Fundamentals of bladder tissue engineering

A wide range of injuries could affect the bladder and lead to eventual loss of its integrity, with the need for replacement or repair. Augmentation ileocystoplasty is considered till now the gold standard option for bladder replacement, despite its associated complications. Bladder tissue engineering appears as an appealing alternative through development of biological substitutes, which could restore structural and functional aspects of damaged tissues and organs. Tissue engineering relies upon three essential pillars; the scaffold, the cells seeded on scaffolds and lastly the environmental conditions, including growth factors, cytokines and extracellular matrix (ECM) which promote angiogenesis and neurogenesis of the regenerated organs. The choice of the scaffold and the type of cells is a crucial and fundamental step in regenerative medicine. In this review article, we demonstrated these three crucial factors of bladder tissue engineering, with the pros and cons of each scaffold type and cell type used.Keywords: Scaffold; Stem cells; Bladder tissue engineering; Decellularization; Bladder acellular matrixAfrican Journal of Urology (2013) 19, 51–5

Competition and adaptation in an Internet evolution model

We model the evolution of the Internet at the Autonomous System level as a process of competition for users and adaptation of bandwidth capability. We find the exponent of the degree distribution as a simple function of the growth rates of the number of autonomous systems and the total number of connections in the Internet, both empirically measurable quantities. This fact place our model apart from others in which this exponent depends on parameters that need to be adjusted in a model dependent way. Our approach also accounts for a high level of clustering as well as degree-degree correlations, both with the same hierarchical structure present in the real Internet. Further, it also highlights the interplay between bandwidth, connectivity and traffic of the network.Comment: Minor content changes and inset of fig.

Localized Algorithm for Segregation of Critical/Non-critical Nodes in Mobile Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks

AbstractTimely segregation of connectivity-centric critical/non-critical nodes is extremely crucial in mobile ad hoc and sensor networks to assess network vulnerabilities against critical node failures and provide precautionary means for survivability. This paper presents a localized algorithm for segregation of critical/non-critical nodes (LASCNN) that opts to distinguish critical/non-critical nodes to the network connectivity based on limited topology information. Each node establishes and maintains a k-hop connection list and employ LASCNN to determine whether it is critical/non- critical. Based on the list, LASCNN marks a node as critical if its k-hop neighbor's become disconnected without the node, non-critical otherwise. Simulation experiments demonstrate the scalability of LASCNN and shows the performance is quite competitive compared to a scheme with global network information. The accuracy of LASCNN in determining critical nodes is 87% (1-hop) and 93% (2-hop) and non-critical nodes 91% (1-hop) and 93% (2-hop)

THE ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF NIGELLA SATIVA AGAINST MULTI-DRUG RESISTANT PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA ISOLATED FROM DIABETIC WOUND INFECTIONS

Thirty-five specimens were isolated from diabetic patients with superficial and deep wounds. The isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were selected from cetrimide agar plates supplemented with nalidixic acid.P. aeruginosawere subjected to in vitro evaluation of antibiotic sensitivity test using antibiotics from different classes. Multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa (MDRPA) were selected for further tests and multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR)index was calculated. Eleven commercial essential oils (EOs) were chosen to evaluate their activities as antimicrobial agents against MDRPA. The sensitivity was determined using agar disc diffusion method. The black seed oil (Nigella sativa) showed a wide spectrum of inhibition against MDRPA3. The characterization of Nigella sativa was conducted by GC-MS and FT-IR which showed the antibacterial activity and safety of this oil.&nbsp

Semillas de altramuces bajan la concentración de lípidos plasmáticos y normaliza los parámetros antioxidantes en ratas

