Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) has an Additive Effect and Alters Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations of Antifungal Drugs

Background: Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) iscommonly used as a solvent for anti-fungal drugs. It hasbeen reported to possess anti-fungal activity by itself somay interfere in the evaluation and comparison of antifungaldrugs. DMSO 1% and below are usually consideredto possess insignificant effect on the growth of fungi. Thepresent study was aimed to determine anyadditive/synergistic effect of DMSO (1%) with anti-fungaldrugs.Methods: The effect of DMSO (1%) was determined onthe colonial growth of Trichophyton rubrum, andMicrosporum canis along with clotrimazole, griseofulvin,ketoconazole and thymoquinone (an active principle ofNigella sativa). Similarly, the ability of DMSO (1%) toenhance the effect of amphotericin-B and thymoquinonewas observed on the growth of Aspergillus niger. The fungiwere grown in three sets of plates of dermasel agar foreach drug containing: (a) serial dilutions of the drug alone;(b) serial dilutions of the drug plus DMSO 1% in eachdilution and (c) dermasel agar alone, as control.Results: DMSO (1%) lowered the MICs of all drugstested against the fungi used, except amphotericin-Bagainst Aspergillus niger. Presence of DMSO (1%) in serialdilutions of drugs also significantly shifted the growthcurves of fungi towards right.Conclusion: DMSO, as a solvent, is one of theimportant factors that can alter the results of antifungaldrugs

Colonization and Penetration of the Stratum Corneum by Dermatophyte Fungi

The colonization and penetration of stratum corneum by dermatophyte fungi were investigated employing arthrospores of three strains, two of Trichophyton mentagrophytes and one of Trichophyton interdigitale. The adherence of arthrospores to corneocytes from palm and sole and germination in suspensions of corneocytes from the same body areas were determined. The growth of arthrospores on stripped sheets of stratum corneum from different body areas, namely, sole, leg, groin, abdomen, back, cheek, forearm, and palm, was also studied. The ultrastructure of corneocyte and stratum corneum - dermatophyte relationship was investigated by scanning and transmission electronmicroscopy. Scale from cases of tinea pedis was also investigated ultrastructurally. The resistance of arthrospores to ordinary environmental and desiccated conditions in the presence and absence of corneocytes was studied and the type of dormancy expressed by arthrospores was investigated. The effect of exposing arthrospores to distilled water for 24 hr on their germination in corneocyte suspensions and on stratum corneum was studied. The possibility of using corneocytes as a model for assessing antifungal activity of drugs against dermatophytes was explored. Two phases of investigation were conducted; phase I consisted of arthrospore germination in corneocyte suspensions in the presence of antifungal drugs and phase II consisted of firstly inducing arthrospore germination in corneocyte suspensions then adding antifungal drugs. Arthrospore formation was studied under various cultural conditions; temperature of 3

A novel pooling method for CNN model based on discrete cosine transform

Deep learning can be used to learn huge volume of data, which will be processed through hidden layers and according to the number of hidden layers ,filter size and numbers and the required computation cost is increased because of the size of raw data, this problem can be avoided by using pooling techniques, different method s are proposed to extract the basic features of the signal instead of all signal, but unfortunately this operation may introduce some noise or omission because of elimination important data from the signal. In this paper, A novel pooling method are proposed based on discrete cosine transform , this method is utilized DCT technique to reduce spatial redundancy of image by transform the spatial domain into frequency domain , which can preserve the most significant image information from the other coefficients, which represents the other details information of the image, so discard these less important coefficients. Its effect will be slight and this can reduce the eliminated information as compared with other methods. After applying DCT, we crop the most significant coefficients to be used in the reconstructed data by applying inverse DCT . then the result is combined in different methods with Max pooling and average pooling methods, this new structure can reduce the effect of discarding most important information and reduce the drawbacks of average and Max. pooling method. لإhe results are proved that our proposed methods are outperformed some standard methods and can be used in more application

Structural properties of zirconia doped with some oxides

Zirconia powders doped with different amounts of dopants (CeO2, Gd2O3, and CaO) were synthesized by a citrate technique. X-ray diffraction for samples sintered at 1500 °C revealed that the zirconia ceramics were stabilized in the cubic phase above 12 mole % CaO and 10 mole % Gd2O3, while tetragonal zirconia is obtained above 15 mole % CeO2. Relative densities up to 99.5% were obtained. The effect of dopant concentration on the lattice parameter, average crystallite size, microstrain was studied. The cubic lattice parameter increases nearly linearly with increasing the concentration in case of CaO and Gd2O3. The tetragonal lattice parameters at and ct increase nearly linearly with increasing the concentration of CeO2. The average crystallite size was found to be larger than 600 nm for the samples investigated

Tensile and Buckling Analysis of the Polymer Composite Beam Reinforced by Natural Jute Fiber

This research focuses on the preparation of polymer matrix composite material by (hand lay – UP) method, where the material was prepared from unsaturated polyester resin (up) as a matrix reinforced by natural jute fiber with different volume fractions (3%, 4%, 5%, 6%).The experimental work and finite element techniques were used to analysis the tensile and the buckling analysis of the composite beam reinforced by natural jute fiber at different volume fraction. The results of experimental work of the modulus of elasticity were in the range of the theoretical results. The critical load increased with increase the fiber volume fraction that ( cr P =610N) at ( f V = 3%) and ( cr P =830N) at ( f V =6 %) for the experimental results.While ( cr P =619N) at ( f V = 3%) and ( cr P =877N) at ( f V =6 %) for the finite element results

Comparison of Alexandrite and Diode Lasers for Hair Removal in Dark and Medium Skin: Which is Better?

