The clinical pattern of renal diseases in the nephrology in-patient unit of the Yaounde General Hospital in Cameroon: a five-year audit

Introduction: Kidney diseases are a growing worldwide problem and one of the major public health threats. We analyzed the spectrum of kidney diseases seen over a five-year period in the nephrology in-patient unit of the Yaounde general hospital. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of 225 medical records of patients admitted from January 2005 to December 2009 in the unit with a discharge diagnosis of kidney and urinary tract diseases. The first hospitalization was considered for patients admitted several times for the same disease. Socio-demographic and clinical patient data were recorded. Results: The patients mean age was 44.8±16 years with 135 (60%) males and 211 (93.8%) emergency admissions. All 139 (61.8%) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) had chronic renal failure. Acute kidney injury (AKI) (28%), nephrotic syndrome (7.6%), renal colic (1.3%) and acute pyelonephritis (1.3%) were other patterns observed. Chronic glomerulonephritis (25.9%), hypertension (22.3%) and diabetes (20.1%) were the main etiological factors of CKD. All AKI patients were in stage RIFLE-F. AKI was secondary to parenchymal (58.7%), functional (25.4%) and obstructive (15.9%) etiologies. Black water fever (36.4%), sepsis (22.7%), drugs (18.2%), eclampsia (13.6%) and herbal concoctions (9.1%) were the etiologies of acute tubular necrosis while enterocolitis (56.2%), heart failure (31.3%) and digestive hemorrhage (12.5%) were the etiologies of functional AKI. Conclusion: The clinical pattern of renal diseases is dominated by advanced CKD and AKI secondary to preventable causes. This study suggests a need for an array of actions including sensitization, continuous medical education and strengthening of the health system

Spectral Characteristics for Estimation Heavy Metals Accumulation in Wheat Plants and Grain

Plants would the start with step of a metal's pathway starting with the dirt on heterotrophic creatures for example, such that animals and humans, thus the substance from claiming metallic follow components for eatable parts of a plant representable accessible load of these metals that might enter those natural way of life through plants. Around metal elements, Cu and Zn would micro nutrients as they are essential in trace concentrations for physiological processes in plants. Furthermore consequently would a critical part from the soil–plant–food continuum. Therefor this study aimed to analysing the performance of multivariate hyperspectral vegetation indices of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in estimating the accumulation of these elements in plant dry mutter and the final product of Egyptian wheat crop irrigated with high concentrations of Zn and Cu. We applied five concentrations for each element (0.05, 20, 40, 100, and 150 ppm of Zn) and (0.02, 8, 10, 12, and 15 ppm of Cu) to a controlled greenhouse experiment to examine the effect of these concentrations on plant spectral characteristics and study the possibility of using spectroradiometry measurements for identifying the grain content of these metals. The results demonstrated that The hyperspectral vegetation indices had a potential for monitoring Zn concentration in the plant dry matter. NPCI and PSSR had a highest correlation with Cu phytoaccumulation into the grains with highest significant level (P-Value < 0.01) and (r) values (-0.39, -0.42)

Differential Effects of Low-Dose Erythropoietin in Rat Model of Diabetic Nephropathy: Submitted: Jan 3, 2018 Accepted: Feb 26, 2018 Published online: Mar 3, 2018

Background. Previous reports on the renoprotective effect of erythropoietin (EPO) in the setting of chronic kidney disease (CKD) have yielded conflicting results. The aim of this study is to clarify the effect of low, non-hematopoietic dose of EPO on the evolution of diabetic nephropathy (DN) in rat model. Methods. Low dose of recombinant human EPO (150 U/kg, s.c. three times/week) was given to streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats in two schedules; in the first one, EPO was given from day 2 after STZ injection till the end of the study (28 weeks) as prophylactic treatment; and in the other schedule EPO was given after development of DN (last 8 weeks) as therapeutic treatment. Albuminuria, blood pressure, creatinine clearance, renal venous oxygen tension (vPO2), plasma EPO, hematocrit and renal histopathology were assessed. Results. Unexpectedly, 28 weeks administration of EPO to diabetic rats led to aggravation of albuminuria and worsening of histopathological damage in spite of partial correction of renal hypoxia. Contrary to this, terminal 8 weeks EPO therapy of DN reduced albuminuria and demonstrated some favorable effects on biochemical changes and histologic picture. Conclusion. Low dose EPO exerted differential effects in rat model of DN according to treatment duration. In addition, findings of the present study warrants further investigations of the exact renoprotective role of EPO in diabetic patients with CKD who receive EPO therapy for long periods

Design and Validation of New Data Acquisition System for Isolated Muscle Experiments: Application to Pharmacology Teaching and Research: Submitted: Jan 18, 2018 Accepted: Jan 30, 2018 Published online: Feb 7, 2018

In this paper we describe a new data acquisition (DAQ) system for pharmacology experiments involving isolated muscle contraction. The system is composed of hardware acquisition unit and computer software for analysis of signals representing muscle contractions. As compared to mechanoelectrical DAQ systems of other constructions, the advantages of the new system include a high sensitivity (in the order of 1 µN), a wide range of forces recorded (1 µN to 100 mN), linearity throughout the whole range, easy assembly, low costs, long-term calibration stability, good dynamic characteristics and full control graphical interface. The device can be readily adjusted to actual experimental conditions and a variety of muscle preparations. Experimental validation of our DAQ inside the Clinical Pharmacology Department at Mansoura University Faculty of Medicine showed that it can record contractions of isolated muscle preparations with good precision and accuracy. Accordingly, the DAQ system design presented herein with its dedicated software is largely suitable for isolated muscle experiments in both teaching and research in biomedical fields

Can Vitamin D Supplemental Therapy improve the Disturbed Follicular Fluid Milieu and affect the Outcome of ICSI?