This study was designed to test bitter and sweet lupin seeds for lipid-lowering and for their antioxidative activities in hypercholesterolemic rats. The levels of plasma lipid, malondialdehyde (MDA) and whole blood reduced glutathione (GSH), as well as the activities of transaminases (ALT and AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in plasma, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in erythrocytes and plasma glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and catalase (CAT) were examined. A hypercholesterolemia-induced diet manifested in the elevation of total lipids (TL), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), LDL-C and MDA levels, ALT, AST, LDH activities and the depletion of GSH and enzymic antioxidants. The supplementation of a hypercholesterolemia-induced diet with bitter and sweet lupin seeds significantly lowered the plasma levels of TL, TC, TG and LDL-C. ALT, AST and LDH activities slightly decreased in treated groups compared with the hypercholesterolemic group (HC). Furthermore, the content of GSH significantly increased while MDA significantly decreased in treated groups compared with the HC group. In addition, the bitter lupin seed group improved enzymic antioxidants compared with the HC group. In general, the results indicated that the bitter lupin seed supplements are better than those containing sweet lupin seeds. These results suggested that the hypocholesterolemic effect of bitter and sweet lupin seed supplements might be due to their abilities to lower the plasma cholesterol level as well as to slow down the lipid peroxidation process and to enhance the antioxidant enzyme activity.Este estudio fue diseñado para evaluar semillas de altramuces dulces y amargas como agentes que bajan los lípidos y estudiar su efecto en la actividad antioxidante en ratas hipercolesterolémicas. El nivel de lípidos en plasma, malondialdehido (MDA) y glutatión reducido (GSH), así como la actividad transaminasa (ALT y AST), lactato deshidrogenasa (LHD) en plama, superóxido dismutasa (SOD) y glutatión peroxidasa (GPx) en eritrocitos, glutatión reductasa (GR) en plasma, glutatión-S- trnasferasa (GST) y catalasa (CAT) fueron examinadas. La dieta inductora de hipercolesterolemia se manisfesto mediante la elevación de los lípidos totales (TL), del colesterol total (TC), de los triglicéridos, de la LDL-C y de los niveles de MDA, de las actividades ALT, AST, LDH y del descenso de GSH y enzimas antioxidantes. La suplementación de dietas inductoras de hipercolesterolemia con semillas de altramuces dulces y amargas bajo significativamente los niveles en plasma de TL, TC, TG y LDL-C. Las actividades ALT, AST y LDH decrecieron ligeramente en grupos tratados comparados con el grupo hipercolesterolémico (HC). Por otra parte, el contenido de GSH aumento significativamente mientras que el MDA decreció significativamente en los grupos tratados comparados con el grupo HC. Además, las semillas de altramuces amargas mejoraron las enzimas antioxidantes comparadas con el grupo HC. En general, los resultados indican que, el suplemento con semillas amargas es mejor que con semillas de altramuces dulces. Estos resultados sugieren que el efecto hipercolesterolémico del suplemento con semillas de altramuces dulces y amargas podrían ser debiadas a su capacidad para bajar los nivleles en plasma de colesterol, así como una ralentización del proceso de peroxidación lipídica y un aumento de la actividad enzimática antioxidante

Bearing Capacity of Driven Open-Ended Pipe Piles in Weak Soil Formations

Steel pipe piles have been increasingly used as deep foundations for offshore or onshore structures in weak soil formations. These piles are usually open-ended and installed to their final level using suitable hammers or vibrators relying on the subsurface conditions. Simultaneously, the soil plug (SP) forms inside the employed pipe pile during driving or installation. Moreover, it affects bearing behavior and total pile resistance. The experimental tests have been performed on a single tube pile. All tube piles were tested using the well-graded sand collected from the Egyptian desert, and the sand was prepared at medium density using a raining technique. The outcomes of the model pile tests showed that the value of plug resistance in open-ended pipe pile (OEPP) is typically on the order of 50% to 70% of the total pile load of OEPP, and it is influenced by pile thickness, pile diameter, pile length, and submerged state. Simultaneously, the plugging influence of OEPP increased with increasing pile thickness and embedded pile length. However, the plugging influence decreased with increasing pile diameter. The total pile load of OEPP increased with increasing the embedded pile length. It must be noted that the influence of pile length on the total pile load is greater than the influence of pile diameter; this refers to the pile length having a significant effect on the total pile load. This is due to an increase in the influence of SP

In vitro Anti-Leishmania Activity and Safety of Newly Synthesized Thiazolo Pyrimidine Derivatives Augmented with Interleukine-12 (IL-12) in BALB/c Mice Experimentally- Infected with Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

Purpose: To synthesize a series of novel thiazolo pyrimidine derivatives and evaluate them in vitro and in vivo for their safety and anti-leishmanial activity using BALB/c mice.Methods: Substituted pyrazolopyrimidine and pyrazolopyrazole were synthesized by reacting amino group of 2-amino-4-cyano-pyrazol]naphthalino[1,2-d]thiazole with a variety of formamide or hydrazine hydrate. The synthesized compounds were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR) and mass spectroscopy (MS). The purity of the compounds was determined by elemental analysis. Safety and anti-leishmanial activity of the compounds were determined in vitro by i) viability assessment of leishmania-infected macrophages, relative abundance of IL-12p40 mRNA gene expression and levels of IL10 /IL-12 determination in supernatants of cultured macrophages treated with 2.5 and 10 μM of the compounds, using microscope cell counting, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), respectively. ii) cytotoxicity of the compounds evaluated by determination the safety index as IC50 of the compound in macrophages/IC50 of the compound in amastigotes. iii) bioassay at 16 weeks post-infection of mice treated with the reference drug, the tested compound alone and both the compound with IL-12. Disease progression and footpad thickness were evaluated regularly during treatment.Results: Compound 4 emerged as the most active anti-protozoal compound of the series against Leishmania viability (activity 60 %) compared with the reference drug (activity 65 %). When it was combined with IL-12, the activity reached 90 %.Conclusion: Compound 4 can serve as a lead molecule for further development to a clinically useful novel class of agents.Keywords: Thiazolopyrimidine, Synthesis, Leishmaniasis, Mice, Immunotherap