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  1. Article ; Online: The ongoing battle against COVID-19

    Qurratulain Hyder / Khawaja Husnain Haider

    Iberoamerican Journal of Medicine 2(4) 360-366

    2020  

    Abstract: After spillover from Wuhan (China) in December, 2019, SARS-CoV-2 related respiratory disease (COVID-19) has rapidly affected all countries. The pandemic has posed a serious threat to world health resources. At present, there is no recommended treatment ... ...

    Abstract After spillover from Wuhan (China) in December, 2019, SARS-CoV-2 related respiratory disease (COVID-19) has rapidly affected all countries. The pandemic has posed a serious threat to world health resources. At present, there is no recommended treatment or vaccine for SARS-CoV-2. However, various drug combinations are under trial. Reversion to general principles of prevention is the preferred strategy under such circumstances. We discuss the importance of wearing a face mask and present a cost-effective approach for long-term management of COVID-19.
    Keywords COVID-19 ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Face mask ; Pandemic ; Protection ; covid19
    Language English
    Publishing date 2020-08-16
    Publishing country eu
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  2. Article ; Online: Mircrining the injured heart with stem cell-derived exosomes

    Khawaja Husnain Haider / Beatrice Aramini

    Stem Cell Research & Therapy, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-

    an emerging strategy of cell-free therapy

    2020  Volume 12

    Abstract: Abstract Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have successfully progressed to phase III clinical trials successive to an intensive in vitro and pre-clinical assessment in experimental animal models of ischemic myocardial injury. With scanty ... ...

    Abstract Abstract Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have successfully progressed to phase III clinical trials successive to an intensive in vitro and pre-clinical assessment in experimental animal models of ischemic myocardial injury. With scanty evidence regarding their cardiogenic differentiation in the recipient patients’ hearts post-engraftment, paracrine secretion of bioactive molecules is being accepted as the most probable underlying mechanism to interpret the beneficial effects of cell therapy. Secretion of small non-coding microRNA (miR) constitutes an integral part of the paracrine activity of stem cells, and there is emerging interest in miRs’ delivery to the heart as part of cell-free therapy to exploit their integral role in various cellular processes. MSCs also release membrane vesicles of diverse sizes loaded with a wide array of miRs as part of their paracrine secretions primarily for intercellular communication and to shuttle genetic material. Exosomes can also be loaded with miRs of interest for delivery to the organs of interest including the heart, and hence, exosome-based cell-free therapy is being assessed for cell-free therapy as an alternative to cell-based therapy. This review of literature provides an update on cell-free therapy with primary focus on exosomes derived from BM-derived MSCs for myocardial repair.
    Keywords Bone marrow ; Exosomes ; Mesenchymal ; Microvesicles ; MSCs ; myocardial ; paracrine ; Medicine (General) ; R5-920 ; Biochemistry ; QD415-436
    Subject code 610
    Language English
    Publishing date 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher BMC
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  3. Article ; Online: The ongoing battle against COVID-19

    Qurratulain Hyder / Khawaja Husnain Haider

    Iberoamerican Journal of Medicine, Vol 2, Iss 4, Pp 360-

    2020  Volume 366

    Abstract: After spillover from Wuhan (China) in December, 2019, SARS-CoV-2 related respiratory disease (COVID-19) has rapidly affected all countries. The pandemic has posed a serious threat to world health resources. At present, there is no recommended treatment ... ...

    Abstract After spillover from Wuhan (China) in December, 2019, SARS-CoV-2 related respiratory disease (COVID-19) has rapidly affected all countries. The pandemic has posed a serious threat to world health resources. At present, there is no recommended treatment or vaccine for SARS-CoV-2. However, various drug combinations are under trial. Reversion to general principles of prevention is the preferred strategy under such circumstances. We discuss the importance of wearing a face mask and present a cost-effective approach for long-term management of COVID-19.
    Keywords covid-19 ; sars-cov-2 ; face mask ; pandemic ; protection ; Medicine (General) ; R5-920
    Language English
    Publishing date 2020-08-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher Emergency Department of Hospital San Pedro (Logroño, Spain)
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  4. Article ; Online: Risk Factors Impacting the Project Value Created by Green Buildings in Saudi Arabia

    Wael Alattyih / Husnain Haider / Halim Boussabaine

    Applied Sciences, Vol 10, Iss 7388, p

    2020  Volume 7388

    Abstract: Green buildings are playing a pivotal role in sustainable urban development around the world, including Saudi Arabia. Green buildings subject to various sources of risk that influence the potential outcomes of the investments or services added in their ... ...

