Electrophysiological Assessments of Time- Course Effects on Diabetic peripheral Neuropathy and Their Correlation to the Current Hypotheses

Electrophysiological Assessments of Time- Course Effects on Diabetic peripheral Neuropathy and Their Correlation to the Current Hypotheses

I. W. Muflih*, A. M. Abdul-Kareem**, G. A. Al-Sharify***

*Faculty of Pharmacy, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine, **Sadam College of Medicine, Baghdad, ***Al-Yarmouk Hospital, Baghdad.

Received : 19-08-2000 , Accepted : 01-09-2001

Language: English

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus patients (number = 228) of insulin dependent (IDDM, two groups) and non- insulin dependent (NIDDM, two groups) were enrolled in the present study. Each of the two groups of the patients were comprising a group of less than ten years and another group of more than ten years duration of the disease. Seven peripheral nerves were tested electrophysiologically for their latency, velocity and amplitude. The obtaiened results showed significant differences between the two types of the disease durations. Measurments in terms of increased latencies with reduction in the sensory and motor conductive velocities, along with reduction in amplitudes were found more evident in diabetic patients with more than ten years duration in comparison to patients of less than ten years duration of the disease. The obtained results of the present work suggests a recommendation for the mixed metabolic- vascular pathogenesis hypothesis that concern the diabetic neuropathy. Key words: Time – course effects on diabetic neuropathy

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Application of Water Allocation System Model to the Palestinian - Israeli Water Conflict

Application of Water Allocation System Model to the Palestinian - Israeli Water Conflict

Anan Jayyousi

Water and Environmental Studies Institute, An-Najah N.University, Nablus, Palestine.

Received : 17-09-2000 , Accepted : 01-09-2001

Language: English

Abstract

Water in the Middle East is a scarce resource. This scarcity is adding another dimension to the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. This dimension is the conflict over the ownership and the distribution of water. In the late nineties experts both in and out of the region started to estimate the value of water in dispute. These ideas were elaborated in a computer model called Water Allocation System (WAS 3.3). The paper applied the WAS 3.3 model to explore the economic consequences of various water scenarios. The questions answered in this paper are related to the distribution of water in the region, the production of additional water to cover the growing demand, the provisions for dry years, the allocation of costs and benefits and price charge to the consumers of water. Variables in the various scenarios are population growth and land ownership and the ownership of water. In this paper, only implications and results from the Palestinian side will be discussed. Also, all the simulations in this paper are taken for the planning year 2010. The outcome of this paper shows that additional quantities of water should be made available to the Palestinians, regardless of the assumed scenarios in the different simulations. Also, the outcome shows that all parties in the region will gain if cooperation exists between these parties once the question of water rights is determined.

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Oxidation of some Alicyclic Amines by Potassium Hexacyanoferrate (III) in Alkaline Medium: A Kinetic and Mechanistic Study

Oxidation of some Alicyclic Amines by Potassium Hexacyanoferrate (III) in Alkaline Medium: A Kinetic and Mechanistic Study

M. M. Al-Subu, A. A. Amer, W. J. Jondi, M. Hanoun, M. J. Musmar

a Dept. of Chem., b College of Pharmacy, An-Najah N. Univ. Nablus, Palestine.

Received : 14-02-2001 , Accepted : 13-06-2001

Language: English

Abstract

Oxidation of some alicyclic amines (morpholine, piperazine and piperidine) by potassium hexacyanoferrate(???) in basic medium has been investigated at 35°C. Stoichiometric results showed that four moles of hexacyanoferrate(III) were consumed per mole of piperidine or morpholine whereas piperazine consumed eight moles of the oxidant to produce the corresponding lactams. Kinetic studies indicated that piperidine and morpholine also followed different kinetics from that of piperazine, being first order in the amine concentration and independent of the concentrations of hexacyanoferrate(???) and hydroxide ion, while in the case of piperazine, the reaction was first order in both oxidant and substrate concentrations and zero order with respect to the concentration of hydroxide ion. The changes in reaction rate due to changing ionic strength of the medium as well as other factors has also been investigated. The activation parameters of the oxidation process have been evaluated and a mechanism consistent with the observed kinetics has been proposed. Keywords: Hexacyanoferrate(???), morpholine, piperazine, piperidine, oxidation, lactam.

