Vida útil de los aceites de cactus marroquí (Opuntia ficus-indica) y de argán (Argania spinosa). Estudio comparativo

Cactus seed oil is gaining considerable popularity in the cosmetic industry. To estimate cactus seed oil’ industrial as well as domestic ease of use, we investigated the oxidative stability of Moroccan cactus seed oil under accelerated aging conditions. In addition, we compared cactus seed oil stability to that of argan oil, a popular and well-established cosmetic oil, under the same conditions. Cactus seed oil is much more sensitive to oxidation than argan oil. Its shelf-life can be estimated to be no longer than 6 months at room temperature. Such instability means that the preparation process for cactus oil must be carried out with great care and cactus seed oil needs to be protected once extracted.El aceite de semillas de cactus está ganando considerable popularidad en la industria cosmética. Para estimar la facilidad de uso industrial y doméstico del aceite de semilla de cactus, investigamos la estabilidad oxidativa del aceite de semilla de cactus marroquí en condiciones de envejecimiento acelerado. Además, comparamos, bajo las mismas condiciones, la estabilidad del aceite de semilla de cactus con la del aceite de argán, otro aceite cosmético popular y bien establecido. El aceite de semilla de cactus es mucho más sensible a la oxidación que el aceite de argán. Su vida útil se puede estimar en no más de 6 meses a temperatura ambiente. Tal inestabilidad significa que los procesos preparativos del aceite de cactus deben manejarse con mucho cuidado y el aceite de semilla de cactus debe protegerse una vez extraído

Editors’ Introduction: An Overview of the Educational Administration and Leadership Curriculum: Traditions of Islamic Educational Administration and Leadership in Higher Education

This chapter provides an overview of several topics relevant to constructing an approach to teaching educational administration and leadership in Muslim countries. First, it places the topic in the context of the changing nature and critiques of the field that argue for a greater internationalisation to both resist some of the negative aspects of globalisation and to represent countries’ traditions in the professional curriculum. Then, it identifies literature that presents the underlying principles and values of Islamic education that guide curriculum and pedagogy and shape its administration and leadership including the Qur’an and Sunnah and the classical educational literature which focuses on aims, values and goals of education as well as character development upon which a ‘good’ society is built. This is followed by a section on the Islamic administration and leadership traditions that are relevant to education, including the values of educational organisations and how they should be administered, identifying literature on the distinctive Islamic traditions of leadership and administrator education and training as it applies to education from the establishment of Islam and early classical scholars and senior administrators in the medieval period who laid a strong foundation for a highly sophisticated preparation and practice of administration in philosophical writings and the Mirrors of Princes writings, and subsequent authors who have built upon it up to the contemporary period. The final section provides an overview of the chapters in this collection

Land Magnetic survey along a profile from Akaz to Rutba town and its applications

A land magnetic survey was carried out along regional profile, which is located at the north part of the Iraqi western desert. It starts from al –Qaam City (at north) toward Rutba City (at south) with a total length of 238km. The survey was carried out along the paved road between the two cities, About 113 measuring points were done with inter-station distance of 2 km (for 198 km) and 2 to 5km (for 40km). Two proton magnetometers were used in this survey. One of them is used for base station monitoring, which was fixed as of Salah Aldin field (Akkas). Its readings were used for diurnal corrections. All magnetic measurements were corrected for normal and topographic corrections. The readings were reduced to a certain base level. The resulted magnetic anomalies show a good correlation with those of Arial - magnetic survey anomalies conducted by (C.G.G, 1974). This is true for those anomalies with wavelength more than 50km. While the land magnetic survey has shown more small anomalies which may reflect near surface sources. In addition, there is a considerable difference between the magnetic intensity values of both surveys. The downward continuation method was used in this study for detecting the depth of magnetic anomaly source. But before applying this method the total magnetic field was converted to its vertical component using computer program packages. The 2.5 mathematical modeling techniques were used for interpreting magnetic anomaly. Several models were suggested according to the geological and geophysical surface and subsurface data. These models clearly suggest that the tectonic of the studied area may be completely affected by deep faults that could reach the basements or even cut it. These faults resulted in tectonic blocks with relative movements that could happen through the geological time, and they may be responsible for the tectonic features of the western desert. These faults could also responsible for the lateral and vertical variations that are noticed in subsurface rocks of the studied area. The subsurface lateral susceptibility variation between the different blocks could result from the variation in physical parameter of the rocks (like porosity, fracture density…) and there is a possibility that rocks beneath 18km (lower crust) still possess some magnetic properties

Role of polymerase chain reaction–based viral detection in pterygia

Purpose: Pterygium is a fibrovascular disease that originates in the conjunctiva and commonly spreads to the corneal surface, thereby posing a threat to eyesight. Despite intensive research, the pathophysiology of this disease remains unclear. Recent research suggests that oncogenic viruses, such as human papillomavirus (HPV), cytomegalovirus, and Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), may play a role in pterygia development. Although there are questions concerning the function of oncogenic viruses in pterygium pathogenesis, existing research shows a lack of consensus on the subject, demonstrating the heterogeneity of pterygium pathophysiology. Therefore, we aimed to simultaneously detect the three common viral pathogens that have been reported in pterygium tissue obtained after excision. Methods: Thirty-five tissue specimens of pterygium from patients undergoing pterygium surgery (as cases) were analyzed for evidence of viral infection with multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and virus-specific real-time quantitative PCR was used for the samples that were detected positive by multiplex PCR. Results: Of the 35 patients, one sample was positive for EBV and two samples were positive for HPV. Further PCR-based DNA sequencing of the HPV PCR-positive product showed identity with HPV-16. Real-time quantitative PCR on samples that showed EBV or HPV positivity did not yield any detectable copy number. Conclusion: Our study results confirmed that PCR positivity could be due to transient flora, but it was not quantitatively significant to conclude as the causative factor of pterygium pathogenesis. However, additional studies with larger sample populations are warranted to fully determine the role of the virus in pterygium