Immunohistochemical expression of immune check point protein PDL-1 in hepatocellular carcinoma denotes its prognostic significance and association with survival.

This study was designed to evaluate the immunohistochemical expression of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) in tumor cells (TCs) and tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TICs) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to correlate its expression with clinicopathological parameters. Seventy-two formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded blocks of HCC were collected. The data were collected from the patients' records. The blocks were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Additionally, they were immunostained with PD-L1. Membranous staining was considered positive expression including the entire membrane or part of it ± cytoplasmic staining, and the percentage of total cancer cells ≥ 5% was evaluated as positive staining for TCs. The TICs were considered positive if they expressed membranous ± cytoplasmic staining of PD-L1 ≥ 1%. Of the total cases, 34.7% expressed PD-L1 positively in TCs and 15.3% expressed PD-L1 positively in TICs. Significant associations were observed between PD-L1 expression in TCs and tumor grade, capsular and/or vascular invasion, tumor stage, nodal metastasis, and the expression of PD-L1 in paracancerous tissue. The cases that positively expressed PD-L1 exhibited reduced overall survival (OS). PD-L1 was expressed in HCC TCs and TICs. Its expression in TCs was associated with higher HCC grades, advanced stages, capsular and/or vascular invasion, and nodal metastasis, and cases that expressed PD-L1 displayed reduced OS. Therefore, PD-L1 might serve as a poor prognostic indicator and a tumor immunotherapy target.

Comparative study of different chromatographic techniques for the analysis of multi-residues of some approved antimicrobials in fish tissues.

Two chromatographic methods were developed, optimized and validated for the simultaneous determination of three approved aquaculture antimicrobials, namely sulphadimethoxine sodium, trimethoprim and florphenicol in fish tissues. The developed methods were based on simple liquid extraction technique. The first method employs thin-layer chromatography as a clean-up procedure coupled with densitometric determination for the separated drugs. The second method is an HPLC one using X-Terra™ C18 column. Several mobile-phase systems and extracting solvents were tried to optimize the separation and the extraction procedures from fish tissues. The procedures were applied for the analysis of spiked fish tissue samples at three different concentration levels (10, 50 and 100 ppm). A comparative study was conducted between the proposed methods to discuss the advantage of each one. The methods were validated according to the international conference on harmonization guidelines. The proposed methods were successfully applied for the determination of the studied drugs in spiked fish tissues, pure powders and in their veterinary pharmaceutical formulation.

Validated univariate and multivariate spectrophotometric methods for the determination of pharmaceuticals mixture in complex wastewater.

Five, accurate, precise, and sensitive univariate and multivariate spectrophotometric methods were developed for the simultaneous determination of a ternary mixture containing Trimethoprim (TMP), Sulphamethoxazole (SMZ) and Oxytetracycline (OTC) in waste water samples collected from different cites either production wastewater or livestock wastewater after their solid phase extraction using OASIS HLB cartridges. In univariate methods OTC was determined at its λmax 355.7 nm (0D), while (TMP) and (SMZ) were determined by three different univariate methods. Method (A) is based on successive spectrophotometric resolution technique (SSRT). The technique starts with the ratio subtraction method followed by ratio difference method for determination of TMP and SMZ. Method (B) is successive derivative ratio technique (SDR). Method (C) is mean centering of the ratio spectra (MCR). The developed multivariate methods are principle component regression (PCR) and partial least squares (PLS). The specificity of the developed methods is investigated by analyzing laboratory prepared mixtures containing different ratios of the three drugs. The obtained results are statistically compared with those obtained by the official methods, showing no significant difference with respect to accuracy and precision at p=0.05.

Validated spectrophotometric methods for simultaneous determination of troxerutin and carbazochrome in dosage form.

