Diagnostic performance of alpha-fetoprotein, YKL40 and GP73 in hepatocellular carcinoma Egyptian patients

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a primary malignancy of the liver. It is responsible for a large proportion of cancer deaths worldwide. Diagnosis of HCC often requires more sophisticated modalities and represents a challenge for physician.  Methods: This study aimed to compare the diagnostic performance of AFP, YKL40 and GP73 in patients' serum with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in high-risk population in an attempt to justify the new, sensitive, specific and rapid measure for the diagnosis and detection of HCC. Serum YKL40, GP73 and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) were compared in a total of 60 human subjects in this study, including 20 healthy adults, and 40 patients with HCC, The main outcome measures were the specificity and sensitivity of YKL40 and GP73 in patients at risk for the development of HCC.Results: Using 4.4 relative units as a cut-off value, the sensitivity and specificity of serum GP73 for HCC were 85% and 90% compared with 77% and 60% for YKL40 using 21.06 ng/ml as a cut-off value. On the same context, the sensitivity and specificity of serum AFP at 8.5ng/ml cut-off were 82% and 95%. While that for the AFP and GP73 combined detection was up to 92% and 96%, justifying that the combined detection could prevent the false negative diagnosis by any marker alone and significantly improve the detection rate of HCC.Conclusions: The current evidence indicates that serum GP73 has HCC diagnostic efficacy inferior to that of AFP and YKL40 and the clinical implementation of serum GP73 measurement as a standard test for HCC is recommended alone or in combination with AFP.

Magnetoresistance Dynamics in Superparamagnetic Co-Fe- B Nanodots

Individual disk-shaped Co-Fe-B nanodots are driven into a superparamagnetic state by a spin-transfer torque, and their time-dependent magnetoresistance fluctuations are measured as a function of current. A thin layer of oxidation at the edges has a dramatic effect on the magnetization dynamics. A combination of experimental results and atomistic spin simulations shows that pinning to oxide grains can reduce the likelihood that fluctuations lead to reversal, and can even change the easy-axis direction. Exchange-bias loop shifts and training effects are observed even at room temperature after brief exposure to small fields. The results have implications for studies of core-shell nanoparticles and small magnetic tunnel junctions and spin-torque oscillators

A review on phytochemical, pharmacological and ethnopharmacological aspects of genus Trichodesma

The genus Trichodesma belongs to the family Boraginaceae. The plants of this genus are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Australia. Phytochemically, scientific reports on Trichodesma species so far revealed more than one hundred compounds from this genus, including hydrocarbons, phenols, flavonoids, sterols, terpenes and alkaloids have been isolated or identified. Medicinally, various reported biological activities of Trichodesma such as antimicrobial, antiparasitic, cytotoxic, anti-infection, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-irritant, antidiarrheal, antispasmodic, antimalarial, analgesic, antipyretic, anti-diabetic, diuretic, and hepatoprotective effects were discussed in this review otherwise. Also, the ethnopharmacological effects of this genus were reviewed. Among all the Trichodesma species, T. indicum is regarded as the most important one regarding its pharmacological values. The volatile oil of T. africanum L. showed high antioxidant activity

A review on phytochemical, pharmacological and ethnopharmacological aspects of genus Trichodesma

333-347The genus Trichodesma belongs to the family Boraginaceae. The plants of this genus are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Australia. Phytochemically, scientific reports on Trichodesma species so far revealed more than one hundred compounds from this genus, including hydrocarbons, phenols, flavonoids, sterols, terpenes and alkaloids have been isolated or identified. Medicinally, various reported biological activities of Trichodesma such as antimicrobial, antiparasitic, cytotoxic, anti-infection, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-irritant, antidiarrheal, antispasmodic, antimalarial, analgesic, antipyretic, anti-diabetic, diuretic, and hepatoprotective effects were discussed in this review otherwise. Also, the ethnopharmacological effects of this genus were reviewed. Among all the Trichodesma species, T. indicum is regarded as the most important one regarding its pharmacological values. The volatile oil of T. africanum L. showed high antioxidant activity

Assessing the protective effect of cutoff walls on groundwater pumping against saltwater upconing in coastal aquifers

Data availability: No data was used for the research described in the article.Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Subsurface physical barriers are amongst the most effective methods to mitigate seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers. The main objective of this study was to examine the impact of cutoff walls on saltwater upconing using laboratory and numerical modelling experiments. Physical experiments were first completed to reproduce the saltwater upconing process in a laboratory-scale coastal aquifer model incorporating an impermeable cutoff wall. Numerical modelling was used for validation purposes and to perform additional simulations to explore the protective effect of cutoff walls against saltwater upconing. The results suggest that the cutoff wall did not substantially delay the saltwater upconing mechanism in the investigated configurations. Laboratory and numerical observations showed the existence of some residual saline water, which remained on the upper part of the aquifer on the seaward side of the wall following the retreat of the saltwater. The protective effect of cutoff walls was noticeably sensitive to the design parameters. Specifically, cutoff walls installed close to the pumping well enabled the implementation of higher pumping rates, therefore a more optimal use of the freshwater, especially for deeper wells. The results highlighted that the penetration depth of the cutoff walls may not necessarily need to exceed the depth of the pumping well to ensure effectiveness, which is of great importance from construction and economic perspectives

Chitosan-Functionalized-Graphene Oxide (GO@CS) Beads as an Effective Adsorbent to Remove Cationic Dye from Wastewater

