Molecular, biochemical and anatomical analysis of some potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivars growing in Egypt.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is widely used for many industrial and food applications. Nine potato cultivars were planted and collected from a private farm in new Salihiyyah city, Sharkia governorate, Egypt to compare between them at morphological, molecular, biochemical and anatomical levels. Our results indicated that the Inova cultivar was better, however the Bafana cultivar was worse in relation to yield parameters. Inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) molecular marker has been used to determine the genetic diversity between these nine cultivars. Through using ten primers we obtained 98 bands, 85 of which were polymorphic by 87%. The highest similarity value (0.827) was found between Caruso and Alliance as the closest but the lowest value (0.418) was found between Charlotte and Bafana as the most distant. Everest tuber contained great amounts of total phenolic and peroxidase activity, while the Bafana tuber contained small amounts of it compared to other cultivars. The phellem layer of the Everest tuber had more thickness than others and the number of phellem rows was the highest. However, the Bafana cultivar listed the lowest value compared to other cultivars. Lower values from both of total bacterial and total fungi were recorded on the tuber of the Everest cultivar. However, Bafana cultivar was recorded to have a higher value of both compared to other cultivars. We suggest that the ISSR marker is a suitable procedure to examine the potato's genetic diversity at the DNA level. The Everest cultivar is considering the best cultivar to planting and breeding in Egypt.

Maternal mortality in Kassala State - Eastern Sudan: community-based study using reproductive age mortality survey (RAMOS).

BACKGROUND: The maternal mortality ratio in Sudan was estimated at 750/100,000 live births. Sudan was one of eleven countries that are responsible for 65% of global maternal deaths according to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) estimate. Maternal mortality in Kassala State was high in national demographic surveys. This study was conducted to investigate the causes and contributing factors of maternal deaths and to identify any discrepancies in rates and causes between different areas. METHODS: A reproductive age mortality survey (RAMOS) was conducted to study maternal mortality in Kassala State. Deaths of women of reproductive age (WRA) in four purposively selected areas were identified by interviewing key informants in each village followed by verbal autopsy. RESULTS: Over a three-year period, 168 maternal deaths were identified among 26,066 WRA. Verbal autopsies were conducted in 148 (88.1%) of these cases. Of these, 64 (43.2%) were due to pregnancy and childbirth complications. Maternal mortality rates and ratios were 80.6 per 100,000 WRA and 713.6 per 100,000 live births (LB), respectively. There was a wide discrepancy between urban and rural maternal mortality ratios (369 and 872\100,000 LB, respectively). Direct obstetric causes were responsible for 58.4% of deaths. Severe anemia (20.3%) and acute febrile illness (9.4%) were the major indirect causes of maternal death whereas obstetric hemorrhage (15.6%), obstructed labor (14.1%) and puerperal sepsis (10.9%) were the major obstetric causes.Of the contributing factors, we found delay of referral in 73.4% of cases in spite of a high problem recognition rate (75%). 67.2% of deaths occurred at home, indicating under utilization of health facilities, and transportation problems were found in 54.7% of deaths.There was a high illiteracy rate among the deceased and their husbands (62.5% and 48.4%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Maternal mortality rates and ratios were found to be high, with a wide variation between urban and rural populations. Direct causes of maternal death were similar to those in developing countries. To reduce this high maternal mortality rate we recommend improving provision of emergency obstetric care (Emoc) in all health facilities, expanding midwifery training and coverage especially in rural areas.

Investigation of a spatiotemporal cluster of verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli O157 infections in eastern England in 2007.

