RAPID AND VALIDATED HPLC-UV METHOD FOR DETERMINATION OF GEMIFLOXACIN IN HUMAN URINE

Objective: To develop and validate a simple and rapid reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method for the determination of Gemifloxacin (GFX) in human urine.Methods: GFX was isolated from urine samples after acidification using methylene chloride. Good chromatographic separation was achieved using C18 Ultrasphere (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 µm.) analytical column maintained at 25 °C. The mobile phase consisted of methanol and 0.1 M phosphate buffer pH 3 in the ratio of (48: 52, v/v), respectively. The analysis time was 10 min at a 1.0 ml/min flow rate. The UV detection was carried out at 272 nm.Results: GFX has been eluted at 7.5 min. Linearity was obtained over a concentration range of 20-200 ng/ml (r2>0.999). The extraction recovery of GFX from urine samples was 60%. The proposed method demonstrated excellent intra-and inter-day precision and accuracy within 1.19% and 100.65 %, respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) was found to be 6.3 ng/ml.Conclusion: Simple and accurate RP-HPLC method for determination of GFX in human urine was developed and validated. The method was successfully applied for determination of GFX in human urine samples from healthy volunteers up to 24 hours after oral administration of 320 mg gemi floxacin tablets.Â

Markers of neural degeneration and regeneration in Down syndrome patients

On the trisomy Down syndrome Critical Region (DSCR1) is located the APP gene, which accelerates amyloid peptide protein (APP) expression leading to cerebral accumulation of APP-derived amyloid-beta peptides (Ab) and age-dependent cognitive sequelae. Also DSCR1 attenuates endothelial cell proliferation and angiogenesis required for tissue repair. The aim of the present work is to determine markers of neural degeneration and regeneration in the blood of young and adolescent Down syndrome (DS) patients as well as controls. Markers of regeneration were measured in terms of circulating mononuclear cells expressing Nestin and CD34, while markers of degeneration were measured in terms of plasma Ab42 and advanced glycation end products receptors (RAGES). Results showed a significant increase in plasma Ab42 (20 ± 5.1 vs. 11.9 ± 3.4) and RAGES leucocytes mRNA relative expression (1.9 ±0.2 vs. 1.1 ±0.6) in adolescentDS patients compared to young DS. Both parameters were also significantly increased in DS compared to controls: Ab42 (15.4 ± 5.9 vs. 12. 3± 4.5); RAGES (1.4 ± 0.5 vs. 0.7± 0.2). Nestin (5.2 ± 1.4 vs. 6.3± 0.6) and CD34 (52 ± 2.5 vs. 53± 4.7) were non-significantly lower in adolescent DS patients compared to young DS, but significantly lower in DS patients compared to controls: Nestin (6.3 ± 1.5 vs. 9±4.4); CD34 (54 ± 3.4 vs. 60± 4.8). The significant decrease in the number of mononuclear cells bearing Nestin and CD34 markers accompanied by a significantincrease in Ab42 and RAGES indicate that degeneration in DS is an ongoing process, which is not counterbalanced by the regenerative mechanism

Reductive Leaching Kinetics of Low Grade Manganese Deposits in H2SO4 Solution Using Malonic Acid as Reducing Agent

A leaching process was developed to extract manganese and metal values from Alloga manganese concentrate. The preferential leaching process was achieved through reductive leaching in dilute sulfuric acid medium with malonic acid as the reducing agent. Leaching parameters were optimized as 1.0 M H2SO4, 10% malonic acid in solid/liquid ratio 1:10 for 90 min at 8

Use of dietary supplements among pregnant women in the center of Jordan

Background: Balanced nutrition during pregnancy is necessary to meet the increasing demands of both maternal physiological changes and fetal growth. The present study aimed to investigate types of dietary supplements used by pregnant women living in central Jordan during the three pregnancy trimesters compared by socio-demographic factors. Methods: This was a prospective observational study which was carried out at a major university hospital in the center of Jordan between March 2017 and December 2018. Two hundred and eighty five pregnant Jordanian women were conveniently recruited to take part in the study. Data was collected by an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire, and results were analyzed. Results: The findings showed that 96.8% of the recruited women used supplements during pregnancy. The most frequently used nutrients combined with multivitamins were iron (71.9%),vitamin D (64.2%) and folic acid (33%). Furthermore, the most frequently used single nutrients were calcium (67%), iron (55.8%), Vitamin D (47.8%), Folic acid (15.6%) and omega-3 fatty acids (6.3%). Intake of supplements varied in the three pregnancy trimesters. Use of vitamin D, calcium and iron-containing supplements were higher in the third trimester (85.6%, 89.2% and 91.4%, respectively) compared to the second trimester (62.5%, 67.7% and 77.1%, respectively) and the first trimester (8%, 4% and 8%, respectively) (P <.001). Conclusion: Compliance with the intake of some nutrient supplements among pregnant Jordanian women living in the center of Jordan is acceptable, where 96.8% used dietary supplements. While 71.9%, 67%, 64.2% and 33% used Iron, calcium, Vitamin D and Folic acid respectively, more efforts are required to educate pregnant women and raise the awareness about the importance of supplement intake particularly in defiance cases in order to avoid maternal and fetal complications. 2020This project was funded by the Hashemite University (Grant number 16/13/10/1601100).Scopu

