Antioxidant, antibacterial, and molecular docking of methyl ferulate and oleic acid produced by Aspergillus pseudodeflectus AUMC 15761 utilizing wheat bran.

Secondary metabolites (SMs) are the primary source of therapeutics and lead chemicals in medicine. They have been especially important in the creation of effective cures for conditions such as cancer, malaria, bacterial and fungal infections, neurological and cardiovascular problems, and autoimmune illnesses. In the present study, Aspergillus pseudodeflectus AUMC 15761 was demonstrated to use wheat bran in solid state fermentation (SSF) at optimum conditions (pH 7.0 at 30 °C after 10 days of incubation and using sodium nitrate as a nitrogen source) to produce methyl ferulate and oleic acid with significant antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of the crude methanol extract revealed eleven peaks that indicated the most common chemical components. Purification of methyl ferulate and oleic acid was carried out by column chromatography, and both compounds were identified by in-depth spectroscopic analysis, including 1D and 2D NMR and HR-ESI-MS. DPPH activity increased as the sample concentration increased. IC50 values of both compounds obtained were 73.213 ± 11.20 and 104.178 ± 9.53 µM, respectively. Also, the MIC value for methyl ferulate against Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus was 0.31 mg/mL, while the corresponding MIC values for oleic acid were 1.25 mg/mL and 0.62 mg/mL for both bacterial strains, respectively. Molecular modeling calculations were carried out to reveal the binding mode of methyl ferulate and oleic acid within the binding site of the crucial proteins of Staphylococcus aureus. The docking results were found to be well correlated with the experimental data.

BM-MSCs alleviate diabetic nephropathy in male rats by regulating ER stress, oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptotic pathways.

Introduction: Diabetic nephropathy (DN), a chronic kidney disease, is a major cause of end-stage kidney disease worldwide. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have become a promising option to mitigate several diabetic complications. Methods: In this study, we evaluated the therapeutic potential of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) in a rat model of STZ-induced DN. After the confirmation of diabetes, rats were treated with BM-MSCs and sacrificed at week 12 after treatment. Results: Our results showed that STZ-induced DN rats had extensive histopathological changes, significant upregulation in mRNA expression of renal apoptotic markers, ER stress markers, inflammatory markers, fibronectin, and intermediate filament proteins, and reduction of positive immunostaining of PCNA and elevated P53 in kidney tissue compared to the control group. BM-MSC therapy significantly improved renal histopathological changes, reduced renal apoptosis, ER stress, inflammation, and intermediate filament proteins, as well as increased positive immunostaining of PCNA and reduced P53 in renal tissue compared to the STZ-induced DN group. Conclusion: In conclusion, our study indicates that BM-MSCs may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of DN and provide important insights into their potential use as a novel therapeutic approach for DN.

Topical timolol maleate 0.5% after fractional carbon dioxide laser versus fractional carbon dioxide laser alone in treatment of acne scars: split face comparative study.

Acne is a common inflammatory condition that mostly involves the face, chest and back. A number of different modalities had been employed for treating scars of which laser remains to be a pivotal choice. We aimed to compare the efficacy of topical timolol maleate 0.5% after fractional CO2 (AFCO2) laser versus fractional CO2 Laser alone for treatment of atrophic acne scars. A split-face comparative clinical experiment on 30 cases of atrophic post-acne scars that were treated on one side with ablative fractional CO2 laser followed by timolol application while with only ablative fractional CO2 laser on the other side. Following treatment, both sides demonstrated significant improvement with the laser + timolol treated side showing better improvement; yet not significantly higher than the laser only treated side. In conclusion, both topical timolol maleate 0.5% after fractional CO2 laser and fractional CO2 laser may achieve comparable significant improvement. The good safety profile, easy accessibility, low cost, and non-invasive nature merits the use of timolol in acne scars pending verification by larger sample reproduced and controlled trials.

Chitosan Polymer Functionalized-Activated Carbon/Montmorillonite Composite for the Potential Removal of Lead Ions from Wastewater.

