The Role of Some Inflammatory Markers (IL-6 and CRP) in the Pathogenesis of Acute Coronary Syndrome in Iraqi CCU for Heart Diseases

In this work an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique has been used for detection of some inflammatory markers in serum of acute coronary syndrome (ACS)-Patients Admitted to the cardiac care unit (CCU) of Iraqi Centre For Heart Diseases and Ibn AlNafees Teaching Hospital. The present method includes quantitative measurement of interleukine-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP), as their increase during symptoms may be responsible for identifying the mechanism of myocardial damag, in addition to their best performance than other quantitative tests perhaps due to their association with atherosclerotic process that belongs to the endothelial dysfunction. Aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence and correlation of IL-6 with CRP in ACS- patients presented with unstable angina/ non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (UA/NSTEMI) symptoms to be as new diagnostic parameters in Iraqi CCU. Seventy (70) ACS- patients with mean age (58.55 year ±  9.98), from Jun.2009 to Feb. 2010 with diagnosis of UA/NSTEMI were included in this study. Proper history, physical examination, electrocardiograph (ECG), and Echocardiography (ECHO) were performed for all patients in addition to the routine laboratory works including fasting blood glucose, lipid profile, assay of transaminases activity (Aspartate and Alanine transaminase),and biomarkers analysis as cardiac troponin I and T, creatine kinase (CK and CK-MB) and myoglobin. Blood sample was collected from all patients for quantitative assay of IL-6 and CRP. All patients underwent diagnostic coronary angiography, were 66 of them with abnormal coronary outcome and four patients have normal coronary arteries, study include 39- male and 31 female. Seventeen of 67 patients (25.4%) had elevated serum level of IL-6 and fifty four of 62 patients (87.1%) had elevated serum level of CRP. Statistically found strong and significant (SS) correlation between IL-6 and CRP (assessed by Spearman's rho correlation coefficient, P<0.01). The significant proportion of UA/NSTEMI patients that had elevated serum levels of IL-6 and/or CRP, in addition to the strong correlation with coronary angiographic findings make these inflammatory markers to be considered  as risk stratification factors and good predictors for coronary artery disease independent of other traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Key words: ACS. IL-6. CRP

Primary umbilical endometriosis: Radical excision (omphalectomy) and laparoscopic management of associated pelvic endometriosis in a low resource tertiary hospital

Primary umbilical endometriosis (PUE) is a rare condition affecting 0.5 – 1% of all extragenital endometriosis cases. We reviewed the data of five women with umbilical endometriosis retrospectively. The age range was 29 – 46 years, and they were all nulligravid at presentation. Common clinical presentation was umbilical pain and masses, dysmenorrhea, and primary infertility. Radical umbilical excision was performed to remove the nodule as a definitive treatment. Diagnostic laparoscopy was performed, followed by varying degrees of operative laparoscopic procedures. They all had endometriosis in the pelvis. Three out of five women operated became pregnant and had live births. Complete resolution of clinical symptoms with a reduction in umbilical and menstrual pain scores occurred. In resource-constrained settings, diagnosis, and treatment of PUE may be challenging. Clinical suspicion and appropriate case management are critical for good reproductive outcomes and quality of life. &nbsp; L'endométriose ombilicale primaire (PUE) est une maladie rare affectant 0,5 à 1 % de tous les cas d'endométriose extragénitale. Nous avons examiné les données de cinq femmes atteintes d'endométriose ombilicale rétrospectivement. La tranche d'âge était de 29 à 46 ans, et ils étaient tous nulligravides à la présentation. Le tableau clinique commun était la douleur et les masses ombilicales, la dysménorrhée et l'infertilité primaire. Une excision ombilicale radicale a été réalisée pour retirer le nodule comme traitement définitif. La laparoscopie diagnostique a été réalisée, suivie de divers degrés de procédures laparoscopiques opératoires. Ils avaient tous une endométriose du bassin. Trois femmes opérées sur cinq sont tombées enceintes et ont eu des naissances vivantes. Une résolution complète des symptômes cliniques avec une réduction des scores de douleur ombilicale et menstruelle s'est produite. Dans les milieux à ressources limitées, le diagnostic et le traitement du PUE peuvent être difficiles. La suspicion clinique et une prise en charge appropriée des cas sont essentielles pour de bons résultats en matière de reproduction et une bonne qualité de vie

Preparing of Barium Titanate Using Chemical Method and Studying of Its Structural Properties

