Inconsistency Crisis and Reformative Proposals of Investor-state Arbitration System- Umbrella Clauses Considered

The main purpose of investment treaties is to provide guarantees and protections for the investors in order to maintain the flow of foreign direct investment. As a consequence, when disputed, an adjudicator confronts a dilemma of figuring out the actual intention that the parties consented to. As for umbrella clauses are concerned, an interpreter falls into a loop to attain whether the parties consented to prioritize investor’s interest and elevate any contractual breach to the level of a treaty breach, or to consider the state’s regulatory power. The root could be traced to the interpretation process itself. Human conduct differs from one another even in response to similar incidents. This is attributed to the fact that it is affected by many factors, such as previous experience, culture and traditions that may differ from one another. Likewise, interpretation, a human conduct as such, cannot be predicted even to similar texts. Moreover, even interpreters use the same tools and principles, they may reach contradictory outcomes. This paper argues that the interpretation process will always have its way to conclude different outcomes. However, instituting a centralized court for foreign investment disputes with an appellate body assigned with review of legal merits, composed of tenured, state-appointed judges, alongside with inserting public law concepts in investment adjudication can mitigate the political symptoms of the system and its inconsistent awards

Investigating the Role of the Nucleosome Remodeling Factor INO80 in Development and NURF in Anti-Tumor Immunity

Understanding how an epigenetic regulator such as ATP-dependent chromatin-remodeling complexes modulate processes such as development and/or immune response is essential for our comprehension of cell biology. Deletion of the ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factor INO80 is known to be embryonically lethal, however, the mechanism is not known. To identify roles for INO80 in mouse early development we generated Ino80 KO mice. Ino80 KO ESCs (Embryonic stem cells) were viable when maintained at ground state pluripotency but fail to differentiate in vitro and in vivo. Gene expression analysis of Ino80 KO early embryos by in situ hybridization showed elevated Bmp4 expression and reduced expression of DVE (distal visceral endoderm) markers Cer1, Hex, and Lefty1. BMP4 is a known negative regulator of DVE differentiation in the early embryo. Molecular studies in Ino80 KO ESCs demonstrated that INO80 is bound to the Bmp4 promoter, and regulates its chromatin structure, to suppress the positive regulator SP1 from stimulating its transcription. These results, suggest that INO80 directly regulates the chromatin structure of the Bmp4 promoter with consequences to mouse embryo development. These results are significant because they demonstrate a specific role of INO80 in establishing P-D embryonic axis. NURF (Nucleosome remodeling factor) is another ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complex that is overexpressed in many cancer types including breast cancer. To demonstrate the roles of NURF in breast cancer biology, we knocked-down the NURF essential subunit BPTF (bromodomain PHD finger transcription factor) in mouse breast cancer cell lines. Transplantation of these cell lines into immune-competent mice revealed that BPTF KD enhances NK cell antitumor activity. BPTF KD enhanced NK-92 cytotoxic activity toward BPTF KD cells by NKp30 activation in vitro. NK-92 activity is reduced by the addition of heparin to the culture medium, further indicating the involvement of NKp30 (in human) and NCR1 (in mice) in killing of tumor cells. We found that BPTF controls the abundance of NKp30/NCR1 ligands (heparin sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) by regulation of heparanase expression (endoglycosidase that degrades HSPGs). In addition, BPTF depletion in established mouse breast tumors enhanced anti-tumor immunity, without affecting NK or T cell cytotoxic activity, providing a novel immunotherapy target

Safe city: Introducing a flawless model and implementation guidelines to reduce crime rate and response time

The safe city approach is implemented worldwide and brought up exceptional results in reducing crimes and securing cities. In an effort of providing a secure environment for the residence of a certain city, the law enforcement authorities leave no clear method to achieve that. Various technologies can be used to enhance the performance of certain devices providing a better environment. Existing models that are implemented throughout the world are studied and compared, and then deliberated the best practices in each implantation scenario. The shortcomings experienced in those cases have been minimized, then a flawless model is introduced. The benefits of our model are mainly to reduce the rate of crimes and to decrease the response time of handling crime incidents. The model consists of four main aspects: monitoring, communication, mobility and command and control center. In addition to that, implementing safe city model with all its potential advantages rises some concerns such as citizens\u27 privacy. For that reason, certain guidelines are introduced to assure best implementation of the project. Finally, future recommendations are suggested in what relate to introducing patterns of previous crimes committed which will rise a flag if the similar actions prior to the crime happened

