Dysregulation of micro-RNA contributes to the risk of unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss

Although there are plenty of evidence that dysregulation of microRNA (miRNA) level is involved in many human diseases, it is still unknown whether abnormal levels of specific miRNAs are associated with recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). We believe that such an association do exist as this study confirmed significant differences in the level of specific miRNAs between RPL cases and healthy controls. The study was conducted on 100 Palestinian women: 60 patients with at least two unexplained consecutive pregnancy losses half of them were pregnant at the first trimester and the rest were non-pregnant and 40 healthy controls with at least two live births and no history of pregnancy loss; half of them were at their first trimester of pregnancy and the rest were non-pregnant. We investigated the relative expression of miR-21, miR-126, miR-155, miR-182, miR-222 and miR-517* using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Ct method experiments. Differential expression was evaluated using Student t-test and fold change analyses. The expression difference of miR-21, miR-126 and miR-182 between patients and controls in the pregnant subjects showed statistically significant difference (p-value ≤ 0.05) with fold decrease of 1.5, 1.6 and 5.6, respectively. In the non-pregnant group miR-21, miR-126, miR-222 and miR-517* expressions were significantly different with fold decrease of 2.4, 2.9, 2.7 and 11.8, respectively. In conclusion, at least miR-21 and miR-126 could serve as potential markers for idiopathic RPL as their levels were significantly lower in patients before being pregnant and during pregnancy. Moreover, restoration of the normal level of those miRNAs might be a novel intervention strategy in unexplained RPL

Prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis among women attending gynecology and infertility clinics in Gaza, Palestine

SummaryBackgroundChlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular bacterium characterized by a biphasic developmental cycle of replication. The organism is recognized as one of the major causes of sexually transmissible human bacterial infection throughout the world. Since there have been no previous studies dealing with chlamydial diagnosis in Palestine, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence of C. trachomatis infection among women attending gynecology and infertility clinics.MethodsEndocervical swabs were collected from 109 women, aged 18–52 years (median 29 years), attending gynecology and infertility clinics in Gaza. These specimens were processed using molecular (polymerase chain reaction, PCR) and enzyme immunoassay (EIA; IDEIA™ PCE Chlamydia) techniques.ResultsThe results obtained show that the overall prevalence rate of C. trachomatis was 20.2%. The sensitivity was 73% for the EIA, 86% for the MOMP (major outer membrane protein gene)-based PCR, and 100% for the plasmid-based PCR. Meanwhile the specificity was 94% for the EIA, 98% for the plasmid-based PCR, and 100% for the MOMP-based PCR. In multivariate analysis, only cervical discharge was significantly associated with positivity for C. trachomatis (adjusted odds ratio 5.6, 95% confidence interval 2.0–15.5; p=0.001).ConclusionsThe study revealed that a significant proportion of Palestinian women expressed evidence of exposure to C. trachomatis. Women with cervicitis are more likely to have been previously infected or exposed to Chlamydia infection. Furthermore, PCR proved to be superior and more efficient in the diagnosis of C. trachomatis than EIA

Isolation and molecular characterization of cry gene for Bacillus thuringiensis isolated from soil of gaza strip

Bacillus thuringiensis, insecticide, polymerase chain reactions (PCR), crystalline protein, Cry gene, Gaza strip. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a rod-shaped, gram-positive, facultative anaerobic, and spore-forming bacterium (Konecka et al., 2007). During sporulation, it produces insecticidal proteins, which are deposited within the sporangium as crystalline aggregates (Crickomre et al., 1998

Numerical analysis of the damage mechanics variable and vibration of a viscothermoelastic microbeam with variable thermal conductivity

In the present paper, the analysis for thermoelastic homogeneous isotropic microbeams has been constructed. A generalized viscothermoelasticity theory of one relaxation time with variable thermal conductivity in the context of damage mechanics definition has been applied based on simply supported conditions for aspect ratios. Laplace transform has been applied for the governing differential equations, and its inverse has been carried out by using the Tzou method. Microbeam of silicon nitride has been considered when it is subjected to ramp-type heating and simply supported. The results have been illustrated in figures to stand on the impacts of the viscothermoelastic parameter, the thermal conductivity parameter, the value of the beam thickness, and the ramp-type heating parameter. The influences of the mentioned parameters are significant on all the studied functions, and the ramp-type heating parameter plays a vital role in thermodynamically damping of the energy which has been generated on the beam

