Holy Qu’ rān contains many injunctions for Muslims to respect and conserve the natural environment but few address the built environment. Habitat at the time of the Prophet (PBOH) was in the vernacular and relatively impermanent. The first habitat was the cave, the second the tent and then simple flat roofed buildings of post and lintel construction made of mud and rubble. Later buildings were not indigenous but reflected the architectural styles and techniques of Muslim pilgrims from beyond the Arabian Peninsula. Permanent exotic buildings were later erected as reminders of holy places and events. This work advances a case to restore and preserve historic and religious sites in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Makkah is the destination for millions of Muslim pilgrims who annually pay homage to Allah during the occasions of Hajj, Ramadan and Umra. The tranquillity and peaceful ambience that one associates with the holiest of Islamic experiences have, over the years, given way to jostling crowds of people who must be expediently housed, fed, transported, and protected. Due to the lack of planning and the insensitive but profitable development of the city, Makkah is in grave danger of becoming a bustling metropolis instead of a sanctuary where pilgrims gather to perform their religious rites and reaffirm their dedication to Allah. The author calls for professional planning and international cooperation to guide future development for this expanding and sensitive area. The author's ideas are grounded in practical and aesthetic study, therefore, the political, environmental and economic issues are examined in relationship to religious, historic and artistic values. The author makes proposals for a future Makkah that would provide pilgrims with the physical comforts, security, and serene environment they deserve—without destroying the city they came to visit. The author discusses preservation and conservation in the western world and the need for their acceptance in Muslim countries, the former being an aesthetic and intellectual concept sustained by law and the latter being the prescribed free expression of the individual unhindered by material considerations. Both worlds are rapidly being overwhelmed by materialism, but body, mind and spirit combine in making us aware of our surroundings and the way in what we see around us has come into being
External interventions and the duration of civil wars
No full textThe authors combine an empirical model of external intervention, with a theoretical model of civil war duration. Their empirical model of intervention allows them to analyze civil war duration, using"expected"rather than"actual"external intervention as an explanatory variable in the duration model. Unlike previous studies, they find that external intervention is positively associated with the duration of civil war. They distinguish partial third-party interventions that extend the length of war, from multilateral"peace"operations, which have a mandate to restore peace without taking sides - and which typically take place at war's end, or at least when both sides have agreed to a cease-fire. In a future paper, the authors will examine whether partial third-party interventions - whatever their effect on a war's duration - increase the risk of war's recurrence. If that proves true, then even if interventions reduce the length of civil war, they may do so at the cost of further destabilizing the political system, and sowing the seeds of future rebellion.Children and Youth,Peace&Peacekeeping,Post Conflict Reconstruction,Post Conflict Reconstruction,International Affairs,Post Conflict Reconstruction,Social Conflict and Violence,Peace&Peacekeeping,Post Conflict Reconstruction,International Affairs
Aortic remodeling kinetics in response to coarctation-induced mechanical perturbations
No full textBackground: Coarctation of the aorta (CoA; constriction of the proximal descending thoracic aorta) is among the most common congenital cardiovascular defects. Coarctation-induced mechanical perturbations trigger a cycle of mechano-transduction events leading to irreversible precursors of hypertension including arterial thickening, stiffening, and vasoactive dysfunction in proximal conduit arteries. This study sought to identify kinetics of the stress-mediated compensatory response leading to these alterations using a preclinical rabbit model of CoA. Methods: A prior growth and remodeling (G & R) framework was reformulated and fit to empirical measurements from CoA rabbits classified into one control and nine CoA groups of various severities and durations (n = 63, 5-11/group). Empirical measurements included Doppler ultrasound imaging, uniaxial extension testing, catheter-based blood pressure, and wire myography, yielding the time evolution of arterial thickening, stiffening, and vasoactive dysfunction required to fit G & R constitutive parameters. Results: Excellent agreement was