Evaluation of new scoring system predicting the occurrence of deep infection in open fractures patients

Background: Open fractures of long bones incidence is 11.5 per 100,000 person per year. The management of open fractures had been improved by early adequate surgical debridement and various types of fracture fixation. The Gustilo classification is commonly used for treatment decisions and comparison. Although it had a good prediction power for deep infection but the variability among the inter observer was a problem. Yokoyama et al., 2009 he had advised a new scoring system based on three items of HFS-98 to predicting significant deep infections in open upper and lower extremity fractures.Methods: This study was conducted at Emergency Department Suez Canal University Hospital on 233 Patients with open fractures of long bones from April 2014 till November 2015. The patients were classified according to the criteria proposed by Gustilo classification & Yokoyama’s new scoring system. The relationship between the new score three items were investigated by categorical regression multivariate analysis.Results: In this study, we had 233 Patients with open fractures of long bones. Road traffic accidents were the mechanism of injury in (44.6%). Deep infection was positive in 70/233 patients with Gustilo GI. The cut-off point of application of Yokoyama’s new scoring system was 30, Sensitivity; 63.3%, Specificity; 89%, significant P-value <0.001.Conclusions:The cut-off point of the new Yokoyama’s new scoring application in this study was slit different from the reported applicable values before. This revised scoring system was thought to be useful for predicting deep. Further prospective trial is needed for advising new scoring system.

Mapping and evaluating the condition of artificial levees

Artificial levees along alluvial rivers are major components of flood risk mitigation. This is especially true in the case of Hungary, where more than one-third of the country is threatened by floods and protected by an over 2940-km-long levee system. Most of the levees were built in the 19th century. Since then, several natural and anthropogenic processes, such as compaction, erosion, Etc., could contribute to these earth structures' slow but steady deformation. Meanwhile, as construction works were scarcely documented, the structure and composition of artificial levees are not well known. Therefore, the present analysis aimed to use different geophysical techniques to validate their efficiency in mapping structural differences, possible compositional deficiencies, potential defects and sections where elevation decrease and compare the compositional and structural variations of two very different levee sections along a 24 km section of the River Tisza and a 24 km section of the River Maros. Investigations were conducted by real-time kinematic GPS (RTK-GPS), Ground penetrating radar (GPR), Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) and drillings. Onsite data acquisition was complemented with an analysis using a Persistent Scatterer Synthetic Aperture Radar (PSI) to assess general surface deformation. The higher frequency 200 MHz GPR data have shown that levee structures can significantly vary even in a few km on sections with the same construction history. Based on electrical resistivity tomography results with a precise analysis of grain size and their related physical parameters used for monitoring the materials of two different levee sections along the Tisza and Maros rivers, we noticed that the main components of investigated Tisza levee section are medium and fine silts, however, the situation of the investigated Maros levee section shows more variation of different materials which are fine, medium, and coarse silt, moreover, fine, medium, and coarse sand. The investigated section of the Tisza levee showed low resistivity values, indicating the fine-grained materials' conductivity. In contrast, the investigated section of the Maros levee showed high resistivity values, indicating the resistivity nature of higher grain size sediments forming this section, especially noticed on the protected side of the levee. It was possible to capture structural changes and resolving the thin layers by 1 m electrode spacing ERT profile. In turn, at a larger spacing it was possible to get information on the sedimentary base below the levee body. The selected levee section could be assessed in terms of its structure and composition and major units within the levee body and their composition could be resolved by the applied methods. In general, there is a similarity in the materials and their resistivity range which form the core of Tisza and Maros levees, however, the situation on their both sides is not the same. Regarding the analysis of different physical properties of the two levee systems like resistivity, porosity, density, water content, grain size, and saturated hydraulic conductivity, the materials of the Maros levee could be distinguished well and showed more variation when it is compared to the materials of Tisza levee. It means that the physical properties of levee materials are very important, and they are recommended when carrying out further levee investigations. From the physical properties mentioned above, it was found that some of them show a connection with resistivity except hydraulic conductivity parameter that did not show a direct connection, however the latter could exhibit the aquitard nature of Tisza levee materials and the non-aquitard nature of Maros levee materials which illustrates the difference in levee composition in terms of flood risk or flood safety. Based on height measurements, the mean elevation of the levee crown decreased by 8 cm in a 40-year time span. However, elevation decrease could reach up to 30 cm at some locations. Sections affected by structural anomalies, compositional changes, and increased surface subsidence are especially sensitive to floods when measurement results are compared to flood phenomena archives. GPR profiles showed several anomalies, including structural and compositional discontinuities and local features. They were classified into six types regarding to the flood risk; tensile cracks (enables piping, leading to levee breach or mass failure, cracks might close when the levee gets wet), remarkable changes in dielectric permittivity (enables seepage, leading to mass failure), animal burrows (enables piping, leading to levee breach or mass failure), layer deformation (results in height decrease, overtopping), paleo river channel (enables seepage below the levee, leading to water upwelling and the development of sand boils), sudden change in stratification or dipping layers (enables contour line seepage, leading to mass failure). The penetration dept

