Comparative Study of the Potential Therapeutic Roles of Urocortin-1 and Selective Endothein Type A Receptor Blockade in Preeclamptic Pregnant Rats (Physiopathological Study)

Abstract: Administration of urocortin-1 or the selective endothelin type A receptor (ETA) receptor antagonist (ABT-627) might have potential therapeutic effects against preeclampsia. So, this investigation aimed to evaluate and compare the possibility of the use of either urocortin-1 or ETA blockade as a new target of therapeutic approach to preeclampsia. The current study was carried out on 125 female Wistar rats divided into five equal groups. Group I: included virgin non-pregnant rats. Group II: included pregnant rats that were received saline solution (0.5 ml/100 g body weight) from day 7 to day 20 of gestation. Group III: included pregnant rats that were treated with L-NAME dissolved in sterile saline solution in a dose of 10 mg/0.5 ml/100 g body weight subcutaneously and daily starting from the same day of gestation and for the same duration as mentioned for group II. Group IV included pregnant rats that were treated by both L-NAME (the same dose and for the same duration as mentioned for group III) and urocortin-1, in a dose of 5 µg/kg body weight/ day subcutaneously starting from day 14 to day 20 of gestation. Group V included pregnant rats that were treated by both L-NAME (the same dose and for the same duration as mentioned for group III) and ABT-627, 5 mg/kg / day subcutaneously starting from day 14 to day 20 of gestation. Physiological and statistical studies were done. Obtained results revealed that mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) was significantly increased in L-NAME treated pregnant rats, urocortin treated and ABT-627 treated rats on day 13 as compared to controls, normal pregnant rats urocortin and ABT-627 treated rats on day 20, but significant decrease in urine volume was detected in L-NAME treated pregnant rats and urocortin, ABT-627 treated rats on day 13 as compared to controls, none treated pregnant rats. Urocortin treatment caused significant increase in urine volume on day 20 as compared to all other groups. A significant increase in plasma ET-1 was detected in L-NAME treated pregnant rats (on days 13 and 20), Urocortin and ABT-627 treatment caused significant decrease plasma ET-1 on day 20 as compared to L-NAME treated rats on (days 13 and 20) and urocortin treated rats on day 13. Urocortin treatment significantly increased creatinine clearance on day 20 as compared to L-NAME treated pregnant rats (on days 13 and 20), urocortin treated rats (on day 13), and ABT-627 treated rats (on day 13 and 20). Moreover, the pup weigh was increase significantly in urocortin treated rats as compared to L-NAME-treated and ABT-627 treated rats. Conclusion: Preeclampsia could lead to acute kidney injury with physiological alterations in many parameters, meanwhile, urocortin-1 showed ameliorative effect than ET-1 treated rats on all of these parameters. Further research will be needed to study and compare between urocortin -1 and ABT-627 with more pathophysiological parameters

The Status of Digital Dental Technology Implementation in the Saudi Dental Schools' Curriculum: A National Cross-Sectional Survey for Healthcare Digitization.

Objective: The primary objective of this cross-sectional national study was to investigate the status of digital dental technology (DDT) adoption in Saudi Arabian undergraduate dental education. A secondary objective was to explore the impact of dental schools' funding sources to incorporate digital technologies. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to the chairpersons of prosthetic sciences departments of the 27 dental schools in Saudi Arabia. If any department chairman failed to respond to the survey, a designated full-time faculty member was contacted to fill out the form. The participants were asked about the school's sector, DDT implementation in the curriculum, implemented level, their perceptions of the facilitators and challenges for incorporating DDT. Results: Of the 27 dental schools (18 public and 8 private), 26 responded to the questionnaire (response rate: 96.3%). The geographic distribution of the respondent schools was as follows: 12 schools in the central region, 6 in the western region, and 8 in other regions. Seventeen schools secure and preserve patients' records using electronic software, whereas nine schools use paper charts. Seventeen schools (64,4%) implemented DDT in their curricula. The schools that did not incorporate DDT into their undergraduate curricula were due to not being included in the curriculum (78%), lack of expertise (66%), untrained faculty and staff (44%), and cost (33%). Conclusions: This national study showed that digital components still need to be integrated into Saudi Arabian dental schools' curricula and patient care treatment. Additionally, there was no association between funding sources and the DDT implementation into the current curricula. Consequently, Saudi dental schools must emphasize the implementation and utilization of DDT to align with Saudi Vision 2030 for healthcare digitization and to graduate competent dentists in digital dental care

Hemophilic arthropathy: clinical, radiologic, and functional evaluation: a single-center experience in a limited resource country

Introduction Hemophilia A and B are clinically indistinguishable and are heterogeneous disorders. The severity of bleeding symptoms correlates with the coagulant activity of the deficient factor. Joint bleeding initially leads to independent adverse changes in both the synovial tissue and the articular cartilage. Aim The aim of the present work was to evaluate hemophilic joints clinically, radiologically, and functionally in patients with hemophilic arthropathy. Materials and methods The study was carried out on 30 boys suffering from hemophilic arthropathy; the mean age was 10.6 ± 2.95 years. All patients were subjected to thorough history taking and local physical examination of the ′target joint′. Functional Independence Score in Hemophilia (FISH) and the Pettersson scoring system were assessed for all patients. Results The age at first hemarthrosis decreased with the severity of hemophilia, whereas the number of bleeds/year and the number of joints affected increased with the severity, and the Results were statistically significant. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between the Pettersson score and both the age of the patients and the number of bleeds/year. However, a negative correlation was found with factor activity level. In contrast, the FISH score had a significant positive correlation with factor activity level. Conclusion A significant decrease in the functional ability was demonstrated on the basis of the severity of hemophilia. Both the FISH and Pettersson scoring systems are of great importance in assessing patients with hemophilic arthropathy