Single crystalline BaTiO3 (BT) was prepared using TiCl4, BaCl2 and oxalic acid. The structure of the prepared nanocrystalline BT powders were a tetragonal perovskite according to XRD and HRTEM analysis. Annealing powder to 750oC show that pure BT phase was formed according to XRD, TG, and FTIR spectroscopy. The TEM images of the prepared powder reveal spherical morphology of BT, while a finger twin, dendritic and embryo shape are observed of BT powder calcined at 230, 530, and 750oC respectively. SAED and HRTEM images showed a high crystalline BT powder and a single crystalline BT respectively

Study of rice husk silicate effects on the elastic, physical and structural properties of borotellurite glasses

Successful extraction of high purity SiO₂ (about 99%) from rice husk (waste) was achieved in this work using the cold acid leaching method. Glass series [(TeO₂)0.₇ (B₂O₃)0.₃]1-x (SiO₂)x were fabricated using the rice husk silicate (RHS) by melt-quenching method. The samples were subjected to X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) characterization to study the structural nature of the glass system. Density and ultrasonic velocities were measured to obtain the elastic constants for the various silicate proportions in the glass using ultrasonic data obtained from non-destructive ultrasonic probing technique. The elastic moduli calculated from the obtained data were found to have increased with the addition of more RHS in the glass. Other parameters studied include the microhardness (H), Poisson's ratio (σ), softening temperature (ϴD) and fractal bond connectivity (d) and the fluctuation free volume (fugacity, fg). A very unusual occurrence was observed as microhardness value decreases in the glass system as more RHS (SiO₂) is introduced. The quality of the glass in terms of elastic behavior improved with addition of RHS in the borotellurite glass network

Blast phase myeloproliferative neoplasm: Mayo-AGIMM study of 410 patients from two separate cohorts

A total of 410 patients with blast phase myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN-BP) were retrospectively reviewed: 248 from the Mayo Clinic and 162 from Italy. Median survival was 3.6 months, with no improvement over the last 15 years. Multivariable analysis performed on the Mayo cohort identified high risk karyotype, platelet count < 100 × 109 /L, age > 65 years and transfusion need as independent risk factors for survival. Also in the Mayo cohort, intensive chemotherapy resulted in complete remission (CR) or CR with incomplete count recovery (CRi) rates of 35 and 24%, respectively; treatment-specified 3-year/5-year survival rates were 32/10% for patients receiving allogeneic stem cell transplant (AlloSCT) (n = 24), 19/13% for patients achieving CR/CRi but were not transplanted (n = 24), and 1/1% in the absence of both AlloSCT and CR/CRi (n = 200) (p < 0.01). The survival impact of AlloSCT (HR 0.2, 95% CI 0.1–0.3), CR/CRi without AlloSCT (HR 0.3, 95% CI 0.2–0.5), high risk karyotype (HR 1.6, 95% CI 1.1–2.2) and platelet count < 100 × 109 /L (HR 1.6, 95% CI 1.1–2.2) were confirmed to be interindependent. Similar observations were made in the Italian cohort. The current study identifies the setting for improved short-term survival in MPN-BP, but also highlights the limited value of current therapy, including AlloSCT, in securing long-term survival

Lunasin and Bowman-Birk Protease Inhibitor Concentrations of Protein Extracts from Enzyme-Assisted Aqueous Extraction of Soybeans

Lunasin and Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor (BBI) are two soybean peptides to which health-promoting properties have been attributed. Concentrations of these peptides were determined in skim fractions produced by enzyme-assisted aqueous extraction processing (EAEP) of extruded full-fat soybean flakes (an alternative to extracting oil from soybeans with hexane) and compared with similar extracts from hexane-defatted soybean meal. Oil and protein were extracted by using countercurrent twostage EAEP of soybeans at 1:6 solids-to-liquid ratio, 50C, pH 9.0, and 120 rpm for 1 h. Protein-rich skim fractions were produced from extruded full-fat soybean flakes using different enzyme strategies in EAEP: 0.5% protease (wt/g extruded flakes) used in both extraction stages; 0.5% protease used only in the second extraction stage; no enzyme used in either extraction stage. Countercurrent two-stage protein extraction of air-desolventized, hexane-defatted soybean flakes was used as a control. Protein extraction yields increased from 66% to 89-96% when using countercurrent two-stage EAEP with extruded full-fat flakes compared to 85% when using countercurrent two-stage protein extraction of air-desolventized, hexane-defatted soybean flakes. Extruding full-fat soybean flakes reduced BBI activity. Enzymatic hydrolysis reduced BBI contents of EAEP skims. Lunasin, however, was more resistant to both enzymatic hydrolysis and heat denaturation. Although using enzymes in both EAEP extraction stages yielded the highest protein and oil extractions, reducing enzyme use to only the second stage preserved much of the BBI and Lunasin

