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On April 30, 2014, the World Health Organization’s\ud first global report on the presence of antibiotics in\ud waters focused on their negative consequences, which may\ud include the growth of microorganisms with antimicrobial\ud resistance. The b-lactam antibiotic amoxicillin (AMX) is\ud widely used in human and veterinary medicine, and it has\ud been recently detected in sewage treatment plants and\ud effluents. In this paper, the degradation of acidic aqueous\ud solutions of AMX by electro-Fenton process has been\ud studied at constant current. Experiments have been performed\ud in an undivided cell equipped with a carbon-felt\ud cathode and a Pt or boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode. In\ud such systems, the organic molecules are mainly oxidized\ud by hydroxyl radical (•OH) simultaneously formed on the\ud anode surface from water oxidation as well as in the bulk\ud from Fenton’s reaction between Fe2? catalyst and electrogenerated\ud H2O2. The decay and mineralization of AMX\ud was monitored by means of high performance liquid\ud chromatography (HPLC) and TOC measurements. The\ud evolution of the concentration of the final aliphatic\ud carboxylic acids and inorganic ions like ammonium, nitrate\ud and sulfate was assessed by HPLC and ion chromatography,\ud respectively. The effect of the anode material, initial\ud AMX concentration and current density was thoroughly\ud studied. The AMX decay always followed a pseudo-firstorder\ud kinetics using either Pt or BDD, and the apparent rate\ud constant increased with applied current. A quicker mineralization\ud was reached with BDD because of the larger\ud production of active •OH. The absolute rate constant\ud between hydroxyl radical and AMX determined by the\ud competition kinetics method using p-hydroxybenzoic acid\ud as the reference compound was found to be\ud (2.02 ± 0.01) 9 109 M-1 s-1

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness with chronic symptoms and significant impairment in psychosocial functioning, which suggests that it likely has neurodegenerative characteristics. Inflammatory markers such as pro-inflammatory cytokines are well-known etiological contributors for psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia. Although, the role of inflammation in schizophrenia is becoming evident, the number of studies in this area is relatively scarce, especially in Lebanon, and increased procedural thoroughness is needed. Cytokines play a key role in the activation of the immune system and strongly influence neurotransmission. Previous investigation of plasma levels showed dysregulation of interleukin (IL)-12. However, genotypical variations of this interleukin have not been investigated for patients with schizophrenia yet. Thus, in this paper, we aimed to compute and assess IL-12p40 levels in the sera of individuals with schizophrenia from different provinces in Lebanon and compare it to controls. Healthy subjects comprised 60 individuals with a male/female (M/F) ratio of 31/29, whereas patients with schizophrenia consisted of 63 subjects with an M/F ratio of 30/33. The mean age for healthy controls was 30 years, whereas that for patients with schizophrenia was 35 years. A standardized enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique was used to measure the concentration of IL-12p40 in all collected sera ( n = 123). The mean IL-12p40 levels in patients with schizophrenia were significantly higher than in healthy controls ( p = 0.002). Healthy females had a significantly higher concentration of IL-12p40 than healthy males ( p = 0.009). Female patients with schizophrenia had significantly higher concentrations of IL-12p40 than their male counterparts ( p < 0.001), healthy females ( p = 0.018), and healthy males ( p < 0.001), respectively. Male patients with schizophrenia had significantly higher concentrations of IL-12p40 than healthy males ( p = 0.023). The study’s results suggest that IL-12p40 has a putative role as a potential marker in schizophrenia and that its elevation may participate in its pathogenesis. IL-12p40 may be included in a panel to be evaluated in the sera of patients with schizophrenia and an appreciation of its independent function is important for improving our understanding of both protective and pathogenic immune responses. Future research should aim to assess this interleukin and understand its role in other mental illnesses that share a similar etiology to schizophrenia.

MIRC-X is an upgrade of the six-telescope infrared beam combiner at the CHARA telescope array, the world's largest baseline interferometer in the optical/infrared, located at the Mount Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles. The upgraded instrument features an ultra-low noise and fast frame rate infrared camera (SAPHIRA detector) based on e-APD technology. We report the MIRC-X sensitivity upgrade work and first light results in detail focusing on the detector characteristics and software architecture.

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Introduction What makes this case unique are combined features of two rare renal disease processes in one patient within one kidney which are Xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis,and emphysematous pyelonephritis. Case presentation The patient had main general symptoms like fever, chills, fatigue,and right abdominal pain. He had urea = 77, White Blood Cells = 15,46, and urine culture was positive for Klebsiella. He had right total nephrectomy as a therapeutic intervention. Conclusion It is important to note that it could we have two diseases or more in one case related to one systemic organ so, we have to evaluate all possible causes of current status of the patient.