The drawings of the superstitious and complex objects in the Ottoman arts

The forms of superstitious objects appeared extensively on the Ottoman decorative arts, which varied in shapes and types, which were usually not embossed as an independent subject, but were shown alongside the drawings of the real animals. The artist depicted these animals as a real element in nature. Artfully attested by the ability of the Islamic artist to draw. They found their ends, because one of the criteria of Islamic art is modification and abstraction, so they welcomed it but did not retain its symbolic meaning as much as it was purely decorative. One of the most important superstitious objects that appeared in Ottoman art: the shape of the dragon and phoenix, and the drawing of the snake whose tail appears knotted. The composite objects are in the form of an animal with a human head and the body of a lion (Sphinx), as well as the drawing of a bird with a human face, as well as the form of an animal standing on its hind legs and hold in his hand fruit, or play on a musical instrument. It seems that these superstitious animals found on the Ottoman art products moved to it from Iranian art - which was influenced by Chinese art - through the transmission of artistic influences that occurred during the Ottoman conquests, and the transfer of many Iranian artists to the Ottoman territories and work for them

Influence of Ce3+ Substitution on Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Properties of ZnCexFe2−xO4 Nanoparticles (X = 0.0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, and 0.08) Conjugated with Ebselen and Its Role Subsidised with γ-Radiation in Mitigating Human TNBC and Colorectal Adenocarcinoma Proliferation In Vitro

Cancers are a major challenge to health worldwide. Spinel ferrites have attracted attention due to their broad theranostic applications. This study aimed at investigating the antimicrobial, antibiofilm, and anticancer activities of ebselen (Eb) and cerium-nanoparticles (Ce-NPs) in the form of ZnCexFe2−XO4 on human breast and colon cancer cell lines. Bioassays of the cytotoxic concentrations of Eb and ZnCexFe2−XO4, oxidative stress and inflammatory milieu, autophagy, apoptosis, related signalling effectors, the distribution of cells through the cell-cycle phases, and the percentage of cells with apoptosis were evaluated in cancer cell lines. Additionally, the antimicrobial and antibiofilm potential have been investigated against different pathogenic microbes. The ZOI, and MIC results indicated that ZnCexFe2−XO4; X = 0.06 specimen reduced the activity of a wide range of bacteria and unicellular fungi at low concentration including P. aeruginosa (9.5 mm; 6.250 µg/mL), S. aureus (13.2 mm; 0.390 µg/mL), and Candida albicans (13.5 mm; 0.195 µg/mL). Reaction mechanism determination indicated that after ZnCexFe2−xO4; X = 0.06 treatment, morphological differences in S.aureus were apparent with complete lysis of bacterial cells, a concomitant decrease in the viable number, and the growth of biofilm was inhibited. The combination of Eb with ZFO or ZnCexFe2−XO4 with γ-radiation exposure showed marked anti-proliferative efficacy in both cell lines, through modulating the oxidant/antioxidant machinery imbalance, restoring the fine-tuning of redox status, and promoting an anti-inflammatory milieu to prevent cancer progression, which may be a valuable therapeutic approach to cancer therapy and as a promising antimicrobial agent to reduce the pathogenic potential of the invading microbes

Cholinergic and cytoprotective signaling cascades mediate the mitigative effect of erythropoietin on acute radiation syndrome

The present investigation aimed to evaluate the radiomitigative efficacy of the recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) against acute radiation syndrome (ARS) in a rat model. Rats were irradiated with a single sublethal dose of γ- radiation (7 Gy; total body irradiation; TBI) at the 1st day of experimental course, then received EPO (5000 IU/kg; i.p) 24 hrs post irradiation, rats were observed for 30 days of survival analysis. Administration of EPO improved 30 days survival, alleviated TBI- induced myelosuppression and pancytopenia, by augmenting lymphocytes and WBCs in the peripheral blood of rats, while bone marrow (BM) and spleen cellularity were restored. EPO post exposure treatment alleviated hepatotoxicity biomarkers and restored splenic function. EPO abrogated radiation- induced oxidative stress through the upregulation of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α-7-nAChR) and the pro-survival janus kinase-2 and signal transducers and activators of transcription JAK-2/STAT-3 signaling mediated via enhancing nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor-2 (Nrf-2) cytoprotective machinery in liver and spleen of irradiated rats. Moreover, EPO treatment prevented hepatic and splenic apoptosis. In conclusion, the present study establishes the implication of α-7-nAChR- JAK-2/STAT-3- Nrf-2 signaling cascade in the radiomitigative potential of EPO against ARS.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Methanolic extract of Moringa oleifera leaf and low doses of gamma radiation alleviated amiodarone-induced lung toxicity in albino rats