observed between model predictions and observed patterns of arterial thickening, stiffening, and dysfunction among all CoA groups. For example, predicted vascular impairment was not significantly different from empirical observations via wire myography (p-value > 0.13). Specifically, 48% and 45% impairment was observed in smooth muscle contraction and endothelial-dependent relaxation, respectively, which were accurately predicted using the G & R model. Conclusions: The resulting G & R model, for the first time, allows for prediction of hypertension precursors at neonatal ages that is currently challenging to examine in preclinical models. These findings provide a validated computational tool for prediction of persistent arterial dysfunction and identification of revised severity-duration thresholds that may ultimately avoid hypertension from CoA
Synthesis of <i>N</i>-alkyl-3-[2-oxoquinolin-1(2<i>H</i>)-yl]propanoic acid derivatives and related compounds: cytotoxicity and EGFR inhibition of some propanamide derivatives
No full textA series of 20 new structure-modified quinolin-2-one derivatives were prepared for biological evaluation. This was successfully achieved based on chemoselective reactions of heterocyclic amides with acrylic acid derivatives, which gave 3-[2-oxoquinolin-1-(2H)-yl] propanoic acid derivatives (N-substitution via a unique behavior). The ester was reacted with hydrazine to afford the corresponding hydrazide. Both the corresponding ester and hydrazide were used as building blocks to modify the quinolone structure and give N-hydroxyl propanamides, oxadiazoles, and thiosemicarbazides. The corresponding carboxylic acid and hydrazide were used to prepare several amides: N-alkyl-3-[2-oxoquinolin-1(2H)-yl]propanamides via azide and dicyclohexyl carbodiimide coupling methods. Among derivatives, compound 9e exhibited potent cytotoxicity against MCF-7 cells with an IC50 value of 1.32 μM compared to doxorubicin with an IC50 value of 1.21 μM. Additionally, it caused potent EGFR inhibition by 97% with an IC50 value of 16.89 nM compared to Erlotinib with an IC50 value of 29.8 nM. Finally, the binding mode of compound interactions toward EGFR was highlighted using a molecular docking study; compound 9e exhibited good binding affinity with a binding energy of −17.89 kcal/mol, and it formed H-bond interactions with Met 769 as the key amino acid of interaction. Accordingly, compound 9e may be developed as an EGFR-oriented chemotherapeutic antibreast cancer agent.</p
Evaluating the joint implementation of congestion pricing and driver information systems
No full textThesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-159).by Ibrahim Mahmoud El Sanhouri.Ph.D
The water resources structures on the Syrian and Egyptian pilgrim routes to Makka and Medinah
No full textAI-Hajj in Arabic means the pilgrimage to MAKKA. This was
an ancient rite which was recognised a long time before the
rise of Islam. According to the holy Quran and Islamic
tradi tion, AI-Haj j goes back to the time of the prophet
Ibrahim. Thus MAKKA was a focus for worship but it was also
a commercial centre and a way station/stopping place on the
ancient trade caravan road between south western -Arabia and
Bilad AI-Sham,' now Syria. In part the inhabitants of MAKKA
practised this trade because their environment was not
suitable for other alternative economic activities.
The importance of MAKKA, as a ritual place increased after
the rise of Islam because it became Qibla-Kiblah -
the direction to which muslims turn in praying towards AIKa'aba.
Yathrib - later to become Medinah - is the second holy city.
In fact it was not a ritual place, but like MAKKA it was a
stopping place on the ancient trade caravan road. The
inhabitants of Medinah practised agriculture because their
environment was more suitable than that at MAKKA; water was
available and the land was fertile so that in addition to
trade, they also practised agriculture.
The importance of Medinah as a holy place only developed
after AI-Hijra - the immigration of the prophet Mohammad,
peace be upon him, to it and his establishing of Islam at
that site. Medinah became the capital of the Islamic state
both religiously and politically. Islam then spread from
Medinah over the Arabian Peninsular to the world beyond.
The consequence of the conquest of Iraq, Bilad AI-Sham,
Egypt, the north coast of Africa and Persia was that the
majority of the population of these countries accepted and
adopted Islam as their religious faith. As a result of this
the populations of these countries came annually to make AlHajj and in doing so developed several additional pilgrim
caravan routes. However, it is the Syrian and Egyptian
pilgrim routes - Tareeq AI-Hajj AI-Shami and Wal Masri which
are the objects of this work. In both these cases the
pilgrim caravan routes were previously ancient trade caravan
routes which travelled through Arabia, particularly through
the western province of Al Hijaz.