A simple approach for synthesizing a highly adsorbent composite was described for the uptake of heavy metal ions from wastewater. A simple approach for synthesizing a highly adsorbent composite was also described for the elimination of heavy metal ions from contaminated water. The nanocomposite was synthesized via a polymer grafting of chitosan on the activated carbon surface, followed by a stacking process with the layers of montmorillonite clay. The spectroscopic analyses were exploited to confirm the composite structure of the prepared materials. Various adsorption parameters, such as pH, initial concentration, and adsorption time, were assessed. The results showed that the adsorption capacity of the composite for Pb2+ ions increased as the pH increased until it reached pH 5.5. The maximum adsorption capacity was observed at an initial Pb2+ level of 20 mg/L and a contact time of 150 min. Kinetic models were evaluated, and the pseudo second-order model showed the best match. The adsorption isotherm data were processed by fitting the model with different isotherm behaviors, and the Langmuir isotherm was found to be the most suitable for the system. The maximum adsorption capacity for Pb2+ ion on the MMT/CS/AC composite was found to be 50 mg/g at pH 5.5. Furthermore, the composite maintained a high adsorption capability of 85% for five adsorption-desorption cycles. Overall, this composite is envisioned as an addition to the market of wastewater remediation technology due to its chemical structure, which provides influential functional groups for wastewater treatment.

The effect of Nigella sativa oil- and wheat germ oil-loaded metal organic frameworks on chronic murine toxoplasmosis.

Treatment of chronic toxoplasmosis is challenging as the available drugs are effective only in the acute stage. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate Nigella sativa oil (NSO) and wheat germ oil (WGO) loaded on copper-benzene tricarboxylic acid metal organic framework (Cu-BTC MOF) for treating chronic toxoplasmosis in a murine model. Eighty mice were divided into 8 groups (G); uninfected untreated negative control (GI), infected untreated positive control (GII), infected and treated with: Spiramycin (GIII), Spiramycin@Cu-BTC (GIV), Cu-BTC (GV), WGO@Cu-BTC (GVI), NSO@Cu-BTC (GVII) and combined WGO+NSO@Cu-BTC (GVIII). The infected groups were orally inoculated with 10 Toxoplasma gondii Me49 strain cysts/mouse. All drugs were orally administered for 14 consecutive days starting 8 weeks post-infection (wpi). The therapeutic efficacy was evaluated by parasitological (survival rate of mice and brain cyst burden) and histopathological (brain, liver, kidney, eye) parameters. At the end of 2-weeks therapy, the highest therapeutic outcome was achieved with GVII and GVIII exhibiting 100% survival, 64.3% and 51.4% reduction of brain cysts, and an apparent amendment of pathological insults. In the next place was GVI with 90% survival, 49.5% reduction of cysts and marked amelioration of pathological lesions. Meanwhile, GIII and GIV showed 80% survival, 42.4% and 41.8% reduction of cysts as well as minimal to moderate alleviation of tissue damage. The lowest effect was obtained with GV resulting in 70% survival and 24.4% reduction of cysts. The current results support the assertion that the new metal-based nanocomposites can be promising remedies of chronic toxoplasmosis particularly if conjugated with natural herbal extracts as NSO and WGO.

Applications of Medical Digital Technologies for Noncommunicable Diseases for Follow-Up during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Noncommunicable chronic diseases (NCDs) are multifaceted, and the health implications of the COVID-19 pandemic are far-reaching, especially for NCDs. Physical distancing and quarantine can lead to the poor management of NCDs because the visual tracking of them has been replaced with medical digital technology, that is, smartphone apps. This study aimed to explore medical digital technology applications for NCDs for follow-up during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: The participants in this study were 400 adult patients with NCDs; they were selected by systematic random sampling. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used. The study was conducted in the outpatient department of Yanbu General Hospital and primary-care health centers in Yanbu Al-Baher, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The tools used in this study were a structured questionnaire to collect the sociodemographic characteristics of the patients and their health history, an NCD questionnaire to assess follow-up of the patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a medical digital technologies questionnaire to explore the medical digital technology applications. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 47.32 ± 14.362 years, and 62.8% of them were female and 372 were male. Of the patients, 69.2% and 57.5% had been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus and hypertension, respectively; 52.4% were followed up monthly, and 29.75% used medical digital technology applications such as Tabeby Online to monitor their health. Furthermore, 71.75% and 75.5% of the patients used the Sehhaty and Tawakkalna medical digital applications, respectively. Overall, 38.7% of the patients were satisfied with using medical digital technology applications used for follow-up during the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: The study concluded that the services that use networks, smartphones, and medical digital technology applications on the Saudi Ministry of Health website and mobile applications to improve the quality of the health-care system, and that provide health services for noncommunicable or communicable diseases, are not effective. This is because the patients lack awareness of these services, with most of the chronic patients being elderly with lower levels of education and computer literacy.