Association of Inherited Thrombophilia with Recurrent Pregnancy Loss in Palestinian Women

Objective. This study aimed at analyzing the association between recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) and factor V G1691A (FVL), prothrombin G20210 (FII); and MTHFR C677T (MTHFR) in Palestinian women. Method. We studied 329 Palestinian women with RPL and/or stillbirth (SB); and compared them to 402 healthy reproductive Palestinian women. Cases and controls were tested for the above mutations. Odds ratio (OR) at confidence interval (CI) of 95% was used as a measure of association between the mutations and RPL. Results. Our statistical analysis showed a slightly increased association, which was not significant between FVL and RPL (OR 1.32, 95% CI 0.90–1.94), and no association between FII (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.38–1.92), MTHFR (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.32–1.03), and RPL. Further analysis of RPL subgroups revealed an association between FVL and first-trimester loss (OR 1.33, 95% CI 0.892–1.989), and second-trimester loss (OR 1.13, 95% CI 0.480–2.426), both were not statistically significant. Furthermore, the only statistically significant association was between FVL and SB (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.05–3.70). Conclusion. Our analysis had failed to find a significant association between FVL, FII, MTHFR; and RPL in either the first or second trimester. FVL was significantly associated with fetal loss if the loss was a stillbirth

Selective extraction of proteins and other macromolecules from biological samples using molecular imprinted polymers

The accurate determination of intact macromolecules in biological samples, such as blood, plasma, serum, urine, tissue and feces is a challenging problem. The increased interest in macromolecules both as candidate drugs and as biomarkers for diagnostic purposes means that new method development approaches are needed. This review charts developments in the use of molecularly imprinted polymers first for small-molecular-mass compounds then for proteins and other macromolecules. Examples of the development of molecularly imprinted polymers for macromolecules are highlighted. The two main application areas to date are sensors and separation science, particularly SPE. Examples include peptides and polypeptides, lysozyme, hemoglobin, ovalbumin, bovine serum albumin and viruses

Comparing the Preventive Measures of Prophet Muhammads Teachings to Preventive Medicine in Combating COVID-19

This study follows the partial inductive approach to identify the Prophetic Sayings pertaining to the subject. By comparing with contemporary preventive medicine principles, this study aims to present the most salient preventive measures found in the teachings of Prophet Muhammad and which can be useful in preventing COVID-19 epidemic. In addition, it follows the analytical approach in studying the subjects which could be related to the protection against infection transmission and compare them with well-established principles of preventive medicine. And the study follows a deductive approach to identify the most important rules and instructions pertaining to the subject from the Prophetic Sayings. The study found that the most preventive principles found in the Prophetic sayings are daily hand washing while massaging them, ensuring the cleanliness of the mouth and nose, encouraging the use of available means such as handkerchiefs to prevent the spread of coughing and sneezing droplets, burying the secretions of the nose and mouth if handkerchiefs are not available, and the frequent use of toothpicks to brush the teeth and tongue. Furthermore, the study found that the Prophetic Sayings accentuate the importance of strictly enforced isolation and quarantine during an epidemic. Such measures are found to coincide with the teachings of Islamic faith

High Genetic Diversity of Human Rhinovirus among Pilgrims with Acute Respiratory Tract Infections during 2019 Hajj Pilgrimage Season

OBJECTIVES: Acute Respiratory tract infections (ARI) due to Human Rhinoviruses (HRV) are common in pilgrims during the annual Hajj pilgrimage. The objective of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity of HRV among pilgrims with respiratory symptoms during Hajj 2019. METHODS: HRV infection was detected using multiplex real time RT-PCR. Cycle sequencing was performed on positive samples and the sequences were subjected to phylogenetic analysis. RESULTS: 19 HRV-positive respiratory samples were sequenced. All three serotypes of HRV were identified: HRV-A (13; [68.42%)) was more common than HRV-B (2; [10.53%]), and HRV-C (4; [21.05%]). HRV-A species were found to be of genotypes A101, A21, A30, A57, A23, A60 and A11. HRV-B species belonged to genotypes B4 and B84, and HRV-C species were of genotypes C15, C3 and C56. CONCLUSIONS: Sequencing studies of respiratory tract viruses in pilgrims are important. We provide preliminary evidence of high diversity of HRV genotypes circulating in pilgrims in a restricted area during Hajj. This requires further clinical and sequencing studies of viral pathogens in larger consorts of overseas and local pilgrims