Detection of Cancer Stem Cells in Colorectal Cancer: Histopathological and Immunohistochemical Study

BACKGROUND: Growing evidence supports the notion that the onset of tumorigenesis could occur through cancer stem cells (CSCs). These tumour cells show low proliferative rates, high self-renewal capacity, propensity to differentiate into active proliferating tumour cells &amp; resistance to chemoradiotherapy thus, possibly causing local recurrences &amp; metastasis formation. CD44 has been used as a marker to isolate CSCs from colorectal carcinoma (CRC).AIM: To investigate the immunohistochemical expression of cancer stem cells marker (CD44) in CRC and correlate its expression with the clinicopathological aspects, TNM staging and modified Dukes’ classification.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Tumour biopsies from colectomy specimens of 60 patients with CRC were stained with hematoxylin-eosin for histological evaluation then immunostained with monoclonal antibodies against CD44 which was detected in term of negative or positive expression.RESULTS: CD44 was demonstrated in 58.3% (35/60) of cases and showed statistically significant correlation with tumour site and histological type (p-value &lt; 0.05). However, CD44 showed statistically insignificant inverse correlation with tumour invasiveness (T), lymph node status (N), grade, TNM stage grouping and modified Dukes’ classification, while it was directly correlated with distant metastasis (M) (p-value &gt; 0.05). Chi-square /Fisher exact test proportion independence and the p-value are set significant at 0.05 level.CONCLUSION: the CD44 rate of expression is higher in the colon than rectum and in adenocarcinoma than mucinous and undifferentiated carcinoma. CD44 showed statistically insignificant relation with T, N, M, grade, TNM stage grouping and modified Dukes’ classification

Orbital effects of a monochromatic plane gravitational wave with ultra-low frequency incident on a gravitationally bound two-body system

We analytically compute the long-term orbital variations of a test particle orbiting a central body acted upon by an incident monochromatic plane gravitational wave. We assume that the characteristic size of the perturbed two-body system is much smaller than the wavelength of the wave. Moreover, we also suppose that the wave's frequency is much smaller than the particle's orbital one. We make neither a priori assumptions about the direction of the wavevector nor on the orbital geometry of the planet. We find that, while the semi-major axis is left unaffected, the eccentricity, the inclination, the longitude of the ascending node, the longitude of pericenter and the mean anomaly undergo non-vanishing long-term changes. They are not secular trends because of the slow modulation introduced by the tidal matrix coefficients and by the orbital elements themselves. They could be useful to indepenedently constrain the ultra-low frequency waves which may have been indirectly detected in the BICEP2 experiment. Our calculation holds, in general, for any gravitationally bound two-body system whose characteristic frequency is much larger than the frequency of the external wave. It is also valid for a generic perturbation of tidal type with constant coefficients over timescales of the order of the orbital period of the perturbed particle.Comment: LaTex2e, 24 pages, no figures, no tables. Changes suggested by the referees include

Medium- and short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase gene and protein families: The MDR superfamily

The MDR superfamily with ~350-residue subunits contains the classical liver alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), quinone reductase, leukotriene B4 dehydrogenase and many more forms. ADH is a dimeric zinc metalloprotein and occurs as five different classes in humans, resulting from gene duplications during vertebrate evolution, the first one traced to ~500 MYA (million years ago) from an ancestral formaldehyde dehydrogenase line. Like many duplications at that time, it correlates with enzymogenesis of new activities, contributing to conditions for emergence of vertebrate land life from osseous fish. The speed of changes correlates with function, as do differential evolutionary patterns in separate segments. Subsequent recognitions now define at least 40 human MDR members in the Uniprot database (corresponding to 25 genes when excluding close homologues), and in all species at least 10888 entries. Overall, variability is large, but like for many dehydrogenases, subdivided into constant and variable forms, corresponding to household and emerging enzyme activities, respectively. This review covers basic facts and describes eight large MDR families and nine smaller families. Combined, they have specific substrates in metabolic pathways, some with wide substrate specificity, and several with little known functions

IGF-1 level and bone mineral density in osteoporotic postmenopausal Sudanese women

The present study was performed to investigate the role of IGF‐1 in agedependent bone loss in postmenopausal Sudanese women. 121 Sudanese women aged 45–80 y (mean age, 59.3) were enrolled in the cross‐sectional study. BMD was measured at the lumbar spine and total hip by DXA, classified into three groups, osteoporotic, Tscore (≥ -2.5), osteopenia, T-score (-1 to -2.5) and normal, T-score (≤ -1) as the control group. Serum levels of IGF‐1 was measured by ADVIA (Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Inc. Deerfield, IL USA). In our study, BMD at two sites as well as serum levels of IGF‐1 declined with age. According to our results Serum IGF-1 values can be used as predictor marker for determine early decreased BMD and a predictive factor for determining the risk of osteoporosis. Further study with large sample size is needed to confirm the results of our study