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of methanolic extract of Moringa oleifera (MO) and/or low doses of gamma radiation (LDR) on amiodarone (AMD)-induced lung toxicity in rats. AMD administered to female albino rats (100 mg/kg body weight) for 10 consecutive days. Rats received methanolic extract of MO (250 mg/kg bwt) for 15 successive days and/or were exposed to whole body LDR (0.25Gy on the 1st and 10th days, up to a total dose of 0.5Gy). MO administration induced a significant decrease in serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) levels as well as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity. Also, the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydroxyproline (HYP) was significantly decreased in lung tissue. Furthermore, MO significantly increased reduced glutathione (GSH) content in lung tissue as compared with AMD. The histopathological investigation of lung tissue revealed the appearance of interstitial pneumonia in rats treated with AMD. The oral administration of MO and/or exposure to LDR reversed the biochemical and histopathological alterations induced by AMD. It can be posited that MO and LDR might have a considerable role in the prevention of lung toxicity induced by AMD

Prognostic significance of MGMT promoter methylation in Egyptian GBM patients: A single-institution experience

Background: Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is the highest-mortality tumor of the central nervous system. Epigenetic silencing of the MGMT gene by promoter methylation is associated with loss of MGMT expression and deficiency in MGMT mediated DNA repair, which is affiliated with improved survival in patients treated with alkylating agents such as TMZ. Purpose: This is a retrospective work, studying the MGMT promoter status in a group of GBM patients; correlating this status to time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS). Methods: Thirty-nine patients with GBM, treated in Kasr El-Ainy Center of Clinical Oncology and Nuclear Medicine (NEMROCK) between January 2014 and January 2015, were included in our study. The QIAamp DNA FFPE Tissue Kit (Qiagen, USA) was used for genomic DNA extraction from Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor tissues of the 39 patients. Bisulfite modification of DNA was performed for detecting methylation in MGMT promoter using EpiTect Bisulfite Kit (Qiagen, USA). Specific primers were used to match methylated & un-methylated DNA that was visualized by loading its PCR products in gel electrophoresis system. All statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS version 20.0. Results:  The mean age for our patients was 48 years; with a male to female ratio of 1.3:1. MGMT promoter methylation was found in 27 patients (69.2%) compared to 12 (30.8%) with un-methylation. TMZ was received in 71.8 % (28) of our patients throughout their treatment. The median OS for all patients was 20.03 months; while the median TTP 15.03 was months. Although the OS was statistically significantly higher for patients with methyalted promoter (p-value = 0.004) compared to un-methylated group; yet the TTP difference did not reach a statistical significant value (p-value = 0.048). Conclusions:  The epigenetic silencing of the MGMT gene by promoter methylation has been associated with longer OS & TTP in patients with GBM. Key words: GBM, Epigenetic silencing, Un-methylation, Overall survival

Enhancement of hosting capacity with soft open points and distribution system reconfiguration: Multi-objective bilevel stochastic optimization

Copyright © 2020 by the authors. Soft open points (SOPs) are power electronic devices that replace the normal open points in active distribution systems. They provide resiliency in terms of transferring electrical power between adjacent feeders and delivering the benefits of meshed networks. In this work, a multi-objective bilevel optimization problem is formulated to maximize the hosting capacity (HC) of a real 59-node distribution system in Egypt and an 83-node distribution system in Taiwan, using distribution system reconfiguration (DSR) and SOP placement. Furthermore, the uncertainty in the load is considered to step on the real benefits of allocating SOPs along with DSR. The obtained results validate the effectiveness of DSR and SOP allocation in maximizing the HC of the studied distribution systems with low cost

A novel graphically based network reconfiguration for power loss minimization in large distribution systems

Distribution network reconfiguration (DNR) is the optimized change in the topological structure of distribution systems without violating its radial configuration. DNR has been of interest in applied mathematics and engineering because of its importance in modern power systems. In literature, various optimization techniques that constitute a large area of applied mathematics were proposed to obtain optimized radial configurations; however, most of them were tested in small distribution systems. In this paper, a novel graphically-based DNR is proposed to obtain the optimized radial configurations for power loss minimization. The proposed DNR is based on the graphical representation of the distribution system without any need for a radiality check. Case studies were conducted on 16-, 33-, 70-, 83-, 136-, 415-, 880-, 1760-, and 4400-node distribution systems in order to minimize the total power loss. Results have proven the ability of the proposed graphical DNR for power loss minimization by obtaining fast radial configurations in comparison with previous studies and also its ability to deal with large distribution systems efficiently. The proposed DNR succeeded in minimizing the total losses for large distribution systems as the 880-, 1760-, and 4400-node distribution systems by 69.45%, 72.51%, and 74.35%, respectively