Behavior and management of carp fish: A review.

Nowadays, fish production aims to achieve a continuous and immediate generation of top-quality animal protein from the finest sources. Moreover, the aquaculture industry holds a vital position in addressing the rising global appetite for fish and seafood products. In addition, it has played a substantial role in providing affordable animal protein in Egypt in recent years. Therefore, rapid development has occurred in the industrial aquaculture sector in Egypt to compensate for the decrease in red meat production. According to previous studies, Egypt occupied the first rank among African countries and the ninth position globally in the field of fish farming production. This achievement aimed to link up the disparity between fish production and consumption in Egypt. Carp, due to its economic importance in this industry, has expanded worldwide with more evident ecological influences. The carp fish belongs to the Cyprinidae family, which encompasses seven subfamilies, approximately 220 genera, and has been associated with around 20,000 documented species. Given the importance of carp with different species, this work reviews the management, behavior, and different rearing systems of some popular carp species in Egypt. Data search was done on PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for the keywords including fish farming, carp fish, management, behavior, rearing systems, Egypt, Africa, and Worldwide. In Egypt, the output of carp is ranked second only to tilapia in aquaculture. A polyculture system is more often used in carp rearing, particularly when raising tilapia, to maximize growth rates, minimize feed conversion ratios, and reduce the amount of fat in the corpses. Furthermore, agro-ecologically valuable agriculture has been linked to integrated carp monoculture. Crop rising was the key to the successful development of pond aquaculture.

A multicentric and nationwide predictive study role of T cell sub-population in the prevalence and prognosis of cryoglobulinemia among genotype 4 chronic hepatitis C patients.

The infection caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a significant global health concern. The prevailing genotype of HCV in Egypt is 4a, commonly referred to as GT-4a. A significant proportion exceeding 50% of patients infected with HCV experience extrahepatic manifestations (EHMs), encompassing a diverse range of clinical presentations. These manifestations, including essential mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC), can serve as initial and solitary indicators of the disease. The complete understanding of the pathogenesis of EHM remains unclear, with autoimmune phenomena being recognized as the primary causative factor. In this study, we examined the predictive significance of T-cell subpopulations in relation to the occurrence and prognosis of cryoglobulinemia in HCV patients. A total of 450 CHC genotype four treatment naïve patients were enrolled in this analytic cross-sectional study after thorough clinical, laboratory, and radiological examinations. All patients underwent laboratory investigations, including testing for cryoglobulin antibodies and measurements of CD4 and CD8 levels; two groups were described according to their test results: Group 1 consists of patients who have tested positive for cryoglobulin antibodies and Group 2 consists of patients who have tested negative for cryoglobulin antibodies. The exclusion criteria encompassed individuals with HIV infection or chronic HBV infection. Additionally, pelvi-abdominal ultrasonography was performed. Our study included 450 treatment naïve CHC patients (59% male, mean age 50.8 years). The patients were categorized according to their cryoglobulin antibodys test results into two groups: group A, CHC patients with cryoglobulin antibodies (Abs) negative (364 patients), and group B, CHC patients with cryoglobulin Ab positive (86 patients). Group B demonstrated a higher average age, elevated international normalized ratio, more prolonged duration of HCV infection, lower albumin, higher alanine aminotransferase, higher aspartate aminotransferase, higher bilirubin, lower CD8, lower CD4, and lower CD4:CD8 ratio. In contrast, 27 out of 86 (31.40%) patients in group B had symptoms; 85.8% had purpura and arthralgia, 74.3% had paresthesias, 86.7% had weakness, and 12.2% had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The levels of CD4 and CD8 were found to be decreased in chronic HCV patients with MC. T-cell subpopulation serves as a reliable indicator for assessing the prevalence and prognosis of MC in individuals with genotype 4 chronic hepatitis C. However, additional research is needed to further understand the development and spread of various emerging infectious diseases. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that a critical threshold may exist beyond which EHM reaches a point of no return.

A Multicenter Experience of Inducible Clindamycin Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus Infection among 800 Egyptian Patients with or without Diabetes Mellitus.

