1 ABSTRACT Since the early 1980s, the Greater Cairo Metropolitan Region (GCMR) has witnessed a rapid urban expansion that has been mainly concentrated in the peri-urban areas (PUAs). Most of this expansion was against urban planning laws and has presented a critical challenge to the urban environment. It has also led to spatial fragmentation and loss of enormous agriculture lands. This research analyses the urban expansion in the PUAs of the GCMR, during the period (2001-2017) using GIS and remote sensing. In addition to presenting a set of driving factors of this expansion, which were extracted from the literature review and previous studies. The results of this research show that the urban expansion rate during the mentioned period reached to 461 hectares per year. Moreover, the population growth and accessibility were the most significant driving factors in the PUA of the GCR.

120Objectives: To demonstrate the value of FDG PET/CT in evaluation of childhood patient with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) and its added value in clinical management including initial staging and assessment of treatment response.Methods: A prospective analysis of 30 patients (27 males and 8 females; age ranged from 2.7 months to 9 years with a mean of 2.7 ± 2.0 years) with histopathological proven LCH who were under treatment and/or regular follow up from September 2013 till November 2016. All patients received specific therapy for LCH in the form of chemotherapy {&}/or surgical resection according to the standard institutional protocol. The findings of the PET/CT were compared with skeletal survey and computed tomography (CT) findings within time interval less than 1 month. The choice of methods depended on tumor location. Analysis criteria included the following: any focal FDG uptake was considered abnormal when it was greater than that of hepatic uptake or in presence of an abnormal changes on CT with any degree of FDG uptake, FDG avid lymph nodes on PET/CT were interpreted as positive on PET/CT basis regardless of the size.Results: According to PET/CT result, 21 patients (70{%}) presented with multi-system disease (bone, LNs, liver, lungs, soft tissue and skin), 6 patients (20{%}) had unifocal lesions (five with bone and one lymph nodes) and 3 patients (10{%}) presented by multi-focal lesions (two with bone lesions and a single patient with nodal involvement). At the end of study 21 patients (70{%}) were disease free with no recurrence. Only nine patients (30{%}) had disease recurrence. Twenty three patient (76.7{%}) had low risk of mortality and only seven patients (23.3{%}) were of high risk state. At the end of study, 21 patients (70{%}) were disease free with no recurrence. Only nine patients (30{%}) had disease recurrence. No statistically significant association could be detected between disease recurrence with age, sex, presenting organ, disease extent, risk of mortality, SUVmax of leading lesion. Disease extent showed a border line significant association with risk of mortality (p 0.05).Conclusion: PET/CT is a useful tool to assess known LCH lesions and rule out the presence of other organ infiltration and to provide a reference basis of classification, staging, treatment plan, and evaluation of therapy effect. FDG PET/CT not only provides the characteristics of lesions in CT scan, but also the lesions activity by FDG uptake. 18F-FDG PET/CT should be incorporated in patient management to facilitate disease stratification and avoid un-necessary interventions. Research Support: none

Slums are a global urban challenge, particularly in big cities in most developing countries where they are growing faster than governments control. However, detection of slums is a big challenge for such countries due to fast growing there and difficulty of field survey. To address this challenge, this study uses a novel method to detect slums from very high-resolution (VHR) satellite images using machine learning algorithms and roads network derived from OpenStreetMap. This method has been applied to Fustat Area in the center of Cairo, Egypt where slums highly exist. The result of this study has detected eight slums with areas that ranged from 2.4 ha to 28.3 ha. The accuracy of the result has been verified by the kappa index which showed a high accuracy of 0.93. The results of this study are important for planners and decision makers to help them in developing such areas.

During the last few decades, sustainable development (SD) has increasingly received attention globally. Therefore, international organizations and researchers sought to assess progress towards SD at different territorial levels. However, most of the studies were conducted at the city level and a very small number of studies has conducted at the urban periphery territory. This study aims to fill the current research gap through assessing the progress towards SD in the urban periphery of Greater Cairo (GC) in Egypt between 1996-2017. Eight composite indicators have been employed to assess the progress towards SD in this territory. These composite indicators were constructed based on the 14 individual indicators associated with sustainable development goals. The results showed meaningful progress achieved in the peripheral municipalities of GC, particularly in infrastructure and education indicators, while the economic and environmental indicators have deteriorated, particularly after the civic revolution of 2011. In addition, the study found a development gap between the urban periphery and the main urban agglomeration in GC, particularly in the infrastructure aspect. These results highlight the deficiencies that exist in the urban periphery of GC which help decision-makers to prepare appropriate policies to improve SD in such territory.