Comparative Study of Helicobacter Pylori Resistance to Clarithromycin and Metronidazole and Its Association with Epidemiological Factors in A Moroccan Population.

OBJECTIVE: Knowledge of local antibiotic resistance is crucial to the adaption of the effective empirical first-line treatment for Helicobacter Pylori (H. pylori) infection. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of H. pylori resistance to clarithromycin and compare it with that of metronidazole, and highlight the impact of epidemiological factors and gastric lesions severity on H. pylori resistance. METHODS: The susceptibility to clarithromycin of 96 isolates was determined by PCR-RFLP and the susceptibility to metronidazole of 185 isolates was determined by classic PCR. RESULT: Our results showed that the prevalence of H. pylori resistance to clarithromycin ( 14.6%) was low compared to that recorded with metronidazole ( 62.7%). Moreover, we remarked that 7.3% of isolates were co-resistant to both antibiotics. The assessment of epidemiological factors' impact on the resistance to studied antibiotics has revealed no association. Besides, our results had demonstrated that the metronidazole and clarithromycin resistance was not related to the severity of gastric lesions. CONCLUSION: In our population, clarithromycin seems to be an effective antibiotic as long as the resistance rate of H. pylori is low. In contrast to metronidazole, it appears that this antibiotic will lose its efficacy, due to the high rate of resistance among our population. Therefore, each population must conduct their epidemiologic studies separately to survey the resistance profile of strains and choose the appropriate antibiotic, in order to avoid the failure of H. pylori eradication and the development of severe gastric diseases.

Effect of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants on Growth, Digestibility and Carcass in New Zealand White Rabbits.

<b>Background and Objective:</b> Herbs, spices and botanicals have been demonstrated to improve animal performance and increase nutritional availability. So, the present study aimed to determine the effect of adding each of rosemary leaves, thyme leaves, black cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds at a level of 0.5% to the diets on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and carcass traits of growing New Zealand white rabbits. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> Sixty growing New Zealand white rabbits, 425-gram average body weight, kept from 4-11 weeks of age, divided into 5 groups to examine 4 experimental herbs (rosemary, thyme, black cumin and fenugreek) compared with the control group. Growth performance, nutrients digestibility and carcass traits were measured. <b>Results:</b> A significant improvement in feed conversion ratio and a significant increase in both final body weight, body weight gain in rabbit groups fed the 4 tested feed additives diets compared to the control group was shown. Otherwise, rabbit groups fed these diets recorded a significantly higher value of nutrient digestibility, Dry Matter (DM), Crude Protein (CP), Crude Fiber (CF), Ether Extract (EE) and Nitrogen-Free Extract (NFE), than the control group. Giblets (%) was significantly higher in rabbits group fed the control diet than other experimental rabbit groups while the opposite trend was noticed with dressing percent. In addition, rabbit groups fed the different feed additives diets achieved better economic efficiency than the control group. <b>Conclusion:</b> Data of the present study cleared that rosemary, thyme, black cumin and fenugreek had an appositive effect on the performance of growing New Zealand rabbits and higher economic efficiency.

Image-matching enhancement using a polarized intensity-hue-saturation fusion method.