In this study, the preparation of graphene oxide@chitosan (GO@CS) composite beads was investigated via continuous dropping techniques to remove methylene blue (MB)-dye from an aqueous media. The prepared beads were characterized using various techniques before and after the adsorption of MB. The experimental results showed that the adsorption processes fit the kinetic pseudo-second-order and Langmuir isotherm models. Moreover, the GO@CS beads achieve maximum adsorption capacities of 23.26 mg g$^{−1}$, which was comparable with other adsorbents in the literature. An important advantage of our adsorbent is that the GO@CS can remove 82.1% of the real sample color within 135 min

Synthesis, antimicrobial activities and GAPDH docking of novel 1, 2, 3-triazole derivatives

Purpose: To synthesize new triazole derivatives in order to overcome the problem of side effects of antimicrobial agents and microbial resistance, while broadening the spectrum of antimicrobial activity. Methods: The starting triazole, compound 1, was prepared through click chemistry and reacted with chloroacetyl chloride to yield compound II. Triazole 1 was reacted with acids and aldehydes to produce oxadiazole (III) and azomethine (IV) which cyclized in acetic anhydride to give a new acetylated oxadiazole (V). Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and resorufin assays were used for antibacterial and anti-parasitic screening, respectively. Compounds II and IVb were subjected to molecular docking studies using glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) program. Results: Novel oxazole-triazole derivative (III) showed high activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and moderate activity against Staphylococcus epidermidis, whereas compound IVc showed moderate activity against Staphylococcus epidermidis. Chloro-acetyl-triazole II and 2-hydroxyphenyl-triazole Schiff base (Ivb) showed pronounced activity against the kinetoplastid parasites, Leishmania major, Leishmania mexicana and Trypanosoma brucei. Conclusion: The new synthesized triazoles represent a new antimicrobial scaffold and identifies potential new lead compounds for follow-up and for further mechanistic studies

Large scale production of antitumor cucurbitacins from Ecballium Elaterium using bioreactor

Bioreactor plays a vital role in the commercial production of secondary metabolites and pharmaceuticals from plant cells. Many physical factors, like the mixing intensity, shear stress and operation conditions were optimized as a first step in scaling up process. Qualitative and quantitative determination of cucurbitacins E and I in the extract were carried out using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). After two weeks of equipping the reactor with marine impeller, both the growth rate and the concentration of cucurbitacins were increased. However, the increase in the aeration rate from 0.3 to 0.6 vvm induced the production of cucurbitacin E, it reduced the cucurbitacin I production. The highest recorded level of cucurbitacins was 0.3 and 0.1 g/L for cucurbitacin E and cucurbitacin I, respectively. Crude cucurbitacins extract showed potent antitumor activity in a range of 15.6 to 23.5 μg/ml against various carcinoma cell lines. In the current study, the optimizing condition for the production of cucubitacins E and I in Ecballium Elaterium and their biological activities as an antitumor and antimicrobial agent were evaluated.Keywords: Ecballium Elaterium, cucubitacins E, cucubitacins I, bioreactor, antitumo

Azides in the Synthesis of Various Heterocycles

In this review, we focus on some interesting and recent examples of various applications of organic azides such as their intermolecular or intramolecular, under thermal, catalyzed, or noncatalyzed reaction conditions. The aforementioned reactions in the aim to prepare basic five-, six-, organometallic heterocyclic-membered systems and/or their fused analogs. This review article also provides a report on the developed methods describing the synthesis of various heterocycles from organic azides, especially those reported in recent papers (till 2020). At the outset, this review groups the synthetic methods of organic azides into different categories. Secondly, the review deals with the functionality of the azido group in chemical reactions. This is followed by a major section on the following: (1) the synthetic tools of various heterocycles from the corresponding organic azides by one-pot domino reaction; (2) the utility of the chosen catalysts in the chemoselectivity favoring C−H and C-N bonds; (3) one-pot procedures (i.e., Ugi four-component reaction); (4) nucleophilic addition, such as Aza-Michael addition; (5) cycloaddition reactions, such as [3+2] cycloaddition; (6) mixed addition/cyclization/oxygen; and (7) insertion reaction of C-H amination. The review also includes the synthetic procedures of fused heterocycles, such as quinazoline derivatives and organometal heterocycles (i.e., phosphorus-, boron- and aluminum-containing heterocycles). Due to many references that have dealt with the reactions of azides in heterocyclic synthesis (currently more than 32,000), we selected according to generality and timeliness. This is considered a recent review that focuses on selected interesting examples of various heterocycles from the mechanistic aspects of organic azides

A Novel P@SiO2 Nano-Composite as Effective Adsorbent to Remove Methylene Blue Dye from Aqueous Media

This work aims to prepare a novel phosphate-embedded silica nanoparticles (P@SiO2) nanocomposite as an effective adsorbent through a hydrothermal route. Firstly, a mixed solution of sodium silicate and sodium phosphate was passed through a strong acidic resin to convert it into hydrogen form. After that, the resultant solution was hydrothermally treated to yield P@SiO2 nanocomposite. Using kinetic studies, methylene blue (MB) dye was selected to study the removal behavior of the P@SiO2 nanocomposite. The obtained composite was characterized using several advanced techniques. The experimental results showed rapid kinetic adsorption where the equilibrium was reached within 100 s, and the pseudo-second-order fitted well with experimental data. Moreover, according to Langmuir, one gram of P@SiO2 nanocomposite can remove 76.92 mg of the methylene blue dye. The thermodynamic studies showed that the adsorption process was spontaneous, exothermic, and ordered at the solid/solution interface. Finally, the results indicated that the presence of NaCl did not impact the adsorption behavior of MB dye. Due to the significant efficiency and promising properties of the prepared P@SiO2 nanocomposite, it could be used as an effective adsorbent material to remove various cationic forms of pollutants from aqueous solutions in future works