Effect of water pollution on expression of immune response genes of Solea aegyptiaca in Lake Qarun

This research was aimed to study quality of water in Lake Qarun and effects of pollution on expression of immune genes in Egyptian sole (Solea aegyptiaca) fish. The study was carried out from August 2006to the end of April 2007. The water samples were collected from different locations of Lake Qarun at Al-Oberge within an area of 200 to 1500 meter from the shore. The samples were subjected to differentphysical and chemical analyses. The concentration of total dissolved solids (TDS) recorded an average value of 37.8 g/l while the chloride content was 14.3 g/l on average. The corresponding value of salinitywas 25.9 g/l. For the chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand the results revealed that the average values were 98 ± 22 mg O2/l and 8.0 ± 2.1 mg O2/l for the chemical oxygen demand(COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), respectively. Analyses of nitrogen group indicated presence of low concentrations of all. For total pesticides which might be one of the most potential pollutants in the lake, the results showed an average value of 0.62 mg/l. Furthermore, the total viable bacterial count (TVBC) ranged from 103 colony forming unit (CFU) in the middle of the Lake to 107 (CFU)near the shore. Stressed total coliform group (STC), stressed faecal coliform group (SFC) and stressed faecal streptococci group (SFS) increased from the middle of the Lake to the shore. The differentialexpression of the immune genes, that is, GARP and SIMP genes, as a result of pollution influence was further confirmed by RT-PCR, with the up-regulation of these genes in the liver of the collected fish. Theapplication of the expression of the immune genes of fish might be time safe and cost effective in case there are different source of pollution

In Vitro Control of Ascosphaera apis Fungus by Some Plant Extracts

Chalkbrood is one of the most dangerous disease of the honeybees, Apis mellifera. It causes a significant reduction in brood and honey production thus, leading to an economic loss in apiculture. In present study, the pathogenic fungus was isolated from infected larvae in Northern Governorate- Palestine and identified based on morphological and cultural characters as Ascosphaera apis. Crude aqueous extracts of ten different plant species including Punica granatum, Artemisia monosperma, A. absinthium, A. herba-alba, Cyperus rotundus, Callistemon viminalis, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Tagetes patula, Annona squamosa and Psidium guajava were evaluated in vitro for their antifungal activities against A. apis. Results showed that extract of P. granatum was the most active one among all. Other extracts vis., P. guajava, C. zeylanicum, and C. viminalis demonstrated a moderate activity with MICs of 1.25, 2.5 and 5% respectively. The remaining extracts of A. monosperma, A. absinthium, A. herba-alba, T. patula, C. rotundus, and A. squamosa were totally inactive against A. apis. For further evaluation of the antifungal properties of the different plant extracts, the radial mycelial growth inhibition test was also performed on agar media supplemented by plant extracts to achieve different concentrations of 5%, 10% and 20%. The results showed that the average radial mycelia growth of A. apis was significantly reduced by P. granatum, P. guajava, C. viminalis and C. zeylanicum (P < 0.05). Contrary to this, The remaining extracts of A. monosperma, A. absinthium, A. herba-alba, C. rotundus, T. patula and, A. squamosa were found to have weak antifungal activities at all concentrations tested. In order to assess the antifungal effect of the P. granatum extract on A. apis, the growth of profile for the fungus was followed at extract free agar media after incubation at different concentrations of P. granatum extract. The results found that the extract of P. granatum flower exhibits a fungistatic effect because it causes changes on the normal growth profile of A. apis at the different concentrations tested (5%, 10% and 20%). Since the extract of P. granatum flower was proved to be the most effective in vitro against A. apis, its toxicity to worker bees was evaluated. The results of the toxicity test showed that, the flower extract of P. granatum was not lethal to adult workers at low concentrations tested since the a cumulative mortality percentages were 4.4%, 1.1 % and 3.6% at 0% 12.5% and 25% concentrations respectively. In conclusion, results from these findings suggest that the aqueous extract of P. granatum flower may be used as natural antifungal agents to inhibit growth of A. apis. These findings however need to be progressed to field applications to evaluate the efficacy of the most active antifungal plant extract identified in this study against the causative agent of chalkbrood disease in an apiary system