UNLABELLED: Zirconia ceramic (ZC) implants are becoming more common, but comparisons between preclinical histology and long-term clinical trials are rare. This investigation comprised (1) 8-year clinical follow-up of one-piece ZC or titanium (Ti) implants supporting full overdentures and (2) histomorphometric analysis of the same implants in an animal model, comparing implants with various surface treatments.

METHODS: (1) Clinical trial: 24 completely edentulous participants (2 groups of N = 12) received 7 implants (one-piece ball-abutment ZC or Ti; maxilla N = 4, mandible N = 3) restored with implant overdentures. Outcomes after 8-years included survival, peri-implant bone levels, soft-tissue responses, and prosthodontic issues. (2) Preclinical trial: 10 New Zealand sheep received 4 implants bilaterally in the femoral condyle: Southern Implants ZC or Ti one-piece implants, identical to the clinical trial, and controls: Southern ITC two-piece implants with the same surface or Nobel (NBC) anodised (TiUnite™) surface. %Bone-implant contact (%BIC) was measured after 12 weeks of unloaded healing.

RESULTS: 8 of 24 participants (33%) of an average age of 75 ± 8 years were recalled; 21% of original participants had died, and 46% could not be contacted. 80.4% of implants survived; excluding palatal sites, 87.5% of Ti and 79% of ZC implants survived. All failed implants were in the maxilla. Three ZC implants had fractured. Bone loss was similar for Ti vs. ZC; pocket depths ( = 0.04) and attachment levels ( = 0.02) were greater for Ti than ZC implants. (1.7 ± 1.6 mm vs. 1.6 ± 1.3 mm). All implants in sheep femurs survived. %BIC was not statistically different for one-piece blasted surface Ti (80 ± 19%) versus ZC (76 ± 20%) or ITC (75 ± 16 mm); NBC had significantly higher %BIC than ITC (84 ± 17%, = 0.4).

CONCLUSION: Short-term preclinical results for ZC and Ti one-piece implants showed excellent bone-implant contact in unloaded femoral sites. This differed from the long-term clinical results in older-aged, edentulous participants. While ZC and Ti implants showed equivalent performance, the risks of peri-implantitis and implant loss in older, completely edentulous patients remain a significant factor.

Icariin (ICA), a main active compound of the Epimedium genus, is used as an aphrodisiac in traditional Chinese herbal medicine. Despite its therapeutic efficacy, ICA displays reduced oral absorption, and therefore, low bioavailability hindered its clinical application. Implementing nanotechnology in the field of formulation has been a focus to improve the efficacy of ICA. In this regard, polymeric nanoparticles find a potential application as drug delivery systems. A nanosphere formula was designed, aiming to improve the drug's efficacy. The proposed ICA nanosphere formula (tocozeinolate) was optimized using D-optimal response surface design. The concentrations of ICA (X), D-α-tocopherol polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS, X), zein (X), and sodium deoxycholate (SDC, X) expressed as percentages were investigated as quantitative independent variables. As per the experimental design, 23 formulations were developed, which were investigated for particle size (PS, nm), zeta potential (ZP, mV), and entrapment efficiency (EE, %) as response parameters. Numerical optimization and desirability approach were employed to predict the optimized variable levels that, upon combination, could result in minimized size and maximized zeta potential and ICA entrapment. The optimized ICA-tocozeinolate nanospheres showed a particle size of 224.45 nm, zeta potential of 0.961 mV, and drug entrapment of 65.29% that coincide well with the predicted values. The optimized ICA-tocozeinolate nanospheres were evaluated for sexual behavior in Wistar male rats compared to raw ICA at equivalent doses (20 mg/kg). In vivo assessment results showed significant sexual behavior enhancement by the optimized formulation, as evidenced by decreased average time of both mount latency (ML) and ejaculation latency (EL) to almost half those of raw ICA. Additionally, intromission latency (IL) time was reduced by 41% compared to the raw ICA. These results highlighted the potential of the proposed ICA-tocozeinolate nanospheres as a promising platform for improving the delivery and efficacy of therapeutic agents.