An outbreak of verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli O157 (VTEC O157) infections linked to an open farm occurred in eastern England in April and May 2007. This paper describes the investigation and highlights the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration for successful control of such outbreaks. There was a temporal cluster of 12 confirmed symptomatic cases of VTEC O157 and one asymptomatic carrier, from five families. The investigation revealed that four of these cases formed part of an outbreak involving two families who visited an open farm. The phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of the isolates from the two families and the putative farm animal contacts were indistinguishable, indicating that the animals were the source of the primary infections. No epidemiological link could be established between the remaining three families affected and the open farm or people having visited the farm. Control measures included improved hand washing facilities on the farm, information for visitors and staff, restricted access and suspended petting and feeding of animals, and thorough cleaning and disinfection of affected areas.

Schistosoma mansoni infection as a predictor of severe anaemia in schoolchildren in eastern Sudan.

A cross-sectional study was carried out to investigate the prevalence and risk factors for severe anaemia among schoolchildren in New Halfa, eastern Sudan. After taking age and gender, haemoglobin (Hb) levels were measured and all children were screened for malaria and intestinal parasitic infections, including schistosomiasis. Six hundred and forty (230 boys, 410 girls) schoolchildren aged 8-18 years were enrolled. The mean (SD) of the haemoglobin was 9.6 (1.7) mg/dl. One hundred and eleven (17.3%) and 33 (5.2%) children had Schistosoma mansoni infection and Hymenolepis nana infection, respectively. Five hundred and eighty (90.6%) of these children had anaemia (Hb < 12 g/dl), and 103 (16.0%) of them had severe anaemia (Hb < 8 g/dl). Girls (OR = 2.5, 95% CI = 1.1-5.3; P = 0.01) were at higher risk for severe anaemia in univariate and multivariate analyses. Schistosoma mansoni infections were associated with severe anaemia in univariate analyses only. Thus, there was a high prevalence of severe anaemia among these children. This needs to be investigated in more depth in the future, and more attention should be paid to the health of adolescent girls.

Safety of artemisinins during early pregnancy, assessed in 62 Sudanese women.

Between June 2006 and October 2008, the safety of artemisinins during early human pregnancy was assessed in central-eastern Sudan. Pregnant women in the first or second trimester who were attending antenatal-care clinics at the Wad Medani, Gadarif and New Halfa hospitals were interviewed. Each was asked if they had had malaria in the first trimester of the index pregnancy and, if so, what treatment they had received. The women who had received artemisinins were then followed-up until delivery and their babies were followed-up until they were 1-year-olds. Overall, 62 of the pregnant women reported receiving artemisinins - artemether injections (48), artesunate plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (11) or artemether plus lumefantrine (three) - during the first trimester. Medical records were available for 51 (82%) of these 62 women, and, in each case, these records showed the reported treatment and that malaria had been confirmed. Only nine (15%) of the 62 women given artemisinins had not known that they were pregnant when treated. Two of the treated women (both given artemether injections in the first trimester) had miscarriages, one at 20 weeks of gestation and the other at 22 weeks, each while receiving quinine infusions for a second attack of malaria. The other 60 women who had received artemisinins delivered apparently healthy babies at full term. No congenital malformations were detected, there was no preterm labour, no maternal deaths were recorded during the follow-up, and none of the babies died during their first year of life. It therefore appears that artemisinins may be safe to use during early pregnancy, although further study is clearly needed.

Legionnaires' disease: when an 'outbreak' is not an outbreak.

During August 2006, there was a large increase in non-travel related legionella cases throughout England and in the Netherlands.

Outbreak of hepatitis A infection among intravenous drug users in Suffolk and suspected risk factors.

A prolonged outbreak of hepatitis A infection amongst drug users in Suffolk prompted a study of the natural immunity against hepatitis A in this population, and a retrospective analysis of the relationship between specific drug-taking behaviours and the risk of hepatitis A infection. Prior to the outbreak, age-specific seroprevalence of hepatitis A IgG in drug users was similar to that amongst blood donors in the region. Of those without effective immunity, intravenous drug users, multiple drug users and those injecting frequently were more likely to have developed hepatitis. The reported frequency of equipment sharing and the number of injecting partners were not related to the risk of infection. The potential for blood-to-blood, and a suggested faecal-blood transmission were considered to be important in propagating the outbreak in this population. We suggest that a single dose of hepatitis A vaccine administered opportunistically should be used in outbreaks involving drug users.