Staphylococcus aureus causes a wide range of illnesses, from skin infections and persistent bone infections to life-threatening septicemia and endocarditis. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) is one of the most common bacteria that cause nosocomial and community-acquired infections. Clindamycin is one of the most effective treatments for several bacterial infections. Despite this, these infections may develop inducible clindamycin resistance during treatment, leading to treatment failure. This study determined the incidence of inducible clindamycin resistance among S. aureus clinical isolates. A total of 800 S. aureus strains were identified from clinical samples collected from several university hospitals in Egypt. All isolates were examined for the presence of MRSA using cefoxitin (30 µg) and the Kirby Bauer disk diffusion technique. The induction phenotypes of all 800 S. aureus strains were evaluated using the disk approximation test (D test), as recommended by the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute. Of the 800 strains of S. aureus, 540 (67.5%) were identified as MRSA and 260 (32.5%) were classified as methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA). In MRSA infections, clindamycin constitutive and inducible resistance was more frequent than in MSSA infections (27.8% versus 11.5% and 38.9% versus 15.4%, respectively). Clindamycin-sensitive strains were more prevalent in MSSA (53.8%) than in MRSA (20.4%) infections. In conclusion, the frequency of constitutive and inducible clindamycin resistance in MRSA isolates emphasizes the need to use the D test in routine antimicrobial susceptibility testing to evaluate clindamycin susceptibility, as the inducible resistance phenotype can inhibit the action of clindamycin and thus affect treatment efficacy.

Hypokalemia as a responsible factor related with the severity of hepatic encephalopathy: a wide multination cross-sectional study.

Several precipitating factors of hepatic encephalopathy have been recognized and studied. Hepatic encephalopathy which is a frequent and grave complication of liver failure, is associated with multiple biochemical changes like high serum ammonia, mercaptan and phenol levels, low albumin levels and derangements in electrolytes. It is characterized by a range of neuronal and psychological aberrations mainly due to the inability of liver to metabolize different neurotoxic chemicals produced in the body. Hypokalemia is one of the most important findings in hepatic encephalopathy and postulated as a precipitating factor of the condition. The authors aimed to know the frequency of hypokalemia and its relation to the severity of hepatic encephalopathy. Methods: After taking approval from the hospital ethical review committee, a total of 5000 patients with hepatic encephalopathy were recruited by consecutive sampling. They were interviewed, examined and investigated for serum potassium levels and other precipitating factors of hepatic encephalopathy. Results: Total of 5000 patients including 3070 (61.4%) males and 1930 (38.6%) females, aging 13 years and above were studied. The frequency of hypokalemia was 78% (3900 patients). Relating the serum potassium level with the severity of hepatic encephalopathy, 1200 (60%) out of 2000 patients with serum potassium below 2.5 mEq/l were in grade 4 (40%) and 800 out of 2000 were in grade 3 encephalopathy. On the other hand, only 700 patients (6.4%) out 1100 with serum potassium above 3.4 mEq/l were in grade 4 encephalopathy. Conclusion: Hypokalemia is a frequent finding in patients with hepatic encephalopathy and found to be directly related to its severity.

Evaluation of Amino Acids Profile as Non-Invasive Biomarkers of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Egyptians.

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most dangerous complication of chronic liver disease. It is a multifactorial complicated disease. Hepatitis C and hepatitis B viruses (HCV and HBV, respectively) represent the main causes of HCC in Egypt. Early diagnosis is very important to aid in early intervention. OBJECTIVES: The goal of this research is to evaluate the metabolic role of different amino acids as non-invasive biomarkers over the course of HCC. METHODS: This study included 302 participants with 97 diagnosed, untreated HCC patients, 81 chronic HCV patients, 56 chronic HBV patients, 18 co-infected patients, and a control group of 50 normal age and gender-matched individuals. All participants provided complete medical histories and underwent complete clinical examinations, abdominal ultrasonography and/or computed tomography, routine laboratory investigations, estimation of serum α-fetoprotein, and determination of amino acid levels using ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC MS/MS). RESULTS: This work revealed a decline in branched chain amino acids (BCAA) and increase in aromatic amino acids (AAA) among infected groups (HCC, HBV, HCV, and co-infected patients) compared to control subjects and a marked change in Fisher's and the BCAAs/tyrosine molar concentration ratios (BTR) between controls and infected groups. CONCLUSION: Different amino acids could be used as non-invasive markers to discriminate and follow chronic hepatitis patients to predict the course of HCC.

New Method to Implement and Analysis of Medical System in Real Time.

The use of information technology and technological medical devices has contributed significantly to the transformation of healthcare. Despite that, many problems have arisen in diagnosing or predicting diseases, either as a result of human errors or lack of accuracy of measurements. Therefore, this paper aims to provide an integrated health monitoring system to measure vital parameters and diagnose or predict disease. Through this work, the percentage of various gases in the blood through breathing is determined, vital parameters are measured and their effect on feelings is analyzed. A supervised learning model is configured to predict and diagnose based on biometric measurements. All results were compared with the results of the Omron device as a reference device. The results proved that the proposed design overcame many problems as it contributed to expanding the database of vital parameters and providing analysis on the effect of emotions on vital indicators. The accuracy of the measurements also reached 98.8% and the accuracy of diagnosing COVID-19 was 64%. The work also presents a user interface model for clinicians as well as for smartphones using the Internet of things.

