Antimicrobial activities and chemical properties of Tamarindus indica L . leaves extract

Tamarinds indica L. of the family Fabaceae is known to be used in folk medicine. Among efforts to verify this scientifically, the antimicrobial activities of the leaves extract were investigated against Gram negative and positive bacteria. The results were supported by SM images. The phytochemical constituents of the dried powdered leaves were extracted using aqueous and organic solvents. The antimicrobial activity of this extract was evaluated by using inhibition zone diameter, of both Gram negative and positive bacteria and fungi using agar well diffusion method. The most pronouns effect was shown by the ethanol extract. Studies on the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the extracts on the tested organisms showed that the lowest MIC and MBC were demonstrated against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Micrococcus luteus, but the highest MIC and MBC was exhibited against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of four major compounds, identified as flavanoidal glycosides. Using the total ion chromatography (TIC) two major compounds were identified as Orientin and Vitexin. The present study suggested that T. indica could have wide spectrum antimicrobial activity, therefore a new classes of antibiotics could be useful for infectious disease chemotherapy and control

Novel Combined Toxicity Indices (CTI) to assess the ecological risk of metals in sediments dependent on fractions and total metal content, application on Qarun Lake sediment, case study

Fractions and total contents of 21 heavy metals were evaluated in Qarun Lake sediment, a closed and shallow turbid saline lake. The metal contents in the sediments were in the following order: Fe > Al > Ti > Mn > Sr > Zn > Cr > Pb > Ba > Ni > B > Cu > Li > Co > As > Ga > Cd > Se > Bi > Ag > Hg. Several indices based on the total content (T-indices) or the fraction ratios (F-indices) assessed the pollution degree of the sediment. All the indices used revealed that the sediment of Qarun Lake suffers from different degrees of metal pollution. The T-indices evaluate the pollution or potential risk depending on the total content of metals, regardless of the species of these metals (hazardous mobile or non-mobile forms). Also, the F-indices evaluate pollution depending on the fraction ratios of metals, regardless of their metal content (even if at a deficient level). This study suggested a new combined toxicity index (CTI) and mean CTI (m-CTI) to combine T-indices and F-indices to assess the potential toxicity of metals and the pollution levels of sites, respectively. Based on integrated T-indices, all selected sites in Qarun Lake were extremely or highly polluted. Also, the GCF (as F-index) revealed that the investigated metals highly contaminated all sites. In contrast, according to the m-CTI, sites 1, 3, and 4 were highly polluted, while sites 2, 5, and 6 were moderately polluted. The present study's findings indicate that using CTI and m-CTI may be more favorable and accurate in assessing the metal pollution status of sediment than using T-indices or F-indices separately

Neonatal gastric perforation secondary to a strangulated congenital diaphragmatic hernia

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) occurs as 1/3000–1/4000 live births. The main pathology associated with the diaphragmatic defect is pulmonary hypoplasia and hypertension. Occasionally gastrointestinal symptoms may also be present due to obstruction and incarceration of herniated bowel loops. Here we present a case of a term male neonate with an antenatal diagnosis of CDH. While on the intensive care unit he developed symptoms of acute bowel obstruction on day 14 of life. An emergency laparotomy was done with a partial gastrectomy for gastric perforation. A concomitant splenectomy was carried out due to an iatrogenic injury. The defect was closed primarily. The patient made a full recovery and was discharged on day 27 post operatively. Keywords: Gastric necrosis, Bowel obstruction, Kasr Al Ainy, Egyp

Early left ventricular dyssynchrony in acute ST elevation myocardial infarction: A gated single photon emission computed tomography study