    Abstract Green buildings are playing a pivotal role in sustainable urban development around the world, including Saudi Arabia. Green buildings subject to various sources of risk that influence the potential outcomes of the investments or services added in their design. The present study developed a structured framework to examine various risks that may lead to green buildings’ value destruction in Saudi Arabia. The framework initiates with identification of 66 potential risk factors from reported literature. A questionnaire compiling a list of identified risk factors was hand-delivered to 300 practitioners (managers, engineers, and architects) having knowledge of value engineering in the construction industry, and an overall response rate of 29.7% was achieved. Subsequently, descriptive statistics ranked the risk factors based on scores given by the respondents. The principal component analysis extracted 16 components, based on the likelihood of risk factors impacting the value created by green building design. Finally, the factor analysis grouped the 35 most significant risk factors in 5 clusters—i.e., 8 in functional risk, 13 in financial risk, 3 in operational risk, 3 in environmental risk, and 8 in management risk cluster. The study enhances the understanding of the importance of the risk factors’ impact on value creation. Based on the results, the value management (or engineering) teams and the top-level management can identify, manage, and control the risk factors that have a significant impact on the project value created by green building design.
    Keywords risk factors ; value creation ; value engineering ; green building ; construction ; project management ; Technology ; T ; Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) ; TA1-2040 ; Biology (General) ; QH301-705.5 ; Physics ; QC1-999 ; Chemistry ; QD1-999
    Subject code 690 ; 332
    Language English
    Publishing date 2020-10-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher MDPI AG
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  5. Article ; Online: Water–Energy–Carbon Nexus Analysis for Water Supply Systems with Brackish Groundwater Sources in Arid Regions

    Mohammad T. Alresheedi / Husnain Haider / Md. Shafiquzzaman / Saleem S. AlSaleem / Majed Alinizzi

    Sustainability, Vol 14, Iss 5106, p

    2022  Volume 5106

    Abstract: Limited knowledge on the water–energy–carbon nexus of water supply systems (WSSs) with brackish groundwater sources in arid regions exists to date. In addition, the large amount of fossil-fuel energy utilized by treatment processes generating a ... ...

    Abstract Limited knowledge on the water–energy–carbon nexus of water supply systems (WSSs) with brackish groundwater sources in arid regions exists to date. In addition, the large amount of fossil-fuel energy utilized by treatment processes generating a significant amount of carbon emissions remains a challenge for the municipalities in Saudi Arabia to meet long-term sustainability goals. To achieve Saudi Arabia Vision 2030’s target of sustainable cities with reduced CO 2 emissions, the present study aimed to analyse the water–energy–carbon nexus for WSSs and propose mitigation measures for reducing energy and carbon footprints from both the water management and treatment technologies perspectives. The detailed energy consumption data for three main components (source extraction, water treatment, and conveyance and distribution) of the main WSS, serving the 600,000 population of Buraydah City (Qassim, Saudi Arabia), was obtained from the concerned municipality. The city water treatment plant removes naturally occurring iron, TDS, and radionuclides in the source water with the help of ion detention, oxidation, sand filtration, ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, chlorination, and backwash water management. The study found that the treatment facility consumes around half of the total system’s energy (131,122 kWh/day); while, with deep confined aquifer (>600 m) and an average water loss of 8%, conveyance and distribution (34%) and source extraction (18%) are consistent with the reported literature. With oil-driven energy, carbon emissions were found to be 10.26, 27.18, and 19.72 million tons CO 2 eq/year for source extraction, water treatment, and conveyance and distribution, respectively. The reverse osmosis process, with higher energy consumption—1.1 kWh/m 3 of treated water—than the global average, consumes most (88%) of the treatment plant’s energy and thus needs effective energy management practices. Moving to renewable (solar and wind-driven) sources, subject to a detailed life cycle analysis, can achieve significant ...
    Keywords water–energy–carbon nexus ; water supply ; drinking water treatment ; energy consumption ; carbon emissions ; carbon footprint ; Environmental effects of industries and plants ; TD194-195 ; Renewable energy sources ; TJ807-830 ; Environmental sciences ; GE1-350
    Subject code 690
    Language English
    Publishing date 2022-04-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher MDPI AG
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  6. Article ; Online: Severity Prediction of Highway Crashes in Saudi Arabia Using Machine Learning Techniques