Voltammetric, spectrofluorimetric and spectrophotometric methods to determine flufenamic acid.

Simple, rapid and sensitive voltammetric, spectrofluorimetric and spectrophotometric methods for determination of flufenamic acid (FF) in bulk powder and capsule dosage form are presented. The methods are based on the cyclisation reaction of FF with concentrated sulphuric acid to produce the corresponding acridone derivative. The voltammetric method is based on the adsorptive stripping differential pulse (DP) technique. The acridone derivative is determined over the concentration range of 8-60 ng ml(-1) using adsorptive preconcentration at the hanging mercury drop electrode (HMDE). The lower detection limit was found to be 1.02 ng ml(-1). The fluorimetric and spectrophotometric methods are based on the measurement of the fluorescence intensity at 450 nm (lambda(ex) = 400 nm)and peak-to-peak measurements of the first- (D1) and second-derivative (D2) curves, respectively. Beer's law is obeyed over the concentration ranges of 2-20 ng ml(-1) and 0.2-8.0 microg ml(-1) for the fluorimetric and spectrophotometric measurements, respectively. The three methods were proved to be accurate and reproducible as indicated by a relative standard deviation of <2%.

UV-spectrophotometric determination of ampicillin sodium and sulbactam sodium in two-component mixtures.

A simple spectrophotometric method is used for the resolution of the binary mixtures of ampicillin sodium and sulbactam sodium. In aqueous solution, zero-order spectra are subject to interference, so first-derivative spectrophotometry was used to enhance the spectral details allowing the determination of ampicillin sodium from the signal at the zero-crossing point for sulbactam sodium at 268 nm. In 0.1 N sodium hydroxide, sulbactam sodium was determined from the absorbance at 260 nm with negligible contribution from ampicillin sodium. Also, sulbactam sodium was determined without interference using first- and second-derivative spectra in 0.1 N sodium hydroxide at 276 nm (peak-height) and 262-284 nm (peak-to-peak), respectively. The method is rapid, simple, does not require a separation step and allows the determination of each drug without interference from the other. The proposed method has been applied successfully to the assay of these drugs in mixtures and in commercial injections.

Computer-assisted spectrophotometry: multicomponent analysis with a discrete fourier transform.

A computer-assisted method for analysis of multicomponent mixtures by use of conventional absorbance as well as discrete Fourier transforin coefficients (combined trigonometric functions) is presented. The program can store absorbance data (A vs. lambda), process data by convolution with combined trigonometric functions, apply least-squares analysis and solve the resultant simultaneous linear equations, and display data on screen, printer or plotter.

Second derivative spectrophotometric determination of acetaminophen and phenacetin in presence of their degradation products.

A rapid and accurate method for determining acetaminophen and phenacetin in presence of their degradation products is presented. Solutions of these drugs in 0.1N HCl were analyzed by measuring their second derivative spectral response at 295 nm where the degradation products do not interfere. The mean percent recoveries for mixtures of acetaminophen and/or phenacetin with the corresponding degradation products were 100.2 +/- 0.6 and 100.6 +/- 1.1, respectively. The method can be used for assessing the stability of the 2 drugs. The proposed method is also applied to the determination of acetaminophen in tablets and syrups.

Spectrofluorimetric assay of tetracycline and anhydrotetracycline in combination.

Spectrofluorimetric methods are described for the assay of tetracycline (TC) and anhydrotetracycline (ATC) in combination, without prior separation. The interference from ATC in the TC assay has been corrected for by forming the aluminium complexes of both drugs and measuring the difference in fluorescence at 475 and 418 nm, with excitation at 393 nm. Similarly, measurement of the fluorescence of the magnesium complexes at 525 and 470 nm (excitation at 440 nm) nullifies TC interference in the ATC assay.