Atmospheric absorption and scattering (e.g., haze) cause degradation in the image quality of outdoor scenes, which affects the image-matching process. The scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm is not effective in haze. Edge information is required to enhance the matching process. Utilizing the polarization information expressed by the Stokes vector component S1 with its edge information can improve the keypoint localization in the matching process. In this paper, a novel, to the best of our knowledge, fusion method called polarized intensity-hue-saturation is proposed that uses polarization and depth information by fusion of a polarized haze-removed image with the estimated depth and by applying S1. The instant dehazing method uses polarized images to obtain a haze-removed image and its estimated depth map. The fused image has high spatial details required for enhancing the matching process. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the existing image-matching schemes and improves the conventional SIFT matching method.

Eye movements and imaging in vestibular migraine / Movimientos oculares y pruebas de imagen en migraña vestibular

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Migrainous dizziness is one of the most frequent complaints. Dizziness associated with migraine may be the result of abnormal eye movements. Brain imaging and changes in eye movements may explain the dizziness and highlight possible pathophysiological substrates in migraine dizziness. Our aim is to evaluate eye movement using videonystagmography (VNG) and video head impulse test (vHIT) and to study the occipital lobe metabolic profile in vestibular migraine patients (VM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: There were 2 groups enrolled in the study; the first group consisted of 25 vestibular migraine patients (VM) according to the recent criteria of Barany society. The second group consisted of 20 age matched healthy subjects. Both groups underwent the following: (1) A detailed history, VNG test protocol, vHIT in three planes. (2) Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the brain and inner ear using 1.5 T magnet and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H1-MRS). RESULTS: Sixty eight percent of the patients complained of spontaneous vertigo and 28% complained of positional vertigo. Non-paroxysmal positional nystagmus was recorded in 92% during their dizzy spell. The brain MRI was unremarkable in 72% of the cases. Chemical shift in the occipital lobe was found in 92% of VM. Lactate peaks were statistically significant related with the presence of non-paroxysmal positional nystagmus. CONCLUSIONS: A statistically significant relationship exists between non-paroxysmal positional nystagmus and presence of lactate peaks in the occipital lobe in VM patients

ANTECEDENTES Y OBJETIVO: El mareo migrañoso es una de las quejas más frecuentes. Las pruebas de imagen del cerebro y los cambios en los movimientos oculares pueden explicar los mareos y destacar los posibles sustratos fisiopatológicos en la migraña vestibular. Nuestro objetivo fue evaluar el movimiento ocular utilizando videonistagmografía (VNG) y la prueba de impulso cefálico por vídeo (vHIT), y estudiar el perfil metabólico del lóbulo occipital en pacientes con migraña vestibular (VM). MATERIALES Y MÉTODOS: Se incluyeron dos grupos en el estudio; el primer grupo consistió en 25 pacientes con VM según los criterios recientes de la sociedad Bárány. El segundo grupo consistió en 20 sujetos sanos emparejados por edad. Ambos grupos se sometieron a lo siguiente: 1) Una historia detallada, protocolo de prueba de VNG y vHIT en 3 planos, y 2) Imágenes de resonancia magnética (IRM) para el cerebro y el oído interno con el imán de 1,5 tesla y la espectroscopía de resonancia magnética de protones (H1-MRS). RESULTADOS: El 68% de los pacientes se quejó de vértigo espontáneo, y el 28% de vértigo posicional. El nistagmo posicional no paroxístico se registró en el 60% de los pacientes durante su mareo. La resonancia magnética cerebral no mostró alteraciones en el 72% de los casos. El cambio químico en el lóbulo occipital se encontró en el 92% de los casos de VM. Los picos de lactato fueron estadísticamente significativos con relación a la presencia de nistagmo posicional no paroxístico. CONCLUSIONES: Existe una relación estadísticamente significativa entre el nistagmo posicional no paroxístico y la presencia de picos de lactato en el lóbulo occipital en pacientes con VM