    Ibrahim Aldhari / Meshal Almoshaogeh / Arshad Jamal / Fawaz Alharbi / Majed Alinizzi / Husnain Haider

    Applied Sciences, Vol 13, Iss 1, p

    2022  Volume 233

    Abstract: Kingdom of Among the G20 countries, Saudi Arabia (KSA) is facing alarming traffic safety issues compared to other G-20 countries. Mitigating the burden of traffic accidents has been identified as a primary focus as part of vision 20230 goals. Driver ... ...

    Abstract Kingdom of Among the G20 countries, Saudi Arabia (KSA) is facing alarming traffic safety issues compared to other G-20 countries. Mitigating the burden of traffic accidents has been identified as a primary focus as part of vision 20230 goals. Driver distraction is the primary cause of increased severity traffic accidents in KSA. In this study, three different machine learning-based severity prediction models were developed and implemented for accident data from the Qassim Province, KSA. Traffic accident data for January 2017 to December 2019 assessment period were obtained from the Ministry of Transport and Logistics Services. Three classifiers, two of which are ensemble machine learning methods, namely random forest, XGBoost, and logistic regression, were used for crash injury severity classification. A resampling technique was used to deal with the problem of bias due to data imbalance issue. SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis interpreted and ranked the factors contributing to crash injury. Two forms of modeling were adopted: multi and binary classification. Among the three models, XGBoost achieved the highest classification accuracy (71%), precision (70%), recall (71%), F1-scores (70%), and area curve (AUC) (0.87) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve when used for multi-category classifications. While adopting the target as a binary classification, XGBoost again outperformed the other classifiers with an accuracy of 94% and an AUC of 0.98. The SHAP results from both global and local interpretations illustrated that the accidents classified under property damage only were primarily categorized by their consequences and the number of vehicles involved. The type of road and lighting conditions were among the other influential factors affecting injury s severity outcome. The death class was classified with respect to temporal parameters, including month and day of the week, as well as road type. Assessing the factors associated with the severe injuries caused by road traffic accidents will ...
    Keywords traffic safety ; severity prediction ; machine learning ; SHapley Additive exPlanations ; SHAP ; XGBoost ; Technology ; T ; Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) ; TA1-2040 ; Biology (General) ; QH301-705.5 ; Physics ; QC1-999 ; Chemistry ; QD1-999
    Subject code 380
    Language English
    Publishing date 2022-12-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher MDPI AG
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  7. Article ; Online: Inter-University Sustainability Benchmarking for Canadian Higher Education Institutions

    Abdulaziz Alghamdi / Husnain Haider / Kasun Hewage / Rehan Sadiq

    Sustainability, Vol 11, Iss 9, p

    Water, Energy, and Carbon Flows for Technical-Level Decision-Making

    2019  Volume 2599

    Abstract: The education sector is one of the major contributors to the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada, i.e., 16% of total emissions among 11 sectors. Canadian higher education institutions (HEIs) consume around 60% of the total energy fed to the ... ...

