Effect of Prophylactic Physical Activities on Reducing Lymphedema among Women Post Mastectomy

Background: Lymphedema is the build-up of lymph fluid in the tissues just under the skin. Lymphedema following mastectomy as a treatment for breast cancer is a major concern for most women who experience it. Physical activities are very helpful for lymphede­ma control. Aim: To evaluate the effect of prophylactic physical activities on reducing lymphedema among women post-mastectomy. Subjects & Method: Design: A Quasi-experimental design was utilized. Setting: This study was carried out in Minia oncology center- outpatient and inpatient surgical department. Affiliated by Secretariat of Specialized Medical Centres, at Minia Governorate, Egypt. Subjects: Included a total of 200 women have had a mastectomy. Tools: Five tools were used. 1) structured questionnaire; 2) scale for pitting edema measurement; 3) scale for lymphedema stage assessment; 4) international physical activity Questionnaire; 5) observational checklist for Physical Activities performance. Results: The mean age of the sample was 58.9 years old and 52.5% of them were elderly women. During the first assessment, more than eighty percent of the sample complained from a stage1 lymphedema. However, there was a significant reduction in this percentage among the study group during post-test. Likewise, there was a statistically significant difference between the groups regarding the lymphedema time and stage of development during the first assessment, after 6 weeks and 16 weeks (P<0.001*). Moreover, 49.0% of the study group compared to 29.0% of the control group had a moderate level of physical activity during the post-test. This indicated an increase in the level of a total pattern of physical activity between the two groups during the post-test. Conclusion: Prophylactic physical activities can reduce lymphedema associated symptoms. Also, the study group had a better level of physical activities than the control group. Recommendations: Early detection and nursing interventions have been gradually advocated to prevent lymphedema progression. So, the prophylactic physical activities are essential measures post-mastectomy to reduce lymphedema. Keywords: Lymphedema, Prophylactic, Physical activities, Mastectomy. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/61-10 Publication date: April 30th 201

Statistical Optimization Approaches for High Cell Biomass Production of Lactobacillus casei

216-221Probiotic bacteria are known to treat and prevent diseases and hence promote physical and mental wellness due to their significant brain-gut relationship. The main challenge involved in probiotic commercialization is the bio processing limitation to produce high cell mass, especially with the cultivation of lactic acid bacteria which produces lactic acid as a by product. Synthesis of lactic acid by lactic acid bacteria inhibits bacterial growth, and in turn disrupts high cell mass production. Current work presents the findings for Lactobacillus casei medium optimization by response surface methodology in shake flask level. A simple medium using 4 components: lactose, soybean meal, yeast extract and magnesium sulphate has been identified to produce high cell mass than generic mediaused for probiotic cultivation, such as the MRS medium. Secondly, response surface methodology using Box-Behken Design was employed as an optimization strategy. After optimization process, the production of Lactobacillus casei biomass increased by about 164.6% recording 6.51g.L-1 compared to cell biomass obtained using initial un-optimized medium (2.46g.L-1)

The effect of mycorrhizal fungi and organic fertilizers on quantitative and qualitative traits of two important satureja species

The quantitative yield and essential oil percentage and composition of two important savory species in response to various fertilizers were explored in a field experiment as a factorial study based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in north Lorestan, Iran, in 2017–2019. The first factor was assigned to three mycorrhizal fungi (Funneliformis mosseae, Rhizophagus irregularis, and Glomus fasciculatum), phosphate biofertilizer (Baravar-2), fish manure (800 kg/ha), cattle manure (20 t/ha), vermicompost (5 t/ha), and a control (no fertilization); the second factor was assigned to two savory species, including Satureja khuzestanica and S. rechingeri. The results of the combined analysis of variance for the second and third years showed that the simple effects of fertilizers and species were significant on all recorded traits, except for some constituents of the essential oil. Among the mycorrhizal fungi, R. irregularis and S. khuzestanica outperformed S. rechingeri in all traits, except for essential oil content and yield. The interaction between year and species was significant for all traits. The essential oil content of S. rechingeri in the third year (5.1%) was 18% higher than that of S. rechingeri in the second year (4.3%) and 41% higher than that of S. khuzestanica in the third year (3.6%). According to the results, the foliar application of vermin compost at a rate of 5 t/ha can contribute to the sustainable production of both savory species, improving their growth and essential oil yield

Tree bark scrape fungus: a potential source of laccase for application in bioremediation of non-textile dyes

Although laccase has been recognized as a wonder molecule and green enzyme, the use of low yielding fungal strains, poor production, purification, and low enzyme kinetics have hampered its large-scale application. Thus,this study aims to select high yielding fungal strains and optimize the production, purification, and kinetics of laccase of Aspergillus sp. HB-RZ4. The results obtained indicated that Aspergillus sp. HB-RZ4 produced a significantly large amount of laccase under meso-acidophilic shaking conditions in a medium containing glucose and yeast extract. A 25 μM CuSO4 was observed to enhance the enzyme yield. The enzyme was best purified on a Sephadex G-100 column. The purified enzyme resembled laccase of A. flavus. The kinetics of the purified enzyme revealed high substrate specificity and good velocity of reaction,using ABTS as a substrate. The enzyme was observed to be stable over various pH values and temperatures. The peptide structure of the purified enzyme was found to resemble laccase of A. kawachii IFO 4308. The fungus was observed to decolorize various dyes independent of the requirement of a laccase mediator system. Aspergillus sp. HB-RZ4 was observed to be a potent natural producer of laccase, and it decolorized the dyes even in the absence of a laccase mediator system. Thus, it can be used for bioremediation of effluent that contains non-textile dyes. © 2020 Sayyed et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