Eye movements and imaging in vestibular migraine.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Migrainous dizziness is one of the most frequent complaints. Dizziness associated with migraine may be the result of abnormal eye movements. Brain imaging and changes in eye movements may explain the dizziness and highlight possible pathophysiological substrates in migraine dizziness. Our aim is to evaluate eye movement using videonystagmography (VNG) and video head impulse test (vHIT) and to study the occipital lobe metabolic profile in vestibular migraine patients (VM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: There were 2 groups enrolled in the study; the first group consisted of 25 vestibular migraine patients (VM) according to the recent criteria of Barany society. The second group consisted of 20 age matched healthy subjects. Both groups underwent the following: (1) A detailed history, VNG test protocol, vHIT in three planes. (2) Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the brain and inner ear using 1.5T magnet and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H1-MRS). RESULTS: Sixty eight percent of the patients complained of spontaneous vertigo and 28% complained of positional vertigo. Non-paroxysmal positional nystagmus was recorded in 92% during their dizzy spell. The brain MRI was unremarkable in 72% of the cases. Chemical shift in the occipital lobe was found in 92% of VM. Lactate peaks were statistically significant related with the presence of non-paroxysmal positional nystagmus. CONCLUSIONS: A statistically significant relationship exists between non-paroxysmal positional nystagmus and presence of lactate peaks in the occipital lobe in VM patients.

Management of pediatric CNS meningiomas: CCHE-57357 experience in 39 cases.

PURPOSE: Our aim is to present our experience in the management of pediatric meningiomas in the largest referral center in Egypt for pediatric tumors focusing on variables including clinical picture, anatomic location, histopathology, treatment strategies, and outcome together with their possible correlation to prognosis. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 39 pediatric patients who were treated for CNS meningiomas in Children's Cancer Hospital-Egypt (CCHE-57357) 2007-2017. RESULTS: The prevalence of pediatric meningioma was 1.42%. Four cases had type 2 neurofibromatosis (NFII). The mean age was 8.19 years. The presence of NFII was associated with challenging multiple lesions, older age of presentation and poorer prognosis and functional outcome. Convexity was the commonest location. Gross total resection (GTR) was achieved in 28 cases, subtotal resection (STR) in 8 cases, and biopsy was decided in 3 patients. Histopathological examination revealed WHO grade I in 16 patients and higher grades in 23 patients (59%). The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 87.8% while the 5-years event-free survival (EFS) rate was 85.6%. Tumor location, histopathology, and clinical presentation were not statistically correlated to prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric CNS meningiomas are uncommon pediatric tumors but of an aggressive clinical and pathological behaviors as compared to adult meningiomas. The presence of NFII is associated with a poorer prognosis and functional outcomes. Although being challenging, the maximum and safe surgical excision should be exercised even in recurrent cases in order to achieve the best outcome. Adjuvant radiotherapy provides good tumor control for inoperable residual atypical or anaplastic meningiomas.

How the health-seeking behaviour of pregnant women affects neonatal outcomes: findings of system dynamics modelling in Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Limited studies have explored how health-seeking behaviour during pregnancy through to delivery affect neonatal outcomes. We modelled health-seeking behaviour across urban and rural settings in Pakistan, where poor neonatal outcomes persist with wide disparities. METHODS AND FINDINGS: A system dynamics model was developed and parameterised. Following validation tests, the model was used to determine neonatal mortality for pregnant women considering their decisions to access, refuse and switch antenatal care services in four provider sectors: public, private, traditional and charitable. Four health-seeking scenarios were tested across different pregnancy trimesters. Health-seeking behaviour in different subgroups by geographical locations and social network effect was modelled. The largest reduction in neonatal mortality was achieved with antenatal care provided by skilled providers in public, private or charitable sectors, combined with the use of institutional delivery. Women's social networks had strong influences on if, when and where to seek care. Interventions by Lady Health Workers had a minimal impact on health-seeking behaviour and neonatal outcomes after trimester 1. Optimal benefits were achieved for urban women when antenatal care was accessed within trimester 2, but for rural women within trimester 1. Antenatal care access delayed to trimester 3 had no protective impact on neonatal mortality. CONCLUSIONS: System dynamics modelling enables capturing the complexity of health-seeking behaviours and impact on outcomes, informing intervention design, implementation of targeted policies and uptake of services specific to urban/rural settings considering structural enablers/barriers to access, cultural contexts and strong social network influences.