Variceal recurrence 4 years post endoscopic band ligation in hepatitis C patients who achieved sustained virological response with oral direct-acting antiviral therapy.

Oral Direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) are safe, highly effective altering disease burden and prognosis in hepatitis C patients. Sustained virologic response (SVR) is achieved nowadays in more than 90% of the treated patients and related to the improvements in functions of the liver, fibrosis plus survival. Furthermore, portal hypertension is thought to be improved with achievement of virological response, parallel to the improvements in hepatic inflammation and fibrosis. We aimed to assess the recurrence rate of oesophageal varices by long-term follow-up in patients treated with different DAAs regimens who had achieved SVR. We studied 176 Child A cirrhotic HCV patients who achieved SVR after DAAs treatment and had a history of endoscopic oesophageal varices obliteration and were on maximum tolerated propranolol dose. They were subjected to follow-up upper gastrointestinal endoscopy repeated every 6 months for 4 years. Fifty-two patients (29.5%) had recurrence of oesophageal varices observed during the 4-years follow-up upper GIT endoscopy. On multivariate analysis, platelet count was the only significant variable, P-value = .007*. HbA1C, HOMA IR, BMI 1 and BMI 2 showed non-significant differences between the studied groups. By ROC analysis, we identified baseline platelet count of 96 000/µL with 100% sensitivity (95% confidence interval [CI] [91%-100%]) and 74% specificity (95% CI [65%-81%]). Spearman correlation showed a positive correlation between AFP, age, AST, Bilirubin, creatinine, INR. Patients who achieved SVR post DAAs showed a significant decrease in oesophageal varices recurrence post endoscopic obliteration. Baseline platelet count was found to be a strong independent predictor for oesophageal varices recurrence.

Sudomotor Changes in Hepatitis C Virus Infection with or without Diabetes Mellitus: A Pilot Study in Egyptian Patients.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection can affect the neurological system, and neuropathy is one of these manifestations. Hepatitis C virus infection is associated with diabetes mellitus (DM) type II, and diabetic patients are at higher risk of acquiring HCV infection. Sweat function has been proposed to assess early autonomic neuropathy. This study aimed to evaluate small fiber neuropathy in asymptomatic HCV-related cirrhotic patients with or without DM through sweat function assessment by Sudoscan test. Three groups were involved: 47 healthy controls, 48 HCV-related cirrhotic patients without DM (group 1), and 49 HCV-related cirrhotic patients with DM type II (group 2). All participants were subjected to liver panel tests, renal function tests, cell blood counts, HbA1c, and abdominal ultrasound. Sweat function was assessed in all patients and controls by measuring hand and feet electrochemical skin conductance (ESC, microSiemens [µS]) using Sudoscan. Peripheral neuropathy was detected in none of the controls, 39% of group 1 patients, and 62% of group 2 patients (P < 0.0001). The mean feet ESC (FESC) was 88.3 ± 6.8 µS in controls, 67.2 ± 19.2 µS in group 1, and 57.9 ± 19.4 µS in group 2 (P < 0.0001). A significant correlation was observed between FESC and bilirubin, albumin, creatinine, international normalized ratio, transaminases, and splenic size. Electrochemical skin conductance measurement is a valuable, noninvasive method for early detection of small fiber neuropathy in asymptomatic HCV-related cirrhosis, with or without DM.

Influence of housing systems on duck behavior and welfare.

OBJECTIVE: This experiment was conducted to assess the effects of the housing system on the welfare and growth performance of the Muscovy duck. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total number of 48 Muscovy duck aged 3-week old were divided randomly into two groups (24 duck on each): deep litter system and cage system. Each group was subdivided into three replicates (8 birds on each) were identified with wing rings. RESULTS: The study showed that feeding and drinking behaviors significantly increased (p < 0.05) in duck reared at the cage system. While there was no noticeable effect on lying and feather pecking, duck raised in the deep litter had better growth performance with a substantial difference, which achieve a higher feed conversion rate with lower feed efficiency. Physical conditions were significantly better at cage management. The level of stress indicating hormones indicating free Thyroxin was increased with the cage. Therefore, the litter system improves duck welfare and their performance. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that the duck managed under the litter system has more opportunities that facilitate the expression of more natural behavior, and thus improve their health and performance, as a result of improved feed conversion rate and feed efficiency.