The effect of foliar application of magnetic water and nano-fertilizers on phytochemical and yield characteristics of fennel

Environmental factors, especially nutrients, can influence the production of medicinal plants. Thus, the present study assessed the response of some morphological and physiological characteristics of fennel ecotypes to the foliar application (magnetic water, organic and chemical fertilizers). The study was a factorial experiment based on the randomized complete block design, with three replications and 25 treatments at the research farm of the Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center of West Azerbaijan province, Iran, in the spring and summer of two consecutive years, 2014–2015 and 2015–2016. The first factor was assigned to fennel landraces (Gaziantep, Hamedan, Urmia, Yazd, and Shiraz) and the second factor to the foliar application (nitrogen nano-fertilizer, magnetic water, urea, chicken manure, and the control). Results showed that interaction of fertilizer treatment and landrace increased fresh and dry weight, biological yield, and seed yield significantly. In the first year, the highest fresh weight (166 g) and dry weight (35.5 g) were observed in the Gaziantep landrace fertilized with chicken manure. The highest anethole and fenchone contents (81.75% and 7.92%, respectively) were observed in the landraces treated with chicken manure. Based on the percentages, the Urmia landrace had the highest anethole percentage (83.2%), and the Shiraz landrace had the lowest one (77.5%). The highest fenchone contents (9.61%) and the lowest (2.18%) were observed in the Yazd and Urmia landraces. Due to the positive effect of application of chicken manure on improving the studied traits of fennel, it is recommended to include chicken manure inputs to enhance the efficiency of crops, reduce environmental pollution, and move toward sustainable agriculture

Long term impacts of effluents on quality of the Kosi River Water at District Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, India

The present study was aimed to analyze the influence of industrial and agricultural wastes on quality ofKosi river water, Rampur, UP, India. The results of the present study revealed pH values of between 7.2 and 6.3 (neutral to slightly acidic), the electrical conductivity between 129.4 μs/cmto399.3 μs/cm. The maximum EC value was observed at S5 in spring season. The turbidity of each was 0.4 to 7.067 NTU. The highest turbidity observed at S5 in winters. Total hardness of 73 (mg/L) and 506.33 (mg/L) were evident at S4 and S7 sites respectively. The BOD values ranged from 10.5 (mg/L) at S4 to 137.4 (mg/L) at S5. Higher BOD values at each site are reflecting the great extent of pollution. The minimum COD recorded at S3 (32.60 mg/L) however maximum recorded at S5 (168.65 mg/L). The results of the heavy metals showed a significant increase in the concentration of Pb, Zn, Cu, Hg and As at S5 as compared to the other sites. The As concentration was 0.04, 0.08, 0.85, 0.72 and 0.71 at S2, S3, S5, S6, and S7 respectively. These values were higher than the value of Arsenic as per WHO guidelines.The average concentration of Zn obtained was 0.05, 0.786, 0.413, 0.06, 3.26,0.97 and 0.53 mg/L at S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, and S7 respectively. The highest value of Zn was recorded at S5 (SDP) as compared to other sites. Only at S5 the zinc content is exceeding the normal value. The copper content found to be lower (1.0 mg/Ll) than permissible value according to WHO. The Cu concentration was 0.01, 0.06 0.01 at S4, S5 and S6 respectively, at S1,S2, S3 and S7 zero. The changed physicochemical parameters and occurrence of heavy metal ions indicated a significant level of pollution in Kosi River

Comprehensive study on physical, elastic and shielding properties of ternary BaO-Bi2O3-P2O5 glasses as a potent radiation shielding material

Recent research studies have been carrying out to characterize the structural, elastic and shielding properties of novel ternary BaO-Bi2O3-P2O5 glasses. The glass series having composition BaO·(50 − x) Bi2O3·50P2O5 (10 ≤ x ≤ 40 wt%) were prepared by conventional melt-quenching technique and the variation in density (ρ), molar volume (Vm), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and ultrasonic velocities has also been studied and correlated with the structural modifications in the glasses. The shielding parameters, effective atomic numbers, half value layers, and exposure buildup factor values have been computed using WinXCom program and G-P fitting method. The variations of shielding parameters were discussed for the effect of Bi2O3 addition into the glasses. The density, ultrasonic velocity and the calculated elastic moduli are found to be composition dependent and discussed in terms of Bi2O3 modifiers. The replacement of BaO by Bi2O3 causes an increase in effective atomic number, while the half value layer and the exposure buildup factor are decreased. This indicates that the increment in the content of Bi2O3 improves the gamma ray shielding characteristics

Isolation and Identification Studies on Potential Xylanase Producing Strain Trichoderma sp. WICC F46 Isolated from Tropical Soil

Trichoderma is one of few fungal species of high potential application as bio factory for xylanase production. During last few years increased demand have been observed on the need to isolate high efficient strains from soil sample and to use different microbiological and bioprocess engineering approaches to increase the production yield. In this work, efficient xylanase producer strain was isolated from soil and fully identified using phylogeny analysis. In order to develop an efficient submerged medium for xylanase production, media screening was carried out followed by optimization using one factor at a time (OFAT) method. After optimization of medium composition, the maximal xylanase volumetric production reached 311.71 UmL-1. This medium was composed of corn cob, peptone, magnesium sulphate, calcium chloride, and ammonium sulphate