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Critical Amplitude of Acoustical Attenuation in Mode-Coupling Theory for the Binary Mixture Aniline and Cyclohexane

Critical Amplitude of Acoustical Attenuation in Mode-Coupling Theory for the Binary Mixture Aniline and Cyclohexane

Issam R. Abdelraziq

Physics Department, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine

Received : 30-10-2000 , Accepted : 07-05-2001

Language: English

Abstract

Using Hornowski’s theoretical modification of the critical amplitude, the experimental ??(crit)/?u(?)2A(T) values from mode-coupling theory of a binary liquid mixture aniline – cyclohexane have been compared with the theoretical expressions given by Fixman, Kawasaki, Mistura, and Chaban. The experimental data at low reduced frequencies ?* has been found to agree well with the Hornowski’s model of A(T). However, for the large values of reduced frequency ?* > 10 the mode-coupling theory of Shiwa and Kawasaki still exhibits poor agreement with the observed data, mainly due to the form of scaling function. The correlation length ?0 has been calculated by using ?0 ( the critical amplitude of the characteristic relaxation rate ) which gives the best fitting to the theoretical critical amplitude. The adiabatic coupling constant g and the diffusion coefficient D0 have been obtained using Hornowski’s expression of the critical amplitude.

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Developing and Implementing an Integrated Pavement Monitoring and Management Approach for the Palestinian Territories

Developing and Implementing an Integrated Pavement Monitoring and Management Approach for the Palestinian Territories

Osama A. Abaza, Sameer A. Abu-Eisheh

Dept. of Civil Eng., Faculty of Engineering, An-Najah N. Univ., Nablus, Palestine.

Received : 06-11-2000 , Accepted : 01-09-2001

Language: English

Abstract

The provision of proper transportation services would play a basic role in future development plans for the Palestinian territories. The road network, which forms the backbone of the transportation system in the Palestinian territories, suffered seriously from the constraints imposed on its development by the Israeli authorities. Since the establishment of the Palestinian authority few years ago, limited budgets were allocated to maintain the road network in the Palestinian territories. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and implement a pavement monitoring and management system aiming at identifying the prevailing conditions of the pavement structures, assessing these conditions, and defining the proper corrective measures. The paper highlights the approach which was developed to assist Palestinian decision-makers to evaluate and define the measures to rehabilitate the damaged pavement structures of the road network in the Palestinian territories. First, the paper presents a general background related to road conditions in the Palestinian territories. This is followed by a presentation of the suggested methodology to develop an integrated tool to evaluate, maintain, and rehabilitate road pavements in the Palestinian territories. The paper presents a number of case studies performed for three different urban and rural locations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The paper ends with conclusions and recommendations, which include the need to apply the indicated approach as a first step to develop a comprehensive program for the establishment of a pavement management system for the Palestinian territories. Keywords: pavement evaluation, pavement maintenance, pavement rehabilitation, pavement monitoring and management

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Determination of Aminophylline by Cathodic Stripping Voltammetry

Determination of Aminophylline by Cathodic Stripping Voltammetry

Raqi M. H. Shubietah

Faculty of Pharmacy, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine

Received : 30-10-2000 , Accepted : 07-05-2001

Language: English

Abstract

Aminophylline is determined by cathodic stripping voltammetry (CSV) in BR buffer, pH 7.5 at a hanging mercury drop electrode. The detection limit was 3x10-8 M after 60 s accumulation at -0.60 V versus Ag/AgCl reference electrode. The linear range demonstrated up to 5x10-7 M using CSV. The interference caused by some purine derivatives, anions and some metal cations on the peak current was studied. The peak current is enhanced by theophylline, some methylguanines and copper (II) while it decreased or disappeared by citrate, chloride and Triton X-100 surfactant. The method has good sensitivity and its application to pharmaceutical samples is possible. Keywords: Determination of aminophylline, stripping voltammetry, cathodic stripping voltammetry, adsorptive voltammetry, dosage forms

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The Treatment of Some Deviation Cases in Non-Standard Data Using Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing Applied to Arabic Language

The Treatment of Some Deviation Cases in Non-Standard Data Using Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing Applied to Arabic Language

Bilal Alshafei

bshafi2@hotmail.com

Department of French, College of Art, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestinian Territories

Received : 06-03-2006 , Accepted : 05-08-2007

Language: English

Abstract

The aim of this study is to try to investigate the problem of deviation in non-standard data generated by inquiry into Arabic language, using research engines or some Natural Language Processing programs (NLP) applied to Arabic. The deviation could be corrected by using expert systems and some neural networking. It will try to analyze these issues from both linguistic point of view and technological point of view in order to find the best way to build a model of work that could find solutions for some deviant cases using Artificial Intelligence (Expert Systems and neural networks). Above all, this work could serve as a starting point for farther research on the deviant cases.

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