Four simple, accurate, sensitive and precise spectrophotometric methods were developed and validated for simultaneous determination of Troxerutin (TXN) and Carbazochrome (CZM) in their bulk powders, laboratory prepared mixtures and pharmaceutical dosage forms. Method A is first derivative spectrophotometry (D(1)) where TXN and CZM were determined at 294 and 483.5 nm, respectively. Method B is first derivative of ratio spectra (DD(1)) where the peak amplitude at 248 for TXN and 439 nm for CZM were used for their determination. Method C is ratio subtraction (RS); in which TXN was determined at its λmax (352 nm) in the presence of CZM which was determined by D(1) at 483.5 nm. While, method D is mean centering of the ratio spectra (MCR) in which the mean centered values at 300 nm and 340.0 nm were used for the two drugs in a respective order. The two compounds were simultaneously determined in the concentration ranges of 5.00-50.00 µg mL(-1) and 0.5-10.0 µg mL(-1) for TXN and CZM, respectively. The methods were validated according to the ICH guidelines and the results were statistically compared to the manufacturer's method.

Multi-residues determination of antimicrobials in fish tissues by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS method.

A rapid, simple, sensitive and specific LC-MS/MS method was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of four antimicrobials commonly used in aquaculture, namely ciprofloxacin (CPX), trimethoprim (TMP), sulphadimethoxine (SDM) and florphenicol (FLOR) in fish tissues. The LC-MS/MS was operated under the multiple-reaction monitoring mode using electrospray ionization. Sample preparation involves simple liquid extraction step followed by post-extraction clean-up step with n-hexane. The purified extracts were chromatographed on Agilent Poroshell 120 EC, C18 (50 mm × 3 mm, 2.7 µm) column by pumping an isocratic mobile phase consisting of 0.1% formic acid in water:0.1% formic acid in methanol (20:80, by volume) at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. A detailed validation of the method was performed as per FDA guidelines and the standard curves were found to be linear in the range of 1-100 ng/g for both CPX and TMP, 0.5-100 ng/g for SDM and 1-50 ng/g for FLOR. The intra-day and inter-day precision and accuracy of the results were within the acceptable limits. A run time of 1.5 min for each sample made it possible to analyze multiple fish tissue samples per day. The developed assay method was successfully applied for the detection of antimicrobials in real fish tissue samples obtained from different fish farms.

Simultaneous determination of metronidazole and spiramycin in bulk powder and in tablets using different spectrophotometric techniques.

Metronidazole (MZ) is an anti-infective drug used in the treatment of anaerobic bacterial and protozoa infections in humans. It is also used as a veterinary antiparasitic drug. Spiramycin (SP) is a medium-spectrum antibiotic with high effectiveness against Gram-positive bacteria. Three simple, sensitive, selective and precise spectrophotometric methods were developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of MZ and SP in their pure form and in pharmaceutical formulations. In methods A and B, MZ was determined by the application of direct spectrophotometry and by measuring its zero-order (D(0)) absorption spectra at its λ(max) = 311 nm. In method A, SP was determined by the application of first derivative spectrophotometry (D(1)) and by measuring the amplitude at 218.3 nm. In method B, the first derivative of the ratio spectra (DD(1)) was applied, and SP was determined by measuring the peak amplitude at 245.6 nm. Method C entailed mean centering of the ratio spectra (MCR), which allows the determination of both MZ and SP. The methods developed were used for the determination of MZ and SP over a concentration range of 5-25 µg ml(-1). The proposed methods were used to determine both drugs in their pure, powdered forms with mean percentage recoveries of 100.16 ± 0.73 for MZ in methods A and B, 101.10 ± 0.90 in method C, 100.09 ± 0.70, 100.02 ± 0.88 and 100.49 ± 1.26 for SP in methods A, B and C, respectively. The proposed methods were proved using laboratory-prepared mixtures of the two drugs and were successfully applied to the analysis of MZ and SP in tablet formulation without any interference from each other or from the excipients. The results obtained by applying the proposed methods were compared statistically with a reported HPLC method and no significant difference was observed between these methods regarding both accuracy and precision.