Introduction: To improve laser hair removal (LHR) for dark skin, the fluence rate reaching the hair follicle in LHR is important. This paper presents the results of a comparative study examining the function of wavelength on dark skin types using 755 nm alexandrite and 810 nm diode lasers.Methods: The structure of the skin was created using a realistic skin model by the Advanced Systems Analysis Program.Result: In this study, the alexandrite laser (755 nm) and diode laser (810 nm) beam–skin tissue interactions were simulated. The simulation results for both lasers differed. The transmission ratio of the diode laser to the dark skin dermis was approximately 4% more than that of the alexandrite laser for the same skin type. For the diode laser at skin depth z = 0.67 mm, the average transmission ratios of both samples were 36% and 27.5%, but those for the alexandrite laser at the same skin depth were 32% and 25%.Conclusion: Both lasers were suitable in LHR for dark skin types, but the diode laser was better than the alexandrite laser because the former could penetrate deeper into the dermis layer

An additional marker for sperm DNA quality evaluation in spermatozoa of male partners of couples undergoing assisted reproduction technique (IVF/ICSI): Protamine ratio

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the protamine ratio (P1/P2), DNA fragmentation of spermatozoa and protamine deficiency. Patients were grouped into fertile (G1; n = 151) and sub‐fertile (G2; n = 121). DNA fragmentation in spermatozoa was analysed by a TUNEL assay (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick‐end labelling), and the protamination was determined by CMA3 staining, while Western blot was used to measure protamine P1 and P2. While sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) and protamine ratio were significantly elevated in G2 compared with G1 (12.31 ± 7.01% vs. 17.5 ± 9.5%; p = .001) and (0.91 ± 0.43 vs. 0.75 ± 0.42; p = .003); respectively, the CMA3 positive showed no difference at all between G1 and G2. In G1, the CMA3 positive correlated negatively with the P1/P2 ratio and SDF (r = −.586, r = −.297; p = .001 respectively). In contrast, the protamine ratio correlated positively with SDF (r = .356; p = .001). In G2, no correlation was observed between CMA3 positive, SDF and the P1/P2 ratio but the P1/P2 ratio showed a positive correlation with SDF (r = .479; p = .001). In conclusion, the spermatozoa DNA deterioration was closely associated with abnormal protamination but showed an association with the protamine ratio, more than with CMA3 positive. Therefore, for the evaluation of DNA damage in spermatozoa, the P1/P2 ratio might act as an additional biomarker

Enhancing Transdermal Delivery of Opioid Antagonists and Agonists Using Codrugs Linked To Bupropion or Hydroxybupropion

The present invention is directed to novel codrugs comprising bupropion or hydroxybupropion and an opioid antagonist or an opioid agonist joined together by chemical bonding. The codrugs provide a significant increase in the transdermal flux across human skin, as compared to the basic opioid antagonist or opioid agonist

Trihoney ameliorates oxidative stress in atherosclerotic aorta

Oxidative stress is one of the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are implicated in various pathogenic signalling pathways underlying vascular inflammation. Antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) play a significant role in protecting against harmful effects of ROS. Honey has been shown to function as antioxidant through suppression of oxidative stress and radical scavenging ability. This study aims to explore the antioxidant potential of Trihoney (Combination of three types of honey, namely: Trigona, Mellifera, and Dorsata) on oxidative stress in atherosclerotic plaques of hypercholesterolemic rabbits. Thirty male New Zealand white rabbits were assigned into 5 groups as follows: normal diet (C), normal diet with 0.6g/kg/day of Trihoney (C+H), 1% cholesterol diet (HC), 1% cholesterol diet with 0.6g/kg/day of Trihoney (HC+H), and 1% cholesterol diet with 2mg/kg/day of atorvastatin (HC+At). All animals were sacrificed after 12 weeks of treatment upon confirmation of hypercholesterolemia. The atherosclerotic aorta was harvested and homogenised. Activities of SOD and GPx were determined in aorta homogenate by enzyme assay kits. Aorta homogenate malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Untreated hypercholesterolemic group HC showed it suppressed SOD and GPx activities, in addition to significant (p<0.001) elevation of MDA concentration. The atherogenic group treated with Trihoney demonstrated significant (p<0.01) enhanced activities of both SOD and GPx compared to HC group. Treatment with atorvastatin significantly (p<0.001) enhanced GPx activity as compared to all other treated and untreated groups. Trihoney supplemented group, and atorvastatin treated group demonstrated significant (p<0.001) reduction in MDA concentration compared to the HC group. Conclusions: Trihoney has the potentials to enhance antioxidant enzyme activity and ameliorates the oxidative stress in the atherosclerotic aorta