Electroanalytical Determination of Gemifloxacin Mesylate in Bulk, Tablets and Human Urine Using Gold Nanoparticles Modified Carbon Paste Electrode

A simple, precise, inexpensive and sensitive voltammetric method has been developed for the determination of gemifloxacin mesylate (GEM) in the presence of tween 80 in the bulk, farmaceutical dosage forms and human urine at gold nanoparticles modified carbon paste electrode (GNCPE). The electrochemical behavior of GEM has been investigated by using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) techniques. The electrochemical oxidation of GEM was an irreversible process which exhibited adsorption-diffusion controlled process behavior in Britton-Robinson (BR) buffer over the entire pH range of values from 2 to 9. The adsorptive stripping response was evaluated as a function of some variables such as pH, type of surfactant, scan rate and accumulation time. The anodic peak current varied linearly over the range from 8.0 × 10 -7 to 2.8 × 10 -5 M. The limits of detection and quantification were 7.32 × 10 M and 2.44 × 10 -7 M, respectively. The relative standard deviations and the percentage recoveries were found in the following ranges: 0.58-1.35% and 99.37-101.76%, respectively

Serological Investigation and Epidemiological Analysis of Bovine Leptospirosis in Egypt

Bovine leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonotic disease of worldwide distribution. Little information is available regarding the occurrence of the disease in the Nile Delta provinces, Egypt. The present study investigated the seroprevalence of leptospirosis among cattle from Dakahlia province, Northern Egypt, and identified the individual variables factors associated with infection. To this end, a total of 600 serum samples from cattle of small stakeholders with various clinical manifestations possibly associated with leptospirosis were collected from different localities across Dakahlia province, Egypt. Sera were examined serologically via ELISA to investigate the occurrence of the disease among animals. Chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression analyses were applied to determine the association between hypothesized risk factors and the disease. Interestingly, our findings showed that 39.33% of the examined sera were positive for Leptospira antibodies, with significant differences among different localities. In addition, statistical analysis showed significant differences among age groups. Notably, the highest prevalence rate (22%) was observed in those aged between 3 and 5 years (p < 0.0001), whereas the lowest prevalence (2.66%) was reported in cattle <1 year old (p < 0.0001). Moreover, females had a significantly higher prevalence rate (35.33%) than males (4%) (p < 0.0001). Furthermore, our results showed significant differences in the occurrence of infection and reported clinical signs (p < 0.0001). Multivariable logistic regression identified repeated breeder and drop milk yield as the best predictors for prediction of ELISA results and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) model showed that overall classification accuracy of ELISA result using clinical signs and demographic data as predictors was 70.7%. The current study concluded a relative high prevalence of leptospirosis among cows bred in movable herds and households in the studied area and that age, repeated breeder and drop milk yield can be considered major risk factors associated with infection

Secondary prevention of variceal bleeding in adults with previous oesophageal variceal bleeding due to decompensated liver cirrhosis:a network meta-analysis

