SIMULTANEOUS SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC DETERMINATION OF DICLOFENAC SODIUM, PARACETAMOL, AND CHLORZOXAZONE IN TERNARY MIXTURE USING CHEMOMETRIC AND ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS TECHNIQUES

  Objective: The aim of this study is to develop and validate simple, accurate, and precise spectrophotometric methods for the simultaneous determination of diclofenac sodium (DIC), paracetamol (PAR), and chlorzoxazone (CHZ) in ternary mixture using chemometric and artificial neural networks (ANN) techniques.Methods: Three chemometric techniques include classical least squares (CLS), principal component regression (PCR), and partial least squares (PLS) in addition to cascade-forward backpropagation ANN (CFBP-ANN) were prepared using the synthetic mixtures containing the three drugs in methanol. In CLS, PCR, and PLS, the absorbances of the synthetic mixtures in the range 267-295 nm with the intervals Δλ=0.2 nm in their zero-order spectra were selected. Then, calibration or regression was obtained using the absorbance data matrix and concentration data matrix for the prediction of the unknown concentrations of DIC, PAR, and CHZ in their mixtures. In CFBP-ANN, two layers, sigmoid layer with 10 neurons and linear layer were found appropriate for the simultaneous determination of the three drugs in their ternary mixture.Results: The four proposed methods were successfully applied to the analysis of the three drugs in laboratory prepared mixtures and tablets with good percentage recoveries in the range of 98-102%. Relative standard deviation for the precision study was found <1%.Conclusion: The four proposed methods showed simplicity, accuracy, precision, and rapidity making them suitable for quality control and routine analysis of the cited drugs in ternary mixtures and pharmaceutical formulation containing them.Â

Bionomics of ticks collected from the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. I. Biology of Hyalomma schulzei (Olenev) (Acari: Ixodidae) under laboratory conditions

Egyptian Journal of Biology Vol.2 2000: 49-5

Survey and population dynamics of freshwater snails in newly settled areas of the Sinai peninsula

Egyptian Journal of Biology Vol.2 2000: 42-4

Mixed rearing correlates with the existence of Trichophyton verrucosum pathogens in humans

Background/Objective: Trichophyton verrucosum is a serious zoophilic dermatophyte causing dermatophytic infections and skin lesions in humans and animals. Raising small ruminants beside cattle is a common practice in rural areas of Egypt. Therefore, the current study emphasizes the risk of T. verrucosum spreading through backyard farming, recognizing the interconnectedness of ruminants and humans. Methods: A total of 478 cattle, 215 sheep, 186 goats, and 250 human contacts were investigated for the presence of skin lesions, and then the lesions were sampled. All samples were examined by fungal cultures using Sabouraud dextrose agar. Results: The highest rate of T. verrucosum isolates was recorded in cattle that grew up along with sheep and goats (14.5%), whereas the lowest rate was observed in cattle reared as a single species (6.6%), with a significant difference of p = 0.04, odds ratio = 2.42 at a 95% confidence interval: 1.03–5.65. In addition, there was a borderline significant difference of p = 0.05 between the presence of T. verrucosum pathogens in humans in contact with combined species of cattle, sheep, and goats (13.8%) and those in humans in contact with cattle only (3.3%); the odds ratio was 4.66 at a 95% confidence interval: 1.00–22.53. Moreover, the highest rate of T. verrucosum isolates in cattle was recorded in young cattle (calves). Tinea barbae was found in 11 human cases, while tinea corporis was determined in seven cases. Conclusion: Rearing different species of small ruminants with cattle supports the spread of T. verrucosum pathogens. Tinea barbae caused by T. verrucosum was predominant in the examined humans

Assessment of antibody level and avidity against Bordetella pertussis in a cohort of Egyptian individuals aged 1–18 years

Pertussis specific antibodies were studied with respect to quality and quantity in a cohort of apparently healthy Egyptian children and adolescents, with their age range between 1 and 18 years, in an attempt to get a close and clear insight into the current humoral immunization status in this specified group and to try find a relation between the antibody levels and their avidities in eradication of this devastating infectious disease. Our results showed that avidity increase was most marked in young school children (6–8 years) where it seemed to reach a plateau in older children and adolescents. Antibody titer was highest in toddlers (1–2 years) and young school children (6–8 years) groups, most probably following vaccination and/or booster doses. Among children aged 1–5 years, 28% had highly avid and 50% had high titer antibodies, whereas in adolescents aged 13–18 years, 70% had highly avid antibodies and only 30% had high titer antibodies. The results clearly demonstrated that while levels of anti-Bordetella pertussis (B. pertussis) antibodies wane with growing age, the avidity seems to increase, to a plateau, irrespective of further antigen exposure in a pattern showing complete independence of avidity on concentration. The present study draws attention to the importance of avidity measurements, together with conventional ELISAs, for evaluating immunity against pertussis. Being based on a limited sample size, it could open doors for larger-scale surveys to be possible indicators for the need and timing of booster vaccination doses among Egyptians