    Abstract The education sector is one of the major contributors to the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada, i.e., 16% of total emissions among 11 sectors. Canadian higher education institutions (HEIs) consume around 60% of the total energy fed to the educational sector. Existing tools holistically cover a wide array of functions to assess the sustainability of HEIs. The infrastructure (engineered) systems are the pivotal units responsible for the majority of energy and water consumption and may have been built, retrofitted, or replaced at different times using different materials and technologies. Consequently, infrastructures have varying efficiency, designs, building envelopes, and environmental impacts. For technical-level decision making for improving the engineered systems, HEIs need to be benchmarked on the basis of their water, energy, and carbon flows. A methodology is developed for sustainability assessment of 34 Canadian HEIs that are classified into small, medium, and large sizes based on their number of full-time equivalent students (FTE). Energy, water consumption, number of students, and floor area is measured in different units and are, thus, normalized. The study revealed that the energy source was the primary factor affecting the sustainability performance of an institution. The analysis also revealed that small-sized institutions outperformed medium-to-large-sized institutions.
    Keywords higher education institutions ; sustainability assessment ; benchmarking ; energy flow ; carbon flow ; sustainable development ; Environmental effects of industries and plants ; TD194-195 ; Renewable energy sources ; TJ807-830 ; Environmental sciences ; GE1-350
    Subject code 690
    Language English
    Publishing date 2019-05-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher MDPI AG
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  8. Article ; Online: Development of Value Creation Drivers for Sustainable Design of Green Buildings in Saudi Arabia

    Wael Alattyih / Husnain Haider / Halim Boussabaine

    Sustainability, Vol 11, Iss 20, p

    2019  Volume 5867

    Abstract: The sustainability of green buildings has been widely recognized around the world in the recent past. Evaluating the investment on such buildings, with higher complexity than the conventional buildings, involves multiple and diverse stakeholders, such as ...

    Abstract The sustainability of green buildings has been widely recognized around the world in the recent past. Evaluating the investment on such buildings, with higher complexity than the conventional buildings, involves multiple and diverse stakeholders, such as consultants, contractors, general public, governmental institutions, etc. The selection of useful value creation drivers is a difficult task while accommodating the opinion of a group of stakeholders with varying perceptions and experiences regarding the value creation in green building design and the associated costs. In this research, a framework is proposed to develop a set of the most important value creation drivers (VCDs) for green buildings. Five primary VCDs were developed to cover the financial, functional, operational, environmental, and management aspects of a green building. Ninety-eight (98) performance value drivers (PVDs) were identified through the literature for assessing the performance of these value creation drivers. The identified PVDs were evaluated through a hand-delivered questionnaire survey, followed by detailed statistical analysis of the collected data while using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel software. Factor analyses were performed to eliminate the PVDs with least importance based on the responses obtained from 89 experienced managers (45%), engineers (38%), and architects (17%) working in the field of value management of construction industry in Saudi Arabia. Finally, 51 most important PVDs were grouped into two clusters for each value creation driver; for instance, control and planning clusters to assess the performance of management’s VCD. The final outcome of the research in the form of five top level VCDs, 10 clusters, and 51 PVDs will facilitate the designers for enhancing the performance efficiency and value from investment for green buildings in Saudi Arabia, Gulf, and elsewhere.
    Keywords value drivers ; value engineering ; green buildings ; construction ; sustainable buildings ; project management ; Environmental effects of industries and plants ; TD194-195 ; Renewable energy sources ; TJ807-830 ; Environmental sciences ; GE1-350
    Subject code 690
    Language English
    Publishing date 2019-10-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher MDPI AG
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  9. Article ; Online: Sustainable Design of Diverging Diamond Interchange

    Meshal Almoshaogeh / Hatem Abou-Senna / Essam Radwan / Husnain Haider

    Sustainability, Vol 12, Iss 5840, p

    Development of Warrants for Improving Operational Performance

    2020  Volume 5840

    Abstract: Conventional diamond interchanges are facing ever-growing challenges related to traffic operations and safety risks due to increasing traffic volumes and worsening congestions. The agencies are well aware of the high socioeconomic (e.g., user delay cost, ...