The geographical location of Arabia, the cross roads of
three continents, Asia, Africa, and Europe, made important
the pre-Islamic routes which ran through it. Of course the
function of this network at that time was commercial but
after the rise of Islam the function of this network of
routes became to transport the pilgrims. The geological and
topographical features, as well as climatic conditions, in
Arabia played a great role in determining the ancient routes
in Arabia. The availability of water was a very important
consideration on these routes and was influenced by
environmental conditions. Since the rainfall is
insufficient, the resulting absence or shortage of water on
the pilgrim caravan routes made the caliphs pay great
concern to providing the pilgrim routes with the most
essential facilities, particularly water supplies and
storage. Ever since the earliest Islamic times, they
provided for the travellers Al birak, water tanks; Ahwadh cisterns; Qanawat - channels; and abyar - wells, in order to
make AI-Hajj journey more comfortable. The pilgrim caravans
in general, and the Syrian and Egyptian pilgrim caravan
routes in particular, passed through several stages of
development since their origin in early Islamic times and
these evolutionary stages can be seen until the beginning of
this century. Because the object of this thesis is to
document the remains of the water resource structures, an
extensive survey and investigation has been completed on the
Syrian and Egyptian pilgrim caravan routes. The field work
has been conducted in Saudi Arabia, particularly in the
north western region where the Syrian and Egyptian pilgrim
routes cross the country. The field work mainly aimed at
ascertaining the location of all the way stations and their
names and surveying each station in order to record the
surviving remains of water resource structures. The field
work covered a large area of about 8, OOOkm transect and
extended from MACCA in the south through Medinah to the
North as far as Halat I Ammar on the north at the border
between Saudi Arabia and Jordan. From N.W. to S .Wit
stretched from Haql on the Gulf of AI-' Aqaba as far as
MAKKA. These routes consist of the major, or principal
caravan routes as well as a number of traverse routes which
allow travellers a choice of transit as well as connecting
routes. There are large way stations as well as small minor
way stations. As part of this dissertation, almost all the
stopping places have been identified and documented by mapping and photography
Major manpower problems in Jordan - by Frieda Ibrahim H. el-Hasan
No full textThesis (M.A.)--Dept. of Political Studies and Public Administration, A.U.B.Bibliography: leaves 140-154
Novel catalyst-free synthesis of some 3-alkylaminoquinoxaline-2(1H)-thiones and 3-alkyloxyquinoxaline-2(1H)-thiones in ethanol
No full textSeventeen 3-alkylaminoquinoxaline-2(1H)-thiones and 3-alkyloxyquinoxaline-2(1H)-thiones were prepared by a novel thionation protocol from the readily available quinoxaline-2,3-dione in excellent overall yields. This protocol starts with the chlorination of dione using thionyl chloride to give 2,3-dichloroquinoxaline followed by the reaction with equimolar amounts of N-nucleophiles (primary amines and secondary amines) or O-nucleophiles (phenols and alcohols) to principally afford 2-alkanamino-3-chloroquinoxalines or 2-alkyloxy-3-chloroquinoxalines, respectively. The chloroquinoxalines reacted with the thionation reagent N-cyclohexyl dithiocarbamate cyclohexyl ammonium salt in ethanol under reflux to principally give the corresponding quinoxalin-2-yl cyclohexylcarbamodithioate that finally rearranges in situ to give the corresponding thiones in 76-93% overall yields. Our novel catalyst-free synthesis of some 3-alkylaminoquinoxaline-2(1H)-thiones and 3-alkyloxyquinoxaline-2(1H)-thiones in ethanol protocol has many advantages compared with traditional methods: excellent yields, one-pot reaction, simple experimental procedure, and commercial availability of the required reagents. In addition, this method could be generalized to involve a wide range of amines, phenols, and alcohols, and also during the reaction, we did not notice a bad odor. The structures of synthesized compounds are elucidated via different methods such as 1H NMR, 13C NMR, elemental analysis, and MS.</p
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