Video head impulse test (vHIT) in migraine dizziness.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Migraine is an extremely prevalent primary headache disorder that frequently associates parallel symptoms such as dizziness, tinnitus and hearing loss. Our aim is to investigate differences in video head impulse (vHIT) results with patients suffering from vestibular migraine (VM) and healthy people, taking into consideration mean values of vestibule ocular reflex (VOR) gain, occurrence of the compensatory saccades latency and amplitude. According to the results, determine the usefulness of vHIT in vestibular migraine diagnostics. METHODS: A total number of 120 subjects were enrolled in the study, 80 of them were vestibular migraine patients (VM), while the other 40 were a control group of age matched healthy subjects. History was taking during the evaluation; videonystagmography and the video head impulse test were done. RESULTS: The rate of saccades is much more higher in the VM group compared to the healthy subjects group, only 7.5% of the VM group showed a low VOR gain with compensatory saccades denoting a vestibular deficit. CONCLUSION: The refixation saccades are an important sign that could underlie different vestibular problems. vHIT result can contribute to the completion of full mosaic of vestibular migraine diagnostics.

Incidence of Secondary Hydrocephalus after Excision of Huge Encephaloceles in Neonates: Case Study.

BACKGROUND: Encephaloceles presents as a protrusion of the cranial contents through a defect in the cranium. The most common sites of occurrence are the occipital and frontonasal regions. The surgical outcome is reported to be satisfactory; however, the incidence of hydrocephalus in patients with encephaloceles is variable in the literature. This study investigated the relationship between the size of the encephaloceles and the occurrence of hydrocephalus. PATIENT AND METHODS: Data of all neonates with encephaloceles who presented to our institution from September 2012 to September 2014 were collected. Surgery was performed during the first 2 weeks of age. Encephaloceles with a maximal diameter > 10 cm were included in the study, and the clinical picture, surgical technique, pre- and postoperative imaging, and follow-up were analyzed. RESULTS: Nineteen cases were included in this study. The mean follow-up period was 7 months. Sixteen cases were occipital; three were frontal. In all patients the maximum diameter was > 10 cm. However, in four patients it was > 18 cm. Postoperative ventriculomegaly occurred in seven cases. Of these, four patients needed a permanent ventriculoperitoneal shunt implantation (21%). Wound dehiscence occurred in two patients who required secondary sutures with a favorable outcome. One patient died 2 weeks after the surgery due to a poor general condition and wound infection. CONCLUSION: Early surgical excision provides effective treatment of huge encephaloceles. Overall, 21% of cases require cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diversion afterward depending on associated anomalies. Despite their size, giant encephaloceles can have an excellent prognosis with no need for further treatment or CSF diversion.

Safety of frozen liver for human consumption.

The objective of this study was to ensure and evaluate the safety of imported frozen beef liver traded in supermarkets of Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt, through detection of Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella enteritidies, Escherichia coli O157:H7, antibiotic residues, and aflatoxin B1 residue. Fifty samples of imported frozen liver were randomly collected from different shops at Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate for isolation of S. typhimurium, S. enteritidies, and E. coli O157:H7. The results revealed that for both microorganisms 4% of the examined samples presumed to contain Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 organisms, according to the colonial character on Harlequin Salmonella ABC agar media and Harlequin SMAC-BCIG agar media. According to biochemical and serological identifications, both organisms could not be detected in the examined samples. A total of 29 (58%) samples were positive for antibiotic residues, using the Premi test (a broad-spectrum screening test for the detection of antibiotic residues in meat) at or below the maximum residue limits. In addition, aflatoxin B1 was detected in one (2%) samples with a concentration of 1.1 µg/kg. The results reflect that there was good hygiene practice for handling and preparation of frozen liver while selling to consumers. However, a high percentage of antibiotic residues reflect ignorance of withdrawal time before slaughtering of animals as well as misuse of antibiotics in veterinary fields. Furthermore, aflatoxin B1 residue was detected in examined frozen liver samples at a concentration below the maximum residual level, which is not enough to cause threat to humans, but it is enough to cause problem if it is eaten regularly reflect contamination of animal feed with aflatoxins.