BackgroundApproximately 40% to 95% of people with cirrhosis have oesophageal varices. About 15% to 20% of oesophageal varices bleed in about one to three years of diagnosis. Several different treatments are available, which include endoscopic sclerotherapy, variceal band ligation, beta-blockers, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS), and surgical portocaval shunts, among others. However, there is uncertainty surrounding their individual and relative benefits and harms.ObjectivesTo compare the benefits and harms of different initial treatments for secondary prevention of variceal bleeding in adults with previous oesophageal variceal bleeding due to decompensated liver cirrhosis through a network meta-analysis and to generate rankings of the different treatments for secondary prevention according to their safety and efficacy.Search methodsWe searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, Science Citation Index Expanded, World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, and trials registers until December 2019 to identify randomised clinical trials in people with cirrhosis and a previous history of bleeding from oesophageal varices.Selection criteriaWe included only randomised clinical trials (irrespective of language, blinding, or status) in adults with cirrhosis and previous history of bleeding from oesophageal varices. We excluded randomised clinical trials in which participants had no previous history of bleeding from oesophageal varices, previous history of bleeding only from gastric varices, those who failed previous treatment (refractory bleeding), those who had acute bleeding at the time of treatment, and those who had previously undergone liver transplantation.Data collection and analysisWe performed a network meta-analysis with OpenBUGS using Bayesian methods and calculated the differences in treatments using hazard ratios (HR), odds ratios (OR) and rate ratios with 95% credible intervals (CrI) based on an available-case analysis, according to National Institute of Health and Care Excellence Decision Support Unit guidance.Main resultsWe included a total of 48 randomised clinical trials (3526 participants) in the review. Forty-six trials (3442 participants) were included in one or more comparisons. The trials that provided the information included people with cirrhosis due to varied aetiologies. The follow-up ranged from two months to 61 months. All the trials were at high risk of bias. A total of 12 interventions were compared in these trials (sclerotherapy, beta-blockers, variceal band ligation, beta-blockers plus sclerotherapy, no active intervention, TIPS (transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt), beta-blockers plus nitrates, portocaval shunt, sclerotherapy plus variceal band ligation, beta-blockers plus nitrates plus variceal band ligation, beta-blockers plus variceal band ligation, sclerotherapy plus nitrates). Overall, 22.5% of the trial participants who received the reference treatment (chosen because this was the commonest treatment compared in the trials) of sclerotherapy died during the follow-up period ranging from two months to 61 months. There was considerable uncertainty in the effects of interventions on mortality. Accordingly, none of the interventions showed superiority over another. None of the trials reported health-related quality of life. Based on low-certainty evidence, variceal band ligation may result in fewer serious adverse events (number of people) than sclerotherapy (OR 0.19; 95% CrI 0.06 to 0.54; 1 trial; 100 participants). Based on low or very low-certainty evidence, the adverse events (number of participants) and adverse events (number of events) may be different across many comparisons; however, these differences are due to very small trials at high risk of bias showing large differences in some comparisons leading to many differences despite absence of direct evidence. Based on low-certainty evidence, TIPS may result in large decrease in symptomatic rebleed than variceal band ligation (HR 0.12; 95% CrI 0.03 to 0.41; 1 trial; 58 participants). Based on moderate-certainty evidence, any variceal rebleed was probably lower in sclerotherapy than in no active intervention (HR 0.62; 95% CrI 0.35 to 0.99, direct comparison HR 0.66; 95% CrI 0.11 to 3.13; 3 trials; 296 participants), beta-blockers plus sclerotherapy than sclerotherapy alone (HR 0.60; 95% CrI 0.37 to 0.95; direct comparison HR 0.50; 95% CrI 0.07 to 2.96; 4 trials; 231 participants); TIPS than sclerotherapy (HR 0.18; 95% CrI 0.08 to 0.38; direct comparison HR 0.22; 95% CrI 0.01 to 7.51; 2 trials; 109 participants), and in portocaval shunt than sclerotherapy (HR 0.21; 95% CrI 0.05 to 0.77; no direct comparison) groups. Based on low-certainty evidence, beta-blockers alone and TIPS might result in more, other compensation, events than sclerotherapy (rate ratio 2.37; 95% CrI 1.35 to 4.67; 1 trial; 65 participants and rate ratio 2.30; 95% CrI 1.20 to 4.65; 2 trials; 109 participants; low-certainty evidence). The evidence indicates considerable uncertainty about the effect of the interventions including those related to beta-blockers plus variceal band ligation in the remaining comparisons.Authors' conclusionsThe evidence indicates considerable uncertainty about the effect of the interventions on mortality. Variceal band ligation might result in fewer serious adverse events than sclerotherapy. TIPS might result in a large decrease in symptomatic rebleed than variceal band ligation. Sclerotherapy probably results in fewer 'any' variceal rebleeding than no active intervention. Beta-blockers plus sclerotherapy and TIPS probably result in fewer 'any' variceal rebleeding than sclerotherapy. Beta-blockers alone and TIPS might result in more other compensation events than sclerotherapy. The evidence indicates considerable uncertainty about the effect of the interventions in the remaining comparisons. Accordingly, high-quality randomised comparative clinical trials are needed