Radiological evaluation of postoperative complications after non-sleeve gastrectomy bariatric procedures

Background: Obesity is a medical condition, which may lead to serious related diseases, ultimately, resulting in many morbidities and early mortality. Its management involves many approaches of which bariatric surgery is considered nowadays as one of the most effective treatment for it. However, follow up of postoperative complications of this surgery by effective radiological method as computed tomography (CT) is important for assessment of its success.Objective: The aim of this study was to illuminate the radiological signs and features of postoperative complications after non sleeve bariatric procedures and stressing the importance of using multi-slice CT (MSCT), and fluoroscopic study for detection of these complications. Patients and methods: An observational cohort study for 275 patients with suspected complications after non sleeve gastrectomy bariatric procedures, including 195 patients after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), 76 patients after laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) and 4 patients after intragastric balloon placement was done. These patients were subjected to either multi-slice CT and or fluoroscopy. Results: We detected complications in 21 patients out of the 195 patients who underwent RYGB: leakage, abscess, intestinal obstruction, internal hernia, port site ventral hernia, intussusception, fistula between the gastric pouch and the excluded stomach and hiatus hernia. On the other hand, 8 out of 76 patients operated by LAGB developed complications: band slippage, band erosion, pouch dilatation and tubal disconnection. Lastly two out of the 4 patients who placed intra-gastric balloon encountered other complications: gastric outlet obstruction, spontaneous balloon deflation and distal migration with intestinal obstruction.Conclusion: It could be concluded that bariatric procedures may be followed by many complications and accurate diagnosis of these problems by proper radiological procedures as MSCT is imperative

Removal of Carcinogenic Hexavalent Chromium by Reduction with Iron in Presence of Accelerator Non Toxic Organic Compounds (Chalcone)

The focus of this work is on Cr, which has two predominant oxidation states of the atmosphere: + â€3, which is an essential nutrient in low doses, and +â€6, which is highly toxic and carcinogenic. We found that, the reduction of Cr6+ to Cr3+ was first order reaction and the rate controlling step is the diffusion of (Cr6+) from bulk to iron surface. Toxicity reduction method includes studding of 1-aryl-3-(1-phenylpyrazolo [3,4-b] quinoxalin-3-yl) -2-propenones derivatives or chalcone derivatives concentration, temperatures and rotation speeds effect, which exhibit a strong dependence and supported that the process is diffusion controlled. Thermodynamic parameter ΔG*, ΔH* and ΔS* are given. Mass transfer study of the process was correlated by the equation: Sh = 0.53Sc0.33Re0.38. The order of acceleration was confirmed by quantum calculations

Effectiveness and suitability of vapor heat treatment in disinfestation of export mango fruit, cultivar Abu Samaka, from fruit flies

    Sudan has a great potential for the export of mango (Mangifera Indica L.) but fruit flies, mainly Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), Ceratitis cosyra (Walker), C. capitata (Wiedmann) and B. zonata (Saunders) are threatening the export industry. The countries importing mango require disinfestation treatment against fruit flies as a quarantine regulation. Effectiveness and suitability of vapor heat treatment (VHT) for disinfestation of the Sudanase mango cultivar Abu Samaka were undertaken in this study. In the VHT, the relative humidity of the treatment chamber was maintained at 99.7% and the temperature of the fruit pulp was raised gradually to reach 46.7°C in 5 hours then kept at this degree for 30 minutes before hydro-cooling for 20 minutes. For evaluation of the effectiveness of the treatment, naturally and artificially infested fruits were examined for fruit flies after treatment and compared with their respective untreated samples. To assess suitability of the treatment with respect to quality of the mango fruit, respiration rate, peel color, weight loss, flesh firmness, ascorbic acid content, total soluble solids, titratable acidity and reducing sugars were measured in the treated and control fruits.  The VHT was found effective in disinfestation of the mango cultivar Abu Samka from fruit flies and did not adversely affect the fruit market quality and increased the shelf life

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes in Egyptian pediatric cancer patients with acute and chronic active HBV infection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There are eight genotypes of hepatitis B virus (A-H) and subgenotypes are recognized. Genotyping can be accomplished based on a partial sequence of HBV genome such as the pre-S or S gene. Several methods have been developed and used for HBV genotyping. This study was undertaken to determine the HBV genotypes in Egyptian pediatric cancer patients with acute and chronic liver disease.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>HBV genotypes were determined in 22 patients who had acute forms of liver disease (AH) and in 48 patients with chronic active hepatitis (CAH). A type-specific primer based the nested-PCR method was employed in the HBV genotyping.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This study showed that HBV infections in pediatric cancer patients are attributed predominantly to viral genotypes D and B that constituted 37.1% and 25.7%, respectively of the total infections. In addition, there was a relatively high prevalence of mixed infections of 15.7% among the studied group especially mixed A/D genotype infections. Genotype D was found significantly more often in patients with CAH than in patients with AH [23/48(47.9%) <it>v </it>3/22 (13.6%)].</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings show the distribution of HBV A-D genotypes in pediatric cancer Egyptian patients. Furthermore, our results indicate a markedly high prevalence of mixed A/D genotype infections in subjects with CAH and a possible association of mixed infections with the severity of liver diseases.</p

Serial changes in the serum levels of leptin, homocysteine, galectin-3, total phospholipids and hexosamines among patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting

AbstractBackgroundCoronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common cardiovascular disorder in adults. This study was performed to elucidate the role of active leptin, homocysteine, galectin-3, total phospholipids, total, bound, free hexosamines, free-to-bound hexosamines ratio in the pathogenesis of chronic myocardial ischemia and studying the effect of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) on their serum levels.MethodsA prospective case control study was carried out on 100 ischemic heart disease male patients undergoing elective CABG and 25 healthy males. Serum levels of total phospholipids, total and free hexosamines, were estimated using spectrophotometric methods, while, serum levels of active leptin, homocysteine and galectin-3 were estimated using ELISA assay kit.ResultsSignificant higher serum active leptin, homocysteine, galectin-3, free hexosamines and free to bound hexosamines ratio levels preoperatively when compared with the control group (p < 0.01 for all) with significant lowering of their serum levels following CABG (p < 0.01 for all) except for active leptin. Significant lower serum total phospholipids, total and bound hexosamines levels preoperatively when compared with the control group (p < 0.01 for all) with significant elevations in their serum levels following CABG (p < 0.01 for all).ConclusionsHigh active leptin, homocysteine, galectin-3, free and free to bound hexosamines ratio and low total phospholipids, total and bound hexosamines play an important role in the pathogenesis of myocardial ischemia. The serum levels of homocysteine, galectin-3, hexosamines and total phospholipids, but not active leptin are significantly lowered following CABG

Toxic Effects of Trichloroethylene on Rat Neuroprogenitor Cells

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a common volatile organic solvent which is considered as an ubiquitous environmental pollutant. It is claimed to be a developmental neurotoxicant. Our group evaluated previously its impact on three-dimensional neurospheres in vitro. The current work aims to investigate the neurotoxic effects of a lower concentration of TCE on the same system. To perform the experiment, neural progenitor cells were obtained from the brains of nine newborn rats. Afterward, these cells were cultured in both growth and differentiation media to get the neurospheres. Cell cultures were divided into two groups: group 1 (control), group 2 (exposed to 0.25 μM TCE). Neurospheres were photographed at different durations and assessment of the morphological changes such as proliferation and differentiation of neurospheres was done. In addition, cell viability, apoptosis, and necrosis were analyzed using flow cytometry to clarify the mechanism of involved cytotoxicity. The results revealed that TCE-treated neurospheres showed significantly decreased proliferation on days 7 and 14. These cells failed to show the neurogenic differentiation seen in the neurospheres of the control group. Furthermore, a highly significant decrease in viability and a significant increase in the number of apoptotic cells were observed in the treated cells in comparison to the control group. The present work confirmed that TCE, at very low doses relevant to daily life exposure in humans, caused neurotoxic effects in 3D neurosphere model through the affection of neural proliferation and differentiation as well as disturbance of cell viability and apoptosis

Physical activity across the lifespan and liver cancer incidence in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study cohort.

While liver cancer rates in the United States are increasing, 5-year survival is only 17.6%, underscoring the importance of prevention. Physical activity has been associated with lower risk of developing liver cancer, but most studies assess physical activity only at a single point in time, often in midlife. We utilized physical activity data from 296,661 men and women in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study cohort to test whether physical activity patterns over the life course could elucidate the importance of timing of physical activity on liver cancer risk. We used group modeling of longitudinal data to create physical activity trajectories using four time points across the life course from teenage years through middle age, identifying seven distinct trajectories. We then used Cox proportional hazards regression to assess the association between the physical activity trajectories and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer. We found that, in adjusted analyses, compared to those with consistently low physical activity patterns, those who maintained activity levels over time had a 26-36% lower risk of liver cancer and those who increased physical activity over time had no associations with risk, while those who decreased activity over time had a nonsignificantly higher risk of liver cancer. Our results suggest that sustained physical activity is associated with lower risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, while increasing physical activity later in life may not yield the same benefit. Future research with larger sample sizes and more detailed data on dose and timing of physical activity may continue to yield insight into this association between physical activity and liver cancer risk

Scaffold Repurposing Reveals New Nanomolar Phosphodiesterase Type 5 (PDE5) Inhibitors Based on Pyridopyrazinone Scaffold: Investigation of In Vitro and In Silico Properties

Inhibition of PDE5 results in elevation of cGMP leading to vascular relaxation and reduction in the systemic blood pressure. Therefore, PDE5 inhibitors are used as antihypertensive and antianginal agents in addition to their major use as male erectile dysfunction treatments. Previously, we developed a novel series of 34 pyridopyrazinone derivatives as anticancer agents (series A–H). Herein, a multi-step in silico approach was preliminary conducted to evaluate the predicted PDE5 inhibitory activity, followed by an in vitro biological evaluation over the enzymatic level and a detailed SAR study. The designed 2D-QSAR model which was carried out to predict the IC50 of the tested compounds revealed series B, D, E and G with nanomolar range of IC50 values (6.00–81.56 nM). A further docking simulation model was performed to investigate the binding modes within the active site of PDE5. Interestingly, most of the tested compounds showed almost the same binding modes of that of reported PDE5 inhibitors. To validate the in silico results, an in vitro enzymatic assay over PDE5 enzyme was performed for a number of the promising candidates with different substitutions. Both series E and G exhibited a potent inhibitory activity (IC50 = 18.13–41.41 nM). Compound 11b (series G, oxadiazole-based derivatives with terminal 4-NO2 substituted phenyl ring and rigid linker) was the most potent analogue with IC50 value of 18.13 nM. Structure–activity relationship (SAR) data attained for various substitutions were rationalized. Furthermore, a molecular dynamic simulation gave insights into the inhibitory activity of the most active compound (11b). Accordingly, this report presents a successful scaffold repurposing approach that reveals compound 11b as a highly potent nanomolar PDE5 inhibitor worthy of further investigation