Ameliorating effect of selenium nanoparticles on cyclophosphamide induced hippocampal neurotoxicity in male rats: light, electron microscopic and immunohistochemical study

Background: Cyclophosphamide (CPH) is a widely used chemotherapeutic drug that can affect the hippocampal neurocytes with a subsequent effect on memory and cognitive functions. Nanomedicine has the potential to overcome the current chemotherapeutic side effects, because of the unique nanoscale size and distinctive bioeffects of nanomaterials. So, the present study aims to investigate the potential ameliorative effect of the biologically synthesized nano-selenium (nano Se) on CPH induced hippocampal neurotoxicity. Materials and methods: Twenty four rats were randomly classified into four groups of 6 rats each: control group, nano Se group (dose of 0.5 mg biological nano Se /kg daily via oral gavage), CPH group (dose of 20 mg CPH/kg daily intraperitoneally), and CPH plus Nano Se group.  After 4 weeks, the rats were sacrificed and the hippocampus was excised and processed. Sections were stained with H&E stain and immunohistochemically stained for caspase 3 (apoptosis marker) and GFAB (astrocytic activity marker). Morphometric analysis and transmission electron microscopic (TEM) examination were also done. Results: Control and nano Se groups revealed no structural changes. By light microscopy, CPH group showed degeneration and necrosis of hippocampal neurocytes, significantly reduced thickness of the neurocyte cell layers, increased expression of GFAB and caspase 3 immunostains and significantly elevated apoptotic index. Moreover, neurocytes damage, mitochondrial cristeolysis, mild dilation of rough endoplasmic reticulum (Er), and disrupted neurolemmal sheaths of nerve fibers were also demonstrated by TEM. Nano Se cotreatment in the fourth group reversed all the aforementioned deleterious changes that induced by CPH in the hippocampal neurocytes. Conclusions: Treatment with CPH caused damage to hippocampal neurocytes that can be reversed by biological nano Se co-treatment

Copper Nanoparticles Induced Genotoxicty, Oxidative Stress, and Changes in Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) Gene Expression in Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) Plants

With the increased use of metal nanoparticles (NPs), their access to the food chain has become a main concern to scientists and holds controversial social implications. This research particularly sheds light on copper nanoparticles (CuNP), as they have been commonly used in several industries nowadays. In this study, we investigated the phytotoxicity of CuNP on cucumber (Cucumis sativus) plants grown hydroponically. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis confirmed that C. sativus treated with CuNP accumulated CuNP in the plant tissues, with higher levels in roots, with amounts that were concentration dependent. Furthermore, genotoxicity was assessed using Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique, and our results showed that CuNP caused genomic alterations in C. sativus. Phenotypical, physiological, and biochemical changes were assessed by determining the CuNP treated plant’s total biomass, chlorophyll, H2O2 and MDA contents, and electrolyte leakage percentage. The results revealed notable adverse phenotypical changes along with decreased biomass and decreased levels of the photosynthetic pigments (Chlorophyll a and b) in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, CuNP induced damage to the root plasma membrane as determined by the increased electrolyte leakage. A significant increase in H2O2 and MDA contents were detected in C. sativus CuNP treated plants. Additionally, copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu-Zn SOD) gene expression was induced under CuNP treatment. Overall, our results demonstrated that CuNP of 10–30 nm size were toxic to C. sativus plants. This finding will encourage the safe production and disposal NPs. Thus, reducing nano-metallic bioaccumulation into our food chain through crop plants; that possesses a threat to the ecological system

Is quadratus lumborum block combined with low dose-spinal anesthesia an effective alternative to general anesthesia in patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy?

Background: General anesthesia in high-risk patients has many complications and needs long preoperative preparations and postoperative intensive care unit (ICU). Therefore the present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of combined low-dose spinal anesthesia with quadratus lumborum block (QLB) as an alternative to general anesthesia for patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Patients and methods: A prospective study was conducted at the urology department of Al-Azhar University Hospitals in Cairo, Egypt, from January 2021 to January 2022. The study included 60 patients of ASA ll-lll scheduled for percutaneous nephrolithotomy. All patients received low-dose spinal anesthesia (5 mg bupivacaine) and QLB (QL1-QL2-QL3) approaches. The primary observation parameter was the efficacy of this technique as an alternative to general anesthesia. The secondary parameters measured were evaluation of need for intraoperative narcotics, postoperative pain score (VAS), and patients satisfaction as assessed using a 5-point Likert Scale. Results: None of the patients was given general anesthesia, and intraoperative sedation was given to nineteen patients (32.2%). No hemodynamic changes were observed in all patients. There was a significant correlation between the use of intraoperative sedation and stone site, intraoperative blood loss, and hospital stay. Pain intensity on VAS at rest and movement was low until the 24th postoperative hour. Patient satisfaction score was 3, 4, and 5 in 1 (1.7%), 4 (6.7%), and 55 (91.6%) patients, respectively. Conclusions: Combined low-dose spinal anesthesia with quadratus lumborum block is an effective alternative to general anesthesia in patients undergoing PCNL procedures with good postoperative analgesia. Patients with lower calyceal punctures have a lower incidence of intraoperative sedation requirements

Different Continuous Training Intensities Improve Echocardiographic Parameters, Quality of Life, and Functional Capacity in Heart Failure Patients with Reduced Ejection Fraction.