Effect of catalyst deactivation on vacuum residue hydrocracking

AbstractAccelerated deactivation tests of the pre-sulfided Mo–W/SiO2–Al2O3 commercial catalyst were performed using heavy vacuum petroleum feedstock. High reaction temperature employed in the accelerated catalyst aging resulted in large amounts of carbonaceous deposition with high aromaticity, which was found to be the principal deactivation cause. The effect of catalyst deactivation on hydrocracking of vacuum residue was studied. Experiments were carried out in a batch reactor at 60bar, feed to catalyst ratio 10:1 and temperature 425°C. The duration time for a cycle-run was 4h. On increasing the interval duration times from 4 to 20h (i.e. five cycles), the quality of the hydrocracked products was decreased. In each cycle-run, a fresh feedstock was used with the same sulfide catalyst. The quality of distillate products, such as hydrodesulfurization (HDS) was decreased from 61.50% to 39.52%, while asphaltene contents of the total liquid product were increased from 2.7% to 5.2% and their boiling ranges were increased during these duration times due to the successive catalyst deactivation during the 5 cycle-runs, caused by successive adsorption of coke formation

Carboxymethyl chitosan modulates the genotoxic risk and oxidative stress of perfluorooctanoic acid in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is one of the most commonly used perfluorinated compounds. Being a persistent environmental pollutant, it can accumulate in human tissues via various exposure routes. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the protective role of carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC) against PFOA-induced toxicity at the genetic and protein levels in Nile tilapia using the biochemistry analysis, SDS–PAGE electrophoresis, comet assay and RFLP–PCR methods. The results indicated that exposure to PFOA in water (30 mg/L) for 30 days resulted in a significant increase in ALT, AST, BUN, creatinine accompanied with a significant decrease in total protein and albumin. PFOA also increased DNA damage in electrophoresis condition and induced DNA and protein polymorphic band in comparison to control fish. CMC alone at 1% and 2% (W/W) in fish diets did not induce any alterations in the biochemical parameters, DNA or protein levels compared to the control group. Furthermore, CMC succeeded to decrease the toxicity of PFOA in a dose dependent manner. It could be concluded that PFOA induced genotoxicity and oxidative stress in fish similar to those reported in mammals. CMC is a promising candidate and has a protective effect against-PFOA induced in vivo DNA damage and protein alteration in Nile tilapia. This effect might be attributable to its ability to decrease intracellular ROS and its antioxidant properties

Highly effective ionic liquids for biodiesel production from waste vegetable oils

As conventional energy sources deplete, the need for developing alternative energy resources which are environment friendly becomes more imperative. Vegetable oils are attracting increased interest in this purpose. The methanolysis of vegetable oil to produce a fatty acid methyl ester (FAME, i.e., biodiesel fuel) was catalyzed by commercial ionic liquid and its chloride modification. The imidazolium chloride ionic liquid was frequently chosen for the synthesis of biodiesel. The dual-functionalized’ ionic liquid is prepared by a direct combination reaction between imidazolium cation and various metal chlorides such as CoCl2, CuCl2, NiCl2, FeCl3 and AlCl3. Imidazolium tetrachloroferrate was proved to be a selective catalyst for the methanolysis reaction at a yield of 97% when used at 1:10, catalyst: oil ratio for 8 h at 55 °C. Operational simplicity, reusability of the used catalyst for 8 times at least, high yields and no saponification are the key features of this methodology. The dynamic viscosity and density of the upgraded vegetable oil decreased from 32.1 cP and 0.9227 g/cm3 to 10.2 cP and 0.9044 g/cm3 respectively, compared to those of the base vegetable oil. The objective of this study was the synthesis and characterization of biodiesel using commercial ionic liquid and its chloride modification. The ionic liquid catalysts were characterized using FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, DSC, TG and UV