Outcomes of the Q value-based nomogram in managing pediatric versus adult keratoconus: a prospective interventional study

Background: Keratoconus (KCN) is an ectatic disorder of the cornea characterized by stromal weakness and apical protrusion of the cornea, and is associated with a gradual and painless reduction in visual acuity. KCN in pediatric patients has certain important characteristics, such as a progressive and aggressive nature. We aimed to analyze the visual, refractive, and topographic outcomes of implanting a single 210° arc-length Keraring segment according to a novel, objective, Q value-based nomogram (Q-N) for the treatment of pediatric versus adult KCN. Methods: This prospective, multicenter, non-randomized, open-label trial included 47 eyes of 47 patients who were allocated to one of two groups. The adult group included 33 eyes of patients greater than or equal to 18 years of age, whereas the pediatric group included 14 eyes of patients aged 14 – 17 years. All patients underwent femtosecond laser-assisted implantation of a single 210° arc-length Keraring segment according to the Q-N and were followed up for 6 months. All eyes underwent visual acuity measurement, cycloplegic refraction, and corneal topography at baseline and 6 months after surgery. Results: The study groups were comparable in terms of sex proportions and KCN grades (both P > 0.05). The adult group exhibited significant postoperative improvements in mean uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), sphere, cylinder, spherical equivalent (SE), and Kmax (all P < 0.001) with a mean change of -0.56 logarithm of the minimal angle of resolution (logMAR), - 0.40 logMAR, 3.07 diopters (D), 0.70 D, 3.42 D, and - 5.26 D, respectively. The pediatric group exhibited significant postoperative improvements in mean UDVA, CDVA, sphere, SE, and Kmax (all P < 0.05) with a mean change of - 0.62 logMAR, - 0.34 logMAR, 3.18 D, 3.67 D, and - 5.37 D, respectively. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of the mean change in visual, refractive, and topographic variables (all P > 0.05). No postoperative complications were observed in either group. Conclusions: Use of the objective Q-N was efficient in the treatment of pediatric KCN, with postoperative improvements in the mean visual, refractive, and topographic parameters, comparable to outcomes in adult keratoconus. Q-N achieved good corneal remodeling with subsequent improvements in visual, refractive, and topographic outcomes in both adult and pediatric patients with keratoconus. To verify our preliminary findings, we recommend further multicenter randomized clinical trials using the Q-N nomogram in a larger sample of pediatric patients with KCN as an adjunct treatment before or after CXL

Different Methods to Decrease Seroma Formation Post Hernioplasty of Ventral Hernias

Background: Wounds can become infected associated with serous collection in the wound dead space in a condition known as seroma. After abdominal wall hernias correction, a variety of treatments have been tried to decrease seroma formation. Objective: To assess the rule of different modalities used in prevention of seroma formation post abdominal wall hernias repair. Patients and Methods: At Zagazig University Faculty of Medicine's General Surgery Department we carried out a clinical trial investigation. Transverse incisions and suction drains have been inserted in all patients undergoing hernioplasty and onlay mesh repair. The patients were divided into 4 groups: Group A: Classic hernioplasty for ventral hernia. Group B: Applying of histoacryl intraoperative after onlay mesh fixation. Group C: Applying of fibrin glue intraoperative after onlay mesh fixation. Group D: block closure of dead space after onlay mesh fixation. The patients were followed up in inpatients wards for 24 hours then discharged to continue their care and follow up in outpatient clinic at 1, 2, and 4 weeks. Results: When it came to the reduction of seroma production or other postoperative outcomes, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups. Conclusion: Fluid buildup can be avoided with the use of sclerotherapy, a minimally-invasive procedure that eliminates empty space. Chemical agents, tetracyclines, and talc were used satisfactorily with minimal complication rates