BackgroundMultiple comorbidities and physiological changes play a role in a range of heart failure conditions and influence the most effective approach to exercise-based rehabilitation. This research aimed to examine and compare the outcomes of continuous training at three different intensities, focusing on left ventricular (LV) remodeling, functional capacity, and quality of life among patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).MethodsIn this randomized control trial, a total of 60 male patients (average age: 54.33 ±2.35 years) with HFrEF were randomly allocated into three groups: 1) High-intensity continuous training group (HICT), 2) Moderate-intensity continuous training group (MICT), and 3) Low-intensity continuous training group (LICT). All the training was performed on a bicycle ergometer 3 times/week for 12 weeks. Echocardiographic parameters (left ventricular ejection fraction, left ventricular end-diastolic dimension, left ventricular end-systolic dimension, N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), quality of life (Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire), and functional capacity (6-minute walking test) were assessed before and the end of the study.ResultsThe HICT group demonstrated the greatest improvements in all measured variables when compared to the other two groups (P ConclusionIt was determined that HICT appears to yield the most favorable outcomes in enhancing echocardiographic measures, NT-proBNP levels, quality of life, and functional capacity among HFrEF patients

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Effectiveness of Teaching English Unlimited Special Edition on Developing Speaking Skill: The case of Students of the Preparatory Year Program at Al-Baha University

The aim of the study is to investigate effectiveness of teaching the Book English Unlimited Special Edition 1 (EUSE) on Developing Speaking Skill for Students of Preparatory Year of Al-Baha University. In order to answer the questions of the study, the researcher adopted the experimental approach. The sample of the study consisted of (50) students of preparatory year of AlBaha University. The speaking skills integrated in the set book were used with the study group in the first term of the academic school year (2019 – 2020). A test of (20) items was designed to be used as a pre -posttest. The study indicated that there are statistically significant differences in mean scores of speaking skills test in favor of the post application. Speaking skills (request, suggestion and asking for directions) included in the taught course (EUSE 1) book are convenient to enhance those students’ understanding and language progress. They can be considered as a remedial program to what they lacked in secondary schools as well as upgrading preparatory year students’ levels. In the light of these results, the study recommended the suitability of using Unlimited Special Edition (EUSE) for developing Speaking Skill for Students of preparatory year of Al-Baha University. It also suggested that further research should be conducted on the role of teaching listening to enhance speaking skill for students of preparatory students at Al-Baha University

Embedding-Based Deep Neural Network and Convolutional Neural Network Graph Classifiers

One of the most significant graph data analysis tasks is graph classification, as graphs are complex data structures used for illustrating relationships between entity pairs. Graphs are essential in many domains, such as the description of chemical molecules, biological networks, social relationships, etc. Real-world graphs are complicated and large. As a result, there is a need to find a way to represent or encode a graph’s structure so that it can be easily utilized by machine learning models. Therefore, graph embedding is considered one of the most powerful solutions for graph representation. Inspired by the Doc2Vec model in Natural Language Processing (NLP), this paper first investigates different ways of (sub)graph embedding to represent each graph or subgraph as a fixed-length feature vector, which is then used as input to any classifier. Thus, two supervised classifiers—a deep neural network (DNN) and a convolutional neural network (CNN)—are proposed to enhance graph classification. Experimental results on five benchmark datasets indicate that the proposed models obtain competitive results and are superior to some traditional classification methods and deep-learning-based approaches on three out of five benchmark datasets, with an impressive accuracy rate of 94% on the NCI1 dataset

The Effect of Different Processing Methods on the Behavior of Minerals Content in Food Products

The goal of the current study was to determine the mineral content of various fruit varieties (Na, K, Ca, P, Mg, Fe, Zn, and Cu), as well as the effects of various processing methods (such as canning, drying, stewing, syrup process, and concentration of juices). All tested fruits that were subjected to various processing were exposed to a degree of mineral losing varied from very little too obvious reduction. However, it still retains its nutritional value. All fig products have the greatest levels of most tested minerals than other processed fruit products, particularly P and Fe. Then coming by orange products supply higher quantities of Ca. While apricot products have a comparable value of other minerals with those found in fig and orange products. Among canned juices, guava had the highest contents of Ca, P, and Fe, while mango scored the first juice as Mg and Zn supplying. Canned apricot halves contain the best amounts of K, Ca, P and Mg than the same products of apple and peach. Among jam products, fig jam possesses increasing amounts of Na, Ca, P, Mg, and Fe than those found in other fruit jams. The concentration of fruit juices by vacuum-heating or dehydration of fruit produced higher mineral retentions than the fruit products that were processed by other techniques. The concentrated orange juice by vacuum-heating processing retained most of the minerals found in raw juice, also dried apricot sheet retained higher minerals than that retained in dehydrated whole apricot