Indoor air quality index for preoccupancy assessment

The purpose of this study is to document the potential impacts on indoor air quality associated with different types of building materials (wall and floor finishes) through the development of an Indoor Air Quality index. The study first identifies pollutant sources and their corresponding health impacts due to short-term and long-term exposures. The study also quantifies levels of certain pollutants within a steady-state controlled environment, comparing the results of this study with previous studies conducted in different regions. It also proposes an IAQ index as an assessment tool which can be utilized preoccupancy. The field studies were conducted in residential buildings during January and February in Cairo to monitor volatile organic compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde (HCHO), ammonia (NH₃), radon gas, and particulate matter (PM). The indoor air was monitored in nine locations: four during the construction process and five following completion of construction. For this investigation, three rooms under construction within a Cairene building site were utilized to test the finishing materials. Chemical analysis and direct reading devices were used for air sampling and monitoring. The results revealed that the concentration of some pollutants decreased within the first year of construction, while others remained above target limits. The results of this study offer recommendations for engineers regarding the selection of appropriate materials through the implementation of source control strategies and an IAQ index which can be used as an assessment tool to ensure that the Indoor Air Quality meets recommended standards. Based on the conclusions and limitations of this study, recommendations for future work are documented such as the screening of materials and monitoring of Indoor Air Quality.     

Micellar formulations of Crizotinib and Dasatinib in the management of glioblastoma multiforme

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) defies the currently practiced management of radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery and hence, it is associated with a high fatality rate with a median survival of 14.6 months. In our previous work investigating different tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), we established that a combination of Crizotinib and Dasatinib exerted the most potent effect on different GBM cell lines. In this work, to improve targeted therapy at the site of the tumour and avoid systemic toxicity, we exploited the enhanced permeability and retention effect by designing micellar formulations of these two TKIs. Crizotinib and Dasatinib were successfully encapsulated in poly(styrene-co-maleic acid) (SMA) micelles which were then evaluated for their physicochemical characteristics, anti-proliferative effect, mode of cell death, efficacy in spheroid models, effect on cell signalling, antiangiogenic potential and in vivo anticancer activity. Our results showed that this combination had induced a potent anti-proliferative effect in four GBM cell lines grown as a monolayer and as a spheroid. The combination was also efficacious in in vitro models of angiogenesis and vascular mimicry. In vivo data showed the enhanced activity of the micellar TKIs compared to free drugs. In conclusion, we proved that micellar formulations of Crizotinib and Dasatinib carry promising in vitro and in vivo efficacy that warrant further investigation.     

A framework for testing the equality between the health concentration curve and the 45‐degree line

The health concentration curve is the standard graphical tool to depict socioeconomic health inequality in the literature on health inequality. This paper shows that testing for the absence of socioeconomic health inequality is equivalent to testing if the conditional expectation of health on income is a constant function that is equal to average health status. In consequence, any test for parametric specification of a regression function can be used to test for the absence of socioeconomic health inequality (subject to regularity conditions). Furthermore, this paper illustrates how to test for this equality using a test for parametric regression functional form and applies it to health‐related behaviors from the National Health Survey 2014.