Introduction: The resulting left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in acute STEMI is definitely secondary to loss of myocardial muscle mass (Krumholz et al., 2009; Guerchicoff et al., 2014) but may have an additional component of LV dyssynchrony. Aim: Detection of LV dyssynchrony in acute STEMI patients and its relation to LV dysfunction in these patients. Patients and methods: 60 patients presenting with acute STEMI were injected with 25 mCi of Tc99m SestaMIBI prior to primary PCI. Acquisition was deferred after the procedure within 6 h of injection. Images were analyzed using QGS Cedars Sinai software to measure the histogram bandwidth, standard deviation and entropy using GSPECT phase analysis. The results were compared to 60 patients with negative perfusion scans upon maximal exercise imaged using the same protocol during rest. Results: Our study included a total number of 60 acute STEMI patients, 54 males, mean age 54.8 ± 10.38 years, Compared to 60 controls mean age 50.7 + 20.3 years. Risk factors for CAD were smoking in 41 patients, hypertension in 17, dyslipidemia in 7, diabetes in 15, and positive family history of CAD in 21. 30 patients had acute anterior STEMI and 30 had inferior. LVEDV and LVESV were larger compared to controls; 133.0 ± 88.7 vs. 62.0 ± 19.2 ml and 89.7 ± 82.1 vs. 19.9 ± 12.3 ml respectively, p < 0.001, and lower LVEF 39.0 ± 16.8 vs. 71.1 ± 10.4%, p < 0.001. Histogram bandwidth (BW), standard deviation (SD) and entropy (E) values were significantly higher in patients when compared to controls; 76.2 ± 54.7 vs. 17.8 ± 5.3, 20.7 ± 15.2 vs. 4.1 ± 2.0 and 51.1 ± 18.6 vs. 21.8 ± 7.1 degrees respectively, p < 0.001. BW, SD and E significantly negatively correlated with LVEF in acute STEMI cases; r = −.733, p < 0.001, r = −.75, p < 0.001, and r = −.858, p < 0.001 respectively. Conclusion: LV dyssynchrony may be acquired acutely very early in STEMI and may have a negative impact on LV ejection fraction

Bioactive Secondary Metabolites from the Red Sea Marine Verongid Sponge Suberea Species

In a continuation of our efforts to identify bioactive compounds from Red Sea Verongid sponges, the organic extract of the sponge Suberea species afforded seven compounds including two new dibrominated alkaloids, subereamollines C and D (1 and 2), together with the known compounds aerothionin (3), homoaerothionin (4), aeroplysinin-1 (5), aeroplysinin-2 (6) and a revised subereaphenol C (7) as ethyl 2-(2,4-dibromo-3,6-dihydroxyphenyl)acetate. The structures of the isolated compounds were assigned by different spectral data including optical rotations, 1D (1H and 13C) and 2D (COSY, multiplicity-edited HSQC, and HMBC) NMR and high-resolution mass spectroscopy. Aerothionin (3) and subereaphenol C (7) displayed potent cytotoxic activity against HeLa cell line with IC50 values of 29 and 13.3 µM, respectively. In addition, aeroplysinin-2 (6) showed potent antimigratory activity against the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 with IC50 of 18 µM. Subereamollines C and D are new congeners of the previously reported compounds subereamollines A and B with methyl ester functionalities on the side chain. These findings provide further insight into the biosynthetic capabilities of members of the genus Suberea and the chemical diversity as well as the biological activity of these compounds

Multi-Steps Fragmentation-Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry Coupled to Liquid Chromatography Diode Array System for Investigation of Olaparib Related Substances

A high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array-mass spectrometric (LC-DAD-MS) method was developed and validated to investigate the related substances of olaparib (OLA) in bulk form. OLA was exposed to acid&#8315;base hydrolysis, boiling, oxidation with hydrogen peroxide, and UV light followed by LC-DAD-MS analysis. OLA and OLA-related substances were simultaneously and quantitatively monitored by DAD at 278 nm and triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (QQQ-MS). The investigated compounds were auto-scanned by an ion trap MS which applied positive and negative modes separately. The fragmentation pathway was confirmed by applying multi-steps fragmentation to identify the resulted cleaved ions and their parent ion. OLA was found to be sensitive to the alkaline hydrolysis and less sensitive to UV light. Two major hydrolytic degradation products, including the protonated molar ions m/z 299 and m/z 367, were identified. Three potential impurities were also characterized. The LC-MS limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were 0.01 and 0.05 ng/&#181;L, respectively. The quantitative results obtained by LC-DAD was comparable with that of LC-QQQ-MS. The proposed method shows good intra-day and inter-day precision with relative standard deviation (RSD) &lt;2%

A Smart Testing Model Based on Mining Semantic Relations

Engaging personalization in the education process is considered one of the success factors for raising the educational process quality by altering the educational institutions&#x2019; vision for gaining more flexibility while attaining the institution&#x2019;s objectives. It is a fact that the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the main reasons that forwarded attention to online learning as an obligatory path rather than being optional until the arisen situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation has altered the educational institutions&#x2019; perspective permanently. This research proposes an intelligent model which considers the personalized student characteristics in exploring the student learning styles variation, then considering this variation in building the student exam. Following this model ensures the compatibility of the conducted exam with the student&#x2019;s capabilities as well as the course Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) coverage. The balance in building the exam with covering the course objectives as well as the appropriateness with the student&#x2019;s personalized characteristics is the main objective of this research. The proposed model has been applied and proved its applicability in enhancing the students&#x2019; exam results to 92.36&#x0025; and raising the exam quality level