Two loop electroweak corrections to Bˉ→Xsγ\bar B\rightarrow X_s\gamma and Bs0→μ+μ−B_s^0\rightarrow \mu^+\mu^- in the B-LSSM

The rare decays $\bar B\rightarrow X_s\gamma$ and $B_s^0\rightarrow \mu^+\mu^-$ are important to research new physics beyond standard model. In this work, we investigate two loop electroweak corrections to $\bar B\rightarrow X_s\gamma$ and $B_s^0\rightarrow \mu^+\mu^-$ in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the SM with local $B-L$ gauge symmetry (B-LSSM), under a minimal flavor violating assumption for the soft breaking terms. In this framework, new particles and new definition of squarks can affect the theoretical predictions of these two processes, with respect to the MSSM. Considering the constraints from updated experimental data, the numerical results show that the B-LSSM can fit the experimental data for the branching ratios of $\bar B\rightarrow X_s\gamma$ and $B_s^0\rightarrow \mu^+\mu^-$. The results of the rare decays also further constrain the parameter space of the B-LSSM.Comment: 33 pages, 9 figures, Published in EPJ

Acetylcholinesterase inhibition, antioxidant and identification of some chemical constituents of Phyllanthus atropurpureus cultivated in Egypt

Investigation of the lipid constituents of the aerial parts of Phyllanthus atropurpureus resulted in isolation and identification of the fatty acid mixture which consists of eight acids with linolenic acid as major and the unsaponifiable fraction that contain a series of hydrocabons, sterols, in addition to one triterpene (α-amyrin). The acetone insoluble fraction was found to contain two fatty alcohols and three n-hydrocabons in which the n-eicosane is the most abundant (44.16%). The flavonoidal constituents were isolated from ethyl acetate and butanol fractions which were identified as: luteolin-7-O-glucoside, kaempferol 3-O-(p-coumaroylglucoside), kaempferitrin, luteolin and kaempferol. Evaluation of different extracts as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChI), established the chloroform fraction as a promising inhibitor of the enzyme. The antioxidant testing with DPPH radical revealed the potential of precipitate from MeOH extract as a radical scavenger

Elective Division Versus Preservation of The Ilioinguinal Nerve to Reduce Postoperative Pain in Hernioplasty for Inguinal Hernia

Background: Lichtenstein tension-free mesh hernioplasty is the gold standard and the method of choice for the repair of inguinal hernia in developed countries. Chronic post-operative inguinal pain (CPIP), which is defined as pain lasting at least 2–3 months after surgery, is a major problem that affects about 8-16 % of inguinal hernia patients and affects their daily lives. Pain can be caused by perioperative injury to nerves or nerves that are being trapped and impaired by sutures or perforated by fixation devices such as tacks. Ilioinguinal nerve trauma throughout dissection, inflammation or fibrosis, and nerve entrapment by the mesh have all been involved in the pathogenesis of inguinodynia. Objective: To evaluate the effect of ilioinguinal neurectomy versus nerve preservation on the incidence and severity of chronic groin pain following Lichtenstein tension-free mesh hernioplasty for inguinal hernia. Patients and Methods: This prospective study was conducted on 100 patients with inguinal hernias who underwent Lichtenstein tension-free mesh hernioplasty. They were divided randomly into 2 equal groups; ilioinguinal neurectomy group (A) and nerve preservation group (B). There was no significant difference in patients of both groups regarding age, type of the hernia, precipitating factors, or type of anesthesia. Follow-up of postoperative groin pain was done at1st and 7th POD and after 1, 3, and 6 months during rest as well as after minor exercises using NRS. Results: The Incidence of postoperative groin pain was significantly lower in the neurectomy group than the preservation group in all follow-up periods. Conclusion: Resection of ilioinguinal nerve during inguinal hernia repair reduces significantly the incidence of postoperative chronic pain