Background: Vitamin D (VD) receptor is widely distributed in reproductive systems thus hypovitaminosis D can impair the response to ovarian stimulation. Objectives: Determination of the effect of VD supplemental therapy (VD-ST) on the ovarian follicular fluid (FF) milieu in infertile women undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Patients and Methods: 103 infertile women were evaluated clinically and gave blood samples for estimation of serum and FF levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25-OH-VD), and FF levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and total antioxidant capacity and underwent a cycle of ICSI using the antagonist protocol before and after receiving 3-month VD-ST. The study outcome is the impact of VD-ST on the clinical pregnancy rate. Results: Serum (P=0.0004) and FF (P=0.040) levels of 25-OH-VD were significantly increased, while FF levels of TNF-α were significantly (P95% fragmentation (P=0.019) rates were significantly increased with doubling of number of high-grade embryos and clinical pregnancy rate. These changes were correlated positively with increased in serum and FF levels of 25OH-VD and decrease of TNF-α level. Statistical analyses defined the higher increase in serum and FF levels of 25OH-VD as the important predictors for the number of oocytes and clinical pregnancy, while the higher decrease in FF levels of TNF-α was the important predictor for the rate of high-grade embryos. Conclusion: VD-ST may play an important role for success of ICSI through increasing serum and FF levels of VD and decreasing FF levels of TNF-α

Clinical and genetic spectrum in 33 Egyptian families with suspected primary ciliary dyskinesia

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare genetic disorder of motile cilia dysfunction generally inherited as an autosomal recessive disease. Genetic testing is increasingly considered an early step in the PCD diagnostic workflow. We used targeted panel next generation sequencing (NGS) for genetic screening of 33 Egyptian families with highly clinically suspected PCD. All variants prioritized were Sanger confirmed in the affected individuals and correctly segregated within the family. Targeted NGS yielded a high diagnostic output (70%) with bi‐allelic mutations identified in known PCD genes. Mutations were identified in 13 genes overall, with CCDC40 and CCDC39 the most frequently mutated genes among Egyptian patients. Most identified mutations were predicted null effect variants (79%) and not reported before (85%). This study reveals that the genetic landscape of PCD among Egyptians is highly heterogeneous, indicating that a targeted NGS approach covering multiple genes will provide a superior diagnostic yield than Sanger sequencing for genetic diagnosis. The high diagnostic output achieved here highlights the potential of placing genetic testing early within the diagnostic workflow for PCD, in particular in developing countries where other diagnostic tests can be less available

Internal structure and pigment granules in colored alpaca fibers

Alpaca fibers have some distinct properties such as softness and warmth, which have not been fully understood in combination with the fiber internal structures. In the present investigation, the internal structures of alpaca fibers have been closely examined under the scanning electron microscope (SEM), especially in the longitudinal direction. The results showed that numerous pigment granules reside loosely inside pockets in brown and dark-brown alpaca fibers. These pigment granules were mainly distributed inside the cortical cells, the medullation regions as well as underneath the cuticles. Their size in the brown alpaca fibers was smaller and more uniformly round than in the dark-brown fibers. These granules in colored alpaca fibers loosen the bundle of cortical cells, providing many crannies in the fibers which may contribute to the superior flexibility, warmth and softness of the fibers. Moreover, there are no heavy metal elements found in the granules. The mordant hydrogen peroxide bleaching employed could eliminate the pigment granules and create many nano-volumes for further dyeing of fibers into more attractive colors

X-ray induced electron and ion fragmentation dynamics in IBr

Characterization of the inner-shell decay processes in molecules containing heavy elements is key to understanding x-ray damage of molecules and materials and for medical applications with Auger-electron-emitting radionuclides. The 1s hole states of heavy atoms can be produced by absorption of tunable x-rays and the resulting vacancy decays characterized by recording emitted photons, electrons, and ions. The 1s hole states in heavy elements have large x-ray fluorescence yields that transfer the hole to intermediate electron shells that then decay by sequential Auger-electron transitions that increase the ion's charge state until the final state is reached. In molecules the charge is spread across the atomic sites, resulting in dissociation to energetic atomic ions. We have used x-ray/ion coincidence spectroscopy to measure charge states and energies of I$^{q+}$ and Br$^{q'+}$ atomic ions following 1s ionization at the I and Br \textit{K}-edges of IBr. We present the charge states and kinetic energies of the two correlated fragment ions associated with core-excited states produced during the various steps of the cascades. To understand the dynamics leading to the ion data, we develop a computational model that combines Monte-Carlo/Molecular Dynamics simulations with a classical over-the-barrier model to track inner-shell cascades and redistribution of electrons in valence orbitals and nuclear motion of fragments