Iron(II) complexes containing the 2,6-bis-iminopyridyl moiety : synthesis, characterization, reactivity, and DNA binding

Two iron(II) complexes, [FeII(pytBuN3)2](FeCl4) (1) and [FeII(pytBuMe2N3)Cl2] (2), with sterically constrained pytBuN3 and pytBuMe2N3 chelate ligands (pytBuN3 = 2,6-bis-(aldiimino)pyridyl; pytBuMe2N3 = 2,6-bis-(ketimino)pyridyl), have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, UV–vis spectra, and preliminary X-ray single-crystal diffraction. The latter revealed that Fe(II) in 1 is six-coordinate by six nitrogen donors from two bisiminopyridines in a distorted octahedron. Complex 2 reacts with thiourea with a second-order rate constant k2 = (2.50 ± 0.05) × 10−3 M−1 s−1 at 296 K, and the reaction seemed to be slow. In a similar way, the interaction of 2 and DNA was studied by fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy. The results revealed that 2 caused fluorescence quenching of DNA through a dynamic quenching procedure. The binding constants KA, Kapp, and KSV as well as the number of binding sites between 2 and DNA were determined

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Aided Millimetre Wave Communications Utilizing Two-Phase Minimax Optimal Stochastic Strategy Bandit

Millimetre wave (mm Wave) communications, that is, 30 to 300 GHz, have intermittent short-range transmissions, so the use of reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) seems to be a promising solution to extend its coverage. However, optimizing phase shifts (PSs) of both mm Wave base station (BS) and RIS to maximize the received spectral efficiency at the intended receiver seems challenging due to massive antenna elements usage. In this paper, an online learning approach is proposed to address this problem, where it is considered a two-phase multi-armed bandit (MAB) game. In the first phase, the PS vector of the mm Wave BS is adjusted, and based on it, the PS vector of the RIS is calibrated in the second phase and vice versa over the time horizon. The minimax optimal stochastic strategy(MOSS) MAB algorithm is utilized to implement the proposed two-phase MAB approach efficiently. Furthermore, to relax the problem of estimating the channel state information(CSI) of both mm Wave BS and RIS, codebook-based PSs are considered. Finally, numerical analysis confirms the superior performance of the proposed scheme against the optimal performance under different scenarios

A population study of clinically actionable genetic variation affecting drug response from the Middle East

Clinical implementation of pharmacogenomics will help in personalizing drug prescriptions and alleviate the personal and financial burden due to inefficacy and adverse reactions to drugs. However, such implementation is lagging in many parts of the world, including the Middle East, mainly due to the lack of data on the distribution of actionable pharmacogenomic variation in these ethnicities. We analyzed 6,045 whole genomes from the Qatari population for the distribution of allele frequencies of 2,629 variants in 1,026 genes known to affect 559 drugs or classes of drugs. We also performed a focused analysis of genotypes or diplotypes of 15 genes affecting 46 drugs, which have guidelines for clinical implementation and predicted their phenotypic impact. The allele frequencies of 1,320 variants in 703 genes affecting 299 drugs or class of drugs were significantly different between the Qatari population and other world populations. On average, Qataris carry 3.6 actionable genotypes/diplotypes, affecting 13 drugs with guidelines for clinical implementation, and 99.5% of the individuals had at least one clinically actionable genotype/diplotype. Increased risk of simvastatin-induced myopathy could be predicted in ~32% of Qataris from the diplotypes of SLCO1B1, which is higher compared to many other populations, while fewer Qataris may need tacrolimus dosage adjustments for achieving immunosuppression based on the CYP3A5 diplotypes compared to other world populations. Distinct distribution of actionable pharmacogenomic variation was also observed among the Qatari subpopulations. Our comprehensive study of the distribution of actionable genetic variation affecting drugs in a Middle Eastern population has potential implications for preemptive pharmacogenomic implementation in the region and beyond