    Abstract Conventional diamond interchanges are facing ever-growing challenges related to traffic operations and safety risks due to increasing traffic volumes and worsening congestions. The agencies are well aware of the high socioeconomic (e.g., user delay cost, fuel cost, and high accident rates) and environmental losses (traffic emissions due to vehicles queuing) associated with the conventional interchange design. This paper provides insight into the different factors that affect the sustainability performance (operational and safety) of a conventional interchange through its redesign into the Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) with the increased left-turn demand. It also assesses the need to redesign an interchange to improve the efficiency. Two interchanges that have DDI designs were selected for investigations, and the required data were collected from the relevant agency. The average delay and the capacity were used as the Measures of Effectiveness (MOEs) for data analysis. Numerous factors, that affected these MOEs, were used to design an experiment. This experiment included different levels of volumes, geometric designs, and signal plans. The micro-simulation software (VISSIM 8.0) was employed to calibrate and validate the existing conditions through several steps, including signal optimization and driving behavior parameter optimization. The analysis of the results detected the key thresholds of switching from the conventional design to the innovative design under 90 different scenarios. Finally, the sustainability evaluation of DDI and Conventional Design Interchange was conducted based on their operation and safety performance comparison. The results and findings of this research will act as a guideline for decision-makers regarding when they should consider switching from the conventional interchange design to an innovative design.
    Keywords traffic operation ; traffic safety ; sustainable interchange design ; traffic micro-simulation ; innovative design ; diverging diamond interchange ; Environmental effects of industries and plants ; TD194-195 ; Renewable energy sources ; TJ807-830 ; Environmental sciences ; GE1-350
    Subject code 380
    Language English
    Publishing date 2020-07-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher MDPI AG
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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  10. Article ; Online: Benchmarking of Water, Energy, and Carbon Flows in Academic Buildings

    Abdulaziz Alghamdi / Guangji Hu / Husnain Haider / Kasun Hewage / Rehan Sadiq

    Sustainability, Vol 12, Iss 4422, p

    A Fuzzy Clustering Approach

    2020  Volume 4422

    Abstract: In Canada, higher educational institutions (HEIs) are responsible for a significant portion of energy consumption and anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Improving the environmental performance of HEIs is an important step to achieve nationwide ...

    Abstract In Canada, higher educational institutions (HEIs) are responsible for a significant portion of energy consumption and anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Improving the environmental performance of HEIs is an important step to achieve nationwide impact reduction. Academic buildings are among the largest infrastructure units in HEIs. Therefore, it is crucial to improve the environmental performance of academic buildings during their operations. Identifying critical academic buildings posing high impacts calls for methodologies that can holistically assess the environmental performance of buildings with respect to water and energy consumption, and GHG emission. This study proposes a fuzzy clustering approach to classify academic buildings in an HEI and benchmark their environmental performance in terms of water, energy, and carbon flows. To account for the fuzzy uncertainties in partitioning, the fuzzy c-means algorithm is employed to classify the buildings based on water, energy, and carbon flow indicators. The application of the developed methodology is demonstrated by a case study of 71 academic buildings in the University of British Columbia, Canada. The assessed buildings are grouped into three clusters representing different levels of performances with different degrees of membership. The environmental performance of each cluster is then benchmarked. Based on the results, the environmental performances of academic buildings are holistically determined, and the building clusters associated with low environmental performances are identified for potential improvements. The subsequent benchmark will allow HEIs to compare the impacts of academic building operations and set realistic targets for impact reduction.
    Keywords higher educational institutions ; academic buildings ; environmental performance ; performance benchmarking ; fuzzy clustering analysis ; metabolic flows ; Environmental effects of industries and plants ; TD194-195 ; Renewable energy sources ; TJ807-830 ; Environmental sciences ; GE1-350
    Subject code 690
    Language English
    Publishing date 2020-05-01T00:00:00Z
    Publisher MDPI AG
    Document type Article ; Online
    Database BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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