Efficacy of different multi-layer hermetic bags on the seed quality of the faba bean (Vicia faba L.) in outdoor storage condition

Abstract Faba bean seeds' sustainability correlates with the initial quality of cultivated seeds. The duration of storage is a significant factor that can affect the quality retention of any crop seed. Additionally, the hermetic bags effectively influence the quality of crop seeds during the storage process. This study evaluated two faba bean cultivars, Nubaria 1 and Giza 716, after various storage periods of 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. Seeds stored in 3 and 7-layer hermetic bags have shown significantly improved bulk temperature after 12, 18, and 24 months (neither more than ≈ 30 °C nor less than ≈ 15 °C). However, the relative humidity (RH%) increased significantly in both bags and cultivars throughout the storage periods, reaching 61, 59.77% and 59.53, 57.53% at the end of the storage period for Nubaria 1 and Giza 716 inside the 3 and 7-layer bags, respectively. The seeds' germination % decreased significantly (20%) after 24 months at the 3-layers compared with 13.12% at the 7-layer bags for Nubaria 1 with superior germination% of Giza 716 under the same conditions where the decrease in the percentage of germination reached 15.56% and 8.86% reduction for both 3 and 7 layers, respectively. The seedling vigor index exhibited the same trend of germination % with better results of the 7-layer bags for both cultivars. The moisture content (MC%) was substantially elevated by 1% at the end of the storage for both cultivars and bags. After 12 months, beans considerably increased color deterioration, with a loss of 43.16 and 53.60% for Giza 716 and Nubaria 1 stored in 3-layer bags, respectively; however, 7-layer bags were always better than 3-layer bags (with a loss of 32.56 and 45.56%). Furthermore, storage in 7-layer hermetic bags triggered a significant decrease (14.94%) in the total phenolic (TPC) after 24 months for Giza 716 without a substantial difference with Nubaria 1. Additionally, the simulation showed that after 18 months and 24 months of storage, the Nubaria 1 seeds packed in the 7-layer hermetic bags produced total tannins (TTC) 39.1% and 42.5%, respectively, more than those packed in the 3-layer hermetic bags. That TTC had a negative correlation with the testa's darkness. Taken together, the faba bean seeds could be stored for a long period in the 7-layer hermetic bags, preserving seed quality and expanding marketing prospects

Immunohistochemical Evaluation of Histamine Levels and Hygienic Aspect of Little Tunny <i>(Euthynnus alletteratus)</i> Musculature at Different Environment Time and Temperature

 We investigated the effect of storage time and temperature on muscular histamine (HIS) contents in little tunny (LT). Fifty LT were preserved at various temperatures (0- 21°C). We collected muscles from several areas at 0-, 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24 h post-fishing for further examination. Throughout storage time and temperature, there was a significant increase in fish deterioration, HIS levels, and HFB count in abdominal > tail > dorsal muscle. Vitek2 gave 99% confidence identity of the highly histaminergic strains Lelliottia amnigena-1 and Acinetobacter haemolyticus. There was a positive correlation between HIS levels, HFB counts, and microscopic lesion scores during storage.</p

Two versus three doses of COVID-19 vaccine and post-vaccination COVID-19 infection in hemodialysis patients

Summary: Background and aim: Patients with chronic kidney disease including those undergoing hemodialysis (HD) constitute a particularly challenging group regarding COVID-19 vaccination. The present study aimed to compare the rate of reinfection after two and three doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in HD patients. Patients and methods: The study included 80 HD patients who received three doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, there were another 80 patients who received only two doses of the vaccine. Patients in the latter group were selected based on propensity matching score with 1:1 ratio. Patients were monitored for post-vaccination COVID-19 infection using PCR examination of nasopharyngeal swabs. Patients were also monitored for post-vaccination complications including general complaints (headache, fever, fatigue), injection site complaints (arm pain, swelling, itching, rash), musculoskeletal complaints (muscle spasm or pain, joint pain) and others. All patients were followed for six months. Results: The present study included 80 patients submitted to COVID-19 vaccination with two doses of Sinopharm vaccine (GI) and other 80 patients who received three doses of the same vaccine (GII). At the end of follow up, 11 patients (13.8 %) in GI caught COVID-19 infection. In contrast, no patient in GII had infection (P<0.001). Comparison between patients who had COVID-19 infection and those without infection revealed that the former subgroup had significantly lower BMI (23.3 ± 2.3 versus 27.5 ± 8.1 Kg/m2), higher frequency of associated Hepatitis C (HCV) infection (54.6 % versus 2.9 %, P<0.001) and higher serum ferritin levels [median (IQR): 1101.0 (836.0–1564.0) versus 675.0 (467.0–767.7) ng/mL, P=0.01]. Binary logistic regression analysis identified high serum ferritin levels [OR (95% CI): 0.014 (0.001–0.15), P<0.001] and associated HCV infection [OR (95% CI): 0.99 (0.98–1.01), P=0.02] as significant predictors of post-vaccination COVID-19 infection in multivariate analysis. Conclusions: A three dose regime of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine associated with significantly lower rate of reinfection COVID-19 infection in HD patients. Infected patients had significantly lower BMI, higher frequency of HCV and higher ferritin levels