MicroRNA expression analysis in endometriotic serum treated mesenchymal stem cells.

Endometriosis is defined by presence of endometrial-like-tissue outside the uterus. Recently, ectopic endometriotic lesions have been suggested to originate by abnormal differentiation of endometrial mesenchymal stem cells (eMSCs). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in the pathophysiology of endometriosis. Through a PCR array approach, we aimed to assess the differential expression of microRNAs in human eMSC treated in culture with sera derived from women with severe endometriosis. Sera were collected from five patients with severe endometriosis and three control women and added individually in the culture medium to conduct experimental and control eMSC sets, respectively. Regular microscopic follow-up for cell morphology was performed. SYBR Green based real-time PCR array was used to assess the expression of 84 miRNAs. Bioinformatics analysis was done to predict the target genes of the significantly dysregulated miRNAs and their enriched biological processes and pathways. Thirty-two miRNAs were found significantly dysregulated in experimental cultures. Functional enrichment analysis revealed several endometriosis associated biological processes and pathways were enriched by target genes of these miRNAs. In conclusion, treatment of human eMSCs with sera of severe endometriosis cases affects the expression of certain miRNAs and their target genes. This may result in altering cell functions and consequently, endometriosis development.

Treatment and Outcome in 65 Children with Optic Pathway Gliomas.

INTRODUCTION: Optic pathway gliomas (OPGs) are rare neoplasms in children with an unpredictable clinical course. There is significant controversy regarding the optimal management and outcome of these patients. METHODS: Charts of all patients with OPG diagnosed and treated at Children's Cancer Hospital Egypt between July 2007 and July 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. We evaluated the roles of surgical, ophthalmologic, endocrinologic, neurologic, and treatment aspects of care. RESULTS: Sixty-five patients were included in this study, with a mean age of 5.3 years. OPGs were chiasmatic (n = 25), optic nerve (n = 18), hypothalamic (n = 7), and chiasmatic/hypothalamic (n = 7). Extensive involvement of the optic pathway was seen in an additional 8 patients. Twenty cases had neurofibromatosis type 1. Four cases underwent surgical debulking, and 28 were biopsied (16 open, 11 stereotactic, and 1 endoscopic). Nine of the 18 optic nerve tumors were managed by total excision. Twenty-four patients did not undergo any surgical intervention. Forty-five patients received chemotherapy. Histopathology revealed pilocytic (n = 20), pilomyxoid (n = 15), fibrillary astrocytoma (n = 4), and grade I papillary-glioneuronal tumor (n = 1). Nonrepresentative sample (n = 1). The 4-year overall survival rate was 86.3% with mean follow-up period of 32.2 months. CONCLUSION: The initial role of surgery in newly developed OPG is biopsy for tissue diagnosis and relief of the hydrocephalus, if present, followed by chemotherapy. Chemotherapy decreases or stabilizes the tumor size in most cases, leading to preservation of both visual and endocrinal functions. The most significant prognostic factor confirmed in this study was the age of the patient.

First structural characterization of Pa(iv) in aqueous solution and quantum chemical investigations of the tetravalent actinides up to Bk(IV): the evidence of a curium break.

More than a century after its discovery the structure of the Pa(4+) ion in acidic aqueous solution has been investigated for the first time experimentally and by quantum chemistry. The combined results of EXAFS data and quantum chemically optimized structures suggest that the Pa(4+) aqua ion has an average of nine water molecules in its first hydration sphere at a mean Pa-O distance of 2.43 Å. The data available for the early tetravalent actinide (An) elements from Th(4+) to Bk(4+) show that the An-O bonds have a pronounced electrostatic character, with bond distances following the same monotonic decreasing trend as the An(4+) ionic radii, with a decrease of the hydration number from nine to eight for the heaviest ions Cm(4+) and Bk(4+). Being the first open-shell tetravalent actinide, Pa(4+) features a coordination chemistry very similar to its successors. The electronic configuration of all open-shell systems corresponds to occupation of the valence 5f orbitals, without contribution from the 6d orbitals. Our results thus demonstrate that Pa(iv) resembles its early actinide neighbors.