The λ Red Proteins Promote Efficient Recombination between Diverged Sequences: Implications for Bacteriophage Genome Mosaicism

Genome mosaicism in temperate bacterial viruses (bacteriophages) is so great that it obscures their phylogeny at the genome level. However, the precise molecular processes underlying this mosaicism are unknown. Illegitimate recombination has been proposed, but homeologous recombination could also be at play. To test this, we have measured the efficiency of homeologous recombination between diverged oxa gene pairs inserted into λ. High yields of recombinants between 22% diverged genes have been obtained when the virus Red Gam pathway was active, and 100 fold less when the host Escherichia coli RecABCD pathway was active. The recombination editing proteins, MutS and UvrD, showed only marginal effects on λ recombination. Thus, escape from host editing contributes to the high proficiency of virus recombination. Moreover, our bioinformatics study suggests that homeologous recombination between similar lambdoid viruses has created part of their mosaicism. We therefore propose that the remarkable propensity of the λ-encoded Red and Gam proteins to recombine diverged DNA is effectively contributing to mosaicism, and more generally, that a correlation may exist between virus genome mosaicism and the presence of Red/Gam-like systems

Prevalence and risk factors of hepatitis B and C viruses among haemodialysis patients in Gaza strip, Palestine

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) and its associated risk factors among haemodialysis (HD) patients in Gaza strip was investigated using serological and molecular techniques.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall prevalence of HBV among the four HD centers was 8.1%. The main risk factors were HD center (p = 0.05), history of blood transfusion (p < 0.01), and treatment abroad (p = 0.01). The overall prevalence of HCV among the four HD centers was 22%. The main risk factors were HD center (p < 0.01), time duration on HD (p < 0.01), history of blood transfusion (p < 0.01), treatment abroad (p < 0.01), and history of blood transfusion abroad (p < 0.01). Serum aminotransferases levels decreased in HD patients compared with normal population but still there was a direct association between the activity of liver enzymes and both HBV (p < 0.01) and HCV (p < 0.01) infection.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The much higher prevalence of Hepatitis viruses among HD patients compared to the normal population of Gaza strip indicates a causative relation between HD and hepatitis viruses transmission. Therefore extremely careful observation of preventive infection control measures is essential to limit Hepatitis viruses' transmission in HD centers.</p

Novel Anti-Metastatic Action of Cidofovir Mediated by Inhibition of E6/E7, CXCR4 and Rho/ROCK Signaling in HPV+ Tumor Cells

Cervical cancer is frequently associated with HPV infection. The expression of E6 and E7 HPV oncoproteins is a key factor in its carcinogenicity and might also influence its virulence, including metastatic conversion. The cellular mechanisms involved in metastatic spread remain elusive, but pro-adhesive receptors and their ligands, such as SDF-1α and CXCR4 are implicated. In the present study, we assessed the possible relationship between SDF-1α/CXCR4 signaling, E6/E7 status and the metastatic process. We found that SDF-1α stimulated the invasion of E6/E7-positive cancer cell lines (HeLa and TC-1) in Matrigel though CXCR4 and subsequent Rho/ROCK activation. In pulmonary metastatic foci generated by TC-1 cells IV injection a high proportion of cells expressed membrane-associated CXCR4. In both cases models (in vitro and in vivo) cell adhesion and invasion was abrogated by CXCR4 immunological blockade supporting a contribution of SDF-1α/CXCR4 to the metastatic process. E6 and E7 silencing using stable knock-down and the approved anti-viral agent, Cidofovir decreased CXCR4 gene expression as well as both, constitutive and SDF-1α-induced cell invasion. In addition, Cidofovir inhibited lung metastasis (both adhesion and invasion) supporting contribution of E6 and E7 oncoproteins to the metastatic process. Finally, potential signals activated downstream SDF-1α/CXCR4 and involved in lung homing of E6/E7-expressing tumor cells were investigated. The contribution of the Rho/ROCK pathway was suggested by the inhibitory effect triggered by Cidofovir and further confirmed using Y-27632 (a small molecule ROCK inhibitor). These data suggest a novel and highly translatable therapeutic approach to cervix cancer, by inhibition of adhesion and invasion of circulating HPV-positive tumor cells